The Open Systems Model: A Blueprint to Transform Your Organization's Customer Experience Program



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"The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping the old ones.”  - John Maynard Keynes, Economist and Author

Here are highlights from a case study on HP Financial Services' 12-year customer experience program transformation:

HP Financial Services' core purpose is to differentiate the HP experience by serving as a bridge between technology and finance solutions enabling customer's achievement of their business goals. The key to their success is their engaged 1,500-employee workforce supporting customers in over 50 countries.

During the Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit in April, John Sullivan, Global TCE Leader, HP Financial Services, described his organization's 12-year journey to transform their customer experience program to drive benefits from a customer point and to minimize customer effort:

• Phase 1: Organization Design Around the Customer
• Focus on customer relationships
• HP Culture, HPFS Operating Philosophy, Open Systems Model
• Phase 2: Understanding Our Customers
• Systemic understanding of customer experiences. Focus on improving delivery experiences and perceptions.
• Segment our customers
• TCE Research Programs, Closed-Loop Process
• Phase 3: Focus on Colleague Engagement
• Focus on enhancing colleague behaviors and skills
• TCE Education, Communication, Rewards & Recognition Programs
• Phase 4: Process Experience Management
• Focus on improving process experience through process engineering. Strong process, operations and technology collaboration.
• Six Sigma, Process Roadmaps, Process Improvement Plans
• Phase 5: Customer-Driven Experience Management
• Look through the lens of the customer experience focusing on ease, not delight
• Focus on developing/implementing strategies to deliver a low effort experience
• The Pledge, Service Acumen, Escalation Protocols

As a result, overall loyalty scores improved seven points in the last four years. In addition, they achieved a 17 point improvement in the "Secure and Favorable" segment, which contain accounts that enable Share of Wallet growth.

According to John, their blueprint is an Open Systems Model, a measurement process that gives continuous feedback. Based on the premise, "Organizations are perfectly designed to get the results they get," the Open Systems Model is a powerful leadership tool that:

• Teaches systemic thinking
• Enables more effective analysis and action
• Provides common frameworks and language to facilitate and enhance communication
• Aids and enhances alignment, which is crucial to organizational effectiveness.

Learn more about the Open Systems Model and how to turn this information into meaningful, measurable action to drive customer loyalty.

Peggy L. Bieniek, ABC is an Accredited Business Communicator specializing in corporate communication best practices. Connect with Peggy on LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, and on her website at www.starrybluebrilliance.com.