Challenge

This company launched a new sector of business as an extension of its established practice. We were brought in to conduct an operational overhaul to help this new sector succeed. Our analysis consisted of addressing the following issues:

• Staff moved into the new department intake call center with little training.
• There were not enough personnel to handle the post-intake follow-up.
• The company had an antiquated phone system, too few phone lines, and long hold times.
• Multiple legacy systems required manual input.
• Intake databases were crashing, it was ill-equipped to handle the volume of entries, and paper documents were being mailed, returned, and then filed in filing cabinets.

We prepared the organization for the operational overhaul and drove the change initiatives. The data collected were used to design a comprehensive, scalable solution prioritizing the needs and wants against their impact.

Approach

After performing a readiness assessment, we collected the necessary data and analyzed the requirements. We designed a robust solution that would eliminate the intake process bottlenecks. We then presented the findings and proposed a solution to the leadership team.

In this project, we conducted the discovery phase, completed the requirements gathering, and evaluated employee engagement. We also administered a readiness assessment and analyzed organizational effectiveness.

The leadership team and key team members played a vital role in the data collection, intake system design, reference guides, staffing matrix, escalation process, case handoff, follow-up notes, and documentation.

This department was experiencing an 80% return rate on hard-copy mailed case documents, and the returns had more than two critical information errors due to manual data input and inefficient software systems during the intake process. Hard copy forms were resent to clients more than 60% of the time. This section of the process cost the organization tens of thousands of dollars in shipping costs, supplies, and human capital. The company also had a high negative voice of the customer and was expecting a 15% improvement in their issues.

The Result

Our goal with the leadership team and key team members was to ensure everyone felt heard and included while managing expectations. We explained how the solution implemented would address critical issues that are in line with the budget and timeline. While compliance, privacy, and security are of high priority in any business, this solution design centralized privacy and security rules and regulations.

ROI was measured by comparing the output of its manual processes against the post-implementation of the automated processes. The overall results were a 95% rate of improvement after implementation. We were able to identify the right metrics to measure, manage, and set up a reporting cadence with the new system. Implementing updated stacked systems and automation played a major role in correcting human error, verifying accurate addresses, and generating both documents and labels.

Deliverables

• CRM/document repository
• Strategic planning
• Readiness assessment
• Operational assessment
• Business requirements document
• Process map for intake department
• Training & development manuals
• Change management communication plan
• Project management-software integration, data migration
• Customer recovery plan
• Customer experience multi-website redesign