helping a tech-driven business to make customers the engine of success
the challenge
Our client had a great online product and the expertise to translate new ideas into even better products. But technology, not customers, was driving the business. As they matured, they had lost their way. We found there was no strategy, no clear processes and confused accountabilities; teams were working in silos with few common goals.
The heavy focus on technical innovation had left little time for customer understanding and commerciality. The new owners brought in a new CEO, who asked us to help reconnect the business to its customers
the results
From loss making and low morale, the business is now profitable and growing. Sales were down double digits before the project. They rose double digits after the project. The RoI of the consulting work is 25:1 and customer satisfaction rose from an average of 45% to 73%.The results made such an impression that the project was highly commended for the 2018 Management Consultancy Association award for change management.
how we got there
We started with a scoping visit to understand the problems this global business faced, holding feedback sessions with the leadership team and all staff across the business.
Based on our findings, we mobilised the leadership team to create a clear commercial direction for the business. We worked with them to develop a customer-led operating model with new core processes, new organisation structure and accountabilities.
We also highlighted the need to bring the business along with them. We helped them to define and clearly articulate the strategy and develop a company scorecard and strategy map for each area. We made sure everything was aligned, designed a new planning process and review cycle, and oriented the business management process to the operating model.
Most importantly, we helped everyone collaborate to make the leap from great individual teams to one high performing team. This meant recognising everyone’s value in building success, finding the right balance between tech development, spending on access routes to customers, and delivering great online merchandising. Connecting everyone up was vital to developing and consistently delivering a great customer experience and exceeding targets.
The leadership team continue to meet regularly and provide clear strategic direction, and all of this is underpinned by a clear organisation structure, and defined accountabilities based on the new operating model.
