International Business Machines Corp. is offering a streamlined way for banks and other financial companies to develop data warehouses.
Bankers used to have two alternatives when building applications: start from scratch or buy an off-the-shelf product. IBM wants its offering, called VisualAge Financial Foundation, to become a third option, a sort of hybrid of the other two approaches.
The company defines it as a combination of intellectual assets, software development tools, and services that banks can use to address data warehousing challenges.
"We're merging them together so that a customer can truly take the basics of how to build these types of solutions, customize them using the tools, and then generate applications very quickly," said Scott Hebner, manager of application development marketing at IBM.
In this first offering, the "intellectual asset" is Information Frameworks, a data architecture for a bank. More than 85 financial institutions are using the framework.
Although IBM has been marketing Information Frameworks for about six years, this is the first time it has been offered in conjunction with development tools and related services.
Mr. Hebner said the hybrid program can deliver up to 80% of a data warehouse, the complex of information systems and data bases that a company uses to understand customer profitability and aid in developing individualized marketing plans.
To complete the warehousing project with IBM, customers use VisualAge development tools for customization, said Marjorie Ginsberg, market manager for VisualAge Financial Foundation.
Though much depends on the size and scope of the data warehouse, VisualAge Financial Foundation "can give a company up to a three-year head start on having to build it from scratch," Ms. Ginsberg said.
Customers already using Information Frameworks "are best positioned to consider the VisualAge Financial Foundation for their enterprise information warehouse," said Bill Bradway, a principal at Meridien Research, a Needham, Mass., consulting firm.
"They will have the easiest time starting with this approach and producing the result in the form of a usable data warehouse," Mr. Bradway said. In trying to capture customers outside its existing base, IBM will face competition from the likes of NCR Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co., he added.
IBM views its combination of an existing information framework with the software development tools necessary for customization as a competitive advantage over off-the-shelf data warehouse solutions, Ms. Ginsberg said.
The strategy is useful for IBM because "it helps them define 'here's what we can do for you,'" Mr. Bradway said.
IBM plans to offer more industry-specific systems, building on its technology, banking, and software expertise in such specialties as Internet banking and customer relationship management, Ms. Ginsberg said.
