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Special Delivery

Roll out as many tools as you'd like, but without understanding your Information delivery life cycle, they'll add only limited value

By Price Dempler & Christopher Schnieper

Five Easy Pieces

1. View your ID process as a life cycle that doesn’t end with a report 2. Establish a successful presence in the organization 3. Probe effectively 4. Establish the framework for a successful operation 5. Complete the integration of the client into the decision-support team.

User-friendly reporting and analysis tools, Internet and intranet applications, server farms full of rich databases, and increasingly accessible mainframes are all making corporate data more valuable than ever. In fact, corporate information stores are often a company’s largest asset. But even with all the rich tools available, the process of delivering useful information still offers significant opportunities for adding value.

You can add this value to your information delivery (ID) process through technical evolution. We often see manual, time-intensive, disparate processes improved by simply bringing in the latest tools. This value manifests itself in any number of ways, from reduction in turnaround time and rekeying errors to gains in productivity as a result of richer, more appropriate information and simpler tools for gathering that information. These types of gains are often immediately apparent and even initially gratifying, and can occur in even the most enlightened organizations.

However, while the value added through implementing these tools is obvious, it is not sustainable unless you carefully analyze the processes that support your ongoing information delivery relationship with your internal business clients. Let’s explore how to make that initial “splash” just the beginning of a successful, sustainable relationship.

The ID process appears rather obvious from the client’s point of view: Request a report, wait for the results, review the information, and then either toss it, take action, or repeat the process until the report meets the client’s needs. At a slightly more detailed level, the process looks something like a flow chart. (See Figure 1) Note that we are discussing the process of ID here, not a single event. Appreciating that ID is an ongoing, iterative process and not a one-time task may make value opportunities easier to identify.

FIGURE 1 The ID life cycle.

In this article, we’ll show you how to review every step in the ID process in the context of your organization’s work flows to identify areas of opportunity. The information here will hardly be exhaustive; rather, we’ll discuss five easy-to-remember steps that will help your decision-support organization start adding value to the processes that support your clients.

First, we’ll take a look at each point in the process. At each step, we’ll suggest the option that in our experience will add the most business value. We’ll also suggest some additional questions to ask yourself that will help you continually improve your processes.

Do Clients Know To Come to You?

Treating your unit like its own business can be a very effective approach and one that your clients will appreciate. However, to do so, you need to start by gaining a clear understanding of your company’s goals and objectives. Work as a team to develop mission and strategic objectives that align with organization’s goals; the strategic objectives should be those that directly support the pursuit of your mission. To “brand” your group’s new identity, you should consider developing a meaningful team name and logo.

After you’ve obtained buy-in from the technical management team — an easily implemented effort that can be very helpful — you’ll need to identify and document the required supporting work. Start with designing your processes to support your strategic objectives and then prioritize tasks to support them. This exercise becomes necessarily detailed, but starting with the broad vision and working toward the detailed tasks will ensure that your work focuses on your mission. When this step is complete, publicize this information, especially your accomplishments (for example, “decision-support and call-center management were able to identify seasonal trends, thereby decreasing call wait-time by 37 percent”) through whatever corporate means possible, such as intranet bulletins, email, brochures, newsletters, presentations to new hires, and lunch seminars.

By going through this exercise, you’ll obtain a lot of the information about your decision-support organization and how clients perceive it. Here are just a few of the questions that may come to mind:

• Are you the first resource that comes to mind? Strive to become a “one-stop shop” for information solutions. Your group may not be the only decision- support resource in the organization, but an ability to expertly handle a variety of questions will reinforce its value proposition.

• Do you know your organization well enough to offer alternative solutions? More specifically, if your team cannot provide the proper solution, can someone else in the organization? Knowing exactly who can help your client adds value to your relationship.

• Will clients feel sufficiently comfortable to come to you with requests? Unfortunately, some businesspeople may not have any experience (or perhaps had a less than positive experience) with your group in the past. For a successful relationship to begin, you should at least honestly acknowledge any past experiences and then work hard to ensure that your response to the current request meets or exceeds your client’s expectations.

Do We Interact With Clients Effectively?

Skillfully probing clients to learn their needs is as simple as asking specific questions and then listening carefully to the responses. The entire process of effective interaction between providers and clients is the subject of many seminars and courses but the goal is the same: that both parties leave the conversation with high confidence that needs are defined, expectations are set, and the solution will meet or exceed the client’s needs.

As we explained previously, the framework for success here starts with asking the right questions. Here are a few more to get the ball rolling:

• What will you be able to do when you receive the information?

• Do you foresee the need to have this information on an ongoing basis? How often?

• Will you be further manipulating the information?

• Will you be rekeying data?

• Are you aware of the limitations inherent in this data?

• How soon do you need to use the information?

• What will the impact be if we can’t deliver on that date?

Can We Fulfill Requests?

All the issues we’ve discussed so far beg the question: Do you have a team in place that guarantees an efficient, effective process for fulfilling the request?

Establishing an internal framework that will support a successful process may sound obvious as well as imposing, but a few very simple ideas can help a lot. First, be available and approachable; establish centralized points of contact within your team to ensure that no request is lost. Even simple and readily available technology can open new channels of communication. For example, you can establish and publicize a “hotline” that not only rings on every team desk but also has voicemail, or add a central email address for those questions that are not specific to one team member.

Next, standardize where possible. A consistent look and feel to your output not only makes it easier to digest information but also breeds familiarity with your team. Standardize your request process even if your team provides diverse services.

Last, don’t overlook yourselves in this process. Meet as a team regularly and keep the meetings highly focused and only as lengthy as strictly necessary. Log successes and failures. Establish a time (on a monthly basis, for example) when you resolve various issues with your clients. Find out what was successful and why. Replicate all the activities that added value and throw out everything that stood in your way of adding that value.

QUESTIONS THAT NEED ANSWERS
Answering these self-probing questions will go a long way toward adding value to your decision-support life cycle.
Question	Ask Because…
What type of solution can we provide that will help users make the best decision? By what method should we deliver it?	Add value by describing alternatives •  You want to be sure that the client is aware of all of the possible methods of delivery (paper, electronic, verbal) because they may not even be aware that they have alternatives. •  Will you need paper output delivered, or can we email or voicemail the information?
Have you seen this information elsewhere within the organization?	Why reinvent the wheel? •  If they have seen the report elsewhere, get more details from the client. What report? Who showed it to you? How was that information similar to your current request? Is there a specific reason that you cannot go to that source for your information? (Is the information incomplete or unusable in its current form?) •  This process develops a case for knowledge capital and the organization's ability to leverage existing assets in the company.
Do you need rolled up information or do you need to see the detail? Or do you need both?	The answer may surprise you. •  The client often doesn't immediately realize that both types of information will be useful as the process progresses. •  This question is a good one to help further investigate how calculations should be done—even fairly basic calculations (like cash flow) can have many, many definitions.

Are We “Staying With” Our Output?

When the output has left your department, it can be difficult to know what happened next. Did it get there? Is it right? Is it valuable? Is it another one of those reports that you send out that gets immediately “round-filed?” Here’s how to keep track of your hard work: Complete the feedback loop now. Why wonder about the disposition of your output when it is easy find out?

A simple and highly effective way to do so is through a very brief, highly focused, automated survey that asks the client five to 10 questions that will help you determine how they perceive the level of service you provided. Getting and keeping that information can be an excellent way to measure your success in the organization. Figure 2 contains questions in an automatically generated email that is initiated by the decision-support team, which is completed in less than 60 seconds by the client and is automatically returned.

FIGURE 2 Sample e-survey.

While some people may find it difficult to get excited by creating reports or running downloads, few things are more exciting in professional life than a satisfied client. Learn to be a cheerleader for your department. Build enthusiasm in your department as a valued member of the organization’s team. Be quick to point out success and lessons learned from mistakes. For example, give a bonus to someone who made a mistake but was able to correct the situation and add value at the same time.

Most important, prove that you care. Decision support needs to evolve from a necessary evil to a partnering activity. Challenge all your staff to interface with your internal clients as business partners. Do so by understanding their business, sharing insight, and seeking value, even if your clients do not request such dedication. Nothing breeds more solid relationships than a partner who cares.

What is the Client Doing With Reports?

The last (but perhaps most important) step is to determine what clients are doing with the information you’re giving them: Are they using it? Did it help them accomplish a goal? How did the output enable them to make a decision?

Don’t wait for the next request to find out how the previous request ultimately affected the organization. Informal conversations well after the output is used can help you determine if the client believes your efforts added value overall. It also has the added benefits of fostering additional client contact and enhancing your business knowledge.

One idea for involving your client is to offer a bounty for unused reports. Make it acceptable, or even desirable, for someone to say, “Hey, I don’t need this any more!” This admission rarely occurs of its own volition, so push the process along by offering a $10 reward for information leading to the cancellation of unused production reports. If you consider the rather expensive factors that go into even automated reporting (CPU cycles, queue man- agement, system/network load, paper, delivery labor, disposal costs), the money invested in eliminating these reports is very well spent.

Implications for Managers

All this advice may seem imposing to implement all at once, and it is. Rather, your organization will respond favorably if you start slow and grow quickly. Take the things that work and replicate them, and throw out everything that just wastes time. Review our suggestions in light of your organization and prioritize the ideas beginning with those that will add the most value. You and your clients will be glad you did.

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