• Bad branding
• Competitiveness and the City
• New look legal marketing in the UK
• Cloud needn't be a marketing nightmare
• Up, up and away
• Putting a value on corporate reputation
• Policing Bloggers
• I know my customers – perception or reality?
• Does the US media need a bailout?
• Online Annual Reports – a review of current activity among FTSE100 companies
• The Content Generation
• Typing out a change of personality
• Companies caught in the commission of journalism
• Reputation Rehab
• Cut out the jargon
• Sibos viewpoint - Thursday 17 September
• Regaining our seat at the table
• Sibos viewpoint - Wednesday 16 September
• Sibos viewpoint - Tuesday 15 September
• Sibos viewpoint - Monday 14 September
• Thought leadership is not for the risk averse or misaligned
• David Byrne - An impetus for change
• The Great Escape
• Frightening MBA advertising?
• The curse of the Were-Designer
• Banking on effective communication
• The corporate newsroom amid a web of excited utterance
• It’s not what you say it’s the way that you do it
• Slow down and think
• Spreading the word
• Silver linings?
• Design and Technology
• Papercut: How Companies Can Combat A Weakening Mass Media
• CNBC and Jim Cramer Underestimate the Influence and Reach of Social Media

Sibos 2009, day two, and already we have had an excellent day.  Again, maintaining customer focus has been at the forefront of discussions - though in some cases it's not always apparent that vendors and banks are talking the same language.  This may seem a little at odds with a forum that talks about standardisation, but clearly the banking community is under immense pressure to cut costs. 

The real evidence of this is an IBM survey where, when questioned, 60% of respondents divulged that they are looking to outsource payments infrastructure and applications.  This figure is up a whopping 100% on the previous year.
 
One vendor I talked to summed it up with the comment "no one wants to pay for payments".  On the other hand, the discussions around securities processing are hotting up, with infrastructure vendors realizing that if they can solve the real time issues surrounding STP on the massive scale that the FX and securities markets demand, then solving payments processing should be a walk in the park, or indeed a short sail in a Chinese junk.
 
Talking of the inimitable slow boat to China, Intel has found out that its "Super Junk" is going to be a very slow boat indeed!  The company’s plan of hosting a floating event in Hong Kong harbor this evening has literally been scuppered - apparently even luxury junks don't fare well in typhoon conditions.  Oh well... perhaps it's all back to the Intel hotel to raid the mini bar or a last minute raid on the FiServ party.

Tudor Morgan

tudor.morgan@greentarget.net