BNP Paribas knew grid computing would play an important role in improving its IT infrastructure, just as Rabobank knew launching its own mobile network would help the bank take advantage of remote access applications. To help blaze a path to those gains, both banks turned to a new service from Capgemini called TechnoVision 2012. Beyond its’ groovy name, the product attempts to reimagine tech consulting based on the belief that the IT world is changing so rapidly, it’s become hard to keep up with the evolution of platforms, applications, trends and buzzwords—and how to match that dizzying patchwork to specific business challenges.
“New technologies are arriving and being developed at such a rapid pace that nobody can keep track of it all,” says Caryn Sklar, a spokesperson for the strategy and architecture practice at Capgemini in New York. “Banks need to understand topics like social networking, the changes and challenges posed by new devices, and know which ones are going to be relevant to the business.”
TechnoVision is a strategic framework that outlines macro IT trends out to 2012, groups these trends into related clusters, and provides a roadmap to leverage to address specific business issues. The focus is on topics such as customer experience, the evolution from transactional customer relationships to interactive engagement, the use of “non-computer” mobile devices as transaction enablers, turning data into actionable business intelligence, real time processing and the use of the software as a service model.
“It’s a tool to facilitate discussion with clients,” says Jacques Richer, a consultant for Capgemini in Paris, who worked on the BNP Paribas project—which involved using TechnoVision to come up with a strategy that leveraged grid computing to improve the French bank’s risk management and IT infrastructure. “Without grid computing, the cost of processing risk would be way too high,” Richer says.