Systematics
Systematics Inc., a former Little Rock, Arkansas, software company, was once the "nation's leading supplier of data processing services for the commercial banking industry." Systematics competed in the data processing financial services sector of the market against MTech Corporation, First Financial Management Corporation, and Fiserv.
Systematics was founded by Walter V. Smiley in 1968 with private equity supplied by Jackson T. Stephens. Smiley had graduated from the University of Arkansas with a master's of business administration and worked after graduation for IBM and then a local bank. Smiley recognized an opportunity to help medium-sized banks acquire the software they needed to compete with smaller banks that contracted such services, and bigger banks that could afford to purchase their own data processing hardware. Smiley had conversations with Jon Jacoby of The Stephens Group, who introduced him to Jackson T. Stephens. Stephens invested $400,000 in the venture in return for an 80 percent equity stake.
The company initially provided data processing services to banks on a contract basis, but later began licensing software directly to banks. The company went public in 1980.
Hillary Clinton served at one time as the intellectual property lawyer for the company.
The company was acquired by ALLTEL in 1990 for $550 million. The new private subsidiary of the ALLTEL company became known as Systematics Information Services and later ALLTEL Information Services. Systematics is now part of Fidelity Information Services.
References
- Monica Geran, "Tea-House in Little Rock," Interior Design, January 1, 1984.
- Phillip H. Wiggins, "Data Services for Small User," New York Times, June 4, 1987.
