SWIFT Americas Partner Meeting 2010: “Partnering for Success”
Strengthening our relationships with our partners is key
In an environment marked by a new way of doing business, the SWIFT Partner Meeting New York offered Partners a new focus, new opportunities and new ways to build stronger relationships across the SWIFT organization. 
Kicking off the 2010 Partners Meeting - New York, Philippe Lecomte, Head of Partner Management, Americas, welcomed close to 100 people to the annual meeting in New York. In his welcome address, Lecomte highlighted the importance of the SWIFT Partner program as well as SWIFT's commitment to building stronger relationships with its partners.
"The partner program is solid and helps our partners build end-to-end solutions to better service our customers, but there is more we can do together. To succeed in this new normal, we need to become more agile and work harder together", said Lecomte.
SWIFT 2015 - Where to next?
A highlight for several partners was a keynote by Chris Church, Chief Executive Americas and Global Head of Securities. In his keynote, Church outlined the 2010 global priorities for SWIFT as well as offered a sneak peek into the 2015 strategy, which is a work in progress until June."We need to continue to address our Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) so that we pass on savings to our community", noted Church. There is still a lot of potential in our core business and a significant role for our Partners to play."
David Pryce, Managing Director, SWIFT Americas, echoed Church's remarks highlighting three specific areas where partners can play a role - extending SWIFT's reach to new users, developing traffic through applications and delivering a new Consulting Services portfolio, a key priority for SWIFT in 2010, to the community.Pryce said, "Leveraging our partners in the Americas is key to driving our business forward in the region. Through the SWIFT Partner Program we are able to reach a wider customer base and extend the benefits of SWIFT to a broader audience."
|
|
“Informative sessions covering many issues. Great presentation from SWIFT management providing first hand knowledge about the future plans of the company,” said Nick Pachnev, GlobalTrade Corporation.
"There must be alignment with Partners when going to the market. Partners are the one transversal that cuts across all of our initiatives. As a result, we must engage our partners and find the best delivery channels for SWIFT", said Neutjens.
SWIFT Evolving: How can we help you?
In a panel discussion moderated by Fred Slavin, Partner Manager, SWIFT Americas, Chris Church opened this interactive discussion by highlighting the direction of SWIFT in the coming years. "How is SWIFT evolving?" Slavin asked.
"SWIFT is evolving from being products based to a service based company, Church said. "We will be moving from a one size fits all approach to a more segmented way of doing business."
The panelists were asked about franchising as a word that has been frequently mentioned by SWIFT. Pryce said, "A great amount of our business and users are brought in by Service Bureaus. It is important for us to have a closer relationship so that we can efficiently service the client, franchising may be one example of how we do this together."
Church commented, "Franchising will play a key role in how we work together to help grow and build our business. Franchising is a key tool in building the SWIFT brand as we move forward in this new era."
"We want to go beyond SWIFT Ready and partner for success with those companies that deliver the most value to the SWIFT Community, added Lecomte."
New for 2010
In addition to sessions focused on commercial, product and strategic updates, Pierre Blum, Manager, SWIFT Consulting Services, Americas, led a discussion on SWIFT's new Consulting Services portfolio. In his presentation, Blum focused on the industry's need for a trusted, neutral and quality partner that will help customers reduce the total cost of ownership in SWIFT as well as reduce risks.
Other key sessions included an updated on Standards and how to leverage innovation for future opportunities.
"To be successful in the Americas for payments and banking it is clear that SWIFT will continue to depend heavily on our partners. This is especially evident in our Latin American market, which illustrates the continued importance in maintaining strong relationships with our partners" commented Eileen Dignen, Managing Director, Banking Initiatives, Americas.
Final thoughts
Philippe Lecomte closed the session with these very direct and inspiring words. "The partner eco-system is crucial to help SWIFT deliver its 2015 strategy. You are the extended SWIFT family and only together can we build solutions on top of the strengthened core of SWIFT."
|
SWIFT global partner portfolio in figures
|