creating a central operations hub to reduce waste and empower store teams to delight customers
the challenge
Our client had lost its market-leading position and was struggling to adapt to market changes. They were facing a declining performance and rising costs. They needed to unlock the potential of their 250,000 strong workforce to drive a new strategy and approach. A lack of collaboration, ownership and customer focus was compounded by overly complex processes, unclear performance management systems and conflicting priorities.
the results
We created a central operations hub which managed all services and communications to and from stores. This resulted in far greater clarity between stores and head office, removing the ‘noise’ entering stores from head office and reducing the communications received in store by 40%.
The clarity created led to greater efficiencies such as a reduction in budget exceptions by 30% and a reduction of 65 hours in the new employee onboarding process. Staff were freed up to focus on their customers. This was just one workstream in an overall business transformation programme which resulted in an RoI of 29:1
how we got there
We started by understanding exactly what the problem was we needed to solve. As well as looking at performance data, we listened to people in the head office and got feedback from the stores. Based on interviews with key stakeholders, it was clear that there were opportunities to improve collaboration, stakeholder engagement and communications within Operations and with cross-functional partners. In particular, we needed to help reduce the “noise” and confusion, particularly around the implementation of programmes into stores. We wanted to create something that was truly at the core of empowering the business and stores to be better. We called this desired state “the Hub”.
We crowdsourced input as to what the Hub should look like. What did the business need from each support function? If they weren’t getting it, why not? How could we restructure and rethink these core elements of our client’s business to be better and help them meet their goals? And once we thought we had the answer, we went back and validated it with the wider field and central teams.
At its core this was about galvanising the whole central team around doing what was right for the stores and, most importantly, for the customer. We needed better connection between elements of the Hub, reducing the number of functional areas and establishing an efficient and consistent process across both Retail and Pharmacy aspects of the business.
Clear accountabilities and metrics would allow transparency and the ability to track performance in the ways that really mattered.
To alleviate the frustration from the stores around the constant disconnected communication and initiatives coming from the centre, we made sure there was a process and planning calendar for sequencing work that ensured fewer, better, communications being sent out.
We ran roadshows and developed clear communications which kept everyone engaged in everything going on across various teams and regions. The real key to success was the strong connected thinking between this work and the cultural change we were leading in our client’s stores. We were closely aligning two parts of the business that otherwise hadn’t been communicating effectively with one another behind one mission: to delight the customer.
