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August 1996 Volume 1.1
Corporate Anorexia Not Right for
Asia
While most companies in the West equate reengineeering with corporate
anorexia, this approach is not appropriate in Asia. This was the
theme coming out of the papers presented at the, 'Business Process
Reengineering in the Telecoms Industry' conference that I attended
in Hong Kong last month. My paper on, 'Establishing and Managing
a Customer Service Operation for Maximum Customer and Business Benefit',
was received well. It is evident that the achievements of Telecom
New Zealand are recognised throughout the Asian countries. The New
Zealand situation of low growth in GDP contrasts with the high growth
occurring in most Asian countries. This means that the drivers for
business change are quite different. One thing I found different
was a strong value of caring for people as a key factor in the decision
making process.
John Sailing, a Hong Kong based Principal Consultant with Booz
Allen & Hamilton summed up the Asian situation with his comment
that, "Capturing growth, rather than cost cutting is the major
issue in Asia". John felt that the right approach for this
issue is to redefine the Value Proposition by delivering redesigned
processes that delivered maximum business and customer value.
Lack of staff drew no complaints
Although a patient at Waikato Hospital was left lying in his own
faeces for more than 3 hours, Mr Murray Loewenthal, chairman of
the Health Consumer Services Trust set up to deal with patient complaints,
is reported to have said that he first heard of the seriousness
of the problem in the New Zealand Herald.
This incident is a classic illustration of the futility of businesses
trying to manage without a comprehensive active customer listening
system. Once again we have proof that sitting passively waiting
for customer feedback does not work. This extreme situation was
only brought to the attention of Health Waikato's management after
publication of an article in the July issue of Nursing New Zealand.
The nurse described a 'nightmare' shift where two nurses looked
after 23 patients with 12 needing intravenous antibiotics, six needing
continuous fluids, and three in a confused state. Six needed one-on-one
care and four were incontinent. The Duty Manager was kept up to
date with the situation during the shift. When the nurse finally
attended to the patient lying in his own faeces, he apologised for
the delay. The patient said, "You bastard."
In this case, Mr Gary Smith, the Health Waikato chief executive
says he was aware of the chronic staff shortage in the acute medical
wards and commissioned a review several months ago. This makes the
seriousness of the above incident even worse. If the chief executive
knew about the staffing problem in the acute medical wards, then
he should have been managing the situation through daily reporting
of the actual service delivered in this area of the hospital. Although
he says no lives were at risk, this is hardly the point.
In a normal situation, a chief executive would only want to see
a monthly summary report covering each area or department. Where
a known serious problem exists, it is important to track performance
daily with internal service metrics, and complement this with an
effective issues escalation system. At Health Waikato it appears
that these reporting systems are not in place. Although all of the
New Zealand Crown Health Enterprises are required to operate 'customer
satisfaction' surveys, these surveys are not designed for active
customer listening or for driving service improvement.
Health Waikato has now hired 20 additional nurses. But has patient
care improved in the acute medical wards? The chief executive will
never know if he only tracks nursing headcount and dollars.
The Case for Change
Home video cameras can be an effective way of presenting the case
for change. Video the existing process problems, then show them
to the senior management as a group, to get their commitment for
the business improvements.
Hong Kong Telecom
losing International Monopoly
Sophisticated call back technology and phone calls over the Internet
are seeing Hong Telecom lose its monopoly on international voice
calls. Competitors are offering calls at half the price charged
by Hong Kong Telecom. The competing services are being marketed
through newspaper and television. With 56% of its operating revenue
coming from international activities, this must be a worry for Hong
Kong Telecom. It has reacted initially by lifting the monthly rental
charges for local service, and seeking compensation for the loss
of its monopoly from the Hong Kong Government.
Business processes reengineering teams are looking at 10 main processes
with assistance from Bain & Company. This seems to be process
improvement work rather than design of innovative processes that
provide customer and business value. eg The target for provision
of service, is for 95% of work to be completed in under 3 hours
rather than the existing 7 days. With competitors like New T&T
using fibre loop technology for rapid provision of service, it would
seem to me that Hong Kong Telecom needs to be setting a goal of
95% of work completed in 3 minutes.
Fernando's Hideaway
While in Macau, I visited Hac Sa beach on Coloane Island and had
lunch at Fernando's restaurant. The Portuguese style cuisine is
magnificent. I can recommend the fresh sardines with salad along
with a Portuguese wine. Make sure you ask Fernando if you can eat
in his hideaway out the back.
Regards,
Rodger Gallagher
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