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SCHOOL OF FINANCE AND BANKING

GROUP 24

PROJECT REPORT HANDED IN AS PARTIAL REQUIREMENT FOR THE COURSE IN E-COMMERCE

Handed in on 27th june 2011

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E-COMMERCE REPORT
E-commerce impact as a tool for development and growth in the country has been felt most in the banking industry and thus prompted, we, the members of group 24 Third year E- commerce class of 2011 to select Banque Populaire du Rwanda (BPR) as the basis of our E-commerce survey that was conducted on the 14th june 2011.

BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF BANQUE POPULAIRE DU RWANDA

Banque populaire du rwanda(BPR) was established in the year 1975 in NKAMBA in Kibungo Eastern province( side picture) and was followed by the establishment of many others around the country. In 1986 the various autonomous Banques Populaires du Rwanda formed an umbrella called Union des Banques Populaires du Rwanda (UBPR) with a cooperative mission. In january 1998 Basing on its strong experience of 33 years in the Rwandan financial sector, UBPR was transformed from a cooperative Bank into a commercial bank Banque Populaire du Rwanda S.A which has as recently as 2011 been changed to Banque Populaire du Rwanda(BPR) Ltd. BPR has grown from the single bank in 1975 to having 18 branches, 109 sub-branches, 61 outlets, staff totaling 1460, capital worth 5.8 billion rwf of which 65% of the equity is held by former cooperative members while 35% is held by RABOBANK and has 617,332 shareholders thus stumping its presence as one of Rwandas leading banks. The E-commerce history of BPR started around 25 years ago with the use of the FAX system but gained momentum as recently as the early 2000s. However e-commerce in BPR has quickly evolded and is now part of its core business activities, with a large number of transactions in the bank relying on it eg The BPR mobile banking (that registered 52,500 users in the first 6 months of operation), ATM,money transfer. Mission and vision Mission: To offer a full range of financial services in the urban and rural areas in a market driven and financially sustainable way; based on cooperative characteristics. Vision: To be the leading retail bank of Rwanda 2|Page

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E-COMMERCE INFRASTRUCTURE
E-commerce infrastructure describes the Hardware, Software and Networks used in E-commerce and as such the e-commerce infrastructure in BPR can be categorized as below:

Hardware
Computers BPR uses its computers as below: Customer Information BPR uses computers to track customer information such as name, address, phone number, date of birth, Social Security number and place of employment. This information is used to stay in touch with customers and notify them of any changes in bank policy. A customer address is needed to send out statements on a monthly basis. A customer's account number is also stored in the computer, which gives bank employees the ability to access customer information efficiently. Products BPR stores the number of products and services a customer has in its computers. BPR personnel will periodically call customers to offer them a product or service, such as home mortgage credit. It helps to know which products a customer already has before any new products are offered. Without the use of computers, it would be difficult to keep track of this information.

Reports and Profits With a computer, BPR can analyze aging reports and track the customers who have had checks returned due to nonsufficient funds. This report can be used by the sales associates to call these customers and offer them a product called overdraft which enables the customer to overdraft their account to cater to urgent problems. Computers help BPR bank personnel generate income by targeting certain customers for sales activity.

Transactions and Goals Computers help tellers keep a record of all transactions for the day. When customers make deposits and withdrawals, cash checks, open checking accounts or apply for mortgage loans, a computer will store and track all of the information once a teller or bank employee keys it into the system. After tabulating all of the information, a branch

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GP 24 manager can print the report at the end of the day to see if the branch hits its goals and objectives. Branches have goals for lending and new accounts. Credit Applications BPR uses computers for new loan applications,ATM card applications and opening new accounts such as current, savings, fixed deposit account. Delinquency Computers can be used to track customers who are delinquent on their loan payments. Computers can generate separate reports for customers who are 30, 60-and 90-days delinquent on their accounts. When a delinquency report is generated, a collection representative can contact the customer for resolution, which helps keep delinquency under control. Miscellaneous Computers can keep a record of all communications that a bank employee may have with a bank customer including collection activity. A bank can also use a computer to see which safety deposit boxes are available and they can keep a record of customers who have safety deposit boxes.

Servers
BPR uses its servers for the following reasons: Website BPR uses its servers to enable the functioning of the website www.bpr.rw

Email

The BPR servers enable the employees to have email addresses at their own domain and also use the servers to provide centralized spam and virus filtering. Monitoring The BPR server makes a very affordable system for monitoring the health and availability of the banks online services.

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Fax
BPR uses the fax machine to send and receive documents through a telephone line. Using fax machine (facsimile machine) they send documents to any point of the world as very convenient and easy means.

Printers
BPR uses its printers for printing its documents and keeping them in paperform to back up the digital records.

Scanners
BPR uses scanners to share large files with colleagues and other offices and reduce their dependence on couriers and overnight mail.

By scanning documents, BPR also makes them available to clients online. "Clients can actually see the documents involved in their case.

Scanners are used as ideal tools for preserving digital copies of historical paper documents.

Software
Microsoft Outlook BPR uses outlook to communicate with other companies and employees through the internet.

windows operating system

BPR uses the windows operating system to enable the functioning and coordination of the hardware and software within the computers.

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GP 24 Web browsing software

BPR uses application packages like mozilla firefox, internet explorer,safari and google chrome to be able to access the web in a safe and fast way. Accounting software This software is used to make sure that the finances in the bank are being used as they are supposed to as stated in the banks objectives. Server software This software enables the functioning of the server and in particular includes brands like windows server 2008, apache traffic server v3.0 Other bank database and security software BPR also uses different banking database software (sybase and daffodil ) and security software (Trusteer Rapport' security software)

Network infrastructure
Internet BPR uses the internet to communicate and share information among its customers, suppliers and business partners. Local Area Network( LAN) Connects BPR computers and devices in a limited geographical area. Wide Area Network(WAN) These connect over a broad area and thus enables BPR main brabch to communicate with other branches Intranet Enables the BPR employees within the compny to access and share information among themselves Extranet Enables BPR to share information and access information with the customers,suppliers and other collaborators of the company.

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E-COMMERCE SUPPORT SERVICES

Order fulfillment All orders or requests done online on the BPR website have to be swiftly attended to by BPR employees by coordination with the ICT personnel. payments processing BPR also offers payment processing especially in the case of mobile banking,swift money transfers and western union. security service BPR enables or offers security services to its customers as in the case of online banking by encripting therir transactions and giving the customers passwords to their personal accounts. content provision BPR offers information on the website and also frequently updates the content on its web page to enable visitors keep up to date. Information on exchange rates, job opportunities, western union, swift money transfer rates can be accessed on the website. customer service BPR offers online customer service and care to its online customers and visitors Product database/ catalog management BPR ensures that all links to their product feeds and external sources are working without a glitch and the product catalogue remains up-to-date, so that rich content is always available for prospect buyers. BPR also takes care of regular maintenance of existing catalogs and even builds new ones. The ICT staff cross checks for accuracy of detailed product information and description and makes necessary revisions. maps related products and classifies them under appropriate categories, so that the content information remains relevant.

E-COMMERCE APPLICATIONS
Online selling BPR conducts online selling in the form of its BPR ATM service,quickcash online buying online buying is conducted in the form of foreign exchange.

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GP 24 online consultancy BPR also offers online consultancy services to its customers and other investors or partners. online research BPR also conducts online research to guage and better understand the online customers and is partly done through the customer service system. online banking allows BPR customers to conduct financial transactions on a secure website operated by Banque populaire du Rwanda and can be in the form of mobile banking etc Swift money transfer BPR offers the swift money transfer system especially to its customers dealing in online and international businesses. Direct marketing BPR is able to directly market its products to the customers directly from its website.

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES Weaknesses

High cost of technology BPR incurred and still incurs a high cost in the e-commerce technology. Eg the purchase of the server software,bank security software,accounting software and also their maintenance. Difficulty in maintaining quality IT workforce Since e- commerce is relatively new, there is a shortage of quality IT personnel and the few available are highly competed for.

Insufficient technical expertise There is insufficient technical expertise among the few IT personnel that exist since e-commerce technology is not easy to understand.

Inability to keep pace with fast changing technology

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GP 24 The fast changing technology is also another weakness to the bank since the technology lasts roughly one and a half years before something better emerges. Resistance to change Resistance to change from both the top and bottom management is another bottleneck to BPRs e-commerce capacity to suceed. Security The problem of security is a major problem both to the customers and to the bank internet speed Difficulty in integrating IT systems The IT systems usually involve getting rid of one system and starting with another which involves trainings and extra time in order to fully implement thus its difficulty. Lack of skills by suppliers and customers inorder to access BPRs online website and conduct transactions is another hinderance The number of potential customers on the internet is still not enough since not many people use the internet for transactional purposes.

Strengths
24hr a day,7 days a week service eg ATM use,website use. Enables doing business globally by sitting in your office or home by using internet banking and wire money transfer Advertising your product is cost effective as compared to traditional offline system Lowers the staff cost since some transactions can be grouped together and done by one person on the computer eg data entry and filling Financial transaction through electronic fund transfer is very fast and effective and can be done from any where in the world. Low maintenance cost.

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RECOMMENDATIONS
In our research in BPR, we noted that BPR has a wide coverage of Rwanda with about 107 branches all over the country. Therefore, here are some recommendations that can promote the ecommerce activities of BPR. Firstly, BPR should install ATM machines in all its branches in order to provide efficient and quick services to their client base. Secondly, BPR should provide capacity trainings to its employees so that they can efficiently use the Outlook services in information exchange. Thirdly, E-banking usage should be promoted among its clients and BPR should provide trainings and sensitization in order for the effective usage of e-banking services.

CONCLUSION
There is little doubt that electronic commerce is entering all sectors of the economy and particularly is rapidly penetrating businesses and peoples lives. Internet penetration is relatively low in Rwanda as a country. The low percentages in eCommerce usage and activities in Rwanda indicate the presence of major e-Commerce constraints. These constraints were identified through the survey conducted. The results indicate that the major concern being Trust and e-Confidence, as well as lack of e-Commerce education so as long as BPR can together with other partners like the government and other banks look for solutions to these problems then e- commerce will rapidly improve thus benefitting the bank.

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