1.0 INTRODUCTION

Over the years, many innovations have taken place in the world. The most striking and most celebrated is the aspect of information technology. Organisations today are confronted with rapidly changing market condition indicated by high merger rate and strong competitors. Under these conditions, traditional management approaches that focus on financial figures and on centralised, analytical planning methods are considered to be insufficient for effectively steering the organisation in a dynamic environment. Recent management support approaches like balanced score card is aimed at providing a broader view of organisational performance.The role of technology in the “information age” is well recognised by banks, businesses, industries, governments and as such has completely woven in to their organisational structure and strategic planning process. Previous research work shows that information technology has become the nervous system of banks today and as such Nigerian banks which do not have the means to deliver banking service online and real-time across all branches within the country and abroad will be termed uncompetitive.

1Banking in Nigeria, as all of us know, has traversed a long way from the days of manual work processes to mechanization, followed by word processing on standalone PCs and onto IT based applications and so on. As things stand today, it would be difficult to imagine a bank of any significance which does not have some or most of the key processes being run on IT based applications. Most of the customer related functions in banks, be it account opening, transaction processing or account and data maintenance, are all run on IT enabled systems. It is the reach and capacity of information technology that has facilitated banks to transcend the limitations of, geographical spread, burgeoning transaction volumes and, to an extent, human resources. Banks are expanding their size and services to cater to fast increasing customer needs through technology enabled payment systems, internet based access and innovative service delivery modes.

Other important business activities of banks such as participation in securities, currency and money markets, besides compliance functions like reserve maintenance, regulatory reporting etc. are all having processes heavily dependent on information technology. Even in case of internal work processes having large component of manual processing, dependence on computers and IT based communication mechanism is increasingly felt. Overall, banks are dependent on IT based systems for

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almost all of their activities, although the level of sophistication and refinement in such systems may vary from bank to bank or across activities or banking Industry segments (commercial banks, cooperative banks etc.). Reasons for this are not far to seek. Technology has become essential component for customer related and market related activities and participant banks cannot meet the requirements imposed by timelines or volumes without leveraging on technology. Even for backend and internal work processes, cost and time constraints are pushing banks to lean upon technology. It may not be possible to store and retrieve huge amounts of customer data, transaction data and business information, but for the power of technology based systems. More so, the globalization, competition and compliance requirements make it imperative for banks to increasingly use IT based platforms and applications for most of their activities. It has become necessary for banks to use modern marketing as well as customer service tools to survive in a competitive environment; which involve large scale data collection, analysis and efficient communication which are not possible without the help of IT.

Technology and more specifically Information and Communication Technology (ICT) are one of the resources needed in the banking sector for effective management. It has significantly improved the ability of the manager to monitor individual or team performance and it has allowed employees to have more complete information to make faster decisions.Through Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services available to ECOBANK NIGERIA PLC, it can now give its customers a unified access to manage their personal financial information.

The adoption of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) by this bank has increased its operational efficiencies, reduced cost through high utilization rates in the ICT environment to ensure compliance with changing time and to gain competitive advantage.

Methods of handling financial services has to change from old manual transactions and data processing to a faster, more effective and highly efficient electronic data processing and Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) i.e. deposits, withdrawals, bills-pay-in, purchases of draft, value for cheques, third party transactions, fund transfer and inquiries are all done electronically within seconds.

The adoption of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has also helped Ecobank Nigeria Plc. to keep the pace with the changing customers’ needs and market dynamics and create a competitive differentiation in products and services.The complex nature of the banking system, its products and services have made it necessary for banks to

embrace this change as quick as possible since this medium of banking has proven to be very efficient in most countries of the world( for example America) and Nigeria is no exception.

Indeed, the impact of ICT has reshaped the banking industry in terms of providing and delivering effective and efficient services to enhance its operations and general performance and does not need to be overemphasised.

The integration of banks structure, business processes and strategies by the use of specialised information technology is considered a vital part of performance management concept. It has to be ensured that, strategic changes trigger modification on the business process level and the supporting information technology, and that innovation on the information system initiates the adjustment of the company strategy.Organisations in the financial sector especially banks strive to achieve creation goals for the benefit of their owners or clients. These goals may be expressed in terms of objectives which include among others, increasing revenue, improving services rendered, expanding the customer base, minimising cost of operations.

Information technology has been acknowledged as the life wire of banks in the financial sector as it promotes and facilitates the performance of banks in the country. These therefore call for a pre-requisite need to embrace information technology.

FIG A. SYSTEM INTEGRATION STAGES.

1.1 AREA OF STUDY

Banking has come of age and as such, competition has alerted banks to look for innovations that will keep their customers and even win more. As a result of the need for efficiency and effectiveness in the banking sector, the web is introduced and used mostly for commercial purpose through internet banking and information technology. The adoption of information technology in banking sector is owing to the fact that, linguistic barriers needed to be put to an end to enable easy and cheaper communication during transaction, to foster customer-bank relationship, increase customer satisfaction, improve operational efficiency, reduce the running cost, reduce transaction time, give banks competitive edge, provide security to investors fund and promotion of other financial services.

Despite the adoption of information technology in banking sectors today with its numerous objectives, observation has however shown that, not all the objectives have been realised and felt by users. It is highly disheartening to observe that, some among many undertaken are not working to standard thereby causing more harm than good to shareholders, potential investors among other users. Banks today seems to be mainly interested in the dividend declared and profit to be made, thereby losing sight of the critical and more important areas like making transaction equipments work to standard, providing security to investors fund so as to win more investors to the company and intern make huge profit. Banks today are unable to comply strictly with the mission statement/corporate mission with information technology. Much bank management does not plan to meet the service quality, for example, the required number of customers to be attended to by a cashier within the daily working hours to guide against long queue is neglected irrespective of the fact that, automated teller machines (ATM) is introduced. This intern causes delay in transactions. Despite this innovation ‘information technology’, banks still find it difficult to properly sort out transactions thereby leading to loss of trust by customers. Also the banks have found it a challenge to grow and meet up with their responsibilities to shareholders and other stakeholders of the banks. Irrespective of the fact that banks are making much profit, they still suffer from liquidity problems which is said to be as a result of insolvency. Critically evaluating the introduction of information technology owing to its objectives, it is not concern with how much technology is provided but how well it serves potential users.

2.0 THE SCOPE OF MANAGEMNT OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

In evaluating the IS/IT management practices in my organization(Ecobank

Nigeria Plc) the above MIS frame work would be adopted.

The management of information system comprises of the organization,

technology and the role as shown in figure A below:

FIG.B. CONTEXTUAL FRAMEWORK OF INFORMATION SYSTEM

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated is a leading pan-African bank with operations in 32 countries across the continent, more than any other bank. It is present in almost every country in West, Central, East, and Southern Africa, and has a licensed operation in Paris, plus representative offices in Johannesburg, Dubai, and London. Much of this geographic spread has come through rapid organic growth in a relatively short space of time. The bank was only founded in 1985 and in the last five years alone has roughly doubled in terms of the number of markets that it serves.

Given the technical infrastructure constraints of many of the countries in which Ecobank operates, the bank’s rapid growth in five years had resulted in a best-effort patchwork of IT systems, with little standardization from one market to the

next. Offices were connected mostly through very small aperture terminal (VSAT) satellite links, which suffered from latency issues and, therefore, could not easily support advanced applications such as IP telephony and unified collaboration systems. This circumstance meant that executives had to rely on face-to-face meetings, requiring time-consuming and expensive travel arrangements.

For our customers, we were unable to guarantee common services standards from one country to the next. We didn’t even have connections between our three call centers in Africa.The Ecobank IT support and maintenance bill was also growing as a result of different vendors and systems in each country. Its ability to meet the requirements of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) was also compromised. Last, but not least, the lack of a common standard for IT was making it increasingly difficult and costly to expand into new markets, a major concern for an entity whose stated aim is “to contribute to the economic and financial integration and development of the African continent.”

Solution

In the mid-2000s, Ecobank started to replace its VSAT links with fiber connections, using VSAT as a secondary or tertiary mode of communication. This upgrade allowed the bank to begin implementing a multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) network that now extends to half of its 2000 branches. At the same time, the bank began contacting technology vendors in an attempt to standardize its IT estate and introduce network-based efficiency and productivity tools.

A great number of original equipment manufacturers were engaged but only Cisco could give us the reliability, convenience, and security that we required. It’s end-to-end solution—taking in voice, collaboration, and data center technology—was complemented by the expertise of Cisco Services.Cisco Services worked with Ecobank, initially using a Network Readiness PreAssessment survey, to create an infrastructure that could help drive efficiency, productivity, and growth. The heart of this engine is a Cisco® Borderless Network architecture that underpins core banking applications, including those related to ATMs. These applications are delivered from data centers sited in London, Paris, Accra (Ghana), and Lomé (Togo), and equipped with Cisco Nexus® 7000 and 5000 Series Switches.

The network is also the platform for a range of collaboration applications, some of which are still in the process of being deployed. For example, in half the countries in which Ecobank operates, the bank uses Cisco IP telephony (with Cisco IP Phones), Cisco Unified MeetingPlace® Express, and Cisco WebEx®.

The company is also deploying high-definition videoconferencing, with a number of Cisco TelePresence® units already in operation. It plans to establish links between critical locations in Accra, London, and Lomé during 2012. Crucial in that ambition is the Cisco Network Optimization Service. Deployed by the Cisco Services team, this ensures that the network is optimized and accelerated to carry high bandwidths for video and other demanding applications.

The collaboration tools are provided under a Cisco Unified Workspace Licensing contract, which means they are bundled together and offered on a per-user basis to simplify procurement, management, licensing, and discounting. Ecobank now has five contact centers, and one of these is equipped with Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise to deliver skills-based contact routing, voice self-service, and computer-telephony integration. The bank plans to extend this technology to its other contact centers in the near future.Throughout the bank’s IT transformation process, the support of Cisco Services has provided not only Network Readiness Pre-Assessments and the Network Optimization Service, but also it is being entrusted with a network audit, using Cisco Network Asset Collector software. Most recently, Ecobank has also introduced a Cisco Network Admission Control System, part of the Cisco TrustSEC® solution, to improve network security and PCI DSS compliance.

Results

The use of Cisco technology has helped to change the role of IT in Ecobank. “Now there is a drive towards a more electronic and IT-driven business. “Technology has taken pole position in our transformation.”Unlike before, the entire bank’s 2000 branches and 24,000 users are connected on the same network, and in an increasing number of locations, they are able to communicate using the latest collaboration technologies. The benefits are already becoming apparent. The company’s telephone bill has dropped by 60 percent, because it can communicate across 35 countries without having to pay service providers.The savings arising from Cisco Collaboration tools are also significant. Office-based people increasingly use Cisco Unified MeetingPlace Express to communicate across locations, while those traveling can talk to colleagues easily and cost-effectively using Cisco WebEx. It has also been instrumental in reducing travel time and expenses.

Finally, the fact that the bank now operates on a single standardized infrastructure makes it much easier to deploy IT systems in new locations. “This has helped us to cut the time it takes to enter a new market from a year to just two months.

2IT GOVERNANCE

Coming to IT governance, there are two ways to look at it. One is to view it as a sub-set of overall corporate governance and the other is to see it as a distinct concept/ discipline by itself. There are arguments on both sides, but the former looks more appropriate. Corporate governance, with its holistic definition covering fiduciary, strategic leadership/ guidance and ethics related roles, is inclusive of IT strategy and IT management oversight as IT systems and information are as valuable as any other resource for a bank, and may be more. Dependence on these resources and systems make it imperative that these are managed and governed through an appropriate IT governance framework.

IT governance framework

Strategic alignment

Resource management

Performance management

Risk management

Value delivery

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