Operational Issues In J&T Bank: Analysis And Recommendation

Fluctuation in Customer Numbers and Error Rates

Activity 1:   

J&T Bank on an average needs to handle 55 customers per hour thus, it is fairly busy bank. A bank must have a proper system in place to ensure that the customers (the account holders and others) of the bank are satisfied with services from the bank. As per the operational report of J&T Bank the bank has to serve 55 customers per hour on average with 60% the customers requiring deposits services and the balance 40% requiring withdrawal services. It takes approximately 3.5 minutes to complete a transaction in the bank. With error rate less than 2% in processing transactions 78% of the customers have confirmed their satisfaction from the services of the bank. Taking into consideration the information provided about the bank and its general operations a detailed discussion the operational issues shall be provided in this document (Hislop, Bosua and Helms, 2018).

The performance of the bank during the year can be assessed from the following data on the number of customers the bank served per hour during different months of the year.

Performance data
Month	Customers per hour
Jan	55
Feb	59
Mar	57
Apr	60
May	59
Jun	57
Jul	27
Aug	35
Sep	45
Oct	52
Nov	57
Dec	60

When it comes to serving the number of customers per hour the bank has experienced significant fluctuation throughout the year. In January the bank only served 55 customers per hour which increased to 60 customers an hour in April. However, the bank experienced significant decline in its performance during the middle part of the year with per hour customer serving reducing to 35 per hour in August. However, since then the bank has performed exceptionally well with customers per hour served reached as high as 60 by the end of December. Further the table below contains the error rates that have occurred during the above period.

Error rates
Month	Error rates
Jan	2.25%
Feb	2.10%
Mar	1.98%
Apr	2.35%
May	1.67%
Jun	1.55%
Jul	5.23%
Aug	4.12%
Sep	3.76%
Oct	2.50%
Nov	1.90%
Dec	1.60%

As can be seen that the error rates have also fluctuated throughout the period with error rates reaching as high as 5.23% in July from 1.98% in March. However, since July the error rates have reduced progressively to 1.60% in December.

It is clear from the above that both customers per hour and error rates in the banks have fluctuated significantly. The inability of the bank to manage the customers and error rates is pretty clear from the above data. Thus, despite implementation of new system in the bank the inability of the management to resolve the operational issues faced by the bank is still unresolved. The information required to make correct decisions are as following:

1. The number of customers the bank served in different days weeks and months of the year.
2. The error rates experienced in discharging the operations of the bank.
3. Average amount of time taken by the bank to serve a customer.       

Types of Transactions and Error Rates

The information shall be gathered from customers directly by using questionnaire and surveys. BY collecting information from customers the management will be able to assess the satisfaction level of the customers. The use of technology shall be made effectively to improve the quality of operations at the bank. The error rates can be improved significantly by using advanced information and technology.  

As clear from the above discussion that the bank is facing number of issues including fluctuating customer numbers mostly negative fluctuation along with persistent error rates in the banking operations. The importance to properly segregate the current services of the bank to take appropriate decisions is crucial to resolve the current issues faced by the bank. At present the bank has following types of transactions in different months.

Type of transactions	Transaction type
Month	Total transactions	Deposits	Withdrawl
Jan	8800	4840	3960
Feb	9440	5475	3965
Mar	9120	5472	3648
Apr	9600	5088	4512
May	9440	4531	4909
Jun	9120	5016	4104
Jul	4320	2549	1771
Aug	5600	2856	2744
Sep	7200	3384	3816
Oct	8320	4077	4243
Nov	9120	5381	3739
Dec	9600	6048	3552

The above stats made it clear that the majority of the total transactions in the bank is of depositing by the customers followed by withdrawal of funds. A detailed evolution of the current procedures in relation to the deposits and withdrawals in bank outlined below to understand the weaknesses and problems in the standard procedures.

After greeting customers the employees of the banks ask the customers is it a withdrawal transaction? After the withdrawal slip is completed and the details are entered into the computer system. Finally, the withdrawal transaction is completed and a receipt is provided to the customers.

Similar to the above except in deposit the employee enter the transactions in deposit accounts of respective customers. The amount of deposits are credited to the respective accounts of the customers and a deposit slip is provide to each customer to authenticate the amount of deposit made into the respective bank accounts.

The percentage of total transactions in deposits and withdrawals are depicted in the table below to understand the quantum of these two main services in the banks to accordingly formulate an effective strategy in the future.

Type of transactions	Transaction type
Month	Total transactions	Deposits	Withdrawl	% of deposit services	% withdrawl
Jan	8800	4840	3960	55.00	45.00
Feb	9440	5475	3965	58.00	42.00
Mar	9120	5472	3648	60.00	40.00
Apr	9600	5088	4512	53.00	47.00
May	9440	4531	4909	48.00	52.00
Jun	9120	5016	4104	55.00	45.00
Jul	4320	2549	1771	59.00	41.00
Aug	5600	2856	2744	51.00	49.00
Sep	7200	3384	3816	47.00	53.00
Oct	8320	4077	4243	49.00	51.00
Nov	9120	5381	3739	59.00	41.00
Dec	9600	6048	3552	63.00	37.00

In combination with the types of transactions a detailed analysis on the current error rates shall be helpful in formulation of an effective strategy for the bank to deal with the current issues and problems faced while providing different services to the customers. As has been seen in the table provided earlier in the document where the current error rates experienced by the bank in its services in different months are quite high. There is no requirements for the new system to use handwritten forms as it leaves a room for manipulation in the system. Rather the whole system shall be digitized to ensure that only the customers can withdraw and deposit fund from and to the accounts by using their customer login credentials. An effort shall be made to completely make the process paperless. This will not only be futuristic move towards complete automation to improve accuracy of services by reducing error rates but will also be environment friendly move on the part of the banks. The complains from the customers about the services provided by the bank such as wrong amount showing in the deposit slips as against the amount actually deposited and others certainly indicative of significant errors still existing in banking services of J&T bank. The inconsistency in the existing process and procedures is clear as crystal from the above. Immediate corrective actions shall be taken by the bank to improve the quality of performances of the bank.

Recommendations to Improve Banking Services

Taking into consideration each and every single factor, i.e. from the types of transactions to the quantum of transactions, from the number of customers in the bank per hour to the actual error rates experienced by the bank an effective decision shall be taken. The timely decision is essential in resolving the persistent issues in any organization. It is same for the bank thus, taking into consideration all the factors the management shall immediately make necessary changes in the banking operations to resolve the current issues faced by the bank.

Objective of this activity is to recommend the best course of action to the bank to be used in the future to improve the performance, operating efficiency and other aspects of banking services in the future. The bank needs to follow the following steps to improve its quality of operations to increase customers’ satisfaction.   

Conducting detailed investigation into the banking services: Firstly the management of the bank needs to conduct a detailed investigation into the affairs of the company. The investigation shall   help the management to understand the existing issues and problems faced by the bank. In the above it has already been discussed that the bank is suffering from increase error rates, fluctuation in number of customers per hour and others.

Immediate course of action shall be taken: The bank shall take prompt action to improve the quality of banking services in the future. These actions shall be used after taking advice from the bank. Formulation of an effective strategy and implementing the strategy are two completely different thinks thus, all necessary efforts shall be made to improve the quality of operations (Wheelen et. al. 2017).

Communicating the ideas with everybody: The idea once formulated must be communicated properly to the employees in order to increase the effectiveness of business operations in the future. Use of effective means to communicate the idea properly to the employees will be helpful in achieving the desired objectives of the bank.

Implementation of a new system in place: Considering the issue that are being experienced in the existing system by the bank including regular customer grievances about wrong deposit and withdrawal the bank should consider the crown for the severe perseverance.

Move towards complete automation: The bank should move towards complete automation and stop use of paper completely by using advanced technology. By using advanced technology the management will be able to reduce the manual error completely. This will improve the quality of services to be provided to the customers to enhance their satisfaction from the services of the bank.

Calling of the meeting of the staffs: The staffs’ meeting shall be called to discuss about the proposed changes. It is important to take them into confidence and use their inputs to make them feel part of the whole process. The resistance to change can be reduced significantly by involving the employees and workers in the process of change (Hammer, 2015).

Effective communication line between the workers and management: The bank must have an effective line of communication between to communicate the plan and procedures effectively to ensure these are correctly explained to them to implement these plan and procedures effectively.

Conclusion:

Taking into consideration the discussion about the J&T bank and its current issues and problems it is clear that there needs to be certain changes to be made to the current system in place in the bank. Use of advanced technology to achieve complete automation will be extremely helpful to improve customers’ satisfaction in the future.

References: 

Hammer, M., 2015. What is business process management?. In Handbook on business process management 1 (pp. 3-16). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Hislop, D., Bosua, R. and Helms, R., 2018. Knowledge management in organizations: A critical introduction. Oxford University Press.

Wheelen, T.L., Hunger, J.D., Hoffman, A.N. and Bamford, C.E., 2017. Strategic management and business policy. pearson.