TRAINING COURSE – PROCESS IMPROVEMENT & MANAGING CHANGE

Cape Town, South Africa – 7 & 8 November 2011

Process Improvement is a series of actions taken to identify, analyse and improve existing operational processes within any business or organisation to meet its goals and objectives. Such goals/objectives may include the need to reduce costs, achieve greater operational efficiency, the merging and simplification of existing processes etc.

Process improvement follows a specific methodology or strategy to create successful results. All operations whether back-office, middle-office or front-office are based on business processes. Often however, these Processes have been inherited from earlier times, and have been endlessly modified over time leading to a loss of their earlier efficiencies.

This applies equally to all businesses, organizations and their activities – from large modern-day corporations, through offices, factories, shops – and at all levels from businesses or organizations with thousands of staff right down to Mom ‘n Pop stores.

With Process Improvement comes change. Often too, these changes introduce a layer of uneasiness to the individuals that make up the business or organisation. Just as critical as improving your processes and benefitting from innovation, is getting your staff to accept change as beneficial. Change introduces elements of unease that push people out of their own comfort zones and can create resistance in even the best run organisations.

This course is designed for all people involved in business, services and other profit and non-profit organisations to introduce them to the world of Business and Organizational Processes – what they are and how they can be improved. It incorporates managing change, and how by coping with change, the changes themselves are strengthened and enhanced and beneficial instead of something to be feared. The course has also been specially designed to address the differing entry level knowledge of the participants.

How will you benefit from this course?

• Understanding a Business Process—what it is and how it is mapped.
• Understand how business processes can be improved.
• Understanding change and our reactions to this.
• Understanding stress within the context of process reengineering and change. 
• Successful approaches to planning, initiating and managing a successful process improvement project.

Who should attend?

This course is aimed anybody in any business/ organisation who wishes to gain a clear understanding of business and operational processes, what they are, how they come about and how they can be improved in an organized logical way.

Managers, supervisors, senior and junior staff, from operational and administrative areas will all benefit from this straight forward, comprehensive course on Process Improvement. This course applies equally to staff of firms operating at the corporate level, in manufacturing, in services, in retail trade and in non-profit organisations.

For a fully descriptive brochure please send a blank e-mail to courses@citadeladvantage.com with PROCESS-CT in the Subject line.

Richard's on the Whisky trail again - this time Johannesburg

One of our Principal Associates, Richard Barr is a member of the Whisky Israel tasting society, and a good whisky friend and big whisky lover. From time to time he posts his notes and adventures on Whisky Israel blog. Read his current post about his experience of buying whisky in Johannesburg, South Africa. It's certainly woth a read. Catch it HERE.

To read about Richard's whisky adventure in Madrid please click HERE.

And Richard's next trip? Well he is off again this week. To Hong Kong this time. Have a great trip Richard.

Visa’s Digital Wallet

A view from Jim McCarthy, Head of Product Development at Visa Inc. on wher Visa may be heading.

Dow plunges 512 points

Investors threw in the towel and Wall Street posted its worst day since the Great Recession. Worries mount about U.S. economic growth and escalating debt crisis in Europe while investors sought safety in U.S. Treasuries and 10-year note yield fell below 2.5%.

Bank of America is promoting its new Windows 7 application using Microsoft Tag barcodes

Bank of America launched its Windows 7 app in May. This allows enabling customers to pay bills, transfer funds, view balances and find ATMs using their handsets.

They have now created a Microsoft Tag, a 2D barcode that users scan to get redirected to a page where they can download the banking app.

On the Microsoft Tag blog, Treena Colby writes: "You are a gal or guy on the go. You have a stack of bills a mile high. You have no time to organize your life, much less read your mail or navigate a website to get what you need. You are the perfect target audience for the latest Bank of America marketing campaign."

Barclays Mobile Banking

A short video from Barclays Bank in the UK showing how simple and effective mobile banking can be.

Square now processing $4 million in mobile payments per day

Square is continuing to grow in the mobile payments space. After passing the $3 million mark at the end of May, Square is now processing $4 million in mobile payments daily, and is on track to reach over $100 million in transactions in July. Square’s COO Keith Rabois says that he expects the company to double this volume by October.

Square is planning on launching payments capabilities outside of the US in 2012.

iPad usage of Square is on the rise too, especially after the company launched a disruptive new iPad app to replace cash registers and loyalty cards. The breakdown in terms of usage are iPad (21%), iPhone (45%), iPod (3%) and Android (31%).

Over the past 12 months, Square has shipped more than 500,000 credit card readers, and is processing more than a million transactions per month. And Square devices are now sold in Apple Stores.

For professionals on the move and for small businesses Square is certainly something to consider.

Citibank unveils new consumer banking iPad app

Citibank has released its first consumer banking app designed for the iPad. The tool allows customers to perform banking activities such as checking their account balances, controlling cash flow, paying bills, transferring funds, accessing rewards and finding nearby Citibank ATMs and branches.

The app's special features allow for in-depth financial management such as planning cash outflow with the help of interactive charts. The tool also gives consumer banking customers the ability to analyze personal spending habits through automated, customizable charts and compare those spending habits with general consumer data that can be filtered in a number of ways. In addition, the new app offers real-time customer service access, including direct access to Citibank's Twitter customer support option.

Citibank is emphasizing the tool's interface, saying that it does more than just mirror app interfaces for laptops or mobile phones by taking advantage of the interactivity allowed by the iPad. See it in action here:

TRAINING COURSE – OPERATIONS RISK MANAGEMENT FOR NON-RISK MANAGERS

Johannesburg, South Africa - 7 & 8 September 2011

In the past decade Operations Risk management has been increasingly pushed into the foreground by the work and the requirements of international risk management and standard setting bodies, such as the Bank for International Settlements.

However, banks have seen the need to effectively manage their operational risks as simply an issue of complying with what the bank regulator requires, rather than a disciplined process that serves to not only ensure a banks survival but which can, in the long run, contribute to that bank’s financial fortune.

Additionally “risk management” is also seen as the domain of the professional risk manager. This assumption is totally wrong. Every manager, every staff member; whether they fill a line or staff function needs to be acutely aware of the risks in the business and the operations that they perform.

Implementing and maintaining an effective Operational Risk Management regimen is a complex process. At its core is an understanding of what Operations Risk is, how it can be managed. This knowledge is needed by every last staff member, be they business or technical.

This course is a basic introduction to Operations Risk management and mitigation aimed specifically at non-Risk Managers.

This structured course provides a complete well thought-out package for learning in all main aspects of the subject of Operational Risk. It will enable participants to understand the key issues as well as plan and manage the implementation of the operational risk management processes in their bank or financial institution.

Who should attend?

• All management and personnel involved in business, line and staff functions
• Financial Officers 
• Internal Auditors 
• Staff with roles and responsibilities in operational risk in risk management departments, businesses and central departments.

For a fully descriptive brochure as well as other course details please send a blank e-mail to courses@citadeladvantage.com with RISK-JHB in the Subject line.