Are you in the shadow of a Scottish Pin Factory?

What is this?
Yes it is YOUR organization chart.

It is also a legacy from the Industrial Revolution and notably Adam Smith’s book “The Wealth of Nations” (1776). Are you organizing yourself like a Scottish pin factory or more realistically for the second decade of the 21st century?

Someone who takes a sideways swipe at the ‘sub division of labor’ is Seth Godin.

Have a glance at his most excellent blog:
http://bit.ly/BPM_Org_Charts

The future of Business Process. What is your take?

Forrester and Gartner, those behemoths of Business Research, are battling for the mindspace associated with that question at the moment.

Forrester leader Connie Moore has just posted the current trends, based on latest research with “10 major thought leaders at large global organizations” and include the following seven points:

  • A major strategic alignment between business process transformation and customer experience
  • Very little concern about technology issues — because they believe the technology will work well (and this is not what keeps them up at night even now)
  • A major focus on standardizing processes across the globe so that work can easily flow to the lowest-cost labor at any given moment
  • The belief that processes will run in the cloud (private or public) and that businesses will consume processes-as-a-platform
  • A strong conviction that IT will largely vanish into the business
  • The need for access to global talent pools driving some of the need for business process transformation
  • The expectation that being dynamic and turning on a dime will be critically important
What I will say is that for those of us busy linking Successful Customer Outcomes (SCO) with process for the last several years that first point is no great surprise. Mind you I can also think of some supposed major thought leaders who are still blind to the reason why all our jobs exist – the customer. Aligning everything we do to SCO’s is about connecting the dots between every task and activity all the way to the customer. Jeff Bezos (Amazon) refers to it as ‘working backwards’ aka Outside-In.

I certainly give the thumbs up to Forrester for this efforts, especially since the next couple of weeks sees a couple of Forrester hosted webinars to share their views. Interestingly now Gartner will have to respond otherwise they will see themselves as sidelined into little more than the technical aspects of BPM.

Go read Connie Moores blog at: http://bit.ly/BusinessProcess2020

Do you agree with the points Forrester is making? Contribute to the LinkedIn thread on this theme at:

Recommended Upcoming ‘be there’ events to meet, share and learn:

BPM Leaders hosted by PEX: 
Amsterdam – October 20-21: http://bit.ly/rhqLHP
Leaders Blog http://bit.ly/p6AIuI
 
MasterClass (Led by Steve Towers)
Barcelona –
October 3-7 – Certified Process Professional & Master: http://bit.ly/MastersInBarcelona

BPGROUP CONFERENCE IN ASSOCIATION

WITH IQPC – PEX 2010
Lake Buena Vista, Florida – Jan 16-19: http://bit.ly/PEX2012

 

A New Order of Things – Outside-In – Six steps to Success

There is no easy way to introduce a new order of things however there are some principles that can be followed based on this type of mind shift.

1, Objective and immediate.
The results we achieve with Outside-In are significant and substantive e.g. Triple Crown*. Accordingly any effort should first of all identify the clear tangible benefits.

2. Talk is cheap.
Fine words and phrases will not win hearts and minds without substance. Delivery is key, hence the ‘start where you are’ sentiment. In current projects (where support may be lacking) introduce the techniques within the CEMMethod(tm) by stealth.
Lift the heads of those around you to think of Moments of Truth, Break Points and Business Rules for instance. “Nothing new mate, just some stuff other guys have used within… Six Sigma../..Lean../..EA../..complaince etc. (delete as appropriate)”

3. Build support.
With (2) underway you will build support. That is the point to shift focus and begin the more practical discussion of where and how.

4. Go for broke.
If you are extremely lucky/persuasive and have the top team already onboard go for broke. Discover the worst most problematic issues and set to righting ’em. By fixing the Cause you will remove the Effect.

5. Move on.
It is a 4-500 year shift in mindset (Dee Hock, VISA founder).
It will ultimately transform the planet. The jury is in fact back and the results speak for themselves. So when all looks desolate and casting your pearls before swine is depressing, remind them that they are part of the problem and move on.

6. Make it so.
YOU ARE NOT ALONE it just feels that way when surrounded by flat-landers (doh).
Learn, exchange and do.

Join the worlds first and largest Outside-In community at: http://www.oibpm.com

Once on-board review the subgroups and join the specialist communities – you will
find friends and support as we transform the planet one person,one process, one organisation at a time!

PS. The Outside-In book published in 2010 reviews in detail this emerging trend.
Here is the hardback – http://amzn.to/Outside-In
Here is the eBook version – http://bit.ly/OutsideInApple Link with Steve Towers – http://bit.ly/LinkWithSteve
Follow Steve Towers on Twitter – http://twitter.com/#!/stowers

*Triple Crown: Jim Sinur (Gartner) coined this phrase. Through the delivery of advanced BPM you will simultaneously reduce costs, enhance service and grow revenues. In public sector/not for profits replace revenue growth with delievry of strategic objectives.

Links to Enterprise BPM and Process Transformation resources

Where do you go for uptodate and relevant resources for Enterprise BPM and Outside-In?

Here’s a collection utilised by Certified Process Professionals with an acletic mix of tools, techniques, downloads, videos and links to key people in the world of process and customer transformation.

If you have an additional link do let us know.

1 BP Group website http://www.bpgroup.org
2 BP Group on Linkedin http://bit.ly/joinbpgroup
3 Coaching in Customer Expectation Management & BPM http://www.bpmbox.com
4 Certified Process Professional web http://www.certifiedprocessprofessional.com
5 Enterprise BPM Outside-In blog http://www.successfulcustomeroutcomes.net/
6 BPGroup blog http://bpcommunity.blogspot.com/
7 BP Group slideshows http://www.slideshare.net/stowers/
8 Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/stowers
9 Videos on the theme of Enterprise BPM & Outside-In http://bit.ly/SteveTowersYoutube
10 Resources and people involved in BPM & Outside-In http://www.oibpm.com
11 BPM & Outside-In consultancy website http://www.towersassociates.com
12 Outside-In. The Secret of the 21st century successful companies http://bit.ly/OutsideInApple

Public Services and Enterprise BPM aka Outside-In

In many countries, the phrase public service is considered something of an anachronism. At all levels of government and government led services, customers perceive that overall they get a raw deal when compared to the levels of service they now regularly expect from privately held organizations. In this article we will explore how Customer Age thinking and the concepts of Successful Customer Outcomes and Next Practice are helping to change that perception and lead to increased efficiency in public services around the globe.

With regard to the issues of local, regional, or national government we firstly need to remember that in a democracy government is of the people, by the people, with the will of the people. As governments increasingly raise taxes and start to play a more active role in the everyday lives of people there is a real risk that if they do not focus on their “customer” and what the customer wants, that they might lose that will. So for government departments at all levels there needs to be very clear on who the customer is and what they want. In this they are no different from a private enterprise, customers do not care about your internal bureaucracy or your policies and procedures, they do care about being able to access your services in an efficient manner and know that they are being cared for.

Nobody is suggesting for one moment that you can please everybody. But if those that you are not pleasing are displeased through poor service or overly complicated procedures and policies then they have in most cases good cause to complain. Indeed, employees in the public sector would do well to remember that it is their tax money that is being potentially wasted too!
Many people might feel that government and public sector is “different” and that the same rules cannot apply. To a small extent this may be right, but in the majority of cases fresh thinking can still lead to increased service and efficiency.

Take the case of a police force. While recently working with a regional police department the point was raised, that they are a very different business, and unlike anything in the private sector. This is typical of the inside out thinking that tends to occur in public service. It we look at it from the outside in, the police force could be considered rather like an insurance company. The parallel is quite a simple one. With insurance we pay a monthly or annual premium to a company on the promise that if something goes wrong we can contact them and they will sort it out – cars, home, or life. So in the case of the police we pay taxes each month (our premium) so that if something goes wrong we can contact them and they will send someone to help us – surely this is just the same, from the customer point of view, as the insurance scenario? The same also of course can be said of the fire and ambulance services. Why then can such services not look at what insurance companies are doing in order to improve service and responsiveness?
As a side issue in another discussion with a different police service the issue of customer became apparent in a different way. In this force they felt that the way they had been organized was to ensure that they provided the best service to their customer, it was just that in their case they saw the criminal as the customer, not the victim! So when identifying your customer you do need to be clear on your purpose in order that you are serving the right customers.

The example of the emergency services given here is a good example of how “Outside-In” can be applied in the public service and how in looking for new and innovative ways to improve service and increase efficiency the public sector can benefit from looking at how the very best people are handling that situation, regardless of geography or industry sector.

The parallels do not end there though. Those familiar with the Beatles may recall a song from Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (an older but a goody) and a track mentioning 4,000 pot-holes in Blackburn, Lancashire. The song related John Lennon’s curiosity at how many pot-holes would it take to fill the Albert Hall (a particular large musical venue in central London) and indeed why were there so many holes? Well clearly at that time he had never visited Chicago as they have enough holes to fill the Grand Canyon!

The story of how the Chicago Works Department transformed a moribund public service (fixing said potholes) which typically took 6-8 weeks, involved up to 30 people, and on average cost an incredible $42,000 USD is now becoming legend in BPM parlance.

The full story of the fix will wait for another day however the quantum leap here with Outside-In and Successful Customer Outcomes drew its inspiration from Expedia. Daniel Pink (A Whole New Mind) would be proud of the right brain thinking which imported Expedia’ scheduling ‘idea’ to let citizens define the problem, chose a suitable repair and select a convenient date for the repair team fix from a two screen web based system. Problem fixed. Now on average 4 days, 5 people and $2,000 USD. That still seems a lot (especially for tax payers) for filling a hole but boy is it giant step in the right direction!

Of course we can extend this thinking even further into many walks of public service. Where would you start your Outside-In endeavors?

Outside-In – The Secret keynote from Bangalore

Keynote address delivered in Bangalore at the 6th Annual Enterprise & IT Architecture conference hosted by iCMG. Updated and revised for the 5th edition of the book “Outside-In – The Secret”

Outside in The Secret_Architects_World_keynote_2011

If Outside-In aka Customer Centricity is so Obvious…

Outside-In is clearly the way for the worlds top companies
(see David Mottersheads blog at http://www.outsideinconsulting.com.au/outside-in-blog.html) and reflecting on the commentary by Hank Barnes in “Customer Experience Challenges: Why Maintaining an Outside-in Approach is Tougher than it Seems”

the answer as to why the masses don’t get it is probably very simply the herd instinct.



For instance in 1969 astronomer J. Donal Fernie made an observation many of us will understand. In writing about the decades it took his fellow professionals to spot a fundamental error.. “the definitive study of the herd instincts of astronomers has yet to be written, but there are times when we resemble nothing so much as a herd of antelope, heads down in tight formation, thundering with firm determination in a particular direction across the plain. At a given signal from the leader we whirl about, and, with equally firm determination, thunder off in quite a different direction, still in tight parallel formation”


We of course have our own immediate examples. What about the world leading Insurance Company waiting eight days for ink to dry on parchment paper before sending out a new policy? Or the removal business that stuck with a 35 mile rule limit just in case the horse died? What about suggesting people visiting the UK from ‘abroad’ should practice driving on the left before they came if they weren’t used to it (to reduce the accidents on UK roads).


Yup there are lots of antelopes out there.
Will you meet any tomorrow? And will you be running with the herd?



Ciao, Steve

Process Excellence & BPM State of the Industry – Steve Towers Keynote

Process Excellence & BPM State of the Industry Keynote