Posts

Showing posts from September, 2014

How Financial Institutions are Focusing on Startups

Financial services providers have always been considered indifferent to the plight of new business ventures. The structure of the lending services available at most traditional financial institutions is designed to this effect. It enables them to operate without worrying whether the business sector is going to thrive. As long as loans are repaid on time, and obligations to the institutions are met in a timely manner all seems okay. However, this tide of indifference to the needs of new business is changing quite rapidly. Financial institutions have focused on smaller businesses in several ways, the most prominent of which is managed services. Managed services are a situation where the service provider in the finance industry undertakes to provide more than credit facilities. They take over the control of the finances of the business especially as regards the use of credit facilities they have provided. This is usually done in the form of expert advice and information on the use of

How the Dodd Frank Act is Going to Affect Energy Trading

Image
The recent economic meltdown that was sparked off by a decade of rogue bank activity due to gospel banking deregulation has caused the legislature to take notice and change their Modus Operandi. They have responded to the economic meltdown by choosing to create the Dodd-Frank Act to restore some semblance of regulation into the economy. This act was mainly targeted at regulating the banking industry in the economy by increasing federal oversight. However, this has not stopped it from affecting the nature of energy trading in the near future and past the foreseeable present. The first notable effect has been the regulation of hedge funds. These are private resources pooled into an investment fund by their owners. It allows private individuals to pool their funds and invest together in whatever business they choose to. These hedge funds were heavily invested in energy trading. They have had their asset base increased to a hundred million dollars threshold, but this has not come wi

Energy Risk Management is an Area for Exceptional Expertise

Energy risk management refers to a specific area of risk management that is focused on the risks that come with dependence on energy for performance of business operations. The ideal scenario, when it comes to energy, is becoming even more difficult for companies to achieve. This is because of increased demand, political instability in oil producing areas, and the gradual diminishing of fossil fuel reserves the world over. For these reasons, companies are being forced to plan for the inevitable situation that sees a disruption in their energy supply. However, energy risk management is not an area that can be taken quite lightly, when looking for expertise to help with handling it. This is because it is a deep domain expertise area. In layman terms, this means that the area needs to be handled by a particularly distinctive type of consultant. The expert sourced to handle this matter needs to be well versed in these matters if they are to be of any value to the company. Their expertis

Do Financial Consulting Services Need More Regulation?

The global economic recession of 2008 came as a massive shock to a world that had mislead itself into thinking that progress was the order of the day. The economies of the world took a massive turn for the worse and so did the lives of many. In the aftermath of all of this, many sought someone who should take the blame for all of the wrong that had happened. One of the likely scapegoats in this catastrophe was the sphere of financial consulting services. These are professional firms that have based their entire business model on the notion that they have much greater insight into how the market works. They leverage their purported ability to provide a clear understanding of market forces and trends. They have created such a powerful niche in the world of business that there is no mega-corporation that has not invested heavily in consulting services. The blow back from all of this resulted in pushes for increased regulation of the financial consultancy service providers and industr

Why has Technology become the Most Important Resource in Consulting Services?

Image
Wealth management consulting is an essential service that enables capital accumulation and resource allocation to be done in an efficient manner. This service is provided to the consumer market, targeting those that have attained a certain level of capital and asset accumulation in an effort to ensure that their wealth is better utilized. A recent trend has been an increased reliance on technology consulting services by wealth and asset managers. There are many opinions out there on why this is the case but the most prominent is that technology is now an indispensable resource to the world of consultancy service providers. Technology consulting services This is the use of technology systems to provide market, consumer, economic, and sociopolitical analyses on current events. Technology consulting is the use of technology systems to gain a better understanding of how different forces interact and how they influence on economic activity and systems. At the core of these servic

Importance of Financial Consulting Services for Modern Business Operations

Financial consulting services are a range of consultancy services that are able to equip businesses with special insights into the market in which they operate. It has become a tremendously important service for companies to invest in consultants who are able to provide them with the right kind of expertise. The modern business environment is quite complex due to the huge number of players that are operational in the field. There is a wealth of stakeholders from consumers to the companies themselves and even the slew of regulatory authorities that govern the market. This means that modern companies cannot just assume that they will be able to steer through the increasingly complex market environment by themselves without any help. Here are some of the most salient reasons why companies need to invest in business consulting services. Compliance The modern economic environment has led to the reemergence of oversight and regulatory mechanisms in a market which had been largely lib

Why the Consultant Is a Company’s Greatest Friend in This New Age

The consultant has become a valuable asset that any business has access to within the course of its operations. Business consulting services are quickly moving from an additional investment into the territory of a requisite acquisition for many companies. Companies are quickly realizing that they no longer have the discretion on whether or not to use consultants. If they intend to compete in the modern market, they simply must invest in the services that are provided by these consultants. As a matter of concern for many companies, the field of consultancy has grown quite large in recent years. Companies can get consultants to provide any service from forensic accounts and auditing to advanced technology services consultancy work. There are those who say that this industry is too large for its actual purpose. However, these are just mistaken because in this modern age, the consultant is a company’s best friend. Here is why companies must embrace these professionals and services tha

How to Manage your Finances Effectively

Image
Being wealthy is an inspiration of any human being. You need to be smart when it now comes to managing your finances. There are several characteristics and behaviors that the wealthy individuals have in common; they seek advice from wealth management consulting companies. These are companies which provide financial service to their client at a fee. They also help them to invest in profitable ventures. It is essential that you manage your finances effectively so that you can create even more wealth from your money through investments. Poor management of your wealth may lead to dramatic change of your status, from a billionaire to a pauper. If you want to be in control of your finances, here are some of the strategies or ways you should consider to employ: Look for a Financial Advisor Employing a professional financial advice is a step in the right direction for managing your wealth. This is a professional who will be able to advice you on how to plan and budget for your money. S

End-To-End Approach Is Necessary For Business Growth in Energy Trading

Image
Traditionally, end-to-end business processes have always been thought of as processes aimed at starting from the customer and ending at the customer. However, this may not be the case in a practical situation, especially since business processes have always been described as functional sub processes. This explains why process maps such as sales, procurement, production and so on are found in such business map processes. Surprisingly, the same case applies where it comes to energy businesses, which are considered somehow sensitive. Nevertheless, all these processes are essentially a part of a value chain for creating services and products in an organization for a consumer. Generally, end to end is built on the logic that removing a significant number of middle layers or even steps as possible will help in optimizing performance as well as efficiency in all types of business process. This could, for instance, mean connecting buyers and sellers directly in the energy businesses arena

Minimizing Challenges and Increasing Profit Margins in the Energy Market

Image
The energy market is usually driven by customer choice as well as the constant change and the rising demand. In this regard, staying ahead in this market means identifying better ways of managing complex supply chains.  It is important to find ways of building a better energy supply chain right from procurement of fuel to generation to delivery. A better supply chain can be established when key processes and information are integrated in order to minimize costs, enhance visibility of inventory and even streamline service operations and much more. If you operate in the oil and gas industry or even in the energy generation sector, it is important for you to provide exemplary customer services and still maintain safety, and control costs as an on-going requirement. Additionally, energy business is time sensitive besides including non-conventional freight. It is for this and other reasons that you should consider seeking the best energy consulting services to streamline to ensure