quote:The United Bank for African (UBA) Plc, has signed what has been described as a "landmark" software licensing agreement aimed at building its key banking and ancillary operations with Microsoft Nigeria.The deal, according to a statement issued by Micro-soft through its website, is a long-term global enterprise agreement worth US$1.5 million (about N216 million)."The agreement will see UBA build key banking and ancillary technologies, solutions and services," the statement, published on Tuesday disclosed."The relationship," according to the statement, "will also allow UBA take advantage of Microsoft's NET Server products and premier support services through a service delivery and integration programme that will see Microsoft play a direct role in the delivery, implementation and support services provision for the bank within the agreement ."The UBA move is indicative of the trend in corporate Nigeria to focus more positively on respecting intellectual property rights, the statements added."This agreement comes with a lot of benefits for UBA. It present the bank with multiple opportunities to deal with business issues and challenges in the areas of cost management, systems integration, remote delivery system (eg Internet, mobile, etc), Microsoft said.In addition, the deal provides licensing coverage for all of UBA's local and international subsidiaries, including the New York branch. Micro-soft will offer consulting services directly as part of this agreement.With this deal, UBA will also benefit from training opportunities and reduction in the cost of technology acquisition and licensing for desktop and server products.All these, the statement said, are further to UBA's commitment to excellent service delivery to its customers.
