Commonwealth Bank: Backstage and Front Stage Operations Analysis

This report examines the backstage and front stage operations of the Commonwealth Bank, focusing on its ATM services. It begins with a background on the bank's history and global presence, emphasizing its commitment to customer satisfaction. The report then outlines the operational flow of ATM services, including both front-stage (customer-facing) and backstage (IT and financial division) processes. It highlights the importance of account verification and transaction processing. Furthermore, it analyzes the managerial implications of these operations, stressing the need for effective communication, relationship building with customers, and the significance of integrated marketing communications. The report concludes by summarizing the key takeaways, emphasizing the importance of collaborative efforts in providing effective banking services. The assignment brief also mentions a case study on the integrated marketing communications of Gangnam Style.

Running head: IMPLICATIONS OF BACKSTAGE AND FRONT STAGE OPERATIONS
Implications of Backstage and Front Stage Operations
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Notes:

1IMPLICATIONS OF BACKSTAGE AND FRONT STAGE OPERATIONS
Table of Contents
Background......................................................................................................................................2
Explanation of the significance of the services encounter...............................................................4
Analysis of Managerial Implications...............................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

2IMPLICATIONS OF BACKSTAGE AND FRONT STAGE OPERATIONS
Background
The Commonwealth has been operating in the Australia from the year 1911. The
company has its headquarters in Sydney, Australia with over 1,100 branches of the Bank all over
the country along with more than 4300 ATMs (Commbank.com.au 2019). With the success that
the bank has been subject along with the collaborative partnerships, the bank has been able to
gain a global stature. The common wealth bank is now recognised as one of the most successful
banking organisations ever. As a result of the high standards that has been established by the
company while it is operating, the consumer community has associated high levels of
expectations with the company. As a result of the same, the company has to ensure that they are
performing at their levels best at every levels which allows them to constantly satiate the needs
of the customer community. The aim of this paper is to elaborate the front stage and backstage
operations of a particular key activity that is carried out by the organisation while it carries out
its operations in the market that is highly competitive and dynamic in nature. The aspect of the
operations of the company that is being adjudged is the ATM services that is provided by the
company. A flowchart will be presented that will highlight the processes that are carried out
while the organisation is in operations, both at the front stage and the backstage. The explanation
of the significance of the latter would be explained along analysis of the managerial implications
on the same.

3IMPLICATIONS OF BACKSTAGE AND FRONT STAGE OPERATIONS
Flowchart
Visit ATM
Insert ATM card
Complete
Transaction
Enter transaction
details
Carry on
transaction/ leave
ATM
Close/ Carry on
transaction
Provide financial/
banking service
Cross-verify
account details
Checking account
details
Setting up ATM
Front Stage operations
Back Stage operations

4IMPLICATIONS OF BACKSTAGE AND FRONT STAGE OPERATIONS
Explanation of the significance of the services encounter
There is a systematic process that is to be followed when a customer visits that ATM. It
should be understood that it is the customers who visit the ATM mainly aim to carry out services
that are financial in nature. The financial or banking services that are offered by the banking
organisation, aims to assist the customers with the daily banking transactions that they intend to
carry out. The services of banking are offered to the customers and account holders of the
Commonwealth bank and also to the accountholders of other banks. From a service standpoint,
the flow of operations starts when the customer visits the ATM. Once, the customer enters or
swipes his or her ATM card in the ATM, the processes begin. Once, the latter stage is initiated,
the customers initiates the transaction with the help of the backstage operations that is
characterised by verification of the account details. The account details are varied in order to
check the viability of the account holder. This stage is also characterised by checking whether,
customer visiting the ATM is a customer of the commonwealth bank or of any other bank. After
the backstage operations has found out that the account details of the customer is legible, the
transaction is initiated. This stage also detects whether the card holder is using an ATM card that
is chip enabled or whether it runs on basic magnetic strips.
After the stage that is characterised by verification of account details and others, the
customer enter the transaction related information. There are various options that the customers
of the Commonwealth bank can choose from. The customer can choose to Withdraw money
from their bank account, transfer money to a different account, change their ATM card pin,
enquire about the balance and much more. The customer can even choose different types of
accounts from or with which they might proceed the transaction, the customer might choose to
carry out the transaction from their current or saving account. There are different sets of actions

5IMPLICATIONS OF BACKSTAGE AND FRONT STAGE OPERATIONS
that have been designed for the different options that the customer opts for while carrying out the
operations related to the transaction. For example, if the customer opts to withdraw money
(which is the sole reason behind ATM visit for most of the customers) the backstage operations
have to be quickly responsive of the same. If the customer intends to withdraw $200 dollars,
from their account, the backstage operation of the bank would have to check whether the account
holder actually has that much in their account balance. Only if there is enough money in the
account of the card holder, transaction will be carried on till the next stage. If there is not enough
balance in the account, the transaction will be cancelled.
Depending on the nature of transaction that is to be carried out by the customer, the back
stage operations are carried out. After the required or desired transaction has been completed by
the ATM that the customer has visited, the future operations are decided. It must be identified
that each operation or financial service availed by the bank is treated as an individual transaction.
After the commands have been entered by a customers, the request is processed by the concerned
bank who then collaborates the efforts in the backstage and helps in satiating the needs of the
customer. This is a stage when the financial service is to be provided from the part of the bank.
After this stage, the customer might opt to end the transaction or carry on with a new one. At that
point of time there are options that are presented in front of the customer. If the customer
chooses to carry on with another transaction, the whole process that is characterised by assessing
the requirements of the customers, checking the viability of the account, cross verification
followed by satiation of the needs of the customers are fulfilled. Thus, the needs associated with
the customers are prioritised by the banking organisation. The whole process that has been
discussed here determines the nature of flow of operations. The front stage operations that take
place are solely carried out by the customers and the backstage operations that are carried out are

6IMPLICATIONS OF BACKSTAGE AND FRONT STAGE OPERATIONS
incorporated into operation by the IT and the financial division of the bank. The nature of the
service is responsible for the development of the collaboration between the said departments.
Furthermore, it should be instated that there are managerial causes and implications of the same
which will be critically evaluated in the following section.
Analysis of Managerial Implications
The Commonwealth bank provides banking services to its varied customers while it is
operating in the market that deemed to be highly competitive in nature. The company has various
competitors who are carrying out strategies using which they can attract the consumers from the
other companies, banking service providers in the said case. Hence, the commonwealth bank
needs to stress on the relation building with the consumer community. The company has been
recognised as one of the first banking service providers in Australia and the aim of the company
is to carry out operations in an effective manner through which they can earn the trust of the
consumer community. The ATM services that are offered by the company are services through
which the company aims to capitalise on development of effective relations with the consumer
community.
The company has various ATM branches throughout various locations in the country
(Commbank.com.au 2019). The urban area witness a cluster of ATMs that have been procured in
order to provide customers with favourable outcomes through effectiveness in services that help
the company in maintaining the base of customers (Mitchell and Thompson 2017). Furthermore,
the ATMs can be found in locations that are busy thus, ensuring that there will be busy traffic in
the ATMs apart from the fact that the latter always have cash and in multiple denomination
choices. From the perspective of the management of the company, they do not need to cater to
the needs associated with expansion. It is the belief of the management of the company that the

7IMPLICATIONS OF BACKSTAGE AND FRONT STAGE OPERATIONS
main way that they can maintain effectiveness in operations is through the development of
favourable relations with the customers. It can be said the companies in the modern business
scenario should not just look to be profit oriented. It has been found that companies emphasising
on development of relationship with consumers have been subject to favourable outcomes in the
long run through the achievement of appreciation from the end of the customers. A company that
is deemed to be profit oriented does not care about the needs or convenience of the customers,
they only aim to maximise the profit and turnover generated through inflow of customers. Hence,
it should be the aim of companies to develop relationships with customers as that is deemed to be
the gateway of development of favourable relations with the customer community. As a result of
the same, the company has been placed the satisfaction of the consumer community on top of
their priority and as a result the business model of the company has been based solely of the
same. Thus, the company has placed emphasis on relationship building through the nature of the
services that they provide while operating in the market.
It is the role of management of the organisation is to communicate the policies of the
organisation to the grass root level of the company (Soomro, Shah and Ahmed 2016). The
company being involved in the banking and the financial sector, prioritises communication in the
finance department. It should be the aim of the management of the company to clearly educate
all the employees regarding the processes that are carried out by each individual department. The
latter allows the employees of the concerned organisation to stay educated regarding the
activities that they are intended to carry out. In terms of operations of the employees
communication is one of the most crucial factors that determines the smooth flow of operations
of the work associated with the employees working in a said division of an organisation (Kim
and Dear 2013). The processes of the business must ensure that there is a smooth collaboration

8IMPLICATIONS OF BACKSTAGE AND FRONT STAGE OPERATIONS
that exists between the IT and the financial division. Since, the operations that are concerned are
related to ATM services, the main nature of services are financial services and thus the latter are
the aspects that are to be catered to in the organisational process that are to be carried out while
real time operations are being carried out. The processes that are carried out by collaboration of
both the departments needs to be incorporated by the organisational processes. The implications
that the management are to be carried by the management is to ensure that there remains enough
supply of items that determines the sustainability of the activities that the bank aims to carry out
through the banking services that are to be offered by the latter.
Conclusion
On a concluding note, it can be said that the Commonwealth bank have been operating
favourably through the helps of effective services that they provide while they operate in the
industry. The back stage and front stage operations have been provided and it showed that there
needs to be collaboration of the backstage and the front stage operations which determines the
viability of the processes that are to be carried out while the organisations are in operation. There
are various operations that can be carried out while the a customer visits an ATM. Thus, there
are wide array of operations that one might need to incorporate into order to ensure smooth flow
of operation. The latter have managerial implications which can be coped with the help of
effective planning from the part of the manager. Communication has been identified as one of
the key measures through which the smooth nature of the services can be ensured.

9IMPLICATIONS OF BACKSTAGE AND FRONT STAGE OPERATIONS
REFERENCES
Commbank.com.au, 2019. About us - CommBank. [online] Commbank.com.au. Available at:
https://www.commbank.com.au/about-us.html?ei=CB-footer_about-commbank [Accessed 13
Sep. 2019].
Kim, J. and De Dear, R., 2013. Workspace satisfaction: The privacy-communication trade-off in
open-plan offices. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 36, pp.18-26.
Mitchell, S. and Thompson, C., 2017. Recent Developments in the ATM Industry. RBA Bulletin,
December, pp.47-54.
Soomro, Z.A., Shah, M.H. and Ahmed, J., 2016. Information security management needs more
holistic approach: A literature review. International Journal of Information Management, 36(2),
pp.215-225.