Fierce market competition in combination with increased customer requirements forces banks to check their technologies for the degree of compliance with the spirit of the times, as well as to review the adopted strategy in the field of information technology, given the real achievement of the goals and objectives set for a particular institution.
Automated banking systems need regular modification or full replacement, which will get rid of a whole range of problems associated with their use. At the same time, the transfer of the banking system to the use of new technologies for both a large transnational institution and a small bank in a particular region can be compared with heart surgery. This task is rightfully considered one of the most ambitious that can face a financial organization. Its solution can lead to a significant breakthrough in activities leading to a qualitatively new level, which will allow the bank to stand out among its competitors, or become a cause of serious problems if such a large-scale project is not implemented properly.
Automated banking systems should become scalable, resilient, development oriented with a design life of more than 10 years. With a shorter planned period of operation, there is no need to create an ABS, since it will not be able to recoup its development.
Automated banking systems in today's market
The banking system was actively automated in the early 90s, when commercial banks began to appear. It was at that time that a number of companies appeared on the Russian market ready to offer ready-made solutions for automating the activities of such institutions. The development of this process has led to the emergence of a huge number of technologies based on systematic principles that reflect the most important provisions of the theoretical base, which includes a number of frontier areas and disciplines.
The banking information system as a tool to support the banking business and its development is formed on the basis of certain principles that are considered fundamental:
- an integrated approach, covering a wide range of banking functions, involving their full integration;
- modularity of construction, which makes it easy to configure systems for a specific order, while it is assumed the possibility of further building up the system;
- the openness of technologies that should be able to interact with a variety of external systems;
- the flexibility of manipulating the settings of the system modules, as well as adapting to the needs of a particular bank and its working conditions;
- scalability, which provides for the expansion of functional modules and their complexity in the process of developing business processes in banks;
- The possibility of multi-user access to the system in real time, as well as the implementation of a full range of functions in a single information space ;
- Continuous development and improvement of the system, based on the reengineering of business processes in it.
Automated banking systems are created or selected depending on how the entire infrastructure of information technology of the institution was planned. In this case, infrastructure can be understood as the ratio, totality and content of all components of the automation process. In addition to the conceptual approach in the infrastructure, functional and supporting subsystems can be distinguished.
From the foregoing, it should become clear that the banking system is a complex “organism” that operates in accordance with certain rules and laws that allow the entire system to work smoothly.