Engagement Summaries

(Value-Stream Mapping)

First Card Visa Operations

A large financial services organization which issues credit cards and collects monthly balances. They do not directly deal with retailers. Card holders are primarily U.S. based. The organization prides itself on high levels of customer service and meeting performance targets.

Client Needs: The organization was experiencing significant growth in revenues and earnings. The Customer Services Department, which handled third party billing disputes, also saw it's work volumes increasing significantly. Costs were higher, employees were frustrated, and customers were less satisfied because billing disputes were taking too long to resolve.

Our Approach: We worked with a team of key personnel involved in the Customer Services Department. A value-mapping team consisting of a telephone operator, two adjusters, three support personnel and two managers was assembled to work on the "Billing Dispute Process." The team reported to the senior executive in charge of Customer Service. We helped to select team members, establish the scope, set goals, clarify the roles and responsibilities for the process owner and team members. We also served as the project manager over the course of the project, organizing the work and tracking performance to the project plan with the team.

Implemented Solutions and Results: The project team exceeded the original project goals and received recognition from senior management.

• Cost savings exceeded half a million dollars.

• Several jobs were redesigned to decrease employee frustration.

• Cycle times were increased by more than 400% for half of all billing disputes handled by the unit.

• Customer satisfaction increased.

• No employees were laid off.

• Revised dispute processing operations eliminated non-value adding steps of the process.

• Half of the team members were promoted after the project as a result of the work they did.

One of the unusual actions in this process was the addition of an additional step to the process. The increased effectiveness on how work was sequenced largely resulted in the above cycle time and productivity improvements.