Customer experience - get the basics right

Today, I was asked to print, complete, sign, scan and return by email a form from a financial services business of which I have been a customer for over 12 years. Fortunately, the form was only a single page. On that form, however, I was required to write my full name, not once, but three - 3! - times.

A good place to start is to assume that your customers hate doing data capture. There are probably three reasons for this:

1. it is laborious and time-consuming - think: the opposite of enjoyable.
2. they may not have all the information to hand - OK: I did have my name to hand, but that same form also required me to fill in a tax reference number, which I did have to look up, and which I had also given them on previous occasions.
3. they're worried about the consequences of providing incorrect information - we've all been there, some forms can be inordinately complex and cause quite a lot of anxiety.

So a good customer experience should avoid data capture wherever possible. There are a number of ways of doing this:

1. use the data they've already given you - never ask a customer to give the same information twice.
2. build data connections to partner organisations in an ecosystem - for example, a workplace pensions administrator should get most of the member data it needs from the employer. (If your business does not yet exist within an ecosystem, your should start identifying one and integrating with it post-haste as you can be assured that your customers are using your product and service within some broader context.)
3. build links to independent identity providers like Yoti or HatDEX, or even using Google, Facebook and/or Linkedin identity management services, depending on what is most appropriate to your business.
4. use AI to determine and present useful defaults.

In this day and age, it is no longer acceptable to expect your customer to do extra work because your systems are inadequate and disconnected. Put the customer at the centre of your business and build a customer experience that is convenient to them.

See also:

• What banks can learn from British Airways - Chris Skinner's blog

Ironically, just after drafting this I received an email from Spotify asking me to provide them with some customer feedback. I usually complete such surveys for products and services I really like because I really want them to get even better. So I did. To my surprise, the questions included:

• Have you ever tried Spotify? Yes, I am a loyal paying customer. I presume that is where you got my email address from!
• When last did you listen to Spotify? Actually, I am listening to it right now. If you checked your records, you would see that.
• How likely are you to subscribe to Spotify's premium service? Not very likely to be honest. A second subscription would seem unnecessary while I am still paying every month for the first.

Spotify, I hope you will try harder in future - I love your services, and I'd really like to help.

11 techniques to help you do a better SWOT analysis

The humble SWOT analysis, which lists an organisation's Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats, remains one of the most popular models in strategic analysis.

But is simplicity and power make it notoriously difficult to do well.

In this article we will look at several techniques to help you do a better SWOT:

1. Brainstorm a quick and dirty SWOT

Brainstorming is probably the default way of doing a SWOT analysis. Whilst it is not the most robust approach, it should not be dismissed entirely, particularly if you are looking for a very quick result or a starting point for further work using some of the other techniques described below.

Brainstorming can be improved by including a broad cross-section of employees and outsiders such as consultants, customers, suppliers and distributors, as well as by making use of SWOT checklists.

2. Start from your Business Model Canvas

A much more structured approach is to start with a Business Model Canvas or enhanced Business Model Canvas of your as-is or to-be organisation. Work through each element in each section of the canvas and do a mini-SWOT of that element: evaluate your strengths and weaknesses regarding that element, and consider what trends might impact on it positively (opportunities) or negatively (threats).

You don't need to have a long list of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for each element, but the process of working through them in this way will yield a much more thorough SWOT analysis.

3. Start from your Value Chain Analysis

You can use a Porter's Value Chain of your as-is or to-be organisation in much the same way.

If you've already used a Business Model Canvas or enhanced Business Model canvas to improve your SWOT, then you will already have considered your Core processes, so all that remains is to consider any Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats relating to your Support processes.

4. Use a PESTEL Analysis

A PESTEL analysis is a great way to identify a wide range of opportunities an threats your business faces. For each consideration identified in the PESTEL analysis, simply ask how it might help or hinder your organisation. You may also be able to identify threats and weaknesses by asking where your organisation is particularly well or poorly placed to respond to the trends in your PESTEL.

For a very thorough analysis, consider the possible impact of every item in your PESTEL analysis against every element in your (enhanced) Business Model Canvas or Porter's Value Chain.

5. Use a Porter's 5 Forces Analysis

You can use a Porter's 5 Forces analysis very much like you use your PESTEL analysis to identify opportunities and threats.

6. Use a McKinsey 7S

Whilst the PESTEL and Porter's 5 Forces analyses focus on factors outside of the organisation itself, a McKinsey 7S analysis looks at factors which are directly under the organisation's control. It is important to consider not just the strengths and weaknesses for each of the 7 dimensions in this analysis, but also to consider the alignment between them as a source of potential strength or weakness.

7. Mine your Customer Analysis

If you've already used your (enhanced) Business Model Canvas to improve your SWOT, you will already have considered each of your customer segments. But don't stop there - scour all of your customer analysis for clues as to what should be in your SWOT.

What do your customers say they value or don't value about your organisation's products and service, and how you deliver them? If they don't by your products and services, what do they buy instead?

8. Mine your Competitor Analysis

Competitor analysis is a great source or insight into your organisation's strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Which competitors are gaining or losing market share and why? Are their target markets shifting over time? What capabilities are they investing in, and what kinds of skills are they hiring? Which employees or customers are leaving you or your competitors and where are they going? What do your competitors say in their press releases and marketing material to persuade their investors and customers that they will be successful?

9. Be specific - avoid platitudes in your SWOT

When listing their strengths, most organisations say things like "our people are our greatest asset" or something similar. But don't settle for that. Ask: What specifically can your people do, that customers, distributors or other stakeholders value, that is different and better than your competitors? The more specific and quantifiable you can be, the better.

10. Back your SWOT up with detailed analysis

Usually, when you see a SWOT analysis it is in the form of simple lists of short statements of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. But don't stop there. For each statement, back it up with detailed evidence and analysis. What data support the statement? What examples illustrate it? The more detail you can provide, the more compelling your SWOT analysis will be.

Don't be afraid of including contradictory evidence and data. Strategy is a complex and often ambiguous subject. If it was easy, everyone would be doing. By including contradictory evidence and data, you will increase your credibility, allow stakeholders with contrary views to feel that they have been heard, and most importantly, remain more alive to the possibility of your analysis changing as the situation evolves.

Your detailed analysis could include evidence and data about not only your organisation but also about your customers, partners competitors, etc.

11. Prioritise what you include in your final SWOT

Used correctly, these techniques will generate a vast quantity of information for your SWOT. A good SWOT analysis, however, is usually brief and to the point - highlighting the absolutely key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in a way that engages, connects with and focusses key strategic decision makers.

It is therefore important to prioritise your findings. Strengths and weaknesses can be prioritised by impact, whilst opportunities and threats should be prioritised by impact and likelihood. Don't be afraid to combine related items, or separate more complex items out into their constituent parts.

Once you've prioritised your SWOT analysis, exclude the least impactful or likely factors. Don't discard them, though - you may want to continue to keep an eye on them in case circumstances change and they become more significant again.

StratNavApp.com supports all of these techniques in a collaborative online environment. Why not try it for free right now and start producing a better SWOT analysis that makes a real difference to your organisation?

See also:

• The consistently popular SWOT analysis

Dealing with 'inevitabilities' in business strategy

Many of the threats and opportunities we identify on SWOT and PESTEL analyses are uncertain: things that might or might not happen or things that might happen one way or another. Others are simply trends which carry with them an air of inevitability.

For example, we don't know:

• if antibiotics will lose their effectiveness or if medicine will find an alternative approach,
• if the world will be able to reverse the effects of global warming and/or overpopulation, or
• whether the current political trend to the right will continue, etc.

However, we can be pretty sure that:

• products and services will continue to digitise,
• data will become increasingly important in the way the world functions,
• autonomous vehicles will eventually succeed human-driven vehicles, 
• people will be more inclined to rent assets which they had previously been required to own, and
• AI will take on ever more complex tasks previously thought to require a human to perform them.

Of course, the distinction between these categories of uncertain and inevitable changes can be blurred and depend on the lens through which you look at them. But in any strategic context and time-frame, it is usually possible to distinguish between the two.

How should a strategist handle these inevitables?

One swallow does not a summer make

Every inevitability will have its doubters: people who think it will not come to pass - as often as not, because they simply don't want it to happen.

But as strategists, we must deal with the world the way it is, not the way we wish it were.

Even the strongest trends seldom proceed in a straight line. There are invariably numerous setbacks and other surprises. The doubters will cease upon these as evidence that it will not happen. But, as Aristotle said:

One swallow does not a summer make.

There can be few recent examples as dramatic as the bursting of the dot.com bubble around the turn of the century. Many businesses went bust, and I am sure that small fortunes were lost. At the time many heralded this as proof that people wanted to continue to do business as they had before and that the threat of technology had been shown to be a hollow sham. However, as much of a setback as it was, the dot.com trend recovered and strengthened.

Part of the strategists' role is to see through these setbacks and other anomalies and remain focused on the underlying trend.

Not 'if' but 'when' and 'how'

Once we've established that something is more or less certain to happen, we can stop worrying about if it will happen, and start applying our minds to when and how it will happen.

The strategist should monitor such trends on an ongoing basis. Do recent events suggest that the trend is speeding up or slowing down, or likely to speed up or slow down? Are they evolving in a way which is slightly different to how they started out or where originally expected to play out?

For example, Amazon changed the business of book distribution (and many other businesses!) forever. But what fewer people had anticipated was how Amazon was able to use its new-found power in the publishing industry to launch the Kindle where so many other e-readers had failed before it.

Being alert to these subtle changes in a trend which seems otherwise inevitable could be a source of significant strategic advantage, especially where all of your competitors are also building their propositions around the same trend.

So, perhaps it is time to go back over your SWOT and PESTEL analyses, distinguish between those which are uncertainties and those which are inevitabilities, and ensure you have appropriate sense-and-respond strategies in place for each.

photo credit: Duncan Rawlinson - Duncan.co - @thelastminute Passage via photopin (license)

4 remedies for your innovation woes

Innovate or die!

These days everyone is either innovating or desperately wishing they were.

Don't get me wrong - innovation is a good thing. As customers' expectations evolve at an increasingly alarming pace, organisations that fail to innovate quickly get left behind.

However, most of the organisations I speak to don't feel they're innovating particularly well.

So, here are my 4 tips for better innovation:

1. Work from the outside in, not from the inside out

Start by describing an ideal world as experienced by the customer. Describe what they do, why they do it, and how they feel about it. If possible, talk a few customers through this and see if their eyes light up or if they start to drift off.

Avoid the temptation to start by describing how you could improve your existing products, services and processes, or how you could leverage some exciting new idea.

This helps to ensure that all of your innovations serve a genuine customer need. Only then should you consider whether you have, or could gain access to the technologies and capabilities required to deliver it. 

2. Don't try and boil the ocean

Once you have a clear picture of what you want to do, don't try and do it all in one go.

Instead, break it into the smallest chunks that you can that will still deliver some value to the customer.

This delivers customer value sooner, and with less risk and less cost. They also allow you to learn what is and isn't working, and to adjust your approach accordingly as you go.

Note that these small chunks are not the proverbial quick wins or low hanging fruit - because you've started from the outside in and broken your propositions down, they are integral components of your strategic transformation programme.

See also: Big business appears to favour big change

3. Measure twice, cut once

Determine measurable hypotheses and build your measurement systems into the solution right up front.

Test your hypotheses on a scientific basis - that is with control groups. If you don't have control groups, you will never have any way of knowing whether your innovation caused the observed improvement, or whether it was caused by some other factor.

Don't try to collect data after the fact. It is too tempting for people to try and collect data which proves the hypothesis.

And don't try to collect data manually. People get lazy and start to cut corners. People want to move on to the next idea, and you want them to be free to. Instead, build the measurement into the solution, so that the measurement data is generated as a by-product of the process.

See also: Management approaches to data, Getting the most out of KPIs, and How to measure success against strategic vision and objectives

4. Make sure you build a reverse gear

If your hypothesis fails - the innovation does not produce a measurable improvement, or worse still, produces a measurable decrease - then you need to be ready to reverse it out.

All too often organisations are unable (because it is technically too difficult) or unwilling (because they are too emotionally invested in it) to reverse failed innovations out. Generally, it takes a little more effort to build innovations which can easily be reversed out, but it is worth it, in the long run, to keep your innovation process honest.

Lots of pundits talk about the need to embrace failure. You can only do so, if you can reverse it out, and learn from it before trying again.

See also: Strategic Analysis: Old Mutual changes its replatforming partner

photo credit: wuestenigel Socket on the wall via photopin (license)

Of Operating Models, Business Models and Strategy

I was talking earlier this week about the operating model changes that would be required to deliver a particular strategy, and someone (quite rightly) challenged me to be more clear on what I meant by operating model, and how it relates to other ideas like business model.

Andrew Campbell is as good an authority on the subject as any. He teaches Business Models on the Ashridge Executive Education course and is also the author of the book Operating Model Canvas (which I would highly recommend).

Handily he has also written a short and accessible article on Business Models and Operating Models.

In it, he confirms the conventional summary of an Operating Model as People, Processes and Technology. (He goes on to define an alternative which may be technically better but somehow seems less accessible.)

He refers also to Alex Osterwalder's book Business Model Canvas, which I would also highly recommend.

I think you could probably summarise:

• Operating Model: How you operate.
• Business Model: What you offer to Who and how you make money from it.
• Strategy: Why this achieves your purpose.

See also:

• How to design a Target Operating Model (TOM)
• Introducing the Enhanced Business Model Canvas

6 steps for using scenarios in strategic planning (info graphic)

I have been doing a lot of work with scenarios lately, and so I compiled an info graphic outlining the key steps to using them for strategic planning.

The 6 steps are:

1. Scenarios are plausible stories about how the future might unfold.
2. Use a PESTEL analysis to identify uncertainties in your future.
3. Build an Impact/Uncertainty matrix to identify scenario drivers.
4. Create a 2X2 matrix of the highest impact/highest uncertainty drivers.
5. Forecast your business plan within each scenario to identify problems and opportunities.
6. Evaluate your strategic options against each scenario for robustness.

I hope you enjoy the info graphic below. Please let me know what you think in the comments below the post.

The problem with FinTech

I think I have discovered the problem with FinTech.

The problem is that FinTech exists.

By that, I mean that it exists as a category. Because as soon as it exists as a category, it implies that there is an alternative approach.

Financial Services has been a technology business at least since I first got involved in it in the early 1990s. One of my first vacation jobs, as a student, was loading data tapes on those old 'reel-to-reel' drives in the basement of a large insurance company. My first full-time job was distributing software to be used by financial advisers. Almost every financial services job and engagement I've had since then has had technology in it to at least some extent.

I've heard financial services executives say "we don't want to become a technology company", as well as "you can't win the technology" game. Well, perhaps you have to become a technology company in the sense that, for example, Amazon is both a retailer and a technology company? And perhaps the only way to win is to win the technology game?

Clearly, there is a category of FinTech startups which may disrupt the incumbents, either as competitors or as suppliers, but are they not just financial services startups and innovators?

I think it is time we stopped talking about FinTech as a sub-sector, and about FinTech versus non-Fintech, and just started talking about good use and management of technology in financial services, and bad use and management of technology in financial services.

What do you think?