HQ location: Wayne, Pa.
Number of employees: 20,000
Harold Finders, Chief Executive
SunGard Data Systems has its work cut out in trying to get banks to spend on information technology again.
"With fewer resources to support business growth, IT departments are under pressure to make smarter use of technology and keep costs down, while improving client service and profitability," says Harold Finders, SunGard's chief executive.
The Wayne, Pa., company's 25,000 customers in seven countries include the largest financial services firms. It provides software and processing solutions, as well as disaster recovery and business continuity products and consulting services, among other products.
But this year, SunGard says it has seen the greatest demand from banks that need help navigating the post-Dodd-Frank Act regulatory landscape. It has also amped up its core banking platform, Ambit, to help banks build more robust online banking capabilities, and to support the always-on needs of mobile banking transactions. As more banks transition to the cloud for computing capacity and IT development, SunGard plans to offer products and services there too. "Tectonic shifts have taken place in the finance industry, driving changes in regulation, technology and management," Finders says.
Though SunGard fell to fourth place from second place last year, experts say its expertise in core banking, treasury services and cash management are key product offerings that continue to set it apart in the financial services industry, where it competes with the likes of Infosys, Fiserv and SAS.
In the past year, SunGard has also made upgrades to Ambit, including a service that helps banks track capital allocation, liquidity, and performance adjusted for risk. It also introduced a customer management tool, which mines customer data in an attempt to deepen relationships by identifying important moments in a customer's life.
For the rest of 2011 and 2012, Finders says SunGard plans to add more mobile components to its core banking solution, enabling banks to meet the needs of customers who require more always-on connections to smartphones and electronic tablets. It also plans to beef up its online banking solution to combine the older transactional capabilities of online banking with newer things like personal financial management.
And it will upgrade its treasury management product while launching a mobile wealth management service later this year specifically for the iPad.
Finders says SunGard will spend the rest of 2011 continuing to develop its Infinity software-as-a-service platform for development, which helps banks map business processes and information flows.
"The mission is to transform not only the way we create and deliver new software solutions but also the way in which we partner with our customers and partners to solve business problems," Finders says.
