The name of the game
A new company name – window-dressing? No, and not just a formality either. When we changed the name of the company from IZB Informatik-Zentrum to Finanz Informatik Technologie Service (FI-TS) at the start of this year, it was the outcome of much deliberation – and of a tremendous amount of work behind the scenes, as we experienced first-hand over the course of 2008.
A name is born
Thinking up the new name was a challenge in itself. We wanted to make clear the affiliation to our corporate parent Finanz Informatik (FI), yet were also keen for our own specific strengths – more exactly, our extensive IT and service competence – to show through in the name. The outcome, Finanz Informatik Technologie Service, fits the bill on every count. Our new logo is also emblematic of these two core precepts: the first half of the name, “Finanz Informatik”, is in the bright red of the Sparkasse Group, emphasising that we’re fully integrated into the structure of our parent group; the silver grey of the second half stands for professionalism, emphasising our own strengths of technology and service.
Implementation
Once the name was born, we got straight to work on implementation. Involving up to 100 people in the organisation, the project spanned a wide range of major and minor challenges, from having new letterhead paper designed, exchanging all the signage and visuals with the old logo at our three company locations, to the new website and intranet design and the change of all our e-mail addresses. The team also had to ensure the company name and logo were replaced in countless documents, reports and service descriptions. The project team steered these and many other tasks to completion within schedule and in best quality. Just a few of the facts and figures are presented below: a small cross-section of the activities with which project team members were tasked.
Dr. Walter Kirchmann, Chairman of FI-TS Management Board:
“For us, the new name Finanz Informatik Service Technologie sends a clear signal to the market inside and outside the Sparkasse Group. The launch of Finanz Informatik brings to the market a new corporate group with strong and capable member companies. FI-TS takes pride in being part of this group. We’re more than happy to show this in our new company name.”
New name – new self-perception
As the project took shape, it became increasingly clear the new name wasn’t the only thing we’d be taking into the future. We’d also have a changed perception of ourselves. FI-TS occupies a distinct position within a strong company. Blending this strength with our own distinctive capabilities, we’re committed to permanently raising the bar on the value and quality of the services we offer to customers. With our profound knowledge of banking and its internal processes, an uncompromisingly customer-centric approach to business, and the flexibility of our services, we’re in an excellent position to meet head-on the challenges of a market which is much changed by the recent financial crisis. We’re looking ahead to these challenges with confidence. Because we’re convinced we can give present and new customers precisely what they need to focus on their core business: across-the-board industry expertise and competitively priced services which are perfectly aligned with their needs.
| Project Facts & Figures: | |
|---|---|
| 100 | employees involved |
| 165 | signs replaced |
| 500 | HTML pages altered in the intranet |
| 2,000 | information letters to employees, customers and partners |
| 3,350 | redesigned documents with |
| 6,600 | logos and |
| 105,000 | occurrences of “IZB Informatik-Zentrum” replaced |