Enterprise 2.0 Requires Efficiency
Wednesday: April 23, 2008 6:08 AM
Recently, I joined a Board of Directors for a small organization with about 5 million in sales. We had our second meeting where we were reviewing the business model and one of the other people on the team, who owns several businesses, made an interesting comment.
When you add business (think value chain) to an inefficient system you will kill it but when you add business an efficient system then you will drive profits
The basic idea resembles the McDonalds model where the systems are as efficient as possible; designed to serve as many people as possible. Being a physical entity, the McDonalds restaurants do have built in check and balances that control the number of customers at a given time. Why did this statement hit home because we process orders, customers, and engagements in the deployments of Web 2.0. To review the basic business model:
1. Self-Service (Online Environment)
2. Coaching, Consulting, Help Desk, Customer Service
3. Integration Engagements
4. Total Solution Ownership
The idea of an efficient system doesn't really apply to self-service model except to say the better your online environment and automated business processes then the less amount of resources you have to dedicate to the task. For the Customer Service level, having a system in place to handle the volume of calls is imperative. On average, we spend about 23% of our time on customer service which is down from the last few years even though our business has quadrupled to 40,000 collaborative environments/touch points. The key is to have those McDonald type systems in place that can move a customer in and out as quickly as possible. And unlike McDonalds, we want to push as many people to the online self service environment as possible. One of the ideas we push is that if you get the same question twice then it needs to be added to the FAQ. Or, never answer a question directly; send the end user the link on the FAQ or process document. This will alter the user's behavior to go to the self-service line first.
The high end integration engagements are where we build solutions for customers utilizing the tools is another story. There is a limitation on the number you can do at a given time which seems to hover around 4-5 person for a well seasoned professional. At the end of the day, I have to agree that you need your systems or processes in place so you can be ready to handle the kinds of volume when Enterprise 2.0 catches on.
Recently, I joined a Board of Directors for a small organization with about 5 million in sales. We had our second meeting where we were reviewing the business model and one of the other people on the team, who owns several businesses, made an interesting comment.
When you add business (think value chain) to an inefficient system you will kill it but when you add business an efficient system then you will drive profits
The basic idea resembles the McDonalds model where the systems are as efficient as possible; designed to serve as many people as possible. Being a physical entity, the McDonalds restaurants do have built in check and balances that control the number of customers at a given time. Why did this statement hit home because we process orders, customers, and engagements in the deployments of Web 2.0. To review the basic business model:
1. Self-Service (Online Environment)
2. Coaching, Consulting, Help Desk, Customer Service
3. Integration Engagements
4. Total Solution Ownership
The idea of an efficient system doesn't really apply to self-service model except to say the better your online environment and automated business processes then the less amount of resources you have to dedicate to the task. For the Customer Service level, having a system in place to handle the volume of calls is imperative. On average, we spend about 23% of our time on customer service which is down from the last few years even though our business has quadrupled to 40,000 collaborative environments/touch points. The key is to have those McDonald type systems in place that can move a customer in and out as quickly as possible. And unlike McDonalds, we want to push as many people to the online self service environment as possible. One of the ideas we push is that if you get the same question twice then it needs to be added to the FAQ. Or, never answer a question directly; send the end user the link on the FAQ or process document. This will alter the user's behavior to go to the self-service line first.
The high end integration engagements are where we build solutions for customers utilizing the tools is another story. There is a limitation on the number you can do at a given time which seems to hover around 4-5 person for a well seasoned professional. At the end of the day, I have to agree that you need your systems or processes in place so you can be ready to handle the kinds of volume when Enterprise 2.0 catches on.
