Microsoft Canada Co. today announced that Desjardins Group, the largest integrated cooperative financial group in Canada, will use the Microsoft(R) Windows(R) operating system platform for its desktops and servers in the scope of its banking operations.
Desjardins Group is the largest financial institution in Québec and the sixth-largest in Canada with over five million members and clients and overall assets of close to $100 billion. Since last June, the Microsoft Windows-based solution is rolled out to 30 points of service per week in Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick and Manitoba to a total of 1,800 offices with 1,500 servers, 25,000 workstations and 3,500 ATMs.
Headquartered in Lévis, Québec, Desjardins Group comprises a network of financial institutions and corporate financial centres in Québec, Ontario, Acadia and Manitoba as well as 20 subsidiary companies, many of which are active across the country.
Having pioneered the integrated offer of products and services in Canada, Desjardins Group provides its members and clients, both individuals and businesses, with a full range of financial products and services.
Desjardins Group was looking to a vendor who could provide a solution that was scalable, reliable and more secure to support its banking applications. The organization selected Microsoft software after a thorough evaluation process of a variety of products from different vendors. Due to the tight integration between Microsoft products, and the product expertise and support that Desjardins received from Microsoft Premier Support and Microsoft Consulting Services, the organization decided to standardize on the Microsoft-based platform.
Using the Microsoft Windows operating system and Windows XP on desktops, Desjardins will be able to standardize applications and business processes on one common platform, thereby enabling the organization to streamline processes within the Fédération des caisses Desjardins du Québec and the affiliated caisses. In addition, the Active Directory(R) directory service will help provide the means to manage the identities and relationships that make up the network environments, centralizing the management of IT components and user identities distributed in the caisses.
"With a wide distributed network of points of service across Canada, we needed an operating system and desktop solution that was reliable, more secure and scalable," said Michel Sawyer, Vice-President, Technology Development, at Desjardins. "Long term support was also a key consideration. After a thorough examination of competitive platforms, we selected Microsoft software as the best end-to-end solution. We benefited from Microsoft Consulting Services' knowledge and outstanding support that was fully adapted to our situation and our expectations throughout the initial planning stages."
"Microsoft-based technology provides the foundation for the development of unique solutions in financial services. The tight integration between our desktop and server products provide companies with a platform that will help deliver faster time to market and greater value over the years to come," said
Randy Lenaghan, Director of Financial Services, Microsoft Canada. "We are looking forward to continuing to work with Desjardins Group and providing long term business value to the entire group of companies."