Strategic Lean Service is a highly readable case study of the
groundbreaking use of Lean - conceived and shaped in the
manufacturing sector - to transform a global IT service delivery
organization. It surveys the course traveled by Baan Customer
Service & Support (CS&S) in the early years of the new
millennium, at a point when it faced a number of serious problems.
Led by Senior Vice-President Ardin Vlot, Baan CS&S analyzed its
position with stark honesty and embarked on a campaign of deep,
across-the-board transformation in order to establish unprecedented
new levels of customer satisfaction. In doing so it also
transformed employee engagement levels and work satisfaction,
forged improved relationships with its suppliers, and provided a
powerful, lifechanging experience for its leaders. Lean was the
platform used to drive this transformation. Robert Oh,
Vice-President of Baan CS&S Asia-Pacific-Japan (APJ), led
CS&S's global strategic improvement project Operation Breeze
utilizing Lean. Sunit Prakash, Director of Operations Baan CS&S
APJ, was responsible for implementing the benefits of Lean in the
APJ region. Together they guide us through the journey CS&S
undertook between 2000 and 2003, uncovering for us the major
aspects of its transformation. At the end of each chapter they
summarize key elements. After showing us their vision of the power
and scope of Lean, the authors describe the CS&S organization's
situation at the end of 2000. They then introduce us to its new
Lean-based strategy, Up To Excellence, devised to turn around the
organization's identified problems. Each of the strategy's five
supporting 'pillars' (Planning, Tracking and Reporting; Human
Capital Development; Process and Performance Improvement; Supplier
Management; and Support Infrastructure, Innovation and Technology)
is described in some detail, and we discover how each plays its
part in the organization's transformation. The book's last few
chapters show us in a variety of ways the remarkable results of the
transformation project, headlined by the revolution achieved in
customer satisfaction levels. Bottom-up change and new business
opportunities opened up by changes the transformation generated are
each the subject of a chapter, followed by chapters on the function
of leadership and the essential need to transmit vision,
inspiration and a strong sense of shared identity if this kind of
change process is to succeed. Scattered throughout the book are
comments from other members of CS&S's management teams. These
add weight to the authors' accounts and observations, and reinforce
the commitment of the whole organization to the transformation
strategy. Both authors knew nothing about Lean at the beginning of
their CS&S transformation journey. But the lessons they learned
and the distance they traveled over the ensuing three to four years
have profoundly affected the direction of their professional lives.
Robert Oh went on to found Eagles Wings, a Lean Six Sigma
consulting and training firm based in Singapore, and speaks at
conferences and contributes to publications as a Lean Thought
Leader (http: //www.eagles-wings.info). Sunit Prakash, now based in
New Zealand, has taken the insights and dynamic of Lean with him
into a wide range of management and consulting roles with global
and specialist niche ICT organizations (http: //www.sunit.co.nz).
Strategic Lean Service is not a dry textbook. The passion with
which this story is told demonstrates what a profound and
longlasting impact CS&S's Lean transformation journey made on
those involved - in Ardin Vlot's words "a fascinating roller
coaster ride with a group of people who clearly achieved more than
they had ever imagined they could." This book will inspire and
equip anyone planning for or involved in the transformation of an
organization, especially those with an interest in finding out more
about Lean strategies and practices.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
(3)
