TRENDS: OUTSOURCING'S IN

Outsourcing by banks continues to increase, even as the number of data centers continues to decline. The tasks most commonly outsourced by the top 150 bank holding companies are core data processing (26%) and the operation of telecommunication networks (29%), according to the 1994 Information Technology in Banking Survey conducted by American Banker, The Tower Group, and Andersen Consulting.

As Diogo Teixiera, president of the Tower Group, noted, outsourcing is no longer an all-or-nothing option. The decision to outsource processing tasks for a stand-alone business that may have grown rapidly through mergers and acquisitions, for example, may have little to do with the rest of a company's operations.

The survey also found that few banks (10%) outsource the operation of their distributed computing systems. It further found that 55% of big banks say there is no chance they will do so. Mr. Teixiera noted that while client-server systems are rapidly being deployed by banks, the technology is not yet mature and there are a limited number of third-party providers.

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