Efficiency – Step 3: Map New and Add Technology

Let’s dive right in, into step 3 (find step 1 and step 2 here). 

Map New 

It’s time to re-map your customers’ journey. The objective is to take as many steps out of the process as possible. Steps are the bends on your race track, they’re going to slow you down. The fastest form of racing is a drag strip, a straight line with no bends. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely your business could only have two processes, a start, and a finish. But you want to have the least number of bends possible. Using your analysis from above and the Critical Value Window above should give you only the bends you need.   

Look from a fresh perspective. How does your customer see it? Walk through the steps only your customer cares about. How does your customer feel?   

Don’t get bogged down with how you’re going to do it and try to ignore what you currently do.  With a clean sheet or wall re-map, you most wanted process. At each step write what information needs to be collected to hand on to the next process. Often, I’ve found if the company gathers more information at the start of the process, it removes a heap of questions or customer interactions further along the process.  

One of my clients, a telecoms company, we identified a bottleneck because each new telecom installation had a site survey by one of the installation teams, adding time and cost into the process. During the sales process, every site is visited by a salesperson. By implementing a smarter sales sheet and with some training the site survey can be conducted by the salesperson, saving the extra visit (which would invariably take half a day with travel) and taking at least three days out of the process for the customer.   

Add Technology 

This is probably my favourite bit of the process. Those that know me will have a wry smile because I’m quite techy and I love innovation. But this is where the magic happens. Technology and automation will propel your business forward like you wouldn’t believe. So much of what you do can be automated and the process ‘systematically driven’ rather than waiting for human intervention.   

It used to be the norm for a company to write process manuals or Standard Operations Procedures (SOP’s) and try to get each member of staff to follow them. As soon as something changed, the manuals or SOP’s would need to be amended and new copies re-issued. Now, if you create smart systems, you can push people along the process as the technology tells them what to do next. 

Slick modern companies invest in IT. I worked for the Automobile Association during the nineties when they went from having over 15 ‘radio rooms’ (call centre and deployment offices) down to just three serving the whole country. Now, most of their operation is completely systemised, with almost zero human intervention apart from the initial call; the patrols are deployed by complex algorithms.   

Look at how Uber has shaken up the taxi industry. There are also new banks emerging like Monzo; in just three years they’ve grown from zero to over two million customers by making banking really simple. They’ve reduced the cost to serve a customer from £65 down to £30 by using slick technology. But  

it’s their approach and mindset that’s really important; they’re constantly challenging how they can give a better customer experience and reduce complexity.   

These ‘disruptors’ are investing serious monies to re-invent their industries. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting you should invest anything like that kind of money. But I want you to use the same thinking and approach, and embrace technology. How can you provide a better customer experience and reduce complexity using technology?   

It doesn’t have to be that expensive, and if anyone suggests building you a bespoke system or customized dashboard from scratch, tread very carefully. There are so many free or low-cost platforms available that are off-the-shelf, easy to use, and easy to integrate with other systems.   

You may already have these systems in your business, but when were they last reviewed? These systems should enable a business and not disable it. So many times, I’ve found businesses putting up with systems that aren’t fit for purpose anymore (or never were).   

I want you to imagine a powered conveyer belt. At the start, your customer makes an inquiry and from here on, this conveyor belt, with the customer sitting on it, flows through your business. When it gets to each process intersection it slows waiting for the process to happen and continues only when that process has been completed. No one has to remember to do anything, the system does most of the easy thinking and ‘heavy lifting’. If you go back to the Critical Value Window, we identified those processes which added value to the customer. These are important to your customer and therefore it’s how you add value. The focus for your business should be on delivering your value, therefore everything else should either be stopped or done with automation where possible. This is the modern-day equivalent of the industrial revolution; machines and systems to automate menial tasks.  

Your biggest challenge with business systems will be to get them talking to each other. Fortunately, most of these are now cloud-based and have ‘API’ which basically means they can integrate or talk to other applications. It will be very rare if you can find one good system that will support your entire business needs. I know because I’ve tried for many clients to find them such a thing. What I’ve found is that one system might do one or two bits really well, their core systems. They try to develop bolt-ons to expand the capability but these seldom work well. I know of operations systems that have developed their own accounting systems, why? There are many really slick and cost-effective accounting platforms out there, why reinvent the wheel?   

Without knowing the exact requirements of your business it’s difficult for me to advise you on what platforms or systems to use. This is also a fast-changing world so rather than list recommended systems or customized dashboard options here, we’ll post it with our tools and try to keep it updated, just go to www.betterneverstops.global/tools).  

Read here the last step to becoming faster, slicker, and more efficient.