In the commercial world there are really only 3 KPIs that matter: Revenue, Cost and Service.

It is necessary to add the “direction” for each of these KPIs which gives us…

- Increased Revenues
- Decreased Costs
- Improved Customer Satisfaction (service)

Of course there are many additional KPIs and measures we may use to determine if we have successfully accomplished a goal and most of these KPIs and measures are at least believed to be supportive of the BIG 3. Yet the ties we choose to believe exist to the BIG 3 often have little grounding in fact. They are perhaps logical and reasonable in how we propose they connect to, affect or support one or more of the BIG 3 but there is no direct, explicit connection.

The other problem we have with these particular KPIs is that they often present a give and take scenario. Perhaps we find a way to decrease costs but in so doing we create a negative impact on Customer Satisfaction. This, in turn, affects repeat business and word of mouth for new business creating Reduced Revenues. Ouch.

Meanwhile many of the customer-focused initiatives that attempt to enhance the quality of customer interactions - while they do help with repeat business and word of mouth - increase the cost of doing business. It can be hard to predict (and to measure) the net results of customer-focused initiatives but simple observation tells us that in most cases the increase in customer satisfaction is insufficient to drive revenues that offset increased costs. Sounds like a vicious cycle to me.

3 Birds with One Method

In looking at the approaches and guidance for Business Process and/or Performance Management we find that this case of conflicting results against the BIG 3 KPIs is certainly the rule, not the exception. Yet what we really need is a way to explicitly target all three of these KPIs at the same time. Because we all seem enamored with symbolic references the best way to think of this is the tried and true three-legged stool. Lengthening or shortening one or two of the legs of the stool always renders it unstable - and that as good a symbolic representation as we are likely to find.

Fortunately this dilemma has been solved…. Yes, that’s right, there is a proven Method to action all three of the BIG KPIs. That Method is CEMM.

The process improvement approach of CEMM identifies process attributes that represent process cost and that negatively impact customer satisfaction. Once identified, these process attributes can be removed through identified Actions as part of the Method.

This is very interesting and unique. Once we recognize that there are process attributes in almost every process - regardless of the “level” of the process (Enterprise Business Process, end-to-end process, Business Process, Process, Service, etc.) - that are the source of process cost and customer dissatisfaction (while not creating increased revenue) it is only a very small step we must take to know these attributes represent a wealth of opportunity for improvement.

The “magic” comes into play when we identify Actions to remove or improve these process attributes because when we Decrease Cost while simultaneously Improve Customer Satisfaction we always Increase Revenue. As it turns out, this is the secret sauce for process improvement that is needed to consistently deliver the BIG 3 KPIs as a direct consequence of process improvement activities.

We use CEMM in the Certified Process Professional program in both the Level 1 and Level 2 workshops to specifically build the capability of people to action this direct connection to the BIG 3 KPIs. Both Level 1 and Level 2 CPP techniques explicitly deliver the simultaneous benefits of Increased Revenues, Decreased Costs and Improved Customer Satisfaction.

Many People, Many Roles - One BPM Skill Set

The other really important part of unraveling this business success challenge is the need to recognize that the people who do process improvement come from a broad background with widely varying skills and responsibilities. If we are really going to unleash the potential within for every person in every business than the number of assumptions and restrictions within the approach must be the absolute minimum.

That is an essential part of the development that has gone into building the CPP (Certified Process Professional) program. With the CPP program it doesn’t matter what your role is (Business Analyst, Process Expert, Systems Analyst, Project Manager, IT Architect, Systems Manager, etc, etc, etc…). It just doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter what - if any - technology is involved. It doesn’t matter if processes are already documented, how they are documented or if they are NOT documented.

To create real value, process improvement skills (Method and Techniques) must be something we can all add into our existing skill set and role to enhance our productivity. If you think about it, if someone walked up to you today and told you…

“I have a way that you can simultaneously Increase Revenues, Decrease Costs and Improve Customer Satisfaction - EXPLICITLY - and you can use it with whatever tools, techniques, style, role, responsibility, experience and knowledge you already have without changing those things, just by adding this into your repertoire of skills.”

What would it be worth to you and why would you wait? Regardless of whether your work focuses on tasks or activities, on outputs or outcomes, on customer outcomes or successful customer outcomes CEMM delivers the goods. If this is something you wish to incorprate into your work activities and professional skill set then then take a look at the CPP open courses schedule. You are only 3 Days away from unleashing the potential in your organization.