The Central Bank of Swaziland recently awarded Millsoft (Pty) Ltd, a division of PQ-Africa, the contract to provide a state-of-the-art backbone for the Bank`s financial and administration systems. This will mark a major milestone in the Central Bank`s annals as it begins to implement the necessary technology to prepare for its entry into the high-tech world of the new Millennium.
Commenting on the Central Bank`s requirements, Benson Dlamini, Director of Information Technology at the Central Bank says, "We were looking for two separate systems. We needed one that would attend to all our banking and another that would take care of all our financial and administrative functions. We had to re-define our parameters and clearly identify all the functional requirements within the bank."
Dlamini continues, "Once we had all our prerequisites mapped out, our next step was to go to the market looking for a specific system that could address at least 80% of our needs. We called for tenders and received many responses from a number of high-profile companies, but when we began our evaluation process we soon realised that the only company that met all our requirements and criteria was Millsoft.
"Our first consideration was the product and for us Geac SMARTStream from Millsoft was a total solution. It addressed all the financial functions that we had identified as crucial to our needs and offered the most comprehensive solution of all the products we evaluated. We were also impressed with the flexibility of the product, which allowed easy integration with our existing systems."
Vanessa Nutter, Millsoft`s Sales and Marketing Director, confirms that one of SMARTStream`s major plus features is its high degree of flexibility, which provides the means for rapid implementation, even when it has to combine with legacy systems and disparate software. The first phase of Swaziland Central Bank`s project, the implementation of the General Ledger, has already been completed.
"Phase two will involve all the other financials such as payables, supplies and inventory, fixed assets, funds control and budget," says Nutter. "The beauty of Geac`s SMARTStream suite is that it allows us to do in weeks what competitor products would take months to complete." Nutter adds, "Geac is a worldwide leader in the software industry with a consistent track-record of international success and a solid reputation for quality professional support. They take pride in delivering systems that work right and work fast, so customers invariably see a rapid return on their investment,"
Dlamini concludes, "I believe it is up to the Central Bank to lead the way technologically and set the example for all the other banks in Swaziland." The entire project will cost the Central Bank of Swaziland in the region of R5.5m, which will include purchase and licensing of the product, support and implementation.
Share