Efficiency analysis looks at resource versus demand and shows where a demand peak overwhelms available resources, which in some businesses creates potential lost sales. Efficiency study measures the issue and the opportunity size.Ĥ. Emails, calls, and meetings can add significant value, yet in many businesess, email and call volume is cited as a significant barrier to getting work done. We recommended a slight shift in office working hours to give more overlap time between markets and an option to move an offshore support team to mirror the working hours of the team they support. The route cause was a mix of unclear accountabilities and incomplete customer records that required supporting communication.Īdditionally, there was a delay in response times as offices in different parts of the world shut down overnight. Another client found a surprisingly high proportion of time spent on internal emails, calls, and meetings. We’ve worked with a client who found that team leaders in their owned and operated customer services teams spent more time coaching colleagues than their peers in the franchised parts of their operation, which explained the variance in customer experience measurement and business outcomes. Office based activity can be harder to get to grips on and efficiency studies provide a measure of how much time is spent on essential activities and time lost. Physical work lends itself more easily to ongoing output measure and monitoring, for example, the number of delivery units handled, or widgets manufactured per hour. Good workstation set up helps too – uncomfortable chairs, missing wrist supports, and monitors at the wrong height are all factors that can impact efficiency.ģ. Colleagues working in multiple systems work most efficiently with dual monitors. Speeding things up would mean a quicker call for the customer and more calls per hour handled by an agent.Īnother common system delay issue is dual entry of data as colleagues move between systems that are not integrated at the right points. Work Studies have found that some contact center teams become so accustomed to working around their slow systems that they instinctively timed their general chat during the call with the delays. Typical causes of delays are slow systems and connections that mean colleagues watch the screen loading graphics rather than completing their tasks. This downtime is created when systems don’t work as quickly as the human using them. Moving to systems from paper doesn’t always mean things run smoothly. Look out for paper in your business and review options to eliminate it and increase your efficiency.Ģ. At some stage, paper interfaces with a system and there is a need for data input into an accounting system. Paper is slower, less efficient and creates filing and storage requirements compared to digital equivalents. Paper-based processes don’t need measurement to spot them. We’ve identified the top five efficiency issues:ġ. A diagnostic efficiency study can look at teams from warehousing to admin and sales to quantify what proportion of time is spent adding value, undertaking essential tasks and how much time is lost. Work-study options include detailed analysis of a process to measure how long each individual stage takes, giving valuable insights on where to focus to speed up the process and to enable resource planning based on accurate workload calculations.
We recommend using a range of work-study and observational techniques that provide diagnostic insights supported by process deep dives. Undertaking productivity reviews to identify efficiency issues and quantify opportunities for improvement are important. Look out for paper in your business and review options to eliminate it and increase your efficiency.