Increasing Productivity

Prepared By: Brent Romanow

(ber66 1)
Prepared For: Alan
Schwartz,CEO
9/24/15

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................... 1
TECHNOLOGICAL ELEMENTS....................................................................................... 2
RFID................................................................................................................................. 2
HEADSETS........................................................................................................................... 2

STRATEGIC CONCEPTS................................................................................................ 3
STANDARDIZATION................................................................................................................. 3

QUALITY CONTROL................................................................................................................ 3
EFFICIENCY.......................................................................................................................... 3
ANTICIPATION....................................................................................................................... 3

CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................. 4
APPENDIX................................................................................................................... A

Introduction1
After working as an analyst at Guggenheim Partners for three months, it has
come to my attention that the firm could benefit substantially from the
implementation of two technological elements and four strategic concepts. The first
technological element is an input device. Input devices are anything that allows the
user to send information into a computer. Specifically, the input device that would
be helpful to Guggenheim is RFID, or Radio Frequency Identification. The current
security protocols are very effective, but they can be time consuming and
repetitive. RFID would fix this problem. The second technological element is an
output device. Output devices are anything that takes information from a computer
and converts it into a form that is understandable to people. The input devices that
would be beneficial to the firm are headphones. Guggenheim employees are often
required to watch things that involve sound on their computers, yet many
computers do not even have speakers, let alone a headset. The four strategic
concepts that would be helpful to Guggenheim are standardization, quality control,
efficiency, and anticipation. These concepts will be used both with the
aforementioned technological elements as well as with other processes at the firm.

1 This logo was taken on 9/24/15 from http://investmentadvisors.credio.com/l/30702/Guggenheim-Partners-Investment-Management-LLC

Brent Romanow

Page 1

Technological Elements
The technological elements I am proposing will add to the productivity of the
firm. A specific explanation of why this technology will be helpful is as follows.

RFID
RFID, or Radio Frequency Identification, is an input device that transfers data
from one enabled device to another. It is commonly used for tracking as well as
access. At Guggenheim, this technology would be helpful if used for both tracking
as well as access. As of now, employees use keycards to gain access to elevators,
floors, and restricted areas. If all other security measures also used RFID, security
would increase exponentially. For example, if employees computers were RFID
enabled, a different user could never simply gain access with the password. Having
a two-part security system would further increase information barriers and prevent
the spread of MNPI (material non-public information). RFID tracking would be
beneficial to Guggenheim as it would be an increased safety measure. At this point,
during fire drills, floor emergency captains are in charge of rounding up their group
of people and making sure everyone exits the building safely. This procedure works,
but if there is ever an employee on a different floor or out of the building during an
emergency, all of the people in their emergency group are put in danger if they
wait. If RFID tracking was enabled only for the office building, building security
would be able to quickly locate any employee in the event of an emergency. This
would expedite the evacuation process and allow for easy rescue if someone is
stuck inside the building.

HEADSETS
Headsets are an output device. They convert the information from the
computer into sound, which people can understand. The employee onboarding
process at Guggenheim is easy and seamless, yet one issue with it is the large
amount of videos that new hires are required to watch. This would not be a problem
except for the fact that employees computers do not come with headsets. This
means that employees either must bring their own headset which keeps them from
watching the video until they have them or employees watch the videos without
sound. While the first consequence is only a small inconvenience, the second
consequence presents a large problem. The onboarding videos cover essential
topics that span from insider trading to sexual harassment. These videos are
essential to creating a safe and legal work environment. If employees are skipping
the audio, they are missing a lot of the information from the video and therefore will
not be as knowledgeable about these essential topics. If all computers came with
headsets, it would solve this issue and create a work environment where all
employees know and understand office rules and procedures.

Page 2Brent Romanow

Strategic Concepts
The following section details the strategic concepts that would be beneficial
to implement at Guggenheim.

STANDARDIZATION
Standardization is the adoption of a benchmark of performance that can be
measured, thus allowing for the systemization and control of policies and
procedures that produce a more consistent and better product or service. 2 Installing
headsets on every computer is an example of standardization.

QUALITY CONTROL
Quality control is a system for ensuring the maintenance of proper standards
in manufactured goods, especially by periodic random inspection of the
product.3While working in the commercial real estate finance group, I observed a
lack of quality control. Inter-group memos were rarely consistent. If templates were
made to increase standardization, this would be an implementation of quality
control.

EFFICIENCY
Efficiency is the ability to act or produce with a minimum of waste, expense,
or unnecessary effort. Work accomplished efficiently is accomplished with a high
ratio of output to input.4 Implementing standardization and quality control in terms
of templates would increase efficiency at Guggenheim as currently, whenever a
memo is created, it is either started from scratch or copied and pasted over an old
version.

ANTICIPATION
When producing templates that will be used to create individual documents,
presentations, and spreadsheets, the creator should be thinking about what could
exist there, rather than just focusing on the information included
currently.5Whenever a document is made in the commercial real estate finance
group, it is never made with any future planning. As time passes, new information
gets added to memos, but there is no plan on how to format it. If an anticipation
2 Taken from HADM 1740 Course Packet & Required Readings on 9/24/15
3 Taken from HADM 1740 Course Packet & Required Readings, originally from
American Heritage Dictionary, 4th Edition 9/24/15
4 Taken from HADM 1740 Course Packet & Required Readings 9/24/15
5 Taken from HADM 1740 Course Packet & Required Readings 9/24/15

Brent Romanow

Page 3

plan is implemented, it will increase efficiency as documents will be able to be

created more quickly.

Page 4Brent Romanow

Conclusion
The technological elements and strategic concepts mentioned above will
greatly increase the productivity of Guggenheim Partners. The following Appendix
contains Table 1, a table detailing 3 Microsoft Word tools, and Error: Reference
source not found, a chart detailing the implantation process of the technological
elements and strategic concept. In conclusion, this report should be read and
implemented immediately to improve Guggenheim Partners as a company.
.

Brent Romanow

Page 5

Appendix
Return to Document

Icon:

Location:

The Format Painter is on the

Home ribbon on the left side.

The Header and

Footer are on the
Insert ribbon on the
right side

Themes are located

on the Design ribbon
on the left side

Functional
ity:

The Format Painter is a tool

that copies the format from a
given selection of a
document and can be pasted
onto content elsewhere in
the document. It increases
efficiency because it
eliminates the need to
format content individually

Headers and Footers

are used to maintain
a consistent top and
bottom on every
page. They add
standardization to
documents.

Themes control
fonts and colors.
Themes are a way to
maintain
consistency and
standardization in
the Microsoft Office
Suite.

Table 1: This table details 3 tools in Microsoft Word and their location and functionality

Figure 1: This graphic illustrates the process of implementing the technological elements and the strategic conc

Appendix 1