RBS 2010 Annual Report Download - page 40

RBS Group 201038
Business Services and Central Functions
Ron Teerlink, Chief
Administrative Officer
MFor biographies
see pages 226-229
Business Services provides specialist services
and expertise for the divisions, helping to
provide greater value to our customers and to
deliver our Strategic Plan objectives. In 2010,
we focused on innovating, managing change,
managing operational risk and becoming
more efficient.
Central Functions comprises group and
corporate functions, such as treasury,
funding and finance, risk management,
legal, communications and human resources.
The Centre manages the Group’s capital
resources and Group-wide regulatory projects
and provides services to the operating divisions.
Business Services
Becoming more efficient
We work closely with the other divisions to identify efficiencies and
opportunities to create value through innovation. We’ve played a key role
in delivering on the Group’s target of more than £2.5 billion of cost
savings by 2011.
In 2010, several programmes helped to improve the service we provide
to customers. ‘Intelligent Working’ is designed to improve how we use
property and to give our staff flexible working opportunities. Since its
2009 launch, it has allowed us to reduce our property footprint by
389,000m2, more than Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 5. An upgrade to
our Building Management Systems enabled us to reduce energy use
in our buildings by £2.3 million, which would power 1,584 average UK
households for a year.
Our ‘Lean’ programme is designed to become embedded in how people
work, looking for ways to improve customer experience and staff
engagement, whilst eliminating activities that don’t add value. It has
achieved significant results, including an increase in the volume of GBM
customer calls handled at first point of contact by our Corporate Service
Centres from 55% to 94%.
Managing change
RBS is undertaking one of the largest ever corporate restructurings, so
we face a huge and varied change agenda. Helping divisions to plan,
implement and adapt to change is hugely important. In 2010, Business
Services provided specialist support for the processes involved with the
EU mandated divestments, including the sale of 318 UK branches and
associated infrastructure.
The level of restructuring that is required unfortunately involves some
difficult decisions. As part of our own strategic review, we announced
plans in 2010 for a further 3,500 potential redundancies in the UK, to be
implemented over the next two years. We have committed to be open
and transparent, communicating upfront with our staff. We have engaged
with UNITE in the UK and other partners globally to explain the rationale
for the change and to gain their co-operation in how it is implemented.
To minimise the need for compulsory redundancies, we try hard to
redeploy affected staff within the Group.
Innovating
We focus on innovation in our operations. We use leading edge
technologies in service innovation. New consumer devices and
networking technologies enhance the connections between our
customers and employees. Since its launch in 2009, our ‘Mobile Money’
application has attracted over 600,000 users and we have helped to
launch similar products across other areas of the Group.
Technology Services runs a programme to deliver innovative solutions,
which includes building its own RBS ‘App Store’ to develop new business
applications that boost productivity and enhance customer value.
Managing operational risks
Our Security & Risk team aims to protect our customers, our information
and our people against security and fraud threats. We help the business
and our customers to understand the operational threats and to take
action to minimise risks. For example, our ‘Trusteer Rapport’ free
software has been downloaded by over four million customers, helping
to protect their online banking details and reduce the risk of identity
theft and fraud.
389,000m2
reduction in property
footprint since 2009
94%
of GBM calls handled at
first point of contact by our
Corporate Services Centre