Clickatell, the world's leading mobile messaging provider, has joined the speaker panel of Southern Africa’s leading mobile banking event - The 2nd Annual Mobile Banking Southern Africa Conference and 2012.

Pieter de Villiers, Founder and CEO will join speakers from six countries represented at the event.

Pieter is responsible for establishing Clickatell, that enables tens of thousands of enterprises and millions of consumers to interact, communicate and benefit greatly via their mobile phones.

As a key note speaker, Pieter will address the issue of whether cash will remain king during this Mobile Money value chain dilemma.

He joins speakers such as Hannes van Rensburg, CEO of Fundamo, Jean-Philippe Betoin, President, CASSIS International, (France), Sirpa Nordlund, Executive Director, Mobey Forum (Finland), Bian Jooste, Chief Executive Officer, The Blue Group (South Africa) and Brian Richardson, Chief Executive Officer, Wizzit (South Africa),

In total the three day event features 28 speakers and 10 panelists.

MD of Trade Conferences International, Ryno van Ellewee, said the addition of Clickatell is completely a near perfect programme for anyone interested in the development of mobile banking in Southern Africa.

"This is the second time we are hosting the event, and this year we pulled out all the stops to bring delegates un updated view with a brand new conference programme."

For more info on the event call TCI on 011 803-0009 or visit www.mobilebankingsa.co.za to view the latest info regarding the vent.

Governance, Risk Management and Compliance (“GRC”) are the principle drivers of organisational compliance, accountability and transparency. Companies must be able to update internal policies and procedures as changes in regulation or governance practices occur.

Failure to do so exposes the company to investigations, fines, reputational risk and possible lawsuits. Other significant costs include the cost of investigations and professional services.

This can have a direct negative impact to revenues and profitability. Companies that have effective processes in place to address changing regulations and the consequent risk to their business operations are at a competitive advantage.

Recent emphasis on risk and compliance practices coupled with developments in the IT arena have resulted in more effective GRC solutions that lower the overall cost of compliance within the organisation.

Traditional GRC practices left management struggling to meet the increasing expectations of stakeholders and regulators. They were faced with consolidating their compliance and risk procedures across organizational silos in a manner that allows them to share information, cut costs, and provide greater transparency.

Implementation of a successful GRC framework requires blending the technical legal requirements, policy & control features, and operational constraints of a corporate governance framework with an IT platform.

Only in this manner can management ensure both the substantive and deployment needs of GRC are supported. Organizations that already have self-administered corporate governance systems in place often find they are unable to keep abreast with the rapidly changing regulatory environment, the administrative disruptions that come with revolving personnel, or the resources required to ensure an accurate institutional record.


Courtesy of http://www.crstlsolutions.com/ What is Governance Risk Management and Compliance.html

Johannesburg - The Governance Risk and Compliance Conference will be taking place on the 27, 28 & 29 March 2012, Indaba hotel, Fourways, Johannesburg.

GRC is still considered to be a grudge” purchase “for most organisations and should be looked at as an opportunity to establish and promote operational excellence, rather than a daunting challenge.

With new regulations and laws being incorporated every year, organisations are forced to rethink the way in which they manage their technology and data. The general consensus is that South African companies – outside of heavily regulated industries such as telecoms, pharmaceuticals and financial services – are not keeping up with the latest international best practices in GRC and especially in IT governance. The market is lagging; many organisations don’t have a grip on the intrinsic value of their information and IT systems.

New laws with stiff penalties for non compliance are more likely to drive changes in the way South African companies manage their information and IT systems

This three day event features 16 speakers, a half day workshop and includes a debating session on: Have financial regulations protected investors?

Speaker companies include Alexander Forbes Equity Holdings, Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors, IT Winners; Standard Bank CIB, Chartered Secretaries Southern Africa, Norton Rose South Africa, FirstRand Limited, Outsourced, Risk and Compliance Assessment and the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE)

Attending this conference will assist delegates to understand the benefits of complying and to network with colleagues other service providers within the GRC industry. It will also bring about an awareness of where your organisation really is with their GRC initiative.

To register for this conference or find out more contact Deborah Summers on 011 803 0009 or alternatively email info@tci-sa.co.za

The most comprehensive HR conference directed in the financial environment is coming your way in the month of April 2012.

The conference will address topics such as the HR global position, the alignment of HR technology and systems with an organisation’s goals, global human capital trends, labour law and hr, hr governance matter and why hr in cloud is unavoidable.

The conference will focus on attracting practitioners for all over South Africa, including: Human Resource Managers, Human Capital Managers, Talent managers, HR IT Managers, HRIS Managers, Human Resource Administrators and Human Resource Consultants.

“The HR in Finance Conference will add great value to all that attend. We will be looking at the newest trends and technology, but always what is happening globally.” adds project manager, Michandre Malan.

The conference programme will be finished towards middle February 2012. If you feel that you can contribute as a speaker to the conference, please contact Michandre Malan on 011 803 0009 or email michandre@tci-sa.co.za

Johannesburg – So the 2011 Mobile Banking event was an astounding success having attracted over 200 delegates from all over Southern Africa. Attendees traveled from neighbouring countries - Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe as well as from Zambia.

The feedback from this event was overwhelmingly positive with most delegates pleased with the knowledge they took away from the event, most attributing the success of this two day event to its interesting programme topics.

Trade Conferences International is proud to bring you the 2nd Annual Mobile Banking Southern Africa Conference and Exhibition. It will be held at the Indaba Hotel, Fourways on the 13, 14 and 15 March 2012 and promises to be all that the 2011 event was and more.

The upcoming mobile banking event features and additional day to fit in all 27 speakers and 10 panelists. The top class speaker panel consists of 17 speakers from South Africa, 3 from Nigeria, 3 from Zimbabwe, 1 from France, 1 from Greece, 1 from Kenya and another from Ghana.

High powered presentations will be delivered by representatives from industry leading companies such as Clickatell, Fundamo, MTN, ABSA, Nedbank, Blue Label Telecoms, Standard Chartered Bank, Virtual Mobile Technologies, to name a few

They will analyse the current Southern African mobile banking landscape and further explore issues such as mobile banking infrastructure requirements, innovations and technologies driving the industry, mobile payments advancements, governance issues and security concerns.

This three day event comes to a close with an investigation into what the future holds for the mobile banking industry, which is seemingly packed with opportunities for further growth and challenges inescapably.

We invite all professionals dealing with mobile banking from both the banking and non-banking industries as well as service providers to attend this high powered event.

For more information visit www.mobilebankingsa.co.za or call TCI on 011 803 0009

Johannesburg – Loyalty programmes across the world are struggling on a daily basis to keep up with consumer trends, attitudes, and market changes. But what strategies, technologies, and management skills are dynamic and comprehensive enough to distinguish your loyalty programme from that of your competition?

In this day and age, customers expect an individualized approach regarding the service they want. Client’s wants and needs are the basis of marketing, regardless of the scenario – the client is king. The individualization and communication approach must be in the method they prefer. But how is this attainable? Making use of social media, mobile technology, or the basics of marketing?

Loyalty and Rewards Conference and Exhibition 2012 is your opportunity to overcome these challenges and to discover and explore the latest trends, innovations, and technologies in one place. Networking with leaders in the rewards industry, building new business relations and investigating forefront technology.

The event programme will comprise of 18 speakers, case studies, a workshop, and an adjacent exhibition. Speaker companies include: World Wide Creative, Mobilitrix, Demographica, Mahala, Werksmans, NXT, WOW Marketing Services, Ikineo, H2P Project Management, Mocking Bull, ABSA Rewards, LoyaltyPlus, Blue Steering, Truth, NetFlorist, Blue Label Telecoms, Client Centric Solutions, and Mobicover.

The conference takes place on 29 Feb, 1 and 2 March 2012 at the Indaba Hotel, Fourways, Johannesburg. Sponsors of the event include NXT, Mobicover, and Mobilitrix. Professionals dealing with marketing, branding, customer relations, customer loyalty, CRM, CVM, loyalty and customer communications, digital communications, brand development, customer development, multi channel marketing, loyalty marketing, rewards and loyalty programmes, client management, business development, account management, on-line marketing, mobile marketing and digital media will not only benefit from attending, but grow their knowledge to become leaders in customer retention.

To register for this conference or to find out more about the Loyalty and Rewards Conference and Exhibition, contact Danie Herbst on 011 803 0009 or alternatively email info@tci-sa.co.za.

Challenges for lenders with mobile banking

A new report has implications for SA banks showing rapid adoption of mobile technology is changing relationships and presenting new challenges


Banks must keep up with technological developments to make it easier for their customers to use mobile banking, while regulators have to overcome concerns about privacy and security, says professional services firm KPMG.

In a new report that has implications for SA’s banks, KPMG said last week that the rapid adoption of mobile banking was changing relationships among banks, retailers and telecoms providers.

It was also presenting new challenges on how to profitably grow market share and continue to be relevant to customers, said KPMG in the report based on a study of the views of 9600 respondents from 31 countries, including SA, on technology and its effect on consumers.

The first such study was carried out in 2006, when the majority of the respondents said they had no access to mobile banking, while those who did were reluctant to use it. But this has changed dramatically over the past five years, KPMG said.

First National Bank (FNB) and Absa are almost neck and neck as market leaders in mobile banking, with a combined customer base of more than 6-million, followed by Standard and Nedbank.

FNB has extended its mobile banking service to four African markets and is the market leader in Botswana, CEO for Africa Danny Zandamela said recently.

"The banking industry ... was somewhat slow to adopt online payments and — as a result — lost their share of this growing market to companies such as PayPal," read a joint foreword to the study by Sean Collins, KPMG’s global chairman for telecommunication and media, and Mark Larson, the global chairman for retail.

"What (is) more, banks are now seen as being somewhat new entrants into the online and mobile markets and will need to reassert their security and privacy leadership in order to build trust with consumers online."

Business and regulators would have to evolve to meet the changing demands of consumers.

"New business models often spin off supportive ecosystems and upstart competitors that are important to the continued vitality of the technology industry," they said. "Regulators must ensure that the rules promote privacy, while still providing the flexibility for companies to innovate."

Local banking experts say the development of mobile banking is presenting new challenges such as how to harmonise regulations governing telecoms and banking companies, and how to deal with concerns about money laundering in SA and across borders.

KPMG said more than half of the respondents in Africa and elsewhere had used mobile banking services in the past six months. "Of the respondents who had not used mobile banking, almost half (48%) cited this as a barrier to their own personal adoption of mobile banking."

Courtesy of Sure Kamhunga
kamhungas@bdfm.co.za

Registrations open for Call Centres Cape Town Conference.

Johannesburg – Mariette Broodryk, project manager of the Call Centre Conference to be held on 7 & 8 March at Lagoon Beach, Milnerton, Cape Town, said today’s call centre environment has evolved in a communication hub essential for improving customer relationships amongst existing clients, as well as future clients.

Call centre personnel are dealing on the front line, and in many cases they will be the only contact that a client will have with a specific organisation. They shape the image, and perception of external stakeholders.

“By attending this event call centre personnel will learn how to maintain they’re customer relationships which will lead to great customer service and will uphold the organisations image. This conference will also focus on the latest trends and challenges that call centres are facing and how to incorporate new ideas and solutions into your centre.”

Mariette said that in the conference programme particular emphasis is paid to the most pressing management concerns such as multi-channel integration, regulations and compliance and front line career management in order to prepare you for change and transformation in your industry.

Personnel dealing with the following will benefit by attending: call centre management, operations, team leadership, Information Technology, human resources, customer service, customer relations, telesales, customer care advice, infrastructure development, all companies outsourcing call centre operations, service providers, customer relationship managers, and sales directors.
S
peaker companies include: ABSA, Real Connect, ATIO, Rand Merchant Bank, Smoke Customer Solutions, Unison, Digital Solutions Group, Interactive Intelligence, MBD Credit Solutions, Milpark Business School, Media24, Sensory Intelligence Consulting, 1Stream.

To register for this conference or to find out more about the Call Centres Cape Town, contact Mariette Broodryk on 011 803 0009 or alternatively email info@tci-sa.co.za

Media Update has recently joined the Mobile Banking Southern Africa Conference & Exhibition’s team as an official media partner. A development TCI is pleased with.This event will take place on the 13, 14 and 15 March at the Indaba Hotel, Fourways.

Media Update is a media-centric website that provides a space for publishers, producers, journalists and media mavens to find information relevant to the local media environment. It provides the latest news from the dynamic world of the local media, as well as international trends that hit our shores.

The work of journalists and media practitioners relies on providing the public with a voice, Media Update provides journalists with their own voice on and in the industry. This provides media practitioners with a platform to share their views and hear what others have to say about what is happening within the industry that directly affects them and their work.

The South African Call Centre industry has evolved rapidly over the past few years. Gaining knowledge and experience in all sectors of the industry, including financial services, healthcare, travel and utilities.

The first Financial Call Centres Conference & Exhibition held recently in Johannesburg received good feedback proving that the call centre industry is still developing and as professionals share their know-how the industry advances more and more. Western Cape based companies now also have the opportunity to attend this unique event. The event will take place in Cape Town on the 7 & 8 March 2012, Lagoon Beach, Milnerton.

Let’s look at the bigger picture. South Africa has over 535 call centres, 47 000 seats, 79 000 employees and more than 18 local call centres providing services to the International market.

According to recent studies the Western Cape’s call centre industry alone makes approximately R6bn for the provincial economy and hires over 30000 locals. With this been said, the economic development and tourism department has an even bigger goal and that is to create a further 10000 call centre jobs in the next three years.

Trade Conferences International has assembled a top class speaker panel that will update delegates on the current trends and challenges the industry faces. Developments and technological innovations that have been introduced to the industry will also be extensively evaluated.

Topics such as call centre fundamentals, benchmarking trends, cloud security, workforce management, management information systems, multichannel contact centre and communication budgets, will be addressed, just to mention a few.

Mariette Broodryk, Project Manager at Trade Conferences International – organisers of the event, said although TCI has organsised many successful call centre events in the past, this one is different as we are looking in servicing the Cape Town market.

The conference will provide an essential platform for all centre industry professionals to share ideas, knowledge and network while also giving attendees the opportunity to investigate what new products and solutions are available in South Africa.

To find out more about this conference contact Mariette Broodryk on 011 803 0009 or email info@tci-sa.co.za

Johannesburg – Executives in IT, finance, mobile, eCommerce, retail. Hospitality, travel, marketing, customer relations management and brand management are expected to attend the upcoming Loyalty and Rewards Conference & Exhibition.

This event will take place on the 29 Feb and the 1st and 2nd of March 2012 at the Indaba Hotel in Fourways.

Some of our esteemed speakers who have confirmed include: Chris Rolphe, CEO of Mobilitrix; Warren Moss, CEO of Demographica; Tanya Grobler, MD of Mahala; Ina Meiring, Director at Werksmans; Wayne Levine, MD of NXT; Paul Lange, director at WOW Marketing Services; Joshin Raghubar, MD of Ikineo; Paul Hoffman, CEO of H2P Project Management; Randall Mocke of Hollard Insurance; Fayelizabeth Foster, GM of ABSA Rewards; Daniel Guasco, CEO of Groupon; Len Lubbe, MD of LoyaltyPlus; Anretia Ferreira, founder of Blue Steering; Peter Immelman, ProCard marketing manager of Protea Hotels.

This event will be especially beneficial to professionals dealing with; marketing, branding, customer relations, customer loyalty, CRM, CVM, loyalty and customer communications, digital communications, brand development, customer development, multi channel marketing, loyalty marketing, rewards and reward programmes, client management, business development, account management, on-line marketing, mobile marketing, digital media to attend.


Trade Conferences International’s conference producer, Danie Herbst, said “customer service is the foundation of loyalty and the age of customer retention has dawned. Gone are the days where a client is only a number, now we have to acquire; retain and reward.”

To register for this conference or to find out more about the Loyalty and Rewards Conference & Exhibition, contact Danie Herbst on 011 803 0009 or alternatively email info@tci-sa.co.za.

The upcoming IT Architecture Conference in Cape Town on the 27, 28, 29 March 2012 will be aimed to the needs of enterprise architects, IT architects and the data Architects, application or software architects, technology or infrastructure architects and architecture program managers, product line architecture managers, as well as everyone who needs to think strategically about architecture and business leadership, including CIO's, CTO’s and CTO's.

TCI project manager, Mmemeleli Ndungane said; “We have increased the diversity of our speakers while retaining all the top level speakers who participated in the event when was held it in Johannesburg last year and now in Cape Town we have extended the issues around Enterprise-wide Information Technology Architecture.”

Advantages of having enterprise architecture in an organization include decision making that is advanced, improved adaptability to changing conditions and market demands, eliminating the inefficiency and redundancy of processes, optimizing the use of organizational assets, and minimization of employee turnover.

"No architect or IT strategy practitioner in any institution should miss this event" concluded Ndungane.

This three day conference will feature a half day workshop on the third day which will further stress the concepts addressed in the first two days for a more implementation orientated solution.

Not only will this conference give you the opportunity to meet our top class panel of speakers, but will bring you practical examples of how your organization can strategize business goals and achieved them through IT projects architecture that is aligned, and a comparison of the project success based on time, money and IT deliverable success.

To register or to find out about this event, contact Mmemeleli Ndungane on 011 803 0009 or alternatively email info@tci-sa.co.za

The mere mention of the words "contact center" used to trigger frustration and tension in most people. Nearly everyone has a horror story of being left on hold for an hour, rude agents, or just plain lousy service.

Much of this perception can be attributed to the fact that, in the past, companies treated their call centers as simply a means to take orders or process grievances. Contact centers were thought of as separate from the rest of the business. There were few standards for training and even fewer tools with which agents could handle the astronomical number of wide ranging calls that came through the center each day. With the advent of email, chat, and text messaging, customers have only become more exasperated with the lack of improvement, because they not only receive poor service and experience long wait times, but often they get little or no response to their angry electronic feedback.

Technology Brings Higher Levels of Service to Customers:

New technology and advanced software aim to improve the way companies relate to their customers and turn the information generated from thousands of calls into valuable data about their contact centers, their agents, and their customers. This ability has transformed the contact center from being treated as a "necessary evil" to being seen as the "brain" of a company - a command and control center that processes information from all contact points, including phone calls, emails, and electronic chat. Service issues can now be proactively addressed, and meaningful business insights can be extracted from significant interactions with customers. This "brain," if utilized properly, provides immediate and critical insight about every aspect of the enterprise, ultimately allowing for improved contact center efficiency and increased quality of service.

The most advanced call center technologies now provide companies with:

A single view of the truth across the enterprise by consolidating multiple information sources within the organization

KPI-based management to align individual goals with the strategic goals of the business and create a culture of accountability for results

Adaptive interaction analytics to isolate meaningful interactions and proactively apply insights to improve company performance

Right-time information to make good decisions and take action into their own hands when they need it.

Agents Get Up-to-the-Minute Feedback and Professional Development: Another way technology is helping call centers to operate more effectively is by monitoring agents in real time and providing instant feedback based on each call. Instead of simply projecting the next call that the agent must handle, new technology acts as a dashboard, prompting the agents to suggest new products, monitoring the interaction, and pointing out tactics that the agents can use to calm and direct the caller. If a call is handled well, the agent gets instant praise. If it is not, a learning module is sent to the agent describing the missed opportunities and the parts of the call that were not up to the call centers' standards. Agent performance monitoring is one the newest ways for companies to ensure that agents are in line with performance expectations, with instant communication being a key factor. Along with reducing customer churn, the issue of agent attrition can also be positively impacted.

Improving Performance in the Contact Center and the Enterprise: Performance management software, including dashboards and balanced scorecards, is also making its way into contact centers. This technology allows call center managers to objectively measure individual, team, and departmental performance. Objectives and measurements are set based on the goals of the business, such as increasing sales or improving productivity. Since agents and managers are able to view performance dashboards on a daily basis, it is plain to see how everyone is contributing to the goals of the business. This ensures that all activities in the call center are aligned with the corporate business goals. It also empowers agents to manage their own performance, which is a great employee morale booster.

Performance management software is a powerful management tool. Call center managers benefit from automated performance reporting, which provides them with a unified view of their operations. In addition, managers can conduct root cause analysis and run "what if" scenarios to quickly target concerns and make proactive operational decisions to help them achieve goals. These things were difficult to do previously. In fact, thanks to new and evolving technology that provides agents and managers with timely information, the call center may very well be the most technologically advanced department in the modern company.

courtesy of Eyal Rudnik
connectionsmagazine.com

An enterprise architecture (EA) is a conceptual blueprint that defines the structure and operation of an organization.

The intent of an enterprise architecture is to determine how an organization can most effectively achieve its current and future objectives.

Microsoft's Michael Platt offers a view of enterprise architecture as containing four points-of-view, called the business perspective, the application perspective, the information perspective, and the technology perspective.

The business perspective defines the processes and standards by which the business operates on a day-to-day basis. The application perspective defines the interactions among the processes and standards used by the organization.

The information perspective defines and classifies the raw data (such as document files, databases, images, presentations, and spreadsheets) that the organization requires in order to efficiently operate.

The technology perspective defines the hardware, operating systems, programming, and networking solutions used by the organization.

Purported advantages of having an enterprise architecture include improved decision making, improved adaptability to changing demands or market conditions, elimination of inefficient and redundant processes, optimization of the use of organizational assets, and minimization of employee turnover.

The upcoming IT Architecture in Finance Conference and Exhibition to be held at the Indaba Hotel in Fourways, Johannesburg on the 12, 13 & 14 October 2011 will be aimed at enterprise architects, IT architects and their IT in finance counterparts.

"no architect in the financial and IT industries should miss this event," said Mmemeleli Ndungane, project manager at TCI.

This three day conference will have a half day workshop on the third day which will further stress the concepts addressed in the first two days for a more implementation orientated approach.


*courtesy of http://searchcio.techtarget.com

One of TCI’s personnel members was recently honoured for academic excellence.

Sharlee Vickery, who started in the beginning of the year at TCI after graduating Cum Laude from the Tshwane University of Technology, received the Deans Award from the Faculty of Management Sciences at an award ceremony held in Pretoria in August.

During her four year study period, she was best student in marketing for three consecutive years. In 2010 she finished a B-Tech degree in Marketing.

Sharlee, who matriculated in 2006 at Union High School in Graaff Reinet, is at present a conference project manager.

She said she made the right choice of choosing TCI as her first place of employment.

“The fast pace environment of the conference organizing industry and the vast exposure to top companies all over South Africa, will surely give me a major stepping stone in my career.”

At present Sharlee is organizing the On-Line Retailing Conference in Cape Town – her second event of the year.

MD Ryno van Ellewee said the company is extremely proud of Sharlee’s achievement.

"She is setting an extremely high standard for everyone around her, which is and will rub off on other personnel members."

Astoundind success – The Payments Southern African Conference & Exhibition, held on the 2, 3 and 4 August at Emperor Palace attracted close to 300 attendees.

Delegates from all regions of Southern Africa such as Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo attended the conference. The event featured more than 30 expert speakers covering the main issues confronting the payment industry in the SADC region.

Topics ranging from the SADC payment landscape, payment innovation, payment instruments to payment risk and compliance were addressed in over five sessions and two breakaway streams. With more than fifteen exhibitors the event was filled with prospects of gaining insight about the payment industry from both the banking and non-banking sectors

Payment professionals had the opportunity to network and build up contacts with their peers and counterparts from and within the SADC region. Reviews from attendees were positive and encouraging. Impressively organized was the phrase that adorned attendess compliments.

This is the second conference in 2011 that Trade Conferences International (TCI) has impressed SADC professionals from the financial industry with their events. Mobile Banking earlier this year attracted more than 200 attendees with good reviews of the event and the organizers. The TCI team thanks all its speakers, delegates, guests for making the conference one of the biggest financial events of 2011.