Snowblower Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Snowblower - Essay Example Every project faces constraints at the drawing stage. Constraints are the challenges or obstacles that affect an undertaking. It is therefore very important to analyze all constraints that a project may encounter before it begins. However, constraints do not imply a failure but they act as a guide to success. That being said, designing a snow blower is not an easy task because of the various designs in the market. Before we started the project, we were determined in producing an electric snow blower for a start before further engaging in producing gasoline or diesel powered snow blower machines. The following are just but a few of the constraints encountered and their significance (Kolisch, 1995). These constraints generally focus on architecture decisions that have a tendency to limit the project’s solution design. They therefore tend not to be flexible and static. They have a great impact on the implementation of the solution (Kolisch, 1995). Technical constraints in our case included materials, design, whether manual or computerized, type of engine whether electric or gasoline powered and the size of the snow blowers. This was very challenging because the mentioned constraints are very significant for the success of the project. These types of constraints are required due to the fact that the theme of our project aimed at designing something unique and not available in the market. This was a driving force for further innovation in the design of the snow blower. Quality is a vital constraint in a project because in designing a product, quality is fundamental for the customers to accept the product. It was very significant because our snow blower had to be a state of the yard invention that delivers the required workload as expected in a short time frame. Under this constraint, the idea was whether to develop a single stage or a two stage snow blower. Single stage machines use

Report on Religious Field Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Report on Religious Field Research - Essay Example Conversely, conferring to Islam, ‘jihads’ are of different types and they are also non-violent. ‘Jihad’ is also ‘Jihad bilnafs’, one’s tussle with one’s self is among the most essential kinds. Jihad bilnafs includes regularly striving to manage and deal with our animal desires. Safeguarding Muslim women from the ‘oppression’ of Islamic conduct is considered one of the pet assembling exclamations of the folks who reflect Islam to be a force of evil. Similar to several other offenses incorrectly accredited to the name of Islam instead to the specific people who initiate them, biased handling of women is also measured to be the ‘Islamic way’ of treating female folk. Keeping to the side the spiteful publicity, the cause behindhand this error is perhaps the detail that Islamic educations about the part, everyday jobs, rank, position and conduct of females are referred to in accordance to the practices and beliefs of the western world. If nothing else, Islam freed the women in Arabia by openhandedly granting them human rights which were disregarded for most of the era that time in most nations. Numerous Christians come to believe that Jesus and also other prophets are not thought of as Prophets or God’s messengers by the people of Islamic faith. A hasty analysis of Qur’an or other Islamic works of prose display that Muslims reminisce all of the Messengers talked about in the Judaic and Christian Books with utmost esteem and respect. Theindicationof Jesus has been in Qur’an in numerous spaces. Religious narrow-mindedness is tall on the list of charges counter to Muslims and Islam. Numerous non-Muslims trust that Islam is not tolerating towards different religions and beliefs and that it instructions to its followers is to slay wholly the non-Muslims. Associating the activities of a minority of corrupt people with the wisdoms of Islam in regard

Economist Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Economist - Assignment Example Marshall started with metaphysics, specifically "the philosophical foundation of knowledge, especially in relation to theology." The Metaphysics led Alfred to ethics, specifically a Sidgwickian version of utilitarianism; ethics, on the other hand, led Alfred to economics. This was so because economics played an essential role in the provision of the preconditions for the improvement of the working class. Marshall’s ethical views continued to be a dominant force in his thinking even though he turned to economics (Marshall & Palgrave Connect, 2013). During his time, Marshall was viewed as the most influential economist. In his book Principles of Economics (1881), Marshall brought out the ideas of supply and demand, marginal utility and cost of production into a single whole. As an extension to what he had done, he brought up the elasticity price of demand. He in addition, contributed to the economic welfare both consumer surplus and producer surplus. He developed the standard demand and supply graph which demonstrates a number of basics that regards demand and supply including market equilibrium, law of diminishing returns, supply and demand curves, law of marginal returns, interrelationship between price and quantity with respect to demand and supply, and the ideas of producer and consumer surpluses (Marshall & Palgrave Connect, 2013). Economists now use this model in various forms using different variables in demonstrating several other economic principles. Ideas and theories that could only be explained in words can now be r epresented visually with the help of this model. Marshall’s models are now critical throughout the study of economics simply because they allow fundamentals or theories being explained to be represented clearly and concisely (Marshall & Palgrave Connect, 2013). Marshall had a vision of dramatic social change which involves the sharp reduction of inequality and the elimination of poverty. He saw that it was

Oedipus The King Essay Example for Free

Oedipus The King Essay Oedipus is written as a play, there is no narrator, Sophocles explains the story line and then runs the story into playwright. I like this point of view because it can sometimes be more clear to the reader. There are many points of view in this play. That is there are many different individuals addressed this playwright. Thus there are many different points of view. I think that Oedipus generally speaks in place of a narrator, because he is the main character. I believe he expresses some of the things that Sophocles is trying to say to the audience. An example of this is when he says: Speak out, speak to us all. I grieve for these, my people, far more that I fear for my own life. (Sophocles, 395) I think that Sophocles is trying to get people to speak their own mind, come together, and establish a community. He is saying this through Oedipus. Oedipus goes through many changes. He goes through a state of innocence or ignorance, then through a state of denial and finally a state of acceptance and guilt. Throughout these different stages in his life, he reveals to his audience who he really is. Oedipus believing he is innocent is part of the form in this play. Oedipus has come to the throne of Thebes by solving the Riddle of the Sphinx. There is a plague upon Thebes which Oedipus desires to heal. Creon returns to the palace after his visit to the Pythian House of Phoebus, an oracle. The oracle has said that the only way to cure the illness in Thebes is to find the man whom killed Laius, the previous king of Thebes. Odeipus tries to discover the murderer and requests that the murderer come forward and promises that instead of being killed, he will be banished from Thebes. If any man comes forward with the murderer he will be rewarded and if any guilty man is found and has not confessed, the murderer will be banished from all aspects of society. Tiresias, an aged, blind prophet is brought to Oedipus to reveal the murderer. Tiresias says that Oedipus unknowingly killed Laius. Disbelieving this, Oedipus blames Creon for plotting this against him to gain the throne  of Thebes. Tiresias states his innocence and before he leaves the palace, he gives Oedipus a riddle: The murderer seemed an alien is really a native to Theban, was once poor and now is rich, is the brother of his children and the child of his wife, the heir to his fathers bed and the cause of his fathers death. The form in this part of the play, plays into the certain buildup of the plot. Now Creon comes to the palace after hearing of Oedipus charges against him. Oedipus questions Creon as to why Tiresias didnt come forward when the initial investigation of Laius death occured. Creon says he is happy with his position in court and has no desire to take the throne from Oedipus. He tells Oedipus that for proof he can go to the oracle at Pytho and ask if Creon is telling the truth. Jocasta, Oedipus wife, tells him that an oracle came to Laius saying that he would die by the hand of his child. Learning this Laius has his newborn son tied at the ankles and taken away to be killed. She says that Laius was killed by robbers on his way to the oracle at Delphi at the place where three roads meet. The content of this play is that of Greek tragedy, son of Laius, king of Thebes, and his wife, Jocasta. Laius had been warned by an oracle that he was fated to be killed by his own son; he therefore abandoned Oedipus on a mountainside. The baby was rescued, however, by a shepherd and brought to the king of Corinth, who adopted him. When Oedipus is grown, he learns from the oracle that he would kill his father and marry his mother. He fled Corinth to escape this fate, believing his foster parents to be his real parents. At a crossroad Oedipus encountered Laius(his father), and killed him. He continued on to Thebes, where the Sphinx was talking and all who could not solve her riddle. Oedipus answered it correctly and so he won the widowed queens hand(his mother). The prophecy was fulfilled. Two sons, Polynices and Eteocles, and two daughters, Antigone and Ismene, were born to the unwittingly incestuous pair. When a plague descended on  Thebes, an oracle declared that the only way to rid the land of its illness was to expel the murderer of Laius. Through a series of painful revelations, the king learned the truth and in an agony of horror blinded himself. His daughters, Antigone and Ismene, are left in the hands of Kreon, who proves to be a true friend of Oedipus. The content of this play regarding time is that the time wasnt very specific, but it does say that Sophocles lived from 496-406 BC. The place on the other hand is very specific, it introduces you saying: The royal house of Thebes. Double doors dominate the facade, a stone altar stands at the center of the stage. Many years have passed since Oedipus has solved the riddle of the Sphinx and ascended the throne of Thebes, and now a plague has struck the city. A procession of priests enters ¦(Sophocles, 392) I think that this introduction leads the reader into a world of curiosity. We really dont know what is going to happen to Oedipus, all we know is there is a plague across the town that Oedipus must do something about. This leads the reader into Oedipus stages of innocence or ignorance, denial and finally guilt. The content in the choice of setting affects the theme because it makes this story more believable, in a time unfamiliar to us, long ago.

Classification of Outsourcing

Classification of Outsourcing Outsourcing can be classified as moving all or part of an organizations activity to a third party business. The activity could be in the form of producing a good or the performance of a service. In some type of industries, outsourcing may well be the only feasible business model, either for all businesses or for a subgroup of businesses. The general example is newspapers outsourcing their news gathering service (especially, collecting information in other countries) to Third party service providers such as Reuters and the Associated Press. (Varadarajan, R. 2009) Outsourcing is one of the measures a company takes to cut costs by moving their jobs to an outside vendor on an ongoing basis. The organisation was providing these services internally before outsourcing them to the third party vendor. A company that effectively engages in cost cutting would be in a better position in the market. Companies with low cost leadership are able to gain the potential market share. (Oza, A., and K. H ill. 2007) Outsourcing is a trend that will carry on over a period time. Cost reduction cannot be the only motivation for outsourcing since cost reductions is only possible in specific conditions, e.g. the third party provider is be able to achieve economies of scale that the outsourcer does not. Business do not simply indulge in the process of outsourcing to perform the same task at lower cost, as this could be achieved through reorganising internal activities.(Quà ©lin, B. Duhamel, F. 2003) Businesses have hired vendors for particular jobs or to level off peaks and troughs in their workloads for years. In the recent years outsourcing has been employed with great success by companies such as General Electric and Procter Gamble. Even though in general most companies would indulge in outsourcing to either cut costs or reduce the head count, today the drivers are more strategic and it focuses on keeping value-added activities in house where an organization can better utilize its own core competencies. Many companies are discovering that outsourcing is about corporate growth, making better use of skilled staff and even job creation, not just cheap wages abroad. (Brent, P. 2009) Based on the above arguments there are two types criteria that a company would bear in mind before making any decisions on outsourcing. The first is known as tactical outsourcing wherein the decision is often taken based on cost with no consideration to other benefits or risks associated with that decision. The second is strategic outsourcing where other aspects are taken into consideration. These include quality improvements and unavailability of resources. (Espino-Rodrà ­guez, T.F. Padrà ³n-Robaina, V. 2004). There are also some possible disadvantages of outsourcing if not done correctly. Outsourcing has to be done for the right reasons as mentioned above. The company has to carefully assess the possible benefits which could be in the form of cost reduction or increased customer satisfaction before making any decisions on outsourcing. Some of the other possible disadvantages could be losing staffs that have been trained in the process that may be outsourced or failure to meet th e desired criterion as agreed by the third party vendor. (Jones 1997) It is true that there some disadvantages associated with the process of outsourcing but a carefully crafted rational decision based on logical thoughts would help companies to get the extra bit of competitive advantage through lower cost disciplines, at the same time improving their quality of service and product delivery capability (Domberger, 1998). Globalization is the key word and today companies compete in the global market and not in regional or national market. The new developments in information and technology means that production processes could be separated in and place. Also customers have a wide range of products to choose from and this in turn would reduce customer loyalty. All this adds to complexity and one response to above changing needs is outsourcing. (Pedersen, H.S. Jenster, P.V. 2000). Outsourcing was first observed in the manufacturing industry, and China was the front runner in terms of attracting jobs and foreign investment. In this phase of outsourcing, it was noticed that organisation in order to take the advantage of cheap labour would set up its manufacturing plant in the Far East or Mexico. As outsourcing become more widespread, more and more functions were capable of being outsourced. The biggest upsurge in outsourcing was observed when service activities were outsourced. What began as a process for cutting costs has evolved into a means of growing a companys business value. Transferring non-core company processes off to experts not only helps in delivering increased efficiencies, it delivers the potential for enhanced performance. The important thing is to combine the right people, processes, and technologies to gain maximum efficiency and achieve competitive advantage. (Oza, A., and K. Hill. 2007) International Data Corporation (IDC) has done some analysis of the top outsourcing deals in the current years and the data reveals contract expenditures of almost U.S. $56 billion. The scale of outsourcing has reached astonishing proportions, as seen in the case of Fiats U.S. $7 billion deal and NTLs U.S. $2 billion deal with IBMs Global Services. (Kakabadse, A. Kakabadse, N. 2005) Outsourcing worldwide has now topped US $ 1 trillion per annum. (Oza, A., and K. Hill. 2007) In the service industry, outsourcing was initially restricted to basic support activities but recently outsourcing has entered all non-core service functions. In 1997, 34% of enterprises. Outsourced all or part of their information technology (IT) and this proportion is expected to increase to 58 % by the year 2010. Similar increases are expected for activities such as telecommunication, accounting and human resources. (Oza, A., and K. Hill. 2007) Outsourcing has evolved in the past few years and a new industry called Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) has come to age. It is expected to be â€Å"the next big wave† in information technology services. Business process outsourcing is a more specialised form of outsourcing in which an entire business process, such as accounting, procurement or human resources, is handed to a third party vendor(RAMMOHAN RAO. 2004). According to Gartner Group, which is one of the top IT consulting firms, a BPO can be defined as delegating one or more business processes to an third party provider which in turn owns, facilitates and manages the particular process based on a clear and measurable performance criteria. As per a study done by International data corporation the BPO market is expected to reach 1 .2 trillion in the coming years. In terms of market share the United States leads the BPO market followed by Europe and the Asia pacific region. (Yang et al 2007). Call centres constitute the biggest part of this BPO market. (RAMMOHAN RAO. 2004) â€Å"Call centres are defined by Richardson and Gillespie (2003, pp. 88-89) as having three distinct characteristics: 1. workers are employed in specialist activities which put together telecommunications and information systems technologies; 2. Their work is administered by automated technology which virtually simultaneously distributes work, manages the speed of that work and monitors their performance; and 3. Workers are directly interacting with the customer either through in-bound calls, making out-bound calls or a combination of the two.† The National Association of Call Centres, a non-profit organization serving the call centre industry, categories different sectors in the call centre industry. These are: 1. financial services/banking/insurance; 2. telecommunications; 3. medical services 4. government 5. directory services/job placement (Jobs et al. 2007) According to industry estimates, there were over 300,000 call centres worldwide at the end of 2002, employing around 18m people. (RAMMOHAN RAO. 2004) Call centres can in the form of contact centres which are part of the company (‘‘inhouse call centres) or Third party call centres (‘‘service bureaux) which interacts with customers on behalf of several companies. Basically, with the help of call centres companies try to provide an extended form of customer service, and try to ensure their clients satisfaction and commitment (Zapf et al 2003). Employees in call centres are not just taking out-bound and in-bound calls, but they would also interact with customers through e-mails and online chat as well. With the advent of technology customers are increasingly using email to correspond and there are incentives to do so since there is no charge for postage and emails can be easily stored. The advancement in IT systems enables a customer service agent to interact with customers through voice and email and service both at the same time. Online chat is a real time text conversation between agent the customer. E-mail and chat service may be used by clients who cannot use a traditional telephone due to disability. (Irish 2000) Outsourcing in financial service industry Financial Services Industry at the Forefront The financial industry is not new to idea of outsourcing, and its use, prompted by need to lower cost and the need to focus on core business area, is increasing sharply. As per a report, 15% of the financial services sector in the US, which is approximately about $356bn, would be outsourced in the next few years. The growth in this sector would help in reducing cost for certain services provided by the financial institution and at the same time would help in increasing efficiency. (Singh, D. 2005). A study conducted of 31 European banks reported that the majority intended to increase their level of outsourcing, particularly of BPO. Banks that already opted for BPO had a strong focus on efficiency while mostly ignoring the impact of BPO on the effectiveness of business processes (Gewald, H. Dibbern, J. 2009). There has been a growth of 15% to 20% in revenues from outsourcing activities in the financial institution. Even very large Financial Institution that have stayed away from outs ourcing activities are now moving towards it for greater efficiency. According to estimates nearly half of all financial institutions have outsourced at least a part of their services functions. (Lowell, M. 1992.) They are now concentrating on core competencies (activities or services which provide a strategic advantage or competitive edge) and outsourcing other activities to the best or most efficient provider of a product or service. To be sure, adopting an outsourcing approach impacts an organization dramatically. Prior to analyzing this impact, it is important to understand the trends within outsourcing. (Siemers, R. 19 95). The financial services industry was among the first industries to adopt large campus-style call centres. Customers needing information about their bank account or information on their credit card balance are likely to get an odd look if they call into a branch and ask for help instead of picking up a phone and getting in touch with their banks call centre. Just as banks and insurance firms were quick to see the potential for saving money by consolidating branch office functions in a central call centre, they have also been the first to look further afield in an effort to cut costs. (www.callcenteroutboundcalls.com) Most companies in the financial services industry started their own call centre known as captive call centres. Captive call centres require huge capital investment and at the same time cost involved in running the centre is very high. In captive call centres all the capital expenses such as infrastructure development are borne by the parent company, third-party call center services outsourcing firms do not require businesses to do so. Third-party call center services outsourcing firms, especially those that have been operational for more than five years, have their own infrastructure, systems, and equipment and they do not charge businesses for these. So, choosing a third-party call center service would help the parent company to save plenty in terms of capital investments. (Figgat, D. Dove, M. 2008) Third-party vendors are usually preferred over captive outfits because of substantially lower costs, flexibility and the ability to enforce price and quality competition. (www.infotech.indiatimes.com) Banks and financial institutions depend upon telephone call centers to meet the needs of a changing and ever more demanding consumer for 24/7 access. Call centers serve as a source of service recovery, added value, market intelligence, and strategic advantage. (Feinberg et al 2002) The call centre industry is a very big industry and there are a lot of companies that handle projects for majority of the banks and financial institution. These companies have to make distinct marketing strategies so that they could approach banks and financial institution for outsourcing. Through this project we are trying to identify what strategies a call centre needs to have in place if they are to receive projects from banks and financial institution. GEM is a call centre based in Belfast and this project would help in developing a marketing fit for GEM position it as a key customer contact service provider for the UK financial market. Information about Gem It is one of the leading providers of outsourced customer service via email, telephone, sms and live chat and in Europe and they operate in 29 different languages. It is considered to be one of the primary developers of best practices in contact centres in U.K. Gem was originally designed to provide services for outsourced email handling and was essentially an email ‘call centre. Since then, the company has extended its range of activities and now provides services which include customer care, technical support and sales to back office processing. In addition to providing different kinds of services in multiple languages, gem captures important customer and staff feedback and uses this unique information to consult on enhancing a clients brand. Exports account for 98% of gems business, which includes 38% to the US, 38% to the UK and 15% to mainland Europe. Gems has a wide range of client base from media, e-commerce, travel, hi-tech and government sectors. Current customers include Cisco Systems, King.com, Match.com, Microsoft, Play.com and Channel 4 television. In terms of certification Gem was accredited with ISO 9001:2000 in October 2006.Since the company has been operating its business with such high values and they are also one of the major players in the BPO industry in U.K. they have received some industry awards to name a few. 1) Belfast Business Top 50, Belfast Media Group 2) Gold Award Winner for Best Online Customer Service Team (Figleaves), People in Retail Awards 3) Gold Award Winner for best UK Call Centre Manager of the Year Awards, Call Centre Management Association (www.the-gem.com) To segment, identify and profile the key players in the financial market within United Kingdom. U.K has one of the most varied and competitive financial services sectors in the world with both specialist and non-bank providers offering services such as credit cards, insurance and loans. (Farquhar, J. Panther, T. 2008). The financial services industry is going through a massive change and is fast becoming highly competitive. Traditional players are offering new services to protect their client base and at the same time are competing with new players for a share in the financial services market. The industry in particular is going through a change and new tools, techniques and services have been developed which were traditionally offered via bricks and mortar channels (Boyes, G. Stone, M. 2003). The major banks have undergone a considerable degree of consolidation, and supermarkets such as Tesco and Sainsburys, as well as online banks have entered the market for financial services. Some building societies have become banks. Some banks have taken over building societies, insuran ce companies and indeed other banks. The type of services has expanded into credit cards, mortgage lending, insurance, and so on.The banking services industry could be divided into four distinct groups: traditional high street banks and former building societies, online banks, credit card companies, and retailers providing financial services. (www.capco.com) In the UK, High street banks traditionally enjoyed a dominant retail market presence because of their tight control over the payments system. The huge branch system coupled with less use of technology meant that major high street banks like Royal bank of Scotland, Barclays bank, Lloyds banking group, HSBC bank, standard chartered and building societies like Nationwide enjoyed a dominance in the UK financial services industry.(Consoli, D. 2005) But with the recent crisis in the U.K. banking industry, with the examples of northern rock and RBS there is a lot of distrust among the general public. (Butler, S. 2009). At the same time, high street banks have come under lot of pressure from new entrants to the financial services sector such as Prudential (Egg), Virgin, MBNA and CapitalOne and supermarket chains like Tesco and Sainsbury (Harden, G. 2002). New entrants who have entered the financial services industry have gained a competitive advantage through the use of technology. New entrants have information from the customers of their traditional activity, and with CRM they can integrate their information sources and exploit aggregated data on the clientele. It could be argued that access to such high level consumer information should enable banks and other financial institution to give a more personalised and more efficient service. For consumers, the high personal convenience that a bank offers higher would be the possibility of a closer bank customer relationship and enhanced customer satisfaction (Harden, G. 2002). In recent years new entrants into retail banking sector like supermarket banks and online banks have threatened the dominance of major players. (Essvale Corporation Limited). Supermarket banks The reasons why these companies wish to start up in banking are diversification of their business, looking for new sources in order to increase their profitability and a desire to offer a complete service to their customers with the expansion of their current financial services complementary to their main activity. In the UK, the main supermarkets, by means of alliances with banks, have created their own bank subsidiaries, which allow them to offer a whole range of financial products. Some of these are Tesco, Sainsbury and Marks and Spencer. (Gonzà ¡lez Guerrero 2004) Among the major supermarket brands eying this banking business, the most high-profile is undoubtedly the supermarket chain Tesco, which is already the countrys largest food retailer and has a longstanding personal finance arm that sells car, home and travel insurance, savings accounts and credit cards. It has also been running a pilot scheme providing banking sections inside five of its existing 2,200 supermarkets for the last few months, and plans to launch current accounts and mortgages over the next couple of years ((MarketWatch: Global Round-up).Tesco has been creating strategies to capitalise on customers disenchantment with traditional high street banks by aggressively launching new products to counter the ones offered by banks. U.K.s largest retail chain plans to open 30 branches which is likely to be branded Tesco Bank within existing supermarkets in the coming few months.(Bradshaw, T. 2009) Another leading supermarket chain, J Sainsbury, already has a Sainsburys Bank arm offering loans, credit cards, savings and insurance, while the pharmacy chain Boots has expressed interest in financial services. Like Tesco, Sainsbury sees a big opportunity in the financial services market. According to Darren Shapland, Finance director of Sainsbury, the supermarket chain is a challenger and not as big as some of the other financial service providers but the there is a huge potential since 1.8 million customers walk into their shops every week (Butler, S. 2009). The UKs leading bookseller, stationer and newsagent chain WHSmith, meanwhile, has Post Office branch facilities in 80 of its stores, with services that extend to savings accounts and foreign exchange. Another retailer Alliance Boots wants to get into the financial services industry and coincidently or not has hired former HBOS CEO as its new boss. But in the case of Boots they have no tradition of offering financial services products apart from travel insurance and it may them a few years before they could be regarded as force to reckon with. (Butler, S. 2009). At the other end of the spectrum are overseas interests that see an opportunity for a tightly focused banking operation in the UK, running a few branches and targeting a very specific market. The most high-profile among these is Vernon Hill, the US entrepreneur who founded Commerce Bancorp in 1973 and grew it into a business that he eventually sold to Toronto-Dominion for $8.5 billion in 2007. Hill has applied for a banking license with the countrys regulator, the FSA, and has gone public with plans to open the doors of an institution called Metro Bank (MarketWatch: Global Round-up) The highly competitive nature of the financial services market has resulted in new. Developments and banks are creating strategies to utilize alternative delivery channels. One of the delivery channels that have been in existence for some time now is electronic or online banking. Many of the financial institution in the UK have launched or developed transactional electronic banking services. Internet banking services were first introduced in the UK in the early 1980s with the Homelink service provided by the Nottingham Building Society and the Bank of Scotland. But this service was not very popular then and was discontinued after some time (Daniel, E. 1999). Since the rapid development in internet based services, Customers now are more prone to use this service it is possible for them to use banking services anytime and anywhere at their own convenience and with lower fees as compared to traditional banks. Internet banking has given rise to a relatively new concept called internet on ly banks where these organizations dont have a physical set up like traditional banks but provide all types of products and services through internet, Telephone and ATM machines. (Sayar Wolfe 2007). First Direct was not one of the first banks to launch internet only bank in the summer of 1997.Egg is still the most popular internet only bank with a market share of 5.9% in the online banking sector. Internet banks like Egg, Smile, Cahoot and First Direct have a simple banking principle keep costs low and undercut competition. Credit Cards Credit card helps the card holder to obtain credit from the card issuer and allows him to repay the debt over a flexible time period usually 90 days and user can even to add to the debt by paying a certain amount of interest; this is the so-called revolving credit facility. Majority of the banks in the UK provide credit card facilities. The other financial institutions which provide credit card facilities are monocline banks. Monocline banks are credit card issuers who focus on credit card as their main product lines. Companies such as MBNA, Capital One and Morgan Stanley and types of Monoline banks operating in UK (Worthington Edwards. 2000). The competition in the credit card market in UK has intensified in the last few years. The result of this has been the emergence of flexible credit cards. These types of credit cards allow users to select the features of their card which includes the colour of their card and the APR and they also have the option of changing the features based on their circumstances. Virgin and Cahoot are some of the card issuers who are offering such features. (M2 PRESSWIRE 2003.). U.K. is one of the largest users of credit card, with more than half in U.K. as compared to entire Europe and two thirds of total value transactions. (Irish News 2004). Other financial services Personal Loans are one of the other services provided by the financial industry. They help customers to borrow credit from banks and other financial institutions and they pay interest for using the credit over a period of time. Personal Loans are available either against collateral or in some cases with out collateral. Some of the major players in the Personal loan market in the U.K are Nationwide, Sainsbury, HSBC and Abbey (Santander). Insurance Insurance is a service where the insurer is covered for risks by paying a premium to the insuring company. The premium is either paid on a monthly, quarterly or yearly basis. Some of the major insurance companies in U.K are Norwich Union, Standard life and Legal and General. To identify what processes or departments in financial companies can be outsourced. The advent of technology has meant that customers have multiple sources to contact their service providers. The first service that was launched by banks was telephone banking wherein customers could contact their banks 7 days a week and 24 hours a day. Most banks started with their in house call centres called captive call centres to provide service to their customers. As discussed above due high fixed and operation maintaining a captive call centre is an expensive proposition. That is where third party call centres come into picture. The services that are offered in call centres are customer service where customers query about his bank accounts, credit cards, personal loans or mortgages are serviced. Marketing of banks products is another service that call centers provide. Popularly known as telemarketing, this service helps banks to make customers aware of different products and services they offer and also any discounts that they could be eligible for. Banks also face a lot of situation where customers have either used their accounts over the agreed overdraft limit or they havent paid their regular installments for their credit cards, personal loans or Mortgage loans. Most banks have a separate department to handle these type of situations which would help them to contact the customer for debt. recovery. These departments are known as collections teams, and would call customers to remind them that they have failed to make their regular installments. Online banking is another service that banks offer and as discussed above offers anytime banking to customers at the click of a button. Call centres provide customers service for online banking services as well so that if the custom ers face any issue while they are online they could be guided in the right direction. Chat service is another part of online banking, and even though most banks have not introduced it for customer service in bank accounts and they are used for mortgage servicing. All the banks do their best to satisfy customers either through good customer service or through different types of products, but inspite of this there a small number of customers who remain unsatisfied and these types of customers would like to express their dissatisfaction. Complaint handling teams would normally service these types of customers and they would thoroughly look at customers complaints and would try to resolve them with the business policies of the bank. Back office process like processing of bank accounts, personal loans and mortgages are some of the other services that call centres provide to financial institution. In case of insurance companies claims handling would be would be one of the services offered by Call centres. Some of the financial institutions that have indulged in outsourcing are HSBC, Abbey and few others banks. Most of these banks have outsourced their operations to offshore locations like India. A complete list is mentioned in Appendix 1.

Time Compression :: essays research papers

Thousands of years ago, Man created (discovered?) gunpowder. Sixty years ago, he discovered the power of the atom. Twenty-five years ago, computers were primarily tools of universities, large corporations and government agencies. Now a Personal Computer is commonplace in homes; suburban kids have computers with capabilities 100 fold of their corporate ancestors. The Internet was in a similar state not 10 years ago. It has grown so fast that now the original framework is bursting at the seams, no longer able to handle the needs of the burgeoning â€Å"Internet Community†. Technology and the world around us is moving at a breakneck speed, and it’s getting faster every second. These are examples of a theory known as Time Compression. Time compression is a simple theory, and it is one that I am in love with, as it effects us all on a day-to-day basis. Think of time as a physical presence that is constantly moving. As a physical thing, it has mass, weight, volume, etc. The longer it’s been moving, the more momentum it gains, the faster it goes. Be it technology, moral philosophies or social situations, we are affected by time compression in all facets of our lives. As we speed through our post-modern lifestyles, the increasing speed is becoming more apparent. Every day of our lives, something is being created, improved upon and appraised as no longer being relevant, and scrapped for something newer, faster and better to replace it. Whether this is good or bad is not terribly relevant. Change is one of the few constants. Progress has been occurring before man had a word for it. It’s been moving along at an ever-increasing velocity before man was, by today’s evolutionary standards, classifiable as Man. Even with this apparent truth, some try to grind their heels into the dirt, slow it down just a bit. Sometimes it works out. Thoreau. Sometimes it doesn’t. Unabomber. But regardless of the outcome, both suffer from the same symptom, a sort of desperate escapism. If you disregard all the nobler qualities that have been stacked upon Thoreau, he was a simple man living in a complex world, desperately afraid and unable to cop to his bewildering environment.

Personality Conflicts in Crow Lake

In the novel Crow Lake by Mary Lawson, the reader learns how personalities and habits can either tear families apart or keep them together. Luke the oldest brother and Mat the youngest both learn how to use their opposite personalities to run a successful household. Yet have advantages and disadvantages to their characters. Luke being the oldest he feels that he is responsible for his siblings, but his habits clearly show that he cannot raise them on his own. He was still holding onto the fact that he was able to take care of them. First off, Luke has a laid back attitude.He thinks that everything is going to work itself out and that he does not have to worry about a thing. This kind of attitude has both advantages and disadvantages. One of the benefits was the time that he had to be with his two little sisters. This is evident as he stays home a lot and does not toss them between neighbors to be babysat. Luke’s personality also showed a very optimistic aspect. After Luke anno unced that he was not going to go away to teachers college and that he was going to stay home and get a job, Matt and Aunt Annie were trying to convince him not to make that decision he said; â€Å"I know I can do it.I know it wouldn’t be easy, but neighbors would help and everything. We’d work it out. I know I can do it† (77). Next Luke is very nonchalant about money and job opportunities. This is mainly how Matt and Luke collided. Their attitude about money and jobs were very different. Lawson writes about many fights the brothers have had over one being too stressed or the other not being apprehensive enough. For example, Lawson explains in Kate’s point of view, â€Å"Luke losing his job, for instance; I know that worried mat a lot more than it did Luke.Not that Luke wasn’t concerned, but ever since the day he’d decided to stay home and look after us, he seemed to have an unshakeable faith that everything would work out alright†¦ bu t I think that calm certainty of his drove Matt mad and that was a major cause of the increasing friction between them† (163-164). This quote proves how opposite Luke and Matt really are. The conflict between them always starts when Matt becomes consciously worrisome. Finally Luke seems to have a way of somehow making everything workout.For instance, Luke got a job offer to clear two acres of forestry but he turned it down because; â€Å"he’d said he was going to stay with [Bo] for a year, and he was going to stay with her for a year† (209). Now, â€Å"Luke’s irrationality paid off in the end, almost as if destiny were bending to his will† (210). He ends up accepting the job because Mrs. Stanovich generously offers to help out. â€Å"Two afternoons a week she could look after the girls, do a bit of cooking, maybe a bit of cleaning†¦the Lord had spoken to her and she was going to do his will† (211-212).Matt’s traits display a very realistic person and the ability to foresee problems. To begin with, Matt’s personality causes agitation with Luke as well as helpfulness. If Matt hadn’t thought of the problems in situations, he wouldn’t have been able to help solve them. â€Å"We’ve got to do something, Luke. We’re going through Dad’s money so fast† (175). Secondly, Matt forced the reality that there was no possible way he could go to university. Luke would have been unable to take care of the girls and work at the same time.So Matt got a job at the Hudson Bay Store and enforced a routine. He quotes, â€Å"Even if we make it through this year, how are you going to manage when I leave? It’s impossible. One of us has to work and one of us has to stay home that’s the only way† (178). To end, that Matt stayed at home was a help for Kate who had a strong need to be with her brother. Kate looked up to Matt as a role model. She admired everything about him. It was hard enough on her the news of her parents death, she didn’t need him gone too.Matt became Kate’s best friend and much of what she accomplished in her future was because of Matt. She became a biologist because of all the time they spent at the ponds and Matt teaching Kate about nature. â€Å"Our visits to the ponds, which had formed such a fundamental part of my life†¦The interest which Matt had sparked had developed by then into a deeper curiosity †¦Ã¢â‚¬  (218). Matt’s role is huge in this novel. He affects every character in a great way. Luke and Matt’s differences also have a major impact on their little sisters.For starters, their fights stole some of Kate and Bo’s innocence. The brothers had not learned to solve problems in a healthy manner and so the girls had witnessed multiple fights that scared them. An example of one of the fights is; â€Å"I sat rigid, not breathing. There was a crash in the living room and the y started shouting again. Bo†¦stood there†¦watching them†¦ I looked down and saw Bo shaking so that even her hair seemed to vibrate†¦Her mouth wide open and tears pouring down her face but she wasn’t making any sound. She was so brave, Bo. I thought nothing could frighten her† (179-181).Next toward the end of the novel Luke and Matt seemed to level out and learn how to resolve conflict. They had to be threatened to be separated from their sisters in order to shape up the way they were acting. They started working together to hold back their tongues when they wanted to fight back. Dr Christopherson says: â€Å"What had happened in front of [Kate and Bo] must never happen again. [He] said that as much as he would hate to do it, if he ever had any reason to suspect a repeat†¦he would have no choice but to contact Aunt Annie†(207).In conclusion, the reader learns that opposite personalities eventually brought the Morrison family together. Eve n though it is not potent in the novel that they consciously acknowledge the fact that they are vastly and uniquely different, it is clear that they only wanted to do all they could to stay in Crow Lake with their sisters. Just like Luke quotes multiple times â€Å"something will turn up†. Indeed, something did show up every time. Luke’s laid back attitude really worked itself out in the end. Just like Matt’s ability to see things for what they really are. They finally managed to run a successful household.