The 3rd Annual OPEX Africa 2014 commenced today at the Hyatt Regency. The forum will witness a unique exchange of ideas on process change management, customer engagement to process centralization and business growth.

This forum was opened by the event chairman, Roland Brandli, Sales Manager - SmartStream Technologies, followed by a formal introductory “Business Card Meet and Greet”, where delegates introduced themselves and exchanged business cards with their peers and know fellow participants.

Wael Issa, Senior Solutions Consultant - SmartStream Technologies, demonstrated step by step process with ROI through real life examples to ensure that middle and back office operations are ready for regulatory change.

The exclusive OPEX LEADERS PANEL DISCUSSION, entitled as “Metrics for Successful Business Operations”, focused on the basic yet most crucial points which forms the backbone of a good business operations model. Broadly, the panel discussion rotataed on:

• Ways to narrow process gaps, lapses and bureaucracy within an organisation
• How important is happier workplace for satisfied employees?
• Competency development – upskilling employees for better results

This panel was joined by Rob Formby, Director - Retail Operations - Allan Gray; Ahmed ibrahim, Chief Operating Officer - Arab Moltaqa for Investments; Thomas Gachie, Director - Operations - National Bank of Kenya and moderated by Roland Brandli, Sales Manager - SmartStream Technologies.

Wonder Nyabereka, Chief Operating Officer - Barclays Bank (Zimbabwe), in his session titled Business Process Excellence in Financial Services enlightened the audience about the activities involved in business process for financial services, process analysis and design principles for efficiency and about the importance of delivering unparalleled customer service, reduced complexity and improved risk management through business process excellence.

A case study on “The NBK Business Operational Excellence Framework”, was conducted by Thomas Gachie, Director : Operations - National Bank of Kenya, where he elaborated on the Action Frame Work, with focus on four factors such as Reducing Defects, Reducing Variation, Quality & Time and Reducing Waste.

Change Management: From Static to dynamic Business Operations, is the first session after the afternoon lunch break, which will be presented by Ahmed ibrahim, Chief Operating Officer - Arab Moltaqa for investments. Jero A. Omare-Ogah, COO, Chief Strategy & Implementation Officer at Fortis Microfinance Bank will elaborate on insight into Operational Excellence with focus on the three pronged Approach to Optimise Operations, Frameworks and Paradigms for OPEX and example of Fortis story, during his presentation entitled as Driving and Sustaining Business Competitiveness
through Operational Excellence.

Khomotso Molabe, Head - Features and Process Engineering & PBB - Standard Bank, will be addressing the audience on Enabling Customer Experience Through Process Excellence in Financial Services.

The first day of the conference will conclude with the OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE OPEN HOUSE SESSION, moderated by the event chairman, Roland Brandli. This exclusive knowledge oriented interactive power session will allow the delegates to ask questions to speakers pertaining to ‘Creating the next level of Operational Excellence in the banking business model‘.

Tomorrow, day two of the conference, will feature some key sessions such as the Technology Leaders Panel Discussion, panel discussion on tackling hindrances to attain operational excellence in the financial services sector and an exclusive case study session on technology as a driver of operational efficiency – The Ecobank Experience, conducted by Patrick Fiscian, Group Head – Operations & Technology Services - Ecobank.

A dedication session on a joint presentation from Jean Jordaan, Head of Operations and Chris Wood, Head of Group Innovation at Nedbank will throw light on the importance on continuous process improvement and shifting gears, from operational risk to operational excellence.

Another joint presentation on the importance of OPEX and continuous process improvement will be conducted by
Shirene Boola, Head of Global Markets and Reshnie Naidoo, Head - Process Center of Excellence at Rand Merchant Bank.

Ritesh Varma, Associate Vice President – Consulting Practice: EMEA - Newgen Software Technologies Ltd will be presenting on “Kick-SMACing digital Transformation for Banks”. Newgen Software Technologies Ltd. is the Associate Sponsor of this conference.

Other sponsors of this conference are presenting various solutions and services along with knowledge sharing discussions to pave a path for securing optimum level of operational excellence for the African financial service sector.

SmartStream Technologies is the Platinum Partner while DST Global Solutions is the Technology Partner, SunGard
is the Exhibitor of this conference.