Lion Financial Services Case Study
Lion Financial
Lion Financial Services (LFS) provides investment management services to approximately 350,000 customers, made up of corporations, institutions, and individuals. The bulk of LFS’ transactions with its customers, making up roughly half of all transactions, are carried out through its call centers. Thus, the efficient and productive operations of the LFS call centers is a priority for the company and critical to its bottom line.
In early 2000, Jim Boatwright, LFS’ Vice President of Operations, determined that a thorough examination of LFS’ call centers was called for. Boatwright knew that technology had significantly advanced since the LFS call centers were originally designed and he was keenly aware that LFS was facing a steady increase in the associated costs of operating these call centers. Boatwright contacted Customer Solutions Group (CSG) in February of 2000 and Andy Carr, CSG’s Chief Operating Officer, was brought in to begin working on the project of providing actionable and specific recommendations that would be designed to improve quality and reduce costs. Carr spent the next several months observing the call center operations, interviewing managers and employees, and analyzing the existing data, training materials and corporate reports. After extensive analysis, Carr was prepared to present his findings and new design for LFS’ call center and operations.
Our team supports Carr’s redesign proposal of LFS’ call center and believe the recommendations have merit based on our evaluation. We believe it will be successful in providing LFS with the following outcomes: a consistent and exemplary level of customer service, short time to answer, and reduce annual operating expense by $1.5 million (Page 11, Paragraph 4). However, we only make this recommendation so long as Andy and LFS’s management create a thorough implementation plan that addresses business continuity and mitigates risks associated with large process redesign efforts.
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Lion Financial Services (LFS) provides investment management services to approximately 350,000 customers, made up of corporations, institutions, and individuals. The bulk of LFS’ transactions with its customers, making up roughly half of all transactions, are carried out through its call centers. Thus, the efficient and productive operations of the LFS call centers is a priority for the company and critical to its bottom line.
In early 2000, Jim Boatwright, LFS’ Vice President of Operations, determined that a thorough examination of LFS’ call centers was called for. Boatwright knew that technology had significantly advanced since the LFS call centers were originally designed and he was keenly aware that LFS was facing a steady increase in the associated costs of operating these call centers. Boatwright contacted Customer Solutions Group (CSG) in February of 2000 and Andy Carr, CSG’s Chief Operating Officer, was brought in to begin working on the project of providing actionable and specific recommendations that would be designed to improve quality and reduce costs. Carr spent the next several months observing the call center operations, interviewing managers and employees, and analyzing the existing data, training materials and corporate reports. After extensive analysis, Carr was prepared to present his findings and new design for LFS’ call center and operations.
Our team supports Carr’s redesign proposal of LFS’ call center and believe the recommendations have merit based on our evaluation. We believe it will be successful in providing LFS with the following outcomes: a consistent and exemplary level of customer service, short time to answer, and reduce annual operating expense by $1.5 million (Page 11, Paragraph 4). However, we only make this recommendation so long as Andy and LFS’s management create a thorough implementation plan that addresses business continuity and mitigates risks associated with large process redesign efforts.
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