This is another one of those late-night rambles that began this Monday with the intent of being a blog on the Customer Expectation Management Method (CEMM), in anticipation of the NY area class scheduled for March 2-4.
The post took a dangerous turn on Tuesday, after I drove to the bank , which I will describe in detail. Let's hope as I finish it this evening I won't be driving off a cliff screaming in horror.
Monday - Customer Expectation Management Method (CEMM)
You see, one of the critical concepts in CEMM (and ITSM/ITIL for that matter) is the Successful Customer Outcome (SCO). In ITIL version 3, 'an outcome-based definition of services ensures that managers plan and execute all aspects of service management entirely from the perspective of what is valuable to the customer' (see Service Strategy, page 67).
IT naturally views the business as its customer. CEMM is oriented towards the business, and attempts to have the business take an 'outside-in' perspective of the customer (which in the following case study is me).
Successful customer outcome (SCO) - The resulting outcome, and the "process" experienced by the customer behind that outcome in toto, that the customer would define as making their lives simpler, easier and more successful. - International Process and Performance Institute
The CEMM approach uses a unique SCO mind-mapping technique to get to the true nature of SCO, from the customer's perspective (i.e., 'outside-in'). Of course if the business does not have this expectation set properly, then all the technology integration in the world will not make a difference.
Tuesday - Bad Trip to the Bankster
This story is true.
When I opened a business account with my bank some time ago, they ran a promotion for a free line of credit. While I didn't need it, you don't look a gift horse in the mouth so I accepted the offer which waived the $250 fee.
Of course a year passed and I received a statement which indicated they were planning on charging me a $250 annual fee to continue the credit line. When I called to let them know I really didn't need the credit line, they said I had to come down to the branch and sign some paperwork to cancel the agreement.
So I took a trip to the bank and here's what happened.
My banker (a nice guy) said he hated to see me cancel this credit line, since once I did it might be almost impossible to reinstate it since the bank was not issuing any new lines of credit. He said that if I opened an additional business account with $500 in new funds he could give me a $200 Reward (for opening the new checking account), get the branch manager to adjust the Credit Line fee by $50, and give me another $50 in Cash Bonuses (for completing an Account Review and purchasing a new product).
To make it easy for me he said I could get the $500 from the ATM, so I walked outside to the ATM (which is near the drive-up window) and withdrew $500. I gave him the money and he did about 20-30 minutes of paperwork.
When I told him I really didn't want a second checking account, he said that I could cancel it within the first 90 days and transfer the funds back to my original checking account.
So I now have my Line of Credit and a second business checking account (neither of which I really wanted). Of course I also had an extra $50 in cash, but I'll have to watch for the funds to appear in my (two) accounts and remind myself to cancel the second account sometime early next year.
Today - We need some serious Cultural Change
You don't have to know the intimate details of CEMM to understand there's plenty of non value-added work in the above example. True, I did get a line of credit and 50 bucks, but that's not really what I wanted. In fact, the thought of using that credit line just makes me even more uncomfortable.
To make matters worse, while surfing the web for this posting I came across the usual horror stories about banksters and bailouts. I originally saw the name 'Banksters' from an article by Michael Hudson . (from what I can tell, Time Magazine coined the term Banksters back in 1930...a combination of Banker and Gangster... )
Moving Mountains with CEMM
The Customer Expectation Management Method (CEMM) looks at 3 things that help us identify causes of work, in an effort to remove non value-added work:
- Moments of Truth
- Break Points
- Business Rules
Moments of Truth exist any time a customer touches a process or a process touches a customer. Break Points occur anywhere a hand-off of any kind occurs in a process and Business Rules are the explicit and implied rules of the process that form or influence the behavior of the process.
Outside-in thinking brings our customers into the 1st person perspective as our primary motivator. We may still keep the needs and concerns of the organization in the 1st person as well. This creates a powerful balance where we serve our needs within the bigger picture of serving our customers' needs.
The IPAPI CEM Method™ uses outside-in thinking to align processes to our customers by articulating what our customers would see as a successful customer outcome (SCO) from our processes. We also capture a good deal of context to help us get the SCO right with SCO Mind Mapping.
People want money. They do NOT want loans, and granting them a loan they cannot afford to pay is even worse. I remember thinking of Bankers as people you trusted to give you conservative financial advice... "a penny saved is a penny earned", remember?
My local banker is a good guy, and I am grateful for his/her help and support.
But my experience with the Bank is a reflection of a larger, cultural defect in our financial system. While I don't expect CEMM to remedy THAT, I can say with certainty that organizations looking to integrate technology into the business via ITSM/ITIL had better make sure the business really understands the customers expectations.
If that does not happen, you'll simply reach the edge of the cliff faster.
The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.
- Confucius