Welcome to the August Issue of The Voice of Payments, our round up of news, views and information about what is happening in payments.
Reports and News you should read
Newsletters we suggest you subscribe to
Why lifetime education is important by Andy Coleyshaw
Succeeding in a constantly changing workplace requires a career management plan.
Employers always want to attract, hire, and retain employees who provide the best value. Think about yourself as a business with a product to sell and create a strategy for marketing your value in the workplace.
Make career planning a regular event
Find a day or weekend at least once every quarter and schedule time to truly focus on what you want out of your career.
Reflect on your career path since your last career planning session
Research shows reflection increases productivity and performance, so take time to think about your current situation and the path you want to follow. Are you happy with your career path so far? What could you have done better or differently? What can you change in the future? When you understand yourself and what you really want, it's a lot easier to create a plan that suits your goals and your lifestyle.
You can continue to experience career growth by investing in your career development – e.g., you can talk to your manager about job shadowing other employees in your company to learn about different jobs, or you can attend various training sessions and workshops. You can explore lateral moves to broaden your experience or find a mentor in a different department that you'd like to explore.
Reflect on what you like, dislike, need, and want from work
Our likes and dislikes change over time, so it's always a good idea to reflect on what you feel strongly about in your life and career. Make a list of what you like and dislike about your job. Hopefully you still enjoy a lot of your work activities, but if that's not the case, it might be time to start considering a new job or career.
It's also important to have a clear and meaningful purpose that you find emotionally engaging. What do you really need from your work? To make a difference. To become financially independent.
Identify your transferable skills
Maybe your job title is Business Analyst, but you have a huge amount of project management experience – skills that could be applied to other jobs. Think beyond your current job title by considering your goals and how the skills you have now would be useful in a new role. Make a list of your relevant transferable skills to add to your CV.
Also, do some research on what skills you need to gain. If your goal is to become the CTO, for example, what experience and skills do you need to gain in the next year, or in the next three years, to be qualified for that job title? Then create a plan for achieving your long-term career goal.
Explore new education or training opportunities
Never miss a chance to learn and grow more as an employee and individual. Part of career planning is finding training opportunities, courses, or workshops that will help you further your career. If your company offers professional development opportunities, take advantage of them. This is free money and can be valuable in reaching your goals. Keep an eye on our website as new courses are coming available on a regular basis.
Step out of your comfort zone
One of the best ways to advance your career is to identify and solve an organisational problem your company is experiencing. If you can identify a problem within your organisation, propose a solution, and implement it, you will not only increase your visibility in the organisation, but also expand your skills in the process.
Click here if you want to contact Andy and discuss his views further.
Featured Service - The Academy
The Payments Academy is now up and running and we’re adding courses all the time. We have a team of 50 authors, all experts in their topics preparing more courses and we have engaged with several partners to represent us in India, Africa and Europe.
We welcome Lee Werrell, Santosh Avi and Matthew Key as authors who join JP Mergue who is already on board and has 3 courses live in the curriculum:
Fundamentals of Payments
Cross border payments (SEPA)
Secrets for your SCT team
Planned courses:
ISO20022
Overview of the Payments industry
History of payments
Introduction to payments (free?
Digital currencies
We also welcome Cards and Payments as a partner.
Contact Mattia Parati if you would like to write a course we can publish and promote for you. Mattia, Dean of the Academy.
An update on some of our partners activities
OFS
OFS continue to win significant business opportunities in the financial sector for their payment related innovations.
SurePay COP Webinar
COP or Conformation of Payee continues to be a hot topic and SurePay developed the first COP API. This video, The evolution of confirmation of payee, was of a recent webinar held on the evolution of confirmation of payee.
Mansion House
Mansion House continue to be successful for providing resources and expertise to assist banks in implementing new regulatory requirements and undertake projects to complement existing teams.
Here is a link to an interview we did with Gerard Kenny, the CEO of Mansion House who is a well-known thought leader on payment topics.
Seralla
This short video (2 minutes) gives an overview of a survey we are conducting with Seralla; you are invited to attend.
Serrala is a global financial and fast-growing company. They are an innovator of B2B payments software, whom offer secure payment capabilities worldwide for enterprises of all sizes. They are a leading FinTech extending the boundaries of finance software by integrating finance and treasury into one central ecosystem for corporate payments. The Payments Business is delighted to be working with Serrala on this joint initiative.
How to take the survey and register your place at the Webinar