The Philippine National Bank (PNB) and IBM have signed an IT services agreement under which IBM will run PNB’s IT Helpdesk operations as well as manage and maintain the bank’s desktop, laptop and printer equipment. As part of this agreement, IBM is committed to enhance PNB's customer experience as well as to deliver improved service flexibility and cost efficiencies to enable PNB to achieve a higher level of business agility and growth. The agreement is part of PNB’s transformation strategy to focus on its core business and aggressively grow marketshare and profitability.

The helpdesk and IT equipment maintenance services agreement will cover software and hardware equipment support over a three-year period. Additionally IBM will supply PNB’s annual desktop requirement of 700 to 800 desktop systems for 2006. This is on top of the 1,072 desktop systems being delivered by IBM as part of PNB's upgrade of the Branch Teller System.

Although this is indeed a good news, I still have to see PNB embrace electronic banking. I have been a depositor of the bank since 1999 and have not seen any concrete moves in such area. I remembered signing up at the branch for their telephone and SMS banking but it never got processed, and thus, not able to use it.

I certainly hope that PNB will shape up and catch up with what the the leading banks are doing. They are the premiere bank that dominates the OFW and diaspora remittance in-flow in the country. Upgrading their services, offering the latest tools, is something that they should have the self-initiated leadership to do as well. Their lack of progress in this area does not give a good impression on how forward looking they are and putting it into action. There's a difference on being conservative and just being too damn slow in making progress.