Communications Enabling Business Process - Buzz or Reality?

Good morning, and on this cloudy, rainy May day, I first want to thank Gary Wirth for his series on Contact Center trends. I also want to thank a reader for his comments regarding the third installment of that series.

The next series of posts that I will be writing over the next few weeks will take the Contact Center trends to the design and implementation phase. We will address whether technology enhancements make sense for your firm, and for your customers. If they do, what benefits will they bring, what problems will they solve, and how will they better position your firm to be successful in a difficult economy. Lastly, we will dive into the effective deployment of technology, and the steps that must be taken to ensure that the goals that you have defined are actually achieved.

Today, though, I just want to veer off and talk about a subject that I have heard being stressed at every vendor conference, trade show, briefing, etc. The new "buzz" technology today deals with how can you take your existing business processes and communications enable them to make them more effective, and to enhance your customer's experience.

So, here are the past buzz words that come to mind . . .

CRM
ERP
BPM

What do they all have in common? . . . OK, so there is NO prize for the answer, so here goes. IN THEIR OWN WAY, THEY HAVE ALL FAILED . . . and they have proven less than readily available to all but the largest firms with money to spend on their implementation. So, let's take a look at how we can avoid the same pitfall with CEBP, or whatever other acronym is out there for communications enabling business processes.

There are many reasons for the general failure to date of CRM, ERP, and BPM, but here are some of the major ones:
1. Goals and objectives are not clearly defined for using the technology, or for measuring its success.
2. Buy in is not firmly established from the key stakeholders of the organization.
3. Proper integration is not done to other systems/applications in the environment.
4. AND THE MAIN REASON FOR FAILURE: Businesses don't step back, take a look at their existing processes, and fix them before applying technology.

How to Avoid The Same Mistakes with Communications Enablement
So, how can we avoid the same mistakes with the latest buzz? Here are some basic measures. Again, I will build on these over the course of the next few weeks.

1. Establish a task force of individuals in the firm who can identify the major pain points in internal operations, and in customer communication.
2. Document the pain points, and prioritize the ones that you want to address first. Prioritization could be "let's attack the simplest first", or it could be "which ones will return the greatest benefit if we fix them".
3. Take each of the processes that contribute to that pain point, and document the current workflow, step by step.
4. With the appropriate stakeholders, evaluate the efficiency of that process, and determine ways to improve the process.
5. Document the new workflow, with the "fixes", including:
a. SLAs for achieving each step in the process.
b. Escalations that are necessary if the steps are not achieved within the defined SLA.
c. Reports necessary to monitor success, and to enable workflow tracking.
6. Work with business partners to review the workflows, and to determine areas where communication can be embedded to enhance the flow.
7. Make sure the workflow, with the communication elements, is documented.
8. Ensure that the organizational structure within your firm will support the process, and modify as necessary before it is implemented. This includes potentially redefining priorities for those individuals involved in the process.
9. COMMUNICATE AND TRAIN.
10. Enable a mechanism to tweak the process based on feedback, reports, or changing business needs.

Obviously, these steps are summarized, and there is much more behind them. It is not a small undertaking, and it will take some time. But think about it . . . it is kind of like a diet . . .

What is she talking about? Well, you didn't put all that weight on overnight, and it isn't going to all come off overnight either. It takes effort and time and commitment. BUT, if you never start to address it, you'll never reach your goal. IT IS THE SAME CONCEPT!

SO WHAT IS THE BOTTOM LINE? The promise of technology is amazing . . . the percentage of times that firms actually realize the promise is minimal. The why is that it doesn't happen magically.