Kirchman software

I remember Dave Reed and Buzz. And Rocky Stout's name, but I'm not sure I ever met him. Didn't Rocky and Buzz go off and start a hospital software company, maybe named Compuserve or something like that not to be confused with the online service Compuserve?

Wasn't Lemoine Allison also involved in that somehow? I met Buzz a couple of times. Don't recall if you and I ever met, but it wouldn't surprise me. Too many beers since then. Hey Randy!

Thanks for using this sad occasion to convene a reunion! Amazing what you can find through Google. Good to hear from Ron and Bob, and sad to learn about Ed. Amazing too how much our recollections reinforce each other. I learned more working there than anywhere else. Learned way more about bank operations there than I did when I worked at a bank. Others have written of his quirky generosity. I remember good pay, unexpected bonuses, sabbaticals I enjoyed 3!!

And the Rolex, which I still wear every day. But I am most grateful for one thing. In , my wife was ill with cancer, dying as it turned out. The company changed its medical insurance plan, but Ken took the initiative to grandfather me into the old plan, to be sure the huge huge!

Your story about your wife has the Mrs. I had heard a different speculation about that, so thanks for setting the record straight. For others who don't know what Mike is talking about re. After ten years, you got two months, after fifteen you got three months, and so on. This was in addition the generous vacation policy.

In fact, all these folks showing up here for the reunion are the best banking software developers in the business, or else they wouldn't have been working for Ken Kirchman. Hi everyone. Isn't it strange that weddings and funerals are life events which bring people together?

I worked for Ken for 21 years. The last few of which were reporting directly to him. There are far too many things that I have learned from him to even imagine trying to articulate them in writing. Truly a one of a kind visionary that lived life to the fullest. Absolutely the most generous man that I have ever had the pleasure to know. His impact on this world is far more than can be imagined. He will surely be missed.

But keep in mind we will all see him again, at the right time, in the right place. As we have all heard him say many times, "Better than the last time, but not as good as the next". Hey, Dennis: Good to hear from you. Thanks for stopping by and for your note. Guess you are still there, too? Yes, still with Kirchman now Metavante Banking Solutions.

Metavante is a good company, growing very fast. Primary growth is through acquisition. I head up the International development, professional services and client care.

Been traveling the world for the last two years. It is tough to keep in touch with everyone. I see Russ for lunch from time to time, but that too has been a while. Has anyone seen Robert D lately? I saw he had an entry in the blog. Give me a call some time. Would like to catch up with anyone interested. RAD called the other night when he saw this. They got acquired by Harris Corp. Said Amanda is 21 now, which is also hard to believe. Said Bobby B. So let's see, who else.

Ralph R. What about Hal? Some others. Heard Dave M. Wondering about Paul K. We should have had yearbooks. Judy also still here.

Bruce, Judy's boyfriend passed away last year Brittany my oldest is 20 and a Jr at Florida State on academic scholarship and Megan 17 is as high school sr and was just accepted into the University of Florida Honors College on scholarship also. All doing well. What a well written memorial for Ken. I believe that he inspired many of us to do better that we ever thought we could. We all worked very hard and then we played hard. He gave us the opportunity to travel around the country and around the world.

At the end of the day, he was always Ken, the guy that never forgot his roots. I did not say enough to thank Randy for his down-to-earth eloquence in remembering Ken. You nailed it, friend. Randy, you're the guy who first taught me the difference between single click and double click. Who had the foresight to get us to develop a new analysis module on Windows and Excel when our whole client base could not see beyond DOS and Lotus Who built a program on your dining room table at 2AM to help you do some testing, that you then expanded into the Kirchman teller system, replacing the expensive and obscure piece of junk we peddled before.

I looked into more of your blog entries and it made me wish we had stayed more in touch over the years. I like the way your mind works. Sharing custody of Max Kim Koltnow, the great joy of my life, who will be 9 in a month. Louis for the Spring Nationals. Mike, thanks again. Stick around and join in the conversation whenever you like. Didn't know you were in CA. Beautiful country. I remember Matt, hard to believe he is Hey, Russ: Good to hear from you and thanks for the note and remembrances.

Hope you and yours are doing well. Thanks to you, too, for showing me the ropes as my first project manager there, and for all your patience. Ken hired a lot of great people. Looks like everything I could have said has already been said. Let me just add that working for Ken and with so many of you out there was definitely an amazing time in my life and I am certain I will never again work with such an outstanding group of people, and Ken is the reason we all got that opportunity.

By the way, I am currently sitting in the living room of another "old comrade" - Mr R. He lives in St. Pete, FL and has the enviable job of working from home. Jeff S called me to pass on the news and how to find the messages. I have not thought of Ken in a long time but I should have.

It's over 10 years since I "retired" and the fact I could do so was because of Ken and Hal S geting me back for Dimension. I also have and use a Rolex, drove a Cady for 2 years, had 2 sabbaticals, rode a corp jet, and got paid a lot. Only at KC could I have had such great things happen in my life, and as you all said, met a super group of programers.

Twelve years of very hard work and wonderful times. Sad that it's Ken's passing that gets us talking again. Ed and Jeff, great to hear from you guys. That's almost everybody.

Had heard a while back that Howard was no longer there, but I'm not clear on the cirumstances. We ran in to Pizzano a couple of times over the years. Same with Bob P.

And J. Have not heard anything about services, arrangements, etc. There hasn't even been an obit in the Orlando paper that I could find. RAC told me he called Howard and told me about the situation. He had been unaware until then. Howard apparently sold the last of his Orange groves and is officially retired. He sold to some developer, so expect even more housing and traffic in the Orlando area. As far as circumstances of his departure, you will find this amusing.

I have to assume something was lost in translation. Related to services for Ken, I understand from Rachel that they are targeting the 27th and that it will be at Lake X. She indicated that it had not been determined yet how public the service would be. I also heard from a friend in Maitland that Ken was cremated and his ashes will be spread at Lake X.

Their daughter goes to school with Victoria, Deanna's neice, who has been living and being raised by Ken and Deanna. I also suspect, knowing Ken, that the lack of obituary or public reference might have been his wish to keep things very private.

For all the great things he did to serve the community and the country, he never seemed to want or desire any public recognition. It is too bad, since his contributions have been so generous and many people may not recognize just how great they were.

These threads sure bring back many memories of all the good times we had working together. It is so nice to see everyone remembers Ken in much the same way and that everyone seems to be doing well.

I particularly like Dennis's comment on 'Better than the last time, not as good as the next'. Very Ken, and very appropriate. Not to get all maudlin, but isn't it interesting how all these people found each other upon learning the news. It was obviously a special time and place for a lot of special people. Along with running into Pizzano me! I have run into this great blog of information. Remember all those meetings at Crane's Roost and the seclusion of it all. Like others, I am not sure you can say anymore than what has been said.

For me, Ken's memory has many high points and other challenging points. It was hard work but good work. The people he allowed me to meet forever changed my life. The rolex watch, those fantastic sabaticals which allowed me and my family to travel all over the world would not have happened if not fro Ken. Lake X, the cabins, the pontoon boats, even the alligators make you smile when you think of it.

Everyone has a story about Ken and some have not had the pleasure to meet anyone like him For all his unique characteristics the man knew what he wanted to get done and just plain did. I would echo the other comments that it is a shame this is when the group gets back together.

I was always kind of hoping for a reunion as we have always joked about what stadium we would have to rent to hold everyone. He touched many peoples lives and my success is owed to him. Rest in relaxation and peace Ken. You may have passed but your memory and stories will continue. Pam Phillips also passed the news to me at Phoenix. Ken was such a "larger than life" individual that it seems very strange that he is gone.

It was nostalgic to read the list of comments and remember people I haven't seen for so long. Although Ken was certainly unique, he was never anything but wonderful to me and I agree with all of you that I learned a lot working for him two years reporting directly to him.

Lake "X" seems a fitting resting place for him since that is where his heart was even when his mind was at work. It's great hearing from all the old timers. I really can't believe Ken is gone. He was also a great influence in my life. I worked for Ken for 8 years off and on and have many good and bad memories of the man.

It's very sad knowing he is gone. RIP Ken. Randy great job getting all of these people on one place and all I heard these past years that you were good for nothing. Please say hello to Michelle if not for her accounting skills I would still be trying to get my books straight.

Ken had the power to get together world class talent in life and as we see also in death. Good to hear from Bob D. Russ W. Jeff S. Reid, Ron, Jim C. Mike K. Dennis N. Pam P. Amazing as it seems I am still working here and enjoying every minute of it. Life and Ken were both good to me and I am glad that I met him for Lunch about 1 year ago and we sat and discussed various issues, he was also able to guide me in some decisions that I had to make and as usual his recommendations were right on target me and my family owe him a wealth of debt.

He will be greatly missed. Ken Kirchman is planned for Tuesday, March 27th, a. Deanna has requested that I invite those of you who were employed by Kirchman Corporation at any point and shared a relationship with Ken. JCP and Aspy, great to hear from y'all. And Dave R. Sorry it isn't under happier circumstances. Aspy, thanks for passing along the info re.

And I'm glad to see you are still the same smart And for readers not familiar with all this, the TPS Pizzano refers to has nothing to do with cover sheets or Office Space, although Crane's Roost was a pretty great office space, and so was Maitland. But I guess we were having too much fun and Ken had to move us all back over to where he could keep an eye on us.

I recall that whenever he would show up at any of these venues, the word would spread Randy, thanks for starting this and giving us an opportunity to catch up with what is going on with everyone.

That was a nice tribute that you wrote. We all have our Ken stories. I first met him in when I was a customer. I remember Ken driving me over to Cranes Roost in the Rolls back in to meet you guys. I left TKC back in early and been doing contract work ever since. Great to hear from everyone. Too bad it is under these circumstances. I remember one Ken story that involves you. When we were designing standards for the international systems and multi-currency, we found that currencies for some countries required huge numbers because of their value as compared to the dollar.

But, there was some limit on the size of a decimal number in COBOL and the decimal instruction set that wouldn't allow enough decimal places for daily accruals out to our standard of four or eight decimals or whatever it was.

Ken, being the mathematician and perfectionist that he was, got wind of this more proof that he knew everything that was going on all the time and was adamant that this just would not do because, by definition, conversion of binary floating point back to decimal cannot be precise.

Technically, he was of course correct. But based on IBM manuals about the floating point instruction set we figured that it would be precise out to about eighteen decimals or whatever it was, don't recall , well beyond any precision needed and that this was "close enough. Of course, that made him even more, uh, adamant.

Close enough wasn't good enough, especially in banking. Anyway, I remember that you wrote a test program that exercised every interest accrual in the deposit systems using packed decimal v. I don't recall the results for really huge numbers beyond that, but I seem to recall that nobody had a calculator that could verify it. Randy - as many have said, thanks for bringing so many folks from the past together even at this sad time.

I can truly say - my experiences at TKC were turning points in my life and for that I'm eternally grateful. The environment was electric and always fast moving. I probably learned more about banking during my stint in Orlando than any other time in my career. I even had the priviledge of working directly for KK for a time - what a ride that was! Even after moving back to TN - when visiting Orlando I would stop by for lunch - he was always gracious and accomodating LaScala was wonderful.

His memory lives on for so many of us - indeed we have lost a true pioneer and visonary in our business. I remember you guys dreading the annual Lake "X" extravaganza. The Orlando-based company has set its sights on becoming "the software provider for the banking industry. Operating then as Florida Software Services, the company specialized in individual applications, such as demand-deposit accounting and commercial loans, and its client roster included some of the biggest names in banking, like Citicorp, First Chicago Corp.

About 12 years later, after changing its name to Kirchman, the company turned away from the big-bank market and individual software applications, and introduced an integrated banking system geared primarily toward the community-bank market.

The system, designed to operate on virtually any brand of mainframe computer, supports transaction processing, loan and deposit processing, customer information, and management information processes. Gregg Pace, Kirchman's vice chairman, explains the decision to abandon the company's initial big-bank clientele as a survival technique. The company, he said, had developed an integrated banking system that was ahead of its time. When Kirchman introduced its first package, dubbed Omni, Mr.

Pace said, no other software company had attempted to interest banks in the benefits of integrating their core processing applications. To convince the nation's largest banks to gamble on a revolutionary idea like integrated banking seemed an impossible undertaking.

Today, Union Planters Corp. DeVaux, an ardent champion of centralized processing, said Kirchman's Dimension system supports Union Planters' focus on that method. One of the biggest selling points of Dimension, said Mr. DeVaux, is that the software is packaged as object code, rather than source code. Software written in object code requires little in the way of end-user programming. Source code, on the other hand, must be edited and compiled before a purchaser can even begin to use the software.

Kirchman, Mr. Bradway said, is unique among major software vendors in selling object code. DeVaux said he hasn't quite dismantled Union Planters' computer programming staff, but the implementation of Kirchman's Dimension software certainly has lessened the need for programmers. The bank-holding company, he said, employs fewer than 10 programmers, who write programs to support interfacing of Dimension to external bank applications. To put this in perspective, Mr. Rather, he and his staff can focus their time and energies on combining the back shops of Union Planters' far flung affiliates onto one core processing system.

The savings that can accrue from this approach are substantial, explained Mr. It eliminates the need to support dozens of individual data processing departments, along with the associated hardware, maintenance, and personnel costs. Kirchman's approach to pricing its software also helps cost- conscious bankers like Mr.

Rather than charging a multiyear licensing fee and then tacking on a maintenance contract, Kirchman folds everything it offers into one big package, a process Mr. Bradway described as "software outsourcing. The asset-based pricing strategy, said Mr. Pace, is integral to Kirchman's marketplace survival. In an environment of nonstop mergers and acquisitions, a vendor's revenue streams could slow to a trickle if too many of its clients are bought out.

But if you have a client on an acquisition spree, like Union Planters, revenues increase as the client bank amasses assets. It also helps that the Dimension software is hardware independent, Mr. Pace said. The advantage of this multi-platform approach to software development and support, said Mr. The hardware independence of Kirchman's software, Mr.

Pace suggested, bodes well for retaining the value of assets that a bank acquires. But whether that fact will ever appeal to big banks remains to be seen. The one-size-fits-all appeal of Kirchman's software works well for smaller banks, but larger banks often prefer tailor-made applications, observed Mr.

Kirchman also could run into problems meeting the expectations of clients as those companies outgrow their community bank roots. Banks everywhere are under pressure from customers to provide service 24 hours a day from a multitude of entry points - such as voice response systems, automated teller machines, and home banking services.