Pub. 3 2013-2014 Issue 3

18 O V E R A C E N T U R Y : B U I L D I N G B E T T E R B A N K S - H E L P I N G C O L O R A D A N S R E A L I Z E D R E A M S FEATURE ARTICLE “The key to making the correct selection is to factor in all of the key areas of vendor management, especially in light of available guidance from the FFIEC.” To Choose the Local IT or an Industry-Focused MSP That is the Question M anyfinancial institutionsareleveragingthe benefits of outsourced information tech- nology (IT) services, including the cloud. The benefits are many–lower cost than managing IT in-house, improved efficiency and capabilities, access to enterprise-level security, experts in a variety of technical specializations managing IT systems, stronger disaster recov- ery and built-in redundancy, and more time for the bank to focus on serving customers. Now the question is, “Which IT provider is the best fit for your institution’s needs—a local IT provider or a financial industry-focusedman- aged services provider (MSP)?” The key to making the correct selection is to factor in all of the key areas of vendor manage- ment, especially in light of available guidance from the FFIEC, while truly evaluating all the elements that go intomanaging the bank’s tech- nology needs. While most bank managers will calculate suchmetrics as total cost of ownership CLIFF SKRDLANT SENIOR PRODUCT MANAGER, CSI MANAGED SERVICES