Our business has grown on the basis of recommendations and referrals. We have many customers who would willingly discuss the contribution we have made to their businesses.  Not only do we enjoy long term relationships with our customers, but we have also been able to develop productive relationships between our customers based on shared operational experiences and success.

Many of our customers are happy to be contacted on a one to one basis and would be pleased to talk about their experience of working with oee.

Please use either the talk to us form or Contact us section of this site.

Customer testimonials

Building Operational Capability

'We choose oee to support our lean improvement programmes because of a close cultural fit with Skandia and because previous customers were so positive about their experience.  We have been delighted with oee's contribution to our programmes which have consistently delivered across a number of functional teams.

From day one we intended to create and develop an in-house Lean capability and oee were willing and able to support this development.  What started out as informal coaching and support has now evolved and been formalised through the LERC-accredited training oee delivers.

What stands out for me is the way that the Finance team have embraced the lean concepts. They have become advocates of operational management and everyone is passionate about their white boards and the power of huddles; quite simply it has been the biggest influence in transforming our culture.

I would not hesitate to recommend oee.'

CEO Shared Services
Phil Hine

Long term culture change the target for HML with accredited training

HML, the UK’s premier third party mortgage servicer with over 20 years experience, is aiming to achieve long term culture change working with operations improvement specialist oee and rolling out it’s accredited training programme.

HML, backed by the Skipton Group and with current assets of over £50bn, has experienced significant growth over the past five years and now has four sites in the UK with around 2,000 staff.  From an operations stand point this rate of growth has inevitably resulted in a major focus on ‘transactions’ as a key business driver, with processes not always be as well optimised as they might be.

A multi-pronged approach was established as part of a long term transformation strategy with lean at the centre. This began with a number of projects in areas of the business where most improvement was needed, or quick wins were seen as achievable. oee was commissioned to support the transformation programme and have been working with HML since May 2008.  

A key issue for HML is that it wants to protect against lean becoming simply a fad.   An integral part of the programme is therefore for those involved to gain a formal qualification in lean.   This is being delivered via Cardiff Business School’s Lean Competency System (LCS) – designed by the School’s Lean Enterprise Research Centre (LERC). oee are approved accreditors of the scheme and have provided training, practical coaching and assessment for the HML team.   HML views the LERC accreditation as vital, as it formalises the learning process and supports upskilling. 

The overall thrust of the programme is about long-term culture change and oee’s role has been integral to this.  The lean journey doesn’t finish after one year.  It’s usually a five-year journey to really embed the approach.  HML has acknowledged that it can be hard for an organisation to maintain a transformation project from one generation of leader to the next, which is why establishing a vehicle for staff to gain a formally recognised accreditation in lean is seen as so important. 

oee are presently working with HML on the formal accreditation process for staff which will help to establish a body of knowledge and business-wide focus on continuous improvement.

HML is co-sponsor with oee of the Lean Service Forum.

Virgin Media (VM) is a leading entertainment and communications business providing the first ‘‘quad-play’’ offering of television, broadband, fixed line telephone and mobile telephone services in the U.K. It also provides one of the most advanced TV ‘on demand’ services available in the market and mobile virtual network operator and the second largest provider in the country of pay television and fixed line telephone services. VM’s cable passes about half the homes in the UK and the company’s business proposition is to provide the best and the fastest broadband on the market.

In addition to targeting further customer growth, a key focus is on promoting client retention and reducing customer churn. This is being supported with an operational focus on improving the entire customer experience including: first contacts, installation, call handling, billing, provisioning and customer support.  At the same time operational improvement focus is on capitalising on the organisation’s competitive advantages and driving operational efficiency.

Eighteen months ago VM created an improvement plan focused on the ‘customer journeys’ with an initial focus on the ‘join journey’. This covers the process from the point of sale and order entry, through to installation and 30 days post-installation. A fundamental element of the improvement plan is a process excellence and improvement programme based strongly on lean principles.

oee are supporting the improvement programme working with Peter Evans, Quality Director at Virgin Media, and his team of Lean Sigma Professionals. A key output is the creation of what VM calls ‘Lean Model Offices’.

The Virgin Media perspective - Peter Evans, Quality Director:

"oee has excellent people and a proven approach developed through successful lean implementation work across the services sector. Their role has been critical to VM’s programme through provision of the core improvement model, successfully transferring skills to our improvement team and line managers alike, and supporting thought leadership and culture change.

oee’s expertise enabled us to deliver some highly effective early improvements in telesales, where ‘sales order entry’ had historically exhibited performance issues resulting in installation & service problems at the customer end. This became the ‘pilot model office’ and delivered some very significant performance improvements, which have been sustained by the telesales teams. Engagement from telesales staff was excellent and feedback extremely positive.  This early success created a group of advocates at senior management/director level and a real appetite to see deeper and broader implementation. Through 2008 the programme delivered similar success stories in Customer Concerns (reducing backlogs and operational losses), Telephony Operations and Installation
Support (reducing failure demand and freeing up capacity); and latterly moving into our Installer Depots where improvements exceeded expectations in a difficult front line environment.

From a practical standpoint oee’s team have been comfortable working at all levels within VM from senior management to front line operations. They thoroughly understand the sensitivities of matching the lean message and the improvement approach to the very different issues and environments across our business.

oee are currently supporting VM on a number of related initiatives including the establishment of a Lean Sigma Academy. This will stimulate and support thought leadership and also provide the vehicle for our staff to gain accredited training and coaching in lean. oee are the only business in their field approved to provide lean training, coaching, development & certification against Cardiff Business School’s Lean Enterprise Research Centre (LERC) Lean competency system. In working with oee, VM has had the very beneficial opportunity to engage with other major service businesses and their operational improvement teams and we have exchanged visits and shared best practice.

The relationship between oee and VM has developed from one of external consultants and customer, to that of key members of our virtual lean team. We look forward to continuing to work with oee as part of our operational improvement programme, which will be rolling out to the other ‘customer journeys’, and in the ongoing LERC assessment and accreditation programme which oee is delivering for us. There is no doubt that oee has underpinned the success of our programme so far."

February 2009