Adam Small says, “Networking is the single most powerful marketing tactic to accelerate and sustain success for any individual or organization!” Relationship is an important catalyst for success. As people do business with those they like, networking acts as an important strategy to build business relationships. Connecting, building, cultivating, sustaining and utilizing mutually benefitting relationships or networks both inside and outside the organization can have potential benefits for the individuals and organizations. Hence, it is vital to maintain communication channels, exchange resources and participate in collaborative activities to establish and sustain healthy networks. The paper, “People Matter: Networking and Career Development”, by R Venkatesan Iyengar, highlights how a soft skill like networking plays a crucial role in advancing one’s career.
Silence speaks more than what words can convey. Nonverbal actions speak volumes, which the words often fail to convey. People often wonder what characterizes effective and impressive communication. More than the content, it is the tone and the spontaneous action that can either excite or sabotage the communication. Managers and trainers have to be aware that eye contact, physical posture, facial expressions and gestures play a key role in business communication. The paper, “How to Walk Your Talk: Effective Use of Body Language for Business Professionals” by Amit Kumar Kar and Ajit Kumar Kar, lays sharp emphasis on the crucial role of body language in effective communicaiton.
The perennial complaint that engineering students lack sound communication skills remains a cause for concern for the educators. Poor communication skills reflect badly on individuals and organizations. A globalized world demands that the global engineers possess a range of skills to stay competitive and vibrant in any context. The authors, Sushila Shekhawat and Geetha Bakilapadavu, in their paper, “Teaching Soft Skills to Engineering Students: A Case Study of BITS, Pilani”, explain the methodologies used to groom and enhance communication skills among the engineering students and also share insights based on their experiences at BITS Pilani.
Poor listening not only creates stress in relationships but also costs heavily and proves to be a disaster for employees in an organization. If only managers can account, one would be amazed to know how much money business houses lose due to poor listening skills of its employees and the managers. Pratibha Kumari Singh and Indu Prabha Pathak, in their paper, “How to Listen at Workplace: Lessons from Ten Mythological Stories”, emphasize the importance of removing barriers and filters in communication leading to effective listening.
Silence speaks louder than words and it is most paramount to any pleasant conversation. The role of silence in effective listening is never in doubt. It is assumed that we are not expected to interrupt the speaker to make the communication effective. The paper, “Be Slient to Listen”, by Revathi Turaga, focuses on the role of silence in effective listening to build effective relationships and manage situations in organizations.
Automated Teller Machines (ATMs): The Changing Face of Banking in India
Bank Management
Information and communication technology has changed the way in which banks provide services to its customers. These days the customers are able to perform their routine banking transactions without even entering the bank premises. ATM is one such development in recent years, which provides remote banking services all over the world, including India. This paper analyzes the development of this self-service banking in India based on the secondary data.
The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is playing a very important role in the progress and advancement in almost all walks of life. The deregulated environment has provided an opportunity to restructure the means and methods of delivery of services in many areas, including the banking sector. The ICT has been a focused issue in the past two decades in Indian banking. In fact, ICTs are enabling the banks to change the way in which they are functioning. Improved customer service has become very important for the very survival and growth of banking sector in the reforms era. The technological advancements, deregulations, and intense competition due to the entry of private sector and foreign banks have altered the face of banking from one of mere intermediation to one of provider of quick, efficient and customer-friendly services. With the introduction and adoption of ICT in the banking sector, the customers are fast moving away from the traditional branch banking system to the convenient and comfort of virtual banking. The most important virtual banking services are phone banking, mobile banking, Internet banking and ATM banking. These electronic channels have enhanced the delivery of banking services accurately and efficiently to the customers. The ATMs are an important part of a bank’s alternative channel to reach the customers, to showcase products and services and to create brand awareness. This is reflected in the increase in the number of ATMs all over the world. ATM is one of the most widely used remote banking services all over the world, including India. This paper analyzes the growth of ATMs of different bank groups in India.
International Scenario
If ATMs are largely available over geographically dispersed areas, the benefit from using an ATM will increase as customers will be able to access their bank accounts from any geographic location. This would imply that the value of an ATM network increases with the number of available ATM locations, and the value of a bank network to a customer will be determined in part by the final network size of the banking system. The statistical information on the growth of branches and ATM network in select countries.
Indian Scenario
The financial services industry in India has witnessed a phenomenal growth, diversification and specialization since the initiation of financial sector reforms in 1991. Greater customer orientation is the only way to retain customer loyalty and withstand competition in the liberalized world. In a market-driven strategy of development, customer preference is of paramount importance in any economy. Gone are the days when customers used to come to the doorsteps of banks. Now the banks are required to chase the customers; only those banks which are customercentric and extremely focused on the needs of their clients can succeed in their business today.
