PNB: Banking on IT for competitive edge

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine National Bank (PNB), the country’s leading financial services group, has a mission to create a global presence with quality products and services for its shareholders.

Throughout the years, PNB has experienced tremendous growth, recognizing technology as a chief factor that determines the success of financial institutions in the competitive world of banking. Given this, it credits a big part of its success to its use of IT as a strategic asset.

In 2007, PNB decided to increase productivity and migrate its core banking system to a Unix-based environment. To manage the system upgrade, PNB embraced a new IT infrastructure by tapping various technologies and solutions of leading IT company Hewlett-Packard across their offices.

Cynthia Vicente-Javier, executive vice president and chief technology officer of PNB, chose HP innovations because of the performance and security benefits they deliver along with positive feedback from users.

“In the world of banking, it’s a must that we capitalize on technology that can grant fast and impeccable servicing. We chose HP because they offered reliable and stable solutions that deliver real-time performance,” she says.

“And since we were met with positive survey feedback from HP users in Asia and the Pacific region, we felt comfortable that HP can support PNB in the long run,” she adds.

Along with Flexcube, a comprehensive core banking software solution from Oracle Financial Services Software Ltd. that PNB employed to manage its complex business segments, it also implemented HP innovations that included HP Superdome and HP Nonstop servers to handle its demanding operational requirements.

Likewise, PNB also used HP desktops and HP Thin Clients to manage mission-critical processes. Intended for the use of tellers in PNB branches across the country, HP Thin Clients offered multiple benefits that greatly enhanced the bank’s remote computing functions.

Thin Clients: Think thin, think secure

Considering the time-critical nature of processes managed by bank tellers, superior performance from IT hardware is essential. Thus, security, manageability, and reliability along with energy efficiency, were fundamental considerations for PNB in choosing IT solutions that can meet “tellering” demands.

It found that HP Thin Clients suited its mission-critical environment and perfectly addressed the operational needs of its bank tellers.

“We chose HP Thin Clients because of their security features and their small footprint. Since tellers have to interface with clients, we needed hardware that’s not as obtrusive and large as normal desktops and can be mounted in secure locations,” Javier says.

Unlike the traditional desktop computers, applications and data are not stored locally within the Thin Clients. Instead, they are connected to HP servers in a centralized data center that perform all data storage and processing. Because of this, Thin Clients are very secure solutions that offer no compromise to confidential data especially when lost, stolen or damaged,” Javier says.

“We like the fact that HP Thin Clients do not come with hard drives that can store damaging viruses and malware. And since their physical connectivity options are limited, users cannot just plug in potentially harmful external USB devices,” she adds.

Since Thin Clients are managed at the server itself, they offer outstanding reliability and are not prone to failure. Similarly, since applications are not resident on Thin Client devices, business continuity is always ensured even during a natural disaster.

Outstanding value delivered

Beyond the compact form factor and the security offered by HP Thin Clients, another important advantage is increased energy efficiency, allowing significant savings in power usage in contrast to traditional desktops.

Along with their long life cycle, HP Thin Clients have helped PNB achieve its energy saving targets and reduced the constant need for replacement equipment. 

“Since HP Thin Clients are efficient in terms of power consumption, they help in reducing operating costs and contribute to the savings of the company. And since they use less energy, they offer a lot to the greening of the environment, which is an important endeavor that PNB staunchly believes in,” Javier says.

With the HP Thin Clients PNB has implemented, it was able to bank on outstanding performance, space-saving form factor, and energy-efficient productivity to complement its current robust IT infrastructure. 

“Technology really spells the difference between competing financial institutions, and it should always be robust so we can generate revenues that the bank needs,” Javier says.

“Given that, we believe we have made the right choice in going with HP technologies, and we hope that our partnership with HP will go a long way,” she adds.