sewood2008

In 2006 I was in charge of a project to guage customer satisfaction with our services called "The Customer Loyalty Project". Whats an IT guy like me working on a project like this? IT works accross the entire organization. As you can imigine the banking industry is a highly regulated one. What makes bank a better than bank b? They are both lending money at the same rate, to the same clientelle. We were trying to initiate brand loyalty in banking. Think about two of the best brands in the world. Harley Davidson and Coca Cola. What brand recognition Harley Davidson has. People will tatoo their brand on their arms!
Below is some of the change management I actually was in charge of initiating. Unfortuneately Provident Bank was bought out by National City shortly after this project got underway and was never fully implemented.

Scott Wood
June 2006
Overview
The ability to effectively implement change is key to organizational success. 60-70% of changes fail due to lack of follow-up/follow-through, communication, clear direction, and a host of other reasons. Therefore, Provident Bank has adopted a formal change management process that orchestrates the many activities needed to make the change successful. In this case, the change being managed is the design and implementation of the Customer Loyalty project.

Assessment of the Change
Although the Customer Loyalty project is highly pervasive in that it affects many people within the organization, the change is not a deep one. It appears that, implemented effectively, this project has many benefits and few disadvantages, which simplifies the change management process. Observations of the change are as follows:
o The business case convincingly establishes the need for change.
o There is strong leadership support for the project.
o Moving from Customer Satisfaction to Customer Loyalty is a natural evolution, not a major change in the status quo.
o There is minimal change in terms of the knowledge and skills needed for workers and supervisors to do their jobs in the future.
o There will be no impact on staffing levels.
o Training will address process changes as well as the difference in measuring customer satisfaction vs. customer loyalty.
o The elements of an effective change management plan, which include project planning, communications, and training, are well established and progressing on schedule.
o The new survey process leverages EDM functionality and reduces complexity when accessing survey results.

Applying the Change Model
The Change Model consists of five phases:
Prepare o Build the Case for Change
Direct
Execute
Assess
Reinforce.