Open Solutions Inc., Glastonbury
Rochester, N.Y.-based ESL Federal Credit Union, with $2.8 billion in assets, has selected Glastonbury-based Open Solutions Inc.’s relational core platform, The Complete Credit Union Solution, and other complementary applications to handle its enterprise-wide data processing needs.
Open Solutions is a provider of integrated enabling technologies for financial services providers across the United States, Canada and international markets. The credit union, which has 17 branches and more than 280,000 members, serves employees of Eastman Kodak Co., Wegmans Food Markets and other companies in the Rochester, N.Y., area.
The credit union was looking to upgrade its current technology platform in order to more efficiently develop and deploy new products and services and to better accommodate the needs of its growing membership. “We’ve been on the same data processing platform for more than 10 years and saw gaps in the products and services we could offer our members,” said Mike Armbruster, senior vice president and chief information officer of ESL Federal Credit Union. “We were looking for a more modern, open architecture platform that we could easily customize and grow into. We did not want just another legacy-based system that would not be able to grow with us. We wanted a system that would allow us to meet our long-term strategic and competitive objectives.”
“Ultimately, we selected Open Solutions because it has significant market share in the credit union industry and was the only vendor we found with a completely open and relational architecture,” Armbruster added. “We are very focused on providing high-quality products and services to our members. We have confidence that partnering with Open Solutions will help us meet our goals as our membership grows and we continue to add new products and services.”
Open Solutions’ technology suite was architecturally designed to be an open environment application, creating the flexibility necessary for running an agile, service-oriented institution. The product suite delivers real-time core data processing, account creation flexibility, business functionality and embedded business intelligence capabilities to offer efficiencies for both the front and back offices.
In addition to The Complete Credit Union Solution, ESL Federal Credit Union will be implementing Open Solutions’ cView (relationship management/business intelligence tool); document management; Financial Accounting Suite (general ledger, accounts payable and fixed assets); and integration management applications.
“We are pleased that another industry-leading credit union such as ESL Federal Credit Union has chosen Open Solutions to handle their ongoing technology and data processing operations,” said Louis Hernandez Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of Open Solutions. “We believe in offering financial services-centered solutions and an open-technology platform that can adapt quickly to new market strategies and the data processing needs of credit unions of all sizes.”
CMBA Symposium Planned
The Connecticut Mortgage Bankers Association’s Affordable Housing Committee will present a symposium entitled “Housing Connecticut: Overcoming Barriers” on Thursday, Sept. 28. The event will be held at Rensselaer At Hartford, 275 Windsor St., Hartford.
This year’s event focuses on bringing to light some of the creative new programs and some existing funding opportunities for affordable housing in Connecticut.
There will be a special update by a representative of the office of Gov. M. Jodi Rell and John DeStefano, Democratic candidate for governor. Shelby Mertes, chief policy analyst for Partnership for Strong Communities, will provide an update on that group’s activities as well as show its new film, “HOMEConnecticut.”
A slate of well-known industry professionals will conduct a choice of two roundtable discussions and conclude with an open discussion on how to best use that wealth of information.
The cost of the symposium will be $65 for preferred members, $70 for CMBA members and $80 for nonmembers. The cost for a group of five will be $300.
Registration will take place at 8:30 a.m. and the program will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information or to register, call the CMBA office at (860) 232-9141 or e-mail info@cmba.org.
