Reflection – 360 View

Challenge

I was working in Supply Chain Solutions company and was a part of Analytics Team. Our Client was a  global giant in computer and related appliances. We were working on the Cost Reduction project.  Our project scope was to analyse the logs between customer and tech support to find out  possibilities to reduce calls which will result in cost reduction as it was eating big chunk of money for  our client. No were working on multiple models such as top issues, dispatches etc and suggesting  improvements in this process to reduce the issues. But so far, the client was not happy with results  and was growing impatient. As this was our main client and having multiple projects, we couldn’t  risk losing this. So, we decided to go with new approach and bring some design thinking and  innovation.

Selection

So, we went through discussion with different stakeholders and came out with the 360-degree  approach or End to End approach. We decided to study end top end customer journey and use input  from different other teams which were working with same client.

Application

First, we wanted to decide which aspects we wanted to focus on which could lead us to develop a  solid process. We had meeting with different stakeholders to understand the working of  organization on broader level. From this meeting we came to conclusion that we need to focus on  Technical as well as Operation front. So from technical point we decide to select high density logs  and to analyse each log from start to end i.e whole customer journey from customer first call till the  issue resolved. By this approach we get to know the exact reasons of dragging calls for time and  delaying resolutions. Surprisingly we get to know the faults in their Operational policies also with  technical.

To get solution on this we arranged workshop with their technical teams and put Infront output  which includes the best possible steps to resolve issue fast and effectively. We analysed many  records and collectively came to these steps. Technical teams also were ready to accept the  approach. Also we gave feedback to operation teams to make positive changes and some inventive  steps so that customer will also be happy. Our Insights based on this new approach were accepted  by client and were looking optimistic.

Insight & Approach

By applying this new approach, we identified some process gaps in their operations such as not  following set rules, different solutions for same issues, not thinking from customer point of view etc.  After applying our suggestions, the number of calls were drastically reduced as issues were resolving  soon as well operational revamp which also reduced customer calls as it was easy for customer to  get required information without calling. We suggested some changes in website also so that  customer can do some self-troubleshooting for simple issues instead of calling and easy way to order  parts.

Incorporating these changes resulted very profitable for the client and was very happy and our team  received appreciation for the same as it was very critical project.  Going forward our approach will  be not looking from one point of view but to analyse from 360 view to get the complete picture we  might miss by general comprehension.

