In this second and final part of this blog series, we dive deeper into how policy simplification can help drive improved user experience, especially in highly complex areas like CPQ and billing.
The value of simplification to transformation
Process and policy simplification has the opportunity to optimise experience – both for the customer and employee, improve operational efficiency, and offer the opportunity for strategic growth.
Process and policy are often introduced to support new regulation, growth and innovation, or to workaround the limitation of a solution. When these initial requirements are layered by newer needs and compounded by inflexible solutions your people begin to feel the pain of the inefficiencies created and complexities delivered.
There are significant benefits in implementing simplified processes and policies, most notably on employee experience. Policies are the guidelines and directives that define a process, which is the step by step followed by your users. Inefficient processes and policies impact user’s day to day, reducing operational efficiency and enjoyment in their role. In addition to improving this for users, it can offer increased visibility for management, better workflow management and ultimately offer an organisation the ability to more easily implement future strategies due to the streamlined processes.
What might it look like?
Layered complexity is often exemplified in product catalogues. As a business develops and scales, the product catalogue naturally becomes larger. Whilst initially a layout listing products individually might make a lot of sense, as variances in product, categories or rates are added, each must be added as an individual listing. This accumulates into a large and complex catalogue.
By analysing a product list, finding duplicates, pain points and inactive listings, a simplified master list can be identified. In a recent global roll out, we saw this reduce by more than 30% of the listings.
An instance in which policy complexity could occur might be when supporting a new international client by introducing the use of multiple currencies across the sale lifecycle, with different currencies for pricing, billing, tax and functional or legal reporting. This might be done to facilitate cross-border sales and offer flexibility to international customers. But as volume increases, the complexity associated with following this customised process also increases.
An organisation would therefore be required to, convert currency at each stage, account for fluctuations in the value of the sale and allocate ample resources to the manual effort of informing customers during contract revisions.
By identifying the elements where complexity is introduced, you can find opportunities for currency alignment across the lifecycle. We’ve seen this reduce the number of conversions from as many as four, to just one.
The benefits of simplification could be:
- A policy or feature that better suits the majority of customers
- Simpler design of CPQ and billing solutions
- Smoother implementation of new solutions
- Reduction in manual effort and human error
- Greater reporting consistency
- Fewer communications needed for customers
So, with multiple benefits to realise, and tangible improvements that can be felt by both internal and external users, the possibilities of process simplification are undeniable.
Click here to read part one.
