Reducing Reporting Redundancies, Targeting and Consolidation Save 250 Hours per Month
Broadband operators rely on the billing systems to provide them with accurate and timely reports. These reports are crucial to day-to-day operations, and are increasingly important for both strategic planning and the execution of business goals.
The Client:
A region in one of America’s biggest Multi System Operators responsible for 250,000 customers.
The Business Issue:
The client was using time intensive manual processes to develop reports required to support ongoing business. Various queries were used to retrieve data from the billing systems, often times delivering inconsistent results across differing reports. The standard practice was to run and merge multiple reports from these queries, then copy the results from these queries and other sources into spreadsheets for further manipulation, all to arrive at questionable data. Coordination of reports between departments and groups was non-existent and there were no standardized Methods and Procedures (M&Ps) for developing these reports. The reporting group was stretched beyond capacity resulting in a multi-week backlog for the generation of new reports. The client retained Cliintel to help streamline and document the reporting process.
By identifying redundancies and targeting inefficient processes Cliintel achieved a reduction in internal resource workload by 250 hours/month, improved report accuracy, increased customer satisfaction and a return on the investment in less than 4 months.
The Approach:
Cliintel takes a holistic approach to every business issue presented for resolution. Our project professionals evaluate the situation, design a solution that fits, gain adoption and optimize performance. Cliintel’s focus was on increasing productivity and reducing costs by examining and evaluating reports for each department – independently and thoroughly. Using this holistic approach, Cliintel interviewed and met with end users in 8 departments to assess their reporting needs and to identify redundancy. Cliintel performed a gap analysis and inventoried and performed an audit of many of the crucial reports needed for day to day business operations. Labor intensive and inefficient manual processes were targeted and re-engineered. Consolidation opportunities were identified and redesigned.
The Solution:
Cliintel designed and developed new queries extracting only the relevant data necessary for each report. Database clean-up tools were created to ensure the accuracy of the data and work processes were streamlined to consolidate redundant reports.
Additionally Cliintel:
Identified and re-designed current reports and procedures
Implemented a strategic plan that included process re-engineering and system enhancements
Implemented a KPI plan and provided ongoing KPI analysis framework
Provided recommendations for further enhancements
Provided a base for future reporting development
The Results:
By identifying redundancies and targeting inefficient processes Cliintel achieved a reduction in internal resource workload by 250 hours/month, improved report accuracy, increased customer satisfaction and a return on the investment in less than 4 months.
We’re proud to help our clients solve tough problems and achieve stunning results. To see what kind of results Cliintel can deliver for you, please visit www.cliintel.com or e-mail askcliintel@cliintel.com.
For the burgeoning satellite radio industry, competition drove the market. Improving service delivery meant the difference between continued growth or a quick decline. To address this, the client, one of the world’s most aggressive providers of satellite radio, chose Cliintel to align its billing and operational support systems. The success of this project enabled the satellite radio provider to achieve their aggressive implementation objectives and advance their competitive position.
The Client:
The client, one of the largest satellite radio service providers offering a digital radio service that transmits 100 streams of digital-quality music and entertainment from its broadcast studios.
Through the utilization of Cliintel’s evaluation framework, the client was able to select the new billing system, configure, implement, convert the old data and scale the new system to 4x its original size in less than 7 months.
The Business Issue:
For this industry, the Subscriber Management System (SMS) holds the key to service delivery, facilitating gains in market share and ultimately shareholder returns. The client knew that their current SMS had functional shortcomings that were directly impacting its ability to collect revenue as well as provide the desired level of customer service. The system needed evaluation, and the client was prepared to implement a replacement if necessary. The client needed an aggressive assessment and plan that would work within operational and financial constraints.
The focus of the project was to evaluate the current billing system, define desired functionality and select a replacement subscriber management system if necessary.
The SMS needed to:
Capture and make available timely, accurate, customer and partner data
Enable testing and timely implementation of new services, marketing programs, and strategies to leverage continued growth
Contribute to the growth and retention of customers, as well as partners, with cost-effective, reliable technologies.
A system strategy would also be developed to enable the client to grow the business aggressively, accommodate new business models, and respond to changing business conditions, without undue expense or over-reliance on manual processes and procedures.
Through the utilization of Cliintel’s evaluation framework, the client was able to select the new billing system, configure, implement, convert the old data and scale the new system to 4x its original size in less than 7 months.
The Solution:
Cliintel broke down the work structure into smaller, more manageable processes, which ensured the capture of all business-critical requirements. The methodology allowed for the collection, documentation and prioritization of system requirements without disrupting the ongoing operations of the client, or placing an undue burden on the team members who represented the functional areas. From this foundation, a requirements matrix was developed that enabled the client’s executive steering committee to highlight current critical business needs as well as identify areas requiring enhanced scalability.
Cliintel performed an SMS Gap Analysis on the current system, focusing on the best-practice constructs of features and functionality, adaptability, vendor risk, architecture and scalability, deployability and economics. As a result of this analysis the steering committee concluded that their current SMS provider lacked the stability and scalability the client would require. Cliintel was further engaged to help find a more suitable replacement solution.
This process involved an initial request for information (RFI) from 45 SMS service providers. Cliintel tailored the information requests to the clients business and system requirements and the same six constructs that were used to evaluate the legacy system. Analysis of the responses to the RFI led to the identification of the top five SMS providers, which were sent requests for proposals (RFPs).
Cliintel reviewed the RFPs and created executive “wrappers” for the steering committee, highlighting their evaluations. Invitations for product demonstrations were sent to the best candidates from this group. Cliintel created scenarios to test the extent of product functionality provided by the vendors. Cliintel also created scorecards to assist the client in ranking vendor performance during the demos.
Based upon the demonstrations, requested documentation, and interviews with the potential provider’s customers, Cliintel worked with the client in the selection of their new SMS provider. In addition, Cliintel created a high-level implementation plan and cost-estimates for the implementation, integration and management of the recommended solution.
The Project Results
Cliintel’s SMS evaluation allowed the client to select a system more suitable for their expanding business needs while keeping their focus on their core business. By prioritizing the requirements, the gap analysis enabled functional departments to more fully understand their business and establish a common goal. Through the utilization of Cliintel’s evaluation framework, the client was able to select the new billing system, configure, implement, convert the old data and scale the new system to 4x its original size in less than 7 months.
We’re proud to help our clients solve tough problems and achieve stunning results. To see what kind of results Cliintel can deliver for you, please visit www.cliintel.com or e-mail askcliintel@cliintel.com.
Eric Dishman shares his personal story of how his 25 year struggle with kidney cancer was finally resolved through Big Data and personalized medicine.
Dishman’s doctors were able to treat him successfully after sequencing his complete genome. For personalized medicine, only 50,000 people on earth have had their entire genome sequenced.
“The National Human Genome Research Institute, (NHGRI) has tracked the costs associated with DNA sequencing performed at the sequencing centers funded by the Institute. This information has served as an important benchmark for assessing improvements in DNA sequencing technologies and for establishing the DNA sequencing capacity of the NHGRI Genome Sequencing Program (GSP). Here, NHGRI provides an analysis of these data, which gives one view of the remarkable improvements in DNA sequencing technologies and data-production pipelines in recent years.”
The Cure for Healthcare Is Personalization
Being able to crunch massive amounts of data using real-time, in-memory computing solutions means that hospitals all over the world can start accessing and analyzing numerous sources of information, from genomes, to electronic medical records (EMR), to clinical trials – bringing them together to create personalized treatments for patients.
Where do we start the change efforts to fix the processes? First, we have to identify the problem with some analysis––careful, considerate, objective, dispassionate analysis. The only way to accomplish this is to be self-reflective; avoid reflexively and aggressively going after your internal supplier on the front end or your internal customer on the back end. Most everyone in any company is accustomed to working within their silo or department and looking for efficiencies within their area. You will rarely find that managers and operational people are looking for efficiencies that relate to their internal supplier or internal customer—the departments on either side of their silo. They are not typically attuned to how the particular processes within their silo or department impact the end result. In other words, mangers within a silo are simply looking to drive out costs or to make things move faster within their own particular purview.
Only after we examine intention to retention within our own silo will we have any chance to understand how we might change the activities within a specific silo and determine appropriate suggestions for our internal supplier or customer. This is the point at which an outside consultant may be useful to you, someone not deterred by politics and agenda, and who can democratically and sympathetically look at the SIPOC within each silo and communicate ideas in a nonthreatening way. The problem in proceeding without outside assistance is that as soon as you confront somebody in another silo about what they are doing, they are going to get defensive. It is just a natural human reaction. I’m not saying it is impossible to do without an outside consultant, but it does require a little more creativity and a willingness to slow down, to spend time building a relationship and a decent level of trust. Otherwise, your efforts will be counterproductive, and you just put the other silo on the defensive.
A consultant is not the magic pill; any time a consultant comes in, some people will automatically get defensive. Typically, when there’s a consultant hired, it is interpreted to mean that someone higher up the in the company believes there is a need for change, and obviously they are serious about it because they have brought people in from outside. That is a bit threatening, but if you hire the right consultant, it doesn’t need to be.
The next step is to engage in a purposeful conversation with clearly outlined goals for the betterment of everyone, meaning the company in general, which will also impact the company’s external customers. Next, conduct an analysis of all stakeholders in the target silo. This is where a consultant can come in and assess, in a nonjudgmental way, the stakeholder group and see who is going to be receptive, who is going to be protective or defensive, and who is going to be an obstructionist.
It has often been observed that there are three levels of personality types: those that watch things happen, those that make things happen, and those who wonder what’s happening. This last group doesn’t seek to understand what’s going on but will do their best to shut everything down because they don’t like change. They don’t spend the time to evaluate whether it is good, bad, or indifferent. The attitude is, “That’s how we’ve always done it.” Everybody will deny they ever had that thought, but they’re kidding themselves. It is just basic human nature—“new and different” is scary.
Pick your partners and your battles: Who is going to be easiest to work with? It is not usually who you think. If you are doing this internally, you might assume, “I’ve known Lynne over in my supplier silo for a long time. We’ve gone to conferences, and we have a good relationship.” That might be a good place to start, but do not assume this new interaction will be more fruitful because of that relationship. The change effort that we’re talking about here may require less of a social awareness of one another and more a business respect level, along with a congruence around the idea of change for the betterment of the two silos and, ultimately, the external customer. If you can find the later, professional alignment, as well as personal alignment, you can make magic, we have all been on or seen what a great team can accomplish—regardless of talent.
How Your Sensor Data and The Internet of Things Can Save You A Lot Of Money
The Internet of Things, Industrial Internet, Internet of Everything, no matter how you name it, the upcoming connected world will change everything and create massive amounts of sensor data.
For manufacturers, the Internet of Things (IoT) will mean using sensor data to optimize manufacturing processes and improving products.
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