There are times when Improvement is not enough – what your business needs is Transformation. Whilst improvement helps continually drive business performance, step changes in performance are rarely delivered with an ‘improvement mindset’.

Business transformation can deliver big benefits. Instead of looking at individual processes or business units as islands, a redesign of the Business Operating Model unearths significant “big picture” benefits and opportunities, driving out waste from the structure of the business and the end-to-end value streams that serve your customers. A new operating model enables you to focus your entire organisation on profitable customer-centric activities.

But transformation also carries risks. Business history is strewn with the skeletons of change programmes that failed to deliver the intended step changes in performance. How can you ensure that the huge cost and organisational effort required to effect the change is not wasted because of a flawed vision or inadequate delivery?

oee is a specialist in Lean Service Operations with extensive experience of operating model design for service organisations. Our Business Operating Model (BOM) methodology provides a structured approach to design. Allied to that, our expertise in lean service operations, and our willingness to engage at all levels of the organisation, ensures that the new operating model lands effectively and delivers the benefits you seek.

At the centre of oee’s BOM methodology is the customer. We understand that lean service is about understanding your customers’ needs and wants, and designing an operation that can excel at delivering them. That means differentiating between simple, transactional service activities and complex, diagnostic tasks with high variety, and ensuring the BOM design is appropriate to the customer’s needs. Voice of the customer is the starting point for the entire operations design.

The BOM process then goes on to consider all aspects of the Operation, from product and process design to the division of labour, organisation,  job design, support functions and enabling technology. The output is a holistic design that delivers a step change in performance, but designed with an understanding of practical business constraints and an eye to swift and effective implementation.

Of course, successful Implementation of the new model is more important that the design itself. Here, oee’s specialism in lean service operations comes to the fore – oee’s team consists of experience operations managers and coaches who understand and can deliver the practical changes needed to make the design become a reality.