The partnership enables Scandent to establish a professional services "competency centre" in India dedicated to offering trained consulting services on the Misys Midas Plus suite of products, thereby enhancing the expertise of the professional services arm of Misys' wholesale banking business.

Forecasted growth in the demand for professional services and consultancy surrounding the Misys solution portfolio, in particular with the growth in demand for Misys Midas Plus, has led to the need for an increase in services capacity. The new competency centre will provide a flexible and cost-effective training and consultancy resource that will allow Misys to rapidly increase the scale of its professional services operations.

As one of the world's fastest growing IT consultancies, Scandent's expertise will complement Misys' growing services reputation and strengthen their offering to both existing and new customers.

Under the terms of the agreement, Scandent will become the preferred partner for Misys Midas Plus global implementation services, with worldwide coverage, immediately addressing the increased uptake of the solution among Misys' customers. However, while the initial focus will centre on Misys Midas Plus, the agreement also allows the addition of an enhanced range of services for other Misys solutions as required in the future.

After an initial training phase carried out by Misys, Scandent will internalise and standardise the process of certification and training within the Competency Centre. It is here that further consultants will be trained to form a larger resource base for Misys.

"This strategic partnership agreement sets the perfect platform for sharing the growth opportunities between the two organisations in a mutually beneficial way", says Dilip Keshu, CEO of Scandent. "A competency centre model will ensure that the working standards and knowledge base are effectively synchronised between the two organisations. We are very excited to be working with Misys and are looking forward to working on opportunities for sharing our mutual growth."

"The need for software implementation and support services is always growing, and we believe it is important to respond to this need quickly and cost-effectively. With the success of Misys Midas Plus, it is clear that greater resource will be needed to ensure that our services capabilities remains consistently high," comments Elsie Bonnett, Director of Global Services for Wholesale Banking at Misys.

"We are delighted with the new partnership agreement. The increased professional services expertise that the Scandent competency centre will provide will increase our competitive advantage and further enhance the reputation of Misys MidasPlus."