Eapen thomas's Public Library

By the time a user of the BI suite accesses information in the DW, he/she is already two levels removed from the actual phenomena that are being viewed through the lens of the BI suite. Depending on the preconceptions of the BI user, there may be additional levels of distance from real-world phenomena. These preconceptions have been termed mental models by Peter Senge in his management classic, The Fifth Discipline, and termed occupational cultures by Edgar Schein in his work on organizations. ^(2,3) They are the cognitive lenses through which users individually and collectively view and manipulate information. For example, if managers hold a view of the business as separate products and/or organizational "silos," they may not be receptive to information from the BI suite that shows that customers experience the business as a single entity and expect a consistent experience across all contact channels. In short, a BI system is an abstraction of the reality it is designed to analyze, and the preconceptions of its users can further cloud this abstraction if they are not aware of them.

In addition to its distance from the actual business reality that the DW attempts to model, there is the consideration of its ability to capture the complexity of real-world phenomena. A real-world business involves many elements and relationships, interacting dynamically. The philosophical idea behind this is that there may be one real world "out there," but there are many possible descriptions of it ­ some of them useful and others not so useful. This distinction is relevant because both organizations and individuals interact with the real world on the basis of their internalized descriptions of it.

The Kanjorski amendment would empower federal regulators to rein in and dismantle financial firms that are so large, inter-connected, or risky that their collapse would put at risk the entire American economic system, even if those firms currently appear to be well-capitalized and healthy.  Therefore, American taxpayers should no longer be on the hook for bailouts, as financial companies would not be able to become “too big to fail.” The Kanjorski amendment outlines clear and objective standards for regulators to examine financial companies and reduce the level of risk their activities pose to our financial stability and our economy.

Product Enhancements: If Microsoft followed the practices of bank tech companies, it would be bankrupt today. Every PC user would still be on MS-DOS, albeit with updates. A lot of banks are still using the bank core system they acquired as many as 33 years ago. Thanks to product enhancements that kept systems current, without the need for conversions to, for example, Fiserv Premier .15 or Jack Henry SilverLake .15, banks can still run on a modern system that contains thousands of enhancements as a result of three software releases each year. Core vendors did a superb job of supporting their systems, even though they deprived themselves of after-market opportunities to sell new versions. If nothing else, Windows 7 gives Microsoft a new “core” system to sell. If there has been a new bank core system among the Big 8 in the past three decades, I missed that press release.

Whether it was vision or coincidence is unclear to me, but Ken Kirchman (Florida Software Services, now Metavante Bankway), Don Dillon (ITI, now Fiserv Premier) and Jack Henry (still Jack Henry & Associates, Inc.) invented the packaged software business for banks. Ken did it in 1968 and built software originally for mainframe users, going after larger banks. Don and Jack catered to the new discovery of mini computers in 1976 and built hermetically sealed turnkey systems for community banks that, in my words, a chimpanzee could operate. The key was “turnkey.” The inventors built it their way and they had the wisdom as well as the chutzpah to tell bankers to run it as delivered. In 1976, community bankers were DP deficient, so they welcomed vendor leadership. As a result, Fiserv Premier and Jack Henry SilverLake and CIF 20/20 account for 47 percent of what drives commercial banks and S&Ls in the U.S. today.

The switch to a better core system has been going on for decades. Today, however, most banks have reached a comfortable position. That means there have to be very strong reasons to make a change, and that’s why fewer banks are doing it. When a banker considers the hardships, cost, risks, training requirements and disruption of making a change, he usually becomes satisfied with “good enough” and continues with the present system.