Venus Project-Συνάντηση Steering Committee στη Ρώμη

Πραγματοποιήθηκε στη Ρώμη στις 17,18,19/2/2000 στα γραφεία της FABI ( Federazione Autonoma Bancari Italiani ) η πρώτη συνάντηση του Steering Committee του προγράμματος LEONARDO DA VINCI / VENUS (Virtual Bank ).

Στη συνάντηση συμμετείχαν από τη FABI η Gristina Attunti και ο Duca Vincenro, από το ΙΝΕ/ΟΤΟΕ ο Αριστοτέλης Λάκκας, από την Comfia/cc.oo ( Ισπανία ) ο Francisco Santos και από το Juiversita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore η Maddalena Sorrentino.

The aim of these notes is to develop - on the basis of the Application Form dated 1998 - early considerations about the Venus Project.

More detailed proposals will be advanced after the first meeting, scheduled on February 18^th.

At the present stage, only a general framework of the first phase can be described.

Our purpose in this project is to give a voice to bank employees. All banks want to deliver quality service to their customers and most think they actually do. But often what high-quality service means to bankers is not the same thing it means to customers or workers. Employees, in turn, seek to save jobs and recover income loss, unions to rebuild their institutional role. This trend is particularly hot in the ‘virtual banking’ (VB) field.

The central question is whether these diverse actors can collaborate in the creation of new working methods that meet the needs of the various parties involved.

Virtual banking is a process in which a bank delivers financial services to the customer by coordinating the contributions of different companies. At the same time, products and services are delivered through multiple (remote) channels, most of them are ‘IT-intensive’ (e.g. ATMs, PoS, Internet banking etc.).

In short, VB is a very different way of approaching technology, organization of work, and it requires a lot of new roles, because there is a discontinuity between the technical, professional and organizational skills needed for the ‘old’ bank and those required for the ‘new’ one. For instance, an essential element in the virtual bank is making use of the expertise of outside parties (e.g. service providers, customers, other bank departments ….).

Working for a virtual bank now requires continuous adaptation. Personnel trained ten or fifteen years ago often have trouble learning new skills. Sometimes banks do not put enough emphasis on change management: adding new technologies without new skills may destroy the potential benefits. Just as business processes must often be reengineered to gain the benefits of technology, so the approaches to training (and re-training) must also be reengineered.

For these reasons, the Venus Projects will involve different steps:

learning

training

combining internal and external training

projecting

investigating the field.

Trans-national cooperation among social partners (trade unions of the 3 countries).

Joint analysis on current and future trends within the European financial industry, in terms of:

impact of changes occurring within the banking industry;

evolution of professional skills;

critical competencies required in the "virtual banking" environment.

Joint test (in cooperation with employers) on new working conditions.

Development of human-centered technologies and working methods (in cooperation with employers).

In-depth analysis of needs.

Definition of the "ideal" profile of trade-union representatives, in terms of: prerequisites, professional experience, skills and capabilities.

Recruiting and screening candidates.

Identification of working groups (three national teams).

Outline detailed training scheme (e.g. topics, learning methods, characteristic of the classroom, timetable etc.). The training format also depends on participants background.

Identification of Professors/Teachers.

Implementation of seminars aimed at: (i) harmonise attendants competencies (both theoretical and practical); (ii) share basic concepts; and (iii) disseminate knowledge about information systems, new distribution channels, relationship between information technology and organization and so on.

Monitoring the achievement of training objectives.

Assessment of each training measure after course completion: a final test will help teachers in evaluating the work of the attendants and their progress. In the meantime, a more precise description of the remaining phases of the project will be made.

Summary of course evaluations and discussion among partners. Planning modification proposals.

Feasibility study of the research work: overview of a cross-national investigation about virtual banking.

Detailed requirements analysis.

Setting research procedure.

Beginning of the empirical research work by each national team.

Status report to European Commission on the implementation of the Project and research work.