These days, the buzz word is SOA or Service Oriented Architecture. In simple words, SOA is a software architecture that makes use of loosely coupled software or services to support business requirements or processes. SOA is also defined as 'A set of components which can be invoked, and whose interface descriptions can be published and discovered'. In SOA different resources or software applications are made available as independent services which can be used to create new services without explicit knowledge of their underlying components or respective architecture. Several advantages of SOA for any company are: a simpler and intuitive approach to deploy solutions, shorter deployment cycle time, ease of maintenance, and ease of integration across different environments. SOA also allows your company to undertake business process re-engineering as information technology has become an enabler for change. SOA lowers cost and extends the utility of your technology assets.

For banks and credit unions, there is tremendous interest in expanding the online channel to grow deposit base. They are looking for the uMonitor Online Account Opening and Funding solution to take their services to the next level. The obvious question will be do they have to have SOA in place to take advantage of this new opportunity?

The answer is no. While one can make a case for deploying SOA first for the benefits listed above, with a partner like uMonitor, you can get to the market faster and work on SOA at your own pace. It is true that with Online Account Opening and Funding, there are many points of integration and many opportunities to improve your business processes. It is also true that SOA will make it easier to get there. However, someone who is experienced in working with different services and integrating both proprietary and non-proprietary applications can take you to a successful launch with limited risk.

During the new account opening process, you verify the customer's identity, authenticate the customer, perform several regulatory compliance checks, allow the customer to establish a relationship with the organization and finally, create and fund the account. This entire process requires many different pieces or for that matter, many different parties to come together and work in coherent fashion to complete the customer acquisition and account setup process. With the use of uMonitor solution integrators, it becomes easier to deploy a customized solution based on the specific requirements of your organization with minimum impact on your environment with or without SOA in place.

We are taking full advantage of our Service Oriented Architecture for all our uMonitor solutions to fulfill customer requirements and deploy customer specific applications in a short period of time.

For more information on how uMonitor can provide you with the best in online solutions, go to www.umonitor.com or call 901-757-1212 to speak with a sales representative.