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Best use of IT in Retail Banking

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This award will recognise the most effective use of IT in bringing business benefits to a financial services provider, regardless of size, in a retail banking environment. Nominations may be for a single project or for an overall strategy. The winning entry will be able to demonstrate to the judges how the strategic use of technology has brought their company cost benefits, improved internal processes, enhanced customer service (where applicable) and helped further that organisation’s opportunities of future business success.

Best use of IT in wholesale & investment banking

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This award will highlight the most effective use of IT in improving business processes within wholesale banks, trading houses, fund managers, investment banks and other similar companies. Nominations may be for a single project or an overall strategy. The winning entry will be able to demonstrate to the judges how the strategic use of technology has brought their company cost benefits, improved internal processes, enhanced service to clients (where applicable) and helped further that organisation’s opportunities of future business success.

Best use of IT in insurance
This award will recognise the most effective use of IT in improving business processes in the insurance sector. Nominations may be for a single project or for an overall strategy. The winning entry will be able to demonstrate to the judges how the strategic use of technology has brought their company cost benefits, improved internal processes, enhanced customer service (where applicable) and helped further that organisation’s opportunities of future business success.

Best Use of CRM technology

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This award will reward the most innovative and effective application of Customer Relationship Management technologies by a financial services provider, via either established or new delivery channels. Nominations may be for a single project – for instance, an implementation at a contact centre – or for an overall strategy. The winning entry will be able to demonstrate to the judges how the strategic use of technology has enhanced customer service, brought their company cost benefits, improved internal processes, and helped further that organisation’s opportunities of future business success. 

Best use of business-to-business ecommerce
This award will recognise the best use of new technologies to improve business processes between financial services providers and their business partners. Nominations can be accepted from projects using internet technologies, mobile applications and other new technologies. Nominations can be for a single project such as the creation of online market places or trading exchanges, or for an overall strategy encompassing a series of projects linking business partners for their mutual benefit. The winning entry will be able to demonstrate to the judges how the strategic use of technology has improved communications between the business partners involved, delivered cost benefits, improved internal processes, enhanced customer service (where applicable) and helped develop opportunities of future business success for all parties participating in the project.

Anti-fraud strategy of the year
This award will recognise the best anti-fraud strategy implemented by a financial services provider to protect the customer from phishing, ID theft or similarly fraudulent scams. The winning entry will be able to demonstrate to the judges how anti-fraud technology, such as biometrics or two-factor authentication solutions, and processes have helped protect the end user and comply with regulations. The judges will regard the application of technology to create business benefits as being of equal importance to the degree of protection and innovation present in the IT solution.

Security strategy of the year

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This award is for an IT project that protects resources at a financial institution. Such measures might be deployed to prevent denial of services attacks or money laundering, while still complying with all necessary regulations. The project may also ensure data is secure across networks or systems (including laptops) so that data privacy and IDs are protected, or alternatively prevent malicious software from entering internal systems.

Compliance project of the year

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This award will reward the most effective compliance project by a financial services provider. Nominations may be for a single project or for an overall strategy. The winning entry will be able to demonstrate to the judges how the strategic use of technology has enabled them to comply with governmental regulations, such as Basel II, SOX, MiFID, and the anti-money laundering protocols. Submissions should also show how the compliance strategy adds business benefits and furthers the organisation’s opportunities of future business success.

Systems integration project of the year

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This award will recognise the most effective project to integrate disparate systems by a financial services provider. Projects involving the integration of legacy systems into e-business projects will be eligible for entry, as will projects to integrate systems from different businesses, whether to facilitate operations with business partners or in the aftermath of a company merger. The project can be of any size. Nominations may be for a single projector an overall strategy. The winning entry will be able to demonstrate to the judges how the strategic use of technology has brought their company cost benefits, improved internal processes, enhanced customer service (where applicable) and helped further that organisation’s opportunities of future business success.

Networking / cabling project of the year

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This award will recognise the best use of networking and cabling technology by a financial services provider in a single or multi-site environment. The installation can be of any size, using any form of cabling or networking technologies. The winning entry will be able to demonstrate to the judges how the strategic use of technology has brought their company cost benefits, improved internal processes, enhanced customer service (where applicable) and helped further that organisation’s opportunities of future business success.

Outsourcing partnership of the year

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This award will reward the most effective relationship between a financial services provider and an outsourcing company. The winning entry will be able to demonstrate to the judges how the partnership has helped the financial institution improve business processes, enhance customer service, reduce costs and further the organisation’s opportunities of future business success. Nominations can be on or offshore and involve contact centre operations, security or back office administration.

Best payments deployment
This award will recognise a technology implementation that has improved a financial institution’s payments processing. The new solution can be used internally or on behalf of a customer. The judges will want to see evidence of straight through processing, ease-of-use and the adoption of common standards [where applicable]. The use of technology to create business benefits will be treated as being of equal importance to the degree of innovation present in the solution. 

Data centre excellence green energy efficiency award

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Intended for the design and/or implementation of an outstanding data centre within the last 24 months (must be operational in 2008). The judges will want to see the needs of the financial institution detailed and how the design and management of the centre meets those needs. Evidence of strategic planning, optimum spatial design, the use of technology, and consideration for security and business continuity needs, plus a proven record of good project management, will all be required. The judges also want to see the adoption of efficient technologies that use significantly less energy compared to traditional designs, which could include enhanced server designs, chips, power/cooling arrangements or virtualisation, among other things. Any environmental benefits (such as reduced carbon emissions, use of a brownfield site, etc) should be clearly explained.

Best business continuity implementation
This award will recognise the best business continuity plan to be put in place by a financial services provider. The judges will consider the technological aspects of the plan and the processes for recovery. The winning entry will be able to demonstrate clear planning, rational utilisation of technology, anticipated speed of recovery, the business benefits and evidence of regular testing (where applicable). The category will be judged against factors such as physical and online threats, compliance requirements and so-called ‘acts of God’ such as fire and flood. The nominations will only be viewed by the judges and all details will remain strictly private.

IT team of the year

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This category will be awarded to the best IT team within a financial institution. The team will have to have proven their excellence in the delivery and/or support of IT services over the course of the last year and to have demonstrated good collaboration skills and a clear vision of how technology can be applied to ensure
business benefits. The team can be nominated from within the financial institution itself or by partners or suppliers.

Outstanding contribution to the industry by an individual

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This award will recognise the contribution of an individual to the financial industry, looking at his or her role in the successful implementation of projects and strategies since 2000. Projects can be from any sector in the financial industry, and can encompass work in more than one position and company. Collaborative work will be especially prized. 

Overall winner

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This category is not open for entry. Instead, the judges will pick what they consider to be the best entry out of all the submissions received for the FST Awards 2008, across all of the categories.  

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Invest NI’s role is to grow the Northern Ireland economy by helping new and existing businesses to compete internationally, and by attracting new investment into Northern Ireland. We principally support businesses in the manufacturing and tradeable services sectors.

Where we fit: As part of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) our role is to effectively and efficiently deliver the Government’s economic development strategies. Invest NI delivers strong support to businesses in three main areas. These are supporting innovation for global markets; encouraging investment and re-investment within Northern Ireland; and stimulating entrepreneurial activity.Data centre excellence award