In an effort to keep pace with the growing technology standards
of the industry,
Ameriprise Financial Inc.
(
AMP
) re-signed a multi-year deal with technology giant
International Business Machines Corporation
(
IBM
). The deal will allow the latter to continue its six-year practice
of helping Ameriprise combine different IT systems with diverse
financial products and applications. Further, it will considerably
improve the core parts of the company's technology infrastructure -
midrange, mainframe, storage and network services.
IBM manages the Ameriprise PeopleSoft applications, which include
application and infrastructure tiers for its human resource,
financial management, supply chain, and customer-relationship
management tasks, through the IBM SmartCloud - the cloud computing
products and solutions from IBM. Further, the technology giant is
responsible for maintaining Ameriprise's technology infrastructure
standards at par or ahead of the rapidly developing industry.
Ameriprise believes that re-inking of the deal will help it realize
its increasing information technology and business requirements,
since IBM has a strong expertise and world-class service potential.
Ameriprise expects IBM's diversified product and service portfolio
to be beneficial to its clients, advisors, employees as well as
shareholders.
We believe that Ameriprise's deal with the technology behemoth will
help it continue operating much faster and in an uncomplicated way.
The deal is also expected to positively impact the company's
financials by lowering operating expenses, amidst a sluggish
macroeconomic environment.
To keep up with the economic instability, many firms are adopting
expense management measures. Recently,
State Street Corporation
(
STT
) announced that it is striving hard to timely complete its
Information Technology Transformation program by 2014. This program
is designed to rationalize the company's technology infrastructure
and generate around $600 million in pre-tax savings by 2015.
Ameriprise retains a Zacks #3 Rank, which translates into a
short-term Hold rating. Considering the fundamentals, we also
maintain a long-term 'Neutral' recommendation on the stock.
AMERIPRISE FINL (AMP): Free Stock Analysis
Report
INTL BUS MACH (IBM): Free Stock Analysis Report
STATE ST CORP (STT): Free Stock Analysis Report
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