white papers

effective steps to making your organization customer centric

Customers are often won or lost based on how they are treated. Customer facing resources have the best opportunity to help customers see if the business has their best interests at heart OR that the organization doesn’t care about them. Resources that interact with customers most frequently and are potentially a business owner’s biggest marketing asset. So how can an organization make the most of these important resources?

Metaspire worked with a financial institution to align its culture using performance improvement methods for empowering their front line resources. To do this, it was important to provide a safe environment and a strong vision of customer centricity.

Download our white paper and learn more about how you can improve performance. We’ve supported some of the top Fortune 100 companies by improving customer and staff interactions. Often times we are engaged to provide objective opinions and analytics through focus groups, business process modeling and statistical performance analysis. It might just have a positive effect on your business.

business process management and six sigma: why neither can stand alone

Two of the most predominant methodologies for business process optimization are Business Process Management and Lean Six Sigma. Both are deployed to optimize processes using different or combined metrics like cycle time reduction, cost minimization, deploy automation, reduce defects, inspection, or sustain process under statistical control, to mention a few. This paper will define what these two methodologies are, what they lack in their approach, and most importantly how by combining them a process improvement resource (internal or external) multiply their power and gain from their synergies.

Download our white paper And learn more about the two most predominant methodologies for business process optimisation, Business Process Management and Lean Six Sigma. It might just have a positive effect on your business.

top 5 call center tips

Most businesses measure something; the trick is to make sure that what you are measuring is what the customer cares about. Furthermore, how call centers measure representative performance needs to directly correlate with what the customer cares about and translate into positive performance results.

Improve your employee and customer satisfaction as well as performance by enhancing the overall customer and employee experience; from first time call resolution to empowering the employee to make the right decisions and/or taking the appropriate actions. We can help you reach these milestones by providing recommendations to take your call center to a new level of high performing, quality focused, empowered customer service representatives. Our approach to creating satisfied customers and employees removes the frustration from all involved in the call center experience from the customer to management.

Download our white paper and learn the do’s and don’ts about customers and call center representatives. Also some tips to increase performance improvement in your call center.

top things you should know about purchasing a process management software

If I am a COO, VP of Ops or Director of Supply Chain/Quality how do I know my organization is ready for a robust process management software/ProVision?

Most organizations evaluate their process maturity and make a determination on where they are. One popular tool is the Gartner Group’s maturity model. Operational executives who need to make decisions on business processes are keen on knowing the organization’s maturity level and what they need to do to improve. It is extremely important to evaluate the organization’s maturity from a people, tools and infrastructure perspective. This evaluation will support decisions on the readiness of the organization to implement a robust process management software, where expertise reside, what methods and procedures exist, who are the stakeholders and what training is required. Some key areas for business process modeling evaluation:

Download our white paper and find the top things you should know about purchasing a process management software.

business process engineering & six sigma lean tools

Six Sigma Improve, Six Sigma Design and Lean are all inspired by Deming’s Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle. It is important to note that both Six Sigma and Lean focus on improving quality results. In both methodologies, process practitioners never drive toward a specific solution and never have a financial goal to reach.

Theoretically, if we saved one penny and improved quality, we would have captured the intention of our work. The fact is that when we focus on quality from the customer’s perspective and internal bottlenecks (voice of the employee) we are essentially reducing non-value added activities which results in costs savings. A wise organization will take those savings and apply them appropriately.

Six Sigma Improve and Six Sigma Design both comprise five phases each, they universally bear the acronyms DMAIC and DMADV respectfully.[12] At Metaspire we like to ensure that we are always learning so we have added an “L” at the end of each of these phases.

Download our white paper on our capability for working on Six Sigma Lean Projects leveraging Metastorm ProVision software.

how to beat unnecessary layoffs

Being a Six Sigma professional, one could compare me to a carpenter with a hammer – yes, everything looks like a nail!

Besides the lack of organizational efficiency and effectiveness and external forces which depend on unsustainable resources, such as oil, where else have we been short-sighted?

The task is overwhelming for a systems thinker like me, so I decided to ask a few of my trusted colleagues, “Why do companies have unnecessary layoffs?”

Download our white paper on you can Beat Unnecessary Layoffs.

business process engineering & organizational readiness process re-design and integration

A National Health Care Provider recognized that there were opportunities to create efficiencies and build a stronger integration between the Business Process Engineering (BPE) and Organizational Readiness / Design (OR) processes. As a subset, they wanted each organization to recognize that they were customers of one another and by so doing, ensure that they understood each other’s needs as customers. They wanted to bring the two organizations to the next level of a high performance team with a more efficient and effective working relationship.

Download our white paper and learn how to bring your organizations to the next level of a high performance team with a more efficient and effective working relationship.

building & sustaining customer loyalty

These days when I look around my house I see more things made in other countries than ever before. Being a true lover of diversity and an adventurer at heart,balanced with loyalty to my country, I want to see the United States of America have the highest quality inventions, services and products on the market. It often surprises me, when I see such a lack of customer focus in the states. After all, aren’t all the businesses in America founded on a government for the people by the people?

As a Six Sigma professional, there are many paths, (Six Sigma Lean, Six Sigma Improve, and Six Sigma Design) that can assist in defining the voice of the customer. Most companies do not want to spend the time executing all of the Six Sigma Design tools. As this is a very data intensive endeavor, what we need to realize is that Six Sigma is scalable to your business needs.

Download our white paper and learn how to build & sustain customer loyalty.

kano model for software selection and development in business process management (bpm)

When software applications are purchased or developed to support business activities, there is an expectation that the implementation of these new tools will increase productivity and reduce unnecessary costs. However, these benefits will not be realized unless there is acceptance and buy-in on the part of those who are expected to use the software. Applying the Kano Model to the software purchase decision process and/or the software development process can help prepare the culture to understand the value, the purpose and their part to play in the change the software will bring. Provided there is a clear understanding of the workflows the new software supports, the Kano Model can assist the purchasing decision and/or provide software developers with the understanding they need to produce a user friendly tool that fits within the existing business process.

Download our white paper to learn more about the Kano model for software selection.

keys to efficient and effective healthcare delivery

Multiple factors worldwide cause the healthcare industry to be diverse and complicated. In the United States, the healthcare system is troubled by skyrocketing costs. In turn, the lack of affordability threatens the health, wellness and productivity for far too many. There are three keys to delivering an efficient and effective healthcare delivery process.
Today, regulations, insurance restrictions and the interaction between clinician and patient drive treatment direction. The importance of “health care” demands little margin for error. Achieving complete and accurate medical outcomes requires an efficient and effective healthcare delivery process.

Download our white paper and get the keys to efficient and effective healthcare delivery.

quality as a competitive strategy

To paraphrase a famous quote: “everybody talks about quality, but no one does anything about it.” Although certainly an overstatement, I imagine many of us face the “quality conundrum”—you want to ensure quality in your marketing campaigns, have virtually no time to devote to it, and know that someday it will catch up with you.

Making quality management a priority is no small task for a busy agenda. However, my experience is that organizations that embrace quality management throughout their marketing campaigns reap true—and measurable—benefits. For instance, a large client recently analyzed their marketing programs and discovered that they experienced over 200 errors within one year, impacting over 30 million customers. The recovery costs were enormous, not to mention the ill will imparted upon their clientele.

Download our white paper to learn more about quality as a competitive strategy.

the abcs employee & customer goal setting

In our current environment, we need to consider, like never before, how to maximize the resources we have at hand. As we look at the goal setting process we may want to capitalize on our strengths and find new ways to implement what we are learning. In this article, we are going to share with you what we teach as organizational developers. Specifically, what we see as key employee and customer satisfaction indicators.

During the goal setting process, forward thinking leaders meet to discuss their goals with the purpose of explaining how these goals support the vision and mission of their business. If all goes well, interdepartmental handoffs are understood and any conflicting goals are resolved. As a result, department goals become clearer, and cross functional goals and key performance indicators are established.

Download our white paper and learn the abc’s employee & customer goal setting.

things you must know before purchasing software

Most software companies claim to increase productivity and avoid costs. Typically software purchasers look not only to meet any legal requirements, they also look to automate manual functions. They likely expect that their new software purchase will result in heightened productivity and an increase in staff satisfaction. Wiser still, is the purchaser who seeks customer (patient) satisfaction and clear reporting in order to increase effective decision making. While none of these are incorrect per say, there may be a more optimal solution.

As a Six Sigma black belt, I have been trained to look for the root cause of a problem and develop a statistically viable solution. In some cases, the root of the problem is related to a lack of awareness, or a lack of effective performance measures. In other cases it is necessary to purchase software or a combination of the aforementioned.

Download our white paper and learn things you must know before purchasing software.

things you must know before hiring a consultant

Your Wish is my Command!

Ask your average consultant what time it is, and they’ll ask if you have a watch; then they’ll charge you a fee to look at your watch and tell you the time. Or maybe they will explain the features of their own watch in an effort to get you to purchase it – regardless of whether or not you need a watch.

Great consultants, on the other hand, will tell you the time. In addition, they will assist you with understanding how you can always know the time.

At its best, the business of consulting helps you to understand how you can make better use of what you already have. At its worst, you pay to have someone else tell you what you already know needs to get done. Or worse yet, give you more work. So, how do you make the best choice when it comes to hiring the right consultant? Furthermore, how do you ensure that your agenda is being honored and implemented?

Download our white paper and learn the things you must know before hiring a consultant.

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