Lean and Six Sigma initiatives are designed to enable sustained improvements in your company or organization's efficiency and competitiveness. As with other improvement strategies they are dependent on two things, effective management and your ability to automate or digitize elements of your business process. Lean and Digitize provides you with a convincing picture of each of these elements (process improvement, digitization and the management of both) to help you eliminate waste, improve process and service, and better align your information and communications technology with your strategic objectives. Bernardo Nicoletti analyses and reviews the development of automation and telecommunications systems in the context of quality management and process improvement. He uses case examples to illustrate organizational and management approaches to implementation. These, along with his practical guidance, will help you make sense of the complexity, benefits and interrelations between these different elements. The text shows you on the one hand, how to integrate information and communication systems into your process improvement projects and, on the other, how to align information and communication projects with your quality strategy. Without a holistic approach to technology and quality improvement, your initiatives run the risk of being misdirected or simply running out of steam. Changes of this kind will never be easy but at least if you follow the advice in Lean and Digitize you will significantly increase your chances of success.

Lean and Six Sigma initiatives are designed to enable sustained improvements in your company or organization's efficiency and competitiveness. As with other improvement strategies they are dependent on two things, effective management and your ability to automate or digitize elements of your business process. Lean and Digitize provides you with a convincing picture of each of these elements (process improvement, digitization and the management of both) to help you eliminate waste, improve process and service, and better align your information and communications technology with your strategic objectives. Bernardo Nicoletti analyses and reviews the development of automation and telecommunications systems in the context of quality management and process improvement. He uses case examples to illustrate organizational and management approaches to implementation. These, along with his practical guidance, will help you make sense of the complexity, benefits and interrelations between these different elements. The text shows you on the one hand, how to integrate information and communication systems into your process improvement projects and, on the other, how to align information and communication projects with your quality strategy. Without a holistic approach to technology and quality improvement, your initiatives run the risk of being misdirected or simply running out of steam. Changes of this kind will never be easy but at least if you follow the advice in Lean and Digitize you will significantly increase your chances of success.

Industry 4.0 has spread globally since its inception in 2011, now encompassing many sectors, including its diffusion in the field of financial services. By combining information technology and automation, it is now canvassing the insurance sector, which is in dire need of digital transformation. This book presents a business model of Insurance 4.0 by detailing its implementation in processes, platforms, persons, and partnerships of the insurance companies alongside looking at future developments. Filled with business cases in insurance companies and financial services, this book will be of interest to those academics and researchers of insurance, financial technology, and digital transformation, alongside executives and managers of insurance companies.

Bill Gates' quote, "Banking is necessary, but banks are not," showcases the opportunity for financial services digital transformation. The next transition from industry 4.0 to 5.0 will impact all sectors, including banking. It will combine information technology and automation, based on artificial intelligence, person-robot collaboration, and sustainability. It is time to analyze this transformation in banking deeply, so that the sector can adequately change to the 'New Normal' and a wholly modified banking model can be properly embedded in the business. This book presents a conceptual model of banking 5.0, detailing its implementation in processes, platforms, people, and partnerships of financial services organizations companies. The last part of the book is then dedicated to future developments. Of interest to academics, researchers, and professionals in banking, financial technology, and financial services, this book also includes business cases in financial services.

We are living in the middle of a Fourth Industrial Revolution, with new technology leading to dramatic shifts in everything from manufacturing to supply chain logistics. In a lively, developing field of academic, procurement is often neglected. Despite this, procurement plays a vital role, connecting the organization with its ecosystem. At a time of change and economic crisis, a new business model is called for, which this book aims to define. Based on the applications of Industry 4.0 concepts to procurement, this book describes Procurement 4.0 as a method and a set of tools, helping businesses to improve the value of their products, reduce waste, become more flexible, and address the business needs of the future. It will appeal to academics in the area, as well as practitioners.

Industry 4.0 has spread globally since its inception in 2011, now encompassing many sectors, including its diffusion in the field of financial services. By combining information technology and automation, it is now canvassing the insurance sector, which is in dire need of digital transformation. This book presents a business model of Insurance 4.0 by detailing its implementation in processes, platforms, persons, and partnerships of the insurance companies alongside looking at future developments. Filled with business cases in insurance companies and financial services, this book will be of interest to those academics and researchers of insurance, financial technology, and digital transformation, alongside executives and managers of insurance companies.

We are living in the middle of a Fourth Industrial Revolution, with new technology leading to dramatic shifts in everything from manufacturing to supply chain logistics. In a lively, developing field of academic, procurement is often neglected. Despite this, procurement plays a vital role, connecting the organization with its ecosystem. At a time of change and economic crisis, a new business model is called for, which this book aims to define. Based on the applications of Industry 4.0 concepts to procurement, this book describes Procurement 4.0 as a method and a set of tools, helping businesses to improve the value of their products, reduce waste, become more flexible, and address the business needs of the future. It will appeal to academics in the area, as well as practitioners.

This book presents a business model on how to structure the relationship between financial services and procurement. The need for new models is particularly important to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) where there is an evident difficulty in accessing credit. Due to this context, innovative solutions must be introduced. The objective of this book is to determine how innovation can support the dynamic and volatile international context and the increasingly relevant function of procurement. It is becoming more and more important to take into account complex international transactions with notably long payment terms. Organizations need to manage the best way to handle the financial relationships and the risks related to credit provision and payments. This book presents an end-to-end support to procurement, including trade finance, supply chain finance, and related payments. In addition, the enterprises need to keep sufficient liquidity levels in the short and medium term. This is a constant challenge today, with the turbulence of financial markets and a continuing climate of economic uncertainty making it harder to obtain external funding. Businesses need to optimize the working capital. This can be done through the innovative concept of procurement finance, which allows SMEs to benefit by the new vision of collaborative procurement. This book provides several practical examples of advanced procurement finance solutions. It demonstrates how the use of process improvement and technology can help in overcoming the current financially difficult situation. In addition, based on the business model presented, the integrated approach to procurement finance allows sustainable solutions which will be of interest to academics, researchers, managers, and practitioners in both buyer and vendor companies, as well as in banks and other financial institutions.

This book is the first of two volumes presenting a business model to add value through Procurement. Including several case studies of successful implementation, it demonstrates how the increasing complexity of the business environment requires a significant intervention on the management of processes and information within individual organizations and through inter-company relations. Agile Procurement presents the application of the Agile method which optimises and digitizes processes in order to reduce wastage and defects. As a method, tool and a culture aimed at effectiveness, efficiency and economy of organisations, agile procurement requires a change of paradigm. This volume examines these areas of improvement and presents best practice in improving processes. Each chapter of the book presents and substantiates the costs and benefits of process improvement through agile procurement. This is is seen as the integration of Lean Six Sigma and digitization.

This book provides an introduction to the state of the art in financial technology (FinTech) and the current applications of FinTech in digital banking. It is a comprehensive guide to the various technologies, products, processes, and business models integral to the FinTech environment. Covering key definitions and characteristics, models and best practice, as well as presenting relevant case studies related to FinTech and e-Business, this book helps build a theoretical framework for future discussion.

This book is the first of two volumes presenting a business model to add value through Procurement. Including several case studies of successful implementation, it demonstrates how the increasing complexity of the business environment requires a significant intervention on the management of processes and information within individual organizations and through inter-company relations. Agile Procurement presents the application of the Agile method which optimises and digitizes processes in order to reduce wastage and defects. As a method, tool and a culture aimed at effectiveness, efficiency and economy of organisations, agile procurement requires a change of paradigm. This volume examines these areas of improvement and presents best practice in improving processes. Each chapter of the book presents and substantiates the costs and benefits of process improvement through agile procurement. This is is seen as the integration of Lean Six Sigma and digitization.

This book is the second of two volumes presenting a business model to add value through Procurement. Including several case studies of successful implementation, it demonstrates how the increasing complexity of the business environment requires a significant intervention on the management of processes and information within individual organizations and through inter-company relations. Agile Procurement presents the application of the Agile method which optimizes and digitizes processes in order to reduce wastage and defects. As a method, tool and a culture aimed at effectiveness, efficiency and economy of organizations, Agile Procurement requires a change of paradigm. This volume examines these areas of improvement and presents best practice in the digitization of the processes. The last chapter examines the near future developments of the procurement, which the author labels Procurement 4.0. It presents also how new solutions, like Blockchain, could revolutionize procurement.

This book provides an introduction to the state of the art in financial technology (FinTech) and the current applications of FinTech in digital banking. It is a comprehensive guide to the various technologies, products, processes, and business models integral to the FinTech environment. Covering key definitions and characteristics, models and best practice, as well as presenting relevant case studies related to FinTech and e-Business, this book helps build a theoretical framework for future discussion.

This book explores the ways in which the adoption of new paradigms, processes, and technologies can lead to greater revenue, cost efficiency and control, as well as improved business agility in the insurance industry.

Enterprise management theories about the so-called bionic organization currently face a significant funding gap. Bionic theories have been mainly applied to enterprise lifecycle because of the presence of similarities between economic organizations and organisms. The digital transformation has offered advancements in the bionics research field which enable us to discuss bionic organizations for the first time as business realities in which humans and machines, especially robotic process automation systems and artificial intelligence tools, cooperate in executing operations. This book determines how a bionic organization can be defined and what are its fundamental elements in the case of banking. Specifically, it investigates the two pillars of bionic enterprise which are technology and humans, as well as the core objectives and outcomes. In order to provide an exhaustive overview, the book proposes a new conceptualization of the business model of a bionic organization on the basis of the Business Model Canvas framework. Ultimately, the study of bionic organizations is aimed to discover also how they evolved in the post pandemic phase as a result of the disruptive events generated by the spread of the pandemic. The research on the book has been conducted through a qualitative and descriptive methodology with the intent to build further knowledge about the topic starting from the information available in literature. To provide actual evidence of the reality of bionic financial services, the book includes case studies. The organizations observed in the study have been selected since they present some of the key traits identified by the bionic enterprise theory. The book demonstrates that bionic enterprise theory can be further enriched with the conceptualization of a bionic business model in which the paradigm of collaboration between humans and machines is a recurring element.

Bill Gates' quote, "Banking is necessary, but banks are not," showcases the opportunity for financial services digital transformation. The next transition from industry 4.0 to 5.0 will impact all sectors, including banking. It will combine information technology and automation, based on artificial intelligence, person-robot collaboration, and sustainability. It is time to analyze this transformation in banking deeply, so that the sector can adequately change to the 'New Normal' and a wholly modified banking model can be properly embedded in the business. This book presents a conceptual model of banking 5.0, detailing its implementation in processes, platforms, people, and partnerships of financial services organizations companies. The last part of the book is then dedicated to future developments. Of interest to academics, researchers, and professionals in banking, financial technology, and financial services, this book also includes business cases in financial services.

Enterprise management theories about the so-called bionic organization currently face a significant funding gap.  Bionic theories have been mainly applied to enterprise lifecycle because of the presence of similarities between economic organizations and organisms. The digital transformation has offered advancements in the bionics research field which enable us to discuss bionic organizations for the first time as business realities in which humans and machines, especially robotic process automation systems and artificial intelligence tools, cooperate in executing operations. This book determines how a bionic organization can be defined and what are its fundamental elements in the case of banking. Specifically, it investigates the two pillars of bionic enterprise which are technology and humans, as well as the core objectives and outcomes. In order to provide an exhaustive overview, the book proposes a new conceptualization of the business model of a bionic organization on the basis of the Business Model Canvas framework. Ultimately, the study of bionic organizations is aimed to discover also how they evolved in the post pandemic phase as a result of the disruptive events generated by the spread of the pandemic. The research on the book has been conducted through a qualitative and descriptive methodology with the intent to build further knowledge about the topic starting from the information available in literature. To provide actual evidence of the reality of bionic financial services, the book includes case studies. The organizations observed in the study have been selected since they present some of the key traits identified by the bionic enterprise theory. The book demonstrates that bionic enterprise theory can be further enriched with the conceptualization of a bionic business model in which the paradigm of collaboration between humans and machines is a recurring element.

This book examines how Industry 5.0 can be defined and implemented for Supply Chain Management and what essential characteristics it has. In outlining Supply Network 5.0, it examines how humans and machines, especially robotic process automation systems and artificial intelligence tools, will work together in the New Normal. To provide a comprehensive overview, it proposes a new conceptualization of Supply Network 5.0's business model based on the Business Model Canvas and SCOR framework and provides a dedicated analysis of the proposed solutions and real-world implications of its implementation. Including case studies from several different sectors and including significant analysis on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, this book will provide a cutting-edge perspective for academics and students of supply chain management, digital business and innovation.