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For the IT approaches I think the question was how it will improve company performance and any ethical considerations.
For performance, I said the voice analytics might capture “neutral” or “negative” tones but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing as could just be the agent repeating the same script as there is likely to be terms and conditions to be read out to the customer before securing a sale as the insurance industry is highly regulated. I said the tone of this might be quite flat as the agent could be bored or just wanting to read through it as quickly as possible before the customer looses interest and terminates the call. Not sure if that’s mark worthy?I also said the speech analytics of capturing words such as “connection” and “network” will just be highlighting an already known issue and will therefore not help performance as it is not adding any value and the organisation should instead be thinking how to prevent the network issues (by investing in better tech.)
For ethical considerations I said the staff may feel like they’re being spied upon and this may cause resentment and result in an even higher staff turnover (this was a problem already addressed for the organisation.)
I also said as the agents are working from home the speech analytics may pick up other family members conversations (which although isn’t professional it will be inevitable after moving the call centre to remote working) and this could breach confidentiality.
Overall I found this exam ok and similar to the questions I had practised, particularly in section A which focused on evaluating performance reports against objectives and advantages/ disadvantages of EBITDA, ROI and a JIT approach.
However, I did struggle with a section B question on ABM and found it difficult to make enough points. I criticised some of the apportioning methods used and showed scepticism over the CEO’s views but I think my answer lacked substance. What did everyone else put?
I was so stuck on this question! I used the higher exchange rates for the payments, lower ones for the receipts, and chose the 3 or 6 month forward rates depending on the timings of transactions. Didn’t get any of the 4 choices though, so just guessed in the end.
I wouldn’t worry too much, I definitely did something wrong with my cost of debt because my IRR was so low. 10 mark question so I’m sure we still picked up a few!
Yes I got that question too, I mentioned redemption and control as my other two factors. What about you?I discounted at 3 years. I thought the statement was dated end of 2016 and redemption/convertibles was in 2019? But then my post-tax interest didn’t come to much at all so I think I made a mistake somewhere.
Also did anyone get the NPV vs IRR section C question (comments from director A and B) I found this really hard to compare as I thought they were very similar appraisal method?
Did anyone get a WACC calc for their first question on section C? My cost of debt was actually negative, the post-tax interest payments were something like 8% over only 3 years. That, plus convertibles, less MV was actually negative? And my IRR was really low? I don’t know what I did wrong but I’ve never seen a negative total before? My overall WACC was 11% I think
Failed with 45% but had already started studying SBL and booked my exam in June. Does anyone know if you can combine a resit of FM with SBL? Or do you have to finish applied skills level first?
Passed with 62%, my highest score! Thanks so much Chris you explained everything so well 🙂
Good luck everyone! Hope the hard work and endless hours of study we all endured pays off! Not long now!
