Using SQL Server at the Core: Case Studies
Abstract
Celent examines two successful core migrations to a new platform.
In the report Using SQL Server at the Core, Celent examines two successful core migrations to a new platform. In the ever-competitive world of retail and commercial banking, financial institutions are considering reducing costs in ways that they wouldn’t have contemplated just a few years ago.
Choices range from using the cloud to outsourcing both IT and operations to considering platforms with a lower total cost of ownership (TCO). SQL Server has been used extensively as a database for channel layers such as branch automation, Internet banking, and mobile banking. It historically hasn’t been used extensively as the system of record database at a bank. This is changing.
In this report Celent provides a high-level framework and examines the use of SQL Server as a way to reduce TCO and enhance performance at the core. Staff familiarity with SQL Server was a significant consideration for the two financial institutions Celent examined that are using SQL Server to achieve equal or better performance at reduced cost: BlueShore Financial (operating name of North Shore Credit Union) in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and Bank SinoPac in Taipei, Taiwan.
“Total cost of ownership was an important factor for both institutions that migrated to SQL Server at the core,” says Dan Latimore, Senior Vice President of Celent’s Banking Group. “With the proper environments and staff expertise, SQL Server can be an interesting choice for institutions considering a core migration.”