This presentation describes the challenges faced by a Microfinance Institutions when having to choose an adequate technological solution..

1. An MFI story MicroFinance & New Technologies Summit 2008 Pierre Pezziardi ( [email_address] ) Octopus Founder CEO, OCTO © OCTO Technology 2008 Images by Bidulz.com

2. 2005, Omar, CEO Zagora MFI - Morocco © OCTO Technology 2008 flexible secured 1,4 M€ OLB

3. 2006 : growth … but © OCTO Technology 2008 2,4 M€ OLB 1,6 M€ OLB

4. Errors © OCTO Technology 2008 Too bad, these amounts have not been inputted in the correct cells We now believe that customer #12 has paid, whereas he hasn’t .. And customer #13 is now delinquent whereas he has actually paid !

5. Frauds © OCTO Technology 2008 This loan has been discretely inserted without following the standard appraisal process Money has been disbursed to someone we don’t know .. How many fake loans have we got now ??

6. Operating costs increase © OCTO Technology 2008 2,4 M€ OLB 1,6 M€ OLB .. Extra staff to control and consolidate information

7. THE solution : A MIS ! © OCTO Technology 2008 Excel (2005) Flexible Secured & automated Excel (2006) MIS (2007)

8. An 8 months marathon … © OCTO Technology 2008 Loan + Grant Requirements analysis RFP Configuration & Migration Software Proposals 1 M€ OLB 80 k€ IT Local IT expertise Technical Assistance

9. 2007 : still growing … but © OCTO Technology 2008 4,2 M€ OLB 2,8 M€ OLB 1 M€ OLB 1 M€ OLB

10. MIS doesn’t support our new local-currency products © OCTO Technology 2008 5 k€ € OLB DH OLB Never mind, I will manage the Dirham portfolio aside in Excel I had to pay my Value Added Reseller (VAR) for an import/export program Requirements analysis Development, Test & Migration

11. Can’t improve steering : breakdown rural/non rural © OCTO Technology 2008 I will ask my Value Added Reseller to develop this feature 10 k€ € OLB Requirements analysis Development, Test & Migration

12. Can’t improve operations : bulk collective repayments © OCTO Technology 2008 I will ask my Value Added Reseller to develop this feature 10 k€ € OLB Requirements analysis Development, Test & Migration

13. Can’t change Accounting method © OCTO Technology 2008 VAR says he can’t handle such a big change in the software : accrual accounting seems very different from cash accounting We’ll have to wait for a new release from the Vendor…

14. Mid-2008 : Specific development is a dead end © OCTO Technology 2008 And my VAR now proposes a 70k€ shift to a new technical solution … € OLB DH OLB New release Won't work Won't work Won't work Local adaptations make the migration to the next Vendor version very difficult

15. Lost Eden … © OCTO Technology 2008 Flexible Secured & automated Excel (2005) Excel (2006) MIS (2007) MIS ? Is it impossible to streamline innovation while being secured & automated ?

16. Streamlining Innovation through an adaptive MIS © OCTO Technology 2008 Automated testing Development 3 weeks Demand posted in our MIS’ backlog Demand#233 : Check customer duplicate When a customer is entered, a dialog … Listen, there are too many customer duplicates in the system, it should check if a customer already exists ! Automatic upgrade on the MFI’s side

21. THANK YOU © OCTO Technology 2008