iSphere Global

Letter from the Editor Damian De Silva 

Hi Everyone,

I hope you all had a brilliant Festive Season and 2013 has welcomed you in safely. Personally, the start of the new year has been a pleasant one for me and I look forward to spending this year with you all and helping to grow our brand. With the start of a new year brings a new form of social media to iSphere Global; Blogging. Welcome, to what I hope will be the easiest way for all staff to be kept updated. All allocated ISG executive staff now have the ability to update the blog whenever required.

In this blog Jay addresses the expansion of the ISG footprint and  Kerrie will update you on staffing matters. Elisa Faulkner (recently joined our Manila office), James, Daniel and Michelle will inform you on what new developments are occurring in Manila and Singapore.

The previous 3 years ISG Melbourne has held the end of year client and staff Christmas Party at a trendy upmarket nightspot. In 2012 Jay decided on a relaxed lunch affair at the heritage listed Woolshed Pub. Where instead of yelling to one another over loud music and other patrons we were all greeted with a chilled vibe, a selection of beverages and then a feast. To counter the usual “club” type night at Christmas, we had a Christmas in July celebration in July, which was another great evening, as we all had a chance to let our hair down (except for me J) and relax.  

The Woolshed Pub is located down at Central Pier Docklands. For those who aren’t familiar with this venue,  back in the 1800’s to 1900’s it was part of Melbourne’s old docking and shipping precinct warehousing. After decades of disrepair around 2005 the dilapidated warehouse was restored and revamped. Hints of its former glory can be seen throughout this building with restored lofty ceiling beams and fixtures.

In the past few months a number of new staff have joined the ISG fold. Up at 100 Queen St we have Victor Mangos. Santino Sulfaro, Toan Nguyen, Jimmy Zdravevski, Tony Hatcher, Tina Marcou and last but not least Rita Kontoudis (on 12/3/13) are all based down at ANZ’s 833 Collins St building. If you see them around please make them feel welcome.

We are currently on the lookout for Strong UAT Analysts with a business background, not Technical.  We are also looking for strong Business focussed Business Analysts. If you know of any good ones out there, please ask them to contact me.

Enjoy the rest of the read.

Damian 

The Woolshed Pub Docklands. Sorry, one photo. Someone didn't charge the battery in the camera. Yes that would be me. 

Message from the MD Jehan Pereira

Dear All,

 

Happy 2013 and I hope you had a good break and are ready for a big and successful year. I have caught up with most of you already and discussed the type of year ahead that we can all expect, but in short; 
most financial companies are moving forward with project and technology updates, albeit a little slower than we are use to.  Their main concern is around executing in a leaner and smarter way, which makes absolute sense. 

As a company, we have already grown by 5% globally and intend on adding to that number significantly. We are looking at a formal process to reward staff for advising us of potential new roles well in advance, which should encourage everyone to think of this company as a shareholding for everyone. 

We are about to embark on two more internal projects that will take us further down the “product” ownership and off-shoring road, while maintaining and growing our numbers in Australia, Singapore and Manila. I am happy to discuss these with you all during our one on one session.

Please feel free to contact me at any time if you would like to have a chat about anything. I am particularly interested in looking at ways to improve our business and welcome your thoughts. 

Update from Asia-Pacific CEO James Berti

The Rewards implementation for a  Vietnam Cards business went live on January 21 which iSphere Project Managed the Technology component and provided BA and UAT Test Manager support. My congratulations goto Amarnath Chandrasekharan who was instrumental to the success of the project.

Jayson Matias continues to work on the Retail Banking Replacement program supporting the integration of the ecommerce platform to the new Retail Banking System.

The work on a major Asia-Pacific PCI-DSS program is coming to an end with the completion of the DEFINE phase. iSphere was instrumental in the phase taking on the majority of the business activities while directly managing the program. The boys in Singapore have done a wonderful job working with the 18 countries across Asia Pacific gathering the PCI-DSS gap requirements and producing Business Requirements. iSphere staff, namely Amarnath Chandrasekharan, Abhisek Das, Jonathon Timmalog and Ashish Ranjan have gained considerable knowledge of PCI-DSS requirements which will be invaluable to any client looking at becoming PCI-DSS compliant.

The CRM project of a major Philippines Bank is moving along quite well with the Manila team tailoring iFREND to meet Metrobank Card Corporation (MCC) specific requirements. The Business Requirements have now been locked in the for Service component of iFREND, so development can occur in full earnest. Implementation of the 1st phase is scheduled for the 4th quarter this year. Sales functionality will be the next component added to the product.

The iLOAN product (Loan Origination) is under review by several clients and with some luck we will be embarking on full development soon.

We have been awarded all the work associated with compliance, regulatory and enhancement changes on the credit card platform. Work is due to commence in March and continue for the majority of this year.

Update from the Philippines Daniel Manicad

The ISG Manila Christmas party was held last 7 December 2012 at the Mandarin Hotel.  Everyone was in a groovy mood, all in their 1960’s fashion attire.  Winner of the best in costume was Michelle Amaro, as Audrey Hepburn respectively.

Bank of the Philippine Islands has just launched their very first Visa Card – the “Amore Card”.  Under the name Project Love, Lily Amparo and Edward Sotelo have been instrumental in the development and implementation of this new card in BPI’s credit card system. Congratulations to both for a job well done!  Another successful implementation is BPI-MasterCard’s Smart Data Online system upgrade.  Ramil Vargas, together with Azreen Marohomsalic, did such a tremendous job that MasterCard has relayed thru the BPI project lead that they will be recommending iSphere Global to other MasterCard members who will be undergoing the same system upgrade.  Last but not the least, BPI has approved another one year extension of Shiela delos Reyes and Raymond Vizmanos under the Cards System BAU, proving that they are now an integral part of their team.

The CardSmart-FIS support team is wonderfully moving along smoothly, with another contract extension until middle of this year.  We are confident we will be able to renew to until the end of 2013.

ISG Manila welcomes Oscar Florentino, an ISG returnee from Singapore, who will work under the iSERIES project, and Elisa Faulkner as Delivery Manager for ISG Manila’s local projects.  Be sure to greet both when you see them.  

On a personal note, the start of 2013 was unbelievably amazing as Selly and I tied the knot in an intimate ceremony in Bali, Indonesia.  We celebrated with family and close friends, including our principal sponsors - Jay and Prakash.    

Thank you Daniel for your updates and congratulations on your marriage.

Left: ISG Manila's 1960's retro Christmas Party. Like far out Man!!
  

Right: Some of the ISG team in Manila. 

Left: Selly & Daniel Manicad Wedding, shared with Prakash, Jay, Cherry and Mona. 

Right: The first Bank of the Philippines Island Visa card. 

MCC iFREND Status Updates Elisa Faulker

The final version of the BRD is almost complete (due Feb 22) with only two major items escalated for management decision – ‘Rewards and Recognition‘  requirements and  ‘TCPIP vs MQ’ tool usage.

The development teams are proceeding with the BUILD of functions that are ‘safe’ to code before the BRD and FRS are signed-off for better utilisation of resources.

A team workshop was conducted with Grace Saveron  Areas of doubt regarding technical interpretation of business requirements were drilled down.  Grace presented a generic approach to coding functions, which the team accepted and will use. This approach makes coding modular and transportable. It also improves coding and debugging time.

The mainframe team has been granted TSO access to the MCC system including seating arrangement at the MCC building.  Negotiations are in progress for better working space area and equipment.

Testing is progressing in earnest. The TOP BUG-FIXER award for this 2-week sprint goes to Juan Carlo Macam with a total of 16 crucial bugs resolved and closed.

Elisa Faulkner

Thank you for your update. Elisa is new to the iSG team and is based in Manila.

Staff Matters Kerrie Chipman
  

We welcome Stacee Love to the Administration Team in Melbourne.  Stacee comes to us with many years of experience and loads of enthusiasm.  Please join me in making Stacee feel a part of our team.  If Stacee can assist you in any way, please make contact via email or telephone.

2013 is passing by very quickly with the first 2 months done and dusted, if anyone has leave planned for the first quarter and haven’t yet advised us, please send an email to the Administration Team promptly.

iSphere Global continues to source experienced and qualified staff, please send details of any possible candidates to the Administration Team to help build our team and provide the best resources to our clients.  We strive to always be the best in the field of service provision and our level of expertise continues to grow to meet this goal.

We will continue to formalise and document iSphere Global’s policies and procedures during 2013.  Please look out for updates on our progress.  We aim to have this information available on our website for easy access to all staff.

Thanks
Kerrie


I hope you all enjoyed the read. If you would like to contribute any news, photos or feedback for the next blog please feel free to contact me.

Thank You, 

Damian De Silva