Why it is time for the Outside-In Education System Revolution

Is the education system letting your kids down? Are the young folks joining us in the workplace equipped for the Digital Customer Age? Do you suspect 'education' is broken?

Watch this amazing video that puts education on trial... thanks to Tanguy Petre, CPP Champion @tpetre0168 for spotting this terrific and scary piece :)

Join us to learn the Secrets of Apples, Googles, Zara, Zappos and Emirates success Accredited CX Professional, Masters & Champions (ACXP, ACXM, ACXC) Program http://www.bpgroup.org/training.html An internationally recognized program with proven track record delivered by been there and done it coaches more than 180 times, in 64 cities with delegates from 118 countries. The program, now in its eleventh year, utilizes the BP Groups approaches and framework to help you and your organization win the triple crown – simultaneously reduce costs, grow revenues and enhance service. Producing Immediate and sustainable business results across any industry and sector. Become a qualified CPP-Master or ACXP and demonstrate your professionalism http://www.bpgroup.org/training.html

10 ways to know for certain whether the customer comes first - and what to do about it

Stop making dumb things happen faster for less money! A lot of companies pay lip service to customer-centricity, write contributors Steve Towers and James Dodkins, but not many “walk the talk”. Here are 10 differences between inside-out and outside-in companies. There is a lot of talk today, more than ever, about customer centricity, client focus, customer experience strategy and Outside-In. Many organizations have adopted aspects of these disciplines and where many have achieved monumental success others have fallen by the wayside. Why is this? The problem is perception.

Countless organizations have said all the right things to make the workforce believe that they are becoming a customer-focused organization and then doing the complete opposite.

The effect of this is rising costs, shrinking revenues and ever lowering customer satisfaction.

The problem with this is that there is now a collective of organizations that have a “customer centricity doesn’t work” mentality. It’s like putting a rain hat in your pocket, going out into a storm, getting wet hair, then swearing the hat is useless. Just having the Outside-In customer centricity ideals is not enough; you have to use them in the right way.

So, how do you know if you work in an Outside-In organization or an Inside-Out organization wearing an Outside-In mask?

Table 1: Inside-Out or Outside-In?

	Inside Out - attending to tasks and activities	Outside In - aligning to Successful Customer Outcomes (SCO's)
	Doing things right	Doing the Right things AND doing things right
1	Pyramidal management knows best	Context and customer defined
2	Business as a factory (left to right)	Customer Oriented Architectures
3	Benchmarking competitors	Determine customer needs and trends
4	Customer feedback retrospective	Customer needs designed and delivered
5	Process Improvement and optimization	Customer Experience innovation
6	DMAIC/SIPOC/DFSS/Lean	CEMMethod/4D's
7	Improving efficiencies	Developing value for the customer
8	Model and method oriented	Customer journey and experience focus
9	Top down business architectures	Customer centric frameworks (context sensitive)
10	Remuneration for tasks completed	Rewards based on delivery of SCO's

Let’s review the not so subtle differences

#1: Pyramidal management
Does your CEO really know the most about your organization? Can your CEO really relate to customers? Let’s face it, your CEO probably hasn’t spoken to a customer in years (if ever) so, why are they best qualified to determine how your organization is run? Maybe they aren’t…

#2: Business managed as a factory (left to right) What percent of the work within your organization is manufacturing? What if you don’t manufacture anything? Then why does everything within your organization look like a factory? We can’t meet the future with an industrial age mindset… join the rest of us in the 21st century. #3: Benchmarking competitors If you benchmark against other competitors you will, at best, only ever be as good as them, no better, most of the time worse and you will always be one step behind the trend.

Are you still managing a business that you think looks like this?

Rather than focusing on what your competitors are doing, focus on what the real need of the customer is and deliver that, innovate the customer experience, there is no easier way to become a market leader…let your competitors benchmark you.

#4: Retrospective customer feedbackAsking customers “how did we do” is stupid, asking customers “how did we do” 3 weeks after it happened is even more stupid, allowing customer to self-select for a survey to tell you how you did 3 weeks after is happened is even more stupid than that.

If you want to get totally non-representative, inaccurate, and relatively useless data on how some customers may have felt you performed at some point then the traditional methods are fine (NPS, CSi, etc).

To measure a customer experience properly and objectively you need to first know what makes a great customer experience and measure if you are doing those things, we need to get scientific about the customer experience (CXRating).
If you are still in the land of subjective, self-selecting, retrospective feedback, chances are you have no idea just how well, or poorly, you are performing…even if you think you do.

#5: Focus only on process improvement and optimizationTaking what you are already doing and making it happen in a shorter time frame, more efficiently or for less operating cost is not good enough any more. If you are doing dumb things all you are doing is making dumb things happen faster for less money.

You should focus on innovating the customer experience. Any work within your organization is caused by a customer interaction somewhere down the line. If you engineer and innovate at the causal level, you will make the customer experience better and eliminate swathes of pointless dumb work that you are wasting time on every single day…simple really isn’t it?

#6: Trying to use DMAIC/SIPOC/DFSS/Lean to optimize the customer experienceIf you are using process improvement methodologies that were created to optimize manufacturing processes to optimize the customer experience then you will find yourself in a mess.

Use a 21^st century methodology like the CEMMethod that was designed for this day and age to really turbo charge your customer experience efforts. Have you ever heard the phrase “trying to fit a square peg into a round hole”? Methodologies like Lean and Six Sigma were great at what they were created to do, but they were not created to improve customer experience… and therefore won’t.

#7: Improving efficiencies for internal customers onlyTrying to make things more efficient for yourselves inside your organization - more often than not - will actually make things worse for the customer. Don’t just perpetuate the Inside-Out mindset. You need to make sure that everything you are doing is actually creating value for customers. Don’t focus on internal customers, focus on real customers… they pay your wages.

#8: Model and method orientedDon’t get shackled by the oppression of the models and methods that ‘the man’ has said you should use. You shouldn’t focus on trying to implement a model or method you should be focused on how to make the customer experience better… whatever it takes.

#9: Top down business architecturesDo you work in an environment when the person above you tells you what to do and you tell the people below you what to do? If your whole working life is focused on trying to make your boss happy what aren’t you focusing on?
That’s right, the customer.

As soon as we enter a habitat like this we make a habit out of ignoring what’s right for the customer over what is perceived to be right for the organization. I’m not saying you’ll be able to change this overnight, I’m just saying it’s wrong and will eventually lead to your organizations downfall... don’t get left behind.

#10: Remuneration for tasks completedIf you pay people for doing stupid things, they get very good at doing them. Traditionally, you will get paid for completing tasks and activities, filling in forms, processing invoices, taking calls etc.

If everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) was paid for delivering customer success just imagine how different your working environment would be. Empowering workers to be able to do whatever it takes to deliver customer success is the polar opposite of workers having to complete X number of forms in a day… this is maybe the biggest game changer of them all.

Steve Towers & James Dodkins

You cannot manage the future by micro managing the past

How much do you need to know to know you know you know enough?
There is an industry out there which encourages detailed analysis of the past to understand the future. It didn't work then, it doesn't work now. 

Stories of generals fighting the last war are legion. So don't become a victim of Analysis Paralysis.

Certified Process Professional Masters (CPP-Master) Program

(Dubai UAE Dec 7-11, Orlando US Jan 22-23, Denver US Jan 26-30, London UK Mar 2-6)
www.bpgroup.org/certification-by-city.html

An internationally recognised program with proven track record delivered by been there and done it coaches more than 130 times, in 52 cities with delegates from 105 countries.
The program, now in its tenth year, utilizes the BP Groups approaches and framework to help you and your organization win the triple crown – simultaneously reduce costs, grow revenues and enhance service. Producing Immediate and sustainable business results across any industry and sector.

Become a qualified CPP-Master and demonstrate your professionalism.www.bpgroup.org/certification-by-city.html

Customer Experience Management - the truth

Customer Experience Management - what is it and why it transcends journey mapping, process management, lean and six sigma.
Quick update for those wanting the FREE download of CEMMethod - http://www.successfulcustomeroutcomes.net/2014/11/customer-experience-management-method.html

Business Process Management (BPM) meets Customer Experience Management (CEM)

Access the latest version of this groundbreaking approach.

CEMMethod walkthough version 10 from Steve Towers

Getting it together

Your car is German. Your vodka is Russian. Your pizza is Italian. Your kebab is Turkish and your democracy is Greek. Your coffee is Brazilian and your movies are American. Your tea is Tamil and your shirts are from India. Your oil is Saudi and your electronics are Chinese. Your news is British and your love is French. Your numbers are Arabic and your letters Latin. Your music is ethnic and your home is family. And yet you complain that your neighbor is an immigrant?

We are all in this together. So let’s smile, join hands and get on with it.

Where is your work ethic mate?

One day a fisherman was lying on a beautiful beach, with his fishing pole propped up in the sand and his solitary line cast out into the sparkling blue surf. He was enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sun and the prospect of catching a fish.

(from the desk of James Dodkins)

About that time, a businessman came walking down the beach, trying to relieve some of the stress of his workday. He noticed the fisherman sitting on the beach and decided to find out why this fisherman was fishing instead of working harder to make a living for himself and his family.

"You aren't going to catch many fish that way," said the businessman to the fisherman, "you should be working rather than lying on the beach!" The fisherman looked up at the businessman, smiled and replied, "And what will my reward be?"

"Well, you can get bigger nets and catch more fish!" was the businessman's answer. "And then what will my reward be?" asked the fisherman, still smiling.

The businessman replied, "You will make money and you'll be able to buy a boat, which will then result in larger catches of fish!" "And then what will my reward be?" asked the fisherman again.

The businessman was beginning to get a little irritated with the fisherman's questions. "You can buy a bigger boat, and hire some people to work for you!" he said. "And then what will my reward be?" repeated the fisherman.

The businessman was getting angry. "Don't you understand? You can build up a fleet of fishing boats, sail all over the world, and let all your employees catch fish for you!" Once again the fisherman asked, "And then what will my reward be?"

The businessman was red with rage and shouted at the fisherman, "Don't you understand that you can become so rich that you will never have to work for your living again! You can spend all the rest of your days sitting on this beach, looking at the sunset. You won't have a care in the world!"

The fisherman, still smiling, looked up and said, "And what do you think I'm doing right now?"

Part 3 of 4: There are four distinctly Outside-In ways that you can rethink process and in doing so achieve Triple Crown benefits.

From the desk of James Dodkins, CCO BP Group.

In the first two articles in this four part theme we reviewed 'Understand and applying Process diagnostics' and the 'Successful Customer Outcome' map. We now move our attention to the third way we can rethink process forever

Re-framing process for an Outside-In world

A fundamental principle of Outside-In is the understanding of where your process starts and ends.

In the 20th century many techniques and approaches developed to better understand and create processes. In its earliest form pioneering work undertaken by the United States Airforce created modelling approaches based on the Structured Analysis and Design Technique (SADT) that produced iDEF (Integrate DEFinition Methods).

iDEF became recognised as a global standard as a method designed to model the decisions, actions, and activities of an organization or system[1].  iDEF as a method has now reached iDEF14 [i] and embraces a wide range of process based modelling ideas. Concurrent with the development of iDEF technology providers created proprietary modelling approaches, and subsequently developed into modelling language standards, used by many organisations to represent their systems and ways of working.

The convergence of business process modelling and business process management (BPM) has now produced a rich set of tools and techniques able to model and ideally manage an organisation. In fact one of the more accepted definitions of BPM (based on the British Journal of Management): "Business process management (BPM) is a management approach focused on aligning all aspects of an organisation with the wants and needs of clients. It is a holistic management approach"

Until a few years ago process management approaches looked within the boundaries of the organisation and the combination of modelling and management approaches were adequate to understand the enterprise. The impact of process management in improving organisation performance has been profound however we now face a different reality driven by the customer.

As a consequence both disciplines now present a series of problems that include

(a)    understanding the beginning and end of the process,

(b)   the techniques used to model process are inadequate and focused  on the wrong things

Strangely customer involvement in a process often appears as an afterthought and the actual representation systems (left to right, top to bottom) create an illusion that fosters the belief that “the customer isn’t my job”.

Let’s deal with each in turn by example:
a.     The beginning and end of process

To aid the discussion let’s look at two airlines, British Airways and Southwest, and we’ll review how they ‘think’ about their business through the eyes of process. If you sit down with British Airways executives and asked the question “where does your process start and end?” the response reflects the main source of revenue, seat sales.

So the answer “the process is from the ticket purchase to the collecting the bags off the carousel” is no great surprise. In fact that is the way we have mostly thought about process in that it starts when it crosses into organisation, and finishes when it leaves. We can easily model that, identify efficiency improvements, improve throughput and optimise apparent value add.

As far as British Airways is concerned what you do outside of that process is no concern of theirs, after all they are an airline and that’s what they do. Now let’s change our perspective and visit Love Field in Texas and meet the executive team of Southwest. Ask the guys the same question “where does your process start and end?” and the answer is a whole different viewpoint.

The process begins when the potential customer thinks of the need for a flight, and only ends when they are back at home following the journey. The scope of this process is defined by the phrase “the customer experience is the process”. That’s an Outside-In perspective and creates opportunities across the whole customer experience.

More than that it raises the prospect of additional revenue streams, spreads the risk associated with a dependency on seat sales, reinforces the customer relationship and develops an entirely different way of doing business.  So let’s ask another question of our friends at Southwest “guys, what business are you in?”, and the answer changes everything you ever thought about airlines forever “we’re in the business of moving people”.

Downstream Southwest may well turn the industry further on its head as they move from being the low cost airline to the ‘no cost airline’ and give their seats free of charge. What would that do to your business model if 95% of your revenues, as with British Airways, comes from seat sales?

The business challenge for Southwest becomes one of controlling the process to benefit and maximise the customer experience. That involves partnering, sharing information and doing all necessary to make customers lives easier, simpler and more successful.

Now how do you model that?


b.     The techniques used to model process are inadequate and focused on the wrong things

We have reviewed the ultimate cause of work for all organisations is the customer. Organisations exist to serve the customer though the provision of products and services and in this way develops revenue that goes to the profit and onward distribution to the stockholders.

In other organisations without the profit motivation, for instance the public sector, then the effective delivery of services is measured by citizens and stakeholders.  Accordingly it stands to reason that everything happening within the organisation should be organised and aligned to deliver customer success and anything that isn’t is potentially ‘dumb stuff’. The techniques we use to ‘capture’ process are however not suitable to understanding the causes of work and focus attention instead on the visible tasks and activities that are perceived to create value for customers. In the context of the enlightened customer this is at best misleading and at its worst actually part of the broader problem. In Outside-In companies the focus has shifted to understanding the causes of work, and then engineering those causes to minimize negative effects.

Once more to go Outside-In we need a perspective shift and we can achieve this by identifying those three causes of work and then set out to reveal them and their negative impact.

How big is the size of the prize? Efficiency and productivity gains of 30% to 60% are common. Cost reduction of services by 50% is not unusual.

Cause elimination is a seek and destroy mission. It’s the challenge to weed out the “dumb stuff” in our organizations.

By truly fixing the Causes of Work, rather than messing around with the Effects (a bit like moving the chairs on the deck of the Titanic) we will all find our customers and employees life simpler, easier and more successful. Are you ready to challenge your assumptions and start eliminating those causes of work? Fix the Cause, remove the effect.

Global Business Processes: the means to succeed in the 21st century.

What is a global process and what business benefit does it provide?

Companies with a worldwide presence face many challenges such as globalization, regional trading agreements and the uncertainty of the economic markets. These challenges require a coordinated approach which maximizes the benefits of a world-wide presence and at the same time provide a local focus. Global processes are the way to achieve this balance and include front end activities like customer acquisition or new business processing, support processes like information systems right the way through
to back end customer retention and financial management.

How does a company create, implement, and manage global processes?
Co-ordination. Teams need to develop a common process approach which regardless of culture speaks the same language i.e. what is the successful customer outcome (SCO)? Figuring out how work gets done and achieves the SCO is key to global process success. Implementation needs a pragmatic approach which acknowledges cultural perspectives.

Bringing a strategic multi disciplinary team together led by qualified process leaders familiar with cultural and economic challenge is a starting point.

Rolling out that discipline and process approach through geographic teams provides a means to learn and exchange and grow key processes to maturity.

What are the most common challenges associated with global processes?
Getting everyone on the same page. Even the way we think and speak of processes is different and so developing a common way of looking at work is critical to a successful operation. For instance the Œcollecting the money process¹ has a very specific objective however each location may have different custom and practice ­ how do you ensure a uniform and yet different approach? The underpinning technology that supports a global
process can be common, however the business rules that we operate to make sure our endeavor is successful often need to be different.

What is the relationship between global processes and performance
improvement?
The relationship is absolute. In the 20th century we may have talked about standardization and conformity. Performance is now much more driven by the capability to act in the moment e.g. a US insurance company has the slogan Œthink global, act local¹ which provides both a degree of uniformity and empowers the people locally to act in the best interests of the business ­there and then.

Why should the average employee care about global processes?
It is the understanding that there is a framework and common structure torunning the business successfully that provides assurance that senior management knows what they are doing and are operating as a team. Process is the way we get work done. It is the way we deliver value to our customers.

It¹s the way we create profits for our shareholders. This can then be encapsulated in our rewards systems and provide a framework for success, both in process, people, systems and global strategy.

(From the desk of James Dodkins)

A New Order of Things

From the desk of James Dodkins
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 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../..compliance 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 400 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 the swine 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.




James Dodkins, Chief Customer Officer,
BP Group

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication (from James Dodkins)

James Dodkins, CCO BP Group

In 1996, Gilead introduced a "next phase" AIDS medication patients could
take in a single daily dose. The new drug, Atripla, vastly improved patient
quality of life. It vastly improved compliance. And it has given Gilead an
80% market share of medication prescribed to newly identified AIDS and HIV
positive patients, despite introduction of directly competing, single dose
products from larger competitors.

Atripla has dramatically grown Gilead's revenue, along with producing near
40% profit margins. Plus, manufacturing one medication is far less expensive
than making 17, matching revenue gains with cost reduction. But Gilead was
not finished. Since 2006, Gilead has introduced single dosage treatment for
hepatitis-B patients, who had to follow a similarly complex medication
schedule, and has initiated development of a similar medication for
hepatitis-C.

Achieving Customer-Centricity

Through Outside-In, Gilead has become a customer-centric company
specializing in quality of life and compliance as well as quality
efficacious treatments. However, a common first reaction might be, "How
obvious." And a second might be, "Nothing much to it."

Gilead did experience a blinding flash of the obvious. But untold numbers of
"obvious" solutions to major customer problems go unnoticed because
companies can't see through customer eyes­ or are afraid to do so.
Outside-In forces the issue by starting with the customer­ not the product or the
company or sales goals or profits.

"Nothing much to it?" Au contraire, there was a whole lot to it. Having
helped many a company through this type of transformative change, I can reel
off a list of likely barriers Gilead faced: reorganizing R&D to focus on
drug delivery, a very different discipline than traditional pharmaceutical
research; changing support staff roles; laying off manufacturing staff and
management; repositioning the company; and that's just for starters. What
Gilead achieved required transformational change, which stresses
organizations and often tests their resiliency? No surprise that so many
organizations limit themselves to incremental change.

What's new here?

As you've almost certainly recognized, some organizations have employed
Outside-In thinking since their inception, as has U.S. department store
chain Nordstrom's, or at least for many years. But two things have changed.

First, Outside-In today extends far beyond identifying opportunities. While
full scale OI starts by aligning strategy with customers,it continues by
next aligning process with strategies and then technology with process. In
that order. More specifically, following opportunity identification OI
determines "what" work has to be done by "who" in order to turn opportunity
into reality. This strategic step defines organizational change as well as
changes to workflow and information flow. Then OI defines "how" the work
should be done and the technology enablement required, the tactical side.
Not only does Outside-In expand the scope of customer-centric thinking to
include implementation; but it also stretches traditional boundaries of
process to include the "what" and the "who" plus technology support ­beyond
just addressing the "how." And that's why we call it "Outside-In Process."

The second change is the volume of Outside-In occurring. A number of
organizations have already completed the migration from "inside-out"
(company-centric) to Outside-In (customer-centric). Others are
opportunistically starting to migrate. And some laggards within their own
industries have moved or are moving defensively, to avoid the fate of
Circuit City, CompUSA, WAMU (Washington Mutual Bank), General Motors and
Northwest Airlines ­all notoriously inside-out companies insensitive to
customer needs.

More next week...

Part 3 of 4: There are four distinctly Outside-In ways that you can rethink process and in doing so achieve Triple Crown benefits.

In the first two articles in this four part theme we reviewed 'Understand and applying Process diagnostics' and the 'Successful Customer Outcome' map.
We now move our attention to the third  way we can rethink process forever

Reframing process for an Outside-In world

A fundamental principle of Outside-In is the understanding of where your process starts and ends.

In the 20th century many techniques and approaches developed to better understand and create processes. In its earliest form pioneering work undertaken by the United States Airforce created modelling approaches based on the Structured Analysis and Design Technique (SADT) that produced iDEF (Integrate DEFinition Methods). iDEF became recognised as a global standard as a method designed to model the decisions, actions, and activities of an organization or system[1].  iDEF as a method has now reached iDEF14 [i] and embraces a wide range of process based modelling ideas. Concurrent with the development of iDEF technology providers created proprietary modelling approaches, and subsequently developed into modelling language standards, used by many organisations to represent their systems and ways of working. The convergence of business process modelling and business process management (BPM) has now produced a rich set of tools and techniques
able to model and ideally manage an organisation. In fact one of the more accepted definitions of BPM (based on the British Journal of Management[ii]): "Business process management (BPM) is a management approach focused on aligning all aspects of an organisation with the wants and needs of clients. It is a holistic management approach"

Until a few years ago process management approaches looked within the boundaries of the organisation and the combination of modelling and management approaches were adequate to understand the enterprise. The impact of process management in improving organisation performance has been profound however we now face a different reality driven by the customer.

As a consequence both disciplines now present a series of problems that include

(a)    understanding the beginning and end of the process,

(b)   the techniques used to model process are inadequate and focused  on the wrong things

Strangely customer involvement in a process often appears as an afterthought and the actual representation systems (left to right, top to bottom) create an illusion that fosters the belief that “the customer isn’t my job”.

Let’s deal with each in turn by example:
a.     The beginning and end of process

To aid the discussion let’s look at two airlines, British Airways and Southwest, and we’ll review how they ‘think’ about their business through the eyes of process. If you sit down with British Airways executives and asked the question “where does your process start and end?” the response reflects the main source of revenue, seat sales.

So the answer “the process is from the ticket purchase to the collecting the bags off the carousel” is no great surprise. In fact that is the way we have mostly thought about process in that it starts when it crosses into organisation, and finishes when it leaves. We can easily model that, identify efficiency improvements, improve throughput and optimise apparent value add.

As far as British Airways is concerned what you do outside of that process is no concern of theirs, after all they are an airline and that’s what they do. Now let’s change our perspective and visit Love Field in Texas and meet the executive team of Southwest. Ask the guys the same question “where does your process start and end?” and the answer is a whole different viewpoint.

The process begins when the potential customer thinks of the need for a flight, and only ends when they are back at home following the journey. The scope of this process is defined by the phrase “the customer experience is the process”. That’s an Outside-In perspective and creates opportunities across the whole customer experience.

More than that it raises the prospect of additional revenue streams, spreads the risk associated with a dependency on seat sales, reinforces the customer relationship and develops an entirely different way of doing business.  So let’s ask another question of our friends at Southwest “guys, what business are you in?”, and the answer changes everything you ever thought about airlines forever “we’re in the business of moving people”.

Downstream Southwest may well turn the industry further on its head as they move from being the low cost airline to the ‘no cost airline’ and give their seats free of charge. What would that do to your business model if 95% of your revenues, as with British Airways, comes from seat sales?

The business challenge for Southwest becomes one of controlling the process to benefit and maximise the customer experience. That involves partnering, sharing information and doing all necessary to make customers lives easier, simpler and more successful.

Now how do you model that?


b.     The techniques used to model process are inadequate and focused on the wrong things

We have reviewed the ultimate cause of work for all organisations is the customer. Organisations exist to serve the customer though the provision of products and services and in this way develops revenue that goes to the profit and onward distribution to the stockholders.

In other organisations without the profit motivation, for instance the public sector, then the effective delivery of services is measured by citizens and stakeholders.  Accordingly it stands to reason that everything happening within the organisation should be organised and aligned to deliver customer success and anything that isn’t is potentially ‘dumb stuff’. The techniques we use to ‘capture’ process are however not suitable to understanding the causes of work and focus attention instead on the visible tasks and activities that are perceived to create value for customers. In the context of the enlightened customer[iii] this is at best misleading and at its worst actually part of the broader problem. In Outside-In companies the focus has shifted to understanding the causes of work, and then engineering those causes to minimize negative effects.

Once more to go Outside-In we need a perspective shift and we can achieve this by identifying those three causes of work and then set out to reveal them and their negative impact.

How big is the size of the prize? Efficiency and productivity gains of 30% to 60% are common. Cost reduction of services by 50% is not unusual.

Cause elimination is a seek and destroy mission. It’s the challenge to weed out the “dumb stuff” in our organizations.

By truly fixing the Causes of Work, rather than messing around with the Effects (a bit like moving the chairs on the deck of the Titanic) we will all find our customers and employees life simpler, easier and more successful. Are you ready to challenge your assumptions and start eliminating those causes of work? Fix the Cause, remove the effect.


[1] http://www.idef.com/IDEF0.htm


[i] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDEF

[ii] Understanding Business Process Management: implications for theory and practice, British Journal of Management (2008) (Smart, P.A, Maddern, H. & Maull, R. S.)

Join us on LinkedIn  http://bit.ly/joinbpgroup

Visit additional resources www.oibpm.com
Become a Certified Process Professional www.certifiedprocessprofessional.com 

Business Process Management - an Overview

I never cease to be amazed by the self-styled experts in Business Process Management (BPM) who want to tell me what we really meant.

And depending on whether you are a vendor of software, a consultant or just somebody trying to get on with improving processes determines how you describe BPM. Back during the genesis we stated "BPM is a new management philosophy to reorganize the work of a business to better achieve successful outcomes" (BP Groups 3rd Annual Conference, Edinburgh in 1990's). Some of you will recognize a certain Derek Miers (left, now with Forrester) who chaired that conference.

Needless to say that description of BPM holds true. In fact technology can be regarded just as the 21st C. pen and paper, and while it contributes to BPM it doesn't of itself create success. As part of the ongoing series of Certified Process Professional program we have created a series of short videos, the one here is Business Process Management - an Overview. Enjoy.

The customer can't be king at the expense of your business

Goutam Das       Last Updated: February 15, 2013  | 15:37 IST

Tags: BPOs | Nokia | Nasscom india leadership forum

Steve Towers

Steve Towers is a business process and customer satisfaction expert and the author of "Outside In - The Secret of the 21st Century Leading Companies". In India, he advises the Tata group, Wipro and other BPOs on ways to organise their processes and people better to deliver customer outcomes successfully. Towers, a keynote speaker at the Nasscom India Leadership Forum , took time off for a conversation with Goutam Das.
Edited excerpts:

Q. Have organisations started to worry more about customer centricity these days?
A. It is top of the pile in terms of themes. Customer centricity, however, is not always understood. We tend to talk about it from a technology-centric point of view - we tend to think of information technology and front-end systems. We talk about CRM (customer relationship management) systems and things like that. Organisations need to move beyond what we refer to as 'inside out' thinking. One of the reasons to move forward is that customers themselves has changed. They have become promiscuous - they are not as loyal as they used to be. They have also become very rebellious - highly choosy in terms of who they want a product from. This causes them to move very quickly versus the longer-term relationships of the past. All our organisations are collections of customers and their expectations have risen with the availability of technology, which gives them access to a lot more information. Those organisations that understand that have been able to look at customer centricity in a different way. We refer to that way as "outside in".

Q. Explain your philosophy of 'outside in' and how companies have benefited from this.
A. It means identifying what customer needs are and then working backwards to organise the company accordingly. Those organisations that are struggling - the Kodaks, the Nokias, RIM - they are still looking at the world inside out. Those who have been successful have seen the world outside in. They are aligning their business to deliver against customer needs, which can be created. Emirates Airlines creates that need by talking about the experience that they are going to give you once you arrive at the destination. Disney tells a very good story on the difference between wants and needs. They often say the customer does not know what they want. When you arrive at a Disney park, the first question a customer may ask is: "Where's the toilet?"

The second most asked question is "What time is the Three O'clock Parade?" Customers are articulating a need within that question and the answer is in the context of that question. A woman with two small kids is not asking what time the parade is - she already knows the time - what she really needs to know is a place where she can go and stand with the kids, where there is a water fountain, an ice-cream vendor. She wants to be away from the hot sun. She hasn't articulated that but the organization understands that need. Disney works on the basis of needs, not wants. Similarly, Nokia was very successful 10 years back and went on building devices that customers wanted. Other organizations thought differently. Apple made an observation on how many interactions one needs to pull up a telephone number. In an inside out phone, that will be seven-eight key presses. Everyone of those key presses is a moment of truth. And you have to build functionality to support that moment of truth. More functionality means a more complex system. Apple redesigned the interface and there are three moments of truth instead of seven-eight. It is less expensive to do that and offers a better customer experience. That is a principle Nokia has missed.

Q. Do Indian companies have an outside in perspective?
A. There are two kinds of organisations. One: those who are carrying on building efficiencies and effectiveness and use things like Lean (a methodology of eliminating waste in a company) and Six Sigma to remove waste. Eventually, you get to a point where you optimise processes and can't go any further. Other organisations say Lean and Six Sigma are fine but we want to challenge if a process actually deserves to exist. In India, there is a clear distinction between those organisations that are getting it and those that don't.

Q. How do you measure who is getting it right?
A. It is winning the triple crown, which is simultaneously growing revenues, reducing costs and enhancing service. The triple crown can be directly linked to customer success. Instead of starting with resources a company has, then going to market strategy and then finding customers, you start with customers and their needs and then align everything in the organisation to deliver that. In India, IndiGo (Airlines) is a prime example of looking at the world in a different way. Contrast IndiGo with Kingfisher - they talk about the customer being the king but the customer can't be king at the expense of your business. The reason customer is king is that we can grow shareholder value, can create profits and deliver service. Other examples of companies looking outside in are Tata Motors and the transformation of Jaguar.

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

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“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

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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 21st 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