Customer Newsletter - Issue # 04, 2011
A Vision for
Orchestrating
the Network
How analytics will help us power
our growing planet
Over the next 20 years, our
planet's population is
expected to grow by more
than 750 million people.
With this increase, the
global demand for energy
is expected to rise by
around 40%.
As we continue to deplete precious fossil fuels and introduce
more renewable energy sources into the mix, utility companies,
consumers, and government regulators will need to be more
active participants in managing the energy value chain.
Utility companies that recognize and want to succeed in powering
our growing planet will invest in technologies that optimize
generation and distribution, and empower the consumer with
the information and tools to make decisions and manage their
energy use. Many utilities are already piloting and investing in
technologies to instrument and interconnect the grid, such as
smart meters, remote asset monitoring, demand response
systems, and information portals.
Going beyond technology investments, however, can significantly
enhance economic gain for all stakeholders. The ultimate goal
is to create insight that drives orchestration of the network and
allows its participants to create value for themselves and the
entire ecosystem.
IBM research shows that investment in technologies for
information management, data analysis and optimization will
help utilities create a more flexible and responsive grid - and
realize significant return on those investments. For example,
we found that by leveraging operational and information
technology to gain better control of the grid, a utility can avoid
capital investment and improve their bottom line from reduced
energy costs.
Utilities that begin this transformation today will be in an
advantageous position in the coming decade; they will be better
equipped to counter emerging competitors and market threats.
Begin your journey today by working with IBM to make the case
for investments in smarter energy.
Learn how HBL Manages
Reports Content
Habib Bank Limited (HBL) - one of the largest commercial banks in Pakistan - needed to
develop and implement an effective Enterprise Report Management System (ERMS).
Various application systems run at HBL besides core banking, with each application
churning out multiple reports. Some of these bank wide reports are crucial enough to justify
archival to adhere to compliance and/or regulatory needs. Besides archival, retrieval of
historical reports can be cumbersome. HBL is keen on introducing a web based mechanism
for retrieval which will facilitate users in accessing reports, while also offering the bank
significant savings via reduction in paper printing costs. Automated email distribution is
another recognized need at HBL that will offer improved efficiency in report delivery.
The challenge was to securely capture, segment, index, compress, store and deliver these
reports through multiple channels, while ensuring that HBL users have on demand web
browser based access to authorized reports.
IBM's solution for HBL consisted of IBM Content Manager On Demand, PDF Indexer and
Reports Distribution and will ensure the following benefits for HBL
• Centralized Reports Repository with efficient archival of bank-wide crucial reports
• Improved operational efficiency in handling report content
• Easy accessibility of reports via web
• Assurance that information is retained as per policies to ensure proper compliance
• Automated Retention Management of reports as per bank's policies
• Reduction in usage of paper for archival and delivery of reports
• Hierarchical storage management which offers shifting less frequently accessed reports
to lower cost storage media
IBM Business Partner, Ora-Tech Systems served the deal.
Habib Bank Limited is engaged
in commercial banking,
modaraba management and
asset management related
services in Pakistan and
overseas. HBL has 1,504
branches including 42 overseas
branches in 24 countries spread
over Asia Pacific, Europe, North
America, and the Middle East.
If you have any query about this
solution, please email:
shuja@pk.ibm.com
From left: Maaz Shamsi, IBM; Sohail Ghazi, DGM - MIS, HBL;
Hassan Haider, GM - Enterprise Systems Architect, HBL;
Abdul Sattar, DGM - MIS, HBL; Muhammad Shuja, IBM
Database Security Takes a Great Leap Forward at MCB
Logging each access to the database for security and audit purposes places
tremendous performance overheads on IT operations and system performance.
Without logging access, security threats and vulnerabilities exist without
control, which can affect an organisation's audit compliance readiness,
particularly in the face of increasing focus on security standards like PCIDSS by the State Bank of Pakistan.
whether in-house or out-sourced, will not have access to sensitive customer
and financial information.
MCB selected IBM's Guardium and Optim database security solutions to
upgrade their database security. Guardium will help provide full database
logging without any performance impact. This will allow MCB greater
compliance readiness, increased controls against security threats and
vulnerabilities. Optim will allow them to ensure testing and production teams,
Commtel Systems, an IBM Business P artner helped close this deal.
IBM demonstrated a solid commitment to introducing Guardium in Pakistan
conducting a very aggressive proof-of-concept at MCB. Having several solid
references in the banking sector in the MEA region was a key factor that
helped IBM secure this win.
MCB is Pakistan's fourth largest bank by assets, and the largest by market
capitalization. The Bank has a customer base of over 4 million and a nationwide
network of over 900 branches.
IBM ACHIEVEMENT AND EXPERTISE
Cloud Demo Center now in Pakistan!
IBM Pakistan recently launched the Cloud Solutions Demonstration Center
at the IBM TEC Lab, Karachi. The center features a live environment for
showcasing IBM’s Cloudburst technology and will be used to educate clients
and business partners on this new technology.
other labs in the world and also holds online sessions.
For more information, kindly visit
www.ibm.com/software/tivoli/products/cloudburst/
The Cloud Showcase offers clients the opportunity to explore how they can
utilize cloud technology to open up ne w business opportunities and help
them understand what they need to do to move their solutions to the cloud.
The solution, hosted on an IBM Cloudb urst hardware and software stack,
highlights cloud adoption scenarios in a live environment. The attendees are
taken through a day in a life after cloud where different roles are enacted
and the value proposition demonstrated on the live environment. The center
also has the Cloud Ser vice Provider Platform solution available for clients
interested in offering Cloud as a ser vice to their customers. This kind of a
setup is unique and offers clients an avenue to touch, see and interact with
the subject matter experts. The lab is linked through video conferencing to
Global Commuter Pain Survey
• 8,042 commuters in 20 cities on six continents surveyed
• Drivers report more stress and frustration related to commuting worldwide
• Forty one percent of commuters globally said improved public transportation
would help reduce stress
• Perception of traffic in emerging economies vs. more developed economies
is improving
A new IBM survey of the daily commute in a cross-section of some of the
most economically important international cities reveals a startling dichotomy:
while the commute has become a lot more bearable over the past year,
drivers' complaints are going through the roof.
attitudes around traffic congestion as the issue reaches crisis proportions
around the world and higher levels of auto emissions stir environmental
concerns.
This is IBM's fourth annual Commuter Pain survey. IBM began conducting
the survey in the United States in 2008 and expanded it to 20 global cities
in 2010. IBM is working with cities, governments and others around the world
to make their transportation systems smarter. Smarter transportation systems
can help traffic and public transit systems flow more smoothly, anticipate and
improve congestion in advance, reduce emissions and increase the capacity
of infrastructure.
IBM Commuter Pain Index
IBM compiled the results of the survey into its Commuter Pain Index that
ranks the emotional and economic toll of commuting in each city, with the
highest number being the most onerous. The Index reveals a tremendous
disparity in the pain of the daily commute from city to city. Montreal had the
least painful commute of the cities studied, followed by London and Chicago.
The index is comprised of 10 issues: 1) Commuting time, 2)Time stuck in
traffic, agreement that: 3) Price of gas is already too high, 4)Traffic has gotten
worse, 5) Start-stop traffic is a problem, 6) Driving causes stress, 7) Driving
causes anger, 8) Traffic affects work, 9) Traffic so bad driving stopped, and
10) Decided not to make trip due to traffic.
About IBM Commuter Pain Survey
The Commuter Pain survey is conducted by IBM to better understand consumer
Algorithmics Acquired
IBM Accelerates Business Analytics into Financial Risk Management
IBM recently acquired Algorithmics,
a risk analytics firm with operations in
Toronto, Canada. Algorithmics risk
analytics software, content and advisory services are used by banking,
investment and insurance businesses to help assess risk, address regulatory
requirements and make more insightful business decisions.
According to a recent IBM Institute of Business Value survey of 1,900 global
CFOs, nearly half indicated that their finance organizations are not effective
in the areas of strategy, information integration, risk and opportunity
management. The roles of financial officers across all industries are evolving;
drawing them into more frequent boardroom conversations about forecasts,
profitability and exposure to risks. The survey reveals the importance of
integrating information has more than doubled, mirroring the exponential rise
in information volume and velocity within businesses today. Financial officers
are becoming more involved in mitigating corporate risk in all its many forms
- whether strategic, operational, legal or environmental.
With the combination of IBM and Algorithmics analytics, companies can
measure and assess operational risk associated with lending processes,
market and credit risk exposures. Having this type of transparency and
granular insight of financial risk in advance can help organizations meet new
regulatory requirements.
Algorithmics risk advisers will enhance IBM's Business Analytics and
Optimization practice. Algorithmic's focus on credit, market and liquidity risk,
as well as key customers in operational risk, will strengthen and expand IBM's
risk consulting services.
CUSTOMER NEWS
ABL's Data Storage Gets
Smarter
IBM Helps ICBC to Start up
it's Operations in Pakistan
Allied Bank Limited (ABL), one of the largest & oldest banks in Pakistan,
decided to boost and manage its storage infrastructure to run missioncritical core and non-core banking applications for workload optimization,
provisioning, stability and reliability.
The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) - China's largest
commercial bank - recently started its banking operations in Pakistan. ICBC
selected IBM Global Technology Services to provide Data Network Solution
for its Pakistan offices.
IBM's solution consisted of DS 8800 & Tivoli Productivity Centre (TPC).
IBM proposed the most innovative and technologically advanced platform
with green energy, efficient cache algorithms developed by IBM Research,
thin provisioning, automatic tiering, system architecture and redundancy
supported by 3 Tier IBM Power processors & performance benchmarks.
TPC, a value add, will monitor and manage ABL's heterogeneous storage
environments. IBM references and support system were also the key factors
in the decision to choose IBM.
Not having any infrastructure in Pakistan preceding their launch, ICBC was
facing immense timelines pressures. IBM provided ICBC with Wide Area
and Local Area Network Solutions and also signed Maintenance and
Support services of the provided solution.
ABL will now be able to achieve best performance, reliability & stability to
service its customers across a nation wide network on branches with
automation, lower TCO, improved manageability with less complexity. The
bank will also be equipped to monitor & manage its heterogeneous storage
environment for optimization.
IBM Business Partner GBM, helped close this deal.
ABL, with its existence of over 60 years, offers universal banking services,
while placing major emphasis on retail banking. The Bank has the largest
network of over 800 online branches in Pakistan and offers various
technology-based products and services to its diverse clientele.
IBM Powers NADRA
Facing performance challenges due to enormous growth in their customer
base the National Database & Registration Authority (NADRA) decided to
upgrade their previously installed IBM System p server with IBM POWER7
technology.
IBM's solution will help NADRA in delivering faster services and maintaining
higher quality with superior economics. Power Systems server and software
provides a foundation for an enterprise infrastructure that will help NADRA
manage rapid change, reduce business risk, and meet higher service levels.
The solution will be cost effective with savings on software licensing, energy
and floor space , thus resulting is a higher TCO against competitors .
IBM was chosen based on the roadmap and commitment to the P ower
platform along with unparalleled performance of POWER7, which will assist
NADRA in le veraging the vir tualization advantages of PowerVM.
Megaplus Pakistan, an IBM Business P artner, helped close this deal.
NADRA offers its clients a portfolio of customizable solutions for identification,
e-governance and secure documents. NADRA has successfully implemented
the Multi-Biometric National Identity Card & Multi-Biometr ic e-Passport
solutions in Pakistan.
Mr. Rafaat Sharif (DGM Technical - eSahulat, NADRA) and team with Mr.
Fahd Bin Rashid (STG Competitive Sales Specialist, IBM)
This network solution will provide connectivity between ICBC Pakistan and
ICBC Head Office in China. In this way, ICBC Pakistan will be able to
connect to its application servers in Head Office, perform banking operations
and provide services to its customer. Bringing in and connecting ICBC
Pakistan's users to the network is also part of the project.
ICBC's Pakistan offices are now functional. ICBC has increased its
international presence and business depth. IBM is ICBC's global technology
partner of choice.
ICBC provides a wide range of financial products and services to 4.12
million corporate clients and 259 million individual customers through 16,227
outlets across China, 203 overseas subsidiaries and a global network of
more than 1,562 correspondent banks.
Agriauto Selects IBM for SAP
ERP Implementation, Blades
and Storage Solution
Agriauto Industries Limited - one of the leading automotive components
manufacturers in the private sector - has a large manufacturing unit with
production facilities of various types of automotive parts. They required an
integrated end to end ERP solution that brought industry's best practices
along with user friendly interface and flexibility of adapting to changing
business processes and scenarios. They also sought more control over
supply chain and production operations.
Agriauto selected IBM as a strategic implementation partner for SAP ERP
ECC 6.0 software licenses, implementation services, and BladeCenter and
Storage Solution.
IBM is the leading and most experienced SAP ERP implementer having the
largest team of experienced and certified SAP resources on board locally.
GBS, IBM's business consultancy arm, in recent years has implemented the
maximum number of successful SAP ERP Implementation projects across
the globe and in Pakistan.
Agriauto after competitive evaluation selected IBM hardware due to its proven
technological superiority, high SAP performance benchmarks, enhanced
RAS features backed-up by IBM support & services. IBM's solution is not
only capable of handling Agriauto's current IT requirement but also has
scalability capacity for their future needs.
The IBM solution will simplify reporting across complex business functions
and processes, improve business processes with strong integration and
increase collaboration with suppliers and customers. It will also benefit
customer by accelerating time to market and time to value with more reliable
products and services, gaining agility and speed in the supply chain operations,
delivering higher levels of service and enhancing customer satisfaction while
reduce operating expenses.
GBM, an IBM Business P artner, helped close the hardware deal.
Mr. Yutaka Arae (Chairman, Agriauto Industries) and Humayun Bashir (CGM, IBM) at
signing ceremony of SAP ERP Implementation and Hardware Infrastructure Project
CUSTOMER/BUSINESS PARTNER NEWS
EFU Life Moves to a Paper-less Environment
IBM helped EFU Life become the first insurer in Pakistan to implement
Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solution and to create a paperless environment while impro ving their b usiness processes.
EFU Life, in Pakistan, maintains documents related to a case f or as
long as the case is active and searching among documents archive can
be a time-consuming activity. EFU was also facing challenges in terms
of growing cost of managing paper (hard copies), increasing cost o f
courier and moving documents from branches and head-office caused
delay in response time to the customer and in processing customer
cases.
EFU Life choose to implement IBM’s Filenet Content Manager, Filenet
Business Process Manager, Filenet Capture and Filenet eF orms.
Through Filenet Capture, loading volumes of papers into the system,
improved many-folds. Filenet Content Manager and Business Process
Manager (BPM) will enable users to move documents without actual
movement of paper.
Muhammad Shuja, IBM; Adeel Ishaque, AGM, EFU; Zain Ibrahim, GM, EFU
IBM is the leader in the ECM solution space and makes available both
local references and many local implementers. The IBM solution will
help EFU Life reduce cost of paper, improve performance with faster
availability of documents from any case, automate business processes,
improve customer response time and processing time for cases. It will
also help maintaining compliance by preserving documents, and ensuring
up-to-date documents are available across the organization, over the
web interface, to any user from an y location. The solution will help
reduce high cost o f maintaining documents in the w arehouse.
Techno Channels, an IBM Business Partner, helped close this deal.
The EFU brand was established in 1932. EFU Life is part of EFU Group..
The Company has a growing branch network of over 130+ branches
through out the country with employee strength of over 3000+ personnel
in its sales force and around 200+ personnel at its main offices in Karachi
and Lahore.
If you have any quer y about this solution, please email:
shuja@pk.ibm.com
Waseela Selects WebSphere
to Excel their Core Banking
Platform
Waseela - a microfinance bank setup by Pakistan Mobile Communication
Limited (PMCL) - needed a proven solution for their core banking platform
and its integration needs.
IBM WebSphere Application Server and MQ were selected for T24, their core
banking system. T24 will be deployed on WebSphere Application Server
whereas MQ will be used for integrating with their existing systems.
The core system solution from IBM and TEMENOS automates a variety of
banking activities that will enable the bank to respond quickly to a dynamic
market.
Waseela chooses IBM because of its extensive experience within the banking
industry. 95 percent of the Fortune 100 companies rely on IBM platforms for
mission-critical business processing and IBM has more than ten years of
experience developing business models with the banking industry.
Avanza Solutions, an IBM Business P artner helped close this deal.
PMCL, an Orascom group company and largest mobile operator in Pakistan,
established Waseela Microfinance Bank to provide mobile branchless banking
facility to its 40 million customers.
Taher G. Sachak, MD and Chief Executive, launching the application
Channel Partners Empowered!
IBM Business Partners are required to complete periodic certifications from
time-to-time to remain up to date with capabilities and compliant with all
relevant essentials for reselling IBM technology.
Partners including GBM, Inbox Technologies, InfoT ech, Interactive
Convergence, Megaplus, Selling Business Systems and Techaccess
successfully completed certifications on the latest POWER7 technology
platform.
BUSINESS PARTNER MESSAGES
IBM & Business Partners:
Forging a Strategic, Sustainable Partnership
What IBM Business Partners Shared at the Centennial
A message from
Mr. Muhammed Ovais,
CEO, Selling Business
Systems
“SBS Pakistan wishes IBM hear tiest
congratulations on completing its Centennial in
which IBM showed the world the way in technology leadership
and innovations in industry. We are proud to be associated
with IBM and look forward to another century of success and
leadership in de veloping new and emerging trends in
technology. We completely share IBM's happiness in achieving
these tremendous years of success.
Being partners with IBM, provides better avenues of growth
and uncovering opportunities. By providing IBM end to end
solutions we satisfy customer requirements which in turn helps
us being a strategic partner for the client. IBM technology has
always proved to provide state-of-art technology in all respects,
championing in infrastructure, innovative designs, software
and services.”
SBS, an IBM Business Partner since 1990, started its operations in
1981, and resells I BM Servers, Storage, Software and Ser vices.
A message from
Mr. Mahmood
Kapurwala, CEO,
Avanza Technologies
“Avanza Solutions Cong ratulates IBM on
completing 100 years of Service Excellence.
Avanza Solutions is proud to have been associated with IBM
for over three years now. Having similar customer-orientation
instilled in the cultures of both organizations, our partnership
has yielded outclass solutions for our clients. Together, IBM
and Avanza aim to tak e this journey further and serve our
clients across the globe with super ior IT ser vices.
The main benefit that Avanza Solutions gets from being an
IBM partner is the boost w e receive in our selling our
infrastructure services across the globe helping us g row in
this domain.”
Avanza has been in the bank ing industry since the last 10 years
and is now focusing on promoting its infrastructure services to the
industry choosing I BM as a partner to pursue that goal. I BM
technology that Avanza resells includes Webshpere, Tivoli, Lotus
and Rational.
A message from
A message from
Ms. Shabana Khan,
COO, LMKR
“LMKR would like to take this opportunity to congratulate IBM
and all its human capital in achieving such a great milestone.
The 100 year benchmark is the proven result of IBM's accredited
focus on reinventing itself which fur ther highlights a strong
corporate foundation and its ever growing market leadership
traits. Good luck for the next 100 years!
Our company consulting focus on our clients and par tners'
business challenges remains to be the core o f the practice
offering. IBM's middle w are and added solutions por tfolio,
experiences and references have enabled us to create tr ue
value offering for the set of industry verticals we have served.
In addition, the IBM teams intra company human capital and
information sharing has helped us in cr afting and devising
certified and robust solutions.
An IBM Partner since 2000, LKMR chose IBM because of its focus
on continuous evolution - be it in for m of technology, strategic
market focus or business models.
Mr. Iqtidar Zaidi,
President & CEO,
Techaccess
“I feel extremely proud when I tell people that
we are working with IBM as their Premier Business Partner,
a company which has helped us achie ve the unachievable
during these 5 years of glory. For everything in the past, at
present and in future , I w ould like to thank IBM f or their
continued support, Happy 100th Anniversary!”
Working as a Leading Systems Integrator within the region,
our goal has always been to partner with the best of the breed,
and when talking about the best, the name IBM, is amongst
the top. We value IBM's great market reach, versatile product
range, global a vailability and br and name v alue.”
Techaccess has been an IBM partner since 2006 and helps resell
System p, System x and Blades, System i, Storage, Lotus, Tivoli
and Guardium.
CLIENTS/CUSTOMERS MESSAGES
100 Years of Technology
and Innovation
What Customers Expect from IBM
A message from
Mr. Mahmood Siddiqui,
CIO, National Bank of
Pakistan
“Heartiest felicitations to IBM on completing 100 years. IBM has
been a trusted partner to National Bank of Pakistan for more
than 30 years. There are a very few organizations that have
revolutionized the world of technology and IBM is without a
doubt one of them.
IBM has been supporting us for many years. From systems
running core banking applications to Disaster Recovery and
Business Continuity solutions, National Bank chooses to trust
IBM due to its reliability, availability, technical expertise and
support. ”
NBP has been an IBM customer since 1970 and has implemented
IBM technology inc luding POWER6, POWER7, iOS, AIX,
Websphere, Storage DS8800, Tape Libraries, TSM and BCRS.
A message from
Ms. Zainab Hameed, GM
Information Systems,
Engro Foods
“Hundred years of successful operations and still progressing
towards new horizons is an accomplishment seen by no other.
IBM has remained relevant and brought about remar kable
products during a century of incredible changes. Engro Foods
wishes IBM even greater success in the future and a long
lasting strategic partnership!
Engro Foods has been an IBM customer since its inception
and has been using Lotus Notes and IBM Severs to manage
its IT services. Most recently, Engro Foods has worked with
IBM GBS for the implementation of SAP ERP across and has
procured Power Series servers for running the solution. Engro
Foods chose IBM as a partner because of its proven history
of transforming and helping businesses achieve corporate
goals.
Engro Foods is a fast growing FMCG company in Pakistan. With
reliable technology executing their processes, Engro Foods has been
able to look for ward to growth and use technology to enable
competitive advantage.
A message from
Mr. M Zubair Bhatti,
General Manager,
Networks & Systems
Support Services, PIA
“We wish to applaud IBM on completing its 100 years in the
tough world of information technology. IBM has reached the
top and sta yed there b y constantly inno vating itself and
responding to the changes around it. Our partnership with the
technology giant star ted in 1970s when IBM helped us
implement our online ticket reservation system, a first for the
country.
We chose to work with IBM because of its global reputation,
dependability, and having better resources to serve the client.
PIA's focus is serving its customer needs efficiently. We can
do this by ensuring our operations and processes r un like
clockwork and IBM technology suppor ts us with this .
Pakistan International Airline, Pakistan's flagship, national airline
has been an air traveller pioneer since its inception in 1955.
A message from
Mr. Javed Iqbal, CIO,
Askari Bank Limited
“I wish to congratulate IBM on reaching this milestone. IBM
has played a major role in shaping the P akistani IT market
and I hope that it continues to do so. Besides acquiring IBM
hardware and software, Askari Bank has also entrusted IBM
with AMS services to manage a major overhaul of the bank's
IT and customer services. We look forward to continuation of
a strong working relationship with IBM.
When Askari Bank decided to mo ve towards technology
enablement and automation of its back office as well as front
office operations in 2008 only IBM Pakistan had the capability
to deliver and partner with us for this major transformation.
We have benefited from IBM's e xperience and ability to
integrate various applications and provide us with a dependable
platform for service delivery.”
Askari Bank, an I BM customer since 20 07, has selec ted IBM
hardware, software, AMS and GTS services for establishing their
network.