Client Management Research Articles

A graph-based approach to client relationship management in fund administration

Ensuring effective and timely communication in the fund administration industry has become an essential element of client relationship management (CRM). A CRM team periodically evaluates asset managers perception of service quality using surveys, where it can be difficult to evaluate service quality objectively. Within the asset management industry, despite ongoing technological advances, the main channel of communication remains email. The sheer volume of email, and the industry’s reliance on it, can lead to practical problems that impact CRM. In this work we draw insights from the email communications between an operations team and two-sample clients to understand client relationships in a way not previously possible. The results are presented and we discuss how these can quantitatively support and improve service quality evaluations in CRM. For this application, we exploit the social relations in emails via a graph-based approach. A deep learning framework is described that allows a graph-based inspection of the email communications between asset managers and their fund administrators operations teams. The presented framework integrates a natural language processing model to transform email subject lines to embedding representations, a knowledge graph to transform the email communication links into a graph representation, and a graph neural network to process the embedding representations and classify the email communications. The classification of critical conversations via email is a demonstrative example of a scalable graph-based approach that allows the use of machine learning to process, learn, and explore the relations existing between the emails.

An Assessment of Research Data Services Through Client Interaction Records

Research data services have become a key feature of academic libraries. In this paper, we provide an internal assessment of consulting reach and effectiveness for our Data Services provided by the University Libraries at Virginia Tech and using client records from 2016 to 2020. Through this assessment, we explore how service growth and reach across Virginia Tech has evolved with time. We also look more closely at these aspects for one college and discuss how we will use this data to assess the impact of our services. Finally, through the lens of client outcomes, we examine the trends of client interactions over the term of the study. Initially, we envisioned a successful service as one useful to the largest number of entities (primarily colleges and institutes) across Virginia Tech. However, analysis of the data we have gathered over the past 4 years leads us to consider target ing our service growth where it might be most useful. Rather than prioritizing services that are useful to the largest number of researchers, we instead could (and perhaps should) prioritize engagement with researchers and research communities for whom our assistance can make the largest positive impact on their research projects. This assessment of our client data demonstrates the utility of detailed client management records for periodic formative and summative assessment of research data services.

Communication Challenges in Private Finance Initiative Projects at Facilities Management Stage

Facilities management is one of the scopes of work under the Private Finance Initiative Projects. The success of the facilities management work depends on various factors. Communication is among the factor. This paper will highlight what are the challenges faced during the communication between the client and facilities management managers in UiTM projects and also ways to overcome the challenges. The research is carried out by using the qualitative method. The interviews were done with the engineers and facilities managers. From the interviews, the challenges are the breakdown of communication, human error, lack of understanding, time-consuming, and misunderstanding. deal with lack of understanding, it is best to deal with it through meeting or discussion, inspecting the real problem, and issuing a letter or reminder. To sum up, these strategies are being used because to clarify the root cause of the lack of understandings and to get rid of disputes that happen between both parties. To ensure smooth communication when conveying information during the operational and maintenance, the following item suggested being done by the respondents; verification from the end-user, conducting a technical meeting, following the procedure in executing works, and having a good relationship between both parties. To improve communication, the suggestion is the use of the mobile application, integrated system, roles of the concessionaire in understanding the Concession Agreement, minimize human error and improvement of CFMS as well as preferably direct communication using instant messages.

Application of Advanced Hybrid Models to Identify the Sustainable Financial Management Clients of Long-Term Care Insurance Policy

The rapid growth of the aging population and the rate of disabled people with physical and mental disorders is increasing the demand for long-term care. The decline in family care could lead to social and economic collapse. In order to reduce the burden of long-term care, long-term care insurance has become one of the most competitive products in the life insurance industry. In the previous literature review, few scholars engaged in the research on this topic with data mining technology, which was motivated to trigger the formation of this study and hoped to increase the different aspects of academic research. The purpose of this study is to develop the long-term insurance business from the original list of insurance clients, to predict whether the sustainable financial management clients will buy the long-term care insurance policies, and to establish a feasible prediction model to assist life insurance companies. This study aims to establish the classified prediction models of Models I~X, to dismantle the data with the percentage split and 10-fold cross validation, plus the application of two kinds of technology as feature selection and data discretization, for the data mining of twenty-three kinds of algorithms in seven different categories (Bayes, Function, Lazy, Meta, Misc, Rule, and Decision Tree) through the data collected from the insurance company database, and to select 20 conditional attributes and 1 decisional attribute (whether to buy the long-term insurance policy or not). The decision attribute is binary classification method for empirical data analysis. The empirical results show that: (1) the marital status, total number of policies purchased, and total amount of policies (including long-term care insurance) are found to be the three important factors affecting the decision attribute; (2) the most stable models are the advanced hybrid Models V and X; and (3) the best classifier is Decision Tree J48 algorithm for the study data used.

Business Model Innovation to Address Vegetable Supply Chain Issues: A Case Study of an Indian Startup

Purpose: Agricultural supply chains witness several challenges, which result in increased cost of operations, high wastages, and low efficiency. In the case of vegetable supply chains (VSCs), the intensity of challenges is very high due to perishability. Literature suggests various operations research tools for supply chain management of perishables, but there is a paucity of research highlighting the real models adopted by real players in the market while making revenue. This paper investigates and presents how a startup can innovate its business model to meet the VSC issues by adopting a single case study methodology. Design: The phenomenon was studied by convergent interviewing with the company’s key personnel and gathering information from the company’s key documents followed by content analysis. Findings: The study shows real practices adopted by a startup to cater to the challenges of VSCs in India by incorporating various tools of productivity enhancement and waste reduction. It highlights the adoption of a traceability system, production planning mechanism, reduced food miles, and green initiatives contributing to an innovative business model. The study maps the business model of the startup with the business model concept provided by Lindgardt and colleagues [ 2009 ] and states two more dimensions, i.e. “Client relationship management” and “Sustainability activities” to expand the mentioned configuration. Originality: The study is the first of its kind to highlight the Business Model Innovation of a startup to address the VSC challenges in the Indian context. Practical contribution: The study has important managerial implications useful for finding our new value propositions in a VSC firm by shortening and effectively integrating the supply chain while minimizing information asymmetry to achieve economies and sustainability. Theoretical contribution: This study has strengthened the methodological advances in the study of business models based upon earlier validated configurations. It contributes to the extant research by adding two more elements “Client relationship management” and “Sustainability activities” in a business model configuration.

Stakeholder assessment in construction projects using a CRITIC-TOPSIS approach

PurposeStakeholder assessment is based on attributes possessed by stakeholders, making the process heavily reliant on evaluating attribute weights. The present assessment methods are based on Analytical Hierarchy Process, Analytical Network Process, and pairwise comparisons that heavily rely on decision-makers’ skills and knowledge. An objective evaluation of attribute weight needs to be done to overcome this challenge.Design/methodology/approachA Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) based approach, through the combined use of Criteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation (CRITIC) and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) methods has been incorporated to objectively evaluate the weights of the stakeholder attributes and their ranking with a specific focus on construction megaprojects. Five stakeholder attributes and twelve commonly associated stakeholders with megaprojects were considered to achieve this.FindingsThe new model presented power, durability and legitimacy as three important stakeholder attributes, further used to determine stakeholder importance. The client, contractor and project manager were identified as the top three internal stakeholders, and customers, local community and utility service providers as three crucial external stakeholders.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings from the proposed method provide the practitioners with updated information about the attributes they need to look into when planning stakeholder involvement and management. Further, it also leads them to the established framework for the provided stakeholder ranking when planning their management strategies.Originality/valueThe use of CRITIC method allowed to address the possibility of any correlation between the attributes in their weight determination. This was one of the advantages as co-relation between the attributes during their weight determination has not been addressed in previous methods.

Implementation of penalized survival models in churn prediction of vehicle insurance

The insurance industry plays an indispensable role in the financial structure of today’s world. Vehicle insurance accounts for a large part of the income of insurance companies, and retaining regular clients has proved economical, making car insurance clients’ churn management a priority. Meanwhile, clients’ churn will determine companies’ financial status and reflect the service and management level of the company. This paper proposes a new model, i.e., combined the Cox model with variable penalties (Lasso, SCAD, and MCP) to model the clients’ churn problems and determine the crucial factors that affect clients’ decisions, based on their personal information and behavior data, which are provided by a large insurance company in China. This model is proved to be successful in identifying the client churning and making comparisons among the penalties. The variable penalties model reveals the most important factor about clients’ churn problems, which can provide a reliable basis for the product development of insurance companies. MCP creates the greatest sparsity but consequently loses some information. We suggest using SCAD in the model, as it balances the sparsity and information reservation. Furthermore, a new approach is proposed to building a dynamic threshold of churning probabilities, which companies can use to manage their clients more flexibly. In this way, clients who are prone to churn can be identified in advance, and the maintenance cost of client management can be reduced accordingly.

The Effects of Client Machiavellian Traits and Fraud Motivation on Fraud Risk Assessments

ABSTRACT The extant fraud literature indicates the Dark Triad personality trait of Machiavellianism can indicate behavioral warning signs, signal the motivation of a potential fraudster, and be used in a predictive approach to fraud assessments (Brody, Melendy, and Perri 2012; Hermanson, Justice, Ramamoorti, and Riley 2017). In a 2 × 2 experiment, this study examines the effects of client manager Machiavellian traits and fraud motivation on fraud risk assessments. We find that participants' fraud risk assessments are higher when client traits are consistent with high Machiavellianism. We did not find a significant fraud motivation effect. The results indicate evidence of additional attitude/rationalization risk factors for consideration under the fraud triangle and the effects on judgment when assessing fraud risk. We provide insights on the ability of auditors to recognize high/low pressure/motivation situations within the context of a case study. Finally, the study provides evidence for documentation in consideration of fraud factors.

Factors Related to Nursing Practices of General Visiting Nurses for Clients With Suicidal Ideation in Japan.

The current study aimed to clarify the status of suicide care experience and factors influencing nursing practices of general visiting nurses who care for clients with suicidal ideation via home health care. Two hundred eighty nurses completed a self-administered questionnaire about nursing practices, suicide care experiences, and care difficulties. Multiple regression analysis was performed using the total score for each nursing practice factor. In total, 83.9% of nurses stated that their clients' desire to die was significantly associated with "assessing and identifying suicide risk factors" in nursing practice. "Professional support" in nursing practice was significantly associated with the difficulty of creating a risk-based treatment environment as well as with the experience of psychiatric nursing work. Findings suggest that general visiting nurses need to improve their communication skills and assessment abilities for the management of clients with suicidal ideation. [Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 61(1), 47-54.].

'I think that's what I heard? I'm not sure': Speech and language therapists' views of, and practices in, phonetic transcription.

Phonetic transcription is recognized in regulatory standards as an essential skill for Speech and Language Therapists (SLTs) in the assessment, diagnosis and management of clients with speech difficulties. Previous research has identified that approaches to phonetic transcription vary, and that SLTs often lack confidence in transcribing. However, SLTs' views and working practices have not been investigated in detail, particularly in terms of whole service approaches and following the recent increase in telehealth. To investigate SLTs' views about phonetic transcription, their working practices at both individual and service levels, and the factors that influence these. A total of 19 SLTs from the UK were recruited to online focus groups via social media and local networks. Participants discussed their views of, and practices in, phonetic transcription. Themes were identified using reflexive thematic analysis. Three broad themes were generated division and unity; one small part of a big job; and fit for purpose. SLTs were uniformly proud of their ability to phonetically transcribe and viewed this as a unique skill, but clear differences existed between different groups of SLTs in their views and practices. Investing in phonetic transcription was not always a priority for SLTs or services, and although many felt under-confident in their skills they considered these to be adequate for the populations they usually encounter. SLTs make an early judgement about possible therapy targets, which influences the level of detail used in their phonetic transcription. Practical barriers are often not addressed at service level, and assessment via telehealth poses some specific challenges. SLTs and services would benefit from increased investment in phonetic transcription in terms of time, opportunities for continuing professional development (CPD) and initiatives such as electronic patient records (EPRs) which support the use of phonetic symbols. Identifying target sounds at an early stage raises questions about the implications of disregarding other features of speech, and the selection of appropriate intervention approaches. Further research is needed to analyse actual rather than reported practices, and to consider the relationship between phonetic transcription and intervention approaches. Future studies could also identify precise CPD requirements and evaluate the effectiveness of CPD. What is already known on the subject Previous research has demonstrated that SLTs often lack confidence in phonetic transcription and that practices are varied, with relatively little use of narrow transcription. SLTs are interested in opportunities to maintain and develop transcription skills but do not often undertake CPD for transcription. What this paper adds to existing knowledge By using focus groups as a forum for discussions, this study provides a rich and detailed insight into SLTs' views about clinical transcription and their working practices, with previously unreported details about the reasons for these practices in a clinical context and at a service-wide level. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Transcription is often de-prioritized in non-specialist contexts, with practical barriers and a lack of clear and consistent protocols at a whole-service level. There is an opportunity for service managers to address the systemic difficulties in using transcription effectively by raising the profile and value of transcription amongst clinicians, and promoting CPD opportunities, using the findings of this study as a rationale for funding this. Together, these recommendations have the potential to improve client outcomes through more accurate assessment and diagnosis, and hence more appropriate intervention.

Speech and language therapist and interpreter collaboration with the paediatric population: A systematized review

BACKGROUND: There is a mismatch between languages spoken by speech and language therapists (SLTs) and their clients. Consequently, SLTs are required to collaborate with interpreters to provide equitable services to multilingual clients. OBJECTIVE: This systematized review aimed to identify the barriers and facilitators to SLT and interpreter collaboration within the paediatric population. METHODS: A systematic and comprehensive search of literature was conducted. Selected literature underwent quality assessment and thematic analysis resulting in a narrative synthesis of included literature. RESULTS: Fifteen research studies were identified to be included in the review. Five themes were identified: (1) Frequency of interpreter and paediatric SLT collaboration; (2) training of SLTs and interpreters for speech therapy paediatric practice; (3) type of interpreters used during speech and language therapy paediatric sessions; (4) paediatric SLTs’ confidence when collaborating with interpreters; and, (5) policy influencing SLT and interpreter collaboration during management of paediatric clients. CONCLUSION: The review revealed limited direct research on the barriers and facilitators to SLT interpreter collaboration in the multilingual paediatric setting. Findings indicate that: (1) many SLTs consider their training in working with interpreters to be inadequate; (2) there is a lack of available professional interpreters and the use of family members as interpreters is common with paediatric clients. Further research is required to explore the specifics of training provided to interpreters and the factors that contribute to the lack of availability of professional interpreters for paediatric clients.

Predisposing and Precipitating Factors of Schizophrenic Clients with the Risk of Violent Behavior and Hallucination

The management of schizophrenia clients especially those who are at risk of violent behavior and hallucinations clients, its takes a long time. The management can be successful if it focuses on redisposing and precipitation factors. This study aimed to determine the predisposing and precipitation clients of risk factors for violent behavior and hallucinations. This research was descriptive analytic study. The sample was obtained with a total sampling of 48 respondents who met the inclusion criteria. Data were collected using a checklist of predisposing and precipitation factors and analyzed by frequency distribution. The predisposing factors found that caused schizophrenic clients to experience the risk of violent behavior and hallucinations were history of previous mental disorders (72.9%), unpleasant experiences and negative self-concept (100%) and the condition of clients who did not work (79.2%). Most of the precipitation factors found were drug withdrawal (50%), problem solving was 41.7%, and not working which reached 66.7%. Clients with schizophrenia who are at risk of violent behavior and hallucinations can be managed properly by considering the predisposition and precipitation that triggers the client to experience schizophrenia and relapse.

Diversity and inclusion in the bioanalytical industry: an interview with Anahita Keyhani.

Anahita Keyhani speaks to Sankeetha Nadarajah, Commissioning Editor.

How better client service performance affects auditors' willingness to challenge management's preferred accounting

Client service is a defining feature of the auditing profession. Auditors are coached to manage their daily interactions with client managers by providing better client service (e.g., communicating timely, minimizing disruptions, and being accessible). However, the effects of better client service performance on auditors’ judgments about accounting issues are not well understood. Psychology theory suggests that better client service performance could either impair or improve auditors’ judgments, depending upon whether performance is framed as an expression of goal commitment (i.e., the importance of a goal) or as an indication of goal progress (i.e., moving forward on a goal). In an experiment, I find theory-consistent evidence that with commitment framing, better client service performers are less willing to challenge management’s preferred accounting than worse performers. With progress framing, this deleterious effect of client service performance is eliminated. However, inconsistent with theory, progress framing does not cause better client service performers to be more challenging than worse performers. Taken together, this study provides new evidence about the age-old tension between client satisfaction and audit quality. Satisfying clients by providing better service can compromise audit quality, but not necessarily.

PEKERJA SOSIAL DALAM PENANGANAN PENGEMIS DI DINAS SOSIAL YOGYAKARTA

Social work is a noble profession that has a helping orientation. Social workers as a profession have the main task of overcoming any social problems that occur, one of which is tackling beggars who have become social problems that are still unresolved. The method achieved in this study is a qualitative method by describing the implementation of social worker values and ethics in dealing with beggars through the Yogyakarta City Social Service. The purpose of this research is to provide an overview related to practice in the field as an increase in the quality of work in order to have competence both in terms of values and ethics in carrying out their profession. The results of this study indicate that in the implementation of social workability values and ethics with acceptance, expression of feelings, non-judgmental attitude, objectivity, self determination, confidentiality and acuteness. All these principles have been practiced. However, in practice in the field there are still problems in the application or implementation of the values and ethics of social workers. These include problems in client confidentiality, policy laws, management care and scarce and limited resourcesKeywords: Ethical Values, Social Workers, Beggars

Regulating Solicitor’s Clients’ Money: A Stitch in Time Saves Nine

In West Malaysia, solicitors are regulated under the Legal Profession Act 1976 (LPA). Pertaining to holding clients' money to perform the clients' instructions, the LPA empowers the Bar Council to enact rules under Section 78. Pursuant to the said power, Solicitors Account Rules 1990 (SAR) is enacted to regulate the the management and maintenance of clients' money hold by solicitors. However, SAR only provides a minimum rule on maintaining clients' money with no fund security and primarily based on trust and confidence in the solicitor's profession. Due to this fact, mismanagement and misappropriation of client's monies are expected, which some resulted in the solicitors charged for criminal breach of trust of clients' money under the Penal Code (Act 574). Nevertheless, no criminal action against a legal firm that misappropriated the client's money as a legal firm is not a legal entity under criminal law. This paper examines the legal firm's compliance in managing the client's money under the SAR. The paper employs a doctrinal method and applies a content analysis approach. The research concludes that there is in dire need of the monitoring compliance mechanism for the protection of clients’ money as adopted by other jurisdictions. This paper proposes an amendment to SAR, which incorporates the due diligence process to maintain the client's money and penalty provisions to ensure that solicitors compensate for any misappropriation of clients’ money.

Sexual Medicine and Psychiatry: Promises, Potentials, and Pitfalls: Global and Local Perspectives

Sexual medicine is a rapidly developing subspecialty of modern medicine. Yet, there are several uncertainties over its place in contemporary medicine. As of now, this is an interdisciplinary field. Several medical disciplines contribute to the evaluation, management of clients with sexual dysfunctions, research, innovation, and generation of further knowledge and skills. Psychiatry has played an essential role in the historical development of sexual medicine. The brain plays a vital role in sexual functioning during health and disease. Several conceptual understandings of the disorders, assessment strategies, and management techniques have psychological or neural science-related underpinnings.Additionally, sexual disorders have high comorbidity with several mental health conditions. Clients can be the best mange if a biopsychosocial perspective on sexual medicines is utilized in diagnosis and management. A host of newer development and progress is happening in this field, so keeping track and consistent updating is imperative for clinicians desirous of competently practicing sexual medicine

Architectural patterns for the design of federated learning systems

Federated learning has received fast-growing interests from academia and industry to tackle the challenges of data hungriness and privacy in machine learning. A federated learning system can be viewed as a large-scale distributed system with different components and stakeholders as numerous client devices participate in federated learning. Designing a federated learning system requires software system design thinking apart from the machine learning knowledge. Although much effort has been put into federated learning from the machine learning technique aspects, the software architecture design concerns in building federated learning systems have been largely ignored. Therefore, in this paper, we present a collection of architectural patterns to deal with the design challenges of federated learning systems. Architectural patterns present reusable solutions to a commonly occurring problem within a given context during software architecture design. The presented patterns are based on the results of a systematic literature review and include three client management patterns, four model management patterns, three model training patterns, four model aggregation patterns, and one configuration pattern. The patterns are associated to the particular state transitions in a federated learning model lifecycle, serving as a guidance for effective use of the patterns in the design of federated learning systems.

Community College Mental Health Navigators: A Pilot Program to Improve Access to Care.

The California Community College (CCC), the largest system of higher education and provider of workforce training in the nation, serves approximately 2.1 million students across its 116 campuses. CCCs work to reduce barriers to academic success by providing mental health services (MHS). However, CCCs provide MHS on a short-term model because of limited staffing and high demand with most campuses placing a restriction of six to eight sessions per academic term. A referral list of local agencies is typically provided for students who need continued care, though students often do not know how to explore options or navigate their health insurance benefits. During the 2020-2021 academic year, an MH navigator program was piloted at four community colleges in a San Francisco Bay Area county. Participants included 10 students with academic/career interests in social work, nursing, and the social sciences. Fall Semester 2020 focused on increasing students' knowledge on mental health topics, while Spring Semester 2021 focused on experiential learning through case management of student clients. The navigator pilot program showed promising results with navigators gaining practical experience and exposure to mental health careers while assisting their peers from campus-based to community-based care. Future efforts will focus on cultivating stronger relationships between navigators and MH liaisons. Doing so will help staff develop greater familiarity of the navigator's role, thus ensuring an increase in usage of its services and allowing the student-client a smoother transitioning experience from campus-based to community-based care.

Adherence to appointments for gestational diabetes testing and experiences with two-hour postprandial glucose test: a mixed-methods study in Ghana

BackgroundFailure to attend scheduled appointments is a common problem in healthcare. In obstetrics, diagnostic and treatment protocols for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) require client booking, test preparations, management and follow-up reviews. We identified the socio-demographic, obstetric and medical drivers influencing adherence to appointments for GDM testing and experiences of pregnant women’s regarding performing oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT).MethodsA convergent parallel mixed-methods study comprising a cross-sectional survey and an explorative qualitative descriptive design were used. We recruited 817 women in their first trimester of pregnancy from the antenatal clinics of primary, secondary and tertiary health facilities in Ghana. After obtaining their demographic and health history, we scheduled them for 2-h OGTT between 24 and 28 gestational weeks and estimated the odds of returning for the test. In the qualitative phase, we called 166 participants to ascertain why they failed to report. Also, we had in-depth and focused group discussions with 60 postpartum women who performed the OGTT to explore their experiences with the test.ResultsOut of 817 pregnant women scheduled, 490 (59.97%) reported of which 54.59, 54.33 and 53.24% completed fasting plasma glucose, 1-h and 2-h OGTT, respectively. Maternal age above 35 years (OR: 3.56, 95% CI:1.49–8.47), secondary education (OR: 3.21, 95% CI: 1.19–8.69), formal sector employment (OR: 2.02, 95% CI: 1.16–3.51) and having same-sex children (OR: 4.37, 95% CI: 1.98–9.66) increased odds of appointment adherence whereas healthcare in a tertiary hospital (OR:0.46, 95% CI:0.22–0.96), rural residence (OR: 0.53, 95% CI: 0.34–0.85) and being overweight (OR: 0.45, 95% CI: 0.25–0.78) decreased the likelihood. Experiences were thematized into feelings about test procedure, acceptability of test, skillfulness of the health workers and information on the test. Despite the apprehension and discomforts associated with the test, the desire to know one’s disease status was the chief motivation. Empathy, reassurance and receiving ample information on the test procedures eased anxiety and improved test compliance.ConclusionsAlthough 40% of participants scheduled did not return, the test was generally acceptable. Socio-cultural underpinnings influenced the health-seeking behaviors, meaning that health worker interactions on test procedures need to be sensitive to the woman’s situation.