ByMatthew Arnold
Whether it be electricity billing, payroll services, or fixing potholes, ensuring the work starts correctly with the right information is often the first issue I discover as I undertake my diagnosis. Why aren’t all the electricity bills going out? Because not all the information about the customer has come from sales, and/or not all the…
ByMatthew Arnold
In my last post, I talked about the potential waste in systems and processes in the service industry, call centre, and processing centres. So I’d thought I’d add another simple example. I was helping an HR Director with one of her Payroll Managers and teams. The team just seemed so busy – twice as busy…
ByMatthew Arnold
It’s easy to walk into a large contact centre or processing office and see lots of people, head-sets on or working from screens – all looking busy – but are they really being effective…? But take a closer look, and it doesn’t always look so rosy. Without purpose, you can very quickly find yourself, and…
ByMatthew Arnold
I’ve just completed a great assignment with an electric company – a rapid change to their collections processes that now focusses on outcomes rather than activity. In little more the two months, the team changed their priorities to tackling the larger/hardest debts first, dealing with them to conclusion, resolving upstream issues, and allocating more resource…
ByMatthew Arnold
I love my job. That might already be clear from articles that I write. There’s good reason – every day is like solving a Rubik’s cube. However difficult a situation is, I know there’s an answer. The solution is right there in front of you – you just need a method to work it out….
ByMatthew Arnold
In my last article I wrote about the difference between strategic and tactical thinking with respect to large processing / contact centres, and, in my opinion, explained why I thought this was just wrong-headed. When a large part of the organisation is there to ensure customers are happy, it’s fundamental to ensure queries are cleared as…
ByMatthew Arnold
Much of my work is undertaken in the service industry, and often in large processing centres where the work is done, customers phone in, problems are resolved, and often payment is chased. In recent times, these have included utility companies, banks and councils. I’ve had a few really interesting discussions over the last few months…
ByMatthew Arnold
As many of you may know, I’ve worked in quite a few Local Authority Housing Benefit departments – these teams provide benefits to vulnerable adults to assist with rent and council tax payments if they are on low incomes. Not only is there usually ample scope for improvement, it also means those that need the…
ByMatthew Arnold
I read a fascinating book recently all about Ross Brawn’s achievement in F1, how he sees the whole team as a system, and the similarities with running any large organisation. Ross Brawn has played a major part in many leading F1 teams, including the winning streaks at Ferrari, Brawn GP and Mercedes. Having semi-retired a…
ByMatthew Arnold
My last two posts have been about queues – I promise, this will be last one about queues for a while….! This one goes back a few years, but I see it time and again, in offices, contact centres, post offices, coffee shops… I was helping a council with their Housing Benefits claims, and spending…