BROKEN ARROW – Over the past two decades, banks have taken measures to ensure they remain profitable while responding to increasingly changing market conditions, said Scott Wise, CEO of Armada Consulting.
Rising costs and falling margins are driving the demand for more detailed cost information, said Wise, partner at Broken Arrow-based Armada. The cost management company provides insight on company costs and how to maximize profits.
In November, Armada Consulting released its Acumen 2.0, a cost modeling software that is an upgrade to its cost analytics software, Wise said.
“The upgrade delivers improved performance management by delivering strategic cost management capabilities to their clients,” Wise said this week. “The latest release allows users to model costs in less time.”
Armada has 10 employees in Broken Arrow and offices in North Carolina, Atlanta and Philadelphia, Wise said. The company is poised to double the number of employees by next summer.
Wise launched Armada as a consulting company in 2002. In 2008, the economy collapsed and Wise shuttered the company. He reopened its doors this year and said he expects to see Armada earn $1.6 million.
“We finished the first version of Acumen in 2008,” Wise said.
Now, with the latest version, Wise and Armada are looking to license the software.
“We relaunched the first of the year,” Wise said. “Right now our business is 90/10 consulting and licensing and we are working toward 60/40 consulting to licensing ratio.”
The Acumen software helps banks identify obstacles to profitability and tells them where to save money, Wise said.
“Banks need to get a better handle on where expenses are and how they line up with their revenue sources,” he said. “Banks have to examine – given the regulatory environment – the products they offer customers and decide which work and which do not.”
Armada is not the only player in the market segment, Wise said.
“To the big players, this cost analysis niche is too narrow and is just another side business for their all-around data mining,” he said. “We separate ourselves by our ability to focus on the cost management.”
The latest Acumen provides clients with a deeper set of cost analytics to drive improvements, establish cost controls and better understand the economics of their business, Wise said.
“For many banks, it is difficult for them to understand their costs – when you look at the diversity of the main bank and their branches – it can be difficult to line up costs with the customer segments and the many variables,” he said.
The goal, Wise said, is to take Acumen and apply it to other industries.
“This release of Acumen represents collaboration with our clients as they provided great feedback and recommended enhancements for improving the product while implementing the software,” Wise said.
Cost management is becoming more relevant, he said.
Press Release found on The Journal Record
December 5, 2012