by Pradeep Singh Bisht, Consultant, bfsi consulting
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This is my experience of implementing FCUBS (FLEXCUBE Universal Banking Software version 12.0.3) in a small upcoming Bank, Debub Global Bank, Ethiopia. I had some time back left Banking after a long innings of 14 years where I had a chance to see gamut of Retail and Corporate Banking products and Services. Wanting to try something new, different and challenging but related to Banking I got a chance to join bfsi consulting as a Consultant.
bfsi consulting, an Oracle Gold Partner started in 2007 by three industry experienced professionals. bfsi consulting was one of the Ist Oracle partners to single handedly implement Flexcube from start to finish. Over the years we have delivered more than 30 projects in 20 countries in Africa, Latam, Middle East, Caribbean, Europe and South East Asia. With a strong team of 60 consultants both Functional and Technical the company equipped to take on any challenge small or big.
After 3 months of going through various Oracle Module Manuals, trying hand on locally created environments I got a hang of the product and its features. In the middle of August I was asked to be a part of project being implemented in Ethiopia for a period of 3 months. It was a little tight project in terms of timelines for the number of modules being implemented. I was a little sceptic for going to Africa and that too when the Ebola scare was running high. But after checking on Google and other sites I found that there were no cases in Ethiopia and also the country was the best in Africa in terms of stability and safety.
On the appointed day my colleague Ravi and I left for Ethiopia via Mumbai. On coming out of the Airport the first thing which stuck was the pleasant and up to a certain extent cold weather. We were staying at a guest house just 10 minutes from the Airport. While travelling towards the guest house initially the new modern area of Bole Road presented a great look but further down there were lot of small shops and underprivileged areas which showed the pangs of a growing economy. The guest house was by the name of Yesbabi Guest house and was quite a neat and clean place and comparable to a 3 star.
Coming to the Bank, Debub Global Bank, the same was found by a group of entrepreneurs around 2 years back and they were working on local software called Softbank which was standalone software and didn