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
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 posted before about how small changes in the system can deliver dramatic results. I especially like the ones where the answer isn’t where you’d expect it to be. One has to really study the system first: what is the purpose of the operation? what is the customer journey? what other factors are playing out?…
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
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…
ByMatthew Arnold
I’ve helped quite a number of Housing Benefit departments in the last 15 years, including helping Darlington move from 60th in the national league table to the top 10 – where they remain (based on customer end-to-end time). I also helped Milton Keynes reduce their end-to-end time from 60 days to 20. Likewise Middlesborough. And quite…
ByMatthew Arnold
For years (centuries?) there have been boundary issues, discussions and disputes between parishes, districts, boroughs and counties. Where are the lines to be drawn, and who takes responsibility? Each political area then has its own structure of management – and in most cases consists of: unpaid political leaders and members to give the strategic direction…
ByMatthew Arnold
Do you ever think that some of the management books and technical jargon are far more complicated than they really need to be? A recent podcast by the Freakonomics team reminded me of some simple service “production line” stuff that seems to get forgotten. Over the years, I have worked in many claims processing systems,…
ByMatthew Arnold
If you can’t describe what you’re doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing. A fantastic quote from the man who helped design practical work flow based on customer demand. He certainly helped Toyota in both: – designing cars based on what the customer actually wanted; and a – production process that was…
ByMatthew Arnold
595or is delighted to be sponsoring VODA Summer of a Lifetime in North Tyneside. Summer of a Lifetime is an exciting pilot project delivered by VODA in partnership with the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust and our national network of voluntary sector, Local Authority and Further Education Colleges, as part Government’s National Citizen Service…