News
Latitude South NZ Ltd will launch a project management services arm in Q3 2010. Latitude South will help investment banks in Asia reduce their execution costs by performing many project management tasks from a low-cost Asian location, but will be able to quickly deploy to client sites in the region when face-to-face management is required.
Most investment banks in Asia already have a dispersed operating model (where SME’s, management and functions are geographically spread across the region), and execute projects with “dispersed project teams”. In fact, many PMs currently perform more than 70% of their tasks using information and communications technology (ICT) rather than face-to-face, but often still sit in a high-cost location to perform all the tasks.
Many project management tasks could be performed in a low-cost Asian location by experienced PMs, who visit a hub only when the project requires. Banks often have the ICT to reduce project management overheads in this way, but the appropriate expertise and experience is difficult to find outside the high-cost locations.
Latitude South aims to provide project management services at 35-50% less than suppliers in Asian hubs simply by placing the right skills and experience in the appropriate place at the appropriate time:
1. Skills and experience - Latitude South rivals the best project management service providers in the region, with:
- Top-tier global investment banking experience in business and change management;
- Industry best practice project management qualifications;
- Specific experience and expertise at managing dispersed project teams in Asia;
2. The right place – Using ICT, Latitude South could perform 70%+ of project management tasks in low-cost, well-connected Bali, and pass on savings to clients. PMs would physically deploy to client sites in the region quickly and cost effectively when face-to-face management is required;
3. Bali is in the Singapore/HK time zone, allowing real time communications with project team members;
4. Our solution can further leverage a client’s existing ICT cost base to drive down project management costs.
Latitude South PMs have executed a broad range of investment banking projects throughout their careers – those below are just a flavour of the kinds of projects we have managed:
- Launch new businesses and legal entities – e.g. the establishment of an Islamic Bank in Malaysia;
- Implement banking systems and manage the related functional process changes – e.g. establishment of a Non-Banking Finance Company in India;
- Launch new products – e.g. launch of structured equity products in Asia;
- Root cause business or functional process failures, and identify and implement solutions – e.g. global Collateral Management and risk management process failures and resolutions;
- Manage the reconfiguration of functional processes after a regulatory change – e.g. a regional change to Sales, Trading and Structuring processes for FX and Rates derivatives;
- Execute Finance and Operations outsourcing/off shoring strategies – e.g. an initiative to offshore Finance roles to the Philippines and India;
- Develop investment governance models – e.g. designed and agreed a senior management investment governance model for a major Asian hub;
- Analyze infrastructure and functional capabilities, generate recommendations for mitigation and plan future strategic investment – e.g. performed Asia Regional Infrastructure Analysis of Global Markets businesses.
Who’s Leading Latitude South Project Management Services?
Andrew Hamilton
Andrew is a New Zealand qualified solicitor with 13 years experience in programme and project management, vendor management, outsourcing transition, infrastructure and new business integration for global investment banks such as Deutsche Bank, Barclays Capital, Nomura and Sumitomo.
Andrew spent 9 years working for Deutsche Bank, most recently as a Director in Global Markets Sales and Trading in Singapore delivering front office projects for the Global Markets COO. He has managed projects in numerous locations in the Asia Pacific, UK, US and Europe. He recently resigned from Deutsche Bank to establish Latitude South.
Andrew has a Bachelor of Laws, is a Qualified Prince2 Practitioner (project management), and holds a “Black Belt” in Six Sigma (process engineering). He is also a member of the Project Management Institute.
Please contact Andrew prior to launch on andrew.hamilton@latitude-south.com to discuss trialing Latitude South project management services or to receive a detailed information pack.
We are thrilled to be active members of Legal OnRamp, an online collaboration platform created by the innovative Paul Lippe for in-house lawyers and invited outside lawyers and third party service providers. Jam-packed with free legal publications and answers to tricky legal questions, we would have loved a resource like Legal OnRamp when we were in-house lawyers – so we encourage you to sign up, if you haven’t already. Check it out at http://legalonramp.com
We uploaded our March blog post “The Secret to Retaining Talented Women in Law” to the forum page of a group we belong to within Legal OnRamp called “Women in Law – for Us and by Us”. This group was created by Ronda Muir, a Senior Consultant with Robin Rolfe Resources, specializing in lawyer personalities and law firm and law department organizational development and dynamics. Ronda’s blog, http://www.lawpeopleblog.com is well worth a read.
Ms Muir liked what we had to say and incorporated some of our blog post comments in an article she called “What Do Women Want? Challenging the Diversity Myth” which was recently published in the April issue of the ABA Law Practice Today ezine.
In her article, Ms Muir expands upon some of our ideas, offers further insights into the challenges facing women in law, and suggests how law firms might be able to deliver the initiatives that women lawyers seek.
Check out the ABA article here: http://www.abanet.org/lpm/lpt/articles/ftr04104.shtml
Larissa Glubb, one of Latitude South’s directors, will be in London from 22 February to 1 March 2010, meeting with clients and potential clients.
If you are interested in finding out how your organisation might benefit from Latitude South's legal services, Larissa would be delighted to meet with you during this time.
Please send Larissa an email at larissa.glubb@latitude-south.com and we will do our best to make it happen.
AUCKLAND, New Zealand, November 9 /PRNewswire/ --
Latitude South NZ Ltd today launched its new legal outsourcing offering, designed for UK in-house legal teams and law firms to reduce the costs of substantive legal work by utilizing a team of New Zealand-based former lawyers with UK and international experience.
Latitude South will enable savings of up to 50% on substantive legal support services including professional support and know-how services, the design of standard form agreements, the drafting of bespoke documents, and peer review. Latitude South will also provide project management and legal process engineering services to help unbundle the substantive legal work appropriate for outsourcing.
"Many organizations have a high proportion of substantive legal services that can be outsourced if the provider has the right commercial experience and a professional compatibility with its clients," said Latitude South Director Larissa Glubb. "LPOs (legal process outsourcers) provide a valuable outsourcing option to clients with high volume paralegal work, but for many organizations substantive work constitutes a far greater proportion of external legal spend. We want to broaden the range of legal tasks that can be outsourced by providing the services of seasoned legal professionals who have practiced in leading UK law firms and in-house teams."
Latitude South has secured a team of former lawyers with 9+ years PQE who will operate remotely from New Zealand, and will be supported by a team in Asia and an onshore presence in London. Latitude South actively recruited former lawyers who practiced overseas and have returned to New Zealand as parents. "The high calibre talent in this demographic is under-utilized because traditional legal work structures don't naturally accommodate them", said Glubb. "We've built a model that better realizes that talent for the benefit of our clients."
Latitude South is a co-sponsor of The Lawyer's inaugural conference on Legal Process Outsourcing and Offshoring, to be held in London on 17 November 2009.
The one day conference will include talks from legal experts, panel discussions relating to outsourcing strategies and case studies from companies already engaged in outsourcing ventures. The conference will be attended by law firms and in-house legal teams interested in learning more about legal outsourcing, the current state of the market and potential providers.
Larissa Glubb, Director of Latitude South, will be attending the conference on 17 November and will be in London for the remainder of that week.
For more information visit www.thelawyer.com or contact us on info@latitude-south.com.
