SunGard is "stronger" since going private

Oh what a difference private equity investment makes. At least that is the message SunGard's CEO Chris Conde was keen to impart at its annual European customer event SunGard Europa, which is being held on the shores of Lake Como, Italy.

In 2005 SunGard was acquired by a consortium of private equity investors led by Silver Lake Partners, and Conde appears to be prefer life as the CEO of a private company, saying that SunGard was stronger since it went private, growing by a factor of three. Total number of employees at SunGard has increased to 18,000 and it has made approximately 20 acquisitions since going private.

Harold Finders, division CEO, Financial Systems, SunGard, said since going private, SunGard had 50 R&D programs up and running at the same time, compared with 10 when it was a public company.

However, with so many solutions servicing different product silos within financial services firms, one of the chief criticisms of SunGard has been its 'siloed' approach to product development.

Today at Lake Como, SunGard was keen to challenge that perception by emphasizing its Common Services Architectures (CSA), which allows it to deliver more "flexible" software solutions by bringing together applications developed in different parts of SunGard's business.

For example, using CSA, the SunGard STeP and AvantGard businesses developed its new Real-Time Liquidity Management solution, which combines aspects of AvantGard's liquidity management capabilities with STep's exception management solutions.

Other examples of SunGard's CSA include its new Asset Arena solution, which maps different asset management workflows and pulls together its various asset management solutions "in a more integrated way". "[CSA] will turn SunGard from a siloed organisation into a more integrated one," remarked Hugh Grant, director, global IT, Credit Suisse and a member of SunGard's CSA Customer Advisory Board.

Using Business Process Modelling, service-oriented architecture (SOA) and its CSA, Finders said SunGard would be able to bring solutions to market more quickly, and lower total cost of ownership for customers.

Darren Wesemann, CTO, Financial Systems, SunGard, also highlighted SunGard's Infinity platform for delivering Software as a Service (Saas) or solutions on-demand. Using Infinity, he said SunGard would be able to leverage its solutions/assets on-demand and using a business modelling process engine, develop solutions that were more compatible with client's business needs.