Building Operational Excellence Capabilities for Future Expansion for One of the Largest Health Organisations in Ireland

What was at stake?

In 2016, the client embarked on a digital transformation programme to improve their digital presence and their online service delivery. Prior to that, their main Customer Services Centre acted as a traditional contact centre and had a limited digital presence. The team needed to quickly develop the skills and capabilities to plan and execute their enhanced range of services and their digital transformation strategy.

What was the result?

Over the 18-month program, the team upgraded their skillset, developed detailed operations performance management metrics and scenario planning skills and data. The team released over 30% of their available capacity by eliminating a variety of non-value-added work. Along with these improvements, a reconfigured supply chain and additional resources, the team more than doubled their effective capacity.

Background

Expertivity help deliver a wide variety of transformation programmes across the client’s organisation that include upskilling and improving the management’s ability to execute across their business. The following is an example of a typical programme:

In 2016, the client embarked on a digital transformation programme to improve their online presence and service delivery. Prior to that, their main Customer Services Centre acted as a traditional contact centre without any digital presence.

The challenges:

The team was small in number, consisting of experienced members who had worked in the company for 20-30 years. They had extensive subject matter knowledge, with modest training in operations management. As such, their existing skills, tools and operations data prevented them from developing a scaling plan to meet the client’s ambitious plans for growth in their digital presence and online service delivery.

What we did:

We coached, mentored and upskilled the staff and management team in the core disciplines of “Operational Excellence”. We supported the team through the selection and upgrading of their IT infrastructure to meet the team’s new digital presence, including the additional options of Online Chat, Twitter and Facebook interaction with the public. We helped develop their project management capabilities to support their relocation to a new premise and we mentored the team in developing a range of scenario plans to support the expanded future business requirements. Mentored the team, Planned and supported the public launch of the new information service. Provide ongoing coaching and mentoring to the team through the significantly increased volumes of activity as the business scaled and grew by 200%. Most importantly, the staff and management felt ownership of the journey. The quality of service has gone up, staff satisfaction has improved significantly, and the customer experience has dramatically improved also.

The outcomes:

The client successfully launched the new information service to inform the public about entitlements and how to access services in their area. The new service - accessed by phone, on Twitter, via email or through a LiveChat system on the main website - was developed on the back of research that close to a third of Irish people find it difficult to understand how local health services are organised.

"We developed the new information service in response to an identified public need for better information about where to go and what to do when it comes to accessing health services" – Member of the client’s Communications Office.

Over the 18-month program, the team upgraded their skillset, developed detailed operations performance management metrics and scenario planning skills and data. Before launching the new programme, the team released over 30% of their available capacity by eliminating a variety of non-value-added work. Along with these improvements, a reconfigured supply chain and additional resources, the team more than doubled their effective capacity while only marginally increasing their overall costs. Most importantly, the staff and management felt ownership of the journey. The quality of service has gone up, staff satisfaction has improved significantly, and the customer experience has dramatically improved also.

In 2019, new services are being added such as the QUIT smoking campaign and the team have become a key feeder mechanism by which poor customer experience across the client’s organisation are being channeled into. We continue to support the team on their ongoing growth and development challenges.