Consolidating a string of consolidations since 2006 as well as its rethinking its software strategy to financial services, SunGard Data Systems has rolled up its four major banking business lines into a unified brand called Ambit. It’s more than just a new label; SunGard is also expanding the front-, middle- and back-office functionality for its private, retail and commercial banks to integrate SunGard’s applications and platforms across more business lines, plus it will allow banks to piecemeal them into existing SOA-oriented systems.
According to SunGard, which has 800 banking clients worldwide, Ambit will include its Apsys private banking solution; the BancWare asset liability system; the liquidity management offering of AvanGard; its straight-through enterprise processing (STeP) service as well as the core System Access platform.
The Ambit gambit is in keeping with the hybrid sales strategy that many vendors are invoking with banks, which is aimed at servicing them through an all-in-one model, yet still allows for componentized offerings on an a la carte basis. This is especially vital as the SOA adoption trend takes hold: make your services all-encompassing to interest banks needing core upgrades, especially in the U.S., as well as componentized to institutions not ready to make a full-bore swap-out. “That’s the real challenge…you do have to provide both,” says Nancy Atkinson, a senior analyst with Aite Group.
