Say it with flowers: how to suck at customer service: a case in point with Interflora UK

It’s not often I speak my mind (what ?!!?) but this really irked me today. I order a bunch of rainbow roses from Interflora UK online yesterday. Complete all the details, Bob’s your transvestite aunt and I’ll have a happy recipient at the other end tomorrow.

Wrong.

The sad trail goes like this:

• Insert correct address details
• Flowers are delivered to the wrong address entirely at 11am
• The confused recipient rejects the flowers (waddayamean you don’t love BPM !?!)
• I receive a ‘confirmation’ that the flowers were received by email at 3.40pm
• The email states the wrong address but I don’t check it (come on, you enter the details yourself you expect them to be correct)
• I call to see if they’ve arrived. Nope. Hmmm.
• I check the confirmation email to find out they’ve been delivered to the wrong town and post code.
• A family member kindly drives to the other house for me and finds no flowers (per story in the above point)
• I call Customer Services to complain and find out what happened, they confirm they were delivered to the (wrong) address as stated on the delivery confirmation not the order.
• I’m then asked to email in the delivery and order confirmation emails back to them so they can check.
• I’m then cut off when I try to point out what a convoluted and backward process it is and that they should have records of the whole transaction anyway, and how did the details change from order to delivery ?!
• I’m left in the dark as to what exactly is being done with the order, the complaint and how they intend to rectify the problem.

After ordering via a local florist for years in my own home town I only used the national service because I’m unfamiliar with those in the other area. Suffice to say, I won’t be using it again if their entire process is flawed in such a way that the onus is on the customer to prove that the service provided was wrong.

It may be a little harsh, and to be fair I haven’t received any response from Interflora (as) yet but the whole surprise element today was ruined and the customer “service” received a bad joke. I don’t expect to wait a 24-48hr SLA for someone to pick up my complaint email when the mistake isn’t mine and the service being delivered is based on a rapid turnaround.

Take note, because sometimes your customer is in the one industry you don’t want to mess with….

Footnote: not much point running a @interfloraUK Twitter customer service channel either if you don’t respond in good time and then just point people to another complaint webpage to fill in on top of the one you’ve already done….that’s hardly customer engagement….

And it doesn’t help that the email given by the call centre as sales.enquiries is different than the sales.enquires supplied by the confirmation…..

BPM is child’s play: How would you teach children about process management ?

After a random tweet earlier this morning about using Lego for BPM I thought it would be fun to play with the concept a little further for a question: How would you teach children about BPM ?

You could argue that in it’s simplest form (as a linear process) something like building a path from Lego or Mousetrap would suffice, you start the customer journey at one end and finish ingloriously at the other end under a cage. Then perhaps moving things on a little, by using Scalextric or a Hornby railway set you introduce the concept of making a decision (Hornby is slightly better in that it allows you to switch routes by choice) to affect the flow of work but the end game is the same (reach the station)

Make things a little more complex and use Hexbugs (that toy with the annoyingly catchy advert track) which despite having jittery freedom to roam around, the somewhat expensive track represents boundaries but how they get to the end is dynamic and adaptive and no two attempts may be the same.

If you leave the fancy stuff aside (Wii, Xbox, PS3, iPad etc) just how would you tell the BPM story using just toys to a child ?

And if you can simplify it to that level, why can’t you tell someone beginning on the BPM path or even a veteran in the industry the same story without resorting to bullshit….

And he rode a pale (winged) horse…..

Well, it is Friday the Thirteeth after all, such a perfect date to announce that after many a long year hard riding as a BPM gun for hire I’ve finally succumbed to what Don Corleone would refer to as ‘an offer you can’t refuse’, and being of Sicilian descent who am I to argue.

From today I’ll be joining Pegasystems to bring BPM to the masses under their banner.

So does this mean I’ve joined the Dark Side and will be lobotomised ? Will I become the mouthpiece of the vendor marketing machine ? Will I finally go easy on Gartner ? Absolutely not. This blog will remain a vocal point in the BPM industry albeit with the usual views may not coincide with my employer caveat. You’ll still be treated to the sharp end of my tongue and rapier wit, why else do you come here after all

I’ll be busy over the next couple of weeks so expect a little radio silence but do feel free to get in touch via Twitter @BPMredux or LinkedIn or indeed on the blog itself.

Footnote: If anyone can name the horse from the film Pale Rider, let me know. I could’ve made many a reference to Pegasus or indeed the White Horse at Uffington but I couldn’t resist a bit of horseplay….

Leading analyst firm announces new BPM theme park

Controversial analyst firm Statler & Mason announced today their intention to build BPM World, the first process-based theme park in an attempt to bring BPM to the masses.

At a recent conference event S&M, who crowned Excel as their top Business Process Management Suite in 2010, told stunned clients the fun park would be entirely run by a BPMS and that they had spent many minutes researching which to use.

Our goal is to show that anything is possible with process. We’ve even designed the rides and roller coasters using BPMN2.0.

The Case Management Coaster is their tour de force attraction boasting adaptive loops and track so that no two rides are the same.

When questioned on park safety and trusting everything to BPM they said “We are confident in our selection of Excel and PowerPoint hosted in the Cloud to run a complex business. We’ve invested many hours in Theme Park Manager on the Playstation so this should be child’s play to a research firm of our reputation.”

BPM World opens next month. Queues are already forming, with Forrester and Gartner rivals already camping at the gates for the first taste of BPM on the edge and training companies eager to set up stalls and sell guides on how to sit correctly in each ride.

Implementing BPMS is not the main factor for BPM success

There’s an interesting discussion taking place on the ebizQ forum right now.

What is the single most important factor in assuring BPM’s success ?

There’s a definite tilt towards both education and buy-in being the common factors, but there’s a lot of vendor driven direction, the question asks for BPM success, not BPMS.

Again, if their hype cycle is to be believed, Gartner reckons it’s another decade before the method adoption in the enterprise hits mainstream and yet people calculate success purely based on using BPMS. I’d have thought after 20 years or so both method and tool could co-exist happily but there’s still division in the ranks.

Seriously, if you gave your BPM product to a child would you expect them to successfully implement it, no matter how easy it was to use ? I don’t see an illiterate man knocking out a blockbuster without knowing how to read, write and understand literature, so don’t expect the business to knock out efficient processes and business strategy aligned to customer goals using a tool without understanding what BPM is in the first place.

Education leads to Buy-in simply because you understand exactly what you’re being asked to sponsor through the knowledge and articulation of the concepts and goals of BPM. And from education and buy-in comes Capability. The capability to succeed in implementing a true BPM culture.

And from capability comes the Maturity to wield a process powerhouse in the form of BPMS.

The scariest moment is always just before you start.

Stephen King

 

Stop trying to achieve warp speed before you can break the 88mph limit.

Footnote: I have a perfect example of an organisation who had bought in Capability before Education. The result was that many senior managers weren’t convinced it was going to work, therefore little Buy-in. Get the mix the wrong way round and it’s a Molotov cocktail you’re shaking up, not a Vodka Martini…..

Gartner BPM Hype Cycle 2011 reaches new trough of disillusionment

If only hype cycles were as exciting as this…..

Grab a look at the Gartner Hype Cycle for 2011 here for free.

If you thought BPM was confusing before, you ain’t seen nothing yet…….

bpm.me/HaG323

Democratizing BPM and the networked value chain

I have a particular problem with BPM ‘centers of excellence’ or ‘competency centers’ in today’s organic enterprises. The impact of social internally and externally has yet to be fully realised outside of the technology sphere because we are still stuck in traditional ways of control through hierarchy and bureaucracy, and these old ideas of centralised command and control centers for BPM aren’t helping.

I’ve written how loose structures promote creativity before, self organising networks that expose hidden talents and true experts, the mines of information between workers informally. I’ve also written before about how the BPM methodology and organisational makeup need to adapt to these changes too, that an understanding of sociology and networking analysis needs to be taken into account now.

So where does this lead ?

If we take the self organising network idea a step further (and this is a human trait, we seek people out, hence the inspiration and creativity aspect) could we begin to witness social networks per value chain or per process ? I know, I know, it sounds like just another chinese wall or silo under a different name, so let me chew the fat here openly.

Take a typical Mortgage process end to end; we have the customer, sales/ origination, application, underwriting, legals (external), insurance, funding, administration, arrears, closure. Across this chain they are all in their own silo doing their small piece, seldom interacting save for a diary entry that pops up in workflow or case software. If we networked every participant over the entire mortgage chain there may be a lot of noise and chatter at first but it would very quickly settle and organise itself into something far more efficient than dictated to in a rigid process. People would readily seek one another out and form mini-cabals or powerhouses. There would be no ‘process owner’ as such, no thorny problem of trying to assign ownership of an entire process chain to one person (let’s face it, the reality of accountability for a value chain makes management run for the hills no matter how you sugarcoat it) as it would be co-owned by everyone in that network, and because of this transparent sense of accountability every participant would have a vested interest in making it work. The process itself would have a sense of ‘self’ in a way and it would evolve a lot faster because of the social interactivity.

Yes it’s all a crazy notion for now…….isn’t it ?

When analysts and vendors talk about the democratising of BPM this is really what it means, power back to the people in the process. A true ‘social enterprise’ needs this kind of open culture, not a single silo full of process elite that offer ‘consultancy’ to other silos.

“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one” as Spock would say.

Education, Education, Education: Can BPM vendors adopt a standard method for adoption success ?

Like any industry, there are educational materials, books, training and certification courses all over the place, mostly unregulated. I won’t go into the pitfalls, I’ve written about it too many times anyway here on BPMredux.

But, I want to follow on from suggestions and attempts over the last couple of years and hypothesize again.

What if vendors who promote specific tool training and education courses all adopted one methodology standard as part of their introduction to the discipline ?

If you look at some of the offerings, IBM/ Lombardi, Pega, Appian, Ultimus, they all offer BPM training in a variety of flavours, mostly centred around their own tool. Fine. But obviously part of this learning experience people need to understand the discipline itself, the basics, the various tools as a methodology that are available. A vendor may not be best placed to do this, but…..if they all adopted one standard and recognised course as the precursor to their own tool certification programme wouldn’t this help drive adoption and standardisation of sorts ?

ABPMP, OMG, BPM Institute to name a few…take your pick (carefully) Align with one, help promote it as a standard and drive for formal adoption. If you think of the number of seats/ licences sold by vendors alone this is a huge base on which to finally campaign for method adoption.

Bear in mind, I’m not saying you can’t have choice, I’m saying that in terms of skill and recognition on an industry wide basis a practitioner will know they haven’t wasted their money on a course that no-one recognises, this is as much about an individual’s need and right as it is the business of BPM. They don’t have to take the tool specific training either, but knowing that one day if they do their previous certification will count towards it, much like any University credit system.

Be careful if you intend to align with a particular course.

For example, if you take a look at the BPM Council, I have no clue who they are (yet they appear in the Gartner Hype report). Website looks very ropey, there’s less than 12 people on LinkedIn found with specific mention of them. Due diligence for any BPM certification course is a must (as well as when compiling any research) and will increase your own reputation as well as the discipline at large.

So is this really such a bad idea ?

I’m calling out the vendors and the educators. Put your money where your mouth is and tell me why I’m wrong because the industry is listening.

And if I’m right, who’s going to take up the mantle ?

 

Why does it have to be man vs. machine in BPM ?

Reading through a copy of the Gartner Hype Cycle report for 2011 it’s clear there’s a really heavy slant towards technology in Gartner circles (probably driven from the fact that’s where they get most of their revenue so it’s self-fulfilling) and there are a number of anomalies in their assessment of the BPM practice.

In addition, there are few professional education programs that really teach new approaches to the management disciplines highlighted above. Furthermore, the BPM market lacks an academic thought leader or best-selling management books on BPM. These are the primary reasons why BPM as a discipline has moved further into the Trough of Disillusionment, and why we think that it will still take 10 years for these management skills to become pervasive.

Hang on. So what have we all been doing for the last 20-odd years since the term was coined ? And another 10 years before it gains mainstream adoption ? Come on, if less time was spent pushing the technology and more time spent sorting out the method and discipline we’d have clear recognition and a benefits case on the back of it.

They do however make a point in highlighting that Certification and Education are a must in increasing adoption and recognition, but this really should go hand in hand (and again should have been established years ago too)

Furthermore, splitting out things like Business Process Competency Centres (so does that mean the Centre of Excellence is dead ?) and BPM Toolkits from BPM as a Discipline only serves to complicate what it actually means for a business to adopt BPM. What is it supposed to aim for ? A BPM toolkit ? Certification ? BPCC only ? Doesn’t the discipline cover all these aspects ?

What the hype cycle lacks sometimes is something a little more tangible in terms of how all these concepts tie together, so when viewing the actual diagram itself where are the linkages from one to another ?

For example;

• BPM as a Discipline leads to
• BPA for the masses leads to
• BPM certification leads to
• BPCC leads to
• BPM toolkit leads to
• BPMS leads to
• PRR (process repository….which is not new as Gartner suggests….) leads to
• and so on

The hype cycle priority matrix seems to suggest that most of the business discipline is an afterthought after the systemic has been implemented. Perhaps this accounts for more BPM programme failures than the analysts would care to admit simply because they push for the technology first.

Remember the basics ?

People, Process, Technology.

It’s not People vs. Process vs. Technology.

Footnote: Automated Business Process Discovery is just Process Mining, why the need to confuse an emerging market with more jargon is beyond me…..

Have it your way: the Burger King of BPM

Ok, much has been made of the BYOD (Bring your own device) phenomenon just now and it’s fair to say that the extension of processes across mobile devices internally is affecting BPM at a pace unseen for years. The changing face of interaction with both business to business and also business to customer is accelerating faster than most can keep up. It’s the “consumerisation of IT” say the analysts.

But here’s a thought: what if we allowed customers and people alike to BYOP (Bring your own process) ? The effective consumerisation of process (and everything within it) !

Think about it, we allow BPMS to constantly monitor and tweak processes according to feedback mechanisms which are (mostly) internal, but do we ever truly allow the customer to control just how that process interaction, direction and speed should take place ? Should we ever for that matter ? And if not, why not ?

And what if Big Data and MDM suddenly wandered into the welcoming arms of the customer themselves ? We hold their customer records, but we erect chinese walls preventing them from actually doing anything with it.

What if everybody had a private cloud which were effectively mini master-data-portals that WE accessed. Suddenly control of accurate data would be in the hands of the customer as would the responsibility of maintenance, not with 1, 10, 100 organisations they’re registered with.

Would it lead to business process chaos, is it something we need to fear or welcome ?

After all, we spend every waking moment trying to give the customer what they want, at what point do we really achieve it……

I’ll have mine with extra mayo….