Complete Story 02/11/2010Open Solutions Reports Record Performance in 2009 Despite Market Conditions, Completes Two-Year Company TransformationExpands customer base, product line, industry partnerships and executive team
GLASTONBURY, Conn., Feb. 11, 2010 - Open Solutions Inc.®, a leading provider of integrated enabling technologies for financial services providers throughout the United States, Canada and other international markets, announced record performance in 2009 including the successful conversion of all U.S. core clients running The Complete Banking Solution® (TCBS)/The Complete Credit Union Solution® (TCCUS) to its enhanced relational core processing platform called DNA, the launch of several new products, new strategic partnerships, the expansion of its executive team, as well as being recognized for multiple industry awards.
Open Solutions has rapidly expanded, initiating a four-part transformation in 2007 to position the company for the next 10 to 15 years. The company invested more than $50 million in its systems, technology, people and infrastructure, as well as functionalized major business units to ensure stability and consistency for clients. 2009 marked the company's movement to the final phase of growth and optimization. Based on these investments, the company expects exponential growth during 2010 and beyond. Despite the tumultuous financial market, Open Solutions continues to prosper and credits its success to the strategic transformation of the company, its loyal client base and its employees.
In 2009, Open Solutions signed 26 new core deals and 55 core renewals, worth a total of more than $96 million. In addition to the new deals and renewals, all U.S. TCBS/TCCUS clients who were not already running the company's latest core release upgraded to DNA. The company also had financial institutions go live on DNA in Canada, Mexico and in Asia, proving that their single platform can be used anywhere in the world at any financial institution. This was a strategic move that will allow Open Solutions to better focus on product quality, improved client experience, as well as faster delivery of future upgrades and enhancements. DNA is supported by a highly normalized, person-centric enterprise data model and offers many benefits, including enhanced navigation and workflow, tighter integration with other Open Solutions products, single sign-on capability, a standardized look and feel, and simplified delivery of all applications.
Open Solutions remains committed to research and development, which is demonstrated by the launch of 20 new product releases and four new products in 2009, including StreamLend Velocity 2.0, a new business-lending module, and Veri-FastTM, a solution designed to quickly and securely identify accountholders at the teller station.
Additionally, the company entered into more than a dozen strategic industry partnerships including Orbotech, GIFTS, ISS Informant and The Huntington National Bank. Open also extended or enhanced more than two dozen existing partnerships in 2009 including Fifth Third Processing Solutions, Digital Insight, Elan, Lowenstein and Associates, Bluepoint, UMonitor, BANKDetect/CU-Detect, Kodak and RSA Security.
Finally, Open Solutions expanded its executive management team, bringing on seasoned industry veterans to guide and direct the company now that the transformation is nearly complete. Sam Boggs joined as executive vice president, Group Operations, bringing more than 20 years of experience. He was most recently Managing VP of Global Operations at Siemens IT Solutions. Robert Johnson joined the company in the role of vice president, Professional Services, after stints at AT&T, Siemens IT Solutions and Services, Inc. He was most recently promoted to senior vice president, Account Management. David Mitchell was promoted to senior vice president and chief marketing officer, succeeding Mike Nicastro, who retired from Open Solutions at the end of 2008. John Frederick joined the company as executive vice president and chief financial officer and brings extensive experience in strategic and financial planning; Sarbanes-Oxley compliance; process improvement using Lean and Six Sigma techniques; and the implementation of financial systems. Additionally, Open Solutions launched a company-wide Lean Six Sigma for Service Program designed to build a culture of continuous improvement, drive workflow efficiencies and improve the quality of customer service.
Open Solutions was recognized throughout the year for various achievements. The company was included in the 2009 Technology Fast 500TM, Deloitte LLP's ranking of 500 of the fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and clean technology companies in North America. Rankings are based on percentage of fiscal year revenue growth during the five-year period from 2004-2008. Open Solutions grew more than 302 percent during this period. Open Solutions was also included in the Fintech 100 ranking, which is an annual international listing of the top vertical technology vendors that derive more than one third of their revenue from this industry. The listing is compiled by American Banker, Bank Technology News and IDC Financial Insights. And finally, for the second consecutive year, Open Solutions was included in the Inc. 5000 in 2009 for a three-year sales growth of more than 122 percent.
"The financial services industry has weathered a very difficult year," said Louis Hernandez, Jr., CEO and chairman of Open Solutions. "I am very proud of the significant accomplishments and company milestones our entire team was able to achieve despite the market challenges. Nearly two years ago, we decided to embark on a significant transformation to position our company for the next 10 to 15 years. It wasn't enough for us to be the fastest growing core provider; we wanted to take our innovative technology that much further with the ultimate goal of helping our clients achieve their objectives and goals. Last year alone, we successfully upgraded our U.S. TCBS/TCCUS client base to DNA, our latest core release; released new products to ensure our clients have the best technology at their disposal; organized our company around providing superior client service; dedicated extensive resources to provide continued training and education for our employees and concluded a two-year company transformation. Together with our clients, we completed another chapter in our company's history - a chapter focused on becoming a world-class leader in our industry, both in client service and product innovation. I anticipate our clients will significantly benefit from the advances we made this past year and I look forward to the start of a new chapter."
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