Nationwide's £1bn IT overhaul
Nationwide kicked off a £1 billion IT initiative during the start of the biggest financial crisis this side of the Second World War. But why?

The financial giant is already relishing the extra flexibility it will gain though. "The SAP bank product is largely configurable so it will significantly reduce, once deployed, our time to delivery of new products," Prestedge said.
The bank also initiated a complete replacement of its mortgage origination platforms the software used by mortgage brokers and bankers to complete transactions to install a Microsoft system. The bank has already scored 6 billion worth of business on that platform. The company's CRM was also overhauled. Again, Microsoft was brought to deploy its Dynamic CRM product.
We are in the process of, having fully virtualised our server estate, working out where third party hosting would take us to.
One of the more costly parts of Nationwide's transition was the construction of a new 170 million datacentre. "We consolidated two of our datacentres and bought a new one in Newbury which is up and working, using virtualisation to position ourselves for using cloud as and when we choose to do so," Prestedge said.
With the transition, Nationwide has brought in new personnel too. This week it announced the appointment of Simon Hamilton as divisional director of a new enterprise development division. Hamilton will be responsible for application development and support across both new and legacy platforms.
Debra Bailey, an ex BT MD, will join in 2012 to lead the group services arm.
"Debra really brings together what I would call all of the infrastructure operations for the group all of our datacentres, all of our desktops, all of our infrastructure, all of our data warehouses, all of our networks as well as property, facilities and lines of business services, like cash machines and ATMs," Prestedge explained.
Get the ITPro daily newsletter
Sign up today and you will receive a free copy of our Future Focus 2025 report - the leading guidance on AI, cybersecurity and other IT challenges as per 700+ senior executives
"She will be accountable for about a third of the group's operating expenditure."
The future
Once the project is done and dusted, Nationwide will be feeling awfully proud of itself.
"We will, once the programme is complete and deployed in 2014, be the only material banking institution in the UK which will have completely renewed not just its infrastructure, but its application estate over a five year period, irrespective of the recessionary environment," the COO added.
But once all the work is finished, what next for Nationwide? It appears the public cloud is on the horizon, along with some desktop virtualisation, as IT Pro found RBS had initiated just recently.
"We are in the process of, having fully virtualised our server estate, working out where third party hosting would take us to. I have no doubt we will use the public cloud for some applications over time," Prestedge revealed.
"[Desktop virtualisation] is something we are just taking the business case to the board for. The IT programme thus far has focused on application and infrastructure renewal, we need to make sure delivery continues and then we will drive through virtualisation and support model changes."
It seems banks aren't so afraid of the big, bad public cloud after all. More importantly, they aren't afraid of rethinking their IT for the benefit of customers in times of economic strife.
Tom Brewster is currently an associate editor at Forbes and an award-winning journalist who covers cyber security, surveillance, and privacy. Starting his career at ITPro as a staff writer and working up to a senior staff writer role, Tom has been covering the tech industry for more than ten years and is considered one of the leading journalists in his specialism.
He is a proud alum of the University of Sheffield where he secured an undergraduate degree in English Literature before undertaking a certification from General Assembly in web development.
-
Why are many men in tech blind to the gender divide?
In-depth From bias to better recognition, male allies in tech must challenge the status quo to advance gender equality
By Keri Allan
-
BenQ PD3226G monitor review
Reviews This 32-inch monitor aims to provide the best of all possible worlds – 4K resolution, 144Hz refresh rate and pro-class color accuracy – and it mostly succeeds
By Sasha Muller
-
The truth about cyber security training
Whitepaper Stop ticking boxes. Start delivering real change.
By ITPro
-
Employees behaving badly?
Whitepaper Why awareness training matters
By ITPro
-
Teaching good cyber security behaviors with Seinfeld
Whitepaper Overcoming the employee engagement challenge in security awareness training
By ITPro
-
Gartner: CDOs are plotting a course to become CEO
News CDOs are pioneering a new organisational function alongside IT, HR and finance
By Sooraj Shah
-
Infosec: Workplace Facebook bans are a waste of time
News Web security vendor Barracuda Networks claims banning staff from using social networking sites still exposes firms to risks.
By Caroline Donnelly
-
2011: The year in news
In-depth We take a look back at a year which saw corporate carnage, industry in-fighting and the passing of an industry legend.
By Tom Brewster
-
Q&A: Graham Palmer, Intel UK MD
In-depth We spoke to the UK managing director of chip giant Intel to get his thoughts on the company's recent Small Business Index research and industry at large changes during the past year.
By Maggie Holland
-
SMEs stuck in technology dark ages
News Research carried out by Intel suggests smaller businesses are placing themselves at a disadvantage by failing to embrace new technologies.
By Maggie Holland