29 October 2009 15:12
JOHANNESBURG - I'm left in awe that a commercial giant like Standard Bank can exhibit such utter incompetence when there's an IT problem.
Evidently as a result of some sort of attack, their Internet Banking service went down yesterday. They claim it was for a very brief period. However, over an 18 hour period (only during office hours) I still got answers from their Internet Banking call centre conceding that there were problems.
Yesterday afternoon I called into Talk Radio 702's Eyewitness News Desk to report the problem and was told they'd look into it but there was only one person at Standard Bank permitted to talk to the media - Erik Larsen - and he 'w...
27 March 2007 00:00
I mulled a potential topic for this article on a flight from Jo'burg to Cape Town. No inspiration. In Cape Town I addressed a group of pharmacists - both ‘chain' and private - who are all affected by mad Manto's legislation. That got me thinking about the insurance brokerage business. Which is also under siege from a number of quarters and which will also require what I call a ‘re-evolution'. Both the revolution part and the re-evolving part.
Here are some thoughts:
The more highly ‘specialised' you are, the greater the hazards for you when macro, micro or market ‘environmental' conditions change. You can easily join the ‘endangered species' list if you're not proactive.
When there's a ‘seismic shift' in conditions, we need to ...
20 March 2007 00:00
I've been intrigued by Investec (feisty, in your face and usually media savvy) floundering whilst trying to damage-control allegations by the disaffected young Bonga Bangani, of racially biased favouritism. Among many media reports, you'll find online detail of the story at http://www.fin24.co.za/articles/default/display_article.aspx?Nav=ns&ArticleID=1518-24_2084068 It's a short and worthwhile read and a lesson in ineptitude.
This brief posting is not about the merits or otherwise of whether Investec does indeed favour white male Italians with laptops, flat screen computers and overseas trips. It's about the startling comment by Stephen Koseff...
07 March 2007 00:00
Clive Simpkins says we can do something about crime. We just need a new model.
23 February 2007 00:00
Clive Simpkins asks if your corporate image matches the advertised or perceptual one. Or is there a ‘disconnect’?
15 February 2007 00:00
Become more productive through awareness of your brain-wave state.
05 February 2007 00:00
Clive Simpkins reads between the lines of the FNB anti-crime debacle.
19 January 2007 00:00
Clive Simpkins takes issue with President Thabo Mbeki’s latest assertions.
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