NEW YORK — June 21, 2005 — Today at the Securities Industry Association (SIA) Technology Management Conference, Microsoft Corp. furthered its commitment to the capital markets and securities industry by announcing its experience Capital Markets initiative. The initiative is designed to help capital markets and securities companies differentiate their brand, find new value in existing systems, explore more market opportunities, improve customer satisfaction, reduce cost and time to market, increase employee satisfaction and productivity, and reduce IT costs. The goal is to allow capital markets and securities companies that deploy solutions from Microsoft and its solution partners to change the customer, employee and operations experience.
The solutions provided by Microsoft’s extensive ecosystem of partners address key industry issues across the capital markets industry from workflow and records management to regulatory mandates and increasing costs. Microsoft provides the technology to help make mission-critical applications easier to integrate and more agile, at a lower cost of ownership. Microsoft’s partner-based solutions help capital markets and securities companies leverage the value of existing systems and technology investments, respond more rapidly to changing market needs and competitive pressures, and increase employee satisfaction and productivity.
“The capital markets industry faces an incredibly challenging and ever-evolving business environment in which many institutions find it difficult to compete. The need for real-time information and real business intelligence, greater security and compliance, improved productivity, and greater insight into customer information are all issues forcing companies to use technology in ways unheard of a few years ago,” said Kenny McBride, global industry manager of capital markets and securities for the Financial Services Group at Microsoft. “The experience Capital Markets initiative provides an easier way to source and consider business solutions based on Microsoft® technologies that get at these issues and help improve customer retention, reduce risk, drive additional revenue and reduce the cost of operations. We believe the capability to reach these goals revolves around the ability to quantify and deliver a differentiated ‘experience’ for all stakeholders in the value chain: customers, employees and operations.”
“The capital markets and securities industry is undergoing profound change at this time,” said Rob Hegarty, vice president of The TowerGroup Inc. “To better compete, critical issues must be addressed: Firms must become more nimble; employees need better access to more useful data; complicated compliance regulations as well as industry standards must be met; and costs must contained. Firms that better manage these changes in this era of growth and uncertainty will be far better off as the industry enters this next stage in its evolution.”
Microsoft’s Partner Program
The experience Capital Markets initiative is launching with the active support of more than 20 partners, all of which have committed to delivg solutions and services that align with the experience Capital Markets initiative and using Microsoft’s .NET Framework, the programming model for building Extensible Markup Language (XML) Web services and applications. The companies include Capgemini, Citadel Associates, Cluster Seven Ltd., Comprehensive Software Systems Inc. (CSS), Cornell Theory Center, Envision, GaleForce Solutions Inc., GRT Corp., HP, Immedient Business Solutions from INS, Impact Technologies Group Inc., Kinitos, Lava Trading Inc., NetEconomy, Oculus Info Inc., OutlookSoft Corp., Rapid Addition Ltd., Resolute Inc., Reuters, SunGard STeP Solutions, TAP Solutions Inc., Vhayu Technologies, Volante Technologies Inc. and weComm Ltd.
Key Areas of the Experience Capital Markets Initiative
Microsoft helps capital markets and securities companies take a balanced approach to three key areas of their business that will help them differentiate their brand to increase market share and profitability: the customer experience, the employee experience and the operations experience:
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Customer experience. Capital markets and securities customers expect convenient and consistent service from the multiple channels they access. Capital markets solutions based on the Microsoft platform can integrate information from many sources, creating a seamless experience across the channels. Meeting customers’ increased expectations helps capital markets and securities companies change the customer experience and can give them a significant advantage in the marketplace.
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Employee experience. Productive and satisfied employees are essential to a positive customer experience. Familiar, easy-to-use technology helps employees learn faster, which in turn can help reduce training time and costs.
Capital markets companies’ employees need ready access to a complete view of customer information; however, this is challenging because information often resides on disparate systems. Microsoft-based solutions help capital markets companies conveniently give employees access to data and better insight into customer data. Giving capital markets companies’ employees a 360-degree view of the customer can contribute to better decision-making, an improved cross-selling ratio, and increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.
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Operations experience. Microsoft is committed to providing capital markets and securities companies with a platform that is reliable, scalable and security-enhanced to help keep their systems available 24×7. Partner solutions based on Microsoft technology are designed to integrate existing systems and provide the flexibility and agility that capital markets companies need to more quickly and cost-effectively implement enterprise applications.
Microsoft’s Commitment to the Capital Markets and Securities Industry
Microsoft’s Capital Markets and Securities group has grown from a U.S.-focused team to a globally focused team in under 10 years. Last month, Microsoft announced that it would increase the size of its U.S. sales force and its commitment across all vertical industries, including capital markets and securities, adding up to 10 percent more industry sales and product specialist positions nationwide.
Microsoft plans to invest almost $7 billion (U.S.) in research and development this year on technologies that fulfill its evolving vision for the future of computing. The company also has created an internal group focused on understanding the long-term vision of its companywide R&D efforts and deciding how these efforts apply to vertical industries, such as capital markets. The group is playing a key role in demonstrating how innovations based on Microsoft’s current and future technologies can come together to meet evolving business needs.
About Experience Capital Markets
Experience Capital Markets helps capital markets and securities companies change the customer, employee and operations experience so they can achieve increased market share and profitability. The initiative was launched with the support of leading software, hardware and systems integration partners delivering solutions based on the Microsoft platform. Experience Capital Markets is designed to help capital markets and securities companies differentiate their brand and achieve a competitive advantage with increased employee satisfaction and productivity, faster response to changing market needs, and a lower cost of ownership. More information can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/experiencecapmarkets.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
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