Lion Financial Services Case

1) How do the principles outlined in the “principles of redesign” relate to the changes suggested by Andy in the Call Center Design for Lion Financial Services? One of the process design principles is to enable workers to make decisions. Andy is assigning the decision-making authority to the agent, by providing the agents with clear-cut rules of thumb to guide them through resolving customer issues and by providing a call blueprint that details how to respond to specific calls. Should they encounter any issues after going through the script; the agent will have the option to escalate the call to a supervisor to address. Another principle that is utilized is to perform the work where it makes sense. A Personal Identification Number will be used to identify the caller as a customer or broker; the IVR system will then adjust the touch-tone menus according to the identification. The create multiple versions of processes principle is also used by this process because with this redesign, LFS is first going to identify the type of caller and then route the call to the automated system, combined Quickline, Customer or Broker service areas. Andy also plans to use the arrange the process steps in a natural order principle. LFS will route all calls thru the Automatic Call Distributor without any human intervention. Furthermore, Andy's proposal practices checks and controls are reduced by creating and managing personal identification number (PIN) that is unique to customers. By introducing the PIN system and allowing the customer to have the option of using their SSN the checks and controls are reduced from the caller.

You have identified some of the close matches. A critical one to debate on is " Workers make decisions." Andy's recommendation seems to be counter to it due to the standardization he advocates. There are others that make less sense in this context such as, "checks and controls are reduced," and "reconciliation is minimized."