Oracle Flexcube Vs. Temenos T24 Core Banking Solution - Analyst Perspective

As Business Analyst/Test Consultant I have been working with my clients in various critical Core Banking Project Implementations. Where ever I travel the usual question posted to me from my clients in the process of selection or by the companies trying partner with Oracle Flexcube/T24 is, Which is the better product?.

It is difficult to decide or tell which is the best product unless you go through with your RFP. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Both companies work differently. My advice also varies on the company/bank which is asking. In general I will summarise my differences as below,

As a Product....

1. Both are functionally rich
2. Oracle Flexcube has ability to define accounting events. T24 rather rigid in that.
3. T24 has ability to add local developments/ products without any dependency on the vendor, which is very HUGE advantage in the ever changing requirement. Oracle is rather rigid and you are at Oracle Flexcube's door step for every enhancement. (if you are a company and looking at services and implementation independent of the vendor then T24 is the way you need to go!!).
4. Flexcube is on oracle. earlier to t24 (known as Globus), the database wasjbase/universe. Currently there are oracle and db2 version. t24 is database independent. (Please note that t24 is yet to prove in Oracle and db2, with their latest release-{read as R7}, but Temenos has more experience with Oracle )

As a company,
1. From the consultants experience - Temenos seems to be more structured than Oracle Flexcube. Product release are more controlled and scheduled with temenos. One functionality done for a bank is defiantly available for other clients whereas Oracle Flexcube seems to have client specific versions.
2. Implementation from Oracle Flexcube seem to finish around an year, temenos manages to finish around 2years for a mid size bank (Temenos do have implementations which completed in 6 months). Temenos are trying to finish their implementation with in reasonable time with the help of the Model bank (this from my general experience and please come and challenge me !!).
3. for consultants - Working in iflex projects are very taxing and badlyplanned(they always plan 3 people work with one consultant), but they finish because of the sacrifices of the consultants. Temenos projects are generally well planned but get's generally delayed because of having a bunch of wrong consultants. t24 product can be implemented in 'n' number of ways and its success depends on having the right knowledgeable consultants.

In summary both products are good. Both have their own can of worms. From IT and functinal perspective t24 can scale up to the business requirements fast, but t24 is yet to prove with their latest offering from the technology front and performance front.

Temenos aim to make their money from the initial licence fee, plus an additional percentage (usually 21%) for annual maintenance.

Oracle Flexcube target ILF, but also additional services revenues post implementation. Banks who prefer to take ownership of their systems favour Temenos; those who prefer to outsource IT favour Oracle Flexcube.

Functionality wise flexcube has a bit more advantage the T24 since all the major interfaces are packaged with product as a plug and play for example RTGS.But in T24 it comes as seperate interfaces. But the work culture in iflex implementation is very much taxing for consultants.

The big difference between the two companies is Temenos is "product" focused, while Oracle Flexcube is a "services" focused company.

Note: These are purely my personal views based on my work experience and knowledge of application implementation and does not reflect either Oracle Flexcube or Temenos T24 views in anyway.