The Client
A large, market-leading health insurance provider in the South completed a market
strategy targeting objectives for establishing key provider relationships and further penetration of specific member markets.
At the same time, the company was embarking on two strategic initiatives - one to transform their current technologies and
another to redesign its business operations.
The Challenge
Integration of these three related but distinct initiatives was imperative. Each
provided a potentially valid blueprint for executing the company's business objectives. Which part of the business should
be changed first? How would enterprise goal attainment be measured as each sub-component of the business was redesigned? How
could implementation costs and investments be managed across the three large-scale, multi-year initiatives? How should technological
developments be prioritized to accelerate strategy execution?
How We Helped
The first step was to consolidate and rationalize the numerous perspectives of
a future operational model into five "core" business processes. Each core process wholly contained the detailed business processes
required to operate the company in the future. Each core process was then aligned to a strategic business metric derived from
the long-range market strategy. Partnering with key company executives, the core processes and metrics were sequenced in relation
to their criticality to accomplish the long-range strategy. This sequence provided the basis for aligning and prioritizing
the technology development plans and process redesign activities.
With a strategic performance framework clearly articulated, the second step was
to develop a customized process redesign methodology for the company. This included a comprehensive set of tools job
aids, and training to enable process redesign teams to address and improve the sequenced core processes. The customized program
integrated key concepts from program management, change management, TQM, and business process re-engineering. The methodology
and tool set was designed and standardized for re-use as additional process redesign teams were launched.
Intensive training programs were developed and conducted for the first two process
redesign teams tasked with transforming the first core processes in the sequence. The program was conducted jointly with the
client enabling them to maintain ownership of the methodology and tool set.
Success
The "strategy first" nature of the project led to a multi-year prioritization
of process redesign efforts synchronized with technology development and deployment. All efforts moved forward as envisioned
and planned, resulting in attainment of the long-range market plans and strategic objectives. The CEO formally recognized
our joint (client and consultant) team for clarifying and aligning critical objectives for the company.
