Open Solutions on both sides of the border

Open Solutions Inc., a provider of integrated enabling technologies for financial service providers, has announced an agreement with Celero Solutions. The Canadian subsidiary of Open Solutions Canada and Celero representatives have inked a contract involving a comprehensive suite of Open Solutions’ strategic products to the Calgary, Alberta-based organization for US $21.7 million.

The transaction includes software licenses, hardware and a professional services agreement with multiple licenses for several of Open Solutions solutions, which Celero will resell and distribute to credit union clients in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Celero’s multi-license purchases include profitability analytics software Open Solutions ProfitVision and customer relationship management / business intelligence tool cView.

Also under auspices of the contract, Celero has purchased a service bureau license for report viewing, archival and retrieval software for its data centre and several interfaces. Hardware purchases included ID scanners and signature capture devices provided by Verant ID. The agreement also includes the purchase of Open Solutions Canada professional services.

Celero had won licensing rights, reseller and maintenance agreement with Open Solutions for the Canadian version of Open Solutions’ relational core data platform, The Complete Credit Union Solution, in December 2005. Meanwhile, Open Solutions saw success south of the border as well. Last week, Minot, N.D.-based Northern Tier Federal Credit Union selected Open’s The Complete Credit Union Solution (now there’s a product name) and complementary product suite to handle data processing needs.

Northern Tier FCU boasts some US $55 million in assets, approximately 11,000 members and four branches. The solution is built on an Oracle relational database and seeks to provide Minot with assistance in streamlining both front- and back-office applications. The Open Solutions solution at Minot will theoretically integrate core data processing with member-centric applications such as internet banking, business intelligence, financial accounting, credit card processing, imaging and interactive voice response.

In future, Northern Tier FCU has announced plans to implement Open Solutions internet banking, cash management, telephony and digital document solutions.