Partner Meeting La Hulpe
SWIFT and its partners meet to look at opportunities for working together moving forward
With a record attendance of 175 partners, the 2010 edition of SWIFT's Partner Meeting in Belgium confirmed its value as a forum to discuss today's issues, opportunities and developments.
Patrik Neutjens, Head of Partner Management, SWIFT, kicked off the meeting stating "moving forward will certainly not be business as usual, we need to shape what we do, how we do it and the role of partners with SWIFT is becoming increasingly important."
A highlight of this year's event was a sneak preview of SWIFT's 2015 strategy which is work in progress until June.
When presenting to the partners, SWIFT CEO, Lazaro Campos highlighted Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) as a weakness indentified in the discussions on key issues for shaping the SWIFT 2015 strategy. "We must collectively reduce Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for our customers and go to market with complete solutions." said Campos.
Martin Whybrow, Editor and Director, IBS Publishing Ltd. moderated a panel discussion where Amanda Westwood, Head of 2015 Strategy, SWIFT, gave further insights on the findings.
On the panel, Gottfried Leibbrandt, Head of Marketing, SWIFT, commented "We will focus on our core and make sure we deliver on that value proposition. We will slowly move up the stack with services whilst adopting a more segmented approach reflecting the differences in the market. There is no one size fits all. We need to move together with our partners and make our offering richer."
Partners will increasingly need a broader and deeper know-how of the full value propositions needed in regional and local markets and not just around SWIFT connectivity. Projects with partners will therefore become more complex and will require much deeper involvement.
| SWIFT global partner portfolio in figures |
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The format of the Partner Meeting was adapted this year to optimise two-way engagement and ensure that the event was more relevant for all of the different partner profiles.
Following the plenary sessions, the breakout sessions were split into two streams, Partner Management news and updates on SWIFT's portfolio.
Partner Management: End-to-end solutions
In an effort to increase value for financial institutions, SWIFT and the partner community need to adopt a value enhancing approach offering end-to-end solutions.
In the "beyond SWIFTReady" session, it was explained that a shorter, more efficient and lower cost on boarding process is key.
Partners can play a crucial role in offering joint and total solutions to create more value for customers and with support from SWIFT, they will gain more visibility through co-branding.
SWIFT Consulting Services is a global team of SWIFT and financial services industry experts that are building on SWIFT's core competencies to provide a set of services that will help customers reduce Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), drive business growth and lower operational risk. Partners are an integral part of the delivery model and can help with their SWIFT expertise as well as through commercialisation and promotion.
Products and Services: Opportunities
From the agenda it was clear that SWIFT's portfolio is in continuous evolution and offers a world of opportunities for partners and SWIFT to engage in providing value to the financial industry. The discussions were animated around topics as varied as interoperability, release 7.0 or digital identity.
In addition to the breakout sessions, partners also had the opportunity to "Meet the Product Manager" to exchange views and gain more specific and detailed information according to their needs. 
This year as a premier, partners were able to use Twitter to comment live on the sessions, ask questions or give feedback. It also allowed those that could not join follow the highlights of the event.
You were not able to attend this event? Join us at the Partner Meeting in the America's region that will take place in New York on 20 April 2010.
"We were encouraged by the fact that SWIFT is putting more emphasis on partner relationships and it was very interesting to get insights to SWIFT's 5 year strategic plan" Thomas Cullinan, Information Mosaic.
"The event was very well put together and I found a lot of value with there being a stronger focus on breakout sessions. The Partner Meeting provides an excellent platform to network and in particular I found the opportunity we were given to meet the knowledgeable Product Managers very useful to gain a more in-depth understanding." John Mayr, SimCorp.