Category: Technology

Introduction

Due to advances in technology, business partners and employees can now access information and resources remotely (Meersman, Dillon & Herrero, 2009). One of the key requirements for financial institutions is that they have to safeguard clients information. To do so, banks allocate passwords to clients for use in accessing their accounts. However, this method is prone to hacking (Meersman et al., 2009). This calls for a system that can safeguard the privacy of clients. The paper shall endeavor to examine one-time passwords (OTPs) as a technique that enhances the users security.

Brief description of the technology

The One-Time Password is a single-use password that has been randomly generated (Infosec, n. d.). The system allows banks to send secure single-use passwords to their customers. In addition, OTPs allows banks to improve the security of online banking. However, customers have to request OTPs every time they want to perform a transaction (Infosec, 2008). The customer is first required to provide his/her mobile phone number or e-mail address in order to facilitate the verification process. Once the information has been verified, the bank sends a One-Time Password to the user in the form of an SMS. Alternatively, the bank can send a verification code to the users e-mail address. The mobile phone number or e-mail address acts as a security measure, and the password sent has a definite expiry period. One of the organisations providing OTPs services is Nordic Edge (Integrated Switched System, 2007).

Type of control

OTPs prevent unauthorised persons from accessing confidential information (Infosec, n. d.). As such, they are a preventive type of control. In addition, OTPs also restraint or discourage unauthorised persons from accessing confidential information.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

Some of the strengths of the OTPs include:

• OTPs do not require policing and policy decisions.
• OTPs do not require specific hardware to facilitate delivery
• The OTPs require minimal support effort and modest investment
• OTPs have a high level of security, and this makes it hard for hackers to manipulate a clients account.

Weaknesses

OTPs are characterised by the following weaknesses:

• OTPs are prone to social engineering attacks. For example, attackers can deceive consumers to provide them with past OTPs, thereby compromising their security.
• The system is prone to human manipulation
• OTPs are prone to man-in-the middle attacks.
• The system is costly to manage.
• Some users are reluctant to trust organisations with their valuable information.

In what area is the deployment of OTPs is justified?

OTPs have gained a lot of popularity in the various sectors of the economy, and more so in the banking industry where they have been deployed in online banking. In this case, the customer has to first register his/her mobile phone number and/or e-mail address with the bank. The bank saved this information in its database. In case the customer wishes to make a transaction with the bank, he/she has to provide his/her mobile phone number and e-mail address for verification. Upon successful verification, the bank sends the customer a one-time password in the form of an SMS.

Procedural control surrounding its use

OTPs are based on mobile enterprise application architecture (Tyntec Press Release, 2006). Organisations like banks need to document users information first in a database. This is important so that in case the client sends a request, the system can locate the clients information from the database. Once the information has been verified, the system generates a One-Time Password and sends it to the client in the form of an SMS or e-mail.

Audit and logging checks

The following techniques can be used while auditing and logging checks for an OTP system:

• Allowing users to register more than one phone number so that in case one of the phones is lost, they can notify the bank promptly.
• Generating a secret key that the user is able to recognise.
• The one-time password should be valid for a few hours only, after which the client has to make another request.
• The user should be requested to answer a secret question before he/she can receive the one-time password.

Cracking the system

The OTPs system can be cracked using various methods:

Brute-force attack: This is a technique in which the attacker tries to use all the keys in a bid to crack the one-time password. This technique is a very exhaustive way of searching and locating encrypted data.

Man-in-the middle attack: In this form of attack, the attacker tries to intercept the replies of a bank to its users. The bank assumes that it is dealing with genuine account holders. This allows the attacker to send the desired transaction to the bank.

Conclusion

OTPs have proven to be a very effective way of preventing identity theft and fraud in areas like internet banking. It is a form of double-authentication system that enhances user security. The system uses the existing hardware and does not require policing. However, it is prone to cracking techniques like the brute-force attack and the man-in-the middle attack.

Reference List

Infosec. (2008). Clavister SMS One-Time Password Service. Web.

Infosec. (n.d). One time passwords via SMS secure strong authentication. Web.

Integrated Switched System. (2007). SMS one time password. Web.

Meersman, R., Dillon, T., & Herrero, P. (2009). On the move to meaningful internet systems: Otm 2009: Confederated. London: Springer.

TynTec Press Release. (2006). TynTec Launches Mobile One-Time Passwords for Banking Industry. Web.

Research on the ways technology impacts human lives, surprisingly for many, is not a 21st-century invention. Even in the 1980s, it was already clear that technological advances are gaining faster pace daily, and that adaptation is the only way to deal with all the sudden changes and to not get left out. Even though the impact of new technologies was recognized, it was only recently that it became transparent that those had a tremendous impact on new generations and intergenerational communication.

Hence, social relations became the main focus of the analysis of technological impact. As youth is the social group, mostly affected by technological shifts, it is also them who quickly adapt to the results of those shifts. Antonucci, Ajrouch, and Manalel (2017), in their work Social Relations and Technology: Continuity, Context, and Change, are very clear about the fact that technology changed the nature of social interaction itself. Many new methods of communication appeared, transforming human relations tremendously, and directly affecting social experiences and well-being in general. Facebook, Snapchat, or Skype appear to be means of the same communication processes. Still, the truth is that those shape new rules of interaction and sets of values, and, consequently, new communication systems.

However, there are many benefits brought around by technology the society enjoys. For instance, increased mobility led to the establishment of more complex family structures and intergenerational ties, that are maintained through technological advances (Antonucci et al., 2017). So, people, in general, are less attached to each other geographically, and the importance of remaining close to the family in order to remain contact diminished. The increased longevity of life spans provides more opportunities for older adults to build relationships with younger generations, contributing to the reduction of the generation gap (Antonucci et al., 2017, para. 15). Though social relations experiences are different, depending on age, status, and relationship type, the benefits of introducing technology are clear.

While sometimes technology helps build up ties, it does often degrade the quality of human interactions. As Antonucci et al. (2017) state, it is widespread that more technologically proficient may feel frustrated with friends and relatives who struggle to communicate with newer technologies (para. 18). Thus, it is also true that technology contributes to the expansion of the generation gap and the erosion of human relations. Moreover, these experiences are shared by most people, as online communication is gradually replacing personal communication, and it is becoming more challenging to maintain a balance between these two types of interaction.

The erosion of social relations and the fact that people can use technology to build connections or destroy them is not the only problem that has arisen with it becoming an integral part of human life. Many traditional concepts and values that characterized the way of life of previous generations became irrevocably outdated or lost their importance. One of those was the concept of family, although there were many others.

As mentioned earlier, the very structure of social relations changed, and unnoticed by many, a new system of values emerged. Within this new system, there already is a whole generation of youth that hardly understands that there was something before the mindsets and values they uphold. The impact of technology on human life is undoubtedly vast and irreversible, but it is essential to maintain the perspective that this is not the only possible way. Instead, it is the result of evolution, the course of which must be understood; otherwise, each new generation will erase the legacy of the previous.

Reference

Antonucci, T., Ajrouch, K., & Manalel, J. (2017). Social relations and technology: Continuity, context, and change. Innovation in Aging, 1(3). Web.

The embracement of technology in various sectors has been associated with enhanced methods of doing business, which, in turn, has led to increased productivity. The use of gadgets such as smartphones and tablets has introduced an innovative way of communication among people and organizations. However, these technologies have had their share of disadvantages due to their disruptive nature. Currently, social ties are threatened because smartphones and other Internet-enabled innovations have disrupted the need for physical interaction among people. Consequently, as this paper reveals, despite creating an avenue for people across the world to interact online and in real-time, these inventions have not only forced individuals to ignore their relationships with others but also compromised issues related to privacy and security.

The contemporary technology-dominated society has been introduced to a new norm whereby people in a gathering find themselves focused on their smartphones and tablets, despite the apparent need for initiating a one-on-one dialogue with one another. According to an article by MacLean et al., young people are presented as the most affected class of technology consumers who choose to express themselves through mobile phone texts, status updates, and chat messages via multiple social networking sites and wireless communication methods (778) instead of taking the initiative of communicating physically to their friends, peers, and families. As a result, their extensive use of smartphones denies them the opportunity of understanding the way they relate with these groups of people. In the past, instances of relatives marrying each other were rare because many people were familiar with their extended family members because they frequently interacted physically. However, the advent of digital platforms has made it almost impossible for adolescents to recognize their close relatives such as cousins because they hardly interrelate on a face-to-face basis (Dissing et al. 3). As a result, the use of smartphones has ended up ruining family ties because it has eliminated the need for social gatherings where relatives would get a chance to physically meet and socialize with one another.

Technology has also compromised the privacy and security of people and institutions. According to Bray, efforts by learning institutions to embrace technologies such as Google Apps for Education (GAFE) have been counterproductive due to claims regarding the unwarranted move to utilize students personal information for business gains (38). Individuals and businesses that wish to establish long-term relationships with their clients emphasize the need for ensuring the privacy and security of any information shared. However, with the onset of gadgets such as smartphones, it has been challenging to guarantee information confidentiality not only in the U.S. but also in other countries around the globe. Technology experts have gone ahead to develop software and applications that are capable of retrieving classified details with a view to using such contents for advertising purposes to boost their companies productivity (Bray 38). Despite the initial goal of deploying technology to enhance business performance, instances of information insecurity ruin organizations relationships with customers who end up renouncing their loyalty. This decision is founded on clients fear of having their confidential contents used to serve other hidden agendas.

Conclusively, technology has been adopted extensively due to its capacity to enhance business operations and peoples level of interaction. However, it has been associated with various disadvantages, including its interruption of peoples relationships, privacy, and security. As such, experts may need to come up with more inventions that can seal these gaps to ensure that technology serves its intended role of boosting interactions among individuals and businesses.

Works Cited

Bray, Marty. Going Google: Privacy Considerations in a Connected World. Knowledge Quest, vol. 44, no. 4, 2016, pp. 36-41.

Dissing, Agnete S., et al. Measuring Social Integration and Tie Strength with Smartphone and Survey Data. PLoS ONE, vol. 13, no. 8, 2018, pp. 1-14.

MacLean, Ross, et al. Digital Peer Interactions Affect Risk Taking in Young Adults. Journal of Research on Adolescence, vol. 24, no. 4, 2014, pp. 772-780.

With the discovery and emergence of the Internet, humanity gained access to a large flow of information. This has led to an increase in the average level of knowledge in society and an expansion of the individuals horizons. In addition, the Internet has also changed human behavior as a member of society and as a person in general. The reason for this is a wide range of opportunities that have influenced the quality of life and the number of citizens abilities.

The main advantage of the Internet is the ability to remain anonymous when communicating with people and processing anything. This, on the one hand, strengthens the security and privacy of an individuals life but, on the other hand, makes it easier to break moral boundaries or even laws (Seltzer, 2018). It was the Internet that allowed the phenomenon of cyberbullying to emerge, the essence of which is the harassment of someone on the Internet by large groups of users (Oh & Toda, 2018).

This cruelty is precisely due to the fact that users feel certain impunity and permissiveness of their actions, and therefore do not think about the harm of their actions. Such facts allow concluding that using the Internet, not all, but most people have become more embittered and aggressive. This is a reason to wonder if the government needs to limit anonymity on social media and blogs to avoid increasing societal cruelty and controlling harassment.

As a result, the conclusion is that cyberbullying is a major negative change in the psychology of society and human behavior. It is also the most common problem faced by any user, regardless of age and gender. It entails many problems, such as psychological or behavioral problems. It is important to note that Internet technology is not only a useful tool but also carries some risks to which the public must necessarily pay attention.

References

Oh, I., & Toda, Y. (Ed.). (2020). Tackling cyberbullying and related problems. Innovative usage of games, apps and manga. Routledge.

Seltzer, R. (2018). The way of the web. Seltzer Books.

Ensuring end-user security is a challenge to many companies because they do not take time to educate and train their personnel on end-user security. They end up using posters and memos on walls to inform personnel on security issues without taking time to educate and identify user weaknesses. This leads to a lack of effective security awareness. Companies can benefit from using human performance technology; this is an outcome-focused technology that identifies gaps in performance. Companies have been offering pieces of training to their personnel, revising companies policies, and implementing new technologies to address user needs. This ends up being more expensive and eventually, it does not work ineffective security campaigns. Human performance technology is an easy method that is result-oriented and can be used for effective security awareness campaigns. Human performance is effective in showing individual performance at the workplace (Chyung, 2008).

Human performance technology is a systematic procedure that can be used in security training, creating awareness, and educating on security because it looks at the desired outcomes and works to find out what causes those outcomes. It studies the behavior that leads to such outcomes and works towards enhancing those behaviors for a desirable outcome. It designs the methods to be used to acquire the desired outcome. It also redesigns the procedure. This method would be perfect for educating people in a company on security and they will understand better than just putting posters with security information. It would also lead to effective training on security to both the security personnel and the public thus leading to effective security campaigns. The role of security education is to inform the personnel on expected security attacks, how to detect them, and how to act to avoid the effects of insecurity in the company. The desirable outcome is to ensure that companys systems are always secure. Educating the personnel and training them would be effective in ensuring security. Human performance technology is an organizational process that can be applied in a company to gain the desired outcome. It normally relies on human performance management in order to be applied in specific units of an organization. It is an accurate method that can be used to achieve the desired outcome of educating, training, and creating awareness on security in the companies (Gilbert, 2007).

The sequential label and supplies company was not aware of what was happening to their systems. They were not aware that something was wrong with their communication systems and they were not even trained on how to resolve the problem. This shows that the company was not secure. The company should take their time to educate and train their personnel so that they will always be aware of security issues. The outcome will be that they will be aware of such incidences and determine who is behind them and produce a solution without wasting time (Chyung, 2008).

The application of human performance technology would be effective if it is applied in security education and training because it will target behaviors that will aid in creating security awareness. Human performance technology also acts as a way of motivation for end-user security. This is because the outcome is observed, and it saves on time (Brethower, 1967).

Reference List

Brethower, K. (1967). Maintenance Systems: The Neglected Half of Behavior Change. In Managing the Instructional Programming. University of Michigan.

Chyung, Y. (2008). Foundations of Instructional and Performance Technology. Amherst, MA: HRD Press.

Gilbert, F. (2007). Human Competence: Engineering worthy Performance. New York: Pfeiffer, ISBN 978-0-7879-9615-4.

Since technologically-driven shifts are unprecedented, the fundamental issue is not whether technology plays a part in elevating good companies to great ones but rather how the latter approach expertise in ways that the former does not. Companies that advance from good to great do not alter their core business model in response to technological advances but rather use technology to forge a fresh and exciting interface with their clients and partners. The end game for success is to forge new ground in the innovative use of technology.

Accelerators are designed to hasten the development of businesses. In his book, Good to Great, Collins (2001) elaborated on the ideas around technology as an accelerator rather than a cause of growth or improvement. This means that established businesses, complete with a core team and a proven concept, may use technological advancements to speed up their growth by optimizing every facet of their operations. Choosing the technology that will give a company an even more significant advantage over the competition will be undemanding if the management can clearly establish what the organization does better than any other. In addition, once companies realize how the chosen technology complements their capabilities, they frequently become forerunners in using expertise, employing them in ways none had previously considered. Technology is neither the panacea nor the scapegoat for all of a companys difficulties. However, it may augment an organizations strengths with careful preparation, implementation, and analysis. The key is first to determine what works well and then choose new technologies that complement those qualities.

Instead of becoming the focus of every session, technology should serve to support students understanding of the courses foundational ideas. Content and materials should be disseminated efficiently, and technology should help effectively. The Smart-Board is a fantastic example of this technology in the classroom. Learning may now be more engaging for children of all ages due to the ability of Smart-capacity Board to run interactive applications. In finance, the income associated with such technological resources outweighs the expenses (Kane, 2019). Teachers, parents, students, and administration should all be a part of the change process as it unfolds gradually but comprehensively. The best forms of inspiration incorporate the thoughts and feelings of the whole team and encourage them to try something new.

The educational sector has undergone a widespread transformation because of technological breakthroughs. Traditional methods of education are still useful, but the requirements of todays students and teachers are evolving. Using an LMS allows universities and other higher education institutions to provide online and hybrid course options (Saidi et al., 2021). Such sites have sophisticated tools for organizing classes and coordinating group projects. In addition, utilized systems supply instructors with insightful data that may be used to enhance their courses and better meet the requirements of their students. More courses and materials with fewer resources mean trying out new delivery strategies.

Blackboard is a household name in online education platforms as it can be used in either a SaaS or non-SaaS configuration. Blackboard provides not just the standard elements of LMS but also advanced data analytics, communication channels, collaboration tools, and online conferencing. Teachers have an easier time administering and grading assignments and exams. In addition, they are capable of handling hybrid and fully online courses. Like Blackboard, Schoology is an all-inclusive LMS that strives to connect teachers with their students and offer them the means to create engaging and effective classes (Sulisworo et al., 2020). The strength of this system is found in the time and effort put into creating and connecting the schools learning community at all levels, from students to faculty to administration. Therefore, it is possible to build virtual classrooms where students and professors can interact outside of scheduled class time. Educators from different departments, schools, districts, and countries can easily connect and share materials with Schoology. The platform also works well with other applications, such as Dropbox and Google Drive, which makes it possible to use external technologies in the classroom.

Google Classroom is one of the many products introduced as a component of the Google for Education campaign. The system provides a centralized location for instructors to plan lessons, distribute tasks, maintain student communication, evaluate assigned work, and provide constructive feedback. It also helps teachers to spend less time on administrative work and enhance teaching (Spirin et al., 2022). Google Classroom is compatible with any recent web browser and can be accessed from any device. All students, no matter where they are, have access to Google Classroom through its mobile apps for both Android and iOS.

The question is not whether technology plays a role in transforming mediocre businesses into exceptional ones; rather, it is how the latter approaches expertise differently from the former. The ultimate goal is to create something completely new through the creative application of technology. An accelerators purpose is to speed up the growth of a company. This means that companies already in existence, with a solid foundation in place and a tried and true concept, can leverage technological developments to accelerate their expansion by making the most of their resources. From a financial perspective, the benefits of investing in such technologies outweigh the costs. Therefore, technological change needs to be implemented gradually and carefully. The most effective Learning Management Systems (LMS) are designed to support the smooth running of distance learning initiatives and boost student participation. Google Classroom helps teachers organize and manage classroom activities such as lesson planning, assignment issuance, student communication, assessment, and feedback.

References

Collins, J. (2001). Good to great: Why some companies make the leap and others dont.  HarperBusiness.

Kane, G. (2019). The technology fallacy: People are the real key to digital transformation. Research-Technology Management, 62(6), 44-49.

Saidi, R. M., Sharip, A. A., Abd Rahim, N. Z., Zulkifli, Z. A., & Zain, S. M. M. (2021). Evaluating students preferences of open and distance learning (ODL) tools. Procedia Computer Science, 179, 955-961.

Spirin, O., Vakaliuk, T., Ievdokymov, V. V., & Sydorenko, S. (2022). Criteria for selecting a cloud-based learning management system for a higher education institution. Information Technologies and Learning Tools, 3(89), 105-120.

Sulisworo, D., Ummah, R., Nursolikh, M., & Rahardjo, W. (2020). The analysis of the critical thinking skills between blended learning implementation: Google Classroom and Schoology. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 8(3), 33-40.

Introduction

Before civilization, people used primitive means of long distance communication. Smoke signal was one of major means of long distance communication. The major limitation of ancient means of communication is that they could reach a limited number of people. In the modern world, people use various technological devices for communication. These include the internet, television, radio, and cell phone. These devices have helped in bridging the gap of space and time.

They have enabled people who are thousands of miles apart to communicate in real time (Mehlenbacher 2). Technological devices have affected all spheres of life of people in the modern world. Technological advances have not been entirely beneficial. Various studies show that use of various technological devices may be detrimental to the social and intellectual development of an individual.

Mobile devices are some of the revolutionary device of the contemporary world. The smart phone and tablet computer are the most recent mobile communication devices. The cell phone has become a constant companion of most people. It is among the first technological devices that most people use after waking up. In addition, it is among the last devices that most people use before going to sleep. In the contemporary world, use of cell phone has become a natural instinct.

Some people may shudder at the thought of not being able to access their phones. The cell phone enables people to connect with their family, friends, and business associates (Ling 25). Technological devices may have a negative effect on the life of an individual. A study found out that Japanese children who had cell phones were less likely to form friendships with those who did not have cell phones.

This is also applicable to children in other countries. This is a clear illustration that cell phones have a negative effect on the social development of children. Development of social skills is vital in the future life of the children. Social skills enable people to navigate through difficult situations. A sizeable percentage of people use multiple cell phones. A study showed that twenty-five percent of Italian adolescents had multiple phones.

Multiple phones increase the time that people spend on their phones. On the other hand, a different study showed that 36 percent of British college students could not survive without cell phones (Birdwell para 11). The study showed that 7% of people lost their jobs or relationships due to the use of mobile phones (Birdwell para 12). This is a clear indication that cell phones and other mobile devices have a negative effect on the social life of an individual.

The internet is the latest series of technological developments that revolutionized the world. The internet affects almost all spheres of life of the modern day individual. The internet provides people with a vast amount of information. Despite the large amount of information that the internet provides to people, research shows that the internet may have a negative effect on the intellectual ability of an individual. Technological devices provide unnecessary distractions.

These distractions include emails, alerts, and other messages. In addition, information on the internet may contain many links that offer distractions to readers. Frequent distractions limit the ability of individuals to focus their thoughts on one issue. This has a negative effect on the intellectual capability of an individual (Carr para 3). Scientists believe that brain cells adapt readily to the tools that people use. Therefore, certain technological developments may enhance certain neural pathways while weakening others (Carr para 10).

Rapid advancements in technology have had a great impact on education. Education uses several technological tools. These tools enable students to understand various complex concepts easily. However, misuse of technology in the classroom setting may have a negative impact on education. In the contemporary world, it is common for students to text and use the internet during classes. This reduces their concentration levels.

In addition, text messages and online chatting have a negative effect on the ability of students to learn grammar. The wording of text messages and online chats does usually follow grammatical rules. The use of technological devices may have a negative effect on the productivity of people. Teenagers spend a sizeable amount of their time playing video games. This limits the time that they use to enrich their knowledge.

Use of the internet has encouraged intellectual laziness. Technology enables people to store information. Therefore, it may make people be dependent on the technological devices to undertake their daily activities. Technology may have a negative effect on the learning priorities of children. It has changed the focus of learners. Learners only focus on where they may find information instead of focusing on the content of the information.

This may have a negative effect on the intellectual development of the learners. Technology provides people with tools for accessing, sharing, and storing information (Cash 12). Time will tell whether the information privilege will have a positive or negative impact on the social and intellectual capabilities of the next generation.

Works Cited

Birdwell, Frawley. Addicted to phones? Cell phone use becoming a major problem for some, expert says, University of Florida News, 18 January 2007. Web. https://news.ufl.edu/archive/2007/01/addicted-to-phones-cell-phone-use-becoming-a-major-problem-for-some-expert-sa.html

Carr, Nicholas. Does the internet make you dumber? The Wall Street Journal, 5 June 2010. Web. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704025304575284981644790098

Cash, Richard M. Advancing differentiation: Thinking and learning for the 21st century, Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing, 2011. Print.

Ling, Rich. The mobile connection: The cell phones impact on society, San Francisco, Morgan Kaufmann, 2004. Print.

Mehlenbacher, Brad. Instruction and technology: Designs for everyday learning, Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 2010. Print.

Pinker, Steven. Mind over mass media, The New York Times, 10 June 2012. Web. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/opinion/11Pinker.html?_r=0

The significance of technological development is often overlooked, with most innovations being taken for granted. However, taking retrospect into the changes observed throughout the process s of technological development over the past several decades, one will recognize the tremendous leap that has been made. Specifically, the transition to the digital environment and the emergence of e-learning have shaped the approaches that teachers use to motivate and educate students (Jagannathan, 2021). Additionally, the digital context has introduced students to the concept of responsibility, making them more organized and invested into their academic development (Jagannathan, 2021).

Similarly, the integration of the LMS and LXP tools has made it possible to advance the process of learning by increasing the students agency. Namely, the main strength of the LMS framework concerns the opportunity to keep track of a complex content, thus, navigating the learning process easily. As a result, students have a much greater chance to develop a clear insight into their learning patterns and characteristics, thus, choosing the contexts and factors that will be conducive to active knowledge and skill acquisition (Willis, 2021). In turn, the LXP framework can be used to adjust the learning context to students individual needs, therefore, making learning more exciting and engaging. However, the frameworks have certain disadvantages, both implying lesser control for the teacher over the class.

The concepts of synchronous and asynchronous learning also represent innovative solutions in the academic context. Recent developments in digital technology for learning have allowed incorporating both types of learning into the core set of learning activities more effectively. Namely, synchronous learning can be quite interactive with the help of innovative educational platforms, allowing the teacher to offer enough attention to each student while also ensuring that the essential information is provided and lesson objectives are achieved. In turn, digital asynchronous learning encourages students to wander into the area of self-directed learning, with the scaffolding role of an educator minimized (Willis, 2021). Specifically, as students complete digital tasks and receive grades automatically, they develop responsibility for and understanding of the learning process, which aligns with the requirements of the present-day L&D standards (Jagannathan, 2021).

Most importantly, innovative digital solutions have allowed blending the specified types of learning so that the transition from synchronous to asynchronous ones could become seamless. For instance, while platforms for teacher-student communication and classroom activities set the stage for the synchronous process reminiscent of the traditional classroom context, they have also offered learners greater autonomy. Namely, due to the broad array of activities that can be performed online individually and in groups of two, three, or more students, the presence of a teacher is minimized, leading to the development of independence in students, which is highly beneficial for modern L&D (Allen et al., 2020).

The introduction of the synchronous framework will help improve the situation within the organization substantially. Specifically, with the integration of the synchronous learning principles facilitated by innovative digital technology, the company will be able to invite staff members to develop the necessary skills. Specifically, the use of tools for synchronous learning, particularly the incorporation of live seminars and interactive digital tasks supervised by the manager, will help employees develop a set of habits that will allow them to perform the core tasks quickly while meeting the necessary quality and safety standards. For instance, digital simulations modified to mimic the workplace environment and unique issues that employees will meet in it will help increase the extent of preparedness and the quality of decision-making in the target population.

Showcasing Digital Facilitated Learning System

In turn, the principles of the human-centered design should be incorporated into the framework in order to embrace the full gamut of opportunities that innovative L&D technologies provide. Specifically, the principles of the human-centered learning design imply that the needs and unique learning characteristics of each participant must be approached individually to help all group embers achieve their maximum potential. By utilizing the technology for improving the infrastructure within the organization, the company will advance the efficacy of communication to a notable extent. As a result, a rapid improvement in the quality of the e-learning process is expected.

In the context of the target setting, the human-center design suggests the creation of the tasks and simulation experiences that will not only mimic the target setting for each staff member but also present unique problems developed to address the gaps in each employees knowledge and skillset. While the specified approach will require substantial time investments, it will ultimately be beneficial in the long term since it will help the company build a culture encouraging employees to acquire new skills actively and update the existing skillset on regular basis (Allen et al., 2020). As a result, the company will encourage the development of a team of highly qualified and motivated, innovation-driven experts.

When considering some of the key objectives that an academic institution must implement when meeting the needs of its students, one must mention the role of a proper safety and risk management strategy. Specifically, the evacuation system and the related strategies must be designed and introduced appropriately into the academic setting so that both teachers and students could be aware of the acceptable course of action in case of an emergency. For this reason, a viable evacuation plan must be integrated into the risk management system of a school.

The process of learning and development practice in relation to the integration of an evacuation system and a disaster management framework at school must be advanced so that safe evacuation as the core priority during an emergency should be facilitated properly. For this purpose, educators and other school staff members must be introduced to the L&D process that will encourage them not only to acquire basic knowledge and skills concerning the management of an emergency situation, but also innovative skills and information that will help them make the evacuation process as safe and quick as possible. Thus, the safety and security of learners will be achieved.

The management of education concerning evacuation procedures should start with the identification of an issue, namely, the dissection of the organizational structure and the creation of urgency within the team. Afterward, the guiding team should be created as Kotters change management framework suggests. The specified step will allow keeping the process of change management consistent and uninterrupted. Afterward, a vision toward a more effective management of organizational resources and the focus n continuous self-directed education must be introduced. Alongside the specified alteration, buy-ins must be communicated to ensure that the staff members are accepting of the change. Next, an action must be empowered, with a set of short-term wins created. After the development of a follow-up strategy, the tool for keeping the change consistent must be incorporated into the schools risk management framework. Thus, students safety will be facilitated.

The current personal development plan (PPD) is geared toward building a skillset required for the expeditious and efficacious development of the necessary skills and competencies. To meet the objectives of the PPD, a series of actions must take place to elicit a positive result and ensure the introduction of gradual incremental change toward the focus on self-directed lifelong learning. Therefore, among the core SMART goals that will have to be pursued when implementing the PDD in question, one must mention the necessity to identify at least five essential characteristics of my personal learning process that will facilitate the further acquisition of skills and information within the next two months. The specified goal suggests the use of introspection and a detailed assessment of my personal learning patterns and behaviors, specifically, the isolation of main weaknesses that hamper the personal development process. The described goal will be achieved with the help of relevant tests and tools, specifically, the frameworks designed by the CIPD. More importantly, the skill in question will be exceptionally useful in building the competencies required for the development of a lifelong learning habit and the focus on incremental professional improvements. Specifically, the proposed approach toward L&D in the workplace will lead to a better understanding of the core processes and the role of an educator within it, thus, encouraging teachers to make decisions in the target workplace setting more actively.

The video at hand is expected to accomplish several core goals of maintaining safety and security of learners. Specifically, the focus on revisiting the evaluation plan and introducing educators to it will pursue the goal of continuous learning and the outcome of keeping their skillset aligned with the established norm for the target population. The integration of online engagement techniques that ensure learners undivided attention and clear focus will be required to ensure that learners are able to select an appropriate learning strategy and tweak it in the manner that will help a learner build a unique approach to self-efficient learning.

The proposed change is entirely reasonable from the school ethical perspective as well. Furthermore, the teachers will be introduced to the key information that will facilitate learners safety in case of fire. Namely, the essential phone numbers that must be used in case of fire will have to be learned and utilized accordingly in case of need.

Furthermore, the teachers will have to be introduced to the idea that they remain key decision-makers in the context of a disaster, and that their choices will define the well-being and safety of learners.

For this reason, one must ensure that the skills developed by the participants of the seminar should increase in accordance with the initial objectives. In other words, safety rules, including the necessity to gather in a team and lead students toward the exit, must become the main standards according to which teachers make choices in case of an accident. The proposed focus on L&D as a part of the learning process must also remain a vital part of the training program. Otherwise, the learners will not be productive enough to launch several major challenges in relation to their business.

References

Allen, S., Gower, K., & Allen, D. K. (2020) Handbook of teaching with technology in management, leadership, and business. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Jagannathan, S. (Ed.). (2021) Reimagining digital learning for sustainable development: how upskilling, data analytics, and educational technologies close the skills gap. Routledge.

Willis, B. (2021) A tech guide to learning ecosystems. Routledge.

Project Selection

Emirates NBD

This company is a banking group and the result of the merger between two banks  Emirates Bank International and National Bank of Dubai. It is a regional bank, serving the United Arab Emirates and the Middle East, but it also aims for an international clientele. The merger has been described as a valuation perspective, with both organizations providing powerful legacies form the leading financial institutions in this part of the globe, but with an international presence.

Emirates NBD is a functional organization, in which there are several superiors or supervisors, and the employees are grouped in teams that practice their own specialization or expertise. The traditional approach distinguishes an organization through clear lines of authority depending on the type of work that is at hand. There is the unity of command in that the employees are under one boss.

The importance of the merger of the two banks is immense: it has created a powerful and effective financial institution in the region. It is now UAEs pride, the number one in the region, and the largest in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in terms of assets and market capitalization. Information Technology (IT) applications have initially been applied, but this is lacking. The bank has applied for e-banking for its thousands of customers. Its treasury apparatus should also be IT-enabled to provide integrated processing in different aspects. A unique consumer finance system has already been installed to enable a systematic cycle of loans to clients who might be individuals or organizations. E-banking will speed up responses to customer needs and will enhance organizational performance.

The Organizational Structure

With more than 220 branches across the Middle East, Emirates NBD spreads its services across the UAE and internationally. Traditional vertical structure works for Emirates NBD. The Board of Directors is comprised of prominent and successful leaders from different industries. It meets every month to discuss significant banking and business strategies and management, corporate issues, financial reports, internal and external problems, and risks.

The current Chairman is His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the Vice-Chairman is Hesham Abdulla Al Qassim, and directors hail from leading industries in the region, such as H. E. Khalid Juma Al Majid, Ali Humaid Ali Al Owais, Husain Hassan Mirza Al Sayegh, Buti Al Mulla, Khamis Al Shehi, Ahmad Al Hussaini, and Hashem Khoory.

The executive team supervises the Group performance and provides decisions at the Group level, with authority from the Board of Directors. These decisions include the daily operations, the strategic initiatives, and other significant issues that need immediate resolution. The team meets twice a month.

The Group Chief Executive Officer is Shayne Nelson; Subramanian Suryanarayan is the Chief Financial Officer; Manoj Chawla is the Group Chief Risk Officer; Lubna Qassim is the Chief General Counsel and Corporate Secretary; Abdulla Qassem is Group Chief Operating Officer, Suvo Sarkar is the Senior Executive Vice President, and concurrent head of retail banking; Husam Al Sayed is the Group Chief Human Resource Officer; Kevin Flanner is Executive Vice President for International Relations. Saod Obaidalla has been given responsibility in the Private Banking division. He has been with the organization for many years.

Project team members include Abdula Dawood, Assistant Manager for Finance; Amr Shohdy, Cluster Manager; Fatma Kianifar, VIP Relations Manager; Latifa Al Jabri, Assistant Manager Group Risk; Namitha Ashok, Dispute Processor; Pradep Viswambharan, Fraud Monitoring; Ritu Bhatia, Project Manager; Seema Sadanandan, Product Support Assistant; and Hamdan Bin Balmook, Assistant Manager for Finance.

Emirates NBD promotes green credit as a concept of sustainable banking. It is a commonly applied environmentally sensitive financing process among the financial industry worldwide. During its early years of massive infrastructure and economic development, construction industries in the UAE, especially those in Dubai, were heavily criticized for their involvement in several projects that brought damage to the local environment and community interest.

Emirates NBD has evaluated the environmental risk of loans. Other countries have introduced legislation containing both green credit and green insurance policies. Germany and France also issued laws and financial policies to incentivize capital flow to environmentally friendly business, while strengthening environmental law enforcement to increase enterprises cost for the violation, which then turned into credit risks. Green financing runs alongside the social responsibility principles and is often fuelled by disastrous events and fierce protests from the public. In the UAE, the green financing movement is a direct result of public outcry and the banking sector initiative.

In western countries, such as the UK, the financial industry is supervised following the Arms Length Principle. Environmental risk in these countries largely comes from the market, where environmental law violations are too costly.

Project Charter

Title: Implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) for Emirates NBD

Scope Overview

Like other complex information systems, Enterprise Resource Planning implementation is a time-consuming and expensive task. Implementations usually take longer than planned, data from old core and legacy systems do not convert smoothly, and the list of difficulties and drawbacks is long. The implementation effort occupies many resources and creates a disturbance in the organization. Changes in business processes to fit the core system create stress and disappointment if not properly managed.

Failure to meet deadlines and target dates creates a tense atmosphere for the project team undertaking the implementation, in addition to the rest of the staff and management. However, this is applicable and is most recommended for this large organization, since Emirates NBD is a banking group comprised of two large banks in the UAE.

Objectives

This paper will focus on general and specific objectives on the subject of IT implementations in organizations.

General Objectives

• To conduct project management on an organization in the United Arab Emirates;
• To determine the impact of the information revolution in organizations;
• To examine the effectiveness of Information Technology in large organizations.

Specific Objectives

• To implement Enterprise Resource Planning on Emirates NBD, a banking group in Dubai;
• To examine the effectiveness of ERP with respect to functionalities of an organization like Emirates NBD;
• To determine project management activities of Emirates NBD;
• To find out how the steps in project management can enhance ERP implementation;
• To inter-connect the banks old system with the new system;
• To determine the outcomes of ERP implementation in a large organization.

What needs to be accomplished

In connection with the general and specific objectives, we need to focus on several factors like adequate executive alignment, business processes, end-user adoption, treat organizational flaws and inadequacies, and address information technology configuration issues, infrastructure shortcomings, knowledge transfer challenges, geographic distance, time separation, organizational differences, functional diversity, cultural differences, and language differences.

Computer applications already in place in the banks system:

1. Core Banking Application (PHOENIX)  consists of General Ledger, Liability Products, Asset Products, Relationship Management, and SWIFT interface
2. Treasury Application (QUANTUM)  including Front-end treasury system, Middle-tier system, Back-office system, SWIFT interface, and PHOENIX interface.
3. Branch Application (MOSAIC)  includes functionalities for, among others, Relationship Management, Asset and Liability products, Check processing products, Passbook facilities, Transfers, Checks and drafts, Retail lending, Retail fixed deposits, Product selling vehicle, Greeter functions, Safe deposit box management, and PHOENIX interface.
4. ATM Switch-u / SWITCHWARE  This is the ATM switch to automate both Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) and Point-of-Sale (POS) debit car business.
5. Trade Finance Application (IBSNET)  This is the trade finance function that will automate the trade finance functions including among others:
   1. Letters of Credit,
   2. Letters of Guarantee,
   3. Collections.
6. Credit Scoring (FAIR ISAAC)  This is the credit scoring application that will be interface at a later stage of this project to MOSAIC. It supports both the credit desk and the credit table that assists the bank in setting weights based on a regression analysis of historical data.

ERP application

IT experts contend that ERP ensures 24/7 accessibility through any type of advanced information system. This connects with and provides functionalities for ATMs, mobile phones, personal computers, emails, etc., and for all types of financial transactions which can be securely conducted online or with the use of the internet.

ERP was first developed by the founders of SAP. There are many vendors offering ERP systems, some of them are SAP and Oracle. ERP combines business management procedures and the common features of technology, with automation for business functions, are introduced. Since Emirates NBD already has automation in some of its business functions, it only needs ERP to integrate all the functions, along with a central database and an ERP server.

However, ERP systems can be very complicated, costly, and needs multiple parameters to implement. It incorporates functionalities, one of which is the Materials Resource Planning (MRP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). If implemented successfully, it provides effective innovations and an effective banking system for Emirates NBD. However, users have to get acquainted with this new system and have to adapt to it. The banking group needs to restructure since the unbending features of ERP are complicated for new users. Moreover, the smooth running of a business can be significantly disturbed while implementation is going on. There will be data migrations that may enable confusion on the part of new users, especially employees of the various departments of the bank.

There are risks in ERP implementation but the benefits are multiple. It can increase profitability because the system enhances banking applications and relationships with customers. It might take years to fully have an effective and functional system, but success can be long term. Maintenance and upgrading are quite easy for IT people, as long as the system is already working.

On the other hand, core banking is one of the important applications. This will be integrated into ERP. With regard to its features, the core bank refers to all transactions coming to the back office, where the core data processing system processes the transaction, reports the information and records the transaction for the general ledger system. The core banking system is the heart of the retail bank. In general, core banking systems are comprised of deposit processing, loan processing, and accounting, customer information files, general ledgers, and reporting tools.

Most banks trust a single vendor to provide all these essential elements, but large banks like Emirates NBD need several vendors. In general, a bank will develop a close relationship with its core banking system vendor, often depending on it to drive the banks technology investments and strategic implementations. In turn, the vendor, with intimate knowledge of the bank customers needs, will work closely with the bank to customize or add functionality to the core banking system to meet the clients unique needs.

The deposit processing system supports the development of the bank deposit products and the management of all deposit products and the management of all deposit transactions. This includes current accounts, savings accounts, and time deposits, even large deposits made by client organizations. Innovative developments in this area include a library of thousands of bank product components that banks can use, without extensive programming training, to develop customized, unique bank products for customers.

Core banking systems often include consumer loan accounting and servicing systems that are connected to their loan origination systems and channels. The functionality will often include the ability to develop unique loan products, support for a wide variety of loan types (e.g., installment loans, student loans, home equity lines of credit, revolving credit, etc.), collection and recovery management, and statement production.

All these can be incorporated into the ERP application server. The center of the core banking system is the customer information file (CIF). This is the central repository for descriptive information of a banks customer base, including account relationships, address information, and household information.

Business case

Information technology has a tremendous influence on the banking sector. This is evident in increasingly more effective and convenient delivery channels of banking products and services, which create new avenues for competition and upgrade banks competitive advantage through direct marketing, efficient customer service, and streamlined business processes. Internally, more effective and timely access to critical information has enhanced the decision-making process through consistent management and decision-support systems.

To the customer, IT has enabled banks to develop and implement several products and services whose aim is to satisfy customers needs, thus attracting and retaining the most profitable ones. The customer can access the following services at an easy pace:

• Self-inquiry terminals at the banks branch which enables the customer to access and view transactions in their accounts;
• Remote banking or e-banking at the customers geographic location that connects to the respective banks branch through a modem and allows the customer to make inquiries regarding his or her accounts online;
• Anytime/anywhere banking such as ATM (automated teller machines), which offer 24/7 facilities of cash withdrawals and deposits, remittances and inquiry installed on- and offsite, and networking of computerized branches that permits customers in the network to transact from any of these branches;
• Electronic banking, which allows the bank to provide corporate or high-net-worth customers with graphical user interface software on a personal computer, so they can inquire about their financial transactions and accounts, cash transfers, checkbook issuance, and rates without visiting the bank.

On the other hand, a bank can have a wide array of back and front office functions and tasks that include the following:

• Efficient inquiry facilities, enhancing the banks business development and related activities;
• Online access to customer data, enabling speedier customer service; and
• Generation of various management information systems reports, periodically, and ad hoc.

Employees benefits in IT applications include productivity increase and relief from cumbersome and time-consuming menial jobs; signature retrieval facility, which enables verification of transactions without leaving the terminal; and single-point data entry that eliminates inadvertent duplication of entries.

Milestone schedule

Computerization and the introduction of new technologies have had a multifaceted effect on the customer, the bank, and the employee. Information technology has to be introduced in all functionalities of the bank. This will have a great impact on top management and employees, along with their customers, and expectations are high.

Important milestones of the Emirates NDB merger include: March 2007  the start of the merger, with Goldman Sachs International given the responsibility as lead financial advisors; 12 July 2007  terms of the merger were made public; 5 September 2007  Shareholders approved the terms of the agreement; 18 September 2007  first offering were closed; 4 November 2007  announcement of the National Bank of Dubais building to be the new main headquarters of the Group (Kumar & Fernandez, 2012).

Success criteria

A projects success formula is governed by a blend of good management and agreement among the projects stakeholders on the relative significance of each of the terms of the project. Stakeholders external to the project organization use target cost and time for measuring project success, whereas those internal to the project agree that the attainment of the scope of development determines the projects success. Other success criteria will include:

• Top management support  IS implementation is resource-intensive
• Technical fit  the compatibility of the existing system with the new system
• Organizational fit  congruence between the organizational artifact and its organizational context. A generic solution that applies to a broad market might have an organizational misfit in a specific market.
• Project team competence  the appropriate balance of business and technical skills. This also includes people who have high qualifications and knowledge about the enterprise.
• Interdepartmental cooperation  Implementation of special coordination, communication, and cognitive processes tailored to help teams overcome global barriers. We also have to form a cross-company team to represent each business unit, corporate management, and IT to develop a broad-based but rigorous roadmap with the aim to build consensus around the project.
• True to its mission and objectives  Emirates NBD will provide standards that are achievable and can prove their worth to their clients. Their goals are in line with the publics welfare and development.
• Project management  IS project performance consists of two different dimensions: process performance product performance. Project planning will refer to the extent to which timetables, milestones, workforce, equipment, and budgets are specified. Project team empowerment refers to the empowerment of the project team members to make decisions and their high position in the enterprise hierarchy.
• We must get to the point of discerning the real consequence of what we do; meaning a project controller has to provide the covered costs of the operations.
• Interdepartmental communication  Communication within the project sections will be implemented by the team members to other enterprise employees.
• Management of expectations  When users are not assigned any formal project development responsibility, user participation and desire to participate still has a significant influence on perceived participation and perceived participation has a significant influence on intention to use and process satisfaction.
• Benefits  Suppliers will be different IT vendors.
• Careful package selection  system reliability, user-friendliness, and fit to the enterprises needs are a must. Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) packages embody best practices.
• Data Analysis and Conversion  This may involve different packages such as a database for electronic data, which is a common feature of ERP.
• Whatever the choice of software, ERP will allow us to integrate existing business applications and data libraries to make migration for users easy, avoid downtime due to training, and reduce the costs associated with migrating data.
• Dedicated resources  This will refer to the size of the organization, financial budget, which should be assured during the implementation, and the project manager who is dedicated to implementation duties.
• User training  this is very important in software implementation, and cannot be overlooked or overemphasized. It will contribute to reducing the operational and cultural issues encountered during an implementation project. It is essential for complex systems that entail large-scale changes in jobs skills, contents, and computerization.
• Ease of use  This refers to the degree to which the system is perceived to be relatively free from physical and mental effort, and has an impact on the intentions to use ERP.
• Training should involve both the packaged systems features and related work processes.
• Minimal customization  Keeping the IT package as is is always recommended by companies implementing computer software and even many researchers for optimal exploitation of the package and for avoiding the technical complexity of customizing the package and the future technical problems in rollouts and updates, especially in phased implementations of these systems.

We have also to consider that, based on the literature, success rates in IS projects are not high, meaning there is a great percentage of failure. This is not to mean that we are losing hope; success will always be in our minds. Success factors for this project will include: on time, on budget, system quality, cost, and effort to meet requirements, user satisfaction, team satisfaction, system use, and net system benefits.

Risks, assumptions, and constraints

How has technology affected the performance of UAE banks, and what is going on in this area? With the merger of the two large banks, this banking group is aiming for effective organizational performance to appease clients and end-users of the system. IT implementation has to gain new opportunities and increase clientele and profitability, rather than lose them. In short, Emirates NBD wanted to make sure ERP implementation was successful. They acquired a number of vendors, provided funds for the project, and appointed responsible IT experts and experienced managers to handle and supervise the project. In their quest to offer superior products and services to all their clientele, the banking group has aimed to be viewed as a technology-driven institution.

Moreover, the ERP system must be operational within the months of December or January. The first phase of this project will focus on the technical side, and surveys will be conducted. A feasibility study will also be conducted to give a chance for top management to decide for a go or no-go scenario, and that will occur at the conclusion of this study. Implementation of the ERP system will commence in July, depending on the recommendations and decisions of top management.

Resource estimates

The human resource will be a combination of IT experts, mostly internal to the project while others came from the donor organization. However, there will be those external who come from IT companies. The overall project manager takes charge of the entire operation. Since this is a vertical set up, the overall project manager report to the Steering Committee. Vendor representatives report to him, including the business units that include operations, retail, accounts, credit corporate, special assets, treasury, and so forth. It is estimated that this will cost approximately $10 million for Emirates NBD, but it might exceed further. The exact cost can be determined during its completion, i.e. after the installation, testing, and actual use by the end-user.

The Stakeholders

The stakeholders in the implementation of the project include:

Steering Committee

This is chaired by the Chairman General Manager, and composed of the head of administration, chief financial officer, chief information officer, and other chiefs of office with significant functions;

• This Committee owns and oversees the whole project  the Donor  and is considered the supreme authority as far as the project is concerned;
• Deals with high-level issues such as handling bottlenecks, resolving conflicts, taking strategic decisions, approving budget deviations, approving project plan modifications, and approving scope changes.

Overall Project Manager

Emirates NBD nominated its CIO to be in charge of the whole project management and coordination. He/she has the following responsibilities:

• Creating the sub-project task forces and coordinating with the various business units of the bank for this purpose;
• Coordinating all project activities among the various vendors, project teams, steering committee, and end-user divisions;
• Calling for, preparing the agenda, and following-up on the meeting of the steering committee;
• Deciding on issues to be reported to the steering committee;
• Setting task priorities among the various jobs and sub-projects;
• Garnering the direct approval of the chairman, general, or the project steering committee for project-related business decisions that may lead to conflicts between business decisions.

Vendors

Vendors are significant players in this project. The companies they represent can be considered suppliers. This time they are dealing with intangible products which are very important to the smooth flow of business and for other organizational matters. In order for the project to run smoothly each vendor must assign a project manager who assumes the following responsibilities:

• Full coordination between the vendors company and the overall project manager;
• Bypassing the overall project manager and going directly to the steering committee when the need arises;
• Coordinating with the overall project manager in preparing a detailed project plan for that part of the application that is related to the vendor;
• Coordinating with Emirates NDB project teams which are headed by selected IT project coordinators assisted by business staff/ consultants.

IT Coordinators

Appointed by Emirates NBD, and have the following responsibilities:

• Coordinate with the vendor teams on detailed project tasks;
• Coordinate with end-users, especially on deliverables;
• Report regularly to the overall project manager especially on any unforeseen barriers;
• Take responsibility for the detailed implementation plans and work accordingly;
• Maintain related documentation;
• Perform their duties in full compliance with IT policies and procedures. They should facilitate the job of vendors as long as this does not conflict with policies and procedures, in which case the problem should be escalated to the overall project manager for immediate resolution.
• IT coordinators represent the different departments which are the direct beneficiary of the IT innovation.

End users

These are the ultimate owners of the application in the sense that they will be using it on implementation on a regular basis to increase their efficiency. End users comprised of the employees and staff of Emirates NBD. They have the following responsibilities: Assist in the analysis of the project; seek proper authorizations of business decisions from their superiors; perform system user testing, to include user acceptance testing; attend training courses and be ready to train their colleagues; coordinate fully with the IT project coordinators and abide by the project charter.

Librarian

Is assigned by the overall project manager and assumes the following responsibilities:

• Maintaining all project-related documentation including project initiation documents, licenses, and delivery notes, project implementation plans, minutes of the meetings, analysis sheets, user acceptance tests, technical documentation, system references, user manuals, project-related software, compiling IT documents;
• Compiling IT documents before final publishing
• Coordinating document distribution.

Audit

The audit department is required to be on board from day one of the project, in order to promote a technical solution that is compliant with best practices and regulations. The project team on all compliance and security issues consults the audit department during both the analysis and the user acceptance testing phases of the project. All related documentation shall be routed to the audit department for review. Finally, the audit department is required to comment on issues during any of the project phases.

Team operating principles

Emirates NBD has a strategy of seeking accredited international vendors in order to address its needs as far as software for banking applications is concerned. This large organization does not support the in-house development of its core applications. The bank, however, is well aware of the fact that regardless of how efficient and comprehensive may the application be, it needs to have some satellite applications for the automation of non-core but mission-critical applications.

We have a good example of a satellite application  the check-clearing application. All international applications the bank has so far used do not provide for a proper check clearing mechanism because the said mechanism is so peculiar to the UAE banking environment. Above all, we also must consider user requirements. In an ERP system, all IT products must be streamlined with the banks strategic and tactical business direction. It is not acceptable to produce services and systems that do not reflect and match with such direction. Consequently, the IT Business Support Unit ensures that user requirements are clearly understood, fully documented, and properly signed off.

Emirates NBD has a policy to maintain clear technical documentation of each and every in-house developed system so that continuity of services can be maintained. Development should include full accordance with technical documentation, wholly endorsed development environment, and in accordance with the banks development standards. End users often concentrate on the business functionality of the application and can ignore their security measures. Therefore, every application developed in-house must observe the security measure even if the end-user has ignored it. IT application should depend on the size of the application and the banks operating procedures. It is very important to ensure that changes should take place before the final deployment of the product. Else, ERP might have problems such as reversals or other post-development issues that can delay the full implementation of the product.

After implementation, we may also require some end-user training. This is an important phase in the full development of the IT product, which can be overlooked by developers. The more the end-user is oriented on the new technology, the less work the System and Technical Support Section can encounter.

Therefore, the support group must have proposed training material with the plan that this is going to be used for the end-users. This training material can be introduced with a PowerPoint presentation, or a whole course, wherein the training session logistics must be coordinated with the HR department.

The testing of the software is an important part of the application. Before it can be fully delivered, it has to be tested in a live environment. This can be a short period of time that may involve a few staff members, or it can be complex testing involving an entire organization. The scope and complexity of this activity will depend on the features of the project itself. However, regardless of the project complexity, the support team must include in its activities the proper testing of the product, and with proper documentation.

The installation manual is also a must. The IT application team has to prepare a fully-detailed installation manual, and other information materials to help the Systems and Technical Support System in providing a full installation of the system. This is a significant step so that a full separation between the production environment and the test environment can be ensured.

User manuals should be provided. The team should prepare an end-user manual or all in-house technology applications. Care should be given to ensure the manual is a correct application of what is given in the software. The quality of the user manuals reflects directly on the integrity of the IT department. It is one of the important steps in the application.

Lessons learned

The core system implementation of this merger bank, known as Emirates NBD as described earlier, has had many twists and turns. To conclude, it seems to have made it onto a stable, standard platform but it has been a painful process with plenty of lessons along the way. The route by which Emirates NBD passed through was long and far from smooth. It took several years and one failed attempt. There was a great deal of customization, bringing instabilities. Lately, this has resulted in a major project to upgrade to the latest version of the system and adopt a much more standard version this time around.

Stakeholder Analysis and Communication Planning

Stakeholder analysis

Stakeholders interest

Communications matrix

Scope Planning

Resourcing the project

Histogram

Human Resource Management Plan

The impact technology has had on the banking profession is remarkable. This is evident in increasingly more effective and convenient delivery channels of banking products and services, which create new avenues for competition and upgrade banks competitive advantage through direct marketing, efficient customer service, and streamlined business processes. Internally, more effective and timely access to critical information has enhanced the decision-making process through consistent management and decision-support systems. Computerization and the introduction of new technologies have had a multifaceted effect on the customer, the bank, and the employee.

Enterprise resource planning implementations are complicated and risky projects. These involve complicated aspects of reengineering and other complex aspects of ERP technology. All these requirements and more magnify the project management challenges for such undertakings, making them implementation failure-prone. Project planning, which refers to the extent to which timetables, milestones, workforce, equipment, and budgets are specified, becomes crucial in this type of complicated project environment.

Important individuals, including managers and employees, are instrumental to the full implementation and success of this project. The sponsor company provided for the financing. We have to draw the expertise of the members of the Steering Committee, and this may include the Chief Executive officer, Chief Information Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, the Overall Project Manager, and the various representatives, coordinators, and IT experts, and not to exclude the IT vendors and their coordinators. The stakeholders provided a team of experts and experienced technical and academic experts to provide what Emirates NDB needs.

Employees will have to be trained for end-user training. This is a critical intervention to support the successful implementation of information systems innovations. For this reason, the implementation of IS innovations is typically accompanied by substantial investment in formal training programs. Lack of user training can be a cause for implementation problems or failures. Training is essential for complex systems such as ERP, especially with large-scale changes in jobs skills, contents, and computerization. Employees should be aware of how their mistakes may escalate and affect what other users are doing in different areas of the whole system.

Budgeting for the Project

Implementing ERP will require cost from installation up to maintenance. There will be more staff time and will require an IT team to maintain its effectiveness. A substantial amount of job time will be needed and also cost to pay employees.

First, the cost of acquisition will run depending on the size and scope of IT and the needed software. In the case of Emirates NDB, it will run into millions of dollars since this organization is a banking group with hundreds of client organizations and hundreds of thousands of individual clients. Other costs will pay for human relations and loss of services.

For a typical middle-sized firm, the installation will run from a few hundred thousand dollars to $750,000. We have estimated that the Emirates NDB incurred $10 million, but there could be other costs. IT personnel installing the software are employees of the vendor, and therefore their salaries will be the responsibility of the IT vendor.

The problem lies in the maintenance: Emirates NDB could hire IT professionals to work for the company, and be a part of their regular employees. Their salaries will be higher than ordinary employees, with an additional 20% benefits. The banking group can outsource ERP implementation and incur a lesser cost for IT maintenance. The cost of maintenance will vary since there might be failures along the way and complaints from end-users. The human factor can cause IT failures, therefore, top management has to be aware that this can add cost to maintenance if they outsource IT, people. Hiring the best IT staff and make them permanent employees of the organization is the best option to attain lesser IT costs.

The problem of automation in modern companies is very acute, as COVID-19 has forced managers to step up work in the direction of technology. Automation has gained solid momentum and will not slow down in the coming years until half or even most of the worlds companies of any specialization will move to a technological foundation. It is believed that automation improves customer service and helps with the long-term transportation of goods and logistics operations. In addition, information technology significantly increases the speed of production or the provision of a particular service. However, the gradual coming of automation could deprive many people of their jobs, creating a collapse in the labor market. To prevent the destruction of the labor market, it is necessary to change the production and management procedures so that machines do not replace people but help them.

The first change is the most global: a change in business models. Many companies current business models do not consider the growth of automation and the possibilities of artificial intelligence and information technology (Partington, 2017). These models rely on manual power, human intelligence, and the ability of groups of workers. Machinery is not perceived as a foundation that permeates all qualitative and quantitative work, each task separately. When adopting technology, many managers expect to make only slight adjustments to the business model, but the result is that both the technology investment and the workforce suffer (Holzer, 2022). Robots are specific workers that cannot be applied to conventional business models, as they have different needs and capabilities.

In this regard, it is essential to say about international cooperation, which should go beyond the competition of businesses. Companies want to collaborate to benefit technology development and subordinate it to a successful business. Given these opportunities and desires, achieving the goals of adequate business automation seems natural. International conferences and meetings on IT, engineering, and risks caused by the introduction of technology make businesses mutually develop parts of one technological and economic system (Nunes, 2021). The topic of job loss by low-skilled workers can be of them especially hotly debated.

The second argument for the harmonious interaction of technology and people is full-fledged training. This training can take a lot of resources and time, but it will avoid the loss of jobs for many people. Machines need overseers and maintenance specialists so that many workers can gain new qualifications. The beauty of such workouts can be that they can take place on the job. However, then managers will have to prepare for a possibly large number of errors in training personnel. Society has retained a fascination with technology that has not left it for nearly a century. The joint work of man and technology will become a new stage in developing the service sector and various industries (Hastings, 2021). Even if this collective work is only light human service and security surveillance, allowing workers to retrain without retraining or with a slight increase is worth it.

When technology and robots fill production warehouses, the question of safety is especially acute. No one is immune from the sudden failure of complex equipment, which, given its size and speed of operation, can be a considerable danger to people. There are known cases of death in production when such robots or conveyors fail. All this shows the importance of spying on robots, which should be carried out by a team of workers and not by one manager with higher education. Besides the severe security issue, robots show the least flexibility when dealing with clients. Many clients want to receive unique help, considering their problem as special and describing it in detail. They want to get not an algorithm of actions for hundreds and thousands of the same clients but particular recommendations for their case. Unfortunately, robots are not yet able to resort to this approach.

In conclusion, it is crucial to focus on new business models that must inevitably enter, along with technology, into the work of large companies. It will allow many low-skilled workers to continue their activities in different positions. Even though training will take a lot of time and financial resources, it will avoid staff drain and labor market collapse, and workers will become companions to robots.

References

Hastings, R. (2021).The pros and cons of automation in the workplace. Emeritus.

Holzer, H. J. (2022). Understanding the impact of automation on workers, jobs, and wages. Brookings.

Nunes, A. (2021). Automation doesnt just create or destroy jobs  It transforms them. Harvard Business Review.

Partington, R. (2017). UKs poorest to fare worst in age of automation, thinktank warns. The Guardian.