Superstitious Stevie Wonder Josh Beck free essay sample

In my opinion, the three most important musical differences between the two versions of superstition that I noticed was the dynamics, singing voice and singing style, and tempo. Right from the beginning of both songs, you are able to notice distinct sound differences between the two songs. For example, Steve Wonders version starts with drums and a synch drum bass and then Steve adds the electric guitar. On the other hand, Jeff Becks version Immediately begins with the guitar, and eventually adds drums to the beat.In terms of the dynamics of the song, Wonders version has a softer, funkier sound to It. The drums of the beat are minimal and hide In the background, but support the song enough to carry the electric guitar and the horns. As for Becks version, you Immediately hear the hardness of the electric guitar being accompanied by the drums. Because of the heavy guitar played In the song, you almost get the Impression that the song Is louder and more chaotic than Wonders laid back, funky version. We will write a custom essay sample on Superstitious Stevie Wonder Josh Beck or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Also, I noticed that In Becks version that towards he end of the song, he has an amazing guitar solo and Just about at the very end a drum solo, while around the same time length for Wonders song, he stuck with vocals till almost the end of the song. Next, it isnt very hard to notice that both Beck and Wonder have very different singing voices and singing styles between them. After all, Wonder is known for his incredible RB vocals while Beck is best known to be one of the more influential guitarists in the history of rock music. Wonders singing voice and style is very harmonic with the melody of the song.Wonders voice immediately jumps at you, and you start to assume that he has quite the vocal range. On the contrary, Becks voice and style is lower and laid back. Its low enough that the listener can hear the beat and guitar taking over but Just loud enough so you can make out what he is singing. Finally, I feel as if the tempos of the songs are discreetly different. Becks version seems to be slightly more upbeat while the funkiness of Wonders version somewhat throws me off and gives me the feeling that its slower and laid back. What I enjoyed most about Wonders version of Superstition was the funkiness of the song.Overall, the song was very well balanced with outstanding vocals that are accompanied with a catchy melody. I found myself nodding my head along to the melody most of the time. I believe that it is Wonders vocals that are most appealing to listeners. However, I liked Becks version as well because it was a deferent version of Superstition that I havent heard before. Initially, I was not too fond of It, but after repeatedly listening to it, I gained an appreciation for his guitar work In the song, Welch Is what I think appeals to listeners.HIS guitar work really gives Its listeners a sense of the rock music Influence that Beck added. Superstitious Steve Wonder Josh Beck ay congruency erosion of superstition that I noticed was the dynamics, singing voice and singing erosion starts with drums and a synch drum bass and then Steve adds the electric guitar. On the other hand, Jeff Becks version immediately begins with the guitar, and erosion has a softer, funkier sound to it. The drums of the beat are minimal and hide n the background, but support the song enough to carry the electric guitar and the horns. As for Becks version, you immediately hear the hardness of the electric guitar being accompanied by the drums. Because of the heavy guitar played in the song, {o almost get the impression that the song is louder and more chaotic than Menders laid back, funky version. Also, I noticed that in Becks version that towards locals till almost the end of the song. Next, it isnt very hard to notice that both Beck vice and style is very harmonic with the melody of the song. Wonders voice Immediately Jumps at you, and you start to assume that he has quite the vocal range.Menders version somewhat throws me off and gives me the feeling that its slower to listeners. However, I liked Becks version as well because it was a different version of Superstition that I havent heard before. Initially, I was not too fond of it, but after repeatedly listening to it, I gained an appreciation for his guitar work in the song, Inch is what I think appeals to listeners. His guitar work really gives its listeners a sense of the rock music influence that Beck added.

Difference Between Baking Powder and Baking Soda

Difference Between Baking Powder and Baking Soda Both baking soda and baking powder are leavening agents, which means they are added to baked goods before cooking to produce carbon dioxide and cause them to rise. Baking powder contains baking soda, but the two substances are used under different conditions. Did You Know? You can  substitute  baking powder in place of baking soda (youll need more baking powder and it may affect the taste), but you cant use baking soda when a recipe calls for baking powder. Baking Soda Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate. When baking soda is combined with moisture and an acidic ingredient (e.g., yogurt, chocolate, buttermilk, honey), the resulting chemical reaction produces bubbles of carbon dioxide that expand under oven temperatures, causing baked goods to expand or rise. The reaction begins immediately upon mixing the ingredients, so you need to bake recipes which call for baking soda immediately, or else they will fall flat! Baking Powder Baking powder contains sodium bicarbonate, but it includes the acidifying agent already (cream of tartar), and also a drying agent (usually starch). Baking powder is available as single-acting baking powder and as double-acting baking powder. Single-acting powders are activated by moisture, so you must bake recipes which include this product immediately after mixing. Double-acting powders react in two phases and can stand for a while before baking. With double-acting powder, some gas is released at room temperature when the powder is added to dough, but the majority of the gas is released after the temperature of the dough increases in the oven. How Are Recipes Determined? Some recipes call for baking soda, while others call for baking powder. Which ingredient is used depends on the other ingredients in the recipe. The ultimate goal is to produce a tasty product with a pleasing texture. Baking soda is basic and will yield a bitter taste unless countered by the acidity of another ingredient, such as buttermilk. Youll find baking soda in cookie recipes. Baking powder contains both an acid and a base and has an overall neutral effect in terms of taste. Recipes that call for baking powder often call for other neutral-tasting ingredients, such as milk. Baking powder is a common ingredient in cakes and biscuits. Substituting in Recipes You can substitute baking powder in place of baking soda (youll need more baking powder and it may affect the taste), but you cant use baking soda when a recipe calls for baking powder. Baking soda by itself lacks the acidity to make a cake rise. However, you can make your own baking powder if you have baking soda and cream of tartar. Simply mix two parts cream of tartar with one part baking soda. Related Reading 5 Simple Buttermilk Substitutes: Most buttermilk you buy is made using chemistry. You can make homemade buttermilk yourself by simply adding an acidic kitchen ingredient to milk.Common Ingredient Substitutions: Baking powder and baking soda arent the only cooking ingredients people run out of!How Baking Powder Works: Learn how baking soda makes baked goods rise and why its used in some recipes but not others.How Baking Soda Works: Learn how baking soda works and how this affects how quickly you need to bake a recipe once you mix it.Baking Powder Shelf Life: Baking powder doesnt last forever. Learn about its shelf life and how to test it for freshness so your recipe doesnt fall flat.

Social Campaign Reports Measure Your Strategys Impact in CoSchedule

Social Campaign Reports Measure Your Strategys Impact in Data proves the ROI of the work you do. (awesome) The tedious process of †¦.compiling stats  from your LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, and FB platforms †¦.sifting through lines of data in your â€Å"oh-so-lovely† spreadsheets†¦ comparing AND grasping for correlations And finally putting those stats into something your team can *actually* understand? ^ not so awesome. Let’s make this process less painful (and time-consuming), shall we? Introducing ’s newest reporting addition:   Social Campaign Reports. With Social Campaign Reports, you and your team can: Evaluate campaign performance across multiple networks (in one place). Unite campaign data from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Pinterest in one report. So you can gauge the success of your latest event promotion, product launch, or other specific campaigns across social media. Eliminate those â€Å"gut feelings† and use hard data to make strategic decisions. Get access to performance metrics that help you analyze trends, identify problem areas, and continually refine your social content. Quickly pinpoint correlations between two campaigns with side by side comparisons. Compare similar social campaigns or posts side-by-side to test what’s working (and what isn’t). So you can continually fine-tune your messaging for your evolving audience. AND create presentation-ready reports to share with your team and VPs.  Provide data-driven feedback to your employees and define your marketing decisions to your CEO with metrics and analysis people can actually understand. Here’s how

Cause and effect essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Cause and effect - Essay Example An emotional effect of being angry is pessimism. Anger drives the positivity out of an individual and leaves them emotionally drained. As a result, the outlook of the individual on the world in general and people in particular becomes very pessimistic. While this emotional effect lasts just as long as the anger does, it can cause the individual to make negative moves that they might even regret later. For example, just because of a misunderstood comment on Facebook from an otherwise close friend, the individual might unfriend the person out of anger, only to realize later that the move was not worth making. Pessimism causes people to make uninformed decisions. In anger, people tend to overlook the positive aspects of an individual’s personality and expand on the negative aspects excessively. The ability to rationally analyze situations, people, and circumstances is sapped in anger. An emotional effect of being angry is emotional outburst. Anger saps intelligence and the abilit y of an individual to maintain emotional balance. Emotional outburst can be exhibited in different ways. While some people shout, scream, or yell, others become faint. In emotional outburst, people say things that they really do not mean to say. They exaggerate the matter at hand and other’s fault in it, thus not only sounding irrational, but also casting a negative impression upon the audience both that is related to the matter and others that are not. Emotional outburst also causes many effects to appear physically and reflect in the face of the angry person. For example, some people go very red in the face when they are angry, some people’s lips, hands, and limbs start trembling in anger, and yet there are others, who start to perspire heavily in anger. All of this is a result of the interaction between mind and body in emotional outburst. In emotional outburst, people even say things that are not directly related to the matter at hand. They may draw examples of eve nts that have passed several years ago, thus casting an impression upon the audience that they do not let go of things even if they seem to have forgiven. When people faint as a result of emotional outburst, their body temperature decreases and they turn white and pale in the face. Many people also perspire heavily when they faint. A physical effect of being angry is violence. Different people behave differently when they are angry. A reaction commonly shown by people in anger is violence. While some people simply enclose themselves in an empty room, and sleep away the anger, others start throwing things away, thus breaking them. A bad news heard over the television can seem a good reason to throw a vase at the LED screen and shatter it. Some people become so overwhelmed with anger that they ignite fire and burn away their possessions, rooms, and other kinds of property, thus putting others’ lives in danger in addition to their own. Possession of weapons can be potentially ha rmful for such an individual who cannot control themselves in anger. People who possess pistols have a tendency to shoot the person they are angry at in rare circumstances. Possession of weapons can be particularly dangerous when there is a fight between children or young adults. Out of immaturity and insanity, they are vulnerable to hurting or even

Marketing plan for a new self service laundry In Dubai, UAE Essay

Marketing plan for a new self service laundry In Dubai, UAE - Essay Example This will ensure that there is low formality and that authority is centralized. There are other organization designs that can be employed to adequately help the company achieve its objectives. One of such organizational designs is the team design where the company is made of different teams who work separately but towards attaining a common goal. It is easier to achieve the company’s objectives as a team rather than as individuals since different people have different skills and expertise. The company will be competing in a laundry service industry and will therefore be providing laundry services to the people of Dubai. The company competes directly with other laundry service companies such as Champion Cleaners. Champion Cleaners has more than forty outlets in United Arabs Emirates including Dubai. The company offers laundry services to approximately fifty percent of the laundry service customers in Dubai. In the year 2013, the company recorded sales of approximately 1.3 million garments per year. Our company is yet to begin its operations in Dubai hence it has no share of market. The company wishes to earn at least a twenty percent share of the Dubai market within the three years of its operations. The company will be competing directly with the pick-up and door to door delivery services offered by the Champion Cleaners which has seen the company grow at a high rate and even expand its operations outside United Arabs Emirates. Since our company will be beginning its operations in Dubai, we will be competing locally with the Champion Cleaners. The Champion cleaners however compete locally, nationally and even regionally with other laundry service companies. Nevertheless, the growth of the laundry service industry in Dubai can be estimated to around six percent in the last five years with very few players coming into the industry. The demand for the laundry services in Dubai is constant throughout the year. The state of both

Balance Scorecard Essay Example for Free

Balance Scorecard Essay A Balanced Scorecard is a framework that focuses on shareholder, customer, internal and learning requirements of a business in order to create a system of linked objectives, measures, targets and initiatives which collectively describe the strategy of an organization and how that strategy can be achieved. † The Balanced scorecard retains the traditional financial measures and complements them with measures that are drivers of future performance. The objectives and measures of the scorecard are derived from an organizations vision and strategy and these view organizational performance. The balanced scorecard is a management system (not only a measurement system) that enables organizations to clarify their vision and strategy and translate them into action. It provides feedback around both the internal business processes and external outcomes in order to continuously improve strategic performance and results. When fully deployed, the balanced scorecard transforms strategic planning from an academic exercise into the nerve center of an enterprise. The balanced scorecard is a tool developed by Kaplan and Norton to articulate, execute and monitor strategy using a mix of financial and non-financial measures. It is designed to translate vision and strategy into objectives and measures across four balanced perspectives: financial, customers, internal business processes and learning and growth. It focuses on all the activities that generate financial results rather than the financial side alone. The scorecard depicts strategy as a series of cause-and-effect relationships between critical variables and gives a framework for ensuring that strategy is translated into a coherent set of performance measures. The use of a hierarchy of scorecards cascading through the organisation ensures that strategy and performance measurement is closely aligned. The Balanced Scorecard can act as both a control system and a management tool. In other words, it can be used for monitoring performance as well as for strategic planning. Its versatility may be one of the reasons why so many companies have chosen to adopt it.

Keith Bassos Wisdom Sits in Places Essay -- American History Western

Keith Basso's Wisdom Sits in Places There is a deep relationship between the environment and Western Apache people. The bonds between the two are so strong that it is embedded in their culture and history. Keith Basso, author of Wisdom Sits in Places expanded on this theory and did so by divulging himself into Western Apaches life. He spent fifteen years with the Apache people studying their relationship with the environment, specifically concentrating on ‘Place-names.’ When Basso first began to work with the Apache people, one of his Apache friends told him to ‘learn the names,’ because they held a special meaning with the community. (Cruikshank 1990: 54) Place-names are special names given to a specific locality where an event took place that was significant in history and crucial in shaping morals and beliefs. Through the use of place-names, the environment became a teaching tool for Apache people. Red Lake, Minnesota is an Ojibwa place-name. The area dates back 9000 yeas ago when the Stone Age peoples first inhabited the region that is now known as northwestern Ontario. These aboriginals were indigenous people familiar with the properties of the surrounding plants and wild animals. They lived along the waterways and treated their environment with respect and celebrated its bounties through their spirituality. (Web Site #1) According to Ojibwa legend, thousands of years ago, two hunters came across a very large moose standing beside a beautiful clear blue lake. The Hunters thought the moose was an evil spirit named ‘Matchee Manitou’ and they tried to kill it. One of the hunters shot the animal with an arrow just wounding it. The grand and majestic animal escaped by diving into the water and disappearing forever. A large pool of blood colored the water red, masking the once beautiful blue lake. A creature so huge was never to be seen again. The hunters named the lake ‘Misque Sakigon’ meaning ‘Color of Blood Lake.’ Years later it became known as ‘Red Lake.’ (Web Site #1) When I heard this story, 12 years ago, it came from the mouth of my father’s good friend, an Ojibwa man, named Henry Meekis. I still remember everyone sitting in front of him while he told the story. His passion for the story permeated the room and we were all captivated by it. The importance of place-name study lies in the light it sheds on the cultural... ...lace-names can be seen in the following quote given by an Apache named Benson Lewis. I think of the mountain called ‘White Rocks Lie Above In a Compact Cluster’ as it were my own grandmother. I recall stories of how it once was at that mountain. The stories told to me were like arrows. Elsewhere, hearing that mountains name, I see it. Its name is like a picture. Stories go to work on you like arrows. Stories make you live right. Stories make you replace yourself. (38) When I read Wisdom Sits in Places I could feel the importance of place-names through the words of the Apache peoples stories. Events that took place many years ago in a specific areas reiterate the morals and beliefs the Apache people hold near to them. To say that they are anything but relevant to Apache history and culture would be a mistake. Works Cited Basso, Keith 1999 Wisdom Sits in Places. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. Cruikshank, Julie 1990 Getting the Words Right: Perspectives on Naming and Places in Athapaskan Oral History. Artic Anthropology 27: 52-65. 1. www.red-lake.com/museum

The Great Water Debate

The Great Water Debate Canada is a country that is well known for being a global competitor due to its vast natural resources. However, the trade of some resources has been a subject of argument for many years; specifically water. It is a well-known fact that Canada has a fifth of the world’s fresh water resources. Making Canada the target of many global and domestic arguments ranging from â€Å"No Way! † to â€Å"Without any doubt, certainly! Beyond personal opinion, there is also the issue of whether, under the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), water is a â€Å"vital resource† like the air we breathe, or a â€Å"commodity† to be sold and traded. No matter the personal opinion of the people, the federal government usually has the last say, however, in this case, the decision is down to the provincial governments. â€Å"There is a voluntary provincial ban on bulk exports, but any province could break it any time, and would it not withstand a NAFTA challenge† .However, Canada does still trade water but not in the expected manner. Canada sells water in containers (no larger than 30 liters) to other countries. There are a lot of advantages to exporting Canadian water in bulk. â€Å"Canada has only a half percent of the world's population but it holds one-fifth of the planet's freshwater supply† . A big thing to consider is about 7%-9% of the fresh water is renewable, this means that even though Canadians have the second highest water usage in the world, they still have an excess amount of water left over.This is water that if commoditized, could turn Canada’s economy around. Resulting in a huge profit for the government which can help support Canada’s public healthcare system or even cut the country’s taxes. These are all the advantages of treating water as a commodity, allowing the selling and trading of it internationally. However, there are huge disadvantages to trading Cana dian water internationally in bulk which in my opinion easily out weight the advantages offered in this situation. One thing to consider is that Water is not only a need by human being but by all living things the ecosystem.If Canadian lakes’ waters are to be decreased by simply an inch, it can affect hundreds of living things and cause chaos to the natural order of things. Therefore, it is clear that it will be harmful for the environment. Second thing to consider is that the cost of transporting water internationally may be over-whelming for the government and might not worth it. The price that the water would be sold at once it reaches the target country might be under the total cost of transportation or just barely over, resulting in it not being a good investment at all.Thirdly, in contrary to popular belief, only 1 per cent of water in the Great Lakes is renewable; leading me into the next point that â€Å"Once it’s gone, it’s gone†. Water is a fini te resource. Exporting water at bulk permanently will result in even more Lakes drying up than already, due to the climate change. Lastly, at some time in the near future, water bankruptcy around the world will result. A United Nations study that says by the year 2025 – less than 25 years – two-thirds of the world will be â€Å"water-poor. † If Canada manages to conserve its resources of fresh water till the much dreaded year of 2025.Canada can be making many times the profit that they would be currently making if they were to export all their water now. With all the given points, it seems quite clear that reserving Canada’s water for the future is an intelligent and environmentally friendly decision. There is also another aspect to consider when making the decision of whether selling Canada’s water internationally is a good idea or not. That is the ethical issue of selling water. â€Å"Water is an essential need, a public trust, not a commodity. It belongs to everyone and to no one. – Canadian Environmental Law Association. Without water, no human being or any living creature in fact would live longer than a couple of days. By putting a price tag on water, Canada would be allowing the rich to enjoy an excess amount of water and purchase at will while the poor will have to die of thirst throughout the world. Another aspect to consider is, as previously stated, the killing of many living organisms that live and use the lake’s fresh water. By removing water from the lakes, Canada would cause a global rage and hatred towards itself by activists around the world.As previously stated, my personal point of view is that Canada should not sell its water internationally; at least, not yet. Water is not a commodity to be bought and sold. Bulk water exports will not address the issues of water scarcity. Allowing water to be traded as an export would create a market system that would determine access to water by ability to pay. Considering these points, I still do not believe that it should be banned; instead, it should be saved for a great profit opportunity for the future when water becomes as valuable as the oil in middle east. By: Amir Sheidaei

Microsoft Bank Branch of the Future

A Microsoft Banking and Capital Markets White Paper The bank branch of the future 2 The bank branch of the future ContentsRedefining the role of branches 4 > Case study: Nascent Digital — understanding customer needs 8 > Article: The Fiserv perspective — information convergence, interaction specialization and the importance of integrated channels 10 Recognition — selling to a market of one 12 > Case study: CRM at Wintrust Financial and Fiserv 14 > Case study: Customer-centric at the core — First Citizens National Bank and Harland Financial Solutions 15 Engagement — creating memorable touch points 16 > Case study: Digital signage at Reflect Systems and Best Buy 18 > Customer use scenarios: Microsoft Surface at Barclays Bank and Royal Bank of Canada 21 > Case study: Streamlining communications at Fidelity 22 Origination — developing new business opportunities 23 > Case study: Predictive analytics at U. S.Bancorp with Portrait Software 25 > Prof ile: Secure paperless banking with digital signature from Topaz and AssureSign 26 > Case study: Incentives at Bank of the West and Varicent 27 Service — taking customers to the next level 28 > Case study: Next-generation self-service at BBVA with NCR 30 > Case study: Espirito Santo creates a better banking experience with CRM and a 360 degree, integrated view of the customer 31 Innovation — developing new products and services with customers 32 > Case study: Social computing at NewsGator and CME Federal Credit Union 34 Bringing it all together — technologies of channel integration 35 > Article: Creating a consistent customer experience through channel synchronization 36 Having a vision for the future 39 > Profile: Helping customers succeed with ARGO 40 Realizing the branch of the future 41 Microsoft partners appearing in this paper 42 Microsoft in Financial Services Financial services is a major industry for Microsoft ® Corporation. Our commitment to the indus try comprises client-dedicated accounts teams, and technology and industry specialists. Our solution areas embrace almost every facet of the industry, including client experience, governance, risk and compliance, payments, and operating capabilities. The U. S.Financial Services industry group led by Ben Narey is responsible for developing financial services solutions combining Microsoft capabilities with those of our partners, for our U. S. -based banking clients. This is one in a series of thought leadership papers designed to share insight into leading industry issues and help our clients realize their vision of the future. www. microsoft. com/financialservices The bank branch of the future 3 A message to our customers and partners After a significant period of expansion, banks are finding current market conditions tough to say the least. Putting customers first is the right response, and the branch is the place to do that. But the role of branches is changing dramatically. Transa ctions are moving to the Internet, so customers may have fewer reasons to visit branches.In addition, new technologies, such as social networking and personal financial management (PFM) tools, are transforming the relationship with customers, forcing banks to develop new ways to create the right customer experience while empowering customers and giving them more control. If branch visits are less frequent, they must become more valuable and more interesting. The days of existing and potential customers walking into branches and not being recognized or effectively engaged are over. A new era of personalized financial services is forcing banks to sell to a market of one. This means understanding customer needs and addressing them appropriately. This also means moving from a reactive sales model to a proactive one, where customer needs can be anticipated in advance.Thanks to changes in technology, customer expectations of the experience they should receive when they visit the branch ar e rising all the time. But just filling branches with new technology isn’t the answer. There needs to be a plan in place and one developed with customers in mind. The customer should be at the center of the branch operation. The branch of the future is an engaging, interactive and fun environment. It should also be a lower cost one. There is opportunity for a dramatic improvement in branch performance. This means streamlining processes, eliminating paper, and improving front and back-office integration. Branch staff are being asked to play a different role. Branch personnel need constant training to do this.The technology of the branch of the future exists to empower tellers, financial advisors and service representatives to serve customers more effectively, moving from a reactive to a proactive engagement model. Microsoft Corporation has a strong commitment to the branch of the future. Directly and through our partners, we work with financial institutions around the world to develop their own path to improved performance. Many of those solutions are outlined in this white paper. We hope you find this a useful contribution to your future plans and the longer term direction of our industry. Yours truly, Ben Narey Director, U. S. Financial Services Colleen Healy General Manager, U. S. Financial Services 4 The bank branch of the future Redefining the role of branches T A dizzying period of change echnology is changing at a blurring rate.It is at once more social, connected, mobile and continuous. We are seeing game-changing advances in many areas from user interfaces to Internet TV. It’s not just transactions that are moving to the Internet but conversations and relationships as well. In this new world, banks are engaging with customers in very different ways. For some banks, branches are emerging as the new, technology-enabled centerpiece in the relationship with customers — a place where channels and technology converge to create a new era of personalized banking in the branch of the future. Banks face other challenges. Revenues are stalling, margins are under pressure and costs remain high. For many, technology remains fragmented.As banks invest more in customer technologies, they must also reduce costs and improve margins, achieve more with less, and at the same time comply with new regulation. In this constantly shifting story, there are many moving parts, and they must all come together to wow customers without confusing them. The branch of the future is an exercise in innovation that must be competitive, game-changing and ultimately profitable. It must be part of a broader strategic focus that considers all channels, not just the branch itself. It will involve not just a vision, but an ecosystem of partners that can deliver it. Microsoft ® expands its reach by working closely with partners to deliver many of our capabilities, and many of them are included here.In this paper, we lay out a process that a bank cou ld follow in developing its branch of the future story. As steps in that story we include case studies and solutions that we believe are leading edge. We realize that every bank’s journey will be different because each bank will need to develop its own unique approach to the branch of the future. Branches are emerging as a place where channels and technology converge to create a new era of personalized banking. The new alternative channel? Many banks consider the branch to be their primary customer relationship channel. But do customers feel the same way? Today roughly 90 percent of daily transactions take place electronically.Checks may be phased out in most developed economies in the next few years. Branch traffic is on the decline. Are branches the new alternative channel? Does that mean branches are finished? Not necessarily. Bank customers still seem to have a strong affinity to branches even though they may visit them less. But it does mean the role of the branch must c hange and be less dependent on transactions. What should this new role be? To answer that question we must have a better understanding of what customers really want. The bank branch of the future 5 And that boils down to at least three things. Firstly, they want more control over their finances.One of the consequences of the financial crisis is a feeling of greater insecurity and a decline in trust in financial institutions. Thanks to the growth in technology and the disclosures surrounding the financial crisis, bank customers often know more about their banks than banks do about their customers. Secondly, consumers want more choices and are less willing to put all their financial eggs in one basket. They are more willing to change banking relationships and are less loyal to their existing providers. Thirdly, they want a better experience. Banks often measure their performance with customers based on service satisfaction, but service is only part of the equation.The ability to acces s banking services at any time from any location, transparency in fees and simpler contracts, and access to quality, impartial advice all sum up to a new value exchange between banks and customers that may define the next phase of banking. Technology is playing a huge part in transforming the banking experience. Smartphones and slates (tablets) are giving consumers greater mobility. Cloud computing gives all of us easier access to more computing power. Game-changing developments in the technology of communications and natural user interfaces enable new ways for banks and their customers to engage with each other. So what is the transformation in the role of the branch that needs to take place? Snacks, lunches and fine dining experiences Perhaps the experience of other industries might provide us with some clues.Financial services provider Fiserv has equated interaction through banking channels to â€Å"snacking,† â€Å"lunching† and â€Å"fine dining† (see artic le on page 10). As our lives become busier, long, lingering meals become more rare. Snacking has become a way of life, often at our desks rather than at restaurants. So restaurants must work harder for our business. But there are many restaurants to choose from. How do they compete for our attention? Every good restaurant needs its own brand. Often fine food is not enough. It may need a theme or an image. It might be the country of the cuisine. It might be a constantly changing menu. It might be the ability to have snacks, lunch and fine dining in the same location.From the services, to the cutlery and the plates to the interior to the food itself, all these elements may combine to create a unique customer experience. In the case of banking, customers have a choice of channels and therefore experiences. But if most of the channels are mainly about transactions or â€Å"snacking,† then they are likely to prefer fast food to fine dining. For the branch to be attractive, it has to have something else on the menu. Game-changing developments in the technology of communications enable new ways for banks and their customers to engage with each other. 6 The bank branch of the future The branch — where all channels can convergeToday bank channels are like those in the first diagram in Figure 1: independent channels that are mainly about â€Å"snacking. † In this model, it is easy to see how the branch becomes less important as â€Å"snacking† channels grow. But some customers may prefer to research online and get advice in the branch. Their financial journey may involve a combination of visits to different channels at different times, perhaps even for the same service — beginning a journey in one channel and completing it in another. In this way, channels reinforce each other rather than compete with each other for customers’ attention. The new model of bank channels is more like the second diagram in Figure 1. Channels are no longer siloed but mutually reinforcing.Instead of playing a diminishing role, the branch can begin to play a more influential one. But the branch is the one channel where all channels can converge. Like the airline or the restaurant that offers a choice of customer experiences, snacking, lunching and fine dining can all take place in the same location. As a result the branch becomes an easier place to conduct all our banking business rather than the least attractive of all. FIGURE 1 Transforming the role of branches BANKING TODAY BANKING TOMORROW MOBILE MOBILE BROWSER CHANNEL USAGE CHANNEL USAGE BROWSER CALL CENTER CALL CENTER BRANCH BRANCH INDEPENDENT CHANNELS WITH FRAGMENTED IMPACTINTEGRATED CHANNELS AND GROWING INFLUENCE The bank branch of the future 7 Dimensions of branch transformation Microsoft ® believes there are at least five dimensions of branch transformation that can lead to a significant increase in customer experience and financial performance. > Branch design â€⠀ balancing networking with privacy, access and convenience > Talent — more focus on advice and expertise and less on transactions > Channels — integrated and mutually supportive > Innovation — customer driven, building on experiences and solutions > Brand — unique and customer driven In each of these dimensions, technology has a major role to play.But the real challenge is to empower each dimension so that they operate together to enhance the customer experience, improve revenues and reduce costs. A fragmented approach will simply increase costs, confuse customers and reduce financial performance. Effective branch transformation demands an enterprise-wide blueprint. A project to build nextgeneration ATMs needs to take into consideration the opportunity to empower and integrate other channels. A project to introduce digital signage should consider not only the customer experience, but the ability to improve staff performance as well. The introduction of digital signatures and automated account opening should consider the implications for document management and records keeping.We are not just transforming branches but creating a completely new retail banking business and operating model to deliver a higher standard of customer experience. A continuous process of performance improvement Branch activities should involve a continuous process of performance improvement based on an in-depth understanding of customer needs with the goal of deepening customer relationships. > Recognition — selling to a market of one > Engagement — creating memorable touch points > Origination — developing new business opportunities INNOVATION FIGURE 2 A continuous process of performance improvement RECOGNITION ENGAGEMENT CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT gt; Service — taking customers to the next level > Innovation — developing new products and services with customers Ideally, almost all these activities should be capable of taking place at any part of the branch, whether at an ATM, in a teller line, at a teller booth, or in discussions with a service advisor or a banker. But if executed effectively, one step will lead to another, creating a positive loop of continued performance improvement. (See Figure 2. ) SERVICE ORIGINATION 8 The bank branch of the future CASE STUDY Nascent Digital — understanding customer needs It’s easy to spend money on technology. But it is more important to understand what customers really want from their branch before embarking on an ambitious program of investment.The whole point of investing in branches is to improve the relationship with customers. So why not begin by understanding what customers really want? Nascent Digital (www. nascentdigital. com) is one of the market leaders in the field of combining market research with the design and development of technology. As a result, Nascent is able to create rich and relevant connections with customers from business applications to educational and entertaining experiences. Having previously deployed experiences on multiple mobile and touchscreen platforms such as iOS, Nascent has eased into working with the cutting-edge Windows Phone 7 and Slate devices.Nascent Labs’ mobile platform enables it to quickly develop game-changing Windows Phone and Slate applications connected to Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. It has also played a major role in the development of Microsoft Surface technology. Bank customers seek digital experiences that are unique and engaging. To that end, Nascent’s unique design-led approach employs research, in-depth experience design and early rapid prototyping. These methods enable insights into how to realize the best possible digital customer experience. Nascent has partnered with Microsoft ® to envision the possibilities for Slate computing in the branch of the future. The design process and resulting prototype yielded insights into mul tiple new possibilities for customer interaction, relationship building, and ustomer-associate collaboration on everything from day-to-day banking to financial planning and advisory. Building on Windows Phone 7 Metro design language, Nascent was able to create a single digital interface that unifies the customer mobile experience with a collaborative sales experience in the branch. By understanding customer needs upfront, banks can ensure their technology investments truly provide customers with the experience they desire. The bank branch of the future 9 Nascent begins by compiling and distilling existing research to form a basis for further inquiry. Industry best practices, existing published research and open access data are evaluated to focus their primary research.Focus groups and discussions led by expert coordinators are directed to reveal a deeper insight into the ideal digital experience for the user base. Once the research phase is complete, the experience design process be gins to output a series of visual representations that can be easily transformed into a rapid prototype. Early prototyping enables innovation by bringing vivid experiences to life quickly for early user testing. (See Figure 3. ) By understanding customer needs upfront, banks can ensure their technology investments truly provide customers with the experience they desire, and thus are successful in empowering their branches with new technology.By reconciling customer needs with the bank’s own strategic direction the bank is more likely to develop a business model that works. It may take more time to get it right first time, but in the long run it is a quicker and much more effective path to innovation. FIGURE 3 The Microsoft Nascent discovery process UNDERSTANDING THE CUSTOMER CONCEPT DESIGN VISUAL DESIGN CONCEPT TESTING > Secondary market research > Primary market research > Industry best practices > Brainstorming > Wireframes > Context design > Information architecture > Appl ied cognition > Concepts > Brand expectations > Game-changing experiences > Matched audiences > Usability testing > Final design blueprint 10The bank branch of the future ARTICLE The Fiserv perspective — information convergence, interaction specialization and the importance of integrated channels The way financial institutions deliver services across banking channels is being profoundly impacted by two significant shifts. First, there is a demand for â€Å"information convergence† across channels. Consumers expect information about transactions completed via one channel to be readily accessible via another, and expect to be able to initiate a transaction in one channel and complete it in another. Second, there is a significant degree of â€Å"interaction specialization† taking place within each channel.This interaction specialization is driven by the unique properties of each channel, which determine the primary activities conducted through the channel. Consumer s have different habits and preferences about which channels they use to accomplish different financial tasks. For day-to-day needs, consumers generally prefer self-service via digital channels — mobile and online – respectively, the fastest growing channels. Fiserv characterizes interaction via the mobile channel as â€Å"snacking. † From a financial services perspective snacking encompasses frequent interactions that take less than 60 seconds. This includes tasks such as checking balances, receiving alerts and paying bills.One Fiserv financial institution client sees an average of 26 logins to mobile banking per user, per month — proof of their desire to consume financial services information in quick, frequent servings via the mobile channel. The bank branch of the future 11 The snacking analogy can be extended to the online channel and to the branch as well. The online channel serves up the financial equivalent of a square meal. Consumers go online wh en more browsing and a slightly deeper level of engagement is required. This includes tasks such as comparing products, managing budgets and setting up preferences. These types of activities usually occur on a weekly or monthly basis.The branch is for fine dining, those special occasions where more personal service and in-depth interaction is required. This includes advisory services and overall relationship management, encompassing critical decisions that require consultation and typically occur infrequently. As a leading global provider of digital channel solutions for financial institutions, Fiserv perceives that the shifts toward information convergence and interaction specialization will create challenges for financial institutions. Delivering consistent information across channels will require back-end integration and real-time functionalities that are often not in place today.This will be further compounded by device proliferation, the rise of tablet computing and the blurrin g of lines between social media as an interaction platform and a transaction platform. In addition, interaction specialization will require that financial institutions tailor services for specific channels. This will most impact services delivered via the mobile device, as financial institutions will be expected to support â€Å"mobileonly† services such as remote deposit capture for checks, location-based offers and contactless payments via near-field communications (NFC) technologies. Beyond self-service, the mobile device is also likely to become a banking platform for different types of interactions.In this context, financial institutions are under attack from nontraditional players — such as mobile operators and consumer brands like Apple — that would like to gain access to both customer information and transaction revenue. Financial institutions have much to consider when it comes to effectively serving consumers. An integrated channel strategy that incorp orates the unique attributes of mobile solutions as part of an overall approach is a winning strategy. Consumers expect information about transactions completed via one channel to be readily accessible via another, and to initiate a transaction in one channel and complete it in another. 12 The bank branch of the future Recognition — selling to a market of one T 84404893YHQAM235-4747343 ougher markets demand deeper, more profitable customer relationships.The need for banks to treat each customer as unique is more important. New technologies such as digital marketing and predictive analytics are making it easier to sell to a market of one. Personal recognition When customers come into the branch it helps to recognize who they are and make that information available to key members of the branch. An RFID tag can be part of that process. Embedded in a debit or credit card, it can identify customers as soon as they enter a branch. Through access to a customer relationship managemen t system (CRM), bank staff can have complete access to relationship details to understand the next step in the customer story.But potential customers also visit branches, sometimes just by chance. These are opportunities that need to be captured. Applications that allow branch staff to identify customers from personal IDs such as driver’s licenses or Green Cards, identify their credit history and then immediately direct them to a service opportunity, can replace paper-based processes that could take days, weeks or even months to complete, if at all. But technology is changing the concept of â€Å"branch† from a physical to a virtual concept. Valerie King Through access to a CRM system, bank staff can have complete access to relationship details to understand the next step in the customer story. Digital marketingDigital marketing is not just a technology, it is also a channel. In fact, it is many channels and embraces every aspect of digital media including TV, the Inte rnet, mobile phones and social media, and even older technologies such as radio. Whenever we click on a Web site, we create digital breadcrumbs that leave behind clues about our interests and preferences. They provide important intelligence about our real needs that marketing departments can respond to. Recognizing a customer through his or her digital identity gives a bank the opportunity for new customer touch points, more targeted campaigns and services more closely aligned to customer needs.Thanks to this approach one financial institution in the U. K. generates more revenue through inbound marketing than through any other channel. Social networking Social media generates conversations about brands and customer experiences that banks can follow. Airline companies in particular have been successful in using social networks as a customer service tool, allowing them to respond proactively to individual issues and concerns. The bank branch of the future 13 Some social networking sit es — Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt and Facebook Places — allow members to share their locations with other members. This can provide promotional opportunities for businesses.For example, each time someone checks in to a Hard Rock Cafe in the United States using Facebook Places, Hard Rock International donates a dollar to WhyHunger, a charity fighting global poverty and hunger. The offer lasted through December 2010 — an innovative way of gaining customers and promoting Hard Rock’s commitment to philanthropy. Social networking is not just about customers. It’s about staff as well. Enterprise social networking is a vital collaboration tool that enables bank talent to share knowledge and expertise across the bank. By its very nature, a branch is a decentralized part of the bank, but for many customers it is their most important interface with the bank.Keeping branch staff up-to-date with the latest products, services and regulations and making them feel an essential part of a much bigger organization is essential for their morale and their ability to serve customers effectively. Social CRM To be successful, branches must be part of communities — and communities can be both physical and virtual. Branches have been successful at integrating into physical communities, but less successful in penetrating virtual ones. Microsoft’s CRM system comes with a social networking accelerator that allows branch offers to follow the customer chatter about service needs, reactions to products and feelings about the bank generally. Having a panoramic view of customers clearly creates a competitive advantage.Microsoft Dynamics CRM, together with Microsoft partner Customer Effective, creates an advanced CRM solution leveraging Customer Effective’s expertise in implementation and data integration. Why do so many CRM systems fail to meet expectations? Because they are often stand-alone implementations and are not an integrated part of a complete customer relationship management solution linking customers, services, channels and systems to create a higher level of customer experience. To be successful, branches must be part of communities — and communities can be both physical and virtual. 14 The bank branch of the future CASE STUDY CRM at Wintrust Financial and FiservWintrust Financial, a Chicago-based financial holding company with more than $14 billion in assets, is implementing EnActâ„ ¢, its relationship sales management solution for financial institutions. EnAct is built on Microsoft Dynamics CRM, so it is delivered as an extension of Outlook and integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Office applications, making it intuitive and easy to use. Using the EnAct solution from Fiserv, Wintrust Financial’s bankers will now have a holistic view of client relationships with access to sales productivity tools to execute local outreach programs, track relationship management and prospecting activities , and monitor opportunity pipelines.EnAct leverages Microsoft Dynamics CRM and is designed to serve the distinct needs of banks’ primary lines of business — Retail, Commercial and Wealth — enabling Wintrust Financial to deploy a single, banking-ready CRM solution enterprise-wide. In implementing EnAct, Wintrust aims to better support collaboration across its organization, enabling referrals between divisions and facilitating team-based management of high-value relationships that span multiple business lines. â€Å"We empower our community banks to manage their clients and their markets locally, but we also want to leverage our combined scale and use the most advanced tools to serve our customers and grow our business,† said Tom Ormseth, senior vice president, Wintrust Financial. As part of our expansion program, we identified the need for an enterprise customer relationship management solution and we chose EnAct because it provides us with specialized ban king functionality on a versatile technology platform. We felt Fiserv was the right partner for us because they understood our business and had the experience and know-how to help us succeed. † Wintrust Financial recognized that lack of user adoption is a common pitfall of CRM projects, so deep integration with Outlook was considered an important benefit of EnAct. Outlook is integral to bankers’ workday at Wintrust; it’s where they manage their time, contacts, tasks and email communication with clients and colleagues.EnAct is built on Microsoft Dynamics CRM, so it is delivered as an extension of Outlook and integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Office applications, making it intuitive and easy to use and encouraging end-user adoption. â€Å"By expanding its relationship with Fiserv, Wintrust joins a growing family of banks that are using EnAct to help execute their growth strategies,† said David Dervish, managing principal, Customer Value Enhancement, Fiser v. Wintrust Financial began its initial rollout of EnAct to a pilot group of more than 200 commercial bankers in December 2010 and is continuing implementation to a total of 1,400 users across 15 community banks as well as its various wealth management and specialized financial services divisions.To complement EnAct, Wintrust Financial also licensed Aperioâ„ ¢ Campaign Management and Aperio Customer Analytics. These solutions will help Wintrust analyze customer needs, identify opportunities and better manage centralized marketing campaigns that support local business development initiatives. The bank branch of the future 15 CASE STUDY Customer-centric at the core — First Citizens National Bank and Harland Financial Solutions After 15 years of fighting for market share in its Mason City, Iowa, home market, First Citizens National Bank (FCNB) was at a crossroads. â€Å"We grew by mining market share from the larger players,† explains Gregg Maakestad, FCNB’s SVP and CIO. To maintain our head-to-head competitive status we needed to challenge and exceed their capabilities. † But by 2009 FCNB’s item processing and marketing customer information file (MCIF) solutions had become inadequate. Rather than install point-solutions, FCNB, a subsidiary of First Citizens Financial Corp. ($1. 1 billion in total assets), determined that a core systems modernization would provide capabilities beyond just meeting current needs, Maakestad relates. A long-time user of the Phoenix System from Lake Mary, Fla. -based Harland Financial Solutions, FCNB nonetheless conducted due diligence in early 2009. â€Å"With every contract cycle we look at all options,† notes Maakestad. Because Harland is an open-systems vendor that shares all its database tables, we learned the strategic value of leveraging database tables,† he adds. â€Å"Therefore, we evaluate vendors’ willingness to share tables as a significant selection criterion. â₠¬  In fact, using the tables has become a critical best practice at FCNB. â€Å"We use the tables to supplement vendor-supplied reporting and modeling,† Maakestad explains. â€Å"For example, when Reg E [governing electronic fund transfers] was updated, †¦ we calculated the impact on our organization’s revenue immediately. And we’re doing the same now for the Durbin Amendment [regarding debit card fees]. † According to Maakestad, Harland’s latest platform, the Microsoft .NET-enabled PhoenixEFE Core, was the best solution for FCNB, leading to a late-2009 migration. â€Å"Beyond our existing hardware, PhoenixEFE only required setting up two production [IBM] XM servers and two for disaster recovery,† Maakestad reports. â€Å"There were no showstoppers in the new core system — just some minor items [that Harland is improving]. † During 2010 FCNB added Harland’s ActiveView Item Processing solution and the vendor’ s business intelligence tool, Touche Analyzer. And early this year the bank also integrated Touche Messenger, which draws intelligence from Analyzer for targeted multichannel marketing communications. The results have been impressive. PhoenixEFE has been key to achieving our current efficiency ratio of 47. 5 percent,† says Maakestad. †In addition, our item processing is simpler and our read rates have improved 15 percent. Also, the Touche solutions will be vital to moving our services per household from the current 3. 493 to our 2011 goal of 3. 516. † The new platform also enabled FCNB to replace multiple daily ATM and debit card batch processes with near-real-time transactions. And, over the next couple of years, the modern core will allow the bank to add more online and mobile products to its existing offerings. â€Å"As new opportunities mature, we’ll jump into them with both feet,† Maakestad says. In short, our new core platform has made us more c ustomer-centric and more efficient, positioning us for future growth. † CUSTOMER 16 The bank branch of the future Engagement — creating memorable touch points C Microsoft Surface offers an eyecatching way of bringing people together to connect, learn and decide. It changes the way people collaborate. apturing customers’ attention inside or outside the branch is easier with memorable touch points. Distinctive interactive walls, compelling messaging and outstanding presentations all contribute to a better customer experience. Cool toys, personalized advice and cross-channel integration are all essential tools for capturing the customer’s attention.But they all have to work together and be targeted at customers who are likely to respond to them. Surface technology Exploring financial options with an advisor or with your partner? Or just browsing? Microsoft Surface offers an eye-catching way of shopping for services, bringing people together to connect, learn and decide. It changes the way people collaborate and connect. Microsoft Surface sees and responds to touch — supporting more than 50 simultaneous inputs. This experience comes to life in the new 40-inch Surface that can be used as a table, on the wall, or embedded in other fixtures or furniture. What-if scenarios are a lot more fun when you are working with Surface. But Surface can be more than just an eye-catcher.It can be a complete distribution channel in its own right, allowing customers another opportunity for self-service banking — snacking in the branch or browsing the menu while waiting for a table for some private dining advice. Interactive walls While customers wait in teller lines, wait for a financial advisor or just wander through branches, interactive walls can provide engaging interactions and compelling messaging for the financial shopper. Browsing for a car loan or a mortgage? Explore your options on an interactive wall. By touching it you can get the latest rates, explore financing options and do your homework before making a financial decision.Digital signage Wondering what the markets are doing? Curious about news and events in the community? Intrigued by a message from the chairman? Digital signage is a term used to describe the display of up-to-the-minute information on electronic devices such as plasma screens, LCD panels and projectors. Suppose it’s raining outside and there are more customers inside the branch and you want to change your electronic messaging to talk about new products and services. Managing the metadata in your digital signage system gives you that flexibility. The bank branch of the future 17 What if branches are serving Spanish-speaking customers in one location and English-speaking in another?Digital signage tools provide the flexibility to communicate different messaging to different markets. Digital signage can be used wherever there is a need to communicate to individuals or large groups of people. Wherever there is static signage, there is potential to replace it with digital signage. (See Figure 4. ) Founded in 1991, Omnivex originally supplied software to financial trading floors to post buy/sell positions on large LED wallboards and drive financial tickers. Trading floors were quick to adopt large plasma displays to monitor television news reports. Omnivex recognized that these displays could also be used to help traders clearly spot market trends and developed applications to display data graphically.Building on its foundation of a data-driven system, the company moved into the broader digital signage market, where its software could be used to display real-time information to facilitate decision-making by delivering targeted content to specific audiences. Financial institutions quickly adopted this medium within the retail banking industry, and we now see digital signage installations appearing more and more frequently in bank branches to communicate with custome rs and employees. Due to its data-driven approach, Omnivex digital signage software can deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time, helping to increase the effectiveness of communications. In branches, new products and services, promotional campaigns, market data, corporate communications and training materials can be delivered instantly, easily and memorably.In addition, digital signage can improve the customer experience by reducing perceived wait times, while entertaining and informing customers. Today, Omnivex software is used by many financial institutions around the world to power their digital signage networks. FIGURE 4 Microsoft partner Omnivex and digital signage 18 The bank branch of the future CASE STUDY Digital signage at Reflect Systems and Best Buy Banks have often been influenced by the success of retailers. Microsoft partner Reflect Systems is a leading, national full-service provider of in-store digital media solutions including digital signag e, interactive applications and assisted shopping features, mobile messaging, and in-store music.Reflect worked with Best Buy and its partners to deploy a solution that fit its vision for enabling networked digital media in all its stores, while adhering to business policies and preferred technology standards. Best Buy needed to improve the shopper experience with relevant and timely media content, showcase products and services with brand partners, and capture revenue opportunities available by leveraging the platform as a new digital media network that connects with loyal Best Buy shoppers. After methodical lab testing and pilot programs, Reflect employed ReflectView, its industry-proven scalable software solution, to meet the challenge of managing and distributing large amounts of digital media across Best Buy’s complex network of more than 1,100 locations across the United States.Through its flexible content management, programming, distribution and monitoring features, R eflectView allowed Best Buy to control the specific message played in each store — at any given time, in any specific region — from a centralized system requiring minimal operational management. Today, Best Buy has increased its in-store digital media footprint to include television and computer displays in the electronics department, checkout aisles and music via in-store audio systems. Best Buy has a fast-paced business environment that requires a dynamic approach to supporting new in-store initiatives. Reflect continuously strives to provide a platform approach for in-store media, and maintains a partner-focused solution set that provides choice, performance and measured results.Through its flexible content management, programming, distribution and monitoring features, ReflectView allowed Best Buy to control the specific message played in each store from a centralized system requiring minimal operational management. The bank branch of the future 19 FIGURE 5 Financia l benchmarking with Bundle Next-generation banking Next-generation ATMs, line busting, interactive walls and smartphone channels all converge together in a unique customer experience that targets customers from Gen Y to baby boomers. A common user interface is key to a compelling customer experience that recognizes the branch as a focal point in building enduring customer relationships. The technology of Kinect can provide in-branch entertainment as well as more engaging customer interactions replacing transactions with conversations.Personal financial management tools Technology has made it easier for customers to do research and resolve issues online. Branches are a perfect place for that research to take place. If the customer is already in a branch and wants to do some research or use automated tools to perform financial calculations, budgeting and planning, resources should be available for independent and banker-assisted research and planning. Options to consider include the f ollowing: > A dedicated bank of PCs for independent research > Interactive walls to explore financial options > Surface technology to explore different products and solutions Bundle is an example of a personal financial management tool eveloped by Citi, Morningstar and Microsoft, which allows consumers to compare how others spend their money. (See Figure 5. ) FIGURE 6 At Banco do Brasil, a customer explores financial options through an interactive wall. 20 The bank branch of the future Private, face-to-face advice Have tablets replaced desktops or have they just empowered them? By deploying both, branches have more options for face-to-face advice. It can vary from line busting to a confidential meeting with a private banking client. Technology may be needed to support those discussions, accept deposits, sign documents or review financial plans. Tablet technology can play an important role, and there are many providers to choose from.Companies like Motion Computing, HP and ExoPC offe r slate models in addition to the iPad. Motion Computing, in particular, specializes in manufacturing tablets designed for the needs of individual industries. (See Figure 7. ) FIGURE 7 Customized industry devices from Motion Computing Windows slates combine the ability to consume information and present it to clients with the full production capabilities of a PC. They are also secure and interoperable with other technologies. Incorporating your tablet solution into a complete branch experience demands the ability to interact with other devices, applications and systems. Bankers and financial advisors don’t just meet clients in the bank. They may also visit them in the home.The concept of a mobile sales force attached to the branch is not a new one. But for such a team to be effective it will need to be empowered by technology. Mobile technology can be used for customer presentations, the review of different products and services and the completion of documentation. (See Figur e 8. ) FIGURE 8 A selection of Windows slates (in order of appearance, the Asus E121, Motion’s CL900, the HP 500, the ExoPC and the Fujitsu-STYLISTIC Q550 Slate PC) The bank branch of the future 21 Customer use scenarios: Microsoft Surface at Barclays Bank and Royal Bank of Canada Barclays has opened a new flagship branch at Piccadilly Circus in London.The bank describes the project as â€Å"the first ‘brand concept’ branch in the UK,† covering 8,000 square feet of retail space over three floors. With the opening of the branch, Barclays became the first bank in Europe to pilot Microsoft Surface. Infusion was engaged to create a Surface program that allows users to â€Å"grab† digital content with their hands and navigate information about Barclays’ Premier banking offering with simple gestures and touches. Royal Bank of Canada has partnered with Microsoft to provide customers with an interactive banking experience through Surface. The impleme ntation of Surface creates a fun and interactive way for RBC to inform its customers about their financial services.RBC found that giving customers a way to learn about their financial goals through interactive applications, such as Infusion’s application for Surface, is a great way to ease customers into initiating conversations about complicated financial topics. Client communications When was the last time any of us wrote or received a letter? The way we communicate is undergoing profound transformation. Whether we communicate through laptops, slates or smartphones, electronic communication is becoming pervasive. In this new chapter of communications there are risks and rewards implying profound changes in the way we develop, share and exchange information, even the way we work and play. The rewards are clear — richer and more frequent client conversations, better research, more informed insight, more accurate presentations.But the risks can be great as well. The in formation we create can be instantly shared through flash drives and across the Internet. Clients, markets and regulators are holding us more accountable for what we say and how we say it. The one-off presentations produced in local offices that differ across the firm should become a distant memory particularly since even small differences in client communications can have regulatory implications, dilute brands and confuse clients and markets. The world is changing at a dizzying rate. Client communications must be timely to add value, but with current technology it can also be too costly and time consuming to develop frequently.A 100-page pitch book for a key client meeting may require data and content from many sites, sources and databases, much of it captured manually. What if the process could be automated, branding managed centrally and compliance built into the process in advance? Microsoft’s partner Xinnovation has the solution — the ability to produce automated presentations within minutes that are compliant with regulations and firmwide brand management standards. Whether we communicate through laptops, slates or smartphones, electronic communication is becoming pervasive. 22 The bank branch of the future CASE STUDY Streamlining client communications at Fidelity Xinnovation streamlined Fidelity’s 22-day data intensive, increasingly complex investment review process into just a few simple hours.Quite impressive when you consider these specialized, targeted presentations can run up to 100 pages chock full of dynamic charts and graphs, which draw from backend data systems. (See Figure 9. ) Fidelity turned to Xinnovation and its Web-based, Microsoft ®-standard XiDocs document automation platform. XiDocs includes easy-to-use features that enable rapid development of solutions. XiDocs features include content management, configurable assembly and publishing of highly customized Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and PDF documents, data-driven Excel charts and graphs, enterprise content, and workflow — all living natively inside Microsoft Office SharePoint Server.It gets better — Fidelity and Xinnovation implemented a direct XML connection with Fidelity’s print and fulfill vendor to maximize workflow capabilities. And if that is not enough smart for one day, Xinnovation’s technology enables Fidelity to provide its reports through its client portal and extend a â€Å"greener† process. FIGURE 9 Automated document generation with Xinnovation The bank branch of the future 23 Origination — developing new business opportunities O ne of the toughest challenges banks face today is origination. This is particularly true in a low-growth environment. So it is important that banks have a clear understanding of where their opportunities lie.Most banks have a marketplace that can be split into three parts: > Customer enthusiasts — customers who are enthusiastic about their relationship w ith the bank and want to expand it > Customers on the fence — customers who are indifferent to their relationship with the bank but could be swayed one way or another > Dissatisfied customers — customers who are about to leave and are waiting for the right opportunity to move on. Against this mix there are further segmentation opportunities. The challenge is to find the right marketing and distribution mix for each customer segment. For example, Bank of America identified the mass affluent as a â€Å"must-win† strategic market.The bank worked with Merrill Lynch to target services to a specific part of its target — the mass affluent — which it defined as customers with investable balances of about $200,000 or more, but not superwealthy. The bank reasoned this group of customers were occasional investors rather than active traders and so offered them 10 free trades a year to boost their loyalty and deepen their relationship. Where does the branch fit in to this mix? Should it be the preserve of a few customers, or is there a way for it to play a role across all sectors of the market? One way of approaching this is to think of the branch as a networking opportunity, emphasizing its social rather than its transaction role.Targeting families, small businesses, emerging entrepreneurs or local clubs and associations reinforces the role of the branch as a focal point for the community. Financial seminars targeted at local entrepreneurs, pension advice for boomers, and financial services for college students are examples of programs that bring traffic to the branch and reinforce its role as a critical part of the local economy. With branch traffic up, the next step is to make it easier to open accounts, browse new services or get financial advice. Increasing self-service facilities — not just ATMs, but interactive walls and Surface devices as well — within the branch is one way of achieving this. But technology doesnâ₠¬â„¢t have to exclude the human element.Enabling bank staff to assist customers through video links on next-generation ATMs and other self-service channels reinforces the relationship between banker and customer rather than excluding it. 24 The bank branch of the future Some of the tools to consider include the following: > Targeting customers through predictive analytics — Reaching out to customers can be costly for several reasons. Along with more traditional campaign costs, companies often fail to take into consideration any negative impacts that a campaign may have in terms of driving customers away or driving customers to consider alternative offers. Predictive analytics plays a critical role in minimizing negative campaign responses and ensuring that campaigns are targeted and effective.This also includes maximizing opportunities for cross sell and retention in the key instances when customers are engaging via inbound channels. Gathering a single view of your customers across all touch points is a critical step in understanding your customers’ needs, and delivering the best possible customer experience to drive customer value in the long term. Whether customers are online, talking to a call center or in the branch, it is important to have a clear picture of who those customers are, and what particular offer, be it cross sell or retention, is best to present them at that moment. One insurance company found that by optimizing customer nteractions in this manner it was able to sell more through inbound channels than through all other channels combined. > Managing customers’ time when they are in the branch — By enabling branch staff to reduce queuing at teller counters they can also engage with customers and explore other service opportunities. A handheld computer device can accelerate deposits, account inquiries, transfers and other simple transactions. Line busting can turn unproductive wait times into business opportunities. S cheduling and calendaring linked to digital signage solutions can manage appointments with branch staff and expectations with customers who might otherwise be unclear when they would be seen. gt; Making it easier to access new services through paperless banking — If a customer wants to open a new account or obtain a new line of credit but has to wait for the paperwork to be completed, that just adds time and cost to the onboarding process and delays revenue realization. It can also frustrate customers and cause them to look elsewhere to meet their needs. Years of paper-based processes may need to be revisited to improve customer experience, improve margins and increase security. > Marketing through self-service transactions — Originations should be possible within the branch through any channel, whether through a bank of PCs, through next- generation ATMs, or call centers accessed from within the branch. Surface devices and interactive walls can be both a source of inf ormation and origination channels.Self-service channels are mainly for existing customers, but it should be just as easy for new customers to become activated through them as well. > Banker-assisted originations — Often completed through paper documents, the origination process can involve several stages, and many documents — account opening forms, signature cards, loan agreements — but if converted Gathering a single view of your customers across all touch points is a critical step in understanding your customers’ needs, and delivering the best possible customer experience to drive value in the long term. The bank branch of the future 25 into electronic form can be completed quickly and easily but still securely while the customer remains in the branch.This shortens the origination process considerably. The problem is how to accomplish this in a secure way. The growth in eSignature technology and supporting regulation (the ESIGN Act and UETA) makes this a much easier option for many banks. > Tellers as relationship managers — Probably the one personal contact the bank customer has the most frequent engagement with is the bank teller. Yet this is the one interaction we want to get over with as quickly as possible. A friendly interaction with a teller can play an important part in origination. But for that to happen the role of tellers within the branch must change and they must be managed very differently as a resource.The first challenge is to manage traffic within the branch to reduce the pressure of a short and pressured interaction. Secondly, tellers’ productivity has to be improved by giving them access to technology that enables them to process transactions more easily. Finally, tellers should know who their customers are, reinforcing the importance of the personal connection. Branch recognition technologies and access to CRM systems can help tellers play a pivotal role in strengthening customer relationships. CA SE STUDY Predictive analytics at U. S. Bancorp with Portrait Software Pitney Bowes Business Insight (PBBI) is a Microsoft Gold partner that leads the pack in the field of predictive analytics. The Consumer Direct division of U. S. Bank, a subsidiary of U. S.Bancorp, found that its traditional marketing campaigns were not delivering the returns they once were, and was failing to target customers with the most relevant message. After two successful trials, U. S. Bank implemented PBBI’s Portrait Uplift solution and has since achieved significant gains — a 300 percent lift — in incremental revenue together with reduced costs through lower mailing volumes. U. S. Bank is just one of several customers in different industries that have found PBBI’s Portrait suite of analytics solutions to be of immense value. Selling to a market of one is a challenge across all industries, financial services in particular. U. S. Bank has achieved significant gains in incremental revenue together with reduced costs through lower mailing volumes. 26 The bank branch of the futurePROFILE Secure paperless banking with digital signature from Topaz and AssureSign We are all familiar with digital signature in the retail environment, even in insurance. A number of leading banks have begun to adopt the process, but in financial services the technology of digital signature is still in its infancy. Whether we are opening a bank or brokerage account or applying for a loan there is usually a lot of paper involved. But paper takes time to process, must be stored and can easily be lost. Plus we need a more reliable way to ensure documents have been signed and stored as securely as possible. Is it time for a fresh approach? Many businesses around the world are saving money by replacing paper processes with electronic signature and document solutions. In the U. S. the ESIGN Act gives electronic signatures the same legal significance as paper signatures, provided the customer consents to the process. Various forms of eSignature exist from a simple click to sign to robust biometric signatures written on electronic signature pads that record the precise shape and sequence of the signature, its strokes and direction of loops, and detailed timing of each part of the signature used in the signing process. Another form of electronic signature that does not incorporate biometrics — the digital signature — uses asymmetric cryptography to ensure documents can be protected once they are signed and any changes related back to the original signer.The technology of eSignature and digital signatures is now available across multiple devices and can be deployed locally or at an enterprise level. Mainly deployed in the public sector and in the retail, healthcare and insurance industries, this technology has already been adopted by a number of leading banks to improve the speed and security of banking document processes. Such efficiencies are leading the ch arge in enabling bank branches to become paperless. AssureSign (www. assuresign. com) and Topaz Systems (www. topazsystems. com) are leaders in the field of electronic signature and document management. FIGURE 10 Topaz eSignature software technology can be deployed across the Web and directly with its biometric electronic signature pads. Biometric signatureAssureSign is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) or on-premise electronic signature solution that allows signers to execute documents via web portal interactions, captures the â€Å"act of signing,† email invitation or in-branch scenarios. AssureSign easily integrates with existing not an image of a signature banking and financial services applications to provide a paperless document execution process. AssureSign can also work alongside Topaz solutions to bridge the gap between in-house and external web-based signing requirements in a FIGURE 11 A biometric signature using AssureSign single platform. AssureSign solutions offer a variety of front-end signer authentication options as well as Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESign Act) and Uniform Electronic Transactions ACT (UETA) compliant signing processes.Topaz Systems offers a broad array of electronic signature pads for use in teller- and nonteller-related transactions, along with bundled software, authentication and server tools, and plug-ins. Topaz solutions provide the capability for corporations to deploy their technology across any Web-based service and on any device, whether tailor-made or generic. Topaz signature pads are available in color and monochrome versions, wireless versions for use in drive-up teller environments, and pads that capture simultaneous electronic and paper signatures up to full legal clipboard size. (See Figures 10 and 11. ) The bank branch of the future 27 CASE STUDYIncentives at Bank of the West and Varicent If branch staff are to play a different role in the branch of the future, the question tha t arises is whether they should be compensated differently. To meet this challenge, Bank of the West chose Varicent SPM to manage incentive compensation and sales performance throughout the organization. Varicent’s SPM solution was chosen by Bank of the West because of its ability to provide a single system for all compensation plan management that easily integrates with all other existing systems within the bank. Varicent is an industry leader in providing incentive compensation (ICM) and sales performance management (SPM) solutions.Bank of the West, based in San Francisco, offers a full range of business, corporate, personal, trust and international banking services and operates more than 700 branch locations and commercial banking offices in 19 Western and Midwestern states. â€Å"Varicent’s solution will provide us with the unique ability to more effectively analyze important compensation and sales performance metrics. We will also use Varicent to improve the accu racy of our forecasts and to create effective sales incentive models that can drive the right behavior and maximize our future performance,† said Donald Duggan, senior executive vice president and CIO at Bank of the West.Varicent’s approach offers a lower total cost of ownership than alternative solutions and in-depth sales analytics to help understand performance, allowing for accurate forecasting and modeling of future plans. Streamlined administrative processes include the managing an

Value Based Management Essays

Value Based Management Essays Value Based Management Essay Value Based Management Essay How far might strategys concern with long-term as well as short-term success be met by a complementary focus on stakeholder value?  Typically, shareholders are considered to be only one of a number of important constituencies or stakeholders competing for a preference in managements evaluation of key decisions. These stakeholders are usually specified to include customers, employees, suppliers (including creditors), and the wider community. A question that arises is if these two values should be viewed as substitutes or as complements? Value Based Management, in its most basic form, provides a single objective function for management; maximize Market Value Added (MVA). While many other measures such as market share, employee satisfaction, and product quality may be important to the firms long-run success, these other measures can simply be viewed as value drivers toward this single-valued objective function. On the other hand, A.G. Puxty states that: companies are no longer the instruments of shareholders alone but exist within society and so therefore have responsibilities to that society, and that there is therefore a shift towards the greater accountability of companies to all participants.  While the shareholder is still the focus of many companies, other stakeholders cannot be ignored. The long-term wealth of the firm can only be maximized if each stakeholder is considered in the value creation process. If employees, for example, are not taken care of, they can simply leave the firm. All strategic choices that increase value for both stakeholders and shareholders are, of course, highly desirable and should fuel the growth of any business unit. On the other hand, options that reduce both values are clearly to be avoided or reversed immediately. For example, McDonalds rapid withdrawal of its recent fifty-five cent hamburger campaign, which alienated franchisees without creating much new customer loyalty or demand, was a costly but necessary decision to avoid further damage to shareholder value. Enhancing stakeholder benefits is important for long-term shareholder wealth. Providing additional, non-shareholder, stakeholder benefits, when they are relatively low, significantly enhances total shareholder wealth. In contrast, once stakeholder benefits are relatively high, further increases no longer increase long-term shareholder wealth. However, because stakeholder theory lacks direction on how management is to make trade-offs among competing stakeholders, it can be thought as incomplete as a management strategy. Value-based management, in contrast, provides the manager a solution to these competing interests since it requires only a single-valued objective function. On the other hand, VBM, is really no more than a means to keep score since it does not provide guidance on how to achieve the goal of value creation. Managers, often face choices that involve real tradeoffs between stakeholder and shareholder value. These choices need to be made on the basis of their expected impact on shareholder value alone. If a proposal to increase customers or customer value will reduce shareholder value, then it should be rejected. For instance, we commonly find that clients offer product features or delivery options that customers appreciate but for which they will not, in fact, pay. Nevertheless, the shareholder is the central stakeholder. Placing the shareholder at the focal point of business activity is simply recognizing the fact that firms that do not satisfy shareholder requirements increase their risk of capital flight, higher interest rates, pressure from the board of directors, takeovers, and lower productivity. Organizations that create long-term shareholder value simultaneously create relatively greater value for all stakeholders. Thus, value-creating organizations appear to operate with the following objective function in mind: Maximize shareholder wealth subject to satisfying remaining stakeholder requirements.  I believe that a companys success ultimately depends on its ability to build and nurture relationships with constituents that are essential to their business: consumers, customers, suppliers, partners, government authorities, communities, employees and share owners. This will enable them to achieve their objectives of creating economic value added by improving economic profit. BIBLIOGRAPHY Value-Based Management: Developing a Systematic Approach to Creating Shareholder Value, James A. Knight (1998), McGraw-Hill How Shareholder Value Let Shareholders Down, Ken Favaro. The quest for value: A guide for senior managers, Stewart G B (1991), Harper Collins.

La Venta Olmec Archaeology site La Venta

La Venta Olmec Archaeology site La Venta The La Venta is an archaeological site in the Mexican State of Tabasco. At the site are the partially excavated ruins of an Olmec city which thrived from approximately 900-400 B.C. before being abandoned and reclaimed by the jungle. La Venta is a very important Olmec site and many interesting and significant artifacts have been found there, including four of the famous Olmec colossal heads. The Olmec Civilization The Ancient Olmec were the first major civilization in Mesoamerica, and as such are considered the parent culture of other societies that came later, including the Maya and Aztec. They were gifted artists and sculptors who are best remembered today for their massive colossal heads. They were also talented engineers and traders. They had a well-developed religion and interpretation of the cosmos, complete with gods and mythology. Their first great city was San Lorenzo, but the city declined and around 900 A.D. the center of Olmec civilization became La Venta. For centuries, La Venta spread Olmec culture and influence throughout Mesoamerica. When La Ventas glory faded and the city declined around 400 B.C., Olmec culture died with it, although a post-Olmec culture thrived at the site of Tres Zapotes. Even once the Olmec were gone, their gods, beliefs and artistic styles survived in other Mesoamerican cultures whose turn for greatness was yet to come. La Venta at its Peak From about 900 to 400 A.D., La Venta was the greatest city in Mesoamerica, far greater than any of its contemporaries. A man-made mountain towered over the ridge at the heart of the city where priests and rulers carried out elaborate ceremonies. Thousands of common Olmec citizens labored tending crops in the fields, catching fish in the rivers or moving great blocks of stone to the Olmec workshops for carving. Skilled sculptors produced colossal heads and thrones weighing many tons as well as finely polished jadeite celts, axe heads, beads and other pretty things. Olmec traders crossed Mesoamerica from Central America to the Valley of Mexico, returning with bright feathers, jadeite from Guatemala, cacao from the Pacific coast and obsidian for weapons, tools and adornments. The city itself covered an area of 200 hectares and its influence spread much further. The Royal Compound La Venta was built on a ridge alongside the Palma River. At the top of the ridge are a series of complexes collectively referred to as the Royal Compound because it is believed that the ruler of La Venta lived there with his family. The royal compound is the most important part of the site and many important objects have been unearthed there. The royal compound - and the city itself - is dominated by Complex C, a man-made mountain built of many tons of earth. It was once pyramidal in shape, but the centuries - and some unwelcome interference from nearby oil operations in the 1960s - have turned Complex C into a shapeless hill. On the northern side is Complex A, a burial ground and important religious area (see below). On the other side, Complex B is a large area where thousands of common Olmecs could gather to witness ceremonies taking place on Complex C. The royal compound is completed by the Stirling Acropolis, a raised platform with two mounds: it is believed that the royal reside nce was once located here. Complex A Complex A is bordered on the south by Complex C and on the north by three massive colossal heads, clearly setting this area aside as a privileged zone for the most important citizens of La Venta. Complex A is the most complete ceremonial center to have survived from Olmec times and the discoveries made there redefined modern knowledge of the Olmec. Complex A was evidently a sacred place where burials took place (five tombs have been found) and people gave gifts to the gods. There are five massive offerings here: deep pits filled with serpentine stones and colored clay before being topped with serpentine mosaics and earthen mounds. Numerous smaller offerings have been found, including a set of figurines known as small dedicatory offering four. Numerous statues and stonecarvings were located here. Scuplture and Art at La Venta La Venta is a treasure trove of Olmec art and sculpture. At least 90 stone monuments have been discovered there including some of the most important pieces of Olmec art. Four colossal heads – out of a total of seventeen known to exist – were discovered here. There are several massive thrones at La Venta: huge blocks of stone brought from many miles away, carved on the sides and meant to be sat or stood upon by rulers or priests. Some of the more important pieces include Monument 13, nicknamed â€Å"the Ambassador,† which may contain some of the earliest glyphs recorded in Mesoamerica and Monument 19, a skillful depiction of a warrior and a feathered serpent. Stela 3 shows two rulers facing one another while 6 figures – spirits? – swirl overhead. Decline of La Venta Ultimately La Ventas influence petered out and the city went into decline around 400 B.C. Eventually the site was abandoned altogether and reclaimed by the jungle: it would remain lost for centuries. Fortunately, the Olmecs covered up much of Complex A with clay and earth before the city was abandoned: this would preserve important objects for discovery in the twentieth century. With the fall of La Venta, Olmec civilization faded as well. It survived somewhat in a post-Olmec phase referred to as the Epi-Olmec: the center of this age was the city of Tres Zapotes. The Olmec people did not all die out: their descendants would return to greatness in the Classic Veracruz culture. Importance La Venta The Olmec culture is very mysterious yet very important for archaeologists and modern-day researchers. It is mysterious because, having disappeared over 2,000 years ago, much information about them has been irrevocably lost. It is important because as the parent culture of Mesoamerica, its influence on the later development of the region is immeasurable. La Venta, along with San Lorenzo, Tres Zapotes and El Manatà ­, is one of the four most important Olmec sites known to exist. The information gleaned from Complex A alone is priceless. Although the site isnt particularly spectacular for tourists and visitors - if you want breathtaking temples and buildings, go to Tikal or Teotihuacn - any archaeologist will tell you its just as important. Sources: Coe, Michael D and Rex Koontz. Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs. 6th Edition. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2008 Diehl, Richard A. The Olmecs: Americas First Civilization. London: Thames and Hudson, 2004. Gonzalez Tauck, Rebecca B. El Complejo A: La Venta, Tabasco Arqueologà ­a Mexicana Vol XV - Num. 87 (Sept-Oct 2007). p. 49-54.