customer-centric - Blog - Global Risk Community2024-03-29T04:55:49Zhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/customer-centricTransforming Employee Engagement into a Competitive Advantage? Here's Howhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/transforming-employee-engagement-into-a-competitive-advantage2020-10-23T05:32:41.000Z2020-10-23T05:32:41.000ZMark Bridgeshttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/MarkBridges<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8219691258,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8219691258,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="8219691258?profile=original" width="400" /></a>Organizations typically focus on Customer-centric Design in their Strategic Planning and overlook the critical driver of Performance, Growth and Operational Excellence—their employees. With cut-throat competition now the norm the realization has become clearer that employees are:</p><ul><li>The face of the business and create lasting—or perishing—brand impression.</li><li>Sources of innovation and organizational knowledge.</li><li>Representation of the company’s service philosophy.</li><li>Expected to live by its Organizational Culture and values.</li></ul><p>Employee Engagementhas emerged as one of the significant pillars on which the Competitive Advantage, Productivity, and Growth of an organization rests. What, exactly, does it mean when an employee is engaged? Employee Engagement, over the years, has been thought of in terms of:</p><ul><li>Personal engagement with the organization.</li><li>Focus on performance of assigned work.</li><li>Worker burnout.</li><li>Basic needs (meaningful work, safe workplace, abundant resources).</li><li>Attention on Cognitive, Emotional and Behavioral components related to an individual’s performance.</li></ul><p>Although Employee Engagement is widely seen as an important concept, there has been little consensus on its definition or its components either in business or in the academic literature.</p><p>Kumar and Pansari’s 2015 study define Employee Engagement as:</p><blockquote><p>"a multidimensional construct that comprises all of the different facets of the attitudes and behaviors of employees towards the organization".</p></blockquote><p>The multidimensional construct of Employee Engagement has been synthesized into the following 5 components (or dimensions).</p><ol><li>Employee Satisfaction</li><li>Employee Identification</li><li>Employee Commitment</li><li>Employee Loyalty</li><li>Employee Performance</li></ol><p>The 5 dimensions of Employee Engagement have been found to have a direct correlation with high profitability, as substantiated by a number of research studies:</p><p><a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/5-dimensions-of-employee-engagement-5272"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-7507" src="https://flevy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/5-Dimensions-of-EE-Slide-deck-image.png" alt="" width="1002" height="752" /></a></p><p>For instance, a study of 30 companies in the airline, telecom and hotel industries shows a close relationship between Employee Engagement and growth in profits. After controlling other relevant factors—i.e., GDP level, marketing costs, nature of business, and type of goods, the study found:</p><ul><li>Highest profitability growth—10% to 15%—in companies with highly engaged employees.</li><li>Lowest level of profitability growth—0% to 1%—in companies with disengaged employees.</li></ul><p>Research reveals that Employee Engagement affects 9 performance outcomes; including Customer Ratings, Profitability, Productivity, Safety Incidents, Shrinkage (theft), Absenteeism, Patient Safety Incidents, Quality (Defects), and Turnover.</p><p>The differences in performance between engaged and actively disengaged work units revealed:</p><ul><li>Top half Employee Engagement scores nearly doubled the odds of success compared with those in the bottom half.</li><li>Companies with engaged workforces have higher earnings per share (EPS).</li></ul><p>These 5 dimensions become the base for measuring Employee Engagement in a meaningful manner that permits managers to identify areas of improvement. To assess an organization’s current status of Employee Engagement, a measurement system is needed that includes:</p><ul><li>Metrics for each component of Employee Engagement.</li><li>A scale for scoring metrics in each component.</li><li>A comprehensive scorecard that pulls everything together.</li></ul><p>Let us delve a little deeper into the first 2 dimensions of Employee Engagement.</p><h3>Employee Satisfaction</h3><p><strong>Definition</strong></p><p>Employee Satisfaction is the positive reaction employees have to their overall job circumstances, including their supervisors, pay and coworkers.</p><p><strong>Details</strong></p><p>When employees are satisfied, they tend to be:</p><ul><li>Committed to their work.</li><li>Less absent and more productive in terms of quality of goods and services.</li><li>Connected with the organization’s values and goals.</li><li>Perceptive about being a part of the organization.</li></ul><p><strong>Metrics</strong></p><p>The 5 metrics that gauge Employee Engagement in terms of Employee Satisfaction include:</p><ol><li>Receiving recognition for a job.</li><li>Feeling close to people at work.</li><li>Feeling good about working at the organization.</li><li>Feeling secure about the job.</li><li>Believing that the management is concerned about employees.</li></ol><p>We take a look at another dimension central in significance.</p><h3>Employee Commitment</h3><p><strong>Definition</strong></p><p>Signifies what motivates the employees to do more than what’s in their job descriptions.</p><p><strong>Details</strong></p><p>Employee Commitment is much higher for the employees who identify with the organization. This element:</p><ul><li>Develops over time and is an outcome of shared experiences.</li><li>Is often an antecedent of loyalty.</li><li>Induces employees to guard the organization’s secrets.</li><li>Pushes employees to work for organization’s best interests.</li></ul><p>Research has found that employees with the highest levels of commitment:</p><ul><li>Perform 20% better.</li><li>Are 87% less likely to leave the organization.</li></ul><p><strong>Metrics</strong></p><p>The 3 metrics that gauge the Employee Commitment dimension of Employee Engagement include:</p><ol><li>Commitment to deliver the brand promise along with knowledge of the brand.</li><li>Very committed to delivering the brand promise.</li><li>Feels like the organization has a great deal of personal meaning.</li></ol><p>Interested in learning more about these <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/5-dimensions-of-employee-engagement-5272">foundational pillars to Employee Engagement</a>? You can <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/5-dimensions-of-employee-engagement-5272">download an editable PowerPoint on <strong>5 Dimensions of Employee Engagement</strong> here</a><u> </u>on the <a href="https://flevy.com/browse">Flevy documents marketplace</a>.</p><h3><strong>Are you a Management Consultant?</strong></h3><p>You can download this and hundreds of other <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library/frameworks">consulting frameworks</a> and <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library/consulting">consulting training guides</a> from the <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library">FlevyPro library</a>.</p></div>The 6 Pillars of Supply Chain Management (SCM) Thinking: A New and Revolutionary Way of Looking at Supply Chain Managementhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/the-6-pillars-of-supply-chain-management-scm-thinking-a-new-and-12020-08-03T09:00:00.000Z2020-08-03T09:00:00.000ZJoseph Robinsonhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/JosephRobinson808<div><p></p><p>Supply chain thinking used to be limited to the managers of a few global companies—companies that were struggling to coordinate <a href="https://flevy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/pic-1-6-Core-Pillars-of-Supply-Chain-Management-300x200.jpeg" target="_blank"><img src="https://flevy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/pic-1-6-Core-Pillars-of-Supply-Chain-Management-300x200.jpeg?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="300" class="align-right" alt="pic-1-6-Core-Pillars-of-Supply-Chain-Management-300x200.jpeg?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a>internal information and materials. This, however, led to an exciting boom in cross-business coordination based on <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/stream/supply-chain">Supply Chain Management</a> concepts.</p><p>Today, the field has broadened and shifted over time. Current supply chain trends—differentiation, outsourcing, compression, and collaboration—are being used to restructure supply networks and improve coordination. As more companies integrate their networks, capabilities are improving. The levels of product customization and business complexity are also increasing. As this continues, Supply Chain Management is being used in new ways to create uniquely defined customer relationships anchored on appropriate <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/stream/customer-centric-design">Customer-centric Design</a>.</p><p>The field of Supply Chain Management will continue to influence companies. The best way to understand the impact of a long-term trend is to examine how the trend has changed the way executives view their businesses and what issues they choose to focus on.</p><h3><strong>Rationale Behind Supply Chain Management</strong></h3><p>Supply Chain Management is the design, planning, execution, control, and monitoring of supply chain activities. It is the management of the flow of goods and services. Essentially, Supply Chain Management addresses the fundamental business problems of supplying products to meet demand in a complex and uncertain world.</p><p>Conceptually, Supply Chain Management draws on the value chain concept of business strategist, Michael E. Porter. It conveys the idea of looking at the supply chain issue at the multi-company level.</p><p>As the global business environment becomes more complex and competitive, there have been shorter product life cycles and greater product variety. Due to this, it has increased supply chain costs and complexity. The birth and growth of outsourcing, globalization, and business fragmentation has resulted in a crucial need for supply chain integration. Coupled with advances in information technology, this has led to the creation of greater opportunity for Supply Chain Management.</p><p>Why is Supply Chain Management essential at this time? There is now an increasing need to create net value, build a competitive infrastructure, leverage worldwide logistics, synchronizing supply with demand, and measure performance globally. Only Supply Chain Management has a systematic process to satisfy these increasing demands.</p><p>With the increasing application of Supply Chain Management, there have been shifts in the view of management and influencing <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/stream/strategy-development">Strategy Developmen</a>t.</p><h3><strong>The 6 Core Pillars of Supply Chain Management Thinking</strong></h3><p>The <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/6-pillars-of-supply-chain-management-scm-thinking-4378">6 Core Pillars of Supply Chain Management Thinking</a> are the major shifts that have redefined management’s view which is far different from traditional Supply Chain thinking.</p><p><a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/6-pillars-of-supply-chain-management-scm-thinking-4378" target="_blank"><img src="https://flevy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/pic-2-6-Pillars-of-Supply-Chain-Management-1024x768.png?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="750" class="align-full" alt="pic-2-6-Pillars-of-Supply-Chain-Management-1024x768.png?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></p><p>The first Core Pillar is <strong>Multi-company Collaboration</strong>. This is the shift from cross-functional integration to multi-company collaboration. Traditionally, Supply Chain thinking was focused on integrating within their companies. But with the new <a href="https://flevy.com/business-toolkit/supply-chain-management">Supply Chain Management</a> perspective, the focus now is on integrating across companies to coordinate and improve supply.</p><p>With the shift in thinking, what is asked now is how do we coordinate activities across companies, as well as across internal functions, to supply products to the markets. This is a great deviation from the traditional thinking which ask how do we get the various functional areas of the company to work together to supply product to our immediate customers.</p><p>With the first Core Pillar, we get to achieve significant breakthroughs. There are lower supply chain-related costs and improved responsiveness within a chain of companies.</p><p>The very essence of Multi-company Collaboration is rethinking how organizations align goals and make decisions.</p><p>The other Core Pillars are Market Mediation, Demand Focus, Product Design Influence, <a href="https://flevy.com/business-toolkit/business-model-innovation">Business Model Innovation</a>, and Customized Offerings. Each core pillar is considered an enabler that has a vast impact on Supply Chains.</p><p>Interested in gaining more understanding of the <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/6-pillars-of-supply-chain-management-scm-thinking-4378">6 pillars of Supply Chain Management (SCM) thinking</a>? You can learn more and download an <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/6-pillars-of-supply-chain-management-scm-thinking-4378">editable PowerPoint about the <strong>6 Pillars of Supply Chain Management (SCM) Thinking</strong> here</a> on the <a href="https://flevy.com/browse">Flevy documents marketplace</a>.</p><p><strong>Are you a management consultant?</strong></p><p>You can download this and hundreds of other <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library/frameworks">consulting frameworks</a> and <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library/consulting">consulting training guides</a> from the <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library">FlevyPro library</a>.</p></div>Cannot Close that Sale? Check-out Problem-centric Selling!https://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/cannot-close-that-sale-check-out-problem-centric-selling2020-07-10T08:00:00.000Z2020-07-10T08:00:00.000ZJoseph Robinsonhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/JosephRobinson808<div><p></p><p>Nowadays, sales reps who get to close the sale are those sales reps who get to discover the customer’s real problems. With life getting <a href="https://flevy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/pic1-Problem-centric-Selling-300x200.jpeg" target="_blank"><img src="https://flevy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/pic1-Problem-centric-Selling-300x200.jpeg?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="300" class="align-right" alt="pic1-Problem-centric-Selling-300x200.jpeg?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a>more hectic and people always on the rush, customers only prefer to spend more on the phone with sales teams who <em><strong>“gets it.”</strong></em> These are the sales reps who do not only get to discover the customer’s real problem but also get to help them problem-solve in new ways.</p><p>Yet, a great number of salespersons miss closing the sale and reaching their quotas. In fact, in 2018, Salesforce found that more than 57% of sales representatives are expected to miss quotas for the year. This can be a challenge more so with organizations developing resolutions that revolve around increasing sales metrics and implementing new technologies.</p><p>The <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/problem-centric-selling-4144">traditional method of selling</a> is not enough anymore today. The first thing a client needs or wants does not necessarily solve the core problem. A new method is now necessary that will require salespeople to first diagnose the real problem before coming up with the solution. This comes with a new <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/stream/customer-centric-design">Customer-centric Design</a>.</p><h3><strong>The Future of Sales: The Upcoming Trends Salespeople Must Watch Out For</strong></h3><p>A survey was conducted on more than 2,900 sales professionals worldwide. As a result of the survey, 5 Top Trends were revealed that are shaping up the world of sales. Two of these Top 5 Trends are changing sales mandate and the emergence of a Data-driven Sales Playbook.</p><ul><li><strong>Trend 1:</strong> As sales mandate change, teams are falling short of rising customer expectations. Technology is changing expectations on how companies should interact with consumers. It is now the salespeople who are on the frontline who are carrying the onus to deliver when customers demand more personalized consultative engagement. As a result, customer satisfaction has become the most-tracked sales Key Performance Indicator.</li></ul><ul><li><strong>Trend 2:</strong> A Data-driven Sales Playbook is emerging. The ingenuity of salespeople with data-driven insights have been amplified. With the richness of data available, this has led to more effective methods of lead prioritization and forecasting. There is now an increasing need for sales reps to prioritize leads based on data analysis rather than on intuition.</li></ul><p>The effect of these Top 5 Trends has further been amplified with the increasing number of missed sales. Today, the traditional method of selling just does not work anymore.</p><h3><strong>A New Approach to Selling: A Problem-centric Selling</strong></h3><p>The traditional method of selling is focused on determining the prospects’ needs. This does not work anymore as the first thing a client needs or wants does not necessarily solve their core problems. There is now the need to shift to <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/problem-centric-selling-4144">Problem-centric Selling</a>.</p><p>Problem-centric Selling is an approach that diagnoses problems with as much specificity as possible. Often, the real problem is not well articulated by the potential buyer. With Problem-centric Selling, the specific customer needs are well identified thus enabling salespeople to better offer the right product or service. It is thus important to integrating the philosophy of Problem-centric Selling into your <a href="https://flevy.com/business-toolkit/sales-strategy">Sales Management</a> approach.</p><p>The Problem-centric Selling is anchored on 5 core elements.</p><p><a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/problem-centric-selling-4144" target="_blank"><img src="https://flevy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/pic-2-Problem-centric-Selling.png?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="750" class="align-full" alt="pic-2-Problem-centric-Selling.png?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></p><p>Problem diagnosis starts with knowing and understanding your customer and their problems. This is where the first core element is centered on: <strong>Know the key facts about the customer</strong>.</p><p>Salespeople must be able to get a description of the environment of which the buyer works, the processes they use, the structure of the organization, the tools they have, the current goals of the business, and other information about the buyer and the business. The facts gathered must go beyond the basic name, size of the company, and the industry the business is in. This way, the salesperson can get to establish the context for where the customers’ problems lie.</p><p>The other 4 Core Elements are essentially important in guiding every salesperson to master the Problem-centric Approach and hit that sale with a successful deal.</p><p>Interested in gaining more understanding of <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/problem-centric-selling-4144">Problem-centric Selling</a>? You can learn more and download an <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/problem-centric-selling-4144">editable PowerPoint about <strong>Problem-centric Selling</strong> here on the Flevy documents marketplace</a>.</p><p><strong>Are you a management consultant?</strong></p><p>You can download this and hundreds of other <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library/frameworks">consulting frameworks</a> and <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library/consulting">consulting training guides</a> from the <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library">FlevyPro library</a>.</p></div>Developing an Innovation Mindset: Investing on Technology is Never Enoughhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/developing-an-innovation-mindset-investing-on-technology-is-never2020-04-06T06:30:00.000Z2020-04-06T06:30:00.000ZJoseph Robinsonhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/JosephRobinson808<div><p>Organizations today are spending money on the latest technologies and working hard to solve problems as they arise. Yet, sad to say,<a href="http://flevy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/pic-1-Developing-an-Innovation-Mindset-1-300x200.jpeg" target="_blank"><img src="http://flevy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/pic-1-Developing-an-Innovation-Mindset-1-300x200.jpeg?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="300" class="align-right" alt="pic-1-Developing-an-Innovation-Mindset-1-300x200.jpeg?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a> this is simply not enough.</p><p>Today, to get on top of today’s fiercely competitive business environment, organizations need to take a strategic move: Develop an Innovation Mindset. What is an Innovation Mindset? What does it take to develop an Innovation Mindset? Often, this can be mindboggling as we get confused as to understanding what is an Innovation Mindset. Developing an Innovation Mindset is never the mere act or intent of investing in technology. It goes beyond spending money on the latest technology.</p><p>Developing an <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/developing-an-innovation-mindset-4048">Innovation Mindset</a> is to undergo the transformation from an innovation-averse to a forward-thinking organization.</p><h3>Understanding an Innovation Mindset: What It Takes to Develop One</h3><p>Developing an Innovation Mindset requires scaling innovations repeatedly and making it grow as fast as others. Companies need to depart from adopting technologies as point solutions to evolving future systems. This can be achieved by cultivating the mindset and methods of the top 10%.</p><p>The top 10% are the Leaders in <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/stream/innovation">Innovation Management</a> that are already enjoying a considerable head start and are not standing still. The systems they have put in place are specifically designed to not only accommodate innovations but also scale them across the enterprise.</p><h3>Developing an Innovation Mindset Starts with the Right Tools</h3><p>To foster than Innovation Mindset, we need to put in place 5 key principles.<a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/developing-an-innovation-mindset-4048" target="_blank"><img src="http://flevy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/pic-2-Developing-an-innovation-mindset-1024x768.png?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="750" class="align-full" alt="pic-2-Developing-an-innovation-mindset-1024x768.png?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></p><p>These 5 principles can provide organizations the foundation on developing Innovation Mindsets. There first 2 are defined as:</p><ol><li><strong>Adopt technologies that make the organization fast and flexible</strong>. Consumers now demand that companies are fast and flexible. The market is getting impatient when there are delays and so structured that it ceases to be an organization with a <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/stream/customer-centric-design">Customer-centric Design</a>. Principle 1 focuses on making organizations fast and flexible. Achieving this call for efficient use of decoupling data, infrastructure, and applications to achieve greater flexibility and a faster-moving IT culture.</li></ol><ol start="2"><li><strong>Get grounded in cloud computing</strong>. This principle is focused on catalyzing innovation. Adopting this principle will enable organizations to maximize the use of the cloud to successfully utilize other technologies, including Artificial Intelligence and analytics.</li></ol><p>There are 3 other principles that organizations must take notice of and focus on. The other 3 principles are recognizing data as being both an asset and a liability, managing technology investments well across the enterprise, and finding creative ways to nurture talent.<br />Integrating these principles in the organization’s journey towards <a href="https://flevy.com/digital-transformation">Digital Transformation</a> will promote the development of an Innovation Mindset. When this happens, we can expect our organization to keep up with the pace and catch up.</p><h3>What Does It Take to Have an Innovation Mindset</h3><p>Developing an Innovation Mindset has led leaders to take command and be in-charge of market demands. Leaders are adopting DevOps, automation, and continuous integration/continuous deployment at a faster rate than Laggards. Let us take a look at a Travel Industry disruptor. The company migrated its platform to microservice as part of decoupling initiatives.</p><p>As a result of taking this initiative, rapid response to change was achieved. This also enhanced its capability to add new features as the company experiences explosive growth.</p><p>Let us take a look at a more internationally recognized company: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant_Financial">Ant Financial</a> (formerly known as Alipay), the Alibaba Group’s financial arm. The organization embedded cloud services and AI across multiple processes and product lines. Furthermore, AI capabilities were offered to external ecosystem partners.</p><p>Today, Ant Financial can instantly assess the credit risks of underserved people who may not have bank accounts and even target them with loan offers. The overall cost was reduced by 50% and the company experienced a 10-fold increase in daily visitors.</p><p><strong>Developing an Innovation Mindset is key.</strong></p><p>Interested in gaining more understanding of <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/developing-an-innovation-mindset-4048">developing an Innovation Mindset</a>? You can learn more and download an <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/developing-an-innovation-mindset-4048">editable PowerPoint about <strong>Developing an Innovation Mindset</strong> here</a> on the <a href="https://flevy.com/browse">Flevy documents marketplace</a>.</p><p><strong>Are you a management consultant?</strong></p><p>You can download this and hundreds of other <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library/frameworks">consulting frameworks</a> and <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library/consulting">consulting training guides</a> from the <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library">FlevyPro library</a>.</p></div>Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Best Practices: Your Guide to Driving Performance Improvementshttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/ey-performance-indicators-kpis-best-practices-your-guide-to2020-03-16T06:30:00.000Z2020-03-16T06:30:00.000ZJoseph Robinsonhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/JosephRobinson808<div><p>More sophisticated managers explicitly use <a href="https://flevy.com/business-toolkit/key-performance-indicators">Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)</a> to promote cross-functional--not just vertical--alignment. For them, KPIs are the <a href="http://flevy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/pic-1-Key-Performance-Indicators-300x200.jpeg" target="_blank"><img src="http://flevy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/pic-1-Key-Performance-Indicators-300x200.jpeg?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="300" class="align-right" alt="pic-1-Key-Performance-Indicators-300x200.jpeg?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a>means and methods for rigorously defining and measuring the fundamentals that matter.</p><p><em>Why are KPIs important?</em> If used effectively, KPIs can clearly track value creation and deliver value for its stakeholders – customers, employees, and investors.</p><p>KPIs are being used by organizations in different ways. Yet, there are clear and measurable differences that exist in terms of how it is being used. There are organizations that use KPIs to monitor and assess performance while there are those that use KPIs to guide and drive performance improvements. Data-driven and customer-oriented leaders use KPIs in practicing <a href="http://flevy.com/browse/stream/customer-centric-design">Customer-centric Design</a>, while those more concerned with hitting their numbers remain focused on efficiencies.</p><p>There are 4 primary <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/key-performance-indicators-kpis-best-practices-4010">best practices for Key Performance Indicators</a> that organizations should follow. These best practices are every organization’s guide to using KPIs to drive <a href="https://flevy.com/business-toolkit/enterprise-performance-management">performance improvements</a>.</p><h3>The 4 KPIs Best Practices</h3><p>The <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/key-performance-indicators-kpis-best-practices-4010">4 KPI Best Practices</a> can demonstrate the effective use of KPIs to reflect and illuminate the strategic priority of organizations.</p><p><a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/key-performance-indicators-kpis-best-practices-4010" target="_blank"><img src="http://flevy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/pic-1-KPI-1024x768.png?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="750" class="align-full" alt="pic-1-KPI-1024x768.png?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></p><ol><li><strong>Focus on Customer Experience (CX)</strong>. The first KPI Best Practice, Focus on Customer Experience is focused on an increased understanding of customers’ wants and needs. There is a renewed emphasis on learning more about users of products. The main objective of focusing on customer experience is turning customers into brand advocates and evangelists. When KPIs are focused on customers beyond the sales funnel, this encourages an organization to realign itself around sharing, coordination, and collaboration.</li></ol><ol start="2"><li><strong>Identify Top KPIs</strong>. When top KPIs are identified, it is basically identifying the priority KPIs. Doing this requires identifying the appropriate number of KPIs to prioritize. There are guide questions than can help organizations in the prioritization of the KPIs. One of the questions can be “Is there a consensus on how KPIs affirm and support strategy? Another significant question can be one that points to how directly the functional KPIs contribute to enterprise success. When going through this process, it is important that leaders understand how KPIs interrelate and align.</li></ol><ol start="3"><li><strong>Foster Enterprise-wide Discussion of KPIs</strong>. A very critical Best Practice, the third KPI Best Practice is focused on reinforcing the company’s culture. In fostering enterprise-wide discussion of KPIs, KPIs must be central to leadership conversations around driving organizational behavior and change. It is not merely an assessment tool. If KPIs are not front and center at a management meeting, there is something wrong with the meeting, the management, or the KPIs.</li></ol><ol start="4"><li><strong>Treat KPIs as Special Class Data</strong>. Treat KPIs as Special Class Data is the fourth KPI Best practice that is essential in process transformation and automation. Organizations must understand that data and analytics are the raw ingredients of KPIs. KPIs special class as a data asset will become even more important as they become an input to ML algorithm and process automation. In the years to come, organizations can expect that data capability that supports more complex KPIs will become a source of competitive advantage.</li></ol><h3>What Matters Most</h3><p>It is very clear that KPIs play a vital role in directing the priorities of organizations. With the changing global economy, organizations have been recognizing the importance of Customer Focus. In fact, it has taken a priority seat and identified as the top KPI by executives.</p><p>But does this hold true to all organizations? Identifying top KPIs is important but organizations must know the right way to identify the appropriate number of KPIs and prioritize them. It is important to note that KPIs must align well with the organization’s internal processes with its external customer behaviors.</p><p>Customer Focus is a priority, but is it also your priority KPI?</p><p>Interested in gaining more understanding of the <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/key-performance-indicators-kpis-best-practices-4010">KPI best practices</a>? You can learn more and download an <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/key-performance-indicators-kpis-best-practices-4010">editable PowerPoint about Key <strong>Performance Indicators (KPIs) Best Practices</strong> here</a> on the <a href="https://flevy.com/browse">Flevy documents marketplace</a>.</p><p><strong>Are you a management consultant?</strong></p><p>You can download this and hundreds of other <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library/frameworks">consulting frameworks</a> and <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library/consulting">consulting training guides</a> from the <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library">FlevyPro library</a>.</p></div>Making it Right the First Time: The Road to Operating Model Transformationhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/making-it-right-the-first-time-the-road-to-operating-model2020-03-07T06:00:00.000Z2020-03-07T06:00:00.000ZJoseph Robinsonhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/JosephRobinson808<div><p><a href="https://flevy.com/lean-management">Lean Management</a> plays a significant role in putting in place processes, capabilities, and tools to improve how businesses operate. But<a href="http://flevy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/pic-1-Digital-Transformation-225x300.jpeg" target="_blank"><img src="http://flevy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/pic-1-Digital-Transformation-225x300.jpeg?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="225" class="align-right" alt="pic-1-Digital-Transformation-225x300.jpeg?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a>, the Digital Age has increased both the opportunities for businesses who know how to react and the difficulty of getting it right.</p><p>Tasks performed by humans are now more complex be it accessing information in multiple formats from multiple sources or responding to changing market and customer dynamics at an ever-increasing speed. As an increasing number of tasks become automated or taken over by cognitive-intelligence capabilities, companies need to learn from lean management. Like a sprinter who needs all her muscles to be finely tuned and working in concert to reach top speeds, fast-moving institutions must have a system to continually synchronize strategies, activities, performance, and health.</p><p>Many organizations understand the need to change how they work and have embarked on numerous initiatives, yet few have been able to get beyond isolated success cases or marginal benefits. Most companies recognize the need for a <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/digital-transformation-operating-model-transformation-3977">Next-gen Operating Model</a> to drive their business forward their <a href="https://flevy.com/digital-transformation">Digital Transformation</a> initiatives. But, how they develop it makes a big difference.</p><h3>The Next-gen Operating Model</h3><p>There are <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/digital-transformation-operating-model-transformation-3977">4 core pillars of a Next-gen Operating Model</a>. Putting these in place will ensure its successful implementation.</p><p><a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/digital-transformation-operating-model-transformation-3977" target="_blank"><img src="http://flevy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/pic-2-Digital-Transformation-1024x768.png?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="750" class="align-full" alt="pic-2-Digital-Transformation-1024x768.png?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a></p><ol><li><strong>Autonomous, Cross-functional Teams</strong>. The first pillar is focused on empowering the team to own products, services, or journeys. Having autonomous, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-functional_team">cross-functional teams</a>, organizations can become nimble in building skills across their teams. They make anchor hires for key roles, set up rotational and train the trainer programs, and commit to ongoing capability building and training for key roles.</li></ol><ol start="2"><li><strong>Flexible, Modular Platform</strong>. The second pillar is focused o supporting a faster deployment of products and services. Having Flexible, Modular Platforms will enable technology teams to better collaborate with business leaders in assessing which systems need to move faster.</li></ol><ol start="3"><li><strong>Connected Management System</strong>. The third pillar focuses on driving a culture of continuous improvement that cemented on customer needs. A Connected Management System will ensure that Management systems are evolving to create feedback mechanisms with and between various operations and teams.</li></ol><ol start="4"><li><strong>Agile, Customer-centric Culture</strong>. The fourth pillar is focused on speed and execution over perfection. Having an Agile, <a href="https://flevy.com/business-toolkit/customer-centric-culture">Customer-centric Culture</a> is critical to success. It leads the change from the top and builds new ways of working across organizational boundaries. When functions and teams collaborate, effective time to market to reduced as well as operational risk.</li></ol><p>The path to building up the Next-gen Operating Model follows well-defined approaches to guide organizations. These approaches will be every organization’s guide to operating model transformation during the first 12 months.</p><h3>Following the 4 Critical Approaches to Operating Model Transformation</h3><p>The <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/digital-transformation-operating-model-transformation-3977">4 critical Approaches to Operating Model Transformation</a> works well when there is a broad and top-down organizational mandate for change. Before anything else, organizations must make sure that the change mandate is in place so that the entire organization is aligned with the proposed change.</p><p>One of the 4 Critical Approaches is the Innovation Lab. The Innovation Lab is a dedicated unit set up to be entirely separate from the historical culture, decision-making bureaucracy, and technical infrastructure of the main business. It hatches new business models in an informal setting. It is best used when there is a need to move very quickly in response to market pressures.</p><p>Mastering these various approaches will enable organizations to better go through the Operating Model Transformation in the most effective way to achieve <a href="https://flevy.com/operational-excellence">Operational Excellence</a>.</p><p>Interested in gaining more understanding of <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/digital-transformation-operating-model-transformation-3977">Operating Model Transformation</a>? You can learn more and download an <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/digital-transformation-operating-model-transformation-3977">editable PowerPoint about <strong>Digital Transformation: Operating Model Transformation</strong> here</a> on the <a href="https://flevy.com/browse">Flevy documents marketplace</a>.</p><p><strong>Are you a management consultant?</strong></p><p>You can download this and hundreds of other <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library/frameworks">consulting frameworks</a> and <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library/consulting">consulting training guides</a> from the <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library">FlevyPro library</a>.</p></div>Aiming to Become a Customer-centric Organization, Then Where's the Customer Department?https://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/aiming-to-become-a-customer-centric-organization-then-where-s-the2019-07-16T09:43:55.000Z2019-07-16T09:43:55.000ZMark Bridgeshttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/MarkBridges<div><p><img src="https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/C4E12AQHHar_lqRkJsw/article-cover_image-shrink_720_1280/0?e=1568851200&v=beta&t=PiSkZGIqqo9FrhWHj62U4SSH5WfNUQhDhpjTZrKfGpU" alt="0?e=1568851200&v=beta&t=PiSkZGIqqo9FrhWHj62U4SSH5WfNUQhDhpjTZrKfGpU" /></p><p>Transforming a product-driven firm to a customer-driven enterprise is inevitable in order to stay ahead in today’s extremely competitive markets. The days of mass marketing, mass media communications, and little-to-none direct interface with customers are long gone. The emphasis, now, should be on maximizing customer relationships and becoming customer-driven organizations rather than merely selling products. The technological advancements of this age offer potent tools for organizations to utilize in order to engage with the customers directly; gather and mine information; and tailor their products and services appropriately.</p><p>Leading organizations are making huge investments in data analytics and transforming their strategies to focus on the customers’ evolving needs. They are striving hard to improve their customer retention and deepen their relationships utilizing rich customer insights, tailoring products according to the personalized needs of the customers, and presenting the offerings in a variety of store formats.</p><h3><strong>The Customer Department</strong></h3><p>To become customer-centric organizations, companies need to transform their traditional marketing function into a new unit called the “Customer Department.” <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/customer-centric-organization-the-customer-department-3860" target="_blank">The Customer Department</a> should be created to deliver maximum profits to the customers and nurturing customer relationships instead of pushing products.</p><p>This necessitates transforming the organizational structure, culture, strategy, and reward programs in line with the shift in focus from managing transactions to cultivating customer relationships. Specifically, there is a need to add the position of <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/customer-centric-organization-the-customer-department-3860" target="_blank">Chief Customer Officer (CCO)</a>—under the CEO—and various Customer Managers underneath the CCO. The roles and responsibilities of these positions should be:</p><h3><strong>Chief Customer Officer (CCO)</strong></h3><p>The most prominent shift in a customer-centric organization is replacing the traditional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) role with the Chief Customer Officer (CCO) role. Reporting to the CEO, the CCO is primarily responsible for devising and executing the customer relationship strategy, directing all the client-facing roles, and fostering a customer-driven culture in the organization. The main tasks of the CCO position include ensuring smooth flow of customer information, increasing productivity utilizing various metrics, and regularly interacting with the customers to understand their concerns.</p><h3><strong>Customer Managers</strong></h3><p>In a customer-centric organization, the Customer Managers (CMs) are in charge of various customer segments. They are accountable for enhancing the value of a customer relationship by ascertaining customers’ product needs. To make this role effective, there is a need to realign resources—people, budgets, authority—from product managers to the CMs.</p><p>The main tasks of the CM position include defining customer needs, extracting and interpreting customer insights utilizing various sources—e.g., mining customer forums, blogs, and online purchasing data—, and striving to improve the lives of the customers.</p><h3><strong>Additional Responsibilities of the Customer Department</strong></h3><p>Customer-centric organizations make the <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/customer-centric-organization-the-customer-department-3860" target="_blank">Customer Department</a> accountable for some of the critical customer-facing functions which were once considered an integral part of the Marketing Department. These functions include:</p><ol><li><strong>Customer Relationship Management (CRM)</strong></li><li><strong>Market Research</strong></li><li><strong>Research & Development (R&D)</strong></li><li><strong>Customer Service</strong></li></ol><div class="slate-resizable-image-embed slate-image-embed__resize-full-width"><a href="http://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/customer-centric-organization-the-customer-department-3860" target="_blank"><img src="https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/C4E12AQFu7XzQnf1J8w/article-inline_image-shrink_1000_1488/0?e=1568851200&v=beta&t=0U2Mc4iCVbKRjXdcZYaq3H42GtQM1rcyOU2v_zBOzQk" alt="No alt text provided for this image" /></a></div><h3><strong>Customer Relationship Management (CRM)</strong></h3><p>Traditionally, the CRM function belongs to the Information Technology Department owing to the technicalities involved in managing the CRM systems. The function demands evaluating the customer requirements and behaviors—which is a core function of the Customer Department alongside gathering and analyzing data necessary to execute a customer-development strategy.</p><h3><strong>Market Research</strong></h3><p>In customer-centric organizations, the Market Research function goes all the way from the marketing unit to other units that deal with customers—e.g., Finance for payments, Distribution for delivery. These organizations take a more granular view of customers’ behaviors, and gather and incorporate clients’ feedback to further improve customer lifetime value and equity.</p><h3><strong>Research & Development (R&D)</strong></h3><p>The <a href="https://smallbusiness.chron.com/function-descriptions-research-development-department-37150.html" target="_blank">R&D</a> function should also report to the Customer Department, as, nowadays, the traditional R&D-driven new product development models are conceding to creative collaboration between the client (users) and producers. It’s not a good idea anymore to pack tons of features into a product and cause feature fatigue to customers. What’s more appropriate is to seek and incorporate customers’ input into product features by involving them into the product design process.</p><h3><strong>Customer Service (CS)</strong></h3><p>CS is another function that should be handled by the Customer Department to guarantee quality of service and to nurture long-term relationships. This important function isn’t worth outsourcing overseas as this often causes negative impact to the clients and organizations alike, due to poor customer service.</p><p>Interested in learning more about <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/customer-centric-organization-the-customer-department-3860" target="_blank">Customer Metrics, Customer Department, and Customer-centric Organizations</a>? You can download <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/customer-centric-organization-the-customer-department-3860" target="_blank"><u>an editable PowerPoint on </u><strong><u>Customer-centric Organizations: The Customer Department here</u></strong></a> on the <a href="https://flevy.com/browse" target="_blank">Flevy documents marketplace</a>.</p><h3><strong>Are you a Management Consultant?</strong></h3><p>You can download this and hundreds of other <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library/frameworks" target="_blank">consulting frameworks</a> and <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library/consulting" target="_blank">consulting training guides</a> from the <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library" target="_blank">FlevyPro library</a>.</p><p> </p></div>The Secret Sauce to Success Amidst Disruption: Building a Customer-Centric Culture of Innovationhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/the-secret-sauce-to-success-amidst-disruption-building-a-customer2019-06-12T10:22:32.000Z2019-06-12T10:22:32.000ZMark Bridgeshttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/MarkBridges<div><p><img src="https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/C4E12AQFYRbFE8_Hjfw/article-cover_image-shrink_720_1280/0?e=1565827200&v=beta&t=l-GaU2wKmqw98y1hS5dUlURWhtWJDGhREukWpNNjITY" alt="0?e=1565827200&v=beta&t=l-GaU2wKmqw98y1hS5dUlURWhtWJDGhREukWpNNjITY" /></p><p>A large majority of organizations rarely focus on gathering and utilizing customer-centric knowledge. So much so that they even introduce a product without having vital insights on the customer and their unmet needs, and they are often clueless about them. Consequently, many product development initiatives fall flat as managers struggle to filter and evaluate ideas.</p><p>Most organizations, today, are developing initiatives around <a href="https://flevy.com/webinar/customer-experience-strategy" target="_blank">Customer Experience Strategy </a>and Customer Journey Mapping. <a href="https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/is-your-organization-customer-centric/" target="_blank">Customer-centric Organizations</a> are deeply focused towards value creation for their customers. They understand the unique customer insights needed to make customer-centric decisions, are able to gather those customer insights, and are aware of the way to utilize the insights in creating value for their customers. By using customer insights, Customer-centric Organizations drive their product innovation success rate significantly higher than the industry average.</p><p>In order to develop this capability, organizations need to first utilize a customer-centric research process to gather the customer insights required to drive value creation. This is accomplished when:</p><ul><li>They know the desired unique customer insights needed to make customer-centric decision.</li><li>They are able to gather the required customer insights.</li><li>They realize the proper time and way to utilize the insights in making value creation focused business decisions.</li></ul><p><a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/customer-centric-culture-of-innovation-3828" target="_blank">Building a Customer-centric Culture of Innovation</a> warrants a methodical approach. A potent approach to building such a culture of innovation encompasses 3 key phases:</p><ol><li><strong>Qualitative Insights: Apply Customer-Centric Fundamentals</strong> - The first phase commences by organizing an intensive day-long workshop for each cross-functional product team. The teams engage in a unique customer journey where they employ a “jobs-to-be-done” lens to analyze their market, and identify valuable, qualitative customer insights needed to drive customer-centric decision making.</li><li><strong>Quantitative Insights: Quantify Opportunities that Exist</strong> - This phase entails conducting quantitative research to rank the most critical customer insights needed to develop customer-centric data model. The insights available through this data set help the company in making customer-centric business decisions for years to come.</li><li><strong>Implementation: Leverage New Customer Insights for Growth</strong> - In this phase, managers and employees across the organization are trained on utilizing the insights to devise market and <a href="https://flevy.com/business-toolkit/product-strategy-prod" target="_blank">product strategies</a>, and to encourage customer-centric growth.</li></ol><div class="slate-resizable-image-embed slate-image-embed__resize-full-width"><a href="http://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/customer-centric-culture-of-innovation-3828" target="_blank"><img src="https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/C4E12AQHuqOkVI3wV_Q/article-inline_image-shrink_1500_2232-alternative/0?e=1565827200&v=beta&t=P82rA9gJcz9z6tsIx4wt1RlJz38elKr04ReROh-zScY" alt="No alt text provided for this image" /></a></div><p>Let’s take a deeper dive into the first phase of this process.</p><h3><strong>Qualitative Insights: Apply Customer-Centric Fundamentals</strong></h3><p>The first phase commences by organizing an intensive workshop for each cross-functional product team. It is typically a day-long session where the teams engage in a unique customer journey. They employ a “jobs-to-be-done” lens to analyze their market and identify valuable, qualitative customer insights needed to drive customer-centric decision making. The qualitative customer insights developed during the first phase serve as an indispensable, long-term guide in the journey to a customer-centric mindset.</p><p>During phase I, each product team is trained on customer-centric philosophy in a workshop settings. The workshop participants participate in qualitative research discussions designed to obtain critical customer information and fresh insights. Upon completion of the initial phase, the product team is able to develop a shared innovation vocabulary and gather customer insights to make customer-centric marketing and product development decisions.</p><p>Interested in learning about the third phase of the approach to <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/customer-centric-culture-of-innovation-3828" target="_blank">Customer-centric Culture of Innovation</a>? You can download <a href="https://flevy.com/browse/flevypro/customer-centric-culture-of-innovation-3828" target="_blank"><u>an editable PowerPoint on </u><strong><u>Customer-centric Culture of Innovation</u></strong><u> here</u></a> on the <a href="https://flevy.com/browse" target="_blank">Flevy documents marketplace</a>.</p><h3><strong>Are you a Management Consultant?</strong></h3><p>You can download this and hundreds of other <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library/frameworks" target="_blank">consulting frameworks</a> and <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library/consulting" target="_blank">consulting training guides</a> from the <a href="http://flevy.com/pro/library" target="_blank">FlevyPro library</a>.</p><p> </p></div>The ABC’s of insurance: analytics, business transformation and customer centricityhttps://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/the-abc-s-of-insurance-analytics-business-transformation-and2016-12-02T14:39:21.000Z2016-12-02T14:39:21.000ZSam Joneshttps://globalriskcommunity.com/members/SamJones<div><p>It is crazy to think that insurers are now the ones that need to manage their risk in the face of disruption. They must reinvent their business processes and strategies from the inside out to keep up with the rate of change. So, what are insurers doing to take action?</p><p> </p><p>Insurance Nexus conducted exclusive interviews with the largest life insurer – Manulife and a mid-tier insurer IAT and created an exclusive white paper on analytics, business transformation and customer-centricity.</p><p></p><p><a href="http://1.insurancenexus.com/LP=15081?source=globalriskcommunitywp1" target="_blank">Take a look at these exclusive interviews here</a></p><p> </p><p>Get answers on how to apply the ABC’s of insurance in your business to:</p><p> </p><ul><li><b>Apply advanced analytics and glean critical insights</b>: figure out how data management, analytics and machine learning hold critical places in your organizations ability to achieve in the digital world and get clear insight on how to effectively apply and execute results-driven analytics across your business</li></ul><p> </p><ul><li><b>Believe in business transformation and cultural change</b>: making change in your business can be strenuous on your workforce, you need to hire new talent, train existing staff and get internal advocates onboard, find out the best steps forward to make new plans resonate</li></ul><p> </p><ul><li><b>Create a customer-centric approach that sticks</b>: put the customer at the heart of your planning process and determine how to set up your best approach based on what your core clients want</li></ul><p> </p><p><a href="http://1.insurancenexus.com/LP=15081?source=globalriskcommunitywp1" target="_blank">The white paper is complimentary and can be accessed right now</a></p></div>