Joe – Chief Operating Officer

Joe is the newly appointed COO of a financial services company. Joe has spent the first month in his role reviewing the different department’s performance, as well as speaking to customers to hear what they think of the companies’ service experience.

While there are a lot of positives, there are some clear problems that need addressing. One of the biggest challenges is the companies’ ability to provide consistently good customer service. Some departments also have a clear problem with quality, which is resulting in customer frustration, as well as additional re-work being generated. Joe has also noticed that the different departments do not work very well together which is causing additional service problems. Finally, Joe has met with some of the staff and is concerned about their job commitment and engagement levels.  He also has a concern about the overall leadership skills of the first-line managers.

4IR Consult can assist Joe strive for Operational Excellence through staff training and mentoring. With Operational Excellence, Joe can expect to see a significant improvement in customer service, the internal service culture, day-to-day operations management, and quality management.

Sally – Marketing Agency Business Owner

Sally is the founder of a small, successful marketing agency. Her agency employs a total of 12 staff and operates out of business premises in the centre of Bristol, UK.

Sally was on top of managing her business and staff until recently. When all of her team worked in the same physical location, it was easy for Sally to keep track of who was doing what, and communication within her team was fluid and continuous.

Now that her team is mostly working from home, things are not going so smoothly. There are regular breakdowns in communication, and it is difficult for Sally to know exactly what everyone is doing, and how they are progressing with their tasks. 

4IR Consult has discovered that Sally’s company is already using Microsoft Office 365 for email and calendar. They are not, however, aware of all the other powerful capabilities that Microsoft Office 365 offers, including SharePoint and PowerApps, which can assist Sally better manager her company. 4IR Consult can help Sally maximise her current investment in Microsoft Office 365 to improve team collaboration and task management.

Michelle – Chief Financial Officer

Michelle is the CFO at a medium-size travel agency. Due to a downturn in the travel industry, Michelle is under pressure to reduce operating costs without compromising on service quality.

Michelle is concerned about imposing companywide budget cuts as she believes that some parts of the organisation are less efficient than others, and such extreme actions could negatively impact customer service and staff morale.

4IR Consult can do a review of the key business processes to identify waste and inefficiencies. Applying Lean Thinking, 4IR Consult can then design and implement business process improvements that both improve the process efficiency and quality. 4IR Consult also recommends that they design and implement some performance measures to ensure that the staff are all working at a sustainable level of productivity. Michelle is confident that these collective actions will bring about the required reduction in operational costs while, at the same time, improving business performance.