Trustmark National Bank Cuts IT Costs and Gains Control with Independent Software Support
CASE STUDIES
4 min read
4 min read
Trustmark National Bank, founded in Jackson, MS, in 1889, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Trustmark Corporation. With over 130 years of experience, Trustmark operates as a key regional bank across the Southeast, serving communities in Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, and Texas. Known for its commitment to personalized customer service and innovative financial solutions, Trustmark offers a range of services in banking, wealth management, and insurance. The bank’s rich history and dedication to growth make it a trusted financial partner in a highly competitive industry.
Banking
Midsize
Jackson, MS, U.S.
Coming off an unfavorable three-year IBM deal, a new challenge manifested in two parts for Trustmark National Bank (TNB) — moving away from Big Blue over a period and keeping an acceptable level of support and maintenance for their software in the interim.
Big Blue’s license terms had been a sore point for the bank for some time. Following an IBM software audit, Trustmark stakeholders had largely agreed to the previous three-year ELA to avoid findings they would otherwise need to pay to resolve. With that deal expiring, substantial service fee increases in a proposed new agreement strongly reaffirmed their decision to move away from the megavendor.
Signing another multiyear ELA for software Trustmark didn’t plan to keep made little sense. But even with the planned move, stakeholders still needed invested, highly skilled, and ultra-responsive talent to handle ongoing maintenance while they continued to use the software. With the right maintenance team in place, they could keep using the perpetually licensed software for years, but there was little appetite to continue engaging IBM’s support on a large swath of the estate.
Other products in the estate, which would soon roll to end of support (EOS) status, also raised questions from stakeholders. What could they do to maintain software that would soon lose IBM support if they weren’t willing to commit to a new version and a multiyear ELA?
Trustmark National Bank’s IT stakeholders rely on trusted partners to manage certain aspects of day-to-day operations. One of their independent vendors, Sirius, a CDW company and Origina channel partner, suggested the Origina team come in to advise.
The move away from IBM support was primarily motivated by cost. Even so, carrying it out would require a one-of-a-kind mix of licensing and technical skills that the OEM was not willing to provide. Trustmark came into the interaction thinking they’d be able to utilize Origina services to move approximately 40% to 60% of their current estate; after multiple conversations with our team, stakeholders realized we could help maintain and migrate closer to 85% of the software they wished to find alternative support options for.
The Origina coverage plan included expert software and maintenance for all the IBM software versions Trustmark was entitled to, plus migration strategy and consulting from our licensing and software experts for select products the bank wished to move away from in the long term. This meant software that would soon move to EOS status would have coverage without needing to sign another multiyear deal with IBM. Access to our Security Services team, which boasts proven wins helping financial institutions harden against cybersecurity threats and exacting industry regulations, rounded out the offer and provided even more motivation to make the move.
Best of all for an organization looking to trim the fat from rather aggressive ELA bloat, the price point offered for this depth of care was substantially less than what Trustmark would have paid for break/fix only OEM service. Trustmark would realize approximately $5.5 million in savings for concierge service that checked more of the bank’s boxes than Big Blue.
Following an internal IBM® License Metric Tool analysis that confirmed stakeholders’ conversations with our team, Trustmark National Bank agreed that Origina was the most prudent technical and financial move for their software roadmap. Today, the perpetually licensed software carries on with a recognized independent IBM software expert at the helm and an IT budget that aligns more closely with stakeholders’ needs.
By partnering with Origina, Trustmark National Bank achieved:
Discover how independent support can reduce your IT spend and provide you with flexible, expert solutions—without the vendor lock-in.
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