Situation

• BMO InvestorLine is the leading online brokerage firm, ranked #1 by the Globe & Mail for an unprecedented 5 consecutive years*
• Online investing is a highly competitive industry, where technology, tools, products and services are often the deciding factor in a client’s choice of brokerage
• Over 90% of BMO InvestorLine customers access the service online, so innovation and service enhancements are key to keeping them satisfied and helping them be more successful investors
• BMO InvestorLine’s Web platform was built on an application that was no longer supported by the vendor and that could not easily integrate new features, products and services
• In order to continue defining industry standards and maintaining its best-in-class industry rankings, BMO InvestorLIne needed to redefine its platform

Approach

• After deciding to implement an IBM WebSphere platform, BMO InvestorLine considered a number of vendors and chose TELUS
• A team of TELUS and BMO resources worked together to migrate the firm’s Web site to the new platform
• The process took place over two phases: in the first phase, the firm’s existing server middleware was replaced with IBM WebSphere middleware; in the second phase, the functionality of the old platform was replicated in order to make the transition completely seamless to clients
• Two TELUS developers continue to work at BMO InvestorLine’s offices

Business Benefits

• BMO InvestorLine can better retain existing customers and attract new ones
• The firm now has a scalable platform built on common Java standards, giving it the flexibility to enhance its service to clients by quickly and easily integrating 3rd party offerings.
• Clients benefit from much faster introduction of new features and functions and BMO InvestorLine is able to maintain its leadership position in the marketplace

Solution

Online investors demand a lot. They expect online brokerage firms to keep up with evolving technology and they insist on the latest tools, products and services to support their investing success. They need access to information and research from a comprehensive variety of trusted sources and must be able to buy and sell a wide range of investments. They expect to do all this 24x7 – and they insist on reliability and speed. In other words, a client’s choice of brokerage firm doesn’t depend only on price. In fact, for many investors, commitment to innovation and the quality of the trading experience are often the most important factors. For example, clients of BMO InvestorLine, BMO Financial Group’s online brokerage firm, have come to expect an enhanced experience and exceptional usability.

However, the online platform used by BMO InvestorLine was no longer supported by the vendor. Also, because the platform wasn’t built on open standards, BMO InvestorLine could not easily take advantage of enhancements in tools, products and services offered by the next generation of vendors. To retain its leadership position and grow its business, the firm needed to upgrade to open standards architecture.

BMO InvestorLine made the decision to implement the IBM WebSphere platform. The next step was to ensure a seamless transition for clients. “We started looking for a vendor with the capability to rewrite our application from the old platform to WebSphere,” explains Frank Missinich, VP Program Management with BMO InvestorLine. “We asked a number of vendors to prepare a brief as to how they would do this. Based on the proposals we received, we decided that the best group to transition us over was TELUS.”

A team of 20 TELUS developers joined BMO resources and worked with them to migrate the BMO InvestorLine site to an IBM WebSphere platform. This process took place over two phases:

• Phase 1 replaced BMO InvestorLine’s existing server middleware with IBM WebSphere Application Server Middleware
• Phase 2 migrated BMO InvestorLine to open standards architecture, including JDBC, LDAP and Internet Protocol

While most of the TELUS developers have moved on, BMO InvestorLine has retained the subject matter expertise of two of them, who continue to work with the firm. “They trained some of  our in-house developers and will continue to complement our staff for a while longer,” says Missinich.

A key factor in the successful migration was achieving industry-leading performance standards as demonstrated by BMO InvestorLine’s log-in times, which went from an average of 35 seconds to just a few.  BMO InvestorLine has also measured its success through continued top performance rankings against industry peers. In addition, the platform is scalable for future growth and quickly responds to continual change and new features, allowing BMO InvestorLine to bring its clients everything they need to be more successful investors.

“Previously, we couldn’t look at certain vendors because of the limitations of our platform, so when we wanted to introduce new features and functionality, we had to recreate them ourselves,” says Missinich. “Now, it’s easy to integrate leading-edge functionality because we all use the same common platform and we all talk the same common language.”

The new platform has impacted internal productivity as well. For example, built-in eForms functionality allows clients to open their own accounts online, complete with client validation and credit checks.  This reduces workloads on staff by eliminating mundane manual work, freeing them to focus on activities that add value to clients. Best of all, BMO InvestorLine continues to lead the market in innovation, products and services, a fact that appeals to many prospective clients. As Connie Stefankiewicz, President & CEO of BMO InvestorLine puts it, “TELUS brought value to our business and we bring value to our clients.”