Ghana’s Fidelity Bank has announced that it has chosen IBM to manage its technology infrastructure and services for the next five years. Through the agreement, the bank hopes to deliver advanced customer services and to secure its reputation as a dynamic financial services institution in West Africa. Fidelity bank also seeks to enhance its operational efficiencies as it embarks on a new strategic direction, developing growth plans and strategies for new markets, products and services. Edward Effah, the managing director at Fidelity Bank, said: “In the rapidly changing Ghanaian banking industry, with far more players and competition than ever before, consumers are entitled to expect benchmark service and protection from these unique market challenges. It is my belief that our partnership with IBM will enable us to deliver and exceed these stakeholder expectations.” IBM will combine local and international expertise, including round-the-clock technical support from IBM’s international Global Delivery Centers to ensure the bank achieves cross-channel integration and a seamless customer experience across all its touch-points. The IBM-managed services will cover a broad spectrum of the bank’s IT functions, including management of its server, security, storage, networks, end user services, branch IT support, ATM infrastructure support and datacenter services. “The economy is going through a unique phase in its evolution and increasingly we are seeing that the appropriate deployment of technology solutions and services in the nation’s financial services sector will be key to boosting the growth momentum already achieved in the sector and by extension in the macroeconomic environment,” said Joe Mensah, country general manager, IBM Ghana. IBM has also announced more than 20 banking deals throughout Africa over the last five years, with Kenyan, Ghanaian, Nigerian and Congolese banks turning to IBM for world-class IT solutions. In West Africa, the need for organizations to focus on their core business competencies while outsourcing their IT challenges to a trusted third-party service provider, may be a game changer to reduce overall operating cost. Fidelity Bank’s decision to go with IBM in this huge IT Outsourcing deal will definitely send a strong signal to the banking sector that IT outsourcing is the way to go,” said Bola Adisa, country regional manager, IDC West Africa.
