National Commercial Bank outsources Website with IBM and SBM

The NCB Website, which was jointly developed in conjunction with IBM and SBM, has been hosted at the recently launched IBM/DIC eHosting centre at Dubai Internet City.

The announcement marks the first outsourcing deal of this nature in the Middle East banking industry, where services are hosted in the Middle East, rather than at hosting centres in the US or Europe.

This project is part of NCB's extensive program to enhance the way in which it services its customers using the latest technology. This new e-banking portal will become a primary source of information for customers, with online customer service information, newsletters, stock values, financial news, and currency calculators and online fund and stock prices. For its consumer banking customers, NCB's portal will offer access to quality information and unique investment opportunities.
By allowing analysis of customer requirements, NCB can develop in-depth knowledge of its customers' banking needs, ultimately providing a confidential, private and secure way to perform any banking function. The portal can also help the bank understand the unique needs of its customers, and match them to innovative investment opportunities.

"The ability to communicate with our customers securely and reliably via the Internet is what is driving NCB's continuing success. Strong customer relations are at the heart of the banking business: this portal will provide easy and reliable access to information and services to our customers," said Omar Hashem, e-business development manager, NCB.

"We chose the expertise and knowledge of SBM and IBM for this outsourcing project as they could provide both the business consultancy and the end-to-end hosting services to let us deploy any new services quickly and cost effectively, without having to invest in physical infrastructure. With SBM's strong presence in the Kingdom, and IBM's world-leading technology and experience in implementing large-scale business systems, we are confident that they are the ideal partners to work with to service our customers better."

The IBM/DIC eHosting centre is built to support both IBM and non-IBM technology, allowing NCB to choose the solution that best suits their needs. The eHosting system is ideal for the corporate portal, as it allows information to be quickly, securely and cost-effectively accessed and updated, while ensuring maximum availability to NCB's customers.

"We are proud to be working on this pioneering project with one of the leading retail banks in the Middle East. IBM's eHosting centre at Dubai Internet City offers some of the world's most sophisticated technology facilities to help NCB transform to e-banking more quickly and easily," said Hasan Barraj, General Manager of SBM. "We will be working closely with NCB to ensure that performance and availability levels are maintained to the highest standards so that their customers to fully benefit from their e-banking services anytime, anywhere."

Outsourcing is developing into a major strategy for Middle East organisations as it allows businesses to focus on their core business and customer services. With this outsourcing agreement, NCB has contracted IBM to manage its technology from the IBM-DIC eHosting facility, providing the most effective solution in the most cost effective way over the long term. Outsourcing also allows NCB to pilot or deploy potential new services on a trial basis without having to commit large amounts of capital expenditure.

The eHosting centre offers standards-based technology services, giving the bank the flexibility to evolve as technology and requirements change. Additionally, the centre will offer NCB the scalability to seamlessly extend its services as its activities and customer base develops.

"The eHosting Centre at DIC is one of the world's most advanced facilities of this type, and brings IBM's technology expertise to bear for customers that need absolute reliability for their mission critical applications," said Farid Metwaly, General Manager, IBM Middle East Egypt and Pakistan. "Because of the rigorous design and technology implementation, we can give NCB service level guarantees that were previously impossible in this region, helping them achieve their business goals."

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