tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21995947607647467032012-02-05T05:28:51.816-08:00John Murrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08866464388849038194noreply@blogger.comBlogger201100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2199594760764746703.post-13395121740684074432011-12-30T09:43:00.000-08:002011-12-30T09:55:26.693-08:00

Well we live in a funny old world. What a year 2011 was especially in Europe and for those Euro zone countries. 2012 will be even more interesting. Our politicians still defy old economic theories and practices that are tried and tested and implement ridiculous new theories that will never work. It will be interesting to see if the Euro survives 2012, maybe it will but I would put money on the

John Murrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08866464388849038194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2199594760764746703.post-48703199396986319802011-09-24T10:15:00.001-07:002011-09-24T10:18:10.349-07:00

Over the past few years I have been introduced to the role of a Technical Business Analyst. Now this was not a role I was familiar with so I was curious as to what these creatures actually do in the banking software world. In fact I had never heard of the term before I went to work on a project with a tier 1 bank.I have searched for a formal definition of this role the best definition I could

John Murrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08866464388849038194noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2199594760764746703.post-4791054225863878222011-05-20T10:01:00.000-07:002011-05-20T10:02:32.499-07:00

We have seen huge growth in the use of social networking sites on the internet over the past six years or so. Indeed social networking is a new phenomenon that has become part and parcel of everyday life for approx. 600 million of us around the world. Initially these sites were designed to bring people with the same interests together online. It all seems to have kicked off with the introduction

John Murrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08866464388849038194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2199594760764746703.post-25261072079212463342011-04-24T07:16:00.000-07:002011-04-25T03:26:11.837-07:00

Banks the world over all look the same from the outside but once you get deep into their operations you find that different banks all have different cultures. This is just like the projects that we do. They all have different cultures. The important thing to remember is that if the culture of a project is wrong then the project is likely to fail. You can have all the processes and procedures in

John Murrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08866464388849038194noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2199594760764746703.post-55469692600391675932011-02-23T11:28:00.001-08:002011-02-23T11:45:31.617-08:00

I have set up a new blog all about Ireland and things Irish. As I am very interested in current affairs, the economy, business and politics I will be posting my views on all aspects of Irish life and commenting on what is happening in our wonderful country.Check it out on Ireland and all Things Irish

John Murrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08866464388849038194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2199594760764746703.post-44594415946815353992011-02-04T06:43:00.000-08:002011-02-13T05:38:47.416-08:00

Allied Irish Bank (AIB) has begun court proceedings against Oracle Financial Services Software, claiming nearly EUR84 million over a bungled Flexcube implementation according to RTE, Ireland’s broadcasting service. The system was intended for its retail banking operations. The article makes interesting reading and reiterates to me that developing and implementing Banking Software Systems is a

John Murrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08866464388849038194noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2199594760764746703.post-35263179015650975992011-01-25T11:13:00.000-08:002011-01-25T11:17:45.843-08:00

If you have read the article on this blog written some time ago ‘What is a Functional Consultant’ you will be aware of what the role entails and the expectations a client will have from these guys on a project. In today’s implementation projects the role of the technical consultant has also come more prominent and the division of duties of both a technical and functional consultant are now better

John Murrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08866464388849038194noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2199594760764746703.post-80640180957058413072011-01-01T11:14:00.000-08:002011-01-03T06:34:51.744-08:00

Well like the rest of my Irish countrymen I am glad to see the end of 2010. What a year it was especially for Europeans. We saw some major economic issues in different EU countries and some disturbing social issues closer to home. I cannot resist sharing with you all a few predication for 2011. See what you think.Precious Metal prices will peak. The price of precious metals including copper,

John Murrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08866464388849038194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2199594760764746703.post-39494008058188049762010-12-07T11:21:00.001-08:002010-12-07T11:25:11.280-08:00

This is a very controversial subject and I have been engaged in many discussions on this matter over the years. Below is an article written by my colleague Vadim Baskakov that goes some way to explain both the positives and negatives of off shoring IT services.I wrote this page in an attempt to share my experience of working with the the popular off-shore model of implementation of IT systems. I

John Murrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08866464388849038194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2199594760764746703.post-42835999451012105412010-12-02T10:38:00.000-08:002010-12-02T10:45:26.792-08:00

With certain events unfolding in Europe at present there has been a lot of talk over the past few weeks about certain countries exiting from the euro and returning to their original currencies. A number of people have contacted me asking how this would work in practice within the operations and IT departments of banks. There is also talk and speculation around the fact that the euro might not

John Murrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08866464388849038194noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2199594760764746703.post-88144673094966279582010-11-26T13:51:00.000-08:002010-11-27T05:47:11.819-08:00

but what aspect of this fact do our government not understand? You can't bring a corpes back to life. Well what a few weeks we have had in Ireland. As an Irishman I have to express my anger, frustration and sadness as to what is going on in Ireland at the moment especially with the banks and the economy.To summarise, the Irish banks through greed and mismanagement over the past ten years, lent

John Murrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08866464388849038194noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2199594760764746703.post-42448898883561402552010-10-08T04:16:00.000-07:002010-10-08T04:20:22.473-07:00

As you all know I am a career banker. I started working in banking at the age of seventeen and learnt on the job. My early roles included working in the branch network of a retail bank as a customer services representative before moving into operations, internal audit, treasury and IT. To complement this experience I undertook a number of professional qualifications. I settled in IT and have made

John Murrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08866464388849038194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2199594760764746703.post-74955017384963174522010-10-07T04:04:00.000-07:002010-10-08T04:21:33.885-07:00

Implementing any banking software is a painful experience especially if you have not undertaken it before and are inexperienced in the field. Let’s face it unless you are an IT professional with multiply implementation projects behind you, you will find the process painful and stressful. Most business people working in banks only get the opportunity to partake in a small number of big system

John Murrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08866464388849038194noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2199594760764746703.post-3074386890199109922010-03-01T11:08:00.000-08:002010-03-01T11:12:39.257-08:00

I read with shock and disappointment at weekend that Ireland’s Postbank which is jointly owned by An Post and BNP is to shut down by the end of the year.Just over three years ago Postbank was launched on the market as a basic bank, offering good banking products through the network of post offices throughout the country. What a great idea. I was honoured to be invited to work on the project and I

John Murrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08866464388849038194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2199594760764746703.post-60163914392117820992009-03-01T00:51:00.001-08:002011-02-23T11:55:59.336-08:00

A number of Banks have tried the Model approach over the past few years in implementing their software systems, some to no avail and some quite successfully. We are now seeing software vendors also adapt the model approach. In my next article I will examining the pros and cons of such an approach and reporting on some success stories and some not so successful ones.Well after spending the past

John Murrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08866464388849038194noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2199594760764746703.post-22871257716874715002007-10-29T05:32:00.000-07:002007-10-29T05:47:51.694-07:00

Over the past few years fixed price contracts have become very popular with banking software vendors. The article below, written by a very seasoned Bank Software Consultant Vadim Baskakov, outlines the hidden costs and pitfalls associated with these type of implementations. The idea of this article arises from my previous experience in banking software implementation projects in different

John Murrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08866464388849038194noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2199594760764746703.post-72609207281403637882007-10-26T03:02:00.000-07:002011-02-04T06:59:44.194-08:00

It is amazing that when we go to the pub and that is a very regular thing in this business, we are always asked what we do for a living. Unfortunately due to the nature of the business we are in it is very difficult to explain to the layperson, especially the young secretary from the office next door who has a few vodkas on her.So to try and explain what we exactly do I have taken a detailed

John Murrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08866464388849038194noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2199594760764746703.post-87795870718746320742007-10-26T02:38:00.000-07:002007-10-27T02:55:44.936-07:00

As a result of spending a year working with the Flexcube System, and as you all know 15 years plus on GLOBUS/T24 people always ask me the question, which is better, T24 or Flexcube. This is a very hard question to answer but below I outline the facts as I see them about the two vendors and the two systems Company i-flex has a very different business model to Temenos. All deals are fixed

John Murrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08866464388849038194noreply@blogger.com42tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2199594760764746703.post-32208070107429199812007-03-13T09:11:00.000-07:002007-03-20T04:51:51.121-07:00

The top ten most tax-miserable countries (source: Forbes):France, China Belgium Sweden Italy Austria Poland Spain Argentina and Slovenia.And the most tax-friendly countries:United Arab Emirates Hong Kong Cyprus Georgia Singapore Russia Taiwan Thailand South Africa and The Philippines

John Murrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08866464388849038194noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2199594760764746703.post-2677717322213414062007-03-09T03:58:00.001-08:002008-01-22T02:39:11.405-08:00

Hello everybody. I have just launched my new blog that will hopefully entertain you over the coming months as I report on stories from our industry of implementing banking software around the globe. I look forward to having contributions from other consultants working on different projects sharing funnny stories, messages and pracital advice on all related matters.

John Murrayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08866464388849038194noreply@blogger.com4