Information Systems in Banking - Assignment Example

The Running Head: Report    Your name:   Course name:             Professors’ name: Date: Outline Introduction Bank business operations Lists of Information systems in banking Mobile Banking How to use Mobile Banking Heads Procurement decisions System development methodology Data Collection People involved in the interview Introduction In this report the organization which I am going to touch on is Westpac Bank which has many branches distributed throughout Australia. Since its establishment in 1817, the bank and the government of Australia has become a partner in a number of roles such as supporting the local communities that are found in the country. As a major player in the banking industry in the country, Westpac Bank has fully accepted its responsibility in fulfilling it wider corporate social responsibilities in the country. Throughout its history, Westpac Bank has been committed to its customers, the community and has provided leadership through various innovations in the country. As from the year 2010, “the bank has been ranked as among the top 10 listed companies on the Australian Stock Exchange Limited (ASX) and this has been as a result of market capitalization” (Enterprise 2010). Bank business operations The bank has it other areas of operations such as in the New Zealand and the Pacific. The bank business is based on five key areas in the banking industry, and these areas are: Consumer banking and operating business, these areas of banking includes money withdrawal, transaction in the accounts, provision of credit cards to its customers and other lending to their clients. The bank is the leading provider of mortgage, but also they provide financial needs to small and medium sized business that operate in their area of the bank operations. BT Financial Group (BTFG) is a branch of Westpac bank and deals with wealth management in the in the area of operations. BTFG financial products enable their customer to; designs, manufactures and they give loans to their clients which enables them to increase, administer and protect their wealth creation. NZR they provide banking services to small and medium business that are found in New Zealand, at same time it’s a banker of the government of New Zealand. While Pacific banking provides loans and platform for international trades their clients who are involved in this kind of trade. Lists of Information systems in Banking The use of Information Technology (IT) in banks has changed the way human beings do business in the world. New markets, products, services and it has increased security in term of the channels which banks use to transfer money from one place to another. With the help of information technology has enabled most banks in the country to meet the high expectations of the clients who want to use new technology as compared to their counterparts of past years. Some of information systems which are used in Westpac bank are: ATM cards Mobile Banking Funds Transfer (eCheques) Anywhere Banking Internet Banking Mobile Banking Mobile banking can also be known as M-banking, as the mobile industry grows in the country, the country will turn cashless society because the mobile phones will replace the credit cards and PIN numbers in most people wallets. Nowadays, with the introduction of M-banking people are travelling lighter and spend less time in banks when compared to the yester years. The people of Australian are deserting banks since the introduction of mobile banking by Westpac bank, of late Westpac bank don’t have long queue of people wanting to be served in the banking hall, and this is as a results of mobile banking. Mobile banking has provided a platform in which customers can check account balances, view their bank statements and transfer money from one person to another person account without making any paper work transactions. On top of these mobile services that are provided by mobile banking, clients are able to pay utility bills and by the use of a special application in their mobile phones, they are able to transfer money to another third party person. While, SMS-banking will enable bank clients to know their account balances and mini statements by the use a SMS. At Westpac bank they believe banking services being delivered on mobile phone will "revolutionized the banking sector" in Australia as much the same way automated cards (ATMs) did in the yester years. At moment, 95 per cent of populations in Australians possess a mobile phone and this is a convenient way of providing banking to bank customers. How to use Mobile Banking If you are a first time user of a mobile banking, you will need to call customer care so that you can be provided with customer reference number and a temporary password that will enable you to use it with your mobile phone. After your reference number and password has been out into the data base. You will need to log on into your mobile phone and change your temporary password to something which you can remember. When you finished this you will receive a confirmation SMS notifying you that you have been registered for the mobile banking. The bank has a unique SMS code which when you want to use mobile banking you will dial that unique code. Once you send dial that unique code in your mobile phone, you will receive a notification page in your mobile phone with list of information: Account number and password, which will enable you to log in into your account. After you have log into your account, you will see a list of services that are supported by mobile banking such as: Pay Bills Manage Billers Scheduled Future Payments Transfer Money Manage Payees Heads Procurement decisions Planning plays a significant role in the success of any company. At Westpac bank the role of planning is under strategic workforce planning department, which is headed by Anastasia Ioannou. According to Anastasia, it is important to discuss with other departments in the bank on the future plan of the bank and appropriates workforce and systems so that to meet the need of business strategy within the bank and with this the bank can be able to compete with other banks that are found in Australia. At Westpac bank they are 8 elements which they must consider during planning and these elements revolves around key questions such as; the bank vision, mission and purpose in the country, the purpose of the bank existence in the country, the future of the bank in the country, workforce gap in the bank if there is any, how the decision will be implemented once the decision is made. Lastly the bank needs to ask itself whether they are on track on the decision they have made. But the key to success at the Westpac bank is partnering with businesses that are their major customers in the bank. System development methodology System development methodology is a model which is used by most of companies on how to manage their projects which they are initiating. There are many methodology processes which already exist and some are: waterfall model, spiral model and synchronize-and-stabilize model. Several of these models are combined when initiating projects in Westpac bank into a hybrid methodology. But before any project being implemented in Westpac bank, it must follow the following steps: Firstly, the banks already system is evaluated, the deficiencies in the already existing systems are identified. The weakness of the already existing systems can be known in the bank through interviewing the users who are using the system or support personnel in the bank. Secondly, the requirement of the new system is identified and must be addressed from the proposal of the already existing proposal in the bank. Thirdly, the new system is designed and the proposals from the end users are put into consideration, at the same time the person designing that system must put into consideration; security, compatibility of the system with already existing ones, programming and communications. Fourthly, the system is developed and the necessary components such as operating systems are acquired. To some extend the old system that is used in the bank can be shut down to pave way for the new system that has been designed. Lastly, the system is commissioned after being used for some times. Data Collection This is an important part in any type of research study that is carried out by any researcher. When you have wrong data or information in your research it will ultimately lead to invalid outcome of your research. During the interview I used many methods to get information, such methods are as follows: Interview, this consisted of face to face interview but sometimes I was forced to use telephone to interview the people who are in charge at the Westpac bank. Questionnaires, I formed some questions which were relevant to this research and then I had to send them to the people in charge at the Westpac bank. Lastly, Research, I had to use their main website to get the information needed in this research. People involved in the interview In the interview I had to ask the following question to all those who were involved in the interview: 1. What are the Bank business operations in the region? 2. What are the Lists of Information systems used in the company? 3. The procedure used in Mobile banking? 4. How do they go about in System development methodology in the company? The following people were involved in the interview: Stephen Mikkelsen, who is the chief financial officer in the company, Paul McWilliams, who is in charge of support services and he also acts as a company secretary, lastly, Ken Hodgson, who is in charge of retail Energy. Reference Enterprise, A. (2010). Westpac Banking Corporation - Swot Analysis - Market Research Report On Aarkstore Enterprise. Retrieved from http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Westpac-Banking-Corporation---Swot-Analysis---Market-Research-Report-On-Aarkstore-Enterprise-/1167455 Read More