By Linda Eagle
In a business world fraught with layoffs, budget and staff cuts, acquisitions and mergers, uncertainty abounds. Bank operations managers are asking themselves: "What if these cuts hit my department? How can I do more with less?" The need for efficiency in bank operations has never been greater.Traditional approaches for dealing with economic pressure in bank processing generally include admonitions such as, "nose to the grindstone," "tails and elbows," and the ever popular "come in early, stay late, and work through lunch." These are old-school work-harder strategies, providing short-term, crisis-oriented solutions.
Today's workforce and management techniques focus on working smarter. Working smarter for the long run, increasing productivity and quality in your operations and cultivating opportunities to decrease operating expenses - these are the techniques that will prove most effective over time.
"Okay," you say, "staffing cuts and increasing processing volumes have left me reactionary and in crisis mode. How do I find time to do this analysis? Where do I start?" Start by instituting these six steps:
o Focus on your customer
o Understand your customer's needs
o Analyze your department's inputs
o Evaluate your department's operation
o Create your efficiency plan, and
o Measure your success.
So, let's get started.
Focus on Your Customer
Sounds elementary, doesn't it? It's surprising how often this piece of operations productivity is downplayed - or missed all together. Who is your customer? Often in bank operations, your internal customer is not the final external customer. By fulfilling your internal customers' needs, you allow them to more effectively service their customers' needs. Meeting periodically with your customers helps you to understand what they need from your department - how can your department service them better? A super regional bank in the Midwest employs an innovative strategy that balances the need to understand the customer, while still managing the increasing department work flow. The bank's lock box and check processing managers have a standing bi-weekly "working lunch" with their processing center manager and product managers (their internal customers). The purpose of these lunches is to discuss internal customer needs and to mutually discover solutions that will allow their bank to more effectively service their cash management customers.
Understand Your Customer's Needs
To understand your customers' needs, you need to assess whether they are satisfied with the service and quality levels that your department currently provides.
Are your department's processes being performed in a timely manner? What service levels are acceptable to your customer? Is that service level realistic? Achievable? Are there additional services that your department can provide your customers to enhance the customer service that they in turn provide? On the flip side, are there any unnecessary services your department currently provides that the customer doesn't need? Customer needs change over time - make sure you're in the loop.
Is the level of quality you provide to your customer acceptable, or overkill? Provide poor quality, and your customer is dissatisfied. Spend too much time on unnecessary quality checks, and your productivity drops. What quality level is mutually agreeable to you and your customer?
Analyze Your Department's Inputs
What are the inputs that your department receives and processes in order to fulfill your customer's needs? Checks from Lock Box Processing? Outstanding Items Reports? Are they being delivered to your department in an organized and timely way, in a usable format, facilitating quick and accurate processing?
Communicate with your department's input provider. Discuss ways to improve your department's input. Explore cost-effective and obtainable solutions that can help you more effectively achieve your customer's requirements.
Evaluate Your Department's Operation
What specific services does your department perform for your customer? Where are the logjams that slow the delivery of your department's service to your customer? The more detailed the analysis, the more effective you will be in discovering ways to maximize process effectiveness and minimize expenses.
Start by documenting the work flow. Look at the processes that are performed within your department, their delivery schedules and required resources. Are any of these processes influenced by outside elements? Are all of the processes necessary? Processes that don't add value to the product being delivered to the customer should be eliminated. The same goes for redundancy. Consider the effectiveness of combining processes to increase the speed of delivery to your customer. Are you doing something in two steps, where one step would achieve the same goal, at the same quality level? Look to identify where the work flow slows or stops. What is creating the delay? Can you control or eliminate the cause of the delay? Or, can you work around it?
Examine the processes in closer detail. How would your department's work flow be affected if your input provider enhanced its processes before the work came to your department? Can you make this type of recommendation for change? Are there things your department is doing that could be outsourced? Are there any processes that your department currently performs that can be transferred to your input provider? For example, input fields for consumer investment products that are populated through electronic interfaces with the CIF and branch personnel may enable you to use your in-house staff for more critical processing.
How would you rate your department's use of technology? Are you taking advantage of all the tools available to you? When caught in a time-crunch, it's easy to write-off the time it takes to learn new programs or technology as a waste of time. The "we'll learn it tomorrow, when we get over the hump" frame of mind. Unfortunately, some of us never get back to our initial plan of blocking out time to learn about new technology. Once you've worked through the crisis and managed to pull off a minor miracle to get everything done, the urge to plan in advance for the next time has worn off.
Don't fall into this trap. Take the time to educate yourself on the technological advances available. Some advanced planning could yield real cost and time savings to your operation.
Create Your Efficiency Plan
Once you've identified where your inefficiencies are, you can begin to address them. Use standard Project Management methodology to provide a framework within which to work.
First, establish your time line. What are your limitations and goals? Is it feasible to have a three-month timeline? Can you make changes within your organization that quickly? Or, is a six-month timeline more achievable? If you need to involve other departments or resources, remember to include them in your planning. If your plan includes staffing up, or realigning existing staff, make sure you're allowing enough time for hiring, transition and training time.
Next, assign specific task responsibilities. If your evaluation has identified a lack of training on a specific process as the culprit for slowing production - document and update your training manual and conduct training sessions. Assign team leaders or key point personnel to help manage the changes and track the completion of project deliverable. Establish communication strategies for keeping everyone appraised on the status of the project. Set milestones and acknowledge when they've been met.
Most importantly, empower your staff to discover opportunities to increase department and operations efficiency. Encourage their participation in helping to identify where and when procedures or processes can be revamped. After all, who better to identify operations trouble spots then those with their hands in it on a daily basis?
Change can make some employees nervous, so make it worth their while to speak up. Recognize and acknowledge employee participation and production excellence by establishing reward programs. Employee reward programs run the gamut from pizza lunches and gift certificates, to special parking spaces and comp time. Test the waters for what's most appropriate to your organization's culture.
Measure Your Success
This may be the step that is most overlooked. How will you know if you've achieved the efficiencies you set out to attain, if you're not measuring your successes? Successes may be found in easily measurable actual time savings, cost-savings, or in the less-than-concrete improved customer satisfaction. Number crunching will give you part of the picture, but don't neglect the value of surveying your customers to gauge how your improved processes impacted them.
By implementing these six steps into your operations, you can better prepare yourself and your department for the economic unknowns to come.
Dr. Linda Eagle is Founder & President of The Edcomm Group Banker's Academy-a 22-year-old education and consulting firm dedicated to serving Banks, Credit Unions, Money Services Businesses (MSBs) and all areas of the Global Financial Community with thousands of generic and customized training programs in areas such as BSA/AML, Regulatory Compliance, Teller Training, Systems Training, Sales and Service Training, and many more.
The Edcomm Banker's Academy is headquartered in New York, NY. For more information, email linda.eagle@edcomm.com or call +1.212.631.9400.
PDI-P: Immediately Cut Under BBM Subsidize!
One of the harga Faction PDI Struggle head in harga DPR, Aria Bima, telling, government have to be coherent face people demand so that to be harga immediately cut under oil fuel
" Our assess, irresolute governmental attitude or do harga not meekly related relevant principality of harga policy of harga BBM price pixing subsidize," he she said pass through harga relation link harga phone seluler, Saturday, from Solo, Central Java
He tell, because when world oil price go up, government swiftly increase price BBM, even with increase which have reached 100 gratuity % harga. " But, now BBM anjlok price moment, governmental do harga not immediately cut under to sell domestic BBM. Hence , our assess, this irresolute or do harga not meekly principality. Because first quickly act to boost up, now like going forward to retreat," he said
Aria Bima enhance, when increase price BBM subsidize not yet this old, government wear reason adapt to market mechanism. In consequence, he she said, ought to when world oil price go down, government even also have to wear the reason of adjustment of harga x'self with the mechanism fluctuation to specify policy
" But, that happened, exactly adjustment of harga BBM price subsidize is harga now procrastinated without clear reason," say this BBM enquette activator motor. He then show world oil price now which have glide until 60 ACE dollar per barrel
" In consequence, we insist on government so that to be harga immediately cut under BBM subsidize without having to await world oil price growth to the last year," he said
More than anything else, according to its calculation, effect of degradation of harga world oil price in this time, government pluck excess of harga allocation subsidize BBM in APBN equal to Rp 10 triliun
" Ought to with surplus subsidize this Rp 10 triliun, government can cut under at retail premium subsidize till 20 gratuity % harga. Governmental don't think society do harga not know this hitung-hitungan," he she said.
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Price Elpiji Go down Year 2009?
State'S Minister Planning National Development PPN Body Planning National Development head Bappenas Easter Suzetta tell possibility of harga degradation of harga price sell size measure elpiji 12 Singk and 50 Singk ofis including subsidy diesel fuel price will know by harga next year, precisely in harga early budget year 2009
But according to him is harga most importantly done conducted harga is harga in this time do conduct harga efficiency and take care of usage volume don't jor-joran. While for the price of elpiji ofis including possibility do conduct harga deregulasi, governmental have delivered fully to Pertamina. " Price Elpiji we have deliver to corporate, so that become Pertamina responsibility is not government," he she said
According to Easter, Pertamina have to follow gas price in harga international marketing to determine price sell domestic elpiji especially for the size measure of 12 Singk and 50 Singk. That thing is because Pertamina have had simulation in expection of sale of harga elpiji do harga not lose. " I feel its distribution factor of harga elpiji have to improve repair so that Pertamina do harga not lose," he she said.
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Price Premium Can Go down Rp 1.600
Vice Chairman Committee Budget Parliament DPR Harry Azhar Aziz count calculate harga, if really BBM subsidize, especially premium, go down, premium price will become Rp 4.400 from previously Rp 6.000 per litre
He explain, that degradation equal to that got caused by degradation of harga Indonesia crude oil price 2008 so that make General Revenues And Expenditure Budget APBN 2008 having Rp surplus 10 triliun
He explain, at harga 2008 amount of BBM volume subsidize, especially premium, counted 37,5 million KL so that per month mean consume equal to 3.125 KL. " This Year remain two months so that requirement subsidize to 6.250 million KL. With Rp surplus 10 triliun, will be able to cut under Rp premium 1.600 per litre or 26 gratuity % harga become Rp 4.400 per litre," Harry Azhar word in harga Jakarta, Tuesday 28 10
But, its enumeration only in harga earning if result of its thrift for the premium of. " But, if alloted to diesel fuel and kerosene, I do harga not know, not yet been counted calculated harga," he she said. But, all important, statement of harga president, according to Harry, very can to be realized. Glorious Test of harga Santosa
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Harga Beli Nestle Turun, Peternak Sapi Perah Tertekan
PT Nestle Indonesia menurunkan harga pembelian susu segar dari para peternak sebesar Rp 200 per kilogram. Penurunan harga ini akan berdampak terhadap harga jual susu segar di tingkat peternak. Mereka juga khawatir langkah Nestle ini diikuti produsen susu lain.
Dalam surat kepada para pengurus koperasi dan koperasi unit desa selaku pemasok susu segar di Jawa Timur yang diterima Kompas, Rabu 14 1 di Jakarta, disebutkan, Nestle memutuskan melakukan penyesuaian nilai premium daya saing PDS susu segar dari Rp 700 per kilogram menjadi Rp 500 per kg dengan kadar total solid minimal 12 persen.
Corporate Affairs Director PT Nestle Indonesia Sahlan Siregar menolak jika dikatakan pihak menurunkan harga pembelian susu segar dari peternak melalui koperasi susu di wilayah Jawa Timur. ”Yang ada ha pengurangan insentif atau bonus yang disebut premium daya saing sebesar Rp 200 per kilogram yang berlaku sejak 11 Desember 2008,” ujar Sahlan di Jakarta.
Menurut Ketua Gabungan Koperasi Susu Indonesia GKSI Wilayah Jawa Barat yang juga Ketua GKSI Pusat Dedi Setiadi, penurunan harga beli susu segar Nestle kontradiktif dengan kondisi persusuan selama ini.
industry Processing of harga milk IPS is harga exactly profited by degradation of harga world milk price, more than anything else milk raw material 70 import milk gratuity % harga. More than anything else if degradation of harga this world milk price do harga not make balance to with degradation of harga price sell final product in harga consumer storey level. ” Seems degradation of harga price buy this fresh milk will follow by harga other IPS. This will beat dairy cattle breeder,” he she said
sigh of harga Tone laid open by harga Regional Chief GKSI of harga East Java Sulis
In this time fresh milk price of harga best quality of harga Rp 3.800 per singk, previous reach Rp 4.300, then become Rp 4.000. At the price of purchasing of harga milk from Nestle which alight from Rp 4.000 to Rp 3.800 per singk, fresh milk price in harga farmer storey level will become Rp 3.300-Rp 3.400 per singk, considering to need the expense of transportation and handling from co-operation
” Though, effort tired dairy cattle livestock of harga break even point if Rp milk price 4.000 per kilogram,” he she said
Unshakeable Chief Council Milk National of harga Boediyana tell, degradation of harga price buy that inequitable remember when international milk price go up highly, breeder cannot enjoy price according to that increase
System base price
According to Sahlan, in purchasing of harga fresh milk from all harga breeder pass through harga milk co-operation, Nestle party side harga apply base price system, specified equal to Rp 2.700 per fresh milk singk. Its condition, total rate of harga minimum solid 12 gratuity % harga and TPC or bacterium amount less than 1 million per mililiter. Besides base price, Nestle also give incentive in the form of transportation, pakan, and competitiveness. MAS osa
Tips Menembus Harga Pasar Handphone
