Cape of Good Hope Bank becomes `Africa`s largest` Globus site

Issued by Sefin Marketing for EDS South Africa
Johannesburg, 23 Nov 1999

Cape of Good Hope Bank and EDS have completed the implementation of the Globus suite of banking applications, making the Nedcor group`s niche bank the largest retail Globus site on the continent.

EDS, which has also assisted Nedcor with the roll-out of Globus to its offshore banking units, managed the project across Cape of Good Hope Bank`s network of branches throughout the Western Cape. The information services multinational worked closely with the bank`s staff to ensure a smooth transition from its legacy system.

Wesley Little, business project manager on behalf of Cape of Good Hope Bank, said due to its full integration and client-centric design the new system would be "a catalyst for us to make quantum leaps toward one of our main objectives: improving our client focus." It would also enable the bank to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its processes.

"This is a very significant implementation of Globus," said EDS regional director Peter Church. "With 150 users accessing the system directly across a wide area network, a further 60 tellers accessing the system via a sophisticated queuing subsystem and 12 branches connected online, it`s probably the most extensive of its kind in Africa.

"However the success of any large banking project depends heavily on user readiness and motivation. Together with the bank we ran a very intensive user education programme. As a result the users were highly committed, right from the start, to making a success of Globus. This was a great bonus for the implementation team."

Little said the implementation of Globus represented phase one of a long-term relationship with EDS. "The benefits of this phase have been substantial in terms of Y2K compliance and the creation of a new systems foundation for the bank. Our real challenge lies ahead in ensuring that we leverage off this new foundation and propel the bank into the next millennium."

The Cape of Good Hope Bank Globus implementation team consisted of a wide range of suppliers and business users, project managed by EDS. The system runs on an IBM RS/6000 SMTP machine. High availability services connect the live systems to a secondary backup RS/6000 for business continuity purposes.

EDS

EDS is a leader in the global information services industry. The company`s more than 120 000 employees specialise in applying a range of ideas and technologies to help business and government clients improve their finances, products, services and relationships. EDS, which serves clients in 47 countries, reported revenues of US $16.9 billion in 1998. The company`s stock is traded on the New York and London stock exchanges. EDS Africa has grown rapidly since opening its doors in South Africa in 1995, increasing its staff complement from 600 to over 1 800, often taking on staff from client companies in outsourcing deals. Visit EDS via the Internet at www.eds.com and EDS Africa at www.za.eds.com.