Business Process Analysis - Bank of Queensland - Case Study Example

Business Process Analysis By student’s name Course code+ name Professor’s name University name City, state Date of submission Table of Contents Introduction 3 Mission 3 Target market 4 Strategy 4 Business processes 4 Savings and investment 4 Loans 5 Insurance 5 Relationship and cross-functional maps 5 Relationship maps 5 Cross-functional maps 7 Analysis 9 Tightness and dependence 9 Bottlenecks 9 Service blueprinting 10 Process measurement 10 Discussion 10 Conclusion 11 Recommendations 11 References 12 Business Process Analysis Introduction A business process refers to the activities that are performed by a business or an organization for the purpose of creating value for the customers. The way in which the organization performs and manages these processes determines its success. Business process analysis enables the organization to improve its mode of performing the activities to ensure more efficiency and better use of resources (Berkeley School of Information 2005, 280). The focus of this report is to provide a business process analysis of the Bank of Queensland. The bank is one of the leading regional banks in Australia offering banking services to people across Australia through its 200 branches. The reason for choosing this organization is because of its poor risk management and compliance systems as well as the poor treatment of customers that have contributed to the recent legal suits against it. The lack of adequate controls to mitigate anti-laundering schemes and the failures in money-market deposit accounts has characterized the failures of the bank which have affected their customers. This report will look at the key businesses processes of the bank in a bid to identify the inefficiencies in the bank. Further, these processes will be mapped using relationship, and cross-functional maps and recommendations will be made on how to rectify the failures of the bank. Mission The bank’s mission is to be the most loved bank in Australia through being modern, nimble, focused and personal. Target market The target market is all people across Australia. The bank reaches this target market through the 200 branches and over 3500 ATMs spread across Australia. The bank currently has over 650,000 customers and intends to increase the number through delivering better and quality banking and financial services. Strategy The bank’s strategy is to on niche segments where customers can have and value a more intimate banking relationship. To achieve this strategy, the bank focuses on several key areas (Bank of Queensland 2015, 6); 1. Building banking products that meet the customers’ financial needs. 2. Improving the experience of customers by putting them in charge of when and how they interact with the bank. 3. Strengthening the financial base of the firm. 4. Developing technology and security devices as an assurance to the customers on the services provided. Business processes A business process is a variety of activities that requires certain input to create an output that is valuable to the consumer leading to the success of the organization. The key business processes for the Bank of Queensland are savings and investment, loans and insurance (Bank of Queensland 2015, 10). Savings and investment The banking services offered by the bank allow the customers to open accounts for different purposes. The customers can open savings and investment accounts with the bank allowing them to earn different rates of interest from their money. The premier investment account which pays higher rates of interest than other investment accounts requires the customer to invest an amount not less than $1,000. Once the amount is invested for a period of from one month to five years, the customer can earn interest on the funds. Customers can also open savings accounts with the bank allowing them to manage their money. The bank offers different options for the savings and investment accounts for the customer to choose the one that fits them. Loans The bank customers have access to personal loans which can help make purchases or clear their credit cards to pay existing borrowing. This service enables the customers to get through difficult times with ease and also to purchase certain items and pay through periodic payments. This includes car loans and home loans. The repayment of such loans is made in a flexible manner to help the customer make payments without much pressure. Insurance The bank has diversified its services to include insurance services. Insurance services are provided to the customers where they protect their valuable assets through the bank. Customers can insure their homes and the contents from certain eventualities such as floods that may destroy such property. This enables the customer to feel safe such that if such a thing happens, they can be compensated. Other services such as travel insurance are also offered by the bank to the frequent travelers and those going for holidays. Relationship and cross-functional maps Relationship maps Figure 1: Savings and investment presentation relationship map Figure 2: Loans presentation relationship map Figure 3: Insurance presentation relationship map Cross-functional maps Bank customer Bank inquiry team Personal Banker Investment broker Account opening and investment team Bank teller Investment banker Figure 4: Savings and investment presentation cross-functional maps Loan applicant Guarantors Personal Banker Loan officer Finance Manager Figure 5: Loans presentation cross-functional maps Banker customer Insurance broker Insurance Officer Finance Manager Figure 6: Insurance presentation cross-functional maps Analysis The management of business processes is important in ensuring that the success of the organization is guaranteed to customer satisfaction (Jeston and Nelis 2014, 9). The savings and investment business process involves handling money belonging to the customers of the bank. The structures set out in the opening of an account and in the selection of an investment plan seem adequate to address the specific needs of the customers. However, despite the existence of these structures, the failure of the bank lies in faulty management and compliance systems. The management of the money-market deposit accounts and compliance systems are inefficient leading to a high rate of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism finance risk. The failure to mitigate these factors has led to huge losses to customers. There are cases of customers having their life savings stolen due to the inadequacies of the compliance systems of the bank. The breaches in the bank’s money market deposit accounts have compromised the quality of services and allowed the rise of money laundering schemes. Tightness and dependence Tightness and dependence refer to the degree to which stages are related. The processes that are highly related have a high dependence between the stages. The stages in the savings and investment process of the bank are highly dependent such that a failure in the compliance systems leads to inefficiencies in the process. Bottlenecks Bottlenecks refer to situations where the capacity of a resource is less or equal to the demand hence limiting the output. In the bank scenario, this could happen in the account opening and investment banker stages such that the lack of enough input would cause harm to the customers due to the failure of the monitoring systems (Goldratt and Cox 2010, 24). Service blueprinting Service blueprinting is the process that provides guidance on the mode of provision of a service through staff actions and support systems needed for the service (Bitner et al. 2007, 5). The bank’s strategy is to make the customer in charge of how and in what way the services are provided to them. To achieve this, the bank has to concentrate on providing quality services to the customers who have accounts and have invested through the bank. This requires streamlining all processes to ensure that this is achieved. Process measurement Business processes are an important part of an organization. The measurement of the performance of these processes is, therefore, important to ensure that they are in line with the objectives of the organization (Kuwaiti and Kay 2000, 6). This is measured by quality, process velocity and the speed of delivery. The quality of the service can be identfied through the level of satisfaction of the customers. Quality services lead to the growth of the organization through the increase of the market share and competitive advantage. The failure to have a measurement to ensure that monitoring systems are in place regarding the savings and investment of customers has negated the quality of services provided by the bank. Process velocity and speed of delivery were sufficiently met by the bank since the customers could access savings and investment services in a speedy manner. The limitation was on the quality (Kuwaiti and Kay 2000, 12). Discussion The savings and investment process in a bank is crucial since it touches on everyday needs of the customers. An evaluation of this process has shown that there are breaches in the money-market deposit accounts such that the bank exposes customers to fraud. Further, the monitoring systems that should be in place to mitigate money laundering schemes regarding the savings and investment of the customers are insufficient. There should be more control of the deposit accounts as a way of protecting customers. The bank should also comply with the regulations in the industry to prevent losses of customer’s investments and savings. Conclusion The challenges that exist in the management of business processes at the bank relate to the lack of proper monitoring systems and compliance mechanisms to ensure that the money deposited by the customers is safe (Van Der Aalst et al. 2003, 9). The regulations set in the banking industry are supposed to safeguard the interests of the customers. The bank management needs to apply these regulations for the benefit of the customers. An efficient monitoring system should be set up to evaluate and assess the deposit accounts of customers and prevent fraud and money laundering schemes. These measures are important in ensuring customer satisfaction. Recommendations The recommendations that are listed below are to ensure that the business process management is designed in a way that benefits Bank of Queensland customers and leads to its success. 1. Establishment of a business processes monitoring committee to ensure that all the processes have complied with the industry regulations. 2. Establishment of a control system to monitor and implement strategies that make the deposit accounts safe for the customers. 3. Establishment of a transaction monitoring program that enables the bank to identify and rectify any insufficiencies in the bank transactions. 4. Development of proper business process management system that ensures that all processes are in line with the objectives of the bank. References Bank of Queensland 2015, BOQ Strategy: Annual report 2015, Bank of Queensland. Berkeley School of Information 2005, Analyzing business processes, University of California. Bitner J M, Ostrom A & Morgan F N 2007, Service blueprinting: A practical technique for service innovation, Center for Services Leadership, Arizona University. Goldratt, E M and Cox, J 2010, The goal: A process of on-going improvement, North River Press, Great Barrington. Jeston, J and Nelis, J 2014, Business process management. Routledge. Kuwaiti, M E and Kay, J M 2000, The role of performance measurement in business process re-engineering, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 20(12), pp.1411-1426. Van Der Aalst, W M, Ter Hofstede, A H and Weske, M 2003, Business process management: A survey in Business process management (pp. 1-12), Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Read More