Even with the presence of numerous discussion threads on the internet, there are hardly any which deal with payday loans in detail. Some look at loans with suspicion, others revolve around the economic problems which have led to such a scenario. But there is one point where everyone is unanimous, that is, cash loans are good solution if they are handled well. Payday loan in actuality can solve your cash problems especially when they are negotiated upfront directly from lenders to determine the loan system and any legal obligations arising from it.One of the arguments given by opponents of payday loan schemes is the heavy interest rate which is attached with them. Though everybody is ready to pay some money for availing cash benefits, but the question is whether payday loans are beneficial when their interest rates are considered? When compared to regular loan schemes which are also available and competing with payday loan schemes, there are few schemes which provide short term loans without any property being used as collateral. And this ease and convenience is only provided by payday loan schemes which provide short term loans without any collateral.In payday loans, the lenders directly lend the borrower certain amount of money which he has to pay back to the lender along with the interest on the day the borrower receives his pay check. This scheme is useful in times of urgency or immediate need of cash funds. Getting payday loan is very easy from the lender as it requires a very limited amount of paperwork and documentation. And the money is given to the borrower immediately after the application for the loan has been made.Internet provides a cheap and fast way to apply and receive a payday advance. Lenders have increasing shifted to online transaction systems and provide their services at the click of the button. Now the applications can be submitted directly through the internet without any delay and tiring paperwork saving time, energy and resources for the borrower. Another added benefit of online lending is that the required amount is transacted in less than day after the application has been submitted by the borrower.The red tape and lengthy documentation procedures which caused delay and embarrassment are things of past. The payday advance schemes do not require mortgages nor demand heavy paperwork making the entire exercise comfortable and easy.The entire procedure is very easy and is different from conventional loan application procedures. Payday advances does not require credit history check of the applicant thereby eliminating the ground of refusal on the basis of poor credit history of the applicant. Also, it does not require any security when you apply for loan. In the end, the benefits offered by payday loan schemes are on all accounts better than those given by regular loan schemes.It is necessary to go through the entire loan scheme when the application for the loan is made. Payday cash advances are short term loans which are provided immediately in return for high interest rate. And there is a heavy late payment fine in case the debtor defaults on his payment. It is better to look at payday schemes as an easy way to draw money from your next month’s salary instead of looking at it as borrowing.The bad reputation of payday loans has arisen more from inability of borrowers to pay the sum at stipulated time and consequently defaulting on their loans. They end up blaming the entire lending system for failure which in case was a failure on their parts to repay the loan. The payday scheme is beneficial and also very helpful for those borrowers who understand the working of the scheme. It is a simple way to meet your immediate cash problems.
Advertising in the Age of Google Empire: Killing Off Big Media Dinosaurs for Your Profit
Here’s a bold claim. Whatever your business, whether it’s brand new or well established, whether you live in America, on the Continent, and almost everywhere on the globe, Google and Google AdWords affects you today and will, in all likelihood, affect you even more in the future.This is not an exaggeration, simply a statement of fact.Just two decades ago, only a few people on the globe had ever heard of the World Wide Web. Originally governmentally funded solely for things like noncommercial research and enhanced networking capabilities for universities and governmental agencies, including NASA, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and the military, the world of communications and information exploded almost instantaneously in 1992 when the United States Congress opened it to commercial activity.Most Americans’ first experience with the Web came about with the peculiar, but very useful, little communication tool called email and the development of online tools and the first search engines like AOL, Netscape, even Yahoo. But, in point of fact, for most folks it was merely a fun novelty until two bright Stanford students, one born in the U.S.A. and the other an immigrant from Russia, set the internet world on its head. The world knows their work as Google.Like an electronic tidal wave, it submerged its competitors. Seventy percent of all global searches are made on Google. Every continent, nation, and city on the planet in hundreds of languages, including Klingon for Star Trekkers.”All very interesting”, you might say, “but I thought this was supposed to be about how Google advertising affects me”. To which I say: “Two words: Google AdWords.”Here’s the real deal you need to know. Even if you aren’t advertising your business with AdWords, your competitors are, to your business disadvantage.Don’t take my word for it. Consider: “We’re not in the business of keeping the media business alive… we’re in the business of connecting with consumers.” Trevor Edwards, Corporate V.P., Nike, Inc.Maybe you ought to ask yourself whether continuing to spend thousands and thousands of dollars for so little return on your investment makes sense when there’s a better way of getting customers. Think about the antiquated marketing model, you know, the one we all grew up with: radio, television, signs and posters, newspapers and fliers, magazines, billboards, Yellow Pages, and more. So expensive, so inefficient spreading your advertising marketing message far and wide instead of targeted messages to your real audience. Such a waste of your valuable marketing budget.Thousands, tens of thousands, sometimes way more, of dollars given to Big Media, making it rich and you, well, not so much. Can you keep throwing your money down an advertising hole? That sucking sound you hear is your valuable dollars, pounds, euros, dinero in the black abyss of old-style advertising. Sure, Big Media was once the mightiest economic dinosaur of all but, like its ancient reptilian ancestors, it awaits its cruel fate.You may be concerned about the risks of making dramatic changes in your approach to marketing but it is better to concentrate instead on the risks inherent in failing to make the changes necessary to compete for the modern consumer.We all know that many otherwise-smart companies remain mired in prehistoric marketing methodologies. If you’re hesitant, think about the fate of the dinosaurs, your competitors, and Big Media. Dinosaurs from long ago, competitors of today, Big Media. Carnivores all.How can you possibly compete in the face of all that? Simple: level the advertising playing field with the revolutionary Google pay per click model, still in its infancy, but already so powerful that it already reaches 85% of the world’s markets. 85%! Hundreds of countries, every imaginable language, every imaginable market. All not only affordable (you pay only for clicks on your ads), but once you understand the techniques for writing AdWords ads, you can set your marketing campaigns around your budget, compete with the Big Boys of commerce on your terms, and dramatically increase your customers through targeted ads.There is no exaggeration here. Just a decade old, AdWords advertising is the marketing meteor that, having flamed to earth, is killing off the Big Media dinosaurs. It’s almost everywhere. You see it every time you, and hundreds of millions of others, search Google. It’s probably on your cell phone and certainly on your Gmail. It’s on every YouTube video, not to mention over a million (!) commercial websites. Imagine your AdWords ad in the New York Times, Fox.com, or Sportsillustrated.com! And, now on Google TV which some are predicting will be more than a hundred billion dollar market.Plain fact is that, whether you’re a professional like a doctor or lawyer, own a brick and mortar or virtual store, a contractor or plumber or other service provider, student, housewife or househusband who wants to work at home to make a bit more money, AdWords already affects you. If you’re not in the online marketing game, know this: your competitors are.Your choice is stark. Be in the business of keeping Big Media advertising on life support… at your expense… or get in the business of connecting with customers in today’s world.
Best in Class Finance Functions For Police Forces
Background
Police funding has risen by £4.8 billion and 77 per cent (39 per cent in real terms) since 1997. However the days where forces have enjoyed such levels of funding are over.
Chief Constables and senior management recognize that the annual cycle of looking for efficiencies year-on-year is not sustainable, and will not address the cash shortfall in years to come.
Facing slower funding growth and real cash deficits in their budgets, the Police Service must adopt innovative strategies which generate the productivity and efficiency gains needed to deliver high quality policing to the public.
The step-change in performance required to meet this challenge will only be achieved if the police service fully embraces effective resource management and makes efficient and productive use of its technology, partnerships and people.
The finance function has an essential role to play in addressing these challenges and supporting Forces’ objectives economically and efficiently.
Challenge
Police Forces tend to nurture a divisional and departmental culture rather than a corporate one, with individual procurement activities that do not exploit economies of scale. This is in part the result of over a decade of devolving functions from the center to the.divisions.
In order to reduce costs, improve efficiency and mitigate against the threat of “top down” mandatory, centrally-driven initiatives, Police Forces need to set up a corporate back office and induce behavioral change. This change must involve compliance with a corporate culture rather than a series of silos running through the organization.
Developing a Best in Class Finance Function
Traditionally finance functions within Police Forces have focused on transactional processing with only limited support for management information and business decision support. With a renewed focus on efficiencies, there is now a pressing need for finance departments to transform in order to add greater value to the force but with minimal costs.
1) Aligning to Force Strategy
As Police Forces need finance to function, it is imperative that finance and operations are closely aligned. This collaboration can be very powerful and help deliver significant improvements to a Force, but in order to achieve this model, there are many barriers to overcome. Finance Directors must look at whether their Force is ready for this collaboration, but more importantly, they must consider whether the Force itself can survive without it.
Finance requires a clear vision that centers around its role as a balanced business partner. However to achieve this vision a huge effort is required from the bottom up to understand the significant complexity in underlying systems and processes and to devise a way forward that can work for that particular organization.
The success of any change management program is dependent on its execution. Change is difficult and costly to execute correctly, and often, Police Forces lack the relevant experience to achieve such change. Although finance directors are required to hold appropriate professional qualifications (as opposed to being former police officers as was the case a few years ago) many have progressed within the Public Sector with limited opportunities for learning from and interaction with best in class methodologies. In addition cultural issues around self-preservation can present barriers to change.
Whilst it is relatively easy to get the message of finance transformation across, securing commitment to embark on bold change can be tough. Business cases often lack the quality required to drive through change and even where they are of exceptional quality senior police officers often lack the commercial awareness to trust them.
2) Supporting Force Decisions
Many Finance Directors are keen to develop their finance functions. The challenge they face is convincing the rest of the Force that the finance function can add value – by devoting more time and effort to financial analysis and providing senior management with the tools to understand the financial implications of major strategic decisions.
Maintaining Financial Controls and Managing Risk
Sarbanes Oxley, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), Basel II and Individual Capital Assessments (ICA) have all put financial controls and reporting under the spotlight in the private sector. This in turn is increasing the spotlight on financial controls in the public sector.
A ‘Best in Class’ Police Force finance function will not just have the minimum controls to meet the regulatory requirements but will evaluate how the legislation and regulations that the finance function are required to comply with, can be leveraged to provide value to the organization. Providing strategic information that will enable the force to meet its objectives is a key task for a leading finance function.
3) Value to the Force
The drive for development over the last decade or so, has moved decision making to the Divisions and has led to an increase in costs in the finance function. Through utilizing a number of initiatives in a program of transformation, a Force can leverage up to 40% of savings on the cost of finance together with improving the responsiveness of finance teams and the quality of financial information. These initiatives include:
Centralization
By centralizing the finance function, a Police Force can create centers of excellence where industry best practice can be developed and shared. This will not only re-empower the department, creating greater independence and objectivity in assessing projects and performance, but also lead to more consistent management information and a higher degree of control. A Police Force can also develop a business partner group to act as strategic liaisons to departments and divisions. The business partners would, for example, advise on how the departmental and divisional commanders can meet the budget in future months instead of merely advising that the budget has been missed for the previous month.
With the mundane number crunching being performed in a shared service center, finance professionals will find they now have time to act as business partners to divisions and departments and focus on the strategic issues.
The cultural impact on the departments and divisional commanders should not be underestimated. Commanders will be concerned that:
o Their budgets will be centralized
o Workloads would increase
o There will be limited access to finance individuals
o There will not be on site support
However, if the centralized shared service center is designed appropriately none of the above should apply. In fact from centralization under a best practice model, leaders should accrue the following benefits:
o Strategic advice provided by business partners
o Increased flexibility
o Improved management information
o Faster transactions
o Reduced number of unresolved queries
o Greater clarity on service and cost of provision
o Forum for finance to be strategically aligned to the needs of the Force
A Force that moves from a de-centralized to a centralized system should try and ensure that the finance function does not lose touch with the Chief Constable and Divisional Commanders. Forces need to have a robust business case for finance transformation combined with a governance structure that spans operational, tactical and strategic requirements. There is a risk that potential benefits of implementing such a change may not be realized if the program is not carefully managed. Investment is needed to create a successful centralized finance function. Typically the future potential benefits of greater visibility and control, consistent processes, standardized management information, economies of scale, long-term cost savings and an empowered group of proud finance professionals, should outweigh those initial costs.
To reduce the commercial, operational and capability risks, the finance functions can be completely outsourced or partially outsourced to third parties. This will provide guaranteed cost benefits and may provide the opportunity to leverage relationships with vendors that provide best practice processes.
Process Efficiencies
Typically for Police Forces the focus on development has developed a silo based culture with disparate processes. As a result significant opportunities exist for standardization and simplification of processes which provide scalability, reduce manual effort and deliver business benefit. From simply rationalizing processes, a force can typically accrue a 40% reduction in the number of processes. An example of this is the use of electronic bank statements instead of using the manual bank statement for bank reconciliation and accounts receivable processes. This would save considerable effort that is involved in analyzing the data, moving the data onto different spreadsheet and inputting the data into the financial systems.
Organizations that possess a silo operating model tend to have significant inefficiencies and duplication in their processes, for example in HR and Payroll. This is largely due to the teams involved meeting their own goals but not aligning to the corporate objectives of an organization. Police Forces have a number of independent teams that are reliant on one another for data with finance in departments, divisions and headquarters sending and receiving information from each other as well as from the rest of the Force. The silo model leads to ineffective data being received by the teams that then have to carry out additional work to obtain the information required.
Whilst the argument for development has been well made in the context of moving decision making closer to operational service delivery, the added cost in terms of resources, duplication and misaligned processes has rarely featured in the debate. In the current financial climate these costs need to be recognized.
Culture
Within transactional processes, a leading finance function will set up targets for staff members on a daily basis. This target setting is an element of the metric based culture that leading finance functions develop. If the appropriate metrics of productivity and quality are applied and when these targets are challenging but not impossible, this is proven to result in improvements to productivity and quality.
A ‘Best in Class’ finance function in Police Forces will have a service focused culture, with the primary objectives of providing a high level of satisfaction for its customers (departments, divisions, employees & suppliers). A ‘Best in Class’ finance function will measure customer satisfaction on a timely basis through a metric based approach. This will be combined with a team wide focus on process improvement, with process owners, that will not necessarily be the team leads, owning force-wide improvement to each of the finance processes.
Organizational Improvements
Organizational structures within Police Forces are typically made up of supervisors leading teams of one to four team members. Through centralizing and consolidating the finance function, an opportunity exists to increase the span of control to best practice levels of 6 to 8 team members to one team lead / supervisor. By adjusting the organizational structure and increasing the span of control, Police Forces can accrue significant cashable benefit from a reduction in the number of team leads and team leads can accrue better management experience from managing larger teams.
Technology Enabled Improvements
There are a significant number of technology improvements that a Police Force could implement to help develop a ‘Best in Class’ finance function.
These include:
A) Scanning and workflow
Through adopting a scanning and workflow solution to replace manual processes, improved visibility, transparency and efficiencies can be reaped.
B) Call logging, tracking and workflow tool
Police Forces generally have a number of individuals responding to internal and supplier queries. These queries are neither logged nor tracked. The consequence of this is dual:
o Queries consume considerable effort within a particular finance team. There is a high risk of duplicated effort from the lack of logging of queries. For example, a query could be responded to for 30 minutes by person A in the finance team. Due to this query not being logged, if the individual that raised the query called up again and spoke to a different person then just for one additional question, this could take up to 20 minutes to ensure that the background was appropriately explained.
o Queries can have numerous interfaces with the business. An unresolved query can be responded against by up to four separate teams with considerable delay in providing a clear answer for the supplier.
The implementation of a call logging, tracking and workflow tool to document, measure and close internal and supplier queries combined with the set up of a central queries team, would significantly reduce the effort involved in responding to queries within the finance departments and divisions, as well as within the actual divisions and departments, and procurement.
C) Database solution
Throughout finance departments there are a significant number of spreadsheets utilized prior to input into the financial system. There is a tendency to transfer information manually from one spreadsheet to another to meet the needs of different teams.
Replacing the spreadsheets with a database solution would rationalize the number of inputs and lead to effort savings for the front line Police Officers as well as Police Staff.
D) Customize reports
In obtaining management information from the financial systems, police staff run a series of reports, import these into excel, use lookups to match the data and implement pivots to illustrate the data as required. There is significant manual effort that is involved in carrying out this work. Through customizing reports the outputs from the financial system can be set up to provide the data in the formats required through the click of a button. This would have the benefit of reduced effort and improved motivation for team members that previously carried out these mundane tasks.
In designing, procuring and implementing new technology enabling tools, a Police Force will face a number of challenges including investment approval; IT capacity; capability; and procurement.
These challenges can be mitigated through partnering with a third party service company with whom the investment can be shared, the skills can be provided and the procurement cycle can be minimized.
Conclusion
It is clear that cultural, process and technology change is required if police forces are to deliver both sustainable efficiencies and high quality services. In an environment where for the first time forces face real cash deficits and face having to reduce police officer and support staff numbers whilst maintaining current performance levels the current finance delivery models requires new thinking.
While there a number of barriers to be overcome in achieving a best in class finance function, it won’t be long before such a decision becomes mandatory. Those who are ahead of the curve will inevitably find themselves in a stronger position.