Why People Matter
Service provider operations should not rely on technology alone to deliver improved operational efficiency. They need to balance the investment in technology with related investment in their front-line leadership team - as highly engaged managers with the skills, ability and motivation to deliver are at the heart of a customer centric performance strategy.
It’s your managers that drive efficiency and motivate your teams for high performance, with software acting as a key enabler.
People are at the heart of most of the critical customer interactions and remain a fundamental requirement to the value-add business processes. Unless you achieve the correct balance between technology and people, the consequences can be far reaching.
"You don't build a business, you build people, then people build the business."
Achieving the Right Balance
In all Operational businesses, most staff will perform well if given the opportunity to do so. This relies as much on the team leader to create the conditions for successful performance as it does on the ability and willingness of each staff member.
That’s why, when it comes to making business-decisions on back office workforce optimisation and work management tools, combining software tools with effective management behaviours regarding their team members is where the real advantage is delivered.
Real competitive advantage occurs by a combination of implementing new technology and using it effectively. No system can take responsibility for managing members of staff, yet many companies let this happen – and are blind to the impact.
Focusing on the behaviours and skills of front-line managers and staff within service operations is key to achieving sustained operational efficiency improvement and delivering sustained service excellence.
"You cannot have faith in people unless you take action to improve and develop them."
Implementation Considerations
In order to drive greater operational effectiveness and efficiency, organisations need to combine software with the right management practices. This will in many cases require a change in mindset.
Training Front line managers to be good at managing and then leading operations is the foundation for continuous benefit realisation.
At divisional level, management method is critical as teams perform at their best when they use a common language, a common approach and consistent definitions of all key metrics aligned to industry best practice.
Using a common language, practice and principles coupled with reporting transparency delivers much greater operational understanding and control.
When implemented correctly, this in turn reveals capacity benefits to offset investment costs – and in the case of Nexus will continue to deliver sustained savings and service excellence for many years.
Phase 1 of a Nexus implementation provides the Operations Director and middle management with a greater understanding of the customer experience, insight of hidden process detail and risk/quality attributes. Having such information enables the decision-making requirement for re-engineering existing processes to be much easier, since it is fact based.
"Successful organisations understand the importance of implementation, not just strategy, and, moreover, recognise the crucial role of their people in this process"
Focus on Empowerment
Achieving operational excellence requires a mix of both people and technology, with the ideal situation being a symbiotic relationship to drive tangible and sustainable operational changes.
Instead of undermining your managers with technology, make sure that you empower them with it.
In order to do this, you should look carefully at your implementation partner - are they just software providers or do they additionally have a deep understanding of operations, extending to how and where software fits into your operational puzzle?
Experience repeatedly shows that success relies on paying attention to having the right combination of methods, skills and software tools to deliver real sustainable change. When this transition is understood, adopted and rewarded, the real potential is unlocked.
Our combined solutions of systems, tools and methodology will not only improve customer experience and markedly decrease failure, but also allow the operation to significantly reduce the cost base and achieve competitive advantage.
"No company, small or large, can win over the long run without energized employees who believe in the mission and understand how to achieve it."
Additional reading – work through our 10 key criteria questions to assess if a back-office office Work Force Management system will make a significant contribution to your company – click to open Benchmarking Questions
