Part 1: Growth Imperatives Focus The Business On Point-Of-Service Workers

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1 A Forrester Consulting Thought Leadership Paper Commissioned By Lexmark Part 1: Growth Imperatives Focus The Business On Point-Of-Service Workers Expanded Process Boundaries And The Search For Human Connection June 2012

2 Table Of Contents Executive Summary... 2 Traditional Work Patterns Disrupted By Technology And Economic Forces... 2 Process Boundaries Moving To POS Locations... 6 Yet Support For POS Workers Seen As Inadequate... 7 Appendix A: Methodology Appendix B: Supplemental Material , Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited. Information is based on best available resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change. Forrester, Technographics, Forrester Wave, RoleView, TechRadar, and Total Economic Impact are trademarks of Forrester Research, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies. For additional information, go to [1-KEP82D] About Forrester Consulting Forrester Consulting provides independent and objective research-based consulting to help leaders succeed in their organizations. Ranging in scope from a short strategy session to custom projects, Forrester s Consulting services connect you directly with research analysts who apply expert insight to your specific business challenges. For more information, visit Page 1

3 Executive Summary For years, business has invested in support for production workers those in the back office - that work with standardised processes mostly to move to straight through processes and reduce head count. Today, companies are thinking once again about growth and that means improving the customer experience and better support for employees that service customers in the field or at the point of services. Forrester Consulting surveyed 159 global IT and business decision-makers and found that today, these POS workers are poorly supported by current systems, underutilised and provide a great opportunity to differentiate a company s product or service. In short, organisations will require new processes that will require support for an emerging workforce and newly empowered customers. Technologies that include mobile capture and print, business process management, dynamic case management will be strong enablers. Traditional Work Patterns Disrupted By Technology And Economic Forces Today, the companies are thinking once again about growth although cost reductions still are the lead focus for many (see Figure 1). This is not surprising given the up and down signals that we receive from daily economic data but clearly the focus is turning to the top line, as we crawl back. And to many enterprises that means improving the customer experience and better support for employees that service customers in the field or at the point of service (see Figure 2). Page 2

4 Figure 1 Cost Reductions Still Lead Priorities But Revenue A Close Second Page 3

5 Figure 2 Front and Back-Office Integration Followed By limited Personalisation Are Limiting Growth These forces lead to new work patterns and categories and the emerging importance of the POS worker. But who are these employees, and are they a significant part of the workforce? To put the POS worker in context consider the: The Knowledge Worker works with ideas and manages teams. They need to create, consume, transform and analyse data. And will work in an unstructured, free-form way, maybe starting with a set of ideas which are collaborated on and built into a new document/report/form/business process. Examples of this type of worker include middle/senior managers, consultants and marketing execs. The Production Worker the strongest contrast to the Knowledge worker. They create and consume, but don't transform or manage information and need rapid and routine access to information as part of a standardised process. This type of user typically works in some kind of administrative, or structured, workflow like claims processing. Production workers perform tasks in a very standardised manner. Indeed, our focus for technology investment has traditionally been on production workers and keeping them under control and at higher and higher utilisation. The Point-Of-Service (POS) employees with characteristics of both knowledge and production. But there is a new twist to a very familiar worker, the point-of-service worker that includes bank clerks, call centre operators, nurses, people in supervisor roles, shop managers or bank managers. They make a large and underserved percentage of the work force and include a growing population of casual workers (see Figure 3). And today they are underutilised reduced to entering data have limited information management support. But in the future they will need to find facts quickly, create documents, edit, write and process information, solve more complex exceptions and leverage mobile solutions. And enterprises now look at POS workers to not just do their job but as key assets to help grow the business (see Figure 4). Page 4

6 Figure 3 Point-Of-Service Workers Are A Significant Percentage of The Workforce For Most Companies Figure 4 Businesses Overwhelming Look To Field-Based Employees For Growth Base: Variable worldwide IT and business decision makers at organisations with more than 1,000 employees Page 5

7 Process Boundaries Moving To POS Locations Our survey suggests a fundamental change in how most processes are managed today. Today, exceptions are often kicked to the back-office and placed in a work queue essentially handled by production workers. Tomorrow s processes will be handled in the moment at the point of service, assisted by mobile technology and more responsive system support. In essence the boundaries of the process have been pushed out to the customer or to those serving the customer and no longer start at the company s firewall or with events received in the back office. Key drivers for this fundamental shift in how work gets completed include: A need to recapture human connection. Also cited in the survey is an increasing need for human connection. In an ironic twist, consistent and obsessive connection driven by mobility trends may lead to a new form of solitude and loss of human connection. POS workers enabled by smarter systems can help fill this void. Field workers now seen as a critical asset. With companies thinking once again about growth improving the customer experience and better support for employees that service customers is moving up the list of priorities. Sixty per cent of respondents see POS employees as the way to differentiate their company and critical to improving the customer experience. And they want them to use their brains more as forty per cent believe they can and should solve more complex problems (see Figure 5). Page 6

8 Figure 5 Improving Customer Experience With Empowered POS Worker Is An Investment Driver A push for new in moment customer experience. For years, business has invested in support for production workers those in the back office - that work with standardised processes mostly to move to straight through processes and reduce head count. But now enterprises are investing in systems that improve customer engagement because this is what the customer expects. They want to complete transactions on the run, capture information through their device and interact with employees that can do the same. Yet Support For POS Workers Seen As Inadequate Most enterprises (65%) believe POS workers could be more effective with better support. Unlike the knowledge worker, the POS worker tends to work only with data and information, not ideas. They create and consume, but don't transform or manage information They need to be able to find facts quickly, create documents, edit, write and process information and respondents felt that they could be much more effective with better support, that they are underutilised and can benefit from more advanced solutions (see Figure 6). Page 7

9 Figure 6 65% Of Enterprises Believe POS Workers Could Be More Effective With Better Support Of particular concern is the growing gap between what technology customers have and what the POS worker have. This is particularly dramatic in industries with strong business-to-consumer offerings and large field-based employees, like retail, pharmacy, medical and government. Forty-six per cent of respondents selected this gap as the greatest concern facing POS workers (see Figure 7). This was followed by challenges in updating and maintaining systems to support these workers. Page 8

10 Figure 7 Most Feel The Support Problem Is Getting Worse With Advances In Consumer Technology A big part of this growing gap is mobility, a major infrastructure change, with 126 million tablets forecasted by Forrester to be in use by 2016, as well as 257 million smart devices (see Appendix B). In all, companies will spend over 55.7 billion dollars on mobile applications and on the restructuring of processes to accommodate the explosion in consumer technology. This will transform business processes to the extent that most will be initiated from mobile locations. Customers will be in control of the process more than ever and will determine how to be communicated with and serviced. Please refer to Part 2 for Forrester s recommendations on solutions for POS worker challenges. Page 9

11 Appendix A: Methodology In this study, Forrester conducted an online survey of 159 global IT and business decision-makers at organisations with more than 1,000 employees. Executives in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany and India were asked about the challenges that they face as they try to grow their businesses and to assess the support challenges their Point-of- Service (POS) workers face. Respondents were also asked to rate how important enabled POS were to achieving growth objectives and what initiatives their organisations had in place to enable this new worker category. The study began in March 2012 and was completed in June Appendix B: Supplemental Material Related Forrester Research Mobile Is The New Face Of Engagement, Forrester Research, Inc., 13 February, 2012 Page 10