ATLANTA -- Harland Financial Solutions, Inc., a division of John H. Harland Company announced that it has been awarded IBM's Advanced Partner Status. The two companies will focus their efforts on delivering integrated customer relationship management, branch automation and core system solutions to the small and medium sized financial institution market. Harland Financial Solutions supplies software and services to thousands of financial institutions of all sizes. The company is a leader in deposit & loan origination, platform, teller, call-center, mortgage, business intelligence, core systems and customer relationship management systems. IBM is a leader in the creation, development and manufacture of the industry's most advanced information technologies, including computer systems, software, networking systems, storage devices and microelectronics. "Our small to medium-sized financial institution clients believe that providing exceptional customer service is their number one competitive advantage in today's marketplace," said Stu Bilick, IBM's Solutions Executive for Financial Services. "They see technology as the key to achieving their growth and customer service objectives. From the back office, to the teller line, to the CEO's desktop, our clients want everyone in the institution to share the same information on customer needs and behavior, so they can provide them with consistent, on-target offers and services at every point of contact." IBM's Advanced Partner designation embraces Harland Financial Solutions' Touche(R) Customer Relationship Management Solution, Encore!(R) Teller, Platform and Call Center Solution, and the ULTRADATA(R) core system for credit unions. Having successfully passed all scalability and compatibility tests on IBM hardware and software, Harland Financial Solutions is now a preferred provider of CRM, Branch Automation and Core System solutions to small and medium-sized financial institutions. Harland Financial Solutions products are certified for use with IBM NetVista(TM) Desktops, xSeries(TM) Servers, pSeries(TM) Servers, DB2 Universal Database and WebSphere(R) MQ Series e-business infrastructure software. "With IBM and Harland Financial Solutions working closely together, our mutual clients are the direct benefactors," adds John O'Malley, president of Harland Financial Solutions. "Financial institutions can now choose to use the industry's leading CRM, Branch Automation and Core System solutions on the world's most reliable, scalable and affordable hardware and database configurations. IBM's comprehensive certification process means that our solutions will work together right out of the box the first time, and every time." Touche, Encore!, and ULTRADATA are registered trademarks of Harland Financial Solutions, Inc. All other brands and products or services are trademarks and/or service marks of their respective owners, may be registered, and should be treated appropriately.