Whilst shared service centres may have their critics who claim that projects fail because they cause a disruption to the service flow by moving the work to a central location and creating failure demand, the facts certainly support in favour of the benefits service centres bring – particularly in times of economic uncertainty when administrative costs seem to rise and the burden of legislation appears to grow heavier.

Back office environments have the scale and scope to deliver great operational efficiencies so investing time and money to performance manage these areas and understand how optimisation can reap significant financial rewards is worthwhile.

Read the case study of how in creating this shared service centre benefits included improved productivity with less staff, backlogs were cleared, visibility over performance and quality resulted in recognition of best practice standards and the morale of staff improved.

More reading on shared service centres

eg offer a free on site review to help you understand the operational improvements that could be made.  Just give us a call on 01785 715772 or email ask and we can talk you through how this could apply to you and deliver real benefits – guaranteed.

The eg operational excellence^® awards, now in their 9th year, offer an international benchmark of excellence within the industry.  They showcase Companies and Teams who are transforming the experience of customers and employees and demonstrate how real-time work management, forecasting & strategic planning and operational excellence can make a difference.  Over 130 guests from across the financial services sector were in attendance and generously donated to the appeal.

The Legion has introduced new services and extended the reach of existing ones. They spend over £1.2 million a week on welfare work and as a result, can help around 100,000 people each year so every penny counts.  So far £852.00 has been donated by eg and their client base which goes towards The Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal record breaking fundraising goal of £40 million.

Pictured below are Phil Lee, Non-executive Director and Elizabeth Gooch, CEO at eg solutions with the fundraising cheque.

It’s not too late to donate online – http://www.poppy.org.uk/support-us/give-money

eg is committed to managing its business in a socially responsible manner and as part of the Company CSR policy supports selected charitable causes.

The awards, now in their 9th year, offer an international benchmark of excellence within the industry.  They showcase Companies and Teams who are transforming the experience of customers and employees and demonstrate how real-time work management, forecasting & strategic planning and operational excellence can make a difference.

eg’s CEO, Elizabeth Gooch, said “our awards recognise outstanding contributions made by individuals towards best practice use of the eg principles of operational management^® and the eg software suite.  Set against a backdrop of economic gloom our award entrants have once again shown what can be achieved, year after year”.

The awards evening was attended by guests from many of eg’s clients including: The Co-operative Banking Group, Capita, Legal & General, Geoban (Subsidiary of Santander), The West Brom, Citi, Nationwide Building Society, DNB Livsforsikring from Norway and Silica from South Africa.

When announcing this year’s winners, Tim Becker – the evening’s compere and Client Engagement Manager at eg – said: “The eg operational excellence^® awards celebrate real achievements and reward the hard work and success of Team Leaders, Managers and their teams.  The standard of the nominations this year was extremely high and all the winners should feel extremely proud of their achievements and their progress in the journey to operational excellence.”

The 2011 Winners

Best Newcomer Team Manager (UK) – Kat Nolan, Legal & General Retail Savings

Best Newcomer Team Manager (International) – Nomsa Mthimunye, Metropolitan Health

Best Business Support – Paul Bunce, Nationwide Building Society

Most Improved Team Manager – Jackie Pearson, Capita Life & Pensions

Best Practice Team Manager (UK) – George Hutchinson, Legal & General Retail Savings

Best Practice Team Manager (International) – Seviours Nkomo, Silica

Best Practice Manager (UK) – Adrian Downey, Legal & General Retail Savings

Best Practice Manager (International) – Tracey Basson, Silica

Company & Team Awards

• Best use of Software to achieve Strategic Objectives – Banking Operations Team, Nationwide Building Society

• Operational Excellence Best Practice – Retail Savings Operations Project, Legal & General Retail Savings

• Forecasting & Strategic Planning – DKS/Oppgjør/Konsern/Uføre, DNB Livsforsikring

Photographs from the evening are available on the website.

See the video from the evening

Click here to view the embedded video.

Across the pond, biometric systems which scan employees fingers or retina are used – but are they good for staff morale?

One contributor to the article believes ‘a workforce will have a top tier of excellent performers, a larger proportion will be distinctly average and a minority ready to exploit the system’.   Elizabeth Gooch, CEO at eg solutions plc commented in the article that ‘typically you’ll get five to ten percent of staff complaining about an invasion of their privacy (with such systems) – very often from those individuals who are the least productive’.

An opinion shared in a blog post from one of eg’s clients raised the importance of measure, motivate, manage and this is true when introducting such technologies.

One of the Institute of Leadership & Management members commented on this topic as follows:

To motivate people we need to ensure that:
* they know and understand their objectives, their purpose, where their role fits in with the organisation.
* they receive constructive feedback and know how they are doing,
* they have all the necessary tools and skills,
* they feel valued and empowered
…..and then they usually feel motivated.

Whilst workforce management technologies bring new efficiencies, they need to be implemented with a cultural/change management programme to be most effective.

Further reading on this and video stream.

Elizabeth Gooch, CEO at eg solutions plc was interviewed recently by Business Money and discussed the topic of the back office.

The featured article looks at how the back office can mean different things to different people and analyst predictions for growth.  If you would like to see the full article just email me.

Another related back office topic was also covered in a linked-in conversation on What is the single biggest factor that stops you from using WFM for back office planning?

Lots of people have their own theories and here is one from Elizabeth Gooch – “I think the biggest factor that stops people using WFM for back office planning is that ultimately these are not fit for purpose. End users with back-office WFM needs should ensure that the solution they select can effectively meet all of their requirements for specific back-office processes, ideally with purpose built functionality that works”.

Have your say…Read the full blog and thread conversation http://linkd.in/tbLdqG

All comments welcome.

Tony Cohn, Kay Moodley, Wendy Jeavons, Nols Mbele from eg South Africa and Namsi, the Senior Carer at the crèche, will be participating in the event doing the 10km walk with the aim to raise enough funds to organise a great Christmas party for the children at DNCC.

Entrant numbers have arrived and training is underway.  We have already received donations from eg staff, colleagues, friends & family and client staff from Silica.

So open your hearts and wallets to support our great cause.  Let’s make this a great Christmas party for the DNCC children this year!!

To donate, any amounts big or small would be greatly appreciated, please call +44 (0) 1785 715772.

Photographs from last years event can be viewed here. If you would like to find out more about the Doornkop Needy Children’s Centre, click here or email ask@eguk.co.uk.

The Awards, now in their 9th year, recognise outstanding contributions made by individuals and teams across our international client base in optimising back office performance through using the eg operational intelligence^® software suite and/or the eg principles of operational management^®.

This year’s shortlists includes: The Co-operative Banking Group, Legal & General, Capita Life & Pensions,Vital, The West Brom, Silica, Citi and Nationwide Building Society.

Elizabeth Gooch, Chief Executive Office at eg, said: “The eg operational excellence^® awards reward the hard work and success of Team Leaders, Managers and their teams across our international client base.  The standard of the nominations are once again extremely high and all those shortlisted should feel extremely proud to be recognised for their excellent demonstration of operations management best practice.  Good luck to all of the finalists”.

This year’s award ceremony will take place on Friday 11 November at the Marriott Forest of Arden, West Midlands. Guests will enjoy a gala dinner followed by the Awards ceremony and entertainment.

The ‘roll of honour – 2011 winners list’ will be available from Monday 13 November. For further information please contact Rachel Oliver at eg on +44 (0) 1785 715772.

The 2011 shortlist

Best Newcomer
Kat Nolan, Legal & General Retail Savings
Vanessa Probert, Silica
Margaret Williams, The West Brom
Garry Matcham, The Co-operative Banking Group
Nomsa Mthimunye, Metropolitan Health
Michelle Weir, Nationwide Building Society

Best Practice Team Leader (UK & International)
Natalie  Bailey, Legal & General Protection
Seviours Nkomo, Silica
Faith Mair, Legal & General Retail Savings
George Hutchinson, Legal & General Retail Savings
Richard Sharpe, Nationwide Building Society
Mariell Lyngbø, Vital Livsforsikring
Nichola Wise, Legal & General Workplace Savings
Kelly Fletcher, The West Brom
Vicky Burgess, Capita Life & Pensions
Joanne McKinney, The Co-operative Group
Maria Mthembu, Metropolitan Health

Most Improved
Laura Deely, Legal & General Retail Savings
Lee Tallis, Citi UK Consumer Operations
Jackie Pearson, Capita Life & Pensions
Roger Jones, The Co-operative Banking Group
Nosipho  Paca, Metropolitan Health
Carol Mowatt, Nationwide Building Society
Elaine Parkinson, The Co-operative Group

Business Support Technical/Operations
Business Performance Reporting – Business Performance Team, Legal & General Retail Savings
Frans van der Linde, Silica
Mark Jones, The West Brom
Learning and Development – Business Performance Team, Legal & General Retail Savings
Laura Callbutt, The Co-operative Group
Paul Bunce, Nationwide Building Society
Kirsty Manuel, Legal & General Savings Complaints
Guy Harrison, Citi UK Consumer Operations
Joel Voges, Metropolitan Health

Best Practice Manager
Adrian Downey, Legal & General Retail Savings
Louise Granger, Legal & General Retail Savings
Tracey Basson, Silica
Mark Savage, Capita Life & Pensions
Sandra Mynhardt, Metropolitan Health
Philippa Gayle, The Co-operative Group

Company & Team Awards
Legal & General Retail Savings
Silica
The West Brom
Geoban UK
Capita Life & Pensions
Metropolitan Health
Nationwide Building Society
DNB Livsforsikring

Read more about last year’s eg operational excellence^® awards winners.

intelligent operations management

Financial highlights

* Exceptional item for 2011: nil (H1 2010/11: £67,000 professional services relating to XTAQ acquisition)

Key points:

· Strong financial performance driven by international revenue growth and delivery of projects won at end of last financial year

· 92% growth in pre-tax profit reflects margin improvement from licence sales and cost control

· 19% rise in cash at 31/7/11, compared to 31/7/10, after total expenditure of £0.73m on investment in product development and the purchase of shares by the EBT

· 63% increase in operational cashflow

· Substantial progress in major enhancement of core software products which, when completed, will expand eg’s customer base and strengthen its leading market position

· Emergence of back office workforce optimisation market continues

On outlook, Rodney Baker-Bates, Non-executive Chairman, stated:

“The demand for back office optimisation solutions continues, with existing and new customers, both in the UK and internationally, responding positively to our existing products as well as those we are developing.

Given the proportion of anticipated revenues contracted, and with the sales pipeline growing, we remain confident of our prospects for the remainder of the financial year.”

Read the full results and statement.

Contacts:

About eg solutions plc

eg solutions plc is a global back office optimisation software company. Our software provides historic, real-time and predictive Operational MI. When implemented with our training programme for managers and team leaders to use this intelligence, we guarantee improvements in operational results in short timescales.

The Company, which is listed on the Alternative Investment Market (’AIM’) of the London Stock Exchange, is committed to customer satisfaction and the ongoing development of its operations management solutions.

Financial highlights

* Exceptional item for 2011: nil (H1 2010/11: £67,000 professional services relating to XTAQ acquisition)

Key points:

· Strong financial performance driven by international revenue growth and delivery of projects won at end of last financial year

· 92% growth in pre-tax profit reflects margin improvement from licence sales and cost control

· 19% rise in cash at 31/7/11, compared to 31/7/10, after total expenditure of £0.73m on investment in product development and the purchase of shares by the EBT

· 63% increase in operational cashflow

· Substantial progress in major enhancement of core software products which, when completed, will expand eg’s customer base and strengthen its leading market position

· Emergence of back office workforce optimisation market continues

On outlook, Rodney Baker-Bates, Non-executive Chairman, stated:

“The demand for back office optimisation solutions continues, with existing and new customers, both in the UK and internationally, responding positively to our existing products as well as those we are developing.

Given the proportion of anticipated revenues contracted, and with the sales pipeline growing, we remain confident of our prospects for the remainder of the financial year.”

Read the full results and statement.

Contacts:

About eg solutions plc

eg solutions plc is a global back office optimisation software company. Our software provides historic, real-time and predictive Operational MI. When implemented with our training programme for managers and team leaders to use this intelligence, we guarantee improvements in operational results in short timescales.

The Company, which is listed on the Alternative Investment Market (‘AIM’) of the London Stock Exchange, is committed to customer satisfaction and the ongoing development of its operations management solutions.