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L&T Infotech FSTI's Annual
Issue No. 119
Conference Strengthens Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Client Confidence
L&T Infotech Financial Services Technologies Inc.
(L&T Infotech FSTI), a wholly owned subsidiary of
L&T Infotech, held its annual client conference from
September 12 to 14, 2011 in Gravenhurst, Ontario,
Canada. This year’s event was the client conference’s
14th edition: One notable aspect of this year’s event
was that it was the first conference after FSTI’s
merger with L&T Infotech. Attendance from client
and vendor-partner organizations this year exceeded
all previous years. It is important to note that
L&T Infotech FSTI’s current client roster is a veritable
‘who’s who’ list of the Canadian financial services
sector; an ideal client demographic for other Mr. Hubbard addressing the delegates.
L&T Infotech BFSI offerings. Mr. Hubbard addressing the delegates.
In the last two months, L&T Infotech FSTI, with support from corporate
marketing, has aggressively embarked on a social media journey. Since
July 2011,L&T Infotech FSTI has established a web identity, a LinkedIn
community, a Twitter feed and a Facebook presence. The first phases of
the L&T Infotech FSTI social media deployments were officially launched
just prior to this year's client event. L&T Infotech FSTI's Ms. Lina Ismail
demonstrated L&T Infotech FSTI's social media platforms at this year's
event.
While many corporate social media initiatives are launched with a limited
long-term strategy, L&T Infotech FSTI's social media activities are rooted
in the notion that a community of clients, prospects, technology partners
and subject matter experts will help graduate the L&T Infotech FSTI
L&T Infotech FSTI personnel congregate on the shores product set to the next level.
of Lake Maskoka, Gravenhurst, Canada.
Viewing the annual client conference from a numbers
angle alone will do organizers, presenters and
delegates a disservice—though the numbers are
harbingers of positive developments ahead. The
event offered L&T Infotech FSTI clients actionable
information, deep insight into the L&T Infotech FSTI
product roadmap and the structure of L&T Infotech
FSTI moving forward.
The tone of the conference was set during Mr. Mark
Hubbard’s (Head, L&T Infotech FSTI) opening
remarks. Mr. Hubbard made clear L&T Infotech FSTI’s
unwavering commitment to a high-touch client
service model, ceaseless product development
/innovation and the manner by which FSTI’s (From left to right) Mr. Naidu, Ms. Allan and Mr. Chris Pantelidis,
capacities and capabilities have expanded since its VP, Relationship Management Services, L&T Infotech Financial
acquisition by L&T Infotech in January 2011. Services Technologies Inc.
In fact, this year's keynote presentation, delivered by Mr. Mike Dover
(author of Wikibrands), validated L&T Infotech FSTI's social media strategy
and hammered home the fact that whether organizations approved of
social media tools or not, consumers in all sectors expect to communicate
with their vendors via social media platforms. While L&T Infotech FSTI's
social media presence is newly established, the future vision of these
platforms is well thought out. Going forward, the social media will act as
an elemental vehicle for L&T Infotech FSTI as it gauges the needs of its
clients and plans its product development plans based on near real-time
client input.
Mr. Michael Lethbridge, Microstrategy; and
Ms. Linda Graney, Standard Life, at the conference.
L&T Infotech FSTI clients left the event confident that
FSTI, as part of L&T Infotech, is an even more capable
organization than it was prior to its acquisition.
Moreover, this year’s attendees were exposed to the
broad range of capabilities available to them through
L&T Infotech.
Global Collaboration
The event was expertly supported by L&T Infotech
teams in Canada, India and the United States. The
coordination of marketing, technical, and client-
facing organizations helped drive a well considered Clients representing Standard Life pose for a photo in a leisurely
agenda rooted in the needs of clients focused on the moment during the conference. (Left to right): Linda Graney, Marisa
Canadian asset servicing industry. The connection McCall, Mary Panfili, Etienne Albert, Johanne Danis-Prefontaine, Marc
between IT implications and business context was Ghaly and Jean Desroches.
pervasive throughout the three-day event.
The interactions between L&T Infotech FSTI’s Expanded Governance – Total Compliance
Canadian staff and offshore teams supporting this
In the highly regulated Canadian financial services sector, adherence to
event offer a model that other L&T Infotech business
federal and industry guidelines is mandatory. Naturally, as a holding of
units can emulate.
Citibank prior to the acquisition, FSTI was no stranger to operating under
L&T Infotech FSTI’s Relationship Managers (RMs) are 3rd party mandate and federal supervision. However, L&T Infotech's long
seasoned veterans in the space served by history of operating in such environments further solidifies the technical
L&T Infotech FSTI. With an average of 10 years of and industry synergies of the January 2011 acquisition.
domain experience in their current professional
Clients at this year's event received more evidence that FSTI's legacy of
responsibilities, the L&T Infotech FSTI RM team has
quality and adherence to regulations would be augmented by ITIL and
strived to align the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
CMMI5 credentials achieved and sustained by L&T Infotech. With this
of its clients with L&T Infotech KPIs.
expanded adherence to industry standards, L&T Infotech FSTI's client-
facing organizations can quickly and confidently propose certified IT
services to their clients and prospects well beyond the current product
portfolio offered by L&T Infotech FSTI.
L&T Infotech FSTI's Ms. Yasemin Sezer delivered a fact-based, research-
rich presentation that outlined the application development processes
employed at L&T Infotech FSTI. In addition to detailing the number of
technical personnel supporting development objectives, the presentation
described the manner by which new staff members obtain the requisite
industry context to be optimally productive in their application
development capacities. The knowledge transfer activities, as outlined by
Ms. Sezer, demonstrated a clear appreciation that IT expertise alone will
NOT deliver the expectations of clients. However, IT excellence married
A session in progress. with industry appreciation will deliver.
L&T Infotech FSTI's structured software application processes are loosely
The alignment of internal and external KPI goals has based on agile methodologies, augmented by personnel well-versed with
served L&T Infotech FSTI and its clients well. Indeed, the nuances of the sector served by L&T Infotech FSTI. It is an important
the articulation of key client KPIs with delivery component of L&T Infotech FSTI's strategy of exceeding the capability
objectives of L&T Infotech FSTI resonated with event requirements of an ever- evolving market.
attendees, as this demonstrated a clear
understanding of the pain points experienced by
L&T Infotech FSTI's clients.
While KPIs can be viewed in spreadsheets and
actuarial tables, L&T Infotech FSTI's Ms. Tina Allan,
Director, Business Development & Relationship
Management Services, articulated L&T Infotech FSTI's
KPIs via three basic questions, namely:
1. How do we improve our clients' experience?
2. Where can we take the client experience to?
3. Where should we invest to build the necessary
capacity required to sustain a culture of constant
improvement?
Ms. Ismail making a presentation.
Throughout the three-day event, L&T Infotech FSTI
RMs demonstrated L&T Infotech FSTI's commitment to
making investments in people, tools and processes Depth of Technical and Business Contexts
required to manufacture and sustain the technical L&T Infotech's Mr. Harsh Naidu pointedly articulated a message of deep
and structural objectives of L&T Infotech, while domain knowledge of L&T Infotech in the banking & financial services
consistently exceeding the expectations of clients and space. Mr. Naidu's evident fluency with the IT implications impacting the
L&T Infotech FSTI's technology partners. financial services sector resonated with event attendees. He also
The three questions posed by Ms. Allan were demonstrated how L&T Infotech can deliver proven solutions that will
addressed by L&T Infotech FSTI's RMs as they benefit their organizations. Mr. Naidu gently, though persuasively, relayed
presented on topics ranging from risk management to the message that while the audience was familiar and comfortable with
optimizing the client experience and from scalable the L&T Infotech FSTI portfolio, the opportunities for clients to reduce
development practices to the L&T Infotech FSTI their IT spend while achieving new process efficiencies via the adoption
product roadmap. L&T Infotech FSTI's RMs and of L&T Infotech solutions was available.
technical staff aptly demonstrated an understanding In the above context, the following presentations detailing
of the full lifecycle of their clients' interactions with L&T Infotech's capability offerings were made:
L&T Infotech FSTI's product set.
1. Client Reporting Capabilities
2. Custody
3. Testing Services
4. Mobility Solutions
5. Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing
The conference agenda was tactfully crafted to expose existing
L&T Infotech FSTI clients to the broader range of L&T Infotech BFSI
offerings. At the same time, it remained sensitive to the fact that these
clients were already under contract and were mainly interested in trends
around the current L&T Infotech FSTI product portfolio.
Ms. Sezer making a presentation.
Nevertheless, the impression left on attendees is that the existing FSTI
Seamless Transition for Clients clients have considerable confidence in L&T Infotech FSTI. Moreover, it is
logical that, as existing L&T Infotech FSTI clients seek assistance with
Naturally, FSTI clients viewed the January 2011 their current IT infrastructure or future IT undertakings, L&T Infotech is
acquisition with a measured view. Early client the ideal full service IT product and services partner for them.
concerns have been replaced with an enthusiasm for
the rapid development of applications such as Unitrax
GUI, as well as the addition of nearly 200 members of
the L&T Infotech FSTI technical staff since the
acquisition was executed.
Clients at the event were impressed by the scale at
which L&T Infotech FSTI has rolled out new
capabilities, while maintaining the high-touch support
model that has defined FSTI for many years.
In particular, the expansion of the L&T Infotech FSTI
technical staff, augmented by a follow-the-sun
support model employed by L&T Infotech FSTI
(Centers of excellence in Canada, New Jersey,
Northern Ireland and India) has expanded the depth
and breadth of support offered with all L&T Infotech The L&T Infotech FSTI team recognizes a job well done with a
FSTI engagements. Though L&T Infotech FSTI's ‘thank you’ note in the background.
product set today is rooted in delivering products to
the Canadian market, the current staff levels and Editorial Team: Anand Aashay, Amit Shastri, Neelian Homem and
broad technical skill set suggest that L&T Infotech
Deepti Mithapelli
FSTI is poised for product expansion far beyond
SC911084
Canada's borders. Editorial Inputs: Benjamin A. Friedman