Building Society goes for Redland

Norwich & Peterborough Building Society (N&P) has chosen the Insight platform from Redland Business Solutions (www.redland-solutions.co.uk), to automate the Society’s Training and Competence (T&C) scheme for up to 400 customer facing staff.

Redland, the leading provider of specialised Governance Risk and Compliance (GRC) IT solutions to the financial services sector, was chosen by N&P after an extensive review of the market. The Society required a system that would automate the T&C controls and governance for its branches and contact centre and which would facilitate risk based observations, case checking and general supervisory activities. N&P also wanted to demonstrate a high level visibility for its staff training and development operation; together with the formal processes of attaining and maintaining competence.

The Society was attracted to Insight as it is a proven system already used successfully by numerous financial services companies and organisations. N&P were also impressed by Redland’s ‘trusted partner’ consulting approach which ensures a collaborative transparent and flexible working relationship with a fully resourced commitment to understanding the unique business requirements of the Society.

Insight is an innovative Training and Competence (T&C) system that provides a single integrated platform enabling business applications for financial services organisations to be quickly developed and deployed. As well as improving the efficiency and transparency of reporting, the system provides a consistent approach to all aspects of Training and Competence management across all disciplines and business units. It is also an auditable solution providing evidence to the employees, management, its regulator and clients that the latest regulatory and compliance processes are in place.

The system is underpinned by a powerful and effective workflow engine that can manage wider business processes. Insight allows these business processes to be configured quickly and efficiently, so that the organisation can maintain market differentiation whilst continuing to improve their overall efficiency in a cost-effective manner.

Commenting on the new system, Mike Sketch, General Manager Sales & Marketing at N&P, said “Following an extensive review process, we have concluded that Redland’s Insight platform provides us with the best solution for our Training and Competence needs. The Society chose the Insight system as it is a live, proven and comprehensive system, well thought of by existing users. Redland are easy to work with and were prepared to commit resources to understanding and identifying the Society’s precise requirements. In addition, they adopted a collaborative, transparent and flexible approach to their relationship with us which makes them easy to work with. We look forward to working closely with them in the future.”

For his part Joel Turland, Managing Director of Redland Business Solutions, welcomed Mike Sketch’s comments adding, “Norwich and Peterborough delivers the very highest standards of customer service. This is largely the result of first rate staff training. Naturally, therefore we are delighted that Insight has been chosen to deliver such a strategic aspect of Norwich & Peterborough’s Retail Training & Competence Scheme. We look forward to working closely with them going forwards as their scheme evolves.

“The news also significantly reinforces Redland’s position as the leading provider of T&C and GRC solutions to the financial services sector. We firmly believe from our experience of the market, that Insight T&C is now recognised as the solution of choice for delivering superior compliance support to financial services organisations and that this is especially well received given the demanding challenges of the evolving regulatory framework in the market. ”

British tech staff less optimistic on pay issues

Revealing further findings from The IT Job Board’s recent Survey of the IT Jobs market it seems that far less British IT workers (50 percent) received a salary change during the past year, compared to Germany (27 percent), and also the Netherlands (31 percent).

When reviewing the numbers of techies which had received a pay rise of as much as 10 per cent, this stood at 54 percent for Germany, 54 percent within the Netherlands, with – again – the UK lagging behind at 44 percent.

The Germans and Dutch are more optimistic about receiving a pay rise in 2011, standing at 68 percent and 65 percent. This compares with a figure of 55 percent highlighted by UK IT pros.

And, when it came down to looking at the results for those who expect an identical salary this year as last, this stood at 19 percent for Germany, 24 percent for the Netherlands and 36 percent for the UK.

When reviewing the proportion of workers in IT careers who expected an added bonus, the Brits were more optimistic however – with 61 percent of the whole vote, in contrast to 53 percent for Germany.

Additionally it seems that UK technical staff do marginally better when it comes to overtime – with 28 percent highlighting they are paid for this, compared to 25 percent for Germany and 20 percent for the Netherlands.

When it comes to pension contributions, the UK is the place to work – 40 percent of British IT workers claimed this, when compared to 22 percent for Germany and 17 percent for The Netherlands. But, Germany far outclassed the other two markets in regards to flexible working hours – with 59 percent of respondents, instead of 29 percent for The Netherlands and 27 percent of the UK.

Commenting on the findings, Alexandra Farrell, MD of The IT Job Board, said: “Clearly pros with IT jobs in th UK are not quite as optimistic about their salary prospects, when compared to their European counterparts – but this is perhaps a result of the long and difficult recession this market has experienced."

“However, it’s positive to see that companies are listening to and supporting their staff with regards to aspects such as benefits and overtime pay."

“But, I believe the UK ought to be working towards Germany’s model when it comes to flexible working practices, and the Modern Workplaces Consultation goes some way towards this. It’s clear to discover that – at this time – UK staff are happy to prioritise benefits and perks over salary.”

Candidate job market survey, March 2011 – 228 respondents (UK), 249 (Germany) and 260 (The Netherlands)

FACTFILE:
The IT Job Board group of companies was set up in April 2002 in recognition that recruitment in the IT sector was increasingly dominated by the internet.

www.theitjobboard.co.uk

Online technology enables sophisticated targeting – for example by skill, region or experience – of The IT Job Board’s database of 900,000 IT professionals. The company always tries to get closer to candidates either via planned content campaigns, or through the use of social networks.

The site also offers employers services such as branded job postings, a featured employer zone, targeted email campaigns and guidance on advertising copy. The managed campaign service filters responses to provide companies with a shortlist of applicants most suitable for the advertised position.