“Even predictions can fill treasuries”

by SBI Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
3 1338 4.5/5

King Krishnadevaraya had the largest kingdom in the region-Vijayanagar. Under his rule, Vijayanagar expanded its boundaries and brought newer areas under its jurisdiction, thanks to brave soldiers in the battlefield and strategic decisions taken by the King and his ministers. Neighbouring kingdoms were not far behind. Though their boundaries were not expanding at the same rate, the high inflow of funds to their treasuries started becoming the topic of discussion at every meeting held by King Krishnadevaraya and his ministers. The gap was widening and becoming an area for concern for the kingdom of Vijayanagar and its position vis-à-vis competitors.

The pressure was building up for the Ministers to find a method to reduce the gap in treasury figures as it had a direct impact on the prosperity of Vijayanagar Kingdom and its people. King Krishnadevaraya summoned for Tenali Rama, one of the Ashtadiggajahs and the King’s favourite Minister, to find the reason and long term solution for the problem. Tenali held intensive discussions with stakeholders and suggested that a specialized project be launched to address the issue.

A cross functional team was formed that held brainstorming sessions followed by detailed study of the treasury management process. Though lack of efficiency and poor performance were found to be the main concerns that could be addressed by re-engineering the treasury management process and employing a tool for performance analysis and monitoring, what was most important was the need for a breakthrough process to improve the inflow of funds.

Informers were put to task by Tenali to research on what prospering kingdoms were doing that lead to their overflowing treasuries. Their research revealed that the kingdoms were employing soothsayers to predict which source of business in the kingdom is most likely to pay the taxes on time and which is not!!

Tenali thought they too have soothsayers in Vijayanagar, so why not employ them for the same purpose. The next day Tenali presented the findings in front of King Krishnadevaraya and his courtiers which lead to a very intensive discussion.

King Krishnadevaraya and the courtiers decided that they would need the help of soothsayers and mathematicians with greater expertise and experience from outside the kingdom for predictive analytics. Work was initiated. The King and his ministers provided their inputs regarding classification of existing businesses into easily identifiable categories based on their propensity for payment to the treasury. Inputs from treasury department helped to refine and improve the effectiveness of results.

Once the categories were clearly identified, the communication strategy was developed and the new process was presented before the King and the council of ministers. Once approved, the new process was initiated by announcing in the common assembly and throughout the vast kingdom of Vijayanagar.

Funds started to flow in as communication became more focussed and through proper process management and monitoring of flow of funds. King Krishnadevaraya personally kept a tab on the treasury inflows after all he had to ensure that his kingdom prospered!!

The project not only increased the inflow to the treasury but also helped to optimize resource utilization by prioritizing efforts and without compromising on quality. Further, the communication strategy additionally helped to identify alternate modes of obtaining funds from businesses.

Lessons Learned

 

  • Existing customers are the key to sustained profits and are required to be active so as to meet the ultimate goal of any insurance product.
  • Looking beyond traditional solutions can help in transformational change in performance of an organisation.
  • Data can be a source of great insights that can change the way of looking at processes
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21 November 2018 by Sunil Shelke
Excellent
21 November 2018 by Sunita Pawar
Good
23 November 2018 by Amit Roy
Message conveyed precisely.