Successful Customer Outcomes

Process Excellence in Africa - keynote presentation

2012-02-24T08:08:00.000-07:00

The second global Process Excellence conference completed this week in Cape Town, South Africa. The IQPC team are noted for their organisation and excellent speaker profiles and this event was a great example of the very latest thinking, in depth technical reviews and guidance for Process people throughout Africa.

Highly recommended for any conference the next in the global series Europe with London in April. You can review that event here: http://bit.ly/PEXLondon2012

The following is Steve Towers presentation which examines how some organisations seem to defy the recession and achieve ongoing success for their customers, employees and shareholders.
It looks like magic until you know the trick!

Steve towers process excellence _africa_2012_cape_town

View more presentations from Steve Towers.

Reduce Costs - Improve Revenue - Enhance Service simultaneously

2012-02-12T09:08:00.002-07:00

From the PEX Network event in Florida, January 2012. Ten minutes :)

You have the Power to change the world (and that aint no cliche)

2012-02-11T04:31:00.002-07:00

Helping people to see the possibilities and getting them there isn't a part time task.

In our training, coaching and consultancy we encourage Certified Process Professionals and CPP Masters to relate this message of transformation in a constructive practical way. It is what makes the difference when you are doing it in your organisations for real.
Part of my personal inspiration comes from someone who relates ideas phenomenally well, and gives us the means to do it ourselves.

That person - Nancy Duarte.

This ten minute video will, if you give yourself permission, change the way you relate your ideas and create success forever.

2012-02-09T18:36:00.000-07:00

The PEX Network hosted a great event in Florida last month (review very soon). I was asked to comment on some of the latest process evolution, especially in relation to moving Outside-In and the Customer Experience.
Here is that ten minute interview - see more on this theme at www.bpgroup.org and www.pexnetwork.com

Getting the attention you deserve (it is a process about process)

2012-02-06T12:13:00.000-07:00

How to Build Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn

Build Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn by Dan Schawbel
5 LinkedIn tips on effective personal branding by Dan Schawbel
LinkedIn Strategies for Personal Branding by Debra Wheatman
Use Your LinkedIn Profile as a Resume by Alison Doyle
Creating a Presence w/ LinkedIn Groups by Efesa Origbo
The 10 LinkedIn™ Strategic Steps to Success by Nathan Kievman
How to use Linkedin to build a Powerful Personal Brand by Dr Amit Nagpal
LinkedIn Mistakes: Top 5 Ways to Kill Your Credibility INC Magazine Online, Geoffrey James
What McDonald’s Can Teach Us About Our LinkedIn Profiles by Nathan Kievman
Unlock the Secrets of LinkedIn INC Magazine Online, Marta Tabaka
Using LinkedIn for Competitive Intelligence Linked Intelligence, Scott Allen

Looking Outside-In

2012-02-04T06:03:00.000-07:00

The BP Group is 20 years old in September. Over the last two decades people who have participated in our training and consultancy and have captured some of my comments. There are over 200, many clearly inspired by my heroes 'giants' in business and life. The list here are the ones most often referred back to me :)

How much do you need to know, to know you know, you know enough?

The Customer Experience is the process (Steve Jobs)

If things are changing faster outside than in, you will fail.

You don't have a choice about where to start. You can only start where you are now!

Are you aligned to Successful Customer Outcomes (SCO's)? Or are you just moving the chairs on the deck of the Titanic?

If you do not know who your customer is you do not know what you are doing.

Stop managing and measuring outputs. Start managing Customer Expectations and measuring the SCO.

Can your people clearly articulate their contribution to the SCO?

This is a once in a 600 year thing. The invention of the printing press (1436) and now Outside-In (1997).

Does your technology help with the SCO? If it doesn't scrap it!

Technology is the emans to the end, not the end in itself. It is just the same with pen and paper.

To link process with performance we need to rethink what we mean by performance.

We shouldn't keep looking back at the past to define the possibilities for the future.

Does your process start and end with the customer? If it doesn't you are fixing the wrong thing.

Someone said the Chinese are coming. They are wrong. The Chinese have been and gone. This is what you are left with as a consequence!

Moving Outside-In isn't a choice. It is a pre-requisite for success in the 21st century.

Are you measuring Activities and Tasks (Inside-Out), or Outputs and SCO's (Outside-In)?

The only reason a process exists to is to help achieve a Successful Customer Outcome.

Can you connect every single task with the Successful Customer Outcome?

Who pays your salary? Yes it is the Customer.

Check your companys reports. How often is the customer mentioned? If they are not it shouldn't surprise you that the business is failing.

If you aren't managing Customer Outcomes you aren't managing the most aspect of your business.

Look beyond the Output. How does it contribute to the Customer Outcome? If it doesn't stop producing it.

The customer is not my job? Get Real. The customer is everyones job!

Evolving Outside-In is not a destination. It is a journey.

The process map is not real. It is a collective hallucination.

How can you sell process to everyone?

2012-01-26T17:01:00.000-07:00

A terrific introduction to process featured at the PEX US 2012 process conference. Check this video out and point your colleagues to its use. It will make the job of demonstrating the value of process much easier. Thanks to Diana at the PEX network.

2012-01-15T11:01:00.000-07:00

This week a large part of the BP Group team and leaders are in Florida for the annual PEX conference.

There is still time to register: www.pexweek.com and also sign-up for the

Certifed Process Professional Levels 1 and 2 program!

This is the place to network, learn and explore all that is process from the leading organizations, practitioners and Guru's.

As the week unfolds we'll be bringing you highlights and snippets.

Hopefully see you there, all the Best

Steve

New www.bpgroup. org features FIVE Outside-In Blogs

2012-01-06T13:06:00.000-07:00

The BPGroups new website now features five blogs from leading thinkers and CPP Masters in the field of Enterprise BPM & Outside-In.

To visit the blogs: click http://www.bpgroup.org/blogs.html and review the drop down menu -enjoy!

Successful Customer Outcomes
Steve Towers - 160 articles on the theme of Outside-In

BP Community
the original BPM community - Events, Resources, community & Links

Outside-In from Janne Ohtonen
Words from the wise from the author of OIDash

The Process Ninja
Craig Reid Scottish through and through however now from down-under

OutsideIn Service Management
Ian Clayton shows us the way with Service Management

If you recognise a good Outside-In location let us know: rachel.smith@bpgroup.org

Customer Expectations in this coming year

2012-01-02T11:15:00.000-07:00

12 CRUCIAL CONSUMER TRENDS FOR 2012

View more documents from trendwatching.com

Recommended Upcoming Conferences for the 2012 diary

2012-01-01T20:13:00.000-07:00

BPGROUP CONFERENCE IN ASSOCIATION WITH IQPC – PEX 2012 USA
Lake Buena Vista, Florida, USA - January 16-19, 2012: http://bit.ly/PEX2012

PROCESS EXCELLENCE WEEK – PEX 2012 SOUTH AFRICA
Achieving the 'Triple Crown' – increasing revenue, improving the customer experience and reducing costs

Cape Town, South Africa – February 20-24, 2012: http://bit.ly/SouthAfricaProcessExcellence

CUSTOMER CENTRICITY AND PROCESS ORIENTATION with Marcus Evans
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – March 19-21, 2012 : http://bit.ly/BPMandCustomerCentricity

BPM SUMMIT 2012 - IT WEB ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Johannesburg, South Africa – April 17-18 : http://bit.ly/SouthAfricaBPM

BPGROUP CONFERENCE IN ASSOCIATION WITH IQPC – PEX 2012 Europe
London, England – April 23-27, 2012 : http://bit.ly/PEX2012_London

Time Management with less than 365 days to go to Armageddon

2011-12-23T15:34:00.000-07:00

...or that is what the Mayan's say. The big day is 21 December 2012. Whether we experience the apocalypse, or it is just another dull day before Christmas? remains to be seen. Meanwhile we had better make use of the time in hand ;-)

With that in mind I have turned my attention to a genius of time management, managing conflicting interests and on the whole being hugely successful at such a young age.... James Dodkins. Here are his tips for pre Armageddon (and tuning in to deliver that project success).

Thanks James....

Sort your life with this formula, agree with yourself at bedtime and Kazam...

A-E formula

A - High Priority

B - Mid Priority

C - Low priority

D - Delegate

E - Eliminate

Happy 2012 ;)

BPMC Research Newsletter 12/2011 - from Finland and Janne Ohtonen

2011-12-13T06:12:00.000-07:00

Hi and Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to let you know that my research plan has advanced and now I am moving forward to collecting empirical data. The idea is to use Design Science to build and evaluate a BPMC artifact. It will be tool, which helps organizations to evaluate their capabilities for doing business process management and possible to get recommendations for actions to take to improve their situation.

I will collect empirical data with three methods: interviews, surveys and case organizations. First I will collect vital information for building the artifact with interviewing top BPM professionals in the world. After that I will continue getting more information through survey, which will be used to analyze the dependencies between BPMC factors. After that I will take that tool into some case organizations and try it out to see if it actually works.

So, there is a lot to do in the upcoming year 2012 and hopefully I will have some results to share with you soon. I already did my first interview today and hope to receive more in next few weeks.

Here is couple of acknowledgements that I want to share with you: Thank you for dr. Timo Lainema, professor Hannu Salmela, dr. Peter Trkman, dr. Klara Palmberg Broryd (check out: http://www.mementor.se/in-english/), Tuukka Heinonen (Hubco) and all the rest of you that have been helping me to succeed in this endeavor. There is still plenty to do, but I am on the right track towards Phd.

Merry Christmas and happy New Year!

Best regards,

Janne

Janne Ohtonen

EMAIL: janne.ohtonen@bpgroup.org

WWW: http://janne.ohtonen.fi

Dissertation work: "BPMC - Business Process Management Capabilities"

The Magic of Outside-In - evolving business for 21c.

2011-12-11T03:34:00.000-07:00

Keynote from Marcus Evans event in South Africa during November 2011. Latest case studies, next steps and sharing the tricks behind the magic. Steve Towers process and productivity excellence _joburg_2011

View more presentations from Steve Towers.

Work is changing... are you?

2011-12-11T01:22:00.001-07:00

Consider the changes and their impact on how we do what we do.
Is your organisation segregated into functional specialisms (ala the Scottish pin factory) or has it embraced the challenges of the 21st century and realigned Outside-In and put the customer at the centre of everything you do? If you are still wandering WHY have a look at this excellent presentation... The Future Of Work

View more presentations at www.bpgroup.org

BPGROUP CONFERENCE IN ASSOCIATION WITH IQPC – PEX 2012 USA
Lake Buena Vista, Florida, USA - January 16-19, 2012: http://bit.ly/PEX2012

PROCESS EXCELLENCE WEEK – PEX 2012 SOUTH AFRICA
Achieving the 'Triple Crown' – increasing revenue, improving the customer experience and reducing costs

Cape Town, South Africa – February 20-24, 2012: http://bit.ly/SouthAfricaProcessExcellence

CUSTOMER CENTRICITY AND PROCESS ORIENTATION with Marcus Evans
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – March 19-21, 2012 : http://bit.ly/BPMandCustomerCentricity

BPM SUMMIT 2012 - IT WEB ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Johannesburg, South Africa – April 17-18 : http://bit.ly/SouthAfricaBPM

BPGROUP CONFERENCE IN ASSOCIATION WITH IQPC – PEX 2012 Europe
London, England – April 23-27, 2012 : http://bit.ly/PEX2012_London

Gaining Customer Insight

2011-12-06T20:49:00.001-07:00

(Whether they are the primary customer who pays your salary or the one in the department next door!)

Identify the Issue/Opportunity and determine the Process to Review.
Decide who is the Customer.
Understand the Customers current expectations.
Clarify the customers view of what is a successful outcome.
Identify what it is the process currently does that impacts customer success (negatives and postives).
Develop SMART Successful Customer Outcome Statements of Intent.

Successful Customer Outcomes & Process Excellence

2011-12-03T20:41:00.000-07:00

Creating Successful Customer Outcomes (SCO's) must begin with the understanding that process is a means to an end, not an end of itself. I do not want a doctor, a medical or a diagnosis. What I need is to get well.

We also should avoid another trap. That is capturing requirements on the solution rather than describing customer needs. All the customer focus groups, surveys and quality reviews are looking at current stuff, not on the SCO. Therefore they are limited and may even completely derail customer delivery, sometimes with tragic consequence.

Processes that clearly align with SCO's achieve five times the success rate of processes that have a poor fit with customer need.

The Future of Business Process Part 2: Outside-In, Lean Six Sigma, BPM and all that....

2011-09-24T07:54:00.000-06:00

“Not everything old is bad and antiquated and not everything new is shiny and good. The real secret to success is to combine the best of both.”
Rene Carayol (left), Senior Executive & Former Board Member for Pepsi, Marks & Spencer, IPC Media & The Inland Revenue

The world's leading companies have come to realize that only when their customers are successful, will they be successful. In pursuit of their market leadership not only they need to spend time to look inside their business to know how things are getting done but also look outward to get deep understanding of their customers.

Process has indeed come a long way from it humble routes amidst the early industrial revolution and Adam Smiths ‘Wealth of Nations’.

Although many in Western
economies are (still) in a state of denial, we are undergoing the greatest reorganization in the business world since the Industrial Revolution.

No matter what industry you are in, no matter how successful you are, it's time to get ready for the world as it will be --a world where your customers have new choices
from a sea of suppliers from
across the globe.

Peter Fingar
Author of Extreme Competition: Innovation and the Great 21st Century Business Reformation

One of the first people to describe process was Smith who in 1776 describes a new way for process in a Scottish pin factory. He outlines the production methods and created one of the first objective and measureable enterprise process designs. The consequence of 'labour division' in Smith’s example resulted in the same number of workers making 240 times as many pins as they had been before the introduction of his innovation.

Adam Smith participated in a revolution that transformed the planet. He lived at a time when the confluence of factors, political change, emergence of the New World, industrialization and a new optimism that the world could move from the shackles of the past.

In heralding a movement that developed into Scientific Management the foundation was laid that established a way of working that has survived and thrived for 200 years.

And yet now, more than ever, is a time to perhaps take a careful glance back to the past to guide the way for not only surviving the current economic turmoil but to also prepare us to thrive in the seismic shifts of the 21st century ‘new world’ order where the customer has become central to everything we do.

Leading global corporations are now evolving their tried and tested approaches into methods suited to the changed challenges of customer promiscuity, globalisation, IT innovation and the Prosumer. That is the essence of what we call Outside-In.

"The Customer Experience is the Process"
Outside-In can really be summarised in the statement that “the customer experience is the process”. We can no longer just look within our organisation boundary to create a sustainable competitive advantage. We have to extend our scope and embrace a broader view of optimising process by understanding, managing and developing customer expectations and the associated experience. We need to articulate Successful Customer Outcomes and let those guide our product and service development as we move beyond the limiting scope of silo pyramidal based left to right thinking.

In 2006 BP Group Research identified the ‘Evolution of Approaches’ and how steps can be taken to grow Lean Six Sigma’s influence and success into a strategic Outside-In toolkit. In fact the last 4 years are seeing the fruition of these advances with Best in Class 2009 & 2010 Award winners PolyOne, a dyed in the wool Lean outfit, advancing their stock price six fold in 18 months on the back of radical and innovative changes across its customer experience.

Some see Outside-In as the death knell for approaches such as for old style BPM, BPR, TQM and Lean Six Sigma. This is not so. This narrow and simplistic view does not acknowledge the stepping stones available to embrace the new customer centric order. In fact the foundations of our futures are always laid on the learnings of the past with those innovators who recognise the need to evolve leading that charge.

Victory will go to the brave who seize the moment and push forward their approaches into the brave new world of Outside-In. The sector leaders have set a precedent - can you embrace the challenge?

All the Best, Steve

* * *

If you wish to read and listen more on this theme the following references are useful.
Join the community discussing these issues, challenges and opportunities.

Community and social networking – Join the BP Group	LinkedIn	http://bit.ly/joinbpgroup
Outside-In The Secret of the 21^st Centuries leading companies	Book	http://bit.ly/OutsideInApple http://amzn.to/Outside-In
Interview Harvard Business Review with HBS Professor Ranjay Gullati	Video	http://bit.ly/RanjayOutside-In
Interview Wharton Business School with WBS Professor George Day	Video	http://bit.ly/WhartonGeorgeDay
Interview Affecto University with Steve Towers	Video	http://bit.ly/SteveTowersOutside-In
Interview by Megan James (IQPC)	Video	http://bit.ly/MeganJamesOutside-In
Downloadable keynotes and slide shows	Presentations	http://www.slideshare.net/stowers/
Professional – Certified Process Professional program	Qualifications	http://www.bpmbox.com
Don’t give customers what they think they want - Steve Towers	Article	http://bit.ly/3xUIn4
Evolution of Process Excellence Approaches - BP Group	Research	http://bit.ly/Fw5Kv
Outside-In - Interview with Blog Radio’s Gienn Weiss	Podcast	Outside-In (15 mins)
The Best Performing companies Millward Optimoor	Research	http://bit.ly/uAyVW
UPCOMING CONFERENCES ON THE THEME OF PROCESS EXCELLENCE, ENTERPRISE BPM AND OUTSIDE-IN	Resources	http://linkd.in/EventsOutside-In

Outside-In is a business imperative

2011-09-21T11:42:00.000-06:00

What are the challenges of succeeding in business in the 21^st century? Ask leading companies and you would come up with the same list:

Competition is fierce and global.
Customers have become rebellious.
Customers are promiscuous
Customers have expectations like never before.
Customers demand choice, comprehensive information and the best price.
Customer know more about your service and product than you do (the prosumer)

Former IBM boss Lou Gerstner called this “commodity hell” and that is pretty much the nightmare for every business. With a list like this many businesses would claim to be already embracing the challenge and becoming customer centric with ‘voice of the customer’ initiatives.
This is simply a collective delusion and is the root cause of why so many are failing the customer, the shareholder and their hardworking employees.

The delusion is easy to understand. Businesses have created departments that claim customer focus and extensively poll customer wants, seek feedback and then try to act on the information.

While this creates an illusion of progress it is to a large part a futile exercise focused on fundamental misunderstanding of 21^st century customers.

Asking internal questions based on customer data results in such questions as “how do we improve service?”, “how can we reduce non value added work?”, and “how can we standardise?”.
This thinking stems from a time when the world turned more slowly and is more appropriate to the 1950’s then this centuries new business reality. To orientate to long term business and customer success we need to look at the enterprise from the Outside-In (OI) rather than inside-out. It is now about understanding customer needs (not wants) and eradicating all the things that do not contribute to achieving Successful Customer Outcomes (SCO’s).

It is this Outside-In philosophy that leading global IT retailer Best Buy utilised to lead and dominate the consumer-electronics market in the US. In doing so Best Buy’s programme ‘customer centricity’ took the time to understand customer needs and accordingly align for the SCO, while long time competitors Circuit City and CompUSA struggled and ultimately went bust. Circuit City, previously successful in the 1980’s and 90’s did not understand the shift to Outside-In and continued to focus on reducing costs through laying off its highest-paid hourly employees, including salespeople, and replacing them with cheaper workers. At the same time (2007), then CEO Philip Schoonover rewarded himself with $7 USD million in compensation[i]. Customers don’t like that old style way of managing business and voted with their feet.

Best Buy meanwhile moved to understanding the customer needs and directed their attention organising themselves accordingly. Early research suggested that men look for a specific product at a discount price so hence, arranging stores around fast moving products, geared to guys worked in areas where the majority of shoppers were male. Alternatively in stores frequented by women the stores focussed on ‘bundles’ as women were shown to need say a digital camera with accessories such as cables, printer and other ‘value adds’. This was more important to that type of customer than discounted prices. As the Outside-In maturity grew audio-visual experiences were grouped together and themed as with the Magnolia theatre. Family oriented areas are now a familiar feature coupled with additions such as techie savvy Geek squad means Best Buy dominates a previously fragmented market. Their success is now being extended to Europe.

Making the leap from understanding to action requires a shift in perspective. Instead of functional specialist silo’s organised around division of labour and specialisation, enterprises rethink their centre of gravity. In what we call a Copernican shift the customer becomes the centre of the universe, rather than the legacy model were business organises itself inside-out as a pyramidal, left to right, top down structure. In these legacy structures it is sometimes difficult to actually include the customer on the map – they are relegated to the extreme left or right, or into warlike metaphors such as ‘the frontline’. No great surprise that people working in these structures can be working very hard doing things right (following procedures, delivering projects, meeting departmental objectives) but really the customer isn’t their job. That surely belongs to someone else in marketing, sales or customer service? In the Outside-In world the customer touches everybody’s job and the emphasis shifts to doing the right things and doing things right.

Breaking out of the straight jacket imposed by the inside-out organisation structure requires a different level of thinking, an incisive set of new techniques and tools, and a willingness to link every element of activity with SCO’s. A new focus embracing the customer experience as the process requires a renegotiation of partners, a realignment of relationships and investment in staff to ensure they can think and be customer centric. Reward structures become linked to customer success, rather than paying staff for turning up and following procedures.

Best Buy have broken the mould of their sector, as have others including Zara in fashion retailing, Southwest airlines, FedEx Office, Emirates, China Mobile, Disney and many more. These companies are the leading success stories of the 21^st century and understand the game has changed forever.

For most businesses today, adopting an Outside-In approach is a necessity for survival — the only sure way to ensure the organizational resilience that will keep a company out of the death spiral of inside-out commodity hell. The path finders have set the standard and established a winning set of approaches, tools and techniques readily accessible by all.

You may want to make that move now, before it is too late.

Enterprise BPM & Outside-In Resources - videos, presentations and upcoming conferences

OUTSIDE-IN OVERVIEW: http://www.successfulcustomeroutcomes.net/2011/04/outside-in-and-its-potential-with-steve.html

HARVARD PERSPECTIVE: https://businessprocess.box.net/shared/zqb1z083ub

WHARTON PERSPECTIVE: https://businessprocess.box.net/shared/tshqkxkdqe

FOLLOWING BLOG/ARTICLES: http://www.successfulcustomeroutcomes.net/

MANAGEMENT GURU’S: http://linkd.in/ManagementGurus

THE STATE OF THE BPM INDUSTRY http://bit.ly/BPM_StateoftheIndustry

STEVE TOWERS PRESENTATIONS: http://www.slideshare.net/stowers/

IQPC BUSINESS EXCELLENCE SUMMIT
Delhi, India, September 22-23: http://bit.ly/IndiaBPM

IQPC BPM LEADERS MEETING
Amsterdam – October 20-21: http://bit.ly/rhqLHP
Leaders Blog http://bit.ly/p6AIuI

IT WEB ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Johannesburg – October 12-13: http://bit.ly/SouthAfricaBPM

STRATEGY DRIVEN PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT
London – December 5-8: http://bit.ly/StrategicTransformation

BPGROUP CONFERENCE IN ASSOCIATION WITH IQPC – PEX 2012
Lake Buena Vista, Florida - Jan 16-19: http://bit.ly/PEX2012

Are you in the shadow of a Scottish Pin Factory?

2011-09-10T04:51:00.000-06:00

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?

2011-09-03T07:51:00.001-06:00

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:

http://linkd.in/BusinessProcessFutures

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

2011-08-26T17:35:00.000-06:00

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

2011-08-25T14:26:00.000-06:00

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 21^st century successful companies	http://bit.ly/OutsideInApple

Public Services and Enterprise BPM aka Outside-In

2011-08-20T09:00:00.001-06:00

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?

Everything is Process

2011-08-13T21:15:00.000-06:00

There is only this. Everything is process. There isn’t anything that isn’t a process. All processes exist to contribute to the achievement of a Successful Customer Outcome (SCO).

If a process does not explicitly contribute to the achievement of the SCO, then it is potentially dumb stuff and should be eradicated.