Finland Card Company swiping IT right

HELSINKI: Accenture has signed a five-year application outsourcing contract with Luottokunta, Finland’s card payment service company, to develop, implement and maintain the business and Web applications that support Luottokunta’s services.

The agreement is designed to help Luottokunta increase cost efficiencies and improve customer service. Luottokunta expects to make its overall operation more flexible and scalable by consolidating its application development and maintenance needs with Accenture.

“Accenture’s proven record in application development and maintenance and IT transformation combined with its global industry expertise in banking makes it an ideal and reliable business partner,” said Heikki Kapanen, Luottokunta’s CEO.

Ari Seppälä, a senior executive in Accenture’s Financial Services group, said, “Process and technology complexities are often the main reasons that IT organizations come up short in supporting their companies’ overall business strategies. By teaming with a third party for application development and maintenance, financial institutions can create a simpler, more agile IT function that drives growth and innovation -- both domestically and abroad.”

Financial terms were not disclosed.