Richard Schwikkard Email & Phone Number

Durban Area, South Africa

As a product manager, I am the regional representative and SME of a Global product/product suite which servesto drive regional requirements for enhancements, features and defects into these Global Teams.Summary of Responsibilities● Maintenance and prioritisation of a product backlog of enhancements, features and defects.● Channeling and driving regional requirements via Global Product Teams.● Assist the team to estimate development time for request and participating in requirements analysis and deep dives.● Constant monitoring of progress and feeding this back to stakeholders regularly and timeously.● Have a good understanding of the product and how the components fit together.● Building strong relationships and maintaining constant communication with global product teams.● Maintaining constant communication with regional operational, business and sales teams.● Playing a key role in release planning through planning and coordination.● Responsible for documentation and knowledge transfer on the product.● People Leader Responsibilities. Such as growth plans, performance management, skills gap analysis and continuous improvement of team members.Summary of Core Capabilities● Agile Working● Business Analysis● Commercial Awareness● Creative problem Solving● Organisational Skills● Product Analysis● Situational Decision making● Stakeholder Management● Leadership Skills● Capability ManagementSpecialised Capabilities● Knowledge of, and experience working in, Agile Delivery environment● Experience in the Financial Advice, Financial Markets and Market Data Business Industries.

Durban

My role entails:• Driving/overseeing/building one of our core products in South Africa and Africa. XPLAN - Xtools and Xtools+ across mediums – PC, Touch and Mobile• Constant interaction with both corporate and independent clients to assist them in building solutions within the financial planning environment. • Identifying new opportunities to grow the product within our client base• Ensure synergy between what the clients (users) needs/requires and what is important to the product while pushing industry benchmarks• Day to day managing of the product within an agile development process. • Direct collaboration with global cross-functional teams within product, development and QA.• Ongoing understanding of market/client needs, prioritising requirements and ensuring those requirements are successfully delivered. • Product workshops with clients• Agile SDLC methodology using SCRUM and KANBAN• Ensuring the product is robust enough to deal with continuous delivery and cloud technology• Interaction with our global teams, ensuring that both the South African and African products align to principles and practices used and implemented across the globe• Product Masterclasses to all internal and external clients• Product Showcase to all internal and external clients• Managing and mentoring the team from a both a product and career growth perspective• Hiring of new team members and integrating them into the organisational culture

Durban Area, South Africa

My role at IRESS since October 2011 has been to develop, enhance and maintain online financial calculators used in the Financial Services industry by Financial Advisers, Wealth Managers, Private Bankers and more recently with the advent of convergence Private Wealth Managers. These calculators include, to name a few – a Retirement Planner calculator, a Risk Financial Needs Analysis (FNA) and a Lifestyle Planner calculator. The purpose (simply put) of these is to take a client’s current financial situation into account and then allow them the ability to model what is required against their current affordability. There are a suite of simpler calculators that allow our users to help their clients reach savings goals, plot an investment fund, illustrate a loan, work out their disposable income (tax calculator) or to consolidate debt. My day to day activity is to ensure these calculators are accurate and producing the correct results through the exclusive use of Excel. A thorough knowledge and understanding of the financial planning process, an understanding of cash flows, asset classes, investment profile makeups and a detailed knowledge of the workings of an online application are an essential part of my work.

Durban Area, South Africa

My role was to submit a quarterly, biannual analysis depending on the client, to board members of each of the medical aid schemes we administrated. This was in the form of a utilisation report which included an executive summary, claims analysis, hospital claims which included the high cost cases and a scheme age analysis. I was also tasked to analyse high cost admissions (either medical or surgical). The executive summary was a synopsis of the schemes utilisation along with my findings and recommendations. Within each scheme there were groups (company employees) and each company was given the same report and summary biannually. The stats and data was harvested from the companies varies systems via the use of SQL.

Post Grad In Financial Planning, Financial Planning And Services

Bachelor'S Degree, Economics, Incomplete

Activities and Societies: A member of Hughes Hall College. A member of the Hawks Sporting Club. Won a Rugby Blue at Twickenham in December.

Bachelor'S Degree, Psychology And Communication, B

Activities and Societies: Successfully completed a HIV/Aids counselling certificate.

Education record

Activities and Societies: 1st team Rugby and Prefect