Desjardins and CGI: Partnering for success

“Not only has CGI respected the conditions of the contract, but it has also respected our way of working. The transition flowed naturally, without conflict and virtually without any turnover”

Richard Halley, Senior Vice-President Information Technology, Desjardins

The Client
Founded in 1900, Desjardins Group is Quebec’s largest financial institution and is comprised of more than 1,500 branches and service outlets and some twenty affiliated companies. With approximately 36,000 employees, Desjardins is also Quebec’s largest private-sector employer.

Financial institutions are currently under enormous pressure to innovate and offer leading-edge services to their customers while assuring complete security for all transactions. Desjardins has particularly strict standards with respect to the quality of the transactional services it offers its clients. So, when it decided to outsource its electronic data processing, micro-computing and document management services in order to remain on the cutting edge of technology, it was looking for much more than a client-supplier relationship. It sought a partner that was as committed to Desjardins’ clients as the Fédération itself. It found the ideal partner in CGI, and on May 1, 2001, the two companies signed a 10-year outsourcing agreement.

The Challenge
Under the terms of the agreement, Desjardins delegated the management of its data processing operations to CGI, while maintaining control of its technological orientations.

The plan also called for Desjardins to team up with CGI to develop the marketing of its data processing applications in the financial institutions market and allow Desjardins to combine its market knowledge with CGI’s strength in information technology. The contract also saw some 450 Desjardins data processing, micro-computing and document management employees become new CGI members, and it was crucial that the transition process go smoothly.

CGI realized that a significant adjustment was involved for these professionals, and it could not compromise the quality of services offered during the transition period. In addition to welcoming its new members, CGI also had to integrate the operations themselves into its various business units. These adjustments proved to be the main challenge of the engagement.

The Strategy
The CGI team of experts drew on their extensive knowledge of the finance sector and the company’s long history of successfully integrating new members. A detailed transition plan was established, assuring comparable working conditions and at least 12 months’ employment to employees arriving from Desjardins. “Not only has CGI respected the conditions of the contract, but it has also respected our way of working,” stated Richard Halley, Senior Vice-President, Information Technology, Desjardins. “The transition flowed naturally, without conflict and virtually without any turnover.”

These advantages, combined with CGI’s extensive IT expertise, would allow Desjardins to remain a leader in customer service and innovation. To bring service levels up to the stringent standards it had set with Desjardins, CGI developed a bold strategy, taking full responsibility for any shortcomings in service. It created “Services de CGI à Desjardins” - a business unit dedicated to Desjardins. This initiative greatly contributed to establishing a clear vision, specifically with regard to the implementation of common operating and processing models. “The unit’s entire management team is based in Desjardins’ offices and experiences our successes and challenges first hand,” continued Mr. Halley. “Each morning, CGI receives our quality report at the same time as our own managers and sits down with us. There’s no such thing as a CGI problem or a Desjardins problem; they are our problems, and we solve them together.”

The contract would also see CGI and Desjardins launch the EIM project (migration of the OS2 banking platform to Windows), a technical infrastructure supporting the Caisses and ATM networks. This mega project, which extends to 2005, targets the migration of all services, workstations and ATMs from OS/2 to Windows. CGI’s role includes all operations, specifically those related to testing, migration and operation of the new platform.

The Technology

CGI supports the following environment:

• 2 data centres both located in the greater Montreal region, linked by dark-fibre offering continuous operations
• 2 IBM mainframes, running S/390, with currently over 2100 MIPS and over 12 Terabytes of storage
• 4 AS/400, totalling 1,000 CPW and 200GB
• Some 140 Unix servers (RS/600 and SUN)
• 4 Tandem (to support Interac payments, ATM transactions, point of sale (POS) transactions, VISA)
• Some 2,870 automated teller machines
• Some 4,8000 POS terminals
• Some 8,000 banking terminals & printers
• Some 1,800 caisses (branches)
• A combination of Windows NT and O/S 2 workstations
• Some 30,000 PCs connected through 2500 servers
• IMS, DB2 and CICS based real time banking applications
• Printing Services (including print and inserts). Printing volume over 100 million pages per year and inserts volume over 64 million per year
• Help Desk services for the Desjardins user community. The Help Desk handles approximately 550,000 calls per year

The Results
On May 1, 2003, CGI and Desjardins celebrated the second anniversary of their partnership. The systems are operating with close to 100% availability due to the “zero tolerance” program introduced by the partners. In 2001, a survey conducted among CGI’s Desjardins clients noted an improvement in the services offered, despite the major changes made during the first year of the contract. In early 2002, a survey conducted among members who joined CGI from Desjardins demonstrated their satisfaction with their integration.

Desjardins and CGI have planned a number of large-scale projects for the coming three years. They include, for example, a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) project, a management data warehouse, applications related to the establishment of a business unit dedicated to large corporate accounts, and the transition to capital adequacy rules as the result of the Basle (Switzerland) Accord. “The people of CGI are refreshingly open-minded and have the ability to adapt,” concluded Mr. Halley. “We are very close to the CGI team, and I think that’s partly because we share similar management values. We set out to create a true partnership and we succeeded. CGI has won the confidence of our executive team.”