Continuing Thoughts on Lean Service Principles. Part 1 is Here.
2. Variation is in the system, not the people – so watch the incentives.
When we are looking at why some people or parts of the business just don’t seem to be improving we look to better incentive schemes, more measurement, more oversight. It’s commonplace to say “you get what you measure” but also “what you measure isn’t always what actually matters” (i.e. what matters can’t always be measured, or you are measuring the wrong thing).
But many times the nature of the work, and the nature of the workflow, means that improvement is not possible without changing the fundamentals of how the work itself is defined. In some approaches to this topic, it is pointed out that highly structured, rigidly process driven conversations are the best way to get to the customers required answer.
And there is some evidence to show that we actually feel quite comfortable in this “known and formalised process”. It feels corporate. Until it doesn’t work of course. Then it feels corporate in a whole other way. But this line of discussion also reminds me of a line that JP Rangaswami pointed out recently:
Teachers who can be replaced by computers should be replaced by computers
Formal, well understood routines, as far as they can be automated, should be automated.
Theoretically, call center and customer service are ideal “pull environments” where customers should be able to get the information and actions they need for right now. We can automate this though really good “self service” portals, good search, and good content.
When we challenge some of the fundamentals around how customer service is provided (or indeed what it is, and what it is for) new possibilities arise. For instance “call centers” are required because that’s where this work is done. The rise of the hosted contact center and the home based agent radically challenge this idea. Agents don’t always need to sit together, attached to the information-software and telephone via cubicle, and be “seen to be working” by supervisors.
So are agents custodians and curators of your enterprise knowledge bases?
As we move to hosted and cloud based solutions what has changed in the underlying logic of the systems, oversights, and permissions we use at work? Some things I can see that are potential disruptors underpinning customer service processes I see here are:
- Extended collaboration strategies: puling the right people into a process at the right time based on what they need to do right now is a basic co-ordination capability deliverable through CEBP. In the context of this post the customer can be “pulled into” the process at the right time, in the right mode, in order to achieve the right outcome. Customers can not only be pulled into processes, but into information contexts, into applications, and even into relationships and communities. How people give and gain access to others, and permissions to access information and resources may become mediated through CEBP.
- Business processes-as-a-service: buy or rent an entire process or micro-process. Some technical examples are emerging in this space such as RunMyProcess and Cordys. There is even a very cool micro-process example in Ifttt which neatly ties social media elements together. There are very few complete examples here but to be clear I am speaking about “process orchestration” not just outsourcing all your customer service”.
- Mobile everywhere:Â new devices change “presence”, location and what tasks can be completed (i.e photo, video conference/share, ID confirmation). Circa 25% of customers now have a smartphone and we are seeing more tablet-enablements in all customer facing environments. For instance Cisco Cius is now on iPad. Workday are designing for “mobile first”. Salesforce.com have Desk.com with a totally redesigned for mobile and social customer service. That should give you an idea of the scale of disruption to come.
