A team comprising 3fifteen ICT professionals and internal Nedbank staff has clinched the Best Team Delivery Award at the annual Nedbank Personal Loans IT Recognition Awards for 2011. The award solidifies a long and strategic relationship between Nedbank and 3fifteen. The team won the award for its work on a system that streamlines the individual debt counselling application process set out in the National Credit Act for Nedbank Personal Loans. The formal awards ceremony took place at Nedbank’s head-office in Sandton recently. Says Kemmy Chellan, head of IT at Nedbank Personal Loans: “The annual Personal Loans awards ceremony recognises teams and individuals that have done work that has made a material positive difference to our business during the year. We evaluate the contributions that various teams and individuals have made to business goals such as efficiency, customer service and cost reduction.”

The team that worked on a system that tracks the debt counselling process won the award for producing a platform that has helped the bank to reduce its turnaround time for approving or rejecting debt counselling applications from Nedbank clients to under five days. The Microsoft-based system helps Nedbank to meet its legal and regulatory obligations under the National Credit Act in an efficient and cost-effective manner. It is also critical to the bank’s relationships with customers and debt counsellors. “The 3fifteen team has integrated perfectly with our delivery team and has shown an excellent understanding of our business needs,” says Chellan. “This particular project has consolidated a long and successful relationship with 3fifteen as one of our strategic IT partners.” Nedbank was especially impressed by the team’s flexibility and responsiveness in rapidly building and adapting the system to cater for fast-changing credit regulation environment in South Africa, he adds. In addition to 3fifteen, a range of teams made up of professionals from competing vendors and internal Nedbank were nominated for the award. The awards were judged by Nedbank Personal Loans’ IT management with input from business users. 3fifteen celebrates its 10th anniversary this year and its business is still growing strongly, thanks to the strong business partnerships it has developed with blue-chip clients such as Nedbank, says James Baber, CEO of 3fifteen. “3fifteen is one of the survivors of the dotcom shakeout because of the relationships we have with our clients and our track record for delivery,” he adds. “We have had a development team based at Nedbank for two years and have continued to grow the team at the bank. We look forward to tackling many new projects with Nedbank’s IT department in the years to come.”