BWI: BankMuscat Becomes World's First Bank to be People CMM® Maturity Level 3 Certified

Press release from Business Wire India
Source: QAI
Wednesday, March 23, 2011 10:00 AM IST (04:30 AM GMT)
Editors: General: Consumer interest; Business: Advertising, PR & marketing, Banking & financial services, Business services, Information technology; Technology
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BankMuscat Becomes World's First Bank to be People CMM® Maturity Level 3 Certified


New Delhi, Delhi, India, Wednesday, March 23, 2011 -- (Business Wire India) -- QAI (www.qaiglobal.com), the leading global consulting and workforce development organization, has recently assessed BankMuscat at People CMM® Maturity Level 3, helping it become the world's first bank to achieve this accreditation for its human resource processes and capabilities.

The People Capability Maturity Model® (People CMM®) is a maturity framework developed at the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) that guides organizations to radically improve the ability of organizations to attract, develop, motivate, organize, and retain the talent needed to steadily improve capabilities.

In order to perform and excel organizations must focus on three interrelated components-people, process and technology. People CMM® framework focuses on continuously improving the management and development of the human assets in an organization. It describes an evolutionary improvement path from ad hoc, inconsistently performed practices, to a mature, disciplined, and continuously improving development of the knowledge, skills, and motivation of the workforce. Maturity Level 3 of the People CMM® framework establishes the infrastructure for defining measures of capability, in preparation for capability being quantitatively managed at Maturity Level 4.

QAI perceives People CMM® as an effective and structured approach for assessing and improving the current people practices. QAI's experience with organizations of different size, industries and contexts has consistently revealed that in each instance the organizations have distinctly gained by adopting, adapting and applying the framework. And in several instances, organization's have not only seen the measurable benefits of improving workforce processes, they have also noticed the significant value HR practices and improvements bring to the business. It has worked with organizations across the globe to help them align their processes and people practices with the People CMM® Framework.

For BankMuscat the People CMM® accreditation process entailed a lengthy and rigorous audit process that evaluated 13 process areas which covered 291 practices and over 3000 documents. Over two years of data was audited for each of the 291 practices to verify actual implementation by QAI.

Reflecting on this achievement, Abdul Razak Ali Issa, Chief Executive, said: "The PCMM® framework has helped us spearhead innovative people practices that would develop our people for the future challenges. The PCMM® certification is an affirmation of our sustained focus on people and business processes. We will continue to address new challenges, embrace new practices and strive towards making the Bank indisputably the most preferred work place in the region."

Commenting on this achievement, Mr. Navyug Mohnot, CEO, QAI, said, "As a trusted partner and assessor on the journey, we at QAI believe that BankMuscat has demonstrated the rigor, commitment, and confidence to successfully complete the requirements of People CMMI® L3 maturity rating."

QAI has helped BankMuscat in becoming the first organization in Oman and across the GCC to get the People CMM® seal of approval. The achievement is all the more remarkable as among all big global banking institutions, BankMuscat is the first bank ever to achieve the PCMM® Level 3 accreditation. The accreditation groups BankMuscat with organizations like Accenture, IBM, Boeing, BAE Systems, Ericsson, Lockheed Martin, Honeywell and Tata Consultancy Services, which have adopted benchmark human resources process improvements.

About QAI: (www.qaiglobal.com, www.qaiglobalinstitute.com)

Established in 1980 in Orlando, Florida, USA, QAI is a global consulting and workforce development organization addressing the education and 'Operational Excellence' space in educational institutes, Information Technology, Business Process Outsourcing and Knowledge Intensive organizations.

QAI Global Services, the consulting division of QAI, addresses the space of Operational Excellence which includes the areas of Process Management, Quality Management, Innovation Management, Project Management, IT Service Management and others.

QAI has trained over 140,000 professionals and certified over 40,000 professionals worldwide.

QAI is currently servicing over 300 clients in 30 countries and our regional bases are located in US, India, China, Singapore and Malaysia.

About Bank Muscat:

With assets worth over USD 15 billion, BankMuscat (SAOG) is the leading financial services provider in Oman with a strong presence in Corporate Banking, Retail Banking, Investment Banking, Treasury, Private Banking and Asset Management. Firmly positioned to exceed one million satisfied customers in 2010, the Bank has the largest network of 129 branches, 386 ATMs, 131 CDMs and 4500 PoS terminals.

The international operations consist of a branch each in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Kuwait and a Representative Office in Dubai (UAE). BankMuscat currently owns 49% of BMI Bank B.S.C©, an independent bank in Bahrain. The Bank also has a 43% stake in the Mangal Keshav Group, one of the oldest and most respected securities houses in the fast-growing Indian equities market, 97% stake in Muscat Capital LLC, a newly created brokerage and investment banking entity in Saudi Arabia, besides a stake in Silkbank Ltd. in Pakistan.

BankMuscat holds the rare distinction of being voted the 'Best Bank in Oman' for seven years by The Banker, FT London; nine years in a row by Global Finance and Euromoney. BankMuscat is the recipient of the prestigious Hewitt recognition as the Middle East's Best Employer 2009. The Bank was declared an Investor in People (IiP) organisation in January 2007, becoming the first banking organisation in the MENA region to be awarded the prestigious global recognition. In 2004, BankMuscat became the first bank in the Middle East to be completely ISO 9000:2000 certified.


CONTACT DETAILS
Parul Singh, QAI, parul.singh@qaiglobal.com
Sankararaman Dandapani, QAI, sankararaman.d@qaiglobal.com

KEYWORDS
CONSUMER, MARKETING, BANKING, BUSINESS SERVICES, IT, TECHNOLOGY

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