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News
Process Excellence Awards 2008: Venturehaus hosts the Awards Ceremony, as ABN AMRO picks up the Financial Services prizes
London, 21st April 2008
The annual
Process Excellence Awards were recently celebrated at the Queen Elizabeth
Conference Centre in London. With the Houses of Parliament and Westminster
Abbey providing the breathtaking backdrop to the evening, the ceremony
was always going to be impressive, and the award winners were understandably
delighted with their achievements.
Venturehaus was proud to be the
sponsor of the gala evening and of the Award for Best Operational
Excellence Project in Financial Services. This annual event includes
awards for process excellence achievements across a number of categories
and sectors, including Best Innovative Project and the prestigious
Best Improvement Programme, to name but a few. Alan Noble, Managing
Director of Venturehaus, was the Master of Ceremonies and took great
satisfaction in seeing the wide variety of industries and sectors
that were represented on the star-studded stage throughout the evening:
"It’s
an honour to be able to present these awards to such deserving recipients.
Process Excellence isn’t a one-time, one-result initiative,
it takes dedicated passionate people to be able to turn a good company
into a great one, and I’m delighted to be first to congratulate
them."
Most satisfying for Alan, of course, was that Venturehaus’ client
ABN AMRO picked up the Honorary Mention in the Best Operational
Excellence Project in Financial Services category, narrowly missing
out on the top honour to HSBC India. The Honorary Mention award
was received by Afolayan Ayoola Taylor, ABN AMRO’s Head of
Business Process Improvement, and Tessa de Flines, from the Business
Process Improvement Centre of Excellence. Tessa remarks, "It
is an honour for ABN AMRO to have received an award for the Personal
Loans project. It demonstrates the hard work that has gone into
delivering benefits to our customers and to the business. The project
team truly deserve this recognition for driving best practice change
in their organisation."
And finally congratulations to HSBC
India as Winners of Venturehaus’ award for Best Operational
Excellence Project in Financial Services. Accepting the award on
behalf of his team for their "Project Quick Collect",
Kundan Sinha, HSBC India’s Vice President of Six Sigma, summarised
the whole meaning of these awards when he told us "It’s
indeed a pleasure for the HSBC team to be given an opportunity to
share the findings and success stories of our projects. It’s
a great motivator for all of us after winning this award and it
feels like a great achievement."
Venturehaus selected as Professional Services
participants at SIBOS 2008
London, 6th March 2008
Venturehaus has been selected
by the organisers of SWIFT’s industry-leading SIBOS
exhibition to
attend as one of only a handful of professional services providers
to the Financial Services industry.
Carol James, PR & Marketing
Manager for Venturehaus, reports that “SIBOS is the industry’s
most exclusive event. Participant access for solution providers
is allocated by a strict pre-qualification process, rather than
the usual “first-come first-served” basis. We are delighted
that we have been chosen, in view of the competition to be accepted.”
SIBOS
is the Financial Services industry’s premier event. It is
the only event that covers all sectors of the financial community,
and therefore attracts in excess of 7,000 end-user participants
every year. For more information about Venturehaus’ involvement
with SIBOS please contact carol.james@venturehaus.com
February Operational Excellence Board debates whether it is possible
to achieve Operational Excellence, sound risk management, and regulatory
compliance at the same time
London, 21st February 2008
The popular
view is that Operational Excellence, risk management and regulatory
compliance are, to an extent, mutually exclusive. The objectives
behind each prevent the others being achieved…except by luck,
don’t they? In an increasingly volatile world of regulatory
revolution, sub-prime turbulence and the spectre of bank rescue through
sovereign investments or more direct forms of state intervention,
this topical meeting of the Operational Excellence Board produced
intriguing observations on how to deliver on all three targets simultaneously
without running the risk of compromising the requirements of any
of them. read
more
Dates announced for 2008 Operational Excellence Board
Meetings London, 21st January 2008
Venturehaus is delighted to announce the forward calendar of meetings
for the 2008 Operational Excellence Board:
- Wednesday 20th February
- Tuesday 20th May
- Tuesday 16th September
- Tuesday 25th November
The Operational Excellence Board is a self-selected private forum of
business improvement leaders from companies operating in different
UK and European service industry sectors, but with a primary focus
on Financial Services.
Personal invitations are extended to senior executives who have an interest
in Six Sigma and Lean and in sharing best practice in these and other Process
Improvement methods on a completely confidential basis with their industry
peers.
If you would like to be considered to join the Board, please contact carol.james@venturehaus.com for
further information.
Venturehaus
appoints new head of PR, Marketing & Client Business Development
London, 9th January 2008
Venturehaus has appointed Carol James to head its Marketing and PR
department, focusing on client business development and strengthening
its position as the market’s leading specialist for Operational Excellence
in Financial Services.
Carol will also be responsible for managing Venturehaus’ Operational Excellence Board and the company’s other market-leading events. Previously Carol was Head of Production and Business Development for six sigma IQ, a subsidiary of IQPC, Europe’s
largest B2B research and conference provider. For three years, she
was responsible for the research, organisation and execution of the
two largest US-European annual process quality conferences: The Six
Sigma Summit in London and Miami, and the Lean Six Sigma Summit in
Amsterdam and Las Vegas.
Carol comments, “I am delighted to be joining Venturehaus at this incredibly exciting time, not just for the company but for Operational Excellence itself as it continues to gain momentum across Europe. Having worked alongside Venturehaus at the European Summits for so long, I’m well aware of this company’s
impeccable reputation and am very pleased to become part of the team.”
Alan Noble, Managing Director at Venturehaus said, “We are extremely
pleased to welcome Carol to Venturehaus. She brings a very high level
of professionalism to our market-facing activities and will help us
to deliver the values of Operational Excellence to the wider Financial
Services community.”
For more information, contact carol.james@venturehaus.com
November Operational Excellence Board gives unparalleled insights into form versus substance in operational change London, 21st
November 2007
The need to focus on tangible results to engage all levels of staff
is of crucial importance to change management programmes within Financial
Services, and yet there are hard lessons to learn and crucial pitfalls
to avoid when evaluating the merits of form versus substance. For
this reason, the November meeting of the Operational Excellence Board
produced extremely lively debate, well led by our guest speaker Bruce
Reekie, Head of Business Transformation at the Royal Bank of Scotland.
The motions for debate were varied and topical. When addressing
whether the majority of Service and Process Improvement activity is targeted
at resolving internal requirements instead of improving the customer experience,
it was generally agreed that this does in fact appear to be the truth in many
cases – however, despite not being ideal, internal improvement does provide
a good launching pad and can certainly help to gain the senior level support
needed to take the initiative further into the customer domain.
Secondly, the
board discussed whether a lack of end-to-end process understanding and management
represents a reckless disregard for our fiduciary responsibilities to manage
risk at least as well as we manage commercial opportunities. The Board agreed
with this motion directionally but also conceded that there was huge variability
between organisations. Success and consistency in managing risk is of course
THE hot topic in the current markets and the subject now of almost obsessive
attention. We shall therefore pursue this theme even further when the Board meets
again on 20th February 2008.
Alan Noble, Chairman, Operational Excellence Board Nov 2007
Operational Excellence Board launches in Scotland
London, 4th
June 2007
Venturehaus announces the official launch of
the Operational Excellence Board in Scotland in response to considerable
demand for an extension into Scotland of the forum which has been running
very successfully in London for the last 3 years.
Venturehaus announced
today the official launch of the very successful Operational Excellence
Board in Scotland, with the assistance of several major Scottish financial
institutions. The Operational Excellence Board is a self-selected private
forum of business improvement leaders from companies operating in different
UK and European financial and other service industry sectors. Historically,
it has focused on Financial Services and the current membership in
this sector includes approximately 100 individuals from over 45 organisations,
and is growing constantly.
The inaugural meeting will be held at AEGON
Scottish Equitable in Edinburgh on Wednesday 4th July 2007. During
the morning, an Executive Briefing will be run by Venturehaus to introduce
executives and senior managers with an interest in Process Improvement
to a variety of methods and techniques which enable a business rapidly
to improve its operational and service performance. This interactive
session will be delivered around one of Venturehaus’ unique Financial
Services business process role-play games, promising to make the event
fun as well as instructive. Following the Briefing, the Scotland Board
will hold its first meeting in the afternoon around discussion topics
such as “leading people through change” and “being
bold – the need to take calculated risks”.
Announcing the
launch and the inaugural meeting, Alan Noble, Chairman of the Operational
Excellence Board and Managing Director at Venturehaus, said: “I
should first of all like to thank all of our friends, contacts and
clients in Scotland for making this happen. Further thanks go in particular
to AEGON Scottish Equitable for offering to host the first event next
month in their Edinburgh facilities. Expansion and growth are always
exciting, but it is all the more satisfying to have been asked to do
this in Scotland as frequently as we have. I look forward to the Board
becoming as successful there as it has been in London since we started
in 2004”.
Six Sigma Excellence Awards 2007:
Venturehaus sweeps the board as four clients make the final
London, 5th
May 2007
Last week, the annual Six Sigma Excellence
awards took place at the Queen Elizabeth Conference Centre, hosted
by John Simpson, the acclaimed BBC World Affairs Editor. This annual
event includes award presentations for continuous improvement across
a number of categories and sectors. This year witnessed the introduction
of an exciting new category for Best Continuous Improvement Project
in the Public Sector, marking the new appetite for improving productivity
within this sector.
This award attracted submissions from leading organisations
around the country, competing for recognition of their achievements
in delivering service improvements to their customers. The panel of
independent judges produced a short-list of four finalists (Newco,
DWP, Exeter College and Cornwall County Council) from which first and
runner-up were selected. Fighting off the stiff competition; Newco,
a commercial arm of Newham Borough Council emerged victorious whilst
the Department of Work and Pensions was the well deserved runner up.
Both businesses were delighted with the results but only one business,
Venturehaus, could claim to be the commercial partner in the projects
of all four finalists. This impressive position confirmed the reputation
of Venturehaus, as the leading provider of Lean and Six Sigma Training
and consulting within Government Services.
Venturehaus Awards swept up by Barclays
London, 3rd
May 2007
Barclays Wealth
achieved a clean sweep of the Financial Services Operational Excellence
Awards, sponsored by Venturehaus, at a dinner and ceremony hosted by
John Simpson, BBC World Affairs Editor, on Wednesday night.
The Six
Sigma IQ Awards are in their fifth year, attracting submissions from
leading international companies across all industries, who compete
for recognition of their achievements in Operational and Service Excellence.
Barclays Wealth’s success this year will strengthen their reputation
for improving client service, at a time when competition across the
industry is fierce.
The Financial Services award is in its second year
and is sponsored by Venturehaus, the company that advises and trains
many of the world’s leading Banks in Operational Excellence.
The Barclays Wealth victory was a proud moment for Venturehaus, who
were responsible for advising on and initiating the service improvement
programme in 2004.
However, it is a testament to the Wealth team’s
dedication and perseverance that their programme has gone from strength
to strength, setting benchmark standards for Operational Excellence
in the Financial Sector.
Operational Excellence Board: New Broad Street House
London, February
2007
With a break from tradition, the Operational Excellence Board met
for a breakfast meeting for its February’07 gathering. Following
on from the interactive session lead by Phil Anderson of Ashridge
Business School at the last Board, those gathered received the consolidated
feedback on “What is Operational Excellence and what does good
look like in a financial services organisation?” From this
the key characteristics of Operational Excellence, Customer Intimacy
and Product Leadership companies were further outlined. The second
half of the meeting concentrated on the topical question of: “Who
is currently doing what in the market? Is Six Sigma just too hard
and therefore on its last legs in Financial Services?” Continuing
the trend of active participation and mutual sharing the group shared
the following:
- What are you doing & what is / are the business goals its
aligned to? E.g. Efficiency / Effectiveness
- What other approaches are necessary to either replace or compliment
Six Sigma?
- Is it perception or is it “just too hard”?
- Ideal world – how would you equip yourself to achieve
Operational Excellence?
- For those still considering what would be your “nuggets
of gold”?
It is fair to say that without doubt Six Sigma is still a key element
of Continuous Improvement approaches and when coupled with other
approaches, which typically is Lean, provides a fully comprehensive
toolkit.
The next meeting will be held on the afternoon of Thursday 24th May
2007. I would like to thank Leilani Plougmann of Morgan Stanley for
offering to host this at their Canary Wharf offices.
Alan Noble, Chairman, Operational Excellence Board
For more information about the Operational Excellence Board, please click here
Venturehaus, Europe’s leading specialist for
Lean and Six Sigma in the Financial and Government Services industry,
announces the appointment of Kevin Corrigan as Manager – Lean
and Ian Roden as Manager – Financial Services. London, 1st
November 2006
Kevin joins us from a Department of Trade and Industry funded
initiative where he delivered operational best practice in an office
environment whilst Ian joins us from Barclays Bank, where he was responsible
for leading Six Sigma projects across Business Banking. Kevin’s
track record demonstrates his strong relationship building and experience,
developing and leveraging positive working relationships at all levels
to drive forward and support sustainable change programmes.
Kevin has led numerous initiatives and programmes in process innovation, including
over 50 Lean Interventions reducing operational costs, improving competitiveness
and reducing waste in transactional business operations.
Ian’s banking career started with the Woolwich Plc top graduate programme.
Initially employed as a Project Manager, he held a number of roles across Communications,
Operations and Product Management. A move to service improvement for International
and Private Bank saw responsibility for critical engineering work streams and
operational reviews gaining him proven stakeholder management. The last three
years he’s been employed as a Senior Operational Excellence Manager
for Barclays Business Banking from whom he joins us.
Upon joining, Kevin commented: “I have great respect for what Venturehaus
represent and am delighted to join their team. I am confident that my own experience
and approach will greatly assist our clients in their future change programs”.
Ian added: “I’m looking forward to sharing with Venturehaus clients
the practical and commercial benefits of Lean Six Sigma and other Operational
Excellence approaches that I’ve experienced to date. It’s a dynamic
business and I’m really excited by the challenge.”
Venturehaus, Europe’s leading specialist for Lean and
Six Sigma in the Financial Services industry, announces the appointment of Guy
Noble as Director – Financial Services, and Region Head for Middle
East and Africa.
London, 1st October 2006
Effective 1st October 2006, Guy Noble is appointed Director – Financial
Services, and Region Head for the Middle East and Africa for Venturehaus. He
joins from LloydsTSB Bank, where in addition to managing the Group’s
Six Sigma Process Improvement Programme, he was also responsible for the Operations
and Operational Risk functions within the Consumer Bank.
Announcing the appointment, Alan Noble, Managing Director of Venturehaus,
said “Despite
popular belief, Guy and I are not personally related, although we
do share similar backgrounds and approaches! Guy has a very distinguished
20-year career in retail and corporate banking in both front and back office
environments. He brings with him a comprehensive understanding of the financial
services marketplace, the demands of its customers and the organisational
imperative to respond competitively. I am delighted that he has chosen to
join us at this very exciting time for Venturehaus, as we continue to enhance
our leading position in business improvement services for the financial services
sector.”
Guy started his business career in retail banking with National Westminster
Bank in front line customer service and lending roles and was also a certified
trainer in the Learning and Development functions. Following relationship
and operational management positions in commercial finance with Barclays Bank
and the Royal Bank of Scotland, he was part of the start-up team for GE’s
Commercial Finance business. After progressing through Black Belt, Master
Black Belt and Quality Director roles at GE across Europe, Guy joined General
Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC) as Project Director responsible for the
design and implementation of strategic continuous improvement plans and infrastructure
and the establishment of two new trading entities in Poland and Germany. He
then took up the position at LloydsTSB from which he now joins Venturehaus.
Upon joining, Guy commented: “I am very much looking forward to sharing
with Venturehaus’ clients the practical and commercial benefits of introducing
Lean Six Sigma and other Operational Excellence approaches which
I have experienced in many organisations. Venturehaus is well established
as the leading provider in Europe and I hope to contribute further to this
as well as to expand our presence into the Middle East and Africa”
HSBC wins Venturehaus Award for Best Six Sigma Project in Financial Services
London, 2nd
May 2006
At the European Six Sigma Summit, held in London on 25/26th April 2006, Venturehaus
sponsored the inaugural six sigma IQ Excellence Award for Best Six Sigma Project
in Financial Services. New for 2006, this award attracted a large number of high
quality entries from both Europe and the Rest of the World (outside the USA).
The judges had a tricky job evaluating all of the entries and had to select the
4 finalists prior to the awards ceremony. The finalists chosen for the award
were Barclays Wealth Management (Project Title: Decrease Stock Transfers Cycle
Time); CheckFree (Pre-Contract Estimation Project); HSBC (Trade Services Project);
and Lloyds TSB (Online Service Processing Project).
The awards ceremony was held during a well-attended gala dinner on
the first evening of the Summit. Announcing the award winners, Alan Noble,
Managing Director of Venturehaus, said: "Venturehaus is very proud to
have initiated and sponsored this award, which celebrates the best achievements
in the field in which we specialise, namely financial services. Those of us
who work in this area will recognise that the application of Six Sigma in
these businesses requires a different approach, and this award recognises
those who have been successful in making it work in these particular environments."
In a close-run contest, Honorary Mention went to CheckFree for their Pre-Contract
Estimation project, but the 2006 six sigma IQ Excellence Award for Best Six Sigma
Project in Financial Services was won by HSBC for the international Trade Services
deployment project. Congratulating the winners on their achievements, Alan Noble
also announced that Venturehaus will be sponsoring the Award for the next 3 years
and looked forward to a similarly high number and standard of entries in the
future.
Venturehaus launches Government Services Practice
10th
April 2006
Venturehaus, Europe’s leading Lean and Six Sigma specialists in Financial
Services, has today announced the official launch of its Government
Services Practice. Venturehaus Government Services will bring Six Sigma, Lean
and other Operational Best Practices from the Financial Services industry
to the Public Sector.
Venturehaus Government Services operates in the field of service and process
improvement in Public Sector operations, specialising in the implementation
and application of Six Sigma and Lean methods and tools. Six Sigma and Lean
are recognised across all industries as the leading methodologies for optimising
productivity and service quality through accelerated Business Process Improvement.
Venturehaus GS will also bring best practice methods from industry in the field
of process management techniques, service and process measurement and service
level reporting.
To download a copy of this Press Release, please click here (PDF, 16 KB)
Operational Excellence Board meets in March hosted by Bank
of America
London, 21st March 2006
Citibank and Bank of America presented two excellent, but quite different,
sessions to a very full meeting of the Board in London at probably one the
best of these events so far. The conclusion from both presentations is that
operational best practice is achieved through management of data and fact
rather than assumption and gut-feel, and that the focus needs to be on the
results achieved much more than on the methodologies used.
Operational Excellence is about rigour and discipline:
about understanding WHY you are running an improvement programme
and addressing those requirements because that will determine HOW and WHAT
you are going to do.
Venturehaus launches Lean Training & Deployment
London, 1st
February 2006
Venturehaus has announced today the official launch of a new set of services within its Design for Operational Excellence™ training
and deployment programmes.
As the leading specialists for Financial Services
in Europe, Venturehaus has been developing and delivering acclaimed
industry-specific training, advisory and support services in both
Six Sigma and Lean for many years. Now the firm has created a brand new set
of training programmes for Lean around its renowned and unique business process
role-play simulation games. |

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