Efficiency TrendsRoel Louwhoff CEO BT Operateand Figlo Advisory Board Member

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Efficiency Trends by Roel Louwhoff, © 2012

Efficiency is a broad concept that can be applied to many dimensions of a firm’s activities. Different definitions of efficiency call for different measurement methodologies. The simplest approach consists of comparing balance sheet ratios that describe costs (e.g. operating costs over gross income) and profitability (e.g. return on assets or equity). However, these simple solutions will neither result in the efficiency gains required by today’s complex

organizations nor keep pace with market developments. Trends indicate that organizations are looking for new ways to achieve and improve efficiency. Financial organizations first have to become more agile, ensuring that they can use new technology to respond quickly to business opportunities and allowing them to enter and leave new markets more quickly.

A second area of opportunity is formed by better resource utilization and increased cost effectiveness. The solutions to this challenge are tried and tested: decreasing operational costs, streamlining processes and focusing on core business processes, and outsourcing to experts when necessary. Adopting these solutions will help companies to get the most out of their investments and their people.

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By promoting channel independenceand maintaining service consistency, companies will be able to better grasp the available opportunities for capturing newclients, whilst retaining existing ones.

As in many business areas, efficiencies can be gained by better focusing on customers, for example, by developing differentiated services which in turn lead to increased competitive advantage. By promoting channel independence and maintaining service consistency, companies will be able to better grasp the available opportunities for capturing new clients, whilst retaining existing ones.

Furthermore, changes in global finance positions mean that companies have to be able to gain rapid access to global liquidity across multiple asset classes and geographies. Market regulation is another area of opportunity: companies can benefit by managing risk and compliance effectively as increasingly stringent market-shaping regulation is put in place.

Organizational barriersThe main barriers that organizations face when attempting to achieve an improved response to the challenges set out above are, amongst others, IT based. For example, ‘technology silos’, in combination with multiple, incompatible and inflexible infrastructures and the current long time to implementation, make it impossible for financial organizations to respond quickly and effectively to create the efficiencies they desire.

Source: The Changing Cloud Agenda, April 24, 2012,

Forrester Research Inc.

Efficiency Trends by Roel Louwhoff, © 2012 3

real time information while cutting the time needed to spot opportunities, make decisions and provide differentiated client services. These also give firms the option to record, archive and retrieve interactions in line with regulatory compliance and fixed and mobile recording regulations.

From my extensive experience, financial services providers should provide comprehensive industry offerings that incorporate global connectivity, innovation and financial services expertise for:

• Electronictrading:aglobal,low-latencynetworkconnecting locations with access to providers’ applications

• Voicetrading:acollaborativeenvironmentforthe trading floor that integrates email, instant messaging, social media, video and client management of the world’s financial traders using a global platform and cloud-based ‘all in one’ communications solution

• Post-trademessaging:asecure,reliable,non-repudiable connectivity and messaging service that improves efficiency and reduces the costs of electronic trading

• Cloudtechnology:asuiteofcloud-basedproductsand services integrated with an underlying infrastructure to deliver required performance levels. (Figure 2)

• Retail,privateandwholesalebankingandpayments: improving central bank reporting and interbank communication with the retail branch, electronic point-of-sale and ATMs to help banks and payment processors increase operational efficiency in an increasingly competitive and regulated market where security and trust are key.

IT issues are not the only barrier: existing business processes and organizational structures also restrict an organization’s ability to respond to efficiency improvements quickly. For example, many teams and clients are disconnected, and current commercial models are often inflexible.

Available solutionsWe need effective solutions to break down these barriers. Developments in technology will enable the provision of complete, cloud-based communications and connectivity solutions. These will bring business, clients and service providers together in an intelligent network, spanning the enterprise and the market. This will enable secure, compliant and more effective interaction and collaboration over multiple channels (voice, video, messaging and electronic trading channels).

This will globally connect market participants and provide the technical foundation for applications and services used to interact and do business while better managing the bottom line. Tailored solutions can also include:

• Unifiedcommunicationsservices• Flexibleworkingsolutions• Tele-presenceconferencingservices• Virtualdatacenters• Virtualcallcenters• Managedsecurityservices

Services can consolidate access to phone and video calls and conferencing, email, instant messaging and social networking (Thomson Reuters Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.), making it easier and quicker to contact clients, colleagues and anyone else on whom their success depends. It allows firms to set up and manage independent communication sessions simultaneously with separate clients. The ability to rapidly use and share supporting applications and information on desktops or mobile devices provides customers with

Efficiency Trends by Roel Louwhoff, © 2012

BenefitsCoherent IT services with one customer interface and a connected community increase speed to market and improve the effectiveness of internal IT operations. This enables companies to reduce spending, better manage costs and streamline processes (e.g. direct reduction of energy costs, a much-reduced requirement for data center space).Customers will benefit in many ways from moving the fabric of the market into the network. First, the infrastructure can respond flexibly and quickly to changing market conditions, and cloud-based, open-standard solutions enable rapid deployment of new and updated applications.

A second customer benefit is that systems and processes can be more easily and efficiently integrated, resulting in customers who are in charge of their data

and better able to navigate their own future, thereby improving their experience whilst reducing costs for the provider. Customers can better manage their own budgets as ‘pay-as-you-go’ models are introduced. Both customers and providers benefit from the strengthened relationships that result from the availability of independent and differentiated services.

Improvements in global business efficiencies are a third area of gain: companies have rapid access to global liquidity through an unrivalled set of connected venues. Additionally, they gain secure access to emerging markets with limited expenditure. Together these factors lead to a powerful combination of improved risk management, compliance and business continuity.

Source: The Changing Cloud Agenda, April 24, 2012, Forrester Research Inc.

Cloud Drives Innovation Across The Business Cycle

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Efficiency Trends by Roel Louwhoff, © 2012

To summarize, it is obvious that the finance industry can make rapid and immediate efficiency gains by investing in new technological developments. Not only do they lead to cost-reduction, but they improve business and organizational processes. By leveraging social media experience and the RSS capabilities underlying e-bonding, the efficiency gains described in this paper enable companies to strengthen their bonds with existing customers and more rapidly penetrate new markets in the search for new customers.

About the author: Roel Louwhoff (46) is the most recent member of Figlo’s Advisory Board. He is currently CEOofBTOperate,partofBTGroupPLC,whereheisdirectly responsible for a team of 20,000 staff and a £4 billion operating budget. His main responsibility is for BT’s internal and customer global networks and related solution-centers as well as BT’s security organization. He is also extremely committed to improving customer services and has achieved significant successes in this area at BT Operate, combined with significant cost-savings. Figlo benefit greatly from his experience and knowledge of global IT solutions.

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This white paper is offered to you by Figlo.

About Figlo: Figlo delivers state of the art applications for the global financial industry, making personal financial insight and advice easy and accessible to all. With over 15 years of expertise Figlo has grown to be a leading global brand in the financial industry. Our solutions are delivered to financial advisors, banking and insurance professionals. The platform consists of richsetofPersonalFinanceManagement,FinancialProductAdviceandPersonalFinancialPlanning,whichcan be used across multiple channels, to facilitate a holistic overview of the client’s situation based on the actual needs of the client. Our solutions are designed to be win-win and to work as good as they look. The Figlo PlatformconformstoopenstandardsandenterpriseITframeworks that allow financial institutes to incorporate Figlo into any application on a variety of computing and mobile devices. It is globally available, with local adaptation possibilities to ensure full compliancy with all laws and regulations.

For more information:Figlo Corporate Head Office The Netherlands

+31 (0) 10 264 66 66 info@figlo.comfiglo.com

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