The coronavirus pandemic has created a sense of urgency for the digital bank. In this coronavirus times, banks are now talking about the bank 5.0 to mean a bank of the future that is highly advanced and sophisticated when it comes to anticipating and meeting customer needs. However, to win with the digital agenda, automation must be at the core of the entire banking ecosystem. In these three-part digital series, Mustapha B Mugisa, Mr Strategy explores, bank 5.0 – a digital bank of the future. An advanced digital bank keeps customers away from the banking hall. That is the kind…

I have a business partner. But we do not have any legal agreements binding us. How do I fire him or her? Never again enter into any business relationship without a legal agreement. Without one, the presumption is that you had one. Because it is your word, against theirs. A good agreement provides for entry, expectations from either side (objectives of the partnership), exit conditions, and redress in case of any disagreement. Without an agreement, review the value addition of your partner. Are you tired of him or her due to poor performance or no effort at all? Have they…

The advantage of competitive games especially football is they keep score. At any time during the match, you can look at the scoreboard and know who is leading. In performance management terms, we call it the lag indicator. That indicator that happens after the fact and not before it. To put it another way, a lag indicator is a performance measure that you see only after the fact. For example, when Liverpool did the unthinkable and made a comeback that overturned a 3 – 0 advantage to beat Barcelona FC at Anfield on 7th May 2019, many people were surprised.…

As the reality of the economic impact of coronavirus sinks in, you need to explore cost-cutting alternatives. As part of the #coronavirus recovery strategy, leaders of businesses have been conducting a business assessment to identify possible revenue leakages in terms of process redundancy and inefficiency, time, and resource wastages in unnecessary procedures and control weaknesses leading to theft and or fraud losses. One of the silent areas that lead to revenue leakage is unproductive staff on the payroll. We call them the ‘corporate fat.’ This is where the payroll is bloated by staff who do not put in their best…

Have you updated your strategy yet? In these coronavirus times, the sure way to thrive is by implementing an organic strategy. When it comes to growth, direction beats speed. If you are in Entebbe and expected to be in Nairobi city in the next five hours, it does not matter how fast you move if you are in a vehicle or plane heading in the wrong direction, all your speed and effort will be useless. Those who win move faster in the right direction. A strategy is about direction. Execution is about speed. Simply put, in the game of business,…

Whoever sent coronavirus to the world is anti-mankind. So many things we used to take for granted have now become a sort of exclusive. Whether it is traveling, attending parties or social events, people are so careful and worried. It is just six months of ‘social distancing’ but these days people look at you and your hands with a lot of suspicions. It is as if you are the coronavirus ambassador. In the same spirit, no one wants to go to the banking hall to process transactions that could be done digitally. It is even worse when the bank asking…