Manager, Product at Standard Bank Group

Job Purpose:

• The role holder will take the lead of implementing digital product management strategies and plan for Insurance and Asset Management that span across Insurance, Investments and Asset Management  portfolios.
• Demonstrating strategic thought leadership, as well as delivery of best practices, the role holder will leverage their deep understanding of platform capabilities to make informed decisions that will deliver features and capabilities which result in increase in financial value and operational efficiencies for Insurance and Asset Management, more holistically. As this is a truly pioneering role within Stanbic, the optimal fit for this role will be a candidate wanting to roll-up their sleeves, look around corners to identify customer and business needs and dive into the challenge. To lead clients through iterative discovery and design processes to co-create a solution-based roadmap to solving for business needs. To be a trusted advisor to clients and provide customer-centric solutions that are aligned to business needs thereby facilitating a positive experience.

Output:

• Adhere to in-Country data policies in line with Standard Bank Group data standards so that quality data is consistently and appropriately stored, used and managed.
• Align customer journey operations to the wider business, ensuring that leading industry practices are customized and implemented appropriately.
• Ask questions critical to solution discovery in order to identify gaps and opportunities for particular solutions. Analyze the outcomes of discovery and exploration to position solutions for success.
• Build a team with a balanced shape of skills in customer journey and design, cultivate a high performance culture, and foster collaboration between team members, internal and external stakeholders, equipping individuals to perform optimally in achieving team objectives.
• Challenge the nature of data collection and analysis to understand the customer journey and provide direction and insight to innovative data analysis techniques.
• Define the most appropriate qualitative and quantitative research methodologies for solutions that guide the analysis and synthesis of quantitative and qualitative data from a variety of sources to identify opportunities and recommend the direction of solution design.
• Define the product problem statement and vision, based on business strategic goals and develop the solution roadmaps to ensure solution quality and consistency for good customer experience.
• Develop and roll out change management plans that supplement client journey initiatives to enable successful and smooth solution adoption.
• Develop customer journey standards in consultation with the organisation and solution owners to ensure consistency and compatibility in approaches to solution definition and development.
• Develop key metrics to define what successful solutions look like, that are clearly and objectively measured and reported to motivate the team's return on investment and value creation.
• Embed service and solutions as a key deliverable across the bank at all levels. Empower bank employees to take actions to deliver better solutions within the principles of service delivery.
• Engage in, and oversee the design, test, and iteration of high-impact processes and journeys. Explore and define metrics that accurately capture feedback and utilise data to refine and improve upon journeys. Continually refine and rerelease processes and journeys after input from customers.
• Engage, negotiate with, and influence all impacted country-specific market regulators to positively identify with opportunities undertaken by the organisation i.e. Approach Financial Services regulators and  demonstrate that risks are suitably mitigated; Convince technology regulators that the employed application of technology is suitable and appropriate; Comply with data privacy regulations etc.
• Facilitate the target-state client journey mapping, understanding the moments that matter and derive possible solution features that will be required as part of the target state.
• Gain feedback from clients using the most appropriate tools i.e. NPS and CSI surveys. Develop insights and a deeper understanding of how to meet evolving client needs to maintain a competitive advantage.
• Gain insight into current client value propositions, how clients experience developed solutions, and what actions should be taken to improve the customer journey and experience.
• Guide the analysis of results generated from prototype testing to redefine established problems. Lead the building of a more robust understanding of the client journey and problem statement.
• Identify and own explorative qualitative and quantitative investigations to define, frame, and help prioritise solutions in an evolving and complex problem space, aligned to the unique agenda and goal of the client.
• Identify gaps in initial solution design and scope solutions and opportunities that improve the business and service experience.
• Identify primary and secondary stakeholders critical to the success of customer journey operations so that engagement plans may be customised accordingly.
• Identify the extent of support required by relevant internal partners to ensure that solutions are tailored to the market to achieve success i.e. IT; Legal and Compliance; Engineering, Marketing and Sales etc.
• Maintain relationships with stakeholders by involving them in business discussions and decisions, where appropriate and keeping them informed of business developments.
• Participate in the commercial negotiations around third-party agreements and SLA's where necessary, ensuring that budget is used effectively and efficiently, within time allocated.
• Remain aware of external market offerings pertaining to solutions to client problem statements. Partner with external solution specialists where appropriate and/or collaborate with internal innovation partners where solutions are not available in the market.
• Strive to enhance brand perception, client satisfaction and support activities to increase active client usage of developed and deployed client journey initiatives, by collaborating with internal teams across products, marketing, distribution and client service areas.
• Test solution prototypes in order to determine how end users behave to reveal challenges and resolutions, or to establish whether or not the implemented solutions have been successful.
• Understand key in-Country risks pertaining to the design and development of solutions. Identify risks and put in place risk mitigation plans.
• Understand problem statements and structure teams for each project that satisfy project requirements. Define project charters and rules of engagement that clarify roles and responsibilities, and metrics and targets against which team performance and success is measured.
• Understand the current and future in-Country technological capabilities of the organisation, and provide advice on frameworks and methodologies that enhance the scalability of solution designs to satisfy current and potential requirements.
• Understand the motivational drivers of clients, customers and/or solution users to achieve a positive impact on satisfaction. Identify and understand the client's journey by paying close attention to the complete customer experience, and the individual touch-points that create the full journey.

QUALIFICATIONS

• First degree; Business commerce
• 5-7 years - Experience with continually auditing and monitoring customer experience and support the development of a customer experience dashboard Extensive knowledge in project management. Experience in people management- leading and motivating teams in a multicultural environment, driving change in a fast-paced consumer business. Experience in driving and sustaining transformation journeys
• 5-7 years - Experience with supporting the identification, design, and definition of value-based customer experience initiatives. Identifying, implementing and evaluation of projects that have a medium to high impact on customer experience