Conclusion

As we all know, ING is an online global financial service that provides insurance, banking, and asset management service in over 50 countries. We all know this because of two simple reasons. The first is because of their appealing interest rate. ING customers benefit from a very appealing interest rate. ING Direct pays 4.5% on a savings account while most banks can only offer an average of 0.46%. The account is easy to set up, manage and access with out a trip to the bank and minus all those bank sur-charges that eat away at everyone’s hard earned money. The second reason ING is well known is because of their ingenious marketing plan which is simply to increase brand awareness with no branches to reduce overhead. They offer an unbeatable rate to attract customers and attract new customers by advertising very aggressively and most importantly advertising this interest rate in a large easy to read approach. This simple strategy has driven ING’s rapid growth and allowed each ING operation to grow. They have then added other products and financial operations such as mortgages and investment funds to their company. ING has clearly picked the right business strategy and this internet based company will continue to grow as the World Wide Web reaches more countries and more people every day.

Technology

Database

Some files used in ING are customers files, concrete files, and employee files. As for a database ING data base stores critical information and it is only accessible online. The data base contains many files that ING can access acording to the structure of the information. Managers can get reports by using database management system tools. This tool helps you access the information within the database. OLAP is the manipulation of information to support decision making. OLAP is associated with a data warehouse. Creating a data warehouse with customer information. OLAP is used, datawarehouse is used, and a dataware house supports OLAP. A data warehouse is a collection of information gathered from many different operational databases used to create business intelligence that supports business analysis activities and decision making tasks. Datamarts are also used in order to keep an important portion of the data warehouse information. Data-mining tools are software tools used to query information in a data warehouse. Responsible is an intelligent agent that operates in a data warehouse discovering information. software- Salesforce.com

HARDWARE

Although ING does not provide the manufacturer of their hardware, the hardware categories used by ING are as follows: input (mouse and keyboard), output (printers and speakers), storage devices (databases with Terabits of storage), processing (CPU and RAM), telecommunication devices (cable modems), and connecting devices (cables).

RESPONSIBLE FOR HARDWARE/SOFTWARE

ING has one hundred internal IT staff including fifteen network managers, plus contracts with outsourced vendors including Atos Origin, Accenture, Getronics, and KPN. (computerweekly.com)

SYSTEM SOFTWARE

The system uses a Unix back-end to carry out backroom database and financial functions, along with a Windows front end that the system managers and users see when they visit the site.

ING Direct utilizes RSA Security's Adaptive Authentication technology to protect online banking customers from phishing and various other security breaches. Above is a view of the third, and final step, customers use to access their account while ensuring their identity. The RSA also analyzes each online transaction and assess the possible fraudulent risk utilizing numerous customer characteristics.

APPLICATION SOFTWARE

By implementing a service oriented architecture (SOA), they were able to introduce a modular applications platform that would make it possible to quickly add new interfaces and make rapid changes. This SOA approach allowed for faster production of web applications developed by internal and external programmers/developers.

According to http://www.thefreelibrary.com/, ING’s success has generated significant increases in Web traffic, and the need for a Content Management System (CMS). Given that Rhythmyx is also based on industry standards, it does not require ING DIRECT to modify or sacrifice any of its existing software. Rhythmyx, a percussion software, satisfied the major criteria ING DIRECT set for its content management solution:

*”Ease of Use for Line-of-Business Users - This was a central concern for ING DIRECT, which is implementing a new way of handling content. The company is replacing time-consuming manual processes with Rhythmyx, which takes developers out of the content production and approval loop, and enables line-of-business users to exercise control and ownership over content (within established corporate formats and guidelines), speeding content production and delivery.

*”Scalability and Availability - These were critical criteria, and Rhythmyx enables ING DIRECT to scale content delivery easily across multiple Web sites and multiple servers.

*”Fit Easily into Existing Standards-Based Architecture and Skill Set - This was a must-have capability for ING DIRECT, which did not want to compromise its successful standards-based environment with proprietary CMS limitations.“

Percussion Software is the first Enterprise Content Management (ECM) vendor to provide cost-effective, multi-channel delivery of easily reusable content, as stated on www.thefreelibrary.com. Its flagship product, Rhythmyx 5, provides the industry's only De-Coupled Delivery architecture for cost-effective scaling; the industry's first Intelligent Relationship capability for proactively managing content dependencies and connections; and Active Assembly, a unique graphical user interface for enabling business users to easily reuse content. Percussion's innovative approach shortens customers' time-to-value and makes delivery of multi-channel ECM a practical reality for the first time.”

Network Information

The ING DIRECT website requires one of the following Internet Browsers applications to operate correctly.
Microsoft Internet Explorer (PC only) version 5.5 or greater
Netscape Navigator version (PC only) 7 or greater
Mozilla Firefox (PC and Mac)
Safari (Mac only) version 1.3 or greater (http://ingdirect.com.au/faqs.htm)

The four principles of network security are confidentiality, authenticity, integrity, and availability. ING as a company has to follow their principles of security very strongly being an online company. Since ING is an online banking they have to take precaution of the Internet security as well. ING collects customer information necessary to consistently deliver responsive products and services. They also maintain safeguards to ensure information security However they also limit, and with whom, how they share customer information. ING will share customer information only for the following reasons: When customers have requested a life insurance product, the ING life insurance companies may use a common application to avoid multiple medical tests so this way the information you provide and authorize them to obtain may be used by one or all of these companies to determine and offer to the customers the product most appropriate for their needs.

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www.thefreelibrary.com

http://ingdirect.com.au/faqs.htm