Take stock, clear up, build 

The worst, it would appear, is past. At least for the moment. Cost cutting is starting to pay dividends; margins are recovering; results are picking up as bad debt is increasingly yesterday's painful memory rather than today's nightmare. 

Time to take stock. Time, perhaps, to take a fresh look at some of the buzz words that were floating around before tbe storm broke.


Like 'relationship banking'; looking at the customer as a person rather than an account number. 

Like 'financial retailing'; creating effective retail delivery channels. 

Like 're-engineering the business'; who owns the customer information and how do you deliver it to where it's needed? 

Are these still valid issues and worthwhile ambitions? And if so, why are they still proving so hard to address in an effective way? 


Technology was supposed to provide some of the answers. So much promised, so little delivered. You've paid out more than you wanted and have less to show than you expected. How did the gulf between promise and reality open up - and is there any way to close it? 

We believe so. 

If you have any lingering doubts after reading this brochure look at some of the case studies and customer testimonials in the back. Because nothing we'll say in this brochure will be untrue. Nothing will be unprovable. 



Why is it so hard to make anything work? 

W all know we have to serve customers better; we know we need to work with better quality, more timely information; we know we must cut out the massive waste in time and effort by re-thinking how we do business. We've known this for years. And we've been spending a fortune on technology, on the promise that it would help solve the problems and achieve the ambitions. 


So why is it that: 


Your staff still don't have easy access to all the information they need to deliver a better service to your customers - and. increase your revenues. 

The solutions you have are still very fragmented, with little ability to work together and so really make a difference to how you do things. 

Technologists spend so much time and expertise not in delivering quality solutions to your problems but in patching together the technology - making it work




The answer lies underground 

First of all the fault doesn't lie with the technology there's lots of it around - and more versatile than you'd probably expect. 

And different suppliers' components can now be plugged together - just like putting together a hi fi from separates - so you can really shop around for the best buy. 

Nor is there a shortage of ideas on how technology can help. Creative ideas abound. So why are the solutions you need so difficult to come by, and why do they appear so fragmented? 


The problem lies underground. No tree can thrive without a good, healthy root system. And no computer solution will ever deliver to its full potential so long as the technology framework isn't sound. 


An operating system is software that equates to the sturdiest and deepest roots of your solutions. it is the essential framework on which your solutions are built. Everything stems from that crucial decision. 

Unfortunately, your technologists probably spend too much of their time fixing problems to do with these roots, thus squandering valuable resources. Imagine what might be achieved if they were set free to apply their talents and knowledge to developing the solutions you actually need. 

SCO UNIX: the platform for growth 

What should a 'good set of roots' be like? Well, first and foremost it should work - at the most basic level. Which means a solid track record in real-life, day to day business. Used by other financial institutions so that you can feel confident you're not at the 'bleeding edge' of technology. 

Then the operating system should dovetail precisely with a range of hardware from all the best manufacturers, letting you choose the supplier you want. Finally, it should let you cherry pick from the innovation of the entire software industry, allowing you to use the best software building blocks to construct your solutions. In other words it should provide choice. 

The SCO UNIX operating system: 

Can run on any Intel-based hardware (giving you over 400 'boxes' to choose from). 

Supports an unrivalled variety of building blocks with which your IT people can develop new and imaginative applications; ones that work - and work seamlessly together. 

Allows you to choose from a huge variety of 'off the shelf' applications that can complement your own developments. 

Which almost certainly explains why SCO also: 

Accounts for approximately one third of all the UNIX servers shipped each year. 

Is currently running hard and reliably on systems used daily by around 8 million business people. 



What about my existing suppliers? 

You'll have spent a lot of time, effort and money on implementing your existing technology. You've probably worked hard at building a partnership with your existing suppliers. You can't throw all this away and start again. You can't afford to. We understand this. And we have no bone to pick with those suppliers. They probably sell a lot of our products already.


Naturally, they prefer to sell you a 'complete' solution. But how complete is complete? Is there a better, more cost effect've solution? The 'one-stop shopping' mentality of the '80s is fast changing to a more imaginative and flexible 'horses for courses' philosophy - letting different partners in the technology supply chain specialise - on what they do best. 


We have figures from independent benchmark'ing sources that show SCO UNIX delivering performance as good as any other UNIX server in the market today, but at significantly lower cost because there is so much competition in the hardware that SCO runs on. 


Your existing suppliers will know all about us. They'd probably prefer to sell you their own product, but they will supply SCO to you - if you ask them to.

They're getting used to it because most suppliers now are shipping more SCO than their own version of UNIX. And with SCO you have the freedom to demand the best of the other components from the open market. You have the choice. You stay in control. 



What do I do with my existing technology? 

Keep it. Use it. Just use it better. We understand that you have to start from where you are today. Just take one step at a time. 

Your IT group are typically facing challenges such as these: 


Long-serving operational systems on mainframes can't be changed overnight and are often not the best platform for new information-based systems. 

Modern PC technology is being used; at customer service points, in the back office, on the desks of your professional staff, but it's being used tactically, and it's not part of an integrated solution. 



In other words, there are two different worlds that need to be brought together in a way that is easy to use, yet retains control and security; allows the desktops to be managed, yet gives people access to the information they need to do their job. 

What can SCO do to help? We can: 


Remove some of the burden from the mainframes by off-loading tasks to high performance database servers using the latest products from market leaders suck as Oracle, Sybase, Ingres, Informix and the like. 

Use our 'windows-friendly' strategy, to embrace the world of the PC desktop. No fuss, no expensive retraining, no loss of productivity. Just more integration. More control. More access to information.



But what can I actually do with SCO UNIX? 


Nothing. It's the applications you build that 'do things'. SCO simply provides access to an unparalleled degree of choice. Choice in hardware.Choice in software building blocks. Your IT people can then build or buy, better integrated, more effective, workable solutions, without breaking the slim budgets they're now getting used to. 

SCO is the server of choice for many Retail Bank branches, insurance branches, and some of the world's largest Financial Trading Systems. Sitting between the traditional mainframes and the modern desktops, it is helping:

• To identify customers who regularly holiday at the same time each year, and proactively sell them currency, travellers cheques and insurance
• To be able to tell your customers the exact status of their insurance claim whilst they're still on the phone
• To know when your customers' children are approaching school age, and approach them with advice on planning for school fees

Such applications are not dreams. They're real possibilities: down to earth, pragmatic, affordable. 

SCO can provide the healthy roots, through our products and our support services, leaving you free to develop the fruit on the tree. And we'll help you with this too, through consultancy services - helping you devise workable, practical ways to forge 'best of class' components into a single, integrated, well-tuned system - quickly, through proven solutions. 


And where we can't help directly, we'll know someone who can. We work with all the major players in the IT industry - that's part of our job. 



A sharper blade, a more accurate measure, a hammer with heft ... 


It would of course be downright ludicrous to suggest that an SCO operating environment will I solve all your problems instantly and boost your profitability. We can only provide access to the tools; it's what's done with those tools that counts. But nothing we've said in this brochure is untrue. Nothing is unprovable. Look at the case studies and client testimonials in the back of this brochure. 


If your IT people have the will we can offer them access to any number of ways: 

• To drastically alter the balance of their workloads, away from reactive fire-fighting towards proactive value-adding
• To make your IT infrastructure work harder and become more flexible - to extend its life. 
• To use their local knowledge and expertise to better meet the needs of your particular customer base. 
• To improve their performance in customer satisfaction surveys from 'no worse than most' to 'if only all organisations were like this'. 
• To achieve real differentiation in an over-crowded market. 

The Economist would probably call it 'empowerment'. We prefer to call it common sense; giving your people a sharper blade, a more accurate measure, a hammer with real heft - better day to day tools to keep your customers satisfied. 

Better roots, betterfruits. SCO.