Project introduction Background information of the company
The development of ABC Bank in South Africa began in Cairo as a saving and credit finance group. The memorandum of the association involved ten members who had initially shareholders in the group. Supporting members signed the deal and launched the company in the year 1895. The enterprise started as a registered and incorporated limited liability in the town at the end of the year 1896. Banking activities started with time, and new branches opened in various cities of the country. As the time went on, bank operation activities increased, and the management services changed. Some activities changed from the initial working and the private operations. Such changes helped the company to remain competitive in the market and acquire profits.
It opened subsidiaries in regions around the country and increased infrastructure in the banking halls. The buildings and branding of the company improved to accommodate and make the company famous to the customers. Other like the development of banking units such as marketing, Information and security systems department started within the bank. Such units enhanced the services and product delivery to the customers. The bank diversified financial services and transformed the bank into a full financial service organization. At the moment, ABC bank has grown regarding the financial value and accumulated stocks and shares in the stock market. The employees have increased and also improved the interest rates from initial 13 percent to 23 percent.
The severing competition led to the introduction of customer services online. The move targeted the improvement of service delivery to the customers. Also, the company has established external representatives in various countries. Concerning the increased customers, the company now introduced computerized databases for storing the information. There is also a better organizational structure incorporating global marketing and management. The bank currently has engaged into a strategic partnership with industrial banks recognized in the world. Global notice places the bank on the capitalism section and benefits from 20 percent of the financial market in the globe. Over the years, the ABC bank has acquired many awards in the business sector including “First Performing Bank.”
Details of the type of the business engaged by the company
ABC bank grew and enhanced the services to increase income. It partakes a bigger percentage in the financial market. Currently, the bank deals with many products and services to attract customers and increase the development. With the current development and expansion, it touches several areas of financial needs. There exist many kinds of financial products offered by the bank. With the expansion, the organization has a special subsidiary for each product.
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Banking accounts
The bank provides customers with various types of accounts. Among the available is the saving account which enables customers to access funds in the bank. Such accounts help the individuals who wish to store money safe in the bank. The accounts allow the bankers to reap benefits regarding interests. The account holders possess a Visa card to do banking operations with. The card help in shopping and withdrawing of funds. The saving accounts vary from the type of the customers. Some customers open prime plus savings account suitable for individuals earning loyalty points. Also, the clients registered under prime plus accounts acquire high transaction limits.
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Deposits
The bank also engages in deposits businesses. Customers feel good to deposit in a friendly bank and with limited transactions. The deposits are safe and earn interests. Deposits vary depending on some customer interests. Fixed deposits open for around seven days. The bank offers a limit deposit to ensure customers remained loyal and committed to saving with the bank. The deposits accrue return after a certain duration. Another deposit account product is recurring account. The account type enables customers to make investments by saving a fixed amount within regular intervals of time. The scheme gives a certain amount of money limit (Grubel, 2014).
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Banking Cards
ABC bank also engages in the banking cards business. Through the business, the bank offers the customers an opportunity to enjoy plastic money through issuing of banking cards. The bank provides different types of cards such as credit cards. The credit cards help in shopping and banking withdrawals. Also, debit cards assist many customers in holding cash. It the cards withdraws money from an account and sends funds to friends. Prepaid cards also act as major business products by ABC bank. The cards inform of gift cards, rewards, and meal cards. Such products acquire the bank many avenues of money generated to improve the financial base.
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Forex service
Another business product done by ABC bank include Forex service. ABC bank understands the client needs for transacting foreign currencies. It, therefore, provides forex services to the customers to help in the transaction process. Money individuals like the bank due to the diversity of products and accessibility of the products. The services help improve customer satisfaction through provision of Forex card. The card allows buying of foreign currencies easily. While the bank enables the cards, it works easy for the customers to transact money from foreign banks and use the money for the business. Online money transfer activities help the company to earn a lot of money from online transactions.
Current outsourcing and offshoring activities
ABC bank outsources various services from external companies. The expansion of the bank led to the inclusion of extra needs of the banking that are not found in the banking sector. The management outsources some services to enhance good service delivery to the customers.
The company outsources the systems development personnel. Over the years, the company experienced growth in the customer base. Also, the management team increase and the security of customer finances require good security. When we consider the improvement, the company outsource systems development companies to develop and manage financial soft wares. The complexity of the systems requires specialized teams to handle and manage. The systems development company also perform the upgrades in case of introduction of the new system in the market (Ebenstein et al. 2014).
Another service outsourced by the ABC bank is the cleaning service. Every day the banking hall need proper cleaning before the following day opening. The cleaning company provide the facility cleaning activities and arrange the seats properly to ensure no waste of time after office work open. A registered cleaning company performs the washing duties to ensure the security of all the property of the bank. The cleaning service facilitates a good working environment and a pleasing work place. Banks prefer the approach for better and improved services in the operations.
Moreover, the company offshore some services from regional branches. Some new branches lack appropriate human resource management teams. As a result, the established offices led service to the growing outlets for better performance. Human support entails training and education. Also, rotational operation ensures the individual learning from each other and improving service delivery. Better ways of working emerge when people learn from each other. Also, the sharing of ideas enable good relationships with people from other regions. ABC bank also outsources database providers to ensure the security of the customer data.
Description of current information systems supported by the company
The ABC bank growth welcomes various information systems support in the company. The bank concentrate in producing quality services and products to the customers. Also, they focus on turning the increased data to actionable information. The information systems help to contain costs besides achieving a competitive advantage in the banking industry. The information systems support the management in formulating corporate and tactical operational strategies of the business. The business adopts the information techniques to employ in different departments of operation to leverage the data in the company assists. The systems coordinate to enable a good flow of information from the top management to the least (Pearlson et al; 2016).
Transaction processing systems are critical information systems used in the ABC bank. The systems contribute in the daily business transaction activities of the bank. The users at the operational and management level utilize these systems to improve the working operations of the bank. Many of the officers use the system with the aim of increasing the inventory. Operation managers develop decisions that affect the daily business activities. The Transaction processing systems (TPS) offer answers to the information produced from the transaction processing systems in a very detailed way. In the information systems, the banks use the payroll systems operational systems at the TPS level for better performance. Other operational systems applicable at TPS stage include stock control systems and point of sale systems.
ABC bank also incorporates management information system as major information systems in the working and administration activities of the company. The MIS operates under the technical managers to monitor the company present performance status. The management evaluates the efficiency of Oracle database and the warehousing facilities currently used. The management information system officers think of the introduction of the cloud storage technology and visualization of data. Such analysis help in developing business processes that help the growth of the company (Martins et al; 2014). The comparison of the existing technology and the available technology give a sound report on the best ways to run a competitive banking business.
Project plan
The development of the bank requires interconnection of technology to enable the increased number of customers. The merging of the companies helps to integrate better systems to operate and perform better for customer satisfaction. The technology of database and computerized infrastructure in the company should coordinate to maximize the profits of the company instead of loses. The merging of the companies creates a sense of improvement of service delivery through the establishment of hosted solutions. Also, onsite services such as loan application will be ensured with the incorporation of the hybrid model technology. The solutions developed through technology assist in ensuring proper maintenance and easy the service delivery.
The project plan lists the tasks and subtasks required in the merging process of the banks. Also, the plan indicates the intended time for the activities done in the implementation process. The merging includes professionals’ exchange and the inclusion of new ideas. The workforce from both companies needs to understand the working of the systems and learn the best ways of interaction with the operating systems.
Section 2 Project plan
Project development plan for ABC bank
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References
Martins, C., Oliveira, T., & Popovič, A. (2014). Understanding the Internet banking adoption: A unified theory of acceptance and use of technology and perceived risk application. International Journal of Information Management, 34(1), 1-13.
Ebenstein, A., Harrison, A., McMillan, M., & Phillips, S. (2014). Estimating the impact of trade and offshoring on American workers using the current population surveys. Review of Economics and Statistics, 96(4), 581-595.
Pearlson, K. E., Saunders, C. S., & Galletta, D. F. (2016). Managing and Using Information Systems, Binder Ready Version: A Strategic Approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Grubel, H. G. (2014). A theory of multinational banking. PSL Quarterly Review, 30(123).
