Back in 2016 in Las Vegas I had the pleasure of having dinner with 2 of the directors from a company called IntegrationWorks, a New Zealand based firm that had just picked up an IBM Beacon award (The IBM Beacon Awards recognize IBM Business Partners who have delivered exceptional solutions using IBM products and services. By delivering innovative solutions to drive business value, Beacon Award winners help transform the way their clients, the industry and the world do business). Apart from having a very nice dinner at the café de Paris, we discussed DevOps, Tech strategies and world domination. At the time I thought they had a great business in New Zealand and a winning formula for growth and innovation within regulated sectors, as well as the retail market place, with the services they offered. As you do, we exchanged business cards and said our farewells and I left on an aeroplane back to the UK.
16 months later by complete chance, I bumped into Grant, one of the Directors from IntegrationWorks in Southbank and chatted briefly. To say I was surprised on their progression is an understatement and we had a great chat based on DevOps integration and challenger banks, PSD2 and many other bits and pieces. What they are doing is game changing for the regulated sectors, retail and others and I’ll tell you why as the three main focus areas that they now deliver to the UK market place are unique!
The Banking and Financial Services Integration market
This has always been a misunderstood subject as the word regulation always comes out on to the table. However, IntegrationWorks have created a “Managed Service for Integration – MSFI”.
Any company that is looking to establish integration as a foundation for business growth and transformation will encounter the requirement for integrated systems. The proliferation of people, processes, and technology to achieve this often results in unanticipated costs and overheads. These factors must be aligned through a common delivery model to ensure objectives are met in a more efficient manner. Managed services are far more than a simple operational support contract. A Managed Service for integration can provide the organisation with a flexible, cost-effective, and more robust integration capability and with IntegrationWorks that have the framework in place that quite literately picks up your initiative, execute and implement – reducing your project timeline down by months!
“This is a partnership with clients where a plan is put together to form the ideal desired team for current and future needs while providing the frameworks, methodology and processes to enable mutual success. The Managed Services are delivered for a fixed, regular monthly subscription price depending on the base plan (based on the number of teams) and supplemental capability required in the month. The option to simply enhance the model through additional charges and services for faster outcomes or higher service levels can be easily achieved and negotiated in advance.” Grant McKeen, Business Development Manager, IntegrationWorks.
PSD2 – What is it?
The Payment Services Directive 2 allows third-party developers to build payment service infrastructures around the platforms of financial institutions (mostly open API based) that creates an open banking disruptive model for challenger banks to enter the game. This creates a fair and level playing field for new non-traditional firms to provide payment services alongside new rules that include transparency for account services, charges, reporting obligations and complaint procedures for consumers.
[easy-tweet tweet=”IntegrationWorks is currently working on a PSD2 open banking appliance for the European market” hashtags=”IntegrationWorks, Market”]
IntegrationWorks is currently working on a PSD2 open banking appliance for the European market, based on IBM Datapower and API Connect. This would be used as a free non-financial negotiating tool to sell IBM Datapower and API Connect at full retail pricing. The customer benefits from low-risk PSD2 adoption, IBM benefits from increased sales, IntegrationWorks benefits from rebates and potential services work.
Integrated License Management (ILM)
Aside from meeting potential litigious and costly compliance measures with the vendor, an efficient integrated license management practice will save money, increase security, improve support, improve productivity, and allow your business to stay informed. However, the main and most important benefit is that you meet your obligations as a business, regarding your end-user license agreements, thus meeting your legal and contractual obligations with the vendor.
“Software Asset Management (SAM) is important to any business that licenses software. If organisations are serious about avoiding software licensing penalties or fees, they need to ensure they implement efficient discovery tools, license optimisation software and consider partnering with software license experts to be able to create accurate software asset reports.” Grant McKeen, Business Development Manager, IntegrationWorks.
Grant then expanded on the specifics and commented “We are focused on the best-fit for our customers and will align the best piece of technology suited to budget and requirements. This saves time from sourcing multiple vendor pricing, keeps vendors competitive and allows you immediate access to localised specialist vendor experts that increase value-add. Our partnerships with IBM, MuleSoft, Oracle, WSO2, Redhat, EightWire and Apigee allow us to secure you the best licencing and product options.”
Any way you look at it IntegrationWorks is a cracking company that not only does what is described on the tin, but they are also great guys to work with. I have asked him to write some information on PSD2 and their vast experience complying with this regulation for clients, and he has agreed so watch out for future articles! What do IntegrationWorks do? Click here!
Neil Cattermull, Director of Cloud Practice, Compare the Cloud
Neil's focus is on developing cloud technology and big data. You can often find him advising CXOs on cloud strategy.