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The fifth client I consulted was a commercial bank in a city in the north. I also changed my consulting firm because of this client. In 2002, during the most notable period of China’s accession to the WTO, according to the annexes to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, countries that joined the WTO were required to have a certain percentage of their enterprises obtain ISO9001 certification; it was specifically stated that financial institutions as well had to meet this requirement. At that time, the certification of financial institutions in our country was just in its infancy. To accelerate the certification process for financial institutions in China, the China Standards Association established a working group for quality management in the financial sector. Thanks to my over ten years of experience in the banking industry, I was honored to become a member of this working group. After a year of research and investigation, the findings on the promotion of ISO9001 certification in China’s financial industry were compiled and published in the first issue of 2002 of the magazine \"China Standardization\" (issue No. 304 in total). At that time, another well-known consulting firm noticed this and invited me to provide consulting services for commercial banks; after completing the project, I then transferred to this consulting company. The leadership of this commercial bank attaches great importance to management systems; both the president and vice presidents have completed EMBA programs at Tsinghua University, with the aim of improving the bank’s management standards and competitiveness through quality management systems. At that time, commercial banks were still in the stage of attracting deposits and expanding their scale, with fierce competition among them. During the time I worked at the bank, my main task was also to attract deposits. A shrewd bank president once said, “All this money is just on paper; it will have to be repaid eventually.” ”It means that the more deposits are brought in, the more interest has to be paid. With strict limits on the volume of credit available, if banks do not explore additional sources of profit, what will they use in the future to pay interest on deposits? I discussed this concept with the clients, and it was widely accepted by the bank staff; as a result, we focused the planning of the system on new models for generating benefits. After several months of careful planning, process optimization, repeated revisions, and practical testing, the operational procedures centered on various intermediate services have gradually matured, showing significant results during the trial operation phase. Collecting utility bills for electricity and water resulted in fees and deposits from the power supply company and the water supply company ； Collecting school tuition fees has led to deposits of educational funds in the Education Bureau ； Collecting mobile phone bills brings in fees from the mobile company as well as deposits, achieving multiple benefits at once. Originally, there was a billing office for a mobile company right next to the bank’s branch. After the bank started handling phone bill collections, the mobile company closed its office and entrusted all its billing tasks to the bank; even after paying fees to the bank, it was still much cheaper than renting its own space. The bank has also made significant efforts in internal management and customer service. Cities in the north experience heavy snow and wind in winter; the snow that accumulates on the marble floors in front of banks makes them very slippery. The spring doors of the bank are very tight; elderly people already have little strength, and coupled with the slippery floor, it’s impossible for them to push open the doors to the banking hall. Yet the security guard standing at the bank entrance simply saluted the customer instead of helping them open the door, as that is what the rules require. After learning about international standards, the bank not only revised a large number of its policies, but also roughened the surface of the marble floors in front of all its branches, and installed carpet mats inside the branches. At that time, it was also mocked by other banks, but it received widespread praise from customers. We have also carried out pioneering explorations in the comprehensive teller system. Anyone who has been to the hospital knows that when you go there because of severe illness, you first need to register. Not to mention the long waiting times in line, even once you get to the counter, the first question asked is: Which department should I go to? You’re stupid. I have terrible tooth pain; how am I supposed to know which department to go to? I’m not a doctor. This phenomenon was the same at bank counters back then as well. Back then, the bank counters were organized by type of service, and customers had no idea which queue to join. Only after waiting their turn did they realize they were in the wrong queue, forcing them to wait in another one instead. When I worked at the bank counter, I imagined that every counter could handle all types of transactions, and I strived to achieve this by trying to master all the skills related to counter work. It’s a pity that computers were not yet widespread at that time, operating systems did not exist, and most importantly, people lacked the necessary understanding. In order to turn those dreams of the past into reality, when seeking advice from banks, I developed a comprehensive teller operation model. First, all types of window services were classified and assigned codes, including those for corporate and individual clients, deposits and loans, as well as intermediary services. For each specific service, flowcharts were created outlining the steps to be followed, with detailed indications of the actions required at each stage, the key points for verification, the forms to be generated, and the procedures for signing and endorsing documents. All this was compiled into a large manual, with triangular indicators on the sides to reveal the service codes, facilitating easy reference. Each teller is provided with a copy; it is not required to memorize it, but one must be able to consult it proficiently and follow the instructions in it. Back then, banks were closed at noon, so we took advantage of the time after lunch to act as customers and tellers respectively, carrying out simulated transactions to ensure that each teller could handle all counter services quickly, following the instructions in the manual. At the same time, the front-end and back-end operations were reorganized; in addition to the traditional front-end and back-end tasks, middle-end operations were introduced. Minimize the number of tasks performed by staff at the front desk, retaining only the essential verification steps that involve direct contact with customers; other procedures should be handled in the back office. Through simulation exercises, it was found that one back-office staff member can handle requests from four front-office staff members at the same time, which not only speeds up processing times but also balances the workload and **increases staff utilization. In fact, it involved manual operations that resembled software systems before the existence of computer systems. When this operating system was tested in external services, it immediately drew extraordinary attention. Not only customers, but also senior bank executives, leaders from the local People’s Bank, financial experts and professors, as well as the media all came to visit and experience it; even staff from other banks came secretly to test whether it was genuine or not. At that time, we managed to handle all types of transactions at any window, with the processing time being within 7.5 minutes, and in the fastest cases, as little as 3.5 minutes. I don’t know what connection there is between those exploratory efforts back then and the business operating systems that banks use today, which are already fully developed. But what I do know is that this bank successfully passed the system certification, and the head of the certification audit team was a leading figure in China’s certification industry ； In the following years, the bank rapidly developed the manual operating system into a computer software system ； This bank has been upgraded from a municipal local commercial bank to a provincial nationwide bank. Source: Internet