|
NIIT, a world leader in Information Technology (IT) education, is hosting a seminar on 'Leveraging your investment in IT training' in Colombo on November 26.
The focus of the seminar will be on the role of training in optimising the returns from investment in IT. While NIIT is geared to meeting diverse IT requirements, its long-held core belief is that the hardware and software works as effectively as the technologist operating the system. It is the quality of the operative - be it a student, an IT professional or a business manager - that will determine how well or fully the system is being used.
NIIT Senior Vice President, L. Balasubramaniam, will be the main speaker at the seminar while other presentation of papers will be followed by a discussion.
"Training is the key to maximising the benefits of investment in IT. Training will determine not only how the computerised systems are used, but also how the IT systems will best integrate with all the organisational structures around it," said Sunimal Weerasooriya, Head of NIIT in Sri Lanka.
Sampath Bank has tied up with London based X-Press Money Services Ltd to provide an instant money transfer service across the country.
X-Press money is fast as it uses cutting-edge technology based on the web, Sampath Bank Managing Director, Anil Amarasuriya, told reporters last week.
He said that with foreign exchange remittances being the biggest money spinner to the country, foreign cash could be sent here from anywhere in the world even without a branch account via Internet.
Amarasuriya said that this person-to-person money transfer technology enables money to be sent/received through X-Press money worldwide without any cumbersome procedures, documentation and delays.
The other form of quick and easy money transmission now available is through the Western Union network, which is provided through banks like Seylan and People's Bank.
"Tak, Tik, Tuk" an impish little game played by millions of Sri Lankans for generations, has transited to the era of hi-tech with "CELLGames SMS", an interesting first from Celltel GSM.
The first-ever game facility launched in Sri Lanka on Short Messaging Services (SMS), TTT can be played by any Celltel/CellCARD subscriber with others on the network, using GSM phones.
"The beauty of this feature is that it is simple to play and great fun," Celltel's Commercial Director, Aniljit Singh said. He said the company had decided to drop SMS rates to enable players to pay only one rupee per move, and in future would also offer regular players free games and a chance to win attractive prizes for their prowess.
As a special celebration of the launch all games played up to December 15 will be free of charge, he added.
Many years ago, a few estates in the plantation sector harnessed streams flowing through their properties to obtain hydropower for factory use. With the introduction of imported fossil fuels in bulk to the island it was found that using this fuel was more handy and convenient. As a result these mini hydro plants fell into disuse. Other factors that led to this decline was the uncertainty of the weather which lowered or dried up the flow in these estate water resources and secondly, the expansion of the electricity network enabling these estates to obtain electricity, which was consistent in supply and performance.
However, with the ever-increasing cost of imported fuel and rising tariffs for electricity, the plantation sector is compelled to look for other options to obtain cheaper power. The best option left to them is to make use of the natural streams that are available in plenty, fortunately in any estate of our country. These streams are potential hydropower agents, but should be investigated in detail as to its topography, hydrology, viability and feasibility. The initial capital to restart these plants would be high but this cost could be recovered within a few years.
G.S. Hemaratne,
Nugegoda.
Clipsal Lanka recently signed an agreement with iOM Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, a subsidiary of iOM International Holdings Ltd., for the supply and implementation of Balance ScoreCard, a management information system.
Clipsal has six strategic businesses involving electrical accessories, lighting, batteries, integrated systems and data communication and is implementing the new management system to evaluate its business performance.
Zulficar Ghouse, Managing Director, iOM Lanka, said "iOM's 21-year experience in the software development industry and strict adherence to ISO 9001 quality guidelines in development and implementation of software solutions are keys to iOM's competitive advantages and adds value to our customers".
Launched in 1979, iOM is one of the top software companies in Asia, having subsidiaries in the UK, USA, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Hong Kong and Indonesia.
Ceylinco Life's premium income has topped Rs. 1.38 billion for the nine months ending September 2001, in a significantly improved performance over the corresponding period last year. The company's Life Fund as at September 30, 2001 stood at Rs. 4.6 billion, a company statement said.
Releasing details of the company's third quarter results, Director/General Manager of Ceylinco Life, R. Renganathan said premium income grew by 12 percent, which was noteworthy in view of the tougher market conditions.
He said the company sold 38,567 new policies in the period under review. An aggregate of Rs. 55.5 million had been paid out in claims during this period.
"We are very pleased with overall growth, especially in the context of the prevailing economic conditions," Renganathan said, adding he was confident that the Life Fund would reach Rs. 5 billion by the end of the year.
Lanka Internet, Sri Lanka's pioneer Internet Service Provider (ISP), last week, launched Broadband Services which enables high-speed Internet connectivity with secure private networks, corporate intranet solutions with point-to-point and point-to-multipoint connectivity, video conferencing, etc.
The company said it had entered into a business partnership arrangement with Alvarion of USA to obtain Broadband Wireless Access Technology.
Alvarion is a global organisation with sales offices located in the United States, Europe, Asia and South America, and, is a premier provider of Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) technology to telecom carriers, service providers and enterprises all over the world.
General Manager (operations) Lanka Internet, Janaka Wettasinghe said that they had obtained an exclusive frequency band in the 3.5 GHz range from the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka to operate broadband services.
This, he assured, will ensure Sri Lankan corporates high quality, interference free data communication solutions with guaranteed bandwidth.
Lanka Internet also said it had re-launched the Sri Lanka Web Server – http://www.lanka.net, the first business portal in Sri Lanka, which has an access rate of over 6.0 million visitors per month creating high exposure for cost effective advertising.
By Amaradasa Fernando
Recently a commercial bank was given the green light to form a separate insurance company. The intrusion of banks into the insurance industry, will have wide repercussions on insurance agents, brokers and insurance companies per se.
Banks have been trying for long to infiltrate the insurance industry, spreading its tentacles into the insurance field as it did in the case of leasing. But the Monetary Board of the Central Bank which has been wary about giving the green light to banks to get into insurance has finally nodded its head, perhaps a conflict of interests was visible. As a result about 30,000 agents and 45-odd brokers will either lose their existence either partially or totally. Besides them those who will be affected are their dependents numbering about another 120,000.
Some would say, "bad luck, but this is in keeping with the inexorable march of time and laws of the free market", as the artisan gave way to the factory system, and the local shopkeeper whose business was to be swallowed up by the supermarketer. The artisan was unable to keep pace with the rise of nascent capitalism, neither was the local grocer able to compete with the requirements of modern marketing. Therefore some may argue that today the role of the individual insurance agent or broker has become obsolete, and the banks in the insurance market can provide a more efficient service. However, one wishes to question this viewpoint.
Ever since insurance began in the West it was the insurance agent who marketed insurance. He played the role of the family counsellor, who was with his client in times good and bad. If a new client was asked, whether he would he like to buy an insurance policy, his invariable answer was, "No thank you, Mr. Jones is my insurance agent." The insurer was of secondary importance. That was the confidence placed on the insurance agent. The insurance agent brought about a human face to the ugly face of capitalism.
No doubt times have changed. But, in my experience of over fifty years in insurance marketing, I can say with confidence that insurance is hardly ever bought but sold. A client has often to be persuaded to buy insurance. A bank can never replace the ideal insurance agent, because an institution by itself, it can never enter into individual human relationships with its constituents or customers. It can never be guide, philosopher and friend. Only an individual can be so.
Conflict of interest
The banks who become insurers because they have access to the data base of the clients of the parent banking company will now use this confidential information to great advantage to canvass new clients. This will be tantamount to violating the confidentiality of a bank which it is duty bound to uphold. It cannot use the information it has about its clients for any purpose other than strictly for banking.
Fundamental rights
Besides violating confidentiality, the new insurance bank will be violating the fundamental rights of the individual, by not permitting the client to make a free choice as to who his insurer will be. The new bank insurance company will now be able to use the information it has about its client and exert undue pressure by dangling the carrot of easy overdrafts, LCs', mortgages, etc, in return for life and general business. The fact that the bank's client has other insurance companies which he has been dealing with, having more suitable and better insurance plans, offering better bonuses, etc. will no longer hold water. Or it may be that the bank's client has already an agency with another company and had been providing a satisfactory service over a long period, or that it may be that he has a parent, sibling, a relative, or friend in another rival insurance company where he would like to get insured. But this will be overlooked as the new insurer will now insist that the bank's client part company with its traditional insurance agent and insurer. This is how banks attempted to throttle leasing and finance companies. In these two cases big business was pitted against big business and one has no tears to shed. Banks breaking into insurance has created a great human problem with the prospect of thousands of insurance agents losing their livelihood, some partially and others totally.
Apart from all violation of confidentiality and fundamental rights, etc, it is immoral for the banks, interloper like, to take the cream off the milk, as it were, from the foot slogging insurance agent whose sweat and toil was solely responsible for building the great insurance industry during the past forty years. It is nonsensical to think that banks are guided by morality and that they have a heart. Money is at the bottom, which more often than not, opens the heart! It is in this context that it is highly deplorable and surprising that the Monetary Board although it had withheld doing so for sometime, has now given the green light for banks to enter the field of insurance. The Monetary Board would have been only concerned with a conflict of interests. Other matters such as immorality, violation of fundamental rights and human problems, are matters of social interest which should be the concern of governments. Now that one horse has bolted, the government should see that banks work according to an ethical code and stop pressurizing clients. The government should step in immediately and stop this erosion of the rights of the common man deciding whether they are with him or with big business.
Many letters have written to the editor (of this newspaper) during the last few weeks by Commercial Bank shareholders opposing the proposal of DFCC to form a holding company together with the Commercial Bank.
I have lived in the west for a fairly long period, have been playing the stockmarket as a small time investor and I am extremely happy that shareholders in Sri Lanka are mindful of their rights to prevent this kind of corporate raiding where a company's assets could be stripped or in most cases milked, leaving the unsuspecting shareholders with only a piece of paper.
Though many shareholders had expressed their concern, dissatisfaction and opposition to the proposal, I am surprised that the authorities and the Central Bank have been silent on the whole issue. On the face of it, in many proposals of this nature the aggressor makes the other company and its shareholders feel that the proposal would lead to a harmonious relationship.
However, in almost all instances it would end up with a lot of hostility. There are many ways of robbing a company and the corporate raiders know exactly what to do.
The more diplomatic ways are through various types of management fees, eroding profits available to be declared as dividends to other shareholders.
Another way is to manipulate the board and the management of the firm and divert business of the victim company to the aggressor thereby bleeding the company to a slow death.
I need not say more. Sri Lankan investors are no longer an ignorant lot and cannot be fooled anymore.
Panduka K. Tennakoon
Colombo 5.
MANILA - A project to stimulate economic growth and create income and employment opportunities in Sri Lanka's southern province was boosted with the approval of a loan of Special Drawing Rights 19.38 million (about US$ 25 million equivalent) by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The Southern Province Rural Economic Advancement Project will help potential entrepreneurs to identify opportunities in agriculture-based enterprises and provide them with access to technology, markets and credit, the bank said in a statement last week.
The project is to be co-financed by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries Fund for International Development (OPEC Fund) with a loan of US$ 5 million and administered by ADB.
The project is designed to establish an environment to sustain private sector involvement in rural growth by: providing enterprise development services and medium and long-term financing for micro, small, and medium sized enterprises; upgrading and maintaining roads and market infrastructure essential for development; demonstrating low-cost and technically sound road maintenance options to be adopted by local authorities after the project ends; and upgrading skills in the Ministry of Plan Implementation and the Provincial Government to facilitate private sector participation.
The ADB loan will cover 58 percent of the total project cost of US$ 42.7 million. Apart from the ADB and OPEC Fund contributions, the government will provide US$ 6.7 million, participating financial institutions US$ 2 million and project beneficiaries US$ 4 million, the statement noted.
Sri Lankan gold and jewellery designers have been urged by an Indian expert to sent entries for an international gold jewellery design competition in January 2002.
K. Sivaram, regional manager of the World Gold Council (WGC), at a recent Colombo seminar encouraged Sri Lankan participation at the WGC-sponsored Gold Virtuosi International jewellery design competition.
"The winners - selected from regions including America, Asia Pacific, Middle East and the Indian sub-continent - get an opportunity to receive international acclaim plus find new jobs here and abroad," he said at the workshop organised by the Export Development Board on gold jewellery.
The EDB said it has implemented several supply and market development projects in this sector boosting exports to Rs. 1.0 billion rupees in 2000 from Rs. 604 million in 1993.
Among the topics discussed at the workshop were properties of carat gold solidification, working in carat gold alloying in a small workshop, technology trends in soldering, electro-plating and finishing. Around 75 participants including exporters and trainees from jewellery schools attended the meeting.
The UN World Food Programme has approved further food assistance worth Rs. 3.0 billion (US$ 33 million) in support of ongoing government initiatives in Sri Lanka.
A UN statement from Colombo said two large programmes, a five-year country programme targeting eight food insecure districts and a new three-year phase of the ongoing Relief and Recovery Programme of food assistance to the conflict-affected people in the north and east of the country, were approved by WFP's Executive Board at its meeting in Rome at the end of October.
The Sri Lanka country programme for 2002 to 2006 targets eight food insecure districts through three distinct but complementary activities. Food assistance will be provided to subsistence farmers in rural communities engaged in the rehabilitation of minor irrigation schemes and to landless families to be settled in the Uda Walawe major irrigation settlement project.
WFP food aid will also be provided to nursing mothers and children between 6 and 36 months of age, totalling 460,000 poor men, women and children and disadvantaged groups mainly in the rural areas that exhibit a high level of food insecurity and malnutrition.
Under the Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation, WFP continues to support humanitarian relief and recovery assistance to about 217,000 internally displaced persons with food aid through safety net programmes and community based food for work activities.
The Nokia Service Camp which was held recently turned out to be the highlight of the month for many a press release said. Nokia phone users rushed to the Nokia Care Centre for this exclusive event to have their phones serviced.
A caring and professional Nokia team attended to customer queries, solved technical problems, gave helpful advice and rewarded all present with exclusive deals. It was Nokia's way of saying 'Thank You' the press release further said.
The Nokia Care Centre situated at Unique Jewellers Building on Duplication Road is not just a place where a dedicated team of Nokia experts helps you find a phone to suit your tastes and needs. It's a place where you will encounter service which goes beyond purchase and connection.
"Nokia is not just about phones", says Samanthi Weeratunga, General Manager of Softlogic Communications, the authorized distributor of Nokia in Sri Lanka. "It's about making our customers happy and totally satisfied with their choice. This is what the Nokia Care Centre and this service camp is all about".
Hype for the service camp was generated on-air promotions from the 10th through to the 15th of September. A Nokia competition also generated a lot of interest when three callers won exclusive watches courtesy of Nokia and the grand prize winner received a trendy Nokia 5110.
Ms. Weeratunga continued, "Whatever your phone needs are bring it home, to the Nokia Care Centre. Where your Nokia phone gets the care it deserves."
Abacus International (Singapore), Asia Pacific's Number One Global Distribution System (GDS), introduces yet another innovative product to Sri Lankan Travel Agents a press release said.
Abacus Whiz Power Suite - a fully integrated Front-Mid & Back Office solution specially developed to automate the entire range of travel agency operations - from bookings and ticketing, to Accounts Reconciliation. It helps to streamline the agency workflow by boosting productivity, and efficiency and cutting costly errors. In essence, this powerful system caters to the workflow and dynamic requirements of a travel agency.
Abacus International Lanka (the local representative), is proud to announce that Power Suite has been successfully implemented at several leading travel agencies in Sri Lanka such as Gabo Group of Companies, Thomas Cook Overseas Limited, Cey-Can Travels and Millennium Holidays to name a few. Following are comments shared by current Power Suite Subscribers:
Mr. Harsha Rajawasam (Group Financial Controller Gabo Group of Companies) said, "Abacus Whiz Power Suite provides us with timely access to all crucial management information that help us to plan our agency finances. In addition to vital management information, Power Suite provides a secure platform for our financial records where we are in control of assigning functional access rights to our staff based on their job function and now we can monitor more effectively and efficiently. Furthermore, Abacus Lanka provides timely solutions for any problems we may encounter in implementing the Power Suite system. It is easy for our accountants to work with them as their product support personnel have in-depth accounting knowledge which is a must when implementing an accounting software."
Mr. Hasitha Nanayakkara (Financial Controller, Thomas Cook Overseas Limited) said, "Abacus International Lanka has assisted us to build a strong IT-infrastructure at Thomas Cook. With the implementation of products such as Power Suite, we are now able to centralize our operations with more control over our day-to-day business operations. Also the technical support extended to us by Abacus in, installing the network connection among our branches is very commendable. In addition it is worth mentioning that Abacus has assisted Thomas Cook with the automation of our Travellers Cheques operation as well.
|
