Chakravarti explains the relevance of IBAS 2000 Plus in the context ofbanking convenience. First of all, he says, it's a complete banking solutionfor the future. Meant for banks, which are technologically advanced and alsothose which are not, the IBAS 2000 Plus tool has been launched after fouryears of extensive research, says Chakravarti.

IBAS 2000 Plus, developed on Microsoft platform, has a three-tier clientserver architecture. It offers user definable products, network-centric andmulti-branching delivery channels, robust security, early warning system andconcentration analysis for efficient loan management.

Although Nelito would gradually get into the insurance, transport andhealthcare sectors, its primary focus now is banking. Says Chakravarti,``IBAS 2000 Plus is a customer-based product, unlike the other productsavailable in the market.'' The banking tools that are available now aremostly account-based. Now with the help of IBAS 2000 Plus, elaboratesChakravarti, all relevant information about customers can be quicklyaccessed to establish a superior relationship between the bank and thecustomers.

V Rajendran, technical consultant, Nelito, explains how. Rajendran says thatwith the new tool, the customer comes first. IBAS 2000 Plus, for instance,is capable of putting together a whole lot of information about the customerand then analysing it, when required. That is, this tool can devise aninvestment package for any customer, work out his loan modalities in ajiffy, calculate his assets and liability at any given point, and much more.On the whole, this tool is geared towards relationship banking, which is abuzzword in the present scenario.

Consider this one: A long-term customer of a bank writes a cheque of Rs 1lakh from his current account for a business deal, when there's only Rs99,900 in that account. But he has other deposits in the bank as well, whichare substantial. What will happen to his cheque of Rs 1 lakh? Normally, itwould be returned to the customer, thereby spoiling his business deal. ButIBAS 2000 Plus is set to change that. Says Rajendran, ``Banks should be ableto view the relationship with the customers.'' So, instead of returning thecheque mercilessly, the new tool will go deeper and analyse the customerinformation. In this case, since the customer has had a long-termrelationship with the bank and he's also been maintaining high deposits,his cheque will be cleared despite the shortfall. The new banking tool willmake the banker see much more than the obvious!

Similarly, the new tool will be a friend to corporate borrowers. SaysRajendran that usually corporate customers borrow on various accounts. Andin such a case, if one loan goes bad, others follow suit. But IBAS 2000 Pluswill again look at the relationship of the customer with the bank, and savehis loans from going bad. The focus is on personal touch, with banks havingthe provision to send e-mail greetings and fax to their customers on specialdays.

Talking about the cost of the tool, Rajendran says that it depends on thesize and spread of the bank. Also, the cost varies according to the extentof using the tool. Among Nelito's clients are Punjab National Bank, DenaBank and Central Bank of India. The State Bank of India too has been usingits global payment system for the past two years. Among the foreign banks inIndia using the tool are Sakura Bank and Fuji Bank.

And what happens when the new gets old? You upgrade, says Rajendran, likethe way you upgrade the operating system in your PC.