Corporate Acupuncture

"The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you. If you do that, you're in control of your life. If you don't, life controls you."

~ Anthony Robbins

Everywhere there is a "touch-point" there is the possibility of a "pain-point." Touch-points could also be viewed as points of interaction between two unique identities - the interface. Typical interactions include customer & customer service, application A & application B, and etc. Issues between touch-points are typically failures in the communication medium. The goal here is to minimize and eliminate pain-points. Ideally, we turn every touch-point to a "pleasure-point."

Companies need to remember that customers are buying the product / service for what it provides, not for what it is. In its entirety, a product includes ALL touch-points between the customer and the company - including vendors, documentation, advertising, web, customer service, and etc. To better appreciate this concept, consider everything that the company is paying for to obtain a happy, paying, loyal, vocal customer.

To prioritize, companies need to perform a Cost / Benefit analysis - qualify and quantify the soft and hard impacts. There are no pain-points that won't negatively impact the bottom-line.

Some of the common touch-points to consider include the following:

• Customer: Direct (web, phone, face-to-face) or indirect (policies, procedures, manufacturing, after-market repairs) contact with the customer
• IT: Interaction (connectivity, functionality, efficiency) within the IT or other physical infrastructures.
• Financial: Revenue streams (direct, indirect, secondary, etc.), and costs (consider all vertical and horizontal business partners).
• Operational: Infrastructure (operational, organizational, procedural, communication channels and methods, physical and virtual connectivity, and etc.)
• Employees: Employee KSA's (knowledge, skills, and abilities) and company related interactions with the employee (payroll, organization, training, rewards).

In evaluating these touch-points, look at their effectiveness, efficiency, and resources utilized. At each process / step / point, assign a $ figure. While looking at the costs or revenue streams, look for ways to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and resources utilized. One can continue evaluating by performing a SWOT or Porter’s Five Forces analysis and make plans to turn everything into a Strength and Opportunity.

By having this comprehensive vision of the company, division, or team, you can quickly see the areas of opportunity to maximize profits, reduce overhead, perform and provide more effectively and efficiently, and establish realistic ROI projections to justify financial allocations.

~ Jason Saetrum