The success of any modern organization in
daily business transactions depends on the effective use of modern
technological tools. Money remittance companies are exceptional profit-making
organizations because they tend to their clients by transferring billions of
dollars across the globe. In the Middle East and Africa ,
money transfer companies are known as Hawalas which translates to mean “to
transfer”, “to convey” or “to transmit”. These remittance companies are
considered the fastest money transfer systems in the world. A client in San Francisco who wants to send money to a relative
residing in a village somewhere in Africa or the Middle East will only need to
visit the nearest Hawala in San
Francisco , present the particulars of the recipient
and pay the amount of money to be transferred and the $6 service charge for every
$100 remitted. After the money is presented to the Hawala clerk, the sender
then calls the recipient to convey the good news of the money sent and the name
of the Hawala. It usually takes as little as twenty minutes to transfer money
to a recipient.
One dilemma facing these companies is the lack
of the necessary technological tools required for Hawala interconnectedness and
intercommunication. Usually, every Hawala works on its own such that there is
no exchange of money between this money remittance organizations. Franklin and
Raadschelders (2004) believe that there are dilemmas present in any budgetary
process because decision-makers favor one determinant over the other. What
Hawalas will need to do is improve collaboration in how they conduct business
so as to be able to serve each other. If a sender in Minneapolis discovers that his favorite
Hawala has no establishment where the money is being sent, then, another Hawala
should be able to receive the money and transfer the same to the intended
recipient with a surcharge.
The use of the spreadsheet will help money
senders to make remittances without making the trip to the Hawala when
schedules are tight and time is scarce and when there is inclement weather. At
the same time, it is more convenient and that it is like ordering a large
cheese pizza from Papa John’s. Hawala executives could then be able to
differentiate what was delivered in cash from what was ordered online. Hawalas
could manipulate workflow technology so that both sides can be aware of system
performances. Also, they could execute performance measurement by applying
dashboard, cockpits, and scoreboards to enhance their daily activities
(Kavanagh et al, 2006). In reporting, they could use Business Intelligence (BI)
and Executive Information Systems (EIS). In BI, the Hawalas would learn to
analyze data for information collection while EIS could be used to enhance
serious or calculated statistics collection.
References
Franklin, A. L., & Raadschelders, J. C. (2004).
Ethics in local government budgeting: Is there a gap between theory and
practice? Public
Administration Quarterly, 27(4), 456–490.
Kavanagh, S. et
al (2006). Government finance
officers association: Budgeting technology solutions.
Retrieved from http://www.gfoa.org/downloads/BudgetTechnologyReport.pdf
