JWI 550 SU Wk 1 Operational Excellence & Competitive Advantage Discussion

JWI550 Operations Management

Greetings Dr. Bateh & Classmates,

Please introduce yourself to your classmates and professor.

My current role is Chief Banking Officer for Lakeland Bank. Lakeland Bank is a community bank located in northern New Jersey with approximately $7.5 billion in assets. Yes, my current role includes management responsibilities to support the needs of our customer base, approximately fifty branch locations, a call center, our investment division, government banking, and our mortgage division. My role requires supporting the development of departmental budgets, sales and marketing plans, operation developments, as well as the development of strategic plans. We are currently deploying a digital strategy in addition to business as usual.

• What are the top 2 operational challenges in your industry?

Two operational challenges facing the financial services industry is the digitization of legacy bank technologies to improve the customer experience and attain cost efficiencies. The financial services industry also seeks to digitize regulatory requirements.

• What differentiates the most competitive organizations from the laggards in your industry?

The largest banks are able to attain efficiencies in processing improving the customer experience, and able to attain regulatory responsiveness. Smaller financial institutions are unable to implement technological improvements, improve customer experience, and attain regulatory responsiveness at the same trajectory. Financial institutions find themselves in a position to either acquire or be acquired.

• What do you hope to get out of this course as it relates to operations management in your workplace?

My current employer, Lakeland Bank, has undertaken a digital transformation.

Lakeland Bank engaged two consulting firms to support the effort. Banks use core technology service providers to power accounts, transaction processing, and financial reporting. Core providers are essentially an oligopoly weighed down by legacy technologies. Core providers are unable to implement innovative technologies, allowing smaller financial institutions to remain competitive. These financial institutions undertake the implementation of digital strategies to remain competitive.

Lakeland Bank engaged Capco Consulting to develop a blueprint for the corporate digital strategy to expand technological capabilities, improve customer experience and improve operating efficiencies. One of the largest projects is the implementation of Salesforce which will address key competitive concerns and also provide the organization with the opportunity to gain key insights through data aggregation of customer transaction activity. Salesforce will provide the bank with a service hub to connect innovative technologies not currently available from the core service provider.

An initial review of the text offers key insights not yet offered by consultants currently engaged, namely Six Sigma insights (1, Martin & Osterling). The recommendation prompted further research regarding Six Sigma (2, Pande, Neuman, & Cavanagh).

I look forward to learning more as the semester progresses!

Best regards,

Ellen Lalwani

Sources:

1. Karen Martin, and Mike Osterling. 2014. Value Stream Mapping.
2. Peter S. Pande, Robert P. Neuman, Roland R. Cavanagh. 2000. The Six Sigma Way.

Good Evening Everyone,

I’d have to say that the two challenges that I face in my position is efficiency of operations and how it applies to inventory management. This isn’t to say these two are areas of weakness, but areas of focus. They are near and dear to me, so my mind dwells on them. Since much of my focus falls on such things, this is where challenges arise because others do not focus on such things.

These things make a difference in my work flow and how I can support the job sites as well as our customers (1). I’ll tell you why there is conflict and challenges over this. Not only is my position new, but the warehouse as its own entity is new. So project managers are still trying to treat it like a store room. This defies everything I’ve learned about warehouse operations. Some surplus material doesn’t need to come back to the warehouse. Because it becomes dead inventory that may or may not be used over the course of several years, which takes ups space I could be using for inventory that moves and produces positive cash flow. I can run a store house if needed. I can run a small distribution warehouse. But both cannot exist at the same time. So challenges exist to help the sister companies through this transition.

I’m always looking for ways that will make my work more efficient in regards to the warehouse and inventory management. This could be simple and mundane duties to more important tasks, because they all tie together somewhere.

I think what separates our company the most from our closest competitors is the quality of service. Sometimes we are the more expensive option when bidding for jobs. But we bring value in our quality of work, so there is normally justification in the higher price. This is evident when our technicians have to go in behind the work of other contractors and fix the issues that are caused by poor workmanship.

I’ll take anything and everything I can get out of this course. I feel the this subject is more closely aligned with the part that I play in my organization. So this class could potentially be the most relevant to me at this point in my career. I’m excited to see what all this course has to offer.

-Chip

References

(1) JWI 550. Week One Lecture Notes. Operational Excellence. blackboar.strayer.edu