The shared service approach provides a centre of excellence within large businesses, but according to Andrew Hayden, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Winshuttle, the challenge finance organisations often face is how to successfully transition separate business units’ processes and data into one single set of systems, and it can be an onerous process which, unless handled correctly, could result in less efficiency, not more.

The shared services model can help corporate finance teams meet their efficiency targets but avoiding the inefficiency trap caused by moving and transforming financial data into one place is essential if the business is going to meet strict efficiency targets.

Beyond ‘lift and shift’

When an organisation decides to move to a centralised shared service approach, the first step is usually to pull existing financial processes out of the hands of disparate accounting functions and business subsidiaries and pass them all into the new central function. Adopting this new structure typically means one team now handles all financial transactions, but they are still using a variety of systems – from spreadsheets and homegrown software to individual accounting platforms.

Implementing shared services requires a high degree of change within the business, and so it makes sense to maximise the benefits of doing so. This can only really be achieved when the actual financial processes themselves are streamlined to one central financial platform, quite commonly SAP.

A significant part of this system consolidation is the movement of data from A to B. Moving huge volumes of data manually is slow and time-consuming, and one approach that some shared service centres are adopting to significantly speed up operations is robotic process automation (RPA).

RPA in action

Here, we look at how SAP-specific RPA software solutions helped organisations including Vodafone, Anglo-American, and Novacon successfully streamline data in their shared financial services environments.

Vodafone decreases transaction processing time

At Vodafone, the shared financial services centre now handles the bulk of the organisation’s financial management, processes and transactions including fixed assets, Purchase to Pay, Record to Report and General Ledger.

Handling considerable volumes of assets within one SAP database proved challenging in this dynamic and frequently changing environment. In one area of the business, Vodafone had nine million assets and 100 thousand postings per month, which would typically take six months to process.

The task of doing so included using five different SAP screens and two different transactions, so a 100-line item record would take up to 60 minutes to process manually. To drive shared services efficiency, Vodafone used an SAP-specific RPA solution. It automatically posts data to SAP via Vodafone Excel workbooks, eliminating data entry through the SAP GUI and reducing the processing time to 15 minutes.

“The system works very well for us,” says Peter Barta, Asset and Project Accounting Team Leader, Vodafone, adding “our complicated processes are handled in fewer steps, which reduces time spent on complex postings and allows us to avoid any internal IT debt.”

Anglo-American increase efficiency savings by 80%

Anglo-American needed to implement a global shared services project to optimise business processes through common procedures. This required thousands of entries that needed to be manually processed on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. This repetitive and time-consuming task needed an effective solution without increasing resource capacity.

By choosing an SAP-specific RPA solution, Anglo-American was able to overcome these challenges without needing to employ specialists to transfer volumes of data. Procedures that would normally take a week now take only a day to process, increasing efficiency savings by 80%.

Novacon prevents data entry errors before they happen

Novacon, a lean management data company, faced challenges with data and process accuracy when working with a large shared service centre. Using an SAP-specific RPA solution it validated data entry against all business and SAP rules, preventing errors before they happen with a rate of 99+% accuracy in SAP. This also enabled a shorter development time of two months and at a lower cost compared to generic RPA technology.

Without doubt, shared services centres offer significant potential for finance to become more efficient, but it must be approached correctly, especially when it comes to the transference of data. Otherwise the organisation could find itself stuck in the inefficiency trap.

At stake are our personal data, as well as our monetary possessions. While the concern for the former is a rather new phenomenon, the latter have been guarded by a multi-layered web of intermediaries. And still banks and other financial institutions regularly witness the weaknesses of this set-up. Below Igor Pejic, author of new book ‘Blockchain Babel: The Crypto-Craze and the Challenge to Business’, confronts the question: Is the Blockchain Really Unsinkable?

In recent years a technology hailed for immutability entered the stage: the blockchain. This cryptographically secured, distributed ledger technology was initially designed to bypass the financial system by enabling digital currencies, yet today banks are the most active in blockchain research, trying to reap the benefits of this supposedly tamper-proof ledger. But is the blockchain really unhackable?

In many a head there are probably stories whizzing around about stolen bitcoins and hacked exchanges. Mt. Gox is such a story. In 2014 Mt. Gox was the world’s largest crypto-exchange which processed around 70% of the world’s bitcoin transactions. 850.000 bitcoins were lost (of which around 200.000 were recovered). Further hacks such as the one of the Slovenian exchange Bitstamp followed. Most recently Quadriga, a Canadian exchange, made headlines because its founder Gerald Cotten supposedly passed away on a trip in India. He was the only one to knew the private keys to the wallets of 115,000 customers with funds worth $143m. That funds are thus not accessible and lost.

Yet when commentators use these examples to sow doubt about blockchain-security, they mix up different dimensions of data security, in particular data’s integrity during a transaction with its integrity before or after a transaction. The aforementioned hacks can be attributed to lax security standards aside of transactions such as the storage of private access keys. While parts of the crypto-sphere are reacting – Bitstamp has introduced two-factor authentication to access funds – many wallets and exchanges continue to operate with hair-raising security standards.

But what about the mechanism itself? Can attackers inject bogus transactions or rewrite past ones? This answer depends on the validation mechanism each particular blockchain uses. Let us illustrate this with bitcoin and other chains that work with so-called proof-of-work validation. In this set-up, validator nodes, also known as miners, are investing massive computing power to solve a mathematical puzzle with trial and error mechanisms. They are interested in the “right” solution, because only if they find it first, they are rewarded with freshly minted coins. Once found, the correct value can be verified quickly by the network. The major danger here is that a possible attacker gains control over more than 50% of the hashing power in a network and can vote a wrong truth into reality. The attacker could then submit a transaction to the network, and after getting the good or service he paid for simply use his computing majority to fork the network at a point in time before he sent the money.

Critics will point to the infamous DAO-hack. The DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) was a leaderless organization that issued a token built on Ethereum’s smart contract code. A hacker exploited a cryptographic vulnerability to capture $50m. An ideological conflict of the Ethereum community prevented a soft fork that would have reversed the hack. Thus, a hard fork split the chain into Ethereum (version without the hack) and Ethereum Classic (version including the hack). But even this example was not a hack of the blockchain, but rather a bug that pestered the DAO-code sitting on top of the Ethereum-blockchain. Despite many problematic constellations – e.g. a high concentration of mining pools, as well as a limited number of ISPs hosting large parts of prominent blockchains – the mechanism as such has never been hacked. Attacks are very expensive and the advantages for the most part short-lived.

Does this mean the blockchain is immutable? No. We have to get the fairytale out of our heads that there is something like absolute security. There is always a way to trick the system, even if it is highly unlikely as the aforementioned 51%-attack. The question we should ask instead is whether blockchain is more secure than current systems. What most most critics of new payment technology do not know is that even the SWIFT-network, which enables monetary transactions between 11.000 financial institutions worldwide, has been subject to hacking in the past. In one heist, banks in Bangladesh and Ecuador lost millions. Blockchain technology has proven to be less susceptible to several attack vendors while doing away with intermediaries. This should render the discussion about absolute immutability superfluous.

Below, Harpreet Singh, Executive Director at Brickendon, delves into some case studies and examples that point towards an evolving workplace, remarking on the financial services sectors and its need to conform or adapt.

In November 2018, tens of thousands of Google employees conducted a worldwide walkout targeting workplace culture less than a year after the internet giant topped Fortune magazine’s list of best companies to work for the sixth year running. The protestors’ main issue was how the company was treating women, but this wasn’t their only concern.

Following the protests, media reports cited Google saying it would increase transparency and improve its harassment policies, but it shouldn’t have taken a revolt of this scale for the issues to be acknowledged. Jose Mourinho, former manager of Manchester United, who was unceremoniously sacked in December, may have the answer to Google’s problems.

Speaking to the media in January, Mourinho, one of the most successful football managers of the last two decades, said: “Nowadays you have to be very smart in the way you read your players”. He then went on to compare current players with players from previous generations and spoke about the increased need to have the right structure in the club to support the players and the manager. Like football, employee demographics in the corporate world have changed significantly over the past decade. According to a recent study by Deloitte, 75% of the global workforce will be millennials by 2025. And therein lies the problem. In the same way as Mourinho believed Manchester United was not reading its players correctly, neither, if recent events are taken into account, are many businesses.

The expectation of flexibility is neither misplaced nor impossible

In addition to having been born and grown up in an online age, there are several characteristics that differentiate millennials from previous generations. Whilst they consider themselves equally as hardworking and as ambitious, if not more so, than generation x and baby boomers, they also require more flexibility, faster results and care more about their personal well-being. According to a report in US news magazine INC., more than half of all millennial workers would like the option to work remotely, while up to 87% want to work on their own schedules.

They also perceive themselves to be more socially aware and eco-friendly and expect these traits from their employers too. Luckily, with the significant improvements in technology over the past decade, this expectation is neither misplaced nor impossible to achieve, as long as employers are prepared to innovate.

Technological improvements make remote working an easy option

Take flexibility, eco-friendliness and well-being for example. With massive improvements in communication-related technology, it is now possible to work remotely without any loss of productivity. Providing flexible working options not only reduces real-estate costs and lowers the firm’s carbon footprint but can also help increase employee motivation.

So, if done correctly, one single action or statement, such as allowing employees to start work earlier or later, or to take longer lunch breaks to facilitate participation in sporting activities, can lead to a chain of events that significantly improves the attractiveness of an employer.

But, the reverse is also true. What if a telecommuting employee needs to come into the office for a face-to-face meeting and realises that he/she doesn’t have a desk to work from? The obvious impact is a decrease in efficiency. However, research shows that not knowing whether you have a desk space can also lead to lack of motivation and stress and can in turn, have a serious impact on an employee’s overall well-being. In addition, it can create an environment of unhealthy competition due to a lack of information, in this case, related to desk space and employee whereabouts. Unlike employees from previous generations, millennials don’t tend to feel the same connection to their company and as a result will not stay somewhere they are not happy.

It’s all about work-life balance

As a result, it may be worth managers considering the way in which a flexible work schedule provides a stronger sense of work-life balance – a quality that is reported to attract millennial employees to a workplace in droves and keep them happier for longer than the two-year stint that has become the norm.

It may be worth managers considering the way in which a flexible work schedule provides a stronger sense of work-life balance.

Typically, desk space is the responsibility of real-estate management teams and doesn’t list as a top priority for senior operational managers. Desk allocations are usually managed on spreadsheets or similar static data-storage tools, which don’t allow for the constant monitoring required for effective desk-space allocation. Technology can again rectify this situation, with tools (such as HotDeskPlus, a new workplace optimisation tool and app powered by Brickendon Digital) that use mobile apps, sensors and QR codes to allow employees to view, reserve and check-in-and-out of specific desk spaces at a specific time.

Millennials may require more recognition and faster routes to promotion

Equally important is to foresee the problems that may arise as time evolves and millennials move through the ranks and take up senior positions. They may require more recognition and therefore faster routes to promotion. At the same time, incoming employees may prefer a more informal and non-hierarchical structure. This will require a shift in the organisational model and a willingness to embrace change in a way not seen before.

A quick look at the last couple of years reveals that many CEOs were either asked to leave their positions or forced to deal with discontented employees. These non-unionised breeds of relatively new organisations, such as Google, Microsoft and Uber, were expected to be torch bearers for the next generation of working practices, but their actions have largely been reactive. There is no doubt that what is thought to be an isolated incident can very quickly gain momentum and become a global phenomenon.

So, when it comes to millennials, you may want to count (and listen to) your chickens before they tweet, otherwise they may leave your roost sooner than you expect.

What are really the concerns, risks or benefits of incoming Brexit changes? Below Finance Monthly hears from Todd Latham, CMO & Head of Product, Currencycloud, who explains what’s truly rocking the fintech sector.

Am I the only one who has had enough of all the “Brexit is coming; the UK is doomed” headlines dominating the news?

The truth is, no one can really know what impact Brexit will have. Combine this uncertainty with the fast pace of modern business, and you might be tempted to throw your ten year plans out of the window.

Should businesses really be worried? Or are there, in fact, more pressing things to be concerned about?

The concerns

The main concern for the fintech industry post-Brexit is that the UK is going to lose its fintech crown, becoming less attractive to both business and workers. Will companies migrate their head offices to the continent? Will the world’s top talent still want to work in the UK? These are the questions keeping some of our fintech leaders awake at night. In reality, contrary to what the scaremongers would have you believe, the fintech industry in the UK is thriving, with firms attracting close to £3bn in venture capital funding in 2017. At Currencycloud, for example, we are expecting to double in size this year, and we had our first ‘billion-dollar month’ in terms of cross-border payments processed in December 2017.

Despite the rocky political times, it’s clear that the strength of fintechs means they are unlikely to be deterred. In addition, our home talent pool is impressive, and many industry essentials are exclusive to the UK. Whether it’s specialised legal firms, a friendly regulatory environment or something as basic as the time zone, there are many factors that are difficult for other nations to replicate, meaning the influx of job seekers to the UK’s fintech sector is unlikely to be affected.

But unfortunately, Brexit will not be all plain sailing. The regulatory and financial hurdles surrounding the loss of passporting will certainly result in logistical challenges for firms operating out of the UK. However, it’s important to see this as just another bump in the road for the fintech industry – no more so than previous obstacles from regulation and investment.

What is clear is that in this volatile business climate, predicting what effect Brexit will have in the future is a minefield of speculation, and ultimately, a waste of time. Instead of worrying about the what-if’s, the sector should be diverting its attention to a regulation that is affecting the industry right now: open banking.

Open banking – The fintech revolution nobody knows about

Open banking, part of the Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) requirements, is aimed at increasing opportunity in the sector, as fintech companies can now offer traditional banking services – but with a faster, more seamless and exciting user experience.

Fintechs can provide the fresh ideas and agility the banking sector desperately needs, while capitalising on the customer trust and ability to scale the traditional institutions’ offerings. The regulation also ensures that any third party wishing to have access to customer data is subject to greater regulation in accordance to data protection laws - providing a safety net for businesses and customers.

A potential partnership between UK banks and fintechs, if executed correctly, could see a global revolution of the financial industry, and could lend a hand in securing the UK’s place as a top competitor in the market - regardless of EU status.

Innovate – before it is too late

As well as being a safety net for businesses, the key reason open banking is being hailed a monumental change for the fintech and wider financial sector is because it is enabling innovation in a previously stale market and is creating opportunities for fintechs to capitalise on.

In this age of AI and machine learning, customers have grown to expect a level of personalisation, which the traditional banking industry currently lacks as is shown by growing customer interest in alternative banking methods, such as Revolut, Starling and Monzo.

Open banking presents an opportunity for the sector to respond to these customer demands by tailoring traditional banking services to individual customer’s needs and wants. This could be through things such as detailed spending graphs or gamification techniques such as nudging for improved user behaviour.

Although the benefits are clear, this drive for innovation has created a pressured environment for businesses. Our research found that 49% of businesses believe their offer will lose appeal within just two years from launch and 60% of businesses agree that their companies will eventually become irrelevant if they don’t innovate constantly. Working with external organisations could offer businesses a solution to bridging the gap between idea and action. This is where the partnership between banks and fintech could be beneficial for both parties.

Brexit may, or may not, have an impact on where consumers bank down the line – but fintechs should be focusing their attention on the possibilities in the market now. By investing the time and energy on open banking, the fintech sector could have the public shunning high-street bank branches for AI and robo-advisers sooner than we think.

Change is happening – be it political, regulatory or otherwise – but you must determine which change will have the most impact on your individual business. With all the focus on Brexit, it’s easy to understand why less consideration has been given to the impact of open banking regulation. However, perhaps this is where you should be diverting your attention, as the opportunities are endless. As more and more fintech companies are jumping on the bandwagon, the initiative is picking up momentum and, we believe it will soon transform the banking industry as we know it.

Almost a decade in the making since the inception of Bitcoin and with a current market-cap hovering around half a trillion dollars USD, Bitcoin, cryptocurrency and blockchain have become common to the tech savvy, but face several challenges in becoming mainstream processes in the payments sphere. Below Alex Mihaljcic, VP of Product Development for Eterbank.com, talks Finance Monthly through the challenges and solutions ahead.

While most people don’t understand how they work, Bitcoin and cryptocurrency are not only hot topic buzzwords, but they’ve created thousands of multi-millionaires. Even so, the vast majority of people in the mainstream have no interest or intent to embrace Bitcoin and, as such, it still has veritably no bearing on everyday life as one still can’t even pay for a cup of coffee with any cryptocurrency.

In the last year alone, the cryptocurrency market cap has grown over ten-fold, and even taking into consideration “bubble-effects” of hype speculation, the fact remains that, since the inception of Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency market cap is following an exponential growth curve. Today this amounts today to over $150Bn, and various expert opinions estimate its future growth in the next 5-10 years to be in the trillions of dollars. With these kinds of numbers, it begs the question: With over $150 billon of cryptocurrency already in circulation, why can’t we yet pay for coffee or a slice pizza with crypto?

Not only this, but why is cryptocurrency languishing in a tech world of its own, far removed from adoption by the regular consumer or average business? And why does it exist only in a digital space, largely accessible only to the tech-wise cryptocurrency investors? Perhaps the most fundamental question that everyone is asking—from economic pundits to families around the kitchen table—is will crypto will ever become common currency to be used by the average person to pay for their groceries, bills or the hair dresser? Or are Bitcoin and Altcoins just a fad, doomed to remain ensconced in a cult-like tech realm?

While it’s clear that the only way for cryptocurrency to avoid falling into oblivion is by enabling its widespread adoption and acceptance as a “real” payment method, the reality is that the infrastructure and protocols have not been in place to foster this. In fact, there have been seemingly insurmountable obstacles faced by merchants across the board preventing them from accepting cryptocurrency as a viable form of payment.

Four of those key reasons include the following:

1. High volatility promotes fiscal vulnerability
Businesses are not cryptocurrency investors and, as such, they cannot be expected to accept risky payments that may lead to serious financial losses. Every business operates with supply costs, margins, etc. Therefore it would make little business sense to take on a risk of such magnitude by accepting crypto as payment for their goods and services.  What if the local mechanic accepted Bitcoin for several large jobs and then Bitcoin value dropped 20%? This leaves these sort of business owners, whom have fixed overhead costs, in a vulnerable space where they take payments that fluctuate.

2. Technical know-how
Generally speaking, retail operators and cashiers cannot be expected to possess the technical expertise needed in order to safely process a cryptocurrency transaction. This is clearly one of the largest problems preventing mainstream adoption, since dealing with cryptocurrency transactions does require a determined level of technical expertise for which it would be absurd to expect a critical mass of front-line service staff to possess. The fact is that any new person coming across even a simple Bitcoin address can be overwhelmed by its perceived complexity.

3. Brand Confusion
The very word “crypto” suggests cryptic. Mix that in with all of the other various terms that are used including virtual currency, digital currency, alt coins, and Bitcoin, and it all creates confusion. It will be paramount for industry insiders to adopt consistent language to be consistently utilized in the mass market.

4. Uncertain regulatory environment
Regulations regarding cryptocurrencies are still not even close to being set in stone. As concerning, these same regulations actually discourage the use of such currencies in a B2C environment, regarding them as an “unnecessary risk” that may lead to legal problems for any business down the road.

Collectively, these four points above paint an ominous picture for the future of cryptocurrency. Not only relating to its progress and adoption, but also for its very survival in a very real scenario where an innovative payment technology fails to fulfil its potential. In fact, this isn’t the first technology to be introduced with the aim of creating a major cultural shift. Twenty-five years ago, fax communication was far more common and even preferred over email messages.

The Innovation Life Cycle Must Ensue
In all forms of innovation, there is always a lag between the advent of the actual innovation and the time that the average intended user starts to adopt and employ the technology. As the “technology adoption life cycle” has well established, in order for people to adopt and use a new innovation, technological abstraction layers are needed to hide all of the complexity of the core product and make it unequivocally user friendly. Of course, this takes time and innovation of its own until all the layers have been developed and refined around the core product, which is the main reason why there is always a lag between innovation and mass adoption.

The Game Changer: Crypto-to-Fiat Point-of Sale Solution
The tremendous amount of complexity associated with using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in the real world financial marketplace, as exemplified by the four problems detailed above, has ushered in a new breed of leading-edge technology aimed at wholly solving the glut of mass market limitations. Emerging Point-of-Sale (POS) applications are finally permitting cryptocurrencies to be transacted as easy as a credit card payment, allowing small and large businesses alike to accept and instantly translate crypto into U.S. dollars, thus eradicating any risk and uncertainty. With this advancement, technical or crypto-specific know-how on the part of the consumer or the merchant is rendered unnecessary and businesses can readily convert crypto to real cash. Not only will this Point-of-Sale development quickly shift brand perceptions, but the regulatory environment will also eventually temper given the reduced volatility this POS technology proffers.

Once this business-friendly solution is adopted as a viable transaction method, enabling consumers to very easily spend their crypto currency and retailers to charge and settle crypto payments in the business’ preferred currency—whether dollars, euros or other, technical proficiency will no longer be barrier and volatility will subside since businesses will continue to deal strictly in Fiat currency (government-issued legal tender), resolving any possible crypto-specific regulatory issues that are rendered a non-concern.

Given its extrapolated impact, a POS innovation of this nature would be poised to unlock the full potential of the cryptocurrency industry and its utility in the real-world. A Crypto-to-Fiat business tailored POS solution will effectively allow for cryptocurrencies to penetrate the consumer market and truly disrupt day-to-day payments as we know them. The first business with a minimum viable product (MVP) will be to cryptocurrency transactions what AOL was to email.

Retailers today are accustomed to using Point-of-Sale terminals for processing credit card payments, and are increasingly adopting new solutions in the space such as Square’s retail POS smartphone app, replacing bulky hardware with Android and iOS devices. In order for merchants to accept and adopt a Crypto-to-Fiat POS solution, it must be tailored in a manner that seamlessly accommodates the retailers current understanding and knowledge base, with a near zero effort or learning curve required to adopt the new solution. At the same time, the innovation must demonstrate its ability to drive new value, new customers and, ultimately, new profits by expanding its ability to process transactions—and at a fraction of standard costs.

Such an end-to-end solution can truly catalyze cryptocurrency adoption, finally bringing Bitcoins and Altcoins to “Main Street” and crossing that crucial milestone for blockchain technology—and technology as a whole—to usher cryptocurrency into the modern world is a genuine, viable and enduring way.

Commuting to work has been a topic of many conversations. We all discuss and explore our options: walking, cycling, driving, car sharing, or staying with the good old public transport. For people working, offshore choices are limited and safety concerns are high and many. Reflex Marine Ltd, a company founded over 25 years ago, dedicates all its time and resources to developing and facilitating safe crew transfers by crane. FROG, Reflex Marine’s main product, found its way to all continents and their many offshore platforms, vessels and installations. FROGs helps transfer over a million offshore workers each year; it’s a simple yet safe, efficient and flexible way to reach your work post on the sea.

Earlier this month, we sat down with Sandra Antonovic, Chief Operating Officer for Reflex Marine and we talked about revolutionising marine transfer.

Maybe we could start by quickly summarising what is it that you do at Reflex Marine?

The role of Chief Operating Officer is a very complex and layered one in any company, maybe more so in Reflex Marine, because we are small in number of people (less than 20), yet we cover the market globally and are involved in all stages of product development, product testing, product manufacturing, product marketing, positioning and placement, and finally post-sale client support and service. The very essence of my job is understanding the market and the ways it grows, changes and/or shifts; creating a space for our company in that market and then making sure we deliver in the most efficient and effective way possible. It is an incredibly interesting, eclectic and multi-faceted job covering anything from designing, negotiating and closing a fleet deal with a major client, to looking at the cash flow or projected earnings.

How do you ensure you can effectively do your job without feeling overwhelmed?

People reach corporate or C-suite positions because they have the ability to stay focused regardless of what goes on, they can filter through the noise and they are able to make decisions in matter of seconds, if necessary. These people perform best in high-paced, very demanding environments, and they are able to deliver in the most strenuous circumstances. Their motivation, their drive and their stamina comes from within, not from the outside. Once your motivation starts depending on other people or circumstances, you are limiting yourself and what you can achieve. At the very beginning of my career, almost 25 years ago, I understood that growth, both personal and professional; but also the growth of a business; is all about willingness to accept responsibility and accountability, as well as about being comfortable outside your comfort zone.

A lot of people in the offshore industry, particularly offshore safety, say that Reflex Marine revolutionised marine transfer. What is it like to work for such a company, and how do you see that ‘revolution’?

Yes, you are absolutely right, Reflex Marine very much revolutionised the way people think about offshore crew transfer; and it certainly revolutionised marine transfer. Almost singlehandedly, Reflex Marine transformed marine transfer from an obsolete and risky operation to one of the safest methods of crew transfer offshore. We remained revolutionaries over the years, in how we do business, in how we approach the market and in how we keep reinventing ourselves; never forgetting our prime purpose: designing and delivering products that ensure the highest level of offshore safety.  Working for Reflex Marine has always been a great honour for me.

You say that Reflex Marine remained a revolutionary over the years. Could you please expand on that?

Reflex Marine has always been and always will be a company that pushes the boundaries and explores the unexplored, not just in what kind of products we design and manufacture, but in how we do it. When we talk about offshore crew transfer, it often sounds “either/or” – either you use helicopters, or you use crane transfer; either you use crane transfer, or you use gangway. In practice, in real life situations, things are never that black or white. Commuting to work onshore looks simple in comparison. Every morning we make a choice how to get to work – walking, cycling, taking the metro, or a bus, or driving a car. Going to work offshore doesn’t give us that many options, and the way of commuting is predefined by the operator. Helicopters are good for getting people from the port to remote installations in deep water; gangways are useful when we need to get large number of crew from a vessel to the platform; and then there is transfer by crane, which gives flexibility and cost effectiveness.  Thirty years ago, transferring people by crane had its challenges – people were transferred in net ‘baskets’, unprotected and exposed. “How can we keep the cost effectiveness and flexibility offered by crane transfer while ensuring people are safe and protected from impacts and harsh weather?”, was the question Philip Strong, Reflex Marine’s CEO and the person behind the FROG idea, kept asking himself as he embarked on a journey of improving safety of offshore crew transfer. Several years later, the first FROG was sold. The original FROG range was launched in 1999 and fifteen years later, the re-designed and re-engineered FROG-XT range was introduced to the global market.

Would you say that design and technical features helped your product differentiate itself on the market and would you say it helped you define the unique selling proposition?

Very much so. The FROG-XT Personnel Transfer Carriers (PTCs) are personnel transfer device designed to provide increased passenger protection when carrying out the transfer of personnel between vessels and installations. Crane personnel transfers are carried out for a wide variety of reasons including routine, urgent operational and emergency reasons. The FROG-XT can accommodate a stretcher to transfer injured personnel in a protected environment. ‘The FROG-XT comprises the following two main assemblies: firstly, the stainless steel outer framework containing polyethylene buoyancy panels; secondly, a spring-dampened seating assembly mounted on a central column. All materials have been selected specifically to minimise corrosion in the marine environment. The outer framework protects passengers from impacts and contains the buoyant elements which ensure the FROG-XT floats and is self-righting in water. The outer shell lands on four feet that provide shock absorption and ensure that the FROG-XT is stable on uneven surfaces or when landing on a heaving vessel. The outer shell also has four large open accesses that allow rapid unimpeded entry and exit. During transit passengers are seated and secured with full harnesses to protect them against whiplash and falling. Seating is mounted on a sprung carriage to provide protection against heavy landings. The lifting assembly is of a special design to prevent rotation.

Each Reflex Marine personnel transfer product is specified within the following controlled documents: » Build Manual – A controlled document with all relevant manufacture and assembly instructions and quality and documentation requirements; » Drawing Package – A complete listing of all pertinent drawings (in all pertinent to the model and revision); » Design Dossier – A controlled document with all relevant, design calculations and standards, risk assessments and compliance testing data; » User Manual – A controlled document with the required end-user information and maintenance and inspection requirements for use throughout the product life.

Safety of the transfer operation is both a function of the design and of the operation of the FROG-XT unit. The FROG-XT Design Dossier sets out to establish the performance expectations and define the safe operating envelop of the design and to understand the risks of operation and how these might be operationally mitigated and controlled.

There are large number of factors that affect the safe conduct of marine personnel transfers. These include crew skill and experience, met-ocean conditions, landing areas, vessel station keeping capability and response to sea conditions, visibility and line of sight. A combination of many factors will determine the risk involved.

What is the situation in the offshore industry generally, when we talk about safety in crew transfer?

Before Reflex Marine’s work began, there was no central database for marine transfer incidents. By collecting and analysing data spanning a 20-year period, the company was been able to isolate when and where these incidents happen. Crucially, this allows us to consider how best to protect personnel with the carriers we create. As expected, the study showed that most incidents happen on the vessel itself. Less predictable was the high level taking place during pick-up, which can result in serious injuries or fatalities, compared to those caused by heavy landing, which are more likely to result in minor injuries. From detailed analysis, it was found that many incidents are caused by the pendulum ‘swing factor’: an often unavoidable misalignment between the crane line and the transfer device. The research showed that the pivotal risk factors in transfers are equipment design and crane operating error. Very few incidents relate directly to the condition of the transfer device or crane; instead, the design of the equipment often has a powerful effect on its safety. A lack of training, planning and preparation was also a concern in a considerable number of the incidents studied. Using these findings, Reflex Marine tailored their carriers to address the specific risks crews face. With falls during pick-up causing serious injuries or even fatalities, Reflex Marine developed devices that offer additional safety measures. Passenger fall restraints are a design essential in all of their carriers, preventing loss of grip or dislodging. A protective outer frame and buoyancy panels reduce the dangerous effects of side impact, which frequently results from the pendulum ‘swing factor’. Reflex Marine also put in place comprehensive training programmes to encourage safe practice.

We touched a few times on a new market approach the company developed. Tell us a bit more about that.

Reflex Marine Ltd designs, engineers, manufactures and markets crew transfer carriers, also known as FROGs. The company was founded 25 years ago, and our dedication to safety and efficiency earned us over one million transfers per year, with over eight consecutive years without a lost time incident. We were always very focused on the quality and safety. The last oil price downturn, a few years ago, showed us that we need to be equally focused on the market and The Client.

Our core market has always been offshore oil and gas. IOCs, drilling companies, supply vessel companies. We never really looked elsewhere, at least not in the strategic, long-term way. The oil price was stable, purchase orders were coming through, market share sounded okay, and we carried on for years. Our main ambition was to improve our original FROG range; and we certainly did that with our FROG-XT range, launched back in 2014.

We were proud of our work and product innovation, delivered by our in-house designers and engineers. We were then, and still are today, the only manufacturer of personnel transfer carriers delivering the products developed and rigorously tested taking into the account different body types, impacts different operational transfer situations might have on a human body, human behaviour and weather conditions. FROG-XT range was tested using techniques and approach very similar to those testing a VOLVO car. We were keen to deliver the safest crew transfer option, and we succeeded. One question remained, though – how do we make sure we can continue our work amidst severe market fluctuations that are impacting our bottom line?

Looking back, the answer now seems obvious, but back in 2015 it raised a few eyebrows and meant the entire team had to get outside of their comfort zone. We decided to diversify to other offshore sectors. We started researching merchant shipping, tankers, VLCCs, ports, navy and coastal guard, and yes, LNG. The potential was enormous. Our decision to diversify triggered many changes in how we work and with whom. We were actively pursuing the market and we started creating our own opportunities through layers of activities: editorials and interviews; attending and exhibiting at large expos; speaking at conferences; organising webinars and using any and every other opportunity to share our knowledge and experience. We never chased contracts, we chased opportunities to share what we know, for free. We chased opportunities to discuss and debate; but most of all, we chased the opportunities to listen and learn.

The narrative became very important – the context – why did something happen, how did it happen, what caused it and so on. The company used to look at numbers only, revenue, expenses, manufacturing costs, overheads. Having a more corporate finance angle and approach the entire team started to appreciate the need and importance to have narratives accompanying every report, and to have an understanding of the context. We focused on analysis, on market research, on understanding our weaknesses and on working hard to mitigate the risks they could have created. We became very bold in our thinking; and it helped with the general attitude and team’s confidence.

We recognised that the market conditions changed. While that change started long before the oil price drop, it became evident and emphasised during the last oil price crisis. The cost of oil production offshore has always been high, so it comes as no surprise that oil operators and the industry’s supply chain generally made a lot of effort to reduce the time of exploration and production. What used to take two years, now takes eight months, and so on. For suppliers that meant only one thing – adapt, and do it fast. You have to reduce your lead time, your transit time, you have to lower the prices and you have to be available 24/7. Flexibility and responsiveness are the key ingredients.

Reflex Marine reduced the number of its employees by 30%, but increased productivity and responsiveness by 50-60%. We have a much better understanding of the global markets and we are able to see and comprehend the fine layers of the industry. We moved from a company that operates from 9-5 in one time zone, to a company that operates almost 24/7 in all time zones. It doesn’t mean people don’t sleep; it just means we do things in a very different way than we used to. The focus is on the outside, on the market, on the client, and on our role in helping them solve their problems. The change in focus changed everything for us.

Defining and developing a strategy for any region inevitably includes understanding the wider geopolitical context, market volatility, currency fluctuations, and inevitably, the oil price trend. Having that context helped us define and deliver the strategy that improves, strengthens and facilitates the operations of our clients.

What is the role of international agreements, regulations and bodies in understanding SWOT analytics and strategy planning?

International agreements, regulations and regulatory bodies can have quite a significant role in strategy planning and looking at SWOT analysis. One of the most recent examples is when Brazilian regulatory body for offshore operations changed the regulation on what types of carriers can be used to move people back and forth while working offshore. That change stipulates that people have to be seated, and we are one of two companies that manufactures personnel transfer carriers for seated passengers. Needless to say this change had and will have a huge impact on our strategy, from supply chain, manufacturing, post-sale approach, market communications and general focus.

What is next for Reflex Marine?

Keep innovating. Standing still is a terminal illness. We have a very defined idea on where we want to be two years from now, but also five and ten years from now. I see Reflex Marine as a company that will always be an innovator, both in products we place on the market, but more so in the approach we take and particularly, in how we execute our ideas. Execution will be the key, understanding the market and behavioural change is essential, without those things there is no real progress, no real revolution (laughs). I am confident and excited about Reflex Marine’s future.

Website: https://www.reflexmarine.com/

Alan Arnett, the Director of The Exploration Habit, talks to Finance Monthly about helping leaders to stretch beyond their experience and really make a difference. 

Innovation and change get interpreted in many different ways. What are the real situations your clients face that you provide hands-on help with?

I help people with a familiar challenge – how to keep the current business performing and improving, while also changing and innovating for the future. It’s a difficult balancing act. These days clients often have challenges around digital technologies, but situations can involve making anything new happen: strategies, products, services, JVs, M&As and more. The key thing I help with is getting the most impact and value from the activity. I find three things make a big difference:

How people approach risk and decision-making. People are used to managing in consistent ways, to plan the future and avoid risk. But too much consistency is itself a risk in a fast moving world. Managing risk needs a dynamic balance between enough structure to operate well, and agility to explore and learn what else is possible. I show people how to flex between both to make better progress.

How people handle differences. Under pressure, most of us don’t work as well as we think with people who see the world differently. Whether that’s internally across siloes, or externally with start-ups, suppliers, JVs, etc, there’s a lot of frustration and blame going around. I show people how to shift the conversations to speed up alignment.

How people show up. In the end, organisations are simply a lot of people trying to make a difference, and the pressures, risks and disagreements create stress. We tend to hold on to what has always worked before, and do it harder and faster. I show people how to build resilience and have more impact on the things that matter.

You say that ‘progress is not always about trying harder. It’s often about trying some new things.’ – do you have examples of when this has worked?

Two examples spring to mind. One was a company with successful business units who were disconnected and missing opportunities for cross-selling. I coached some leaders first, and then we got people working together on new projects. In the process, we uncovered new opportunities and grew sales considerably. Another was a global merger, where a friend and I created a 3-day workshop to accelerate the integration of multiple business teams by several months. Both examples are about getting people doing the new things quickly, and learning it feels OK, rather than hesitating.

If you had to point out 3 things a client looks for in your services, what would these be?

I think number one has to be that I’ve been in their position and faced similar challenges. I’ve been part of the more familiar ways of trying to make innovation and change happen, and I’ve kept exploring and experimenting with simpler, better ways I can share.

Second is that what I offer uses proven science and research, but I started life as a very practical engineer, so I’m slightly fixated on finding smart things you can do now to change your existing reality and move it  quickly in a better direction, not some grand plan or strategy that won’t survive contact with a fast-moving world.

And finally I ground everything I do at the human level. Technology is making many things possible, business is moving quickly, and that takes its toll. I’ve had my own reasons to want to find ways to stay more grounded and resilient over the years, so I know the research and what it takes at a personal level. I think I’m lucky to get to share some short cuts with people.

Millennial leaders are set to shake up traditional company management as they focus on building businesses based on both profit and purpose, new research from American Express has revealed.

Redefining the C-Suite: Business the Millennial Way, surveyed over 2,300 global leaders and Millennial managers - the future leaders of business - to better understand how businesses will change as Millennials rise to senior management roles. The findings also provide an insight into how business leaders today can set their companies up for success in the future.

The research found that while over half (56%) of Millennials surveyed in the UK said that a C-Suite role is attractive to them, and that they are more likely than their Gen X counterparts to want a job that gives them status, Millennials also indicated that they want to shake up traditional business leadership.

75% of Millennials think that successful businesses of the future will see management look beyond the usual models of doing business and be more open to collaborating with new partners. Millennial professionals also think that teamwork is a more important quality in leaders than Gen X-ers, suggesting that the C-Suite of the future will promote a much flatter structure in the organisations they lead. Millennials also ranked passion as an important quality in leaders (30%) much more highly than their Gen X counterparts (19%).

As part of their C-Suite shake up, Millennial leaders will put employee wellbeing at the top of their agenda. When asked what the biggest challenges are to businesses of the future, Millennials’ top answer was paying employees fairly (49%), followed by retention of talent (40%). 74% of Millennials also say that successful businesses of the future will need to support employees outside of work, compared to just 67% of Gen X-ers.

The research also found that while the majority (76%) of future Millennial leaders think that businesses of the future will need to have a genuine purpose that resonates with people, they also recognise the importance of driving a profit – something often perceived as being at odds with doing purposeful business.

According to the research, 63% of Millennials say that it is important for them to be known for making a valuable difference in the world, and Millennials are more likely to invest in CSR when running their own businesses (58%) compared to their Gen X counterparts (50%).

At the same time, UK Millennials were found to have a keen eye on maximising shareholder profit, with 53% of Millennials saying that shareholder profit will be important for the success of businesses in the future compared to 46% of Gen X-ers. To achieve success in the future, 71% of Millennials also think that businesses will need to manage costs tightly, and 77% say that financial transparency will be important.

Commenting on the findings, Jose Carvalho, Senior VP and General Manager at American Express Global Commercial Payments Europe said, ‘Millennials are demanding more from the businesses they work for – and will come to lead. This is setting the stage for an evolution of the C-Suite, where they will seek to put both profit and purpose at the heart of their businesses whilst also structuring them in a way to ensure tight cost management and efficient processes.

Jose continued, ‘This offers valuable insight for today’s business leaders as they seek to future proof their organisations and prepare for Millennial leadership. At American Express, we are dedicated to providing payment products and services that are designed to help companies effectively evolve and navigate change to ensure they continue to get business done now and in the future.’

(Source: American Express)

Utter the words ‘disruption’ and ‘financial services’ and your thoughts will be drawn to the bevy of technologies that were supposed to transform the sector. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Blockchain are the most recent additions to the list, but this time around, they probably have the potential to drive real structural change. To explain their potential and differences, Grant Thomas, Head of Practices at BJSS talks to Finance Monthly about the impact of these technology disruptions.

Blockchain, which was originally developed to support Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, is being heralded by the Financial Services industry as the next big thing because it supports peer-to-peer mass collaboration which could make many of the traditional organisational forms redundant.

In theory, Blockchain will reduce transaction costs – Santander expects to achieve savings of around $20 billion a year – so while the industry is still largely unclear on how it should be applied, there is a race to productionise it. Heavy Research and Development investments are being made.

The problem with Blockchain in the Financial Services industry is that it is largely pie in the sky. Its development landscape is being driven by a handful of large multinational organisations, mostly working as consortia, because they’re the only players able to handle its scale and apply the multi-jurisdictional experience the project needs. Open Source projects such as Openchain and Hyperledger are not sufficiently developed to offer a credible alternative. There is also a shortage of skilled talent available to build applications, or subject matter experts available to develop and validate business use cases.

AI on the other hand is far more mainstream. Companies such as Facebook, Google, Viv, and Nuance already provide frameworks and turnkey solutions, and AI technology is already being used by many Financial Services providers to handle everything from detecting fraud, to market regulation and customer interaction. The Royal Bank of Scotland, for example, has recently completed a trial of a ‘Luvo’ AI customer service representative to support internal customer-facing staff.

AI is capable of processing data to make decisions far more efficiently and accurately than humans can. It does this through self-learning to solve cognitive tasks. The technology crunches historical data and teaches itself to act based on the decisions that have been previously taken by humans. It also learns from its mistakes - so every time AI completes a transaction, it becomes more accurate.

The ‘disruption’ from AI comes from the efficiency savings that Financial Services providers will achieve by automating the highly-transactional jobs that are usually handled by humans. This will improve customer service quality and consistency and will improve both regulatory compliance and risk management. When they deploy AI tools such as IBM Watson, Financial Services organisations have both cost-cutting and customer satisfaction in mind.

The barrier to entry for AI is far lower than it is for Blockchain. There is ready access to experience, talent, and a burgeoning ecosystem to sustain innovation. That said, Financial Services providers should consider these five steps to ensure that their AI deployments succeed:

1. It’s mostly about the data

Banks have large IT estates which generate a great deal of data – everything from customer demographics, to product adoption and market trends. There isn’t necessarily a requirement to collate data into a centralised data lake, but integration is important. Access to a self-service data model will allow, with minimum viable process, easy access to this data. Bear this in mind because providing as much data as possible is integral to the success of an AI deployment.

2. Begin at the end

Look at the ideal scenario. Consider the outcomes that are to be achieved and reflect on the experience the user should have. Develop personas to keep users in mind, build models to ensure that business outcomes are being achieved. And only then, start to build the AI.

3. It’s an elephant. Eat it slowly.

AI is huge. With an array of use cases as diverse as risk and fraud detection, customer relationship management, business development and cost reduction, AI is becoming increasingly important for financial services firms to remain competitive.

Don’t be tempted to tackle everything at the same time. When deciding which use case to start with, choose the lowest hanging fruit, build the AI, deploy and learn from it, and then finally, tweak it. Once this cycle is complete, move on to the next use case, applying the lessons learnt.

4. Experiment in the Lab before moving to the outside world

Some organisations embrace the concept of Innovation Labs to generate new ideas for products and services. Others routinely use Labs as part of their project delivery objectives. Whichever way innovation is achieved, it is important to have a process, the right behaviours and lean thinking.

For AI, a lab provides a safe space for expose data, to apply simulations, to learn and to experiment with configuration tweaks.

5. It’s not a project, it’s a journey

The project doesn’t end when the AI is commissioned – it continues.

A key part of disruption is the feedback loop. With the technology evolving quickly, this feedback mechanism should result in minor corrections being deployed quickly, while improvements are continuously implemented.

Following last week’s initiation of the Brexit process via the triggering of Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, Finance Monthly hears from Chief Market Analyst of Currencies, Jonathan Watson, who portrays a watchful outlook on the months to come, and how the tide can easily turn in the face of socio-political tiptoeing.

This week the triggering of Article 50 marks an important phase in the Brexit process. It is the beginning of the legal process by which the UK will leave the EU, signalling an end to months of uncertainty as to whether Brexit will happen. It is also the beginning of a whole new set of questions relating to the Brexit and how it will impact both the UK and the EU. From a currency perspective, I believe the Pound will have further to fall as the reality of some tough negotiations ahead weigh more on the UK. Nevertheless, Theresa May’s steely determination and clear vision has won her lots of support and indeed helped Sterling back from the brink earlier this year. Whilst I wonder whether such tenacity will be enough for such a monumental task ahead, I am also reminded that recent events have so often proved the more literal analysis of many of the negatives of Brexit have been proved wrong so far. It is still early days but it is in everyone’s interest to make this work and to remain hopeful for the future.

The UK economy is performing significantly better than feared which is extremely encouraging for the future. The weaker Pound has driven growth in firms who export as the discounted UK represents a good investment. However, the weaker Pound has pushed up import prices and costs across the UK from supermarkets to manufacturers, which is gently being absorbed into the wider economy.

The falling Pound has also led to a rise in Inflation which paradoxically, has seen Sterling higher as Bank of England policymakers debate whether or not to raise interest rates. Therefore, fears over higher inflation may not be such a problem, as rising interest rates may help the UK avoid any of the negatives associated with high inflation. Once Article 50 is triggered I can see Sterling falling as the complexity of negotiations becomes apparent. Nothing will happen quickly, already it has been made clear that the ‘Brexit bill’ must be agreed before negotiations commence. Trying to get all 27 members to agree one coherent position will also hinder time frames. France and Germany will also have elections to contend with this year.

These roundabouts and diversions on the path to Brexit will make life very difficult for Theresa May and the UK Government. All of this can very easily be seen to be damaging for the UK economy and Sterling. A lower Sterling is generally not a good thing for the UK as since we are a net importer (we import more form overseas than we export) a weaker Pound makes life more expensive for the UK as a whole.

However, I cannot help but be troubled by some of the looming questions and uncertainties arising from Brexit. A falling out with your biggest trading partner is never going to be completely without risk and the unpicking of some deep rooted social, political and economic ties is not good for business and confidence.

Whilst the resilience and flexibility of the UK economy coupled with Theresa May’s vision is gently receiving the backing of financial market, things can change very quickly. This leads me to suspect that whilst perhaps the worst fears will continue to be abated, longer term there could be greater challenges ahead which will harm the UK economy until we have clarity and certainty.

Business and consumer activity thrives when there is confidence and certainty, Brexit represents a massive change in the status quo which goes against what we know from a fundamental view.

Like it or loathe it, Brexit is happening and we must all come together and embrace it to make the very best of it. Business should be looking to make the most of Britain’s new place in the world but also remain cautious and plan for troubles ahead.

Global market forces and accelerating technological advances are expected to exert significant pressure on Canadian organizations over the next decade, as business models and strategies transform to meet emerging customer needs. The Conference Board of Canada's fourth Human Resources Trends and Metrics survey finds that Canadian HR leaders are increasingly concerned about their organization's capacity to respond to the pace of change.

"Globalization, new technologies, demographic shifts and a slack labour market are just some of the labour force changes affecting employers and employees alike," said Shannon Jackson, Associate Director, Human Resources Transformation Research. "Ten years of benchmarking HR practices demonstrates that organizations are significantly revamping their people practices to keep up with the pace."

Highlights:

• 26% of HR leaders placed the impact of technological change as a top organizational challenge, up from only 4 per cent in 2005.
• Leadership capacity continues to concern Canadian employers as the retirement wave hits its peak just as organizations transition to a digital economy.
• Finding mission-critical skills remains a challenge for almost 60% of organizations surveyed.
• Efforts focused on employee engagement seem to be paying off with critical employee segments; retention of employees with critical skills is strong with an annual voluntary attrition rate of less than 2%.
• About half of the organizations are making efforts to bring in youth as we see an increase in internships and co-op placements of about 10 per cent since our last survey.

Leveraging technology has enabled the revamp of people practices in the past 10 years. Digital and web-based tools are replacing standard approaches to common HR services like recruiting. For instance, our survey shows LinkedIn has become the dominant method used by employers to find candidates making it the "new standard". Platforms like Twitter and Snap Chat are emerging as viable recruiting avenues and highlight how critical staying on top of data and trend analysis becomes for HR.

Digitally-driven technologies are also expected to lead to productivity improvements, but at the same time they will reduce the number of manual tasks and positions. The category of workers who will benefit the most from the adoption of new technologies will be the professional, scientific, and technical services. However, low- to mid-skill positions outside of the service industries will likely be the ones most impacted by technological advances.

Not surprisingly, the changing nature of work is a growing workforce challenge in 2016.

More than one quarter of survey participants placed the changing nature of work a top challenge in 2016, compared to only 4 per cent in 2005. In order to address the challenge, HR leaders report their top priorities are developing managers and leaders, strategic workforce planning, and deepening the succession planning pool beyond the executive level. Most organizations viewed these as priorities for the next three to five years.

"Simply replacing the skills and capacity of retirees with similar talent will not be the answer for many organizations," added Jackson. "HR teams are trying to balance meeting current talent requirements and quickly ramping up a future workforce, while the requirements for that future remain unclear."

The Conference Board of Canada conducted the survey into Human Resource Trends and Metrics between April and June 2016. 150 Canadian human resources leaders participated in the survey.

(Source: Conference Board of Canada)