As the replacement of core banking systems remains a key priority throughout the modern financial world, an increasing number of organisations are discovering many inherent benefits provided by the i-Con Integration Framework.
This has come about because i-Con offers a fast and effective alternative for businesses seeking to optimise communication between enterprise software systems, applications and interfaces. A recent example is the successful role played by the i-Con Integration Framework as part of an upgrade by Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) to the Temenos T24 core banking system.
The i-Con integration platform is one of several unique solutions provided by Johannesburg-based specialist IT services and systems company, Pro Solutions. The i-Con product has a proven track record for success and in addition to MCB, has been put to effective use by organisations such as Lloyds TSB, Raiffaisen Bank Kosovo, Saudi Hollandi Bank and Volkswagen Finance.
Most significantly, i-Con is different to other integration options because it uses components that perform specific functions to ensure a reliable and efficient flow of information. These components consist of a collection of business rules that take a fraction of the time to implement compared with writing code, and offer several further benefits, such as allowing for future changes to be made easily and conveniently.
Among other features, these include:
* Managing all integration from a single point
* Logging and automatic problem detection enabled from a single point
* Immediate notification via e-mail and SMS if a problem is detected
* Versioning of all interfaces with roll-back capability
Each function-specific component is tried and tested as a result of extensive experience acquired by the i-Con team over several years and incorporated into i-Con's intellectual property.
Integration, therefore, becomes a process of configuring components rather than developing interfaces - and simply re-configuring the components when changes are needed, rather than developing or rewriting code.
The i-Con Monitor is a separate feature that ensures high availability and may be configured to perform functions such as the following:
* View and manage i-Con events and messages
* Restart interfaces on the same server or disaster recovery server in the event of a failure
* Send notifications in the form of SMS or e-mail in the event of a failure
The i-Con Monitor simplifies and speeds up integration, debugging and fault detection tremendously as it offers a graphic display where the status of interfaces can be viewed at a glance. The benefits are obvious compared to a system where interfaces exist only as code, and no centralised position is available from which the environment can be observed.
Grant Hart, Technical Director of Pro Solutions, says MCB is now using its existing systems more efficiently and is also well positioned for future growth of its application portfolio without having to worry about performance. The increased visibility into interface connectivity provides the bank with the ability to proactively avoid problems or act quickly should they occur. Support staff are able to spend less time trouble-shooting network problems and can focus on other duties.
Prosol group, which has been in existence for 25 years in 2011, is also a leading provider of specialised payroll and human capital management solutions, network asset management systems and smart information management solutions.
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