​It is time to reimagine work and workplace for the ‘new normal’. From high-tech to transportation, healthcare, retail, hospitality and financial services, industry sectors across the world, are seeing dramatic shifts in market value. 

The uncertainty of the pandemic has caused a lot of people to reconsider how they spend their money. So, what will bring shoppers back to stores?

As millions of shoppers were forced to go online due to regional lockdown because of the pandemic, new customer habits got formed. Now we see few established brands closing stores and focusing on selling online; but brick-and-mortar stores aren’t dead yet. Carefully cultivating the in-store experience is key to drawing customers back. Retail companies that act now to mitigate #Covid19 risks while delivering distinctive human-centric experience can emerge from the pandemic with stronger operational resilience, more agile organizations and sustainable competitive advantage.

Moreover, the impact of changing customer behavior is not just on the retail industries, it is also on all those manufacturing companies (such OTC medicines, herbals & supplements, cosmetics & personal products, packaged foods, others) that produce goods which retail companies sell.

The impact of Covid-19 on customer behavior has been sweeping and inevitable. To win in this next normal, both manufacturing and service companies can start improving sales by taking following six key actions steps-

1. Identify interactions: Collate all types of interactions that happen while conducting your business. Then classify those interactions into three categories-(a) Employee-to-employee, (b) Employee-to-customer and (c) Customer-to-customer. Now use data analytics to create customer persona and product portfolio. 

Note that this is a moving target meaning, customer personas change with time. So, make sure that the 'interaction' data capture is continuous. 

2. Create customer-centric product line by modifying existing products, develop line-extensions or new products based on the information from step 1. Build an effective innovation strategy and execution modality to gain market share. 

Use proven innovation management tools such as TRIZ, DOE, Hoshin, DFSS, DFM, QbD, Design Thinking, Agile etc. to manage your product portfolio.

Note that, using appropriate innovation tools brings-in trifold benefits such as- (i) Creation of customer-centric products, (ii) Speedy product development and (iii) Lower innovation / product development cost. As much as 30-40% cost-savings happen when you employ innovation tools while developing products.
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3. Diagnose all types of risks and then prioritize them based on their intensity. You may use a Prioritization Matrix to set-up risk priorities. Further, use risk management tools such as FMEA to prevent or mitigate risks. Once process/ product risk management activity is completed, the next step is to develop effective solutions.

4. Develop solutions that will most affect your products and business at large and begin executing solutions.

5. Adapt and calibrate your product mix as well as business processes to the changing customer persona and market landscape. Having the right product at the right time in front of the buyer is key.

6. Continuously improve your business. That is continuously improve your sales process, technical process and other business processes by using continuous improvement methodologies.

There are eighteen proven continuous improvement techniques you may choose from based your workplace size, culture and demands. Sustainable growth and increased profits are obtained with Lean, Kaizen, Agile and TPM. These methodologies may be used either singly or in combination depending on the process. You may checkout how to choose a business process improvement methodology for your organization here.

​In conclusion, rebalancing sales processes coupled with an on-demand customer-centric product mix is the lifeline for survival and growth of manufacturing and service companies today and beyond... 

If you need best expertise to help you with your business process improvement goals, sales target, reach out to us.

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‘Go- digital’ is the new magic mantra in today’s time of the ‘new normal’. The new normal induced by the pandemic compels us to work differently as we successfully wade thru the un-lockdown phase …

Clear and inspiring communication is central to making returning to work a success. In addition to moving decisively on strategic changes, leaders need to help unnerved workforce believe in the future.

Traditional ways of working are ebbing fast. Most companies have installed sophisticated IT infrastructure such as ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems, payroll programs etc. More companies are moving towards automation and digitization. Industry 4.0 involves automation, robotics, artificial intelligence, IoT (internet—of-things), cloud-based working, big data etc. Needless to say, this involves big money.

A well -defined post-pandemic IT strategy should guide cuts and investments. Consider following three points while building your tech modernization strategy-
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1. Define the target product portfolio based on current and new business with strongest prospects and most feasible funding models.
2. Invest efficiently and stick to the plan, operational and commercial excellence will deliver the strategy is full potential.
3. Create clear structure and processes for executing the new strategy across the organization.

Companies will also need to greatly improve their IT productivity to lower their cost base and fund rapid, flexible digital solution development.

Firstly, this requires quickly reducing IT costs and making them variable whenever possible to match demand. This means figuring out what costs are flexible in the near-to-medium terms. For example- by evaluating nonessential costs related to projects or maintenance and reallocating resources. Using process design methodologies such as CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) can give first-class improvement in IT productivity while lowering costs to minimal.

Secondly, this involves defining a future IT product platform, establishing the skills and roles needed to sustain it, mapping these skills onto the new organization model and developing leaders who can train people to fill the new or adopted roles. Using process improvement methodologies such as- Design Thinking, TRIZ or Hoshin during new product platform development ensures a customer-centric product.

Thirdly, the adoption of cloud and automation technologies will need to be speeded-up, including bringing cloud operations on the premise and decommissioning legacy infrastructure.

Increasing the speed and productivity of digital solutions is key. To deal with the crisis and its aftermath, companies not only need to develop digital solutions quickly, but also to adapt their organizations to new operating models and deliver these solutions to customers and employees at scale.

Solving this challenge requires integrating business processes, incorporating data-driven decision-making and implementing proven change management models to manage the change. There are different ways to do this …

#ContinuosImprovement  #NewNormal  #ITStrategy  #DigitalSolutions

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way customers buy- be it buying channel, format or quantities for that matter.

Early on during the pandemic, we witnessed panic buying by shoppers. Everything from toilet papers to grains was stock-out. Both online and brick-n-mortar store shelves were seen left barren; something unheard-off in the North American continent. While physical distancing norms pushed buyers to shop more online rather than visit malls.

A paradigm shift to online way of getting items means companies and their outlets must go digital in a big way. This indicates that the customer is changing, customer’s needs and demands are evolving. Overall, customer persona is changing and also the customer-touch points.

Thus a structured and strategic refocus of digital efforts that reflect changing customer expectations is a must. 

To adapt, companies need to quickly rethink customer journeys and accelerate the development of digital solutions; though the emphasis will be different for each industry sector.

For many retailers, this includes creating a seamless e-commerce experience, enabling customers to complete everything they need to do online, from initial research and purchase to service and returns.

For auto companies, this could mean establishing new digital distribution models to handle trade-ins, financing, servicing and home delivery of cars.

For airline and other transportation industries, it may mean ensuring health and safety. For example- by reinventing the passenger experience with contact-less check-in, boarding and in-flight experience.

For pharmaceutical sector, one of the many areas of going digital means expanding reach of medicinal products via online pharmacies. Drug companies must develop online platforms that facilitate selling of prescription products to patients. This necessitates deep development of platform software to ensure accuracy of dispensing. For example- how to ensure ingenuity of prescription, how to consider health insurance benefits while dispensing medicines for a hospitalized patient etc.

Another arena of digitization in pharmaceutical sphere is detailing to doctors. In a recent survey it was found that 75% of doctors prefer e-detailing as against face-to-face meetup with a sales rep. The e-detailing platform must hence not only be secure but also versatile- meaning all pharmaceutical companies must preferably use the same platform for e-detailing.

Besides digital marketing and e-detailing, drug companies also must consider changes in the healthcare sector, as any change in healthcare process directly impacts drug product sales.

For example, the ongoing pandemic has resulted in minimizing patient visits to clinics. Instead telemedicine is booming where physician consultation happens via videoconferencing or over the phone. The software and/or hardware used for telemedicine purpose must also be compatible with the one used for e-detailing and online pharmacies; only then prescriptions can be tracked.

Drug companies, healthcare professionals and IT developers must collaborate to set up a robust digital platform. If done strategically, this can also be a huge opportunity for pharmaceutical companies to save on recurring overheads in a big way.

Did you know that practicing Kaizen for 15 to 20 minutes daily, is the shortcut to business process improvement including digitization and digitalization processes? You may checkout more on how Kaizen helps pharmaceutical companies here.

Have you initiated steps to improve digitization and digitalization processes in your organization?

Covid-19 pandemic has rattled businesses all over the globe. Bigger businesses with stronger financial ability are perhaps few notches better-off than others who are struggling. ​

But all businesses must deal with today’s battered economy, disrupted supply chain, and changed buying habits of shoppers.

This necessitates that businesses today become more malleable to deal with long-standing turbulence. And that can only happen with continuous improvement of business processes and implementation of solid risk management strategies. I shall discuss Continuous Improvement aspect here … ​

​​For many organizations, Continuous Improvement means something we do when our business is doing good and now, we are looking for a tool to sustain it. But that’s not true. Continuous Improvement campaign on the contrary, must be initiated the moment you are in business.

For organizations which didn’t begin Continuous Improvement while they were start-ups, must begin ASAP. And for all businesses which are struggling to survive either because of the pandemic or otherwise, must initiate Continuous Improvement campaign immediately.

It is not always essential for organizations to undergo a complete make-over since continuous improvement can also be done in increments.

If your organization is small or low on budget front, no worries, simply start with Kaizen.

I’ve separate posts on Kaizen which you may want to check out here. However, I shall briefly introduce Kaizen here-

Kaizen is a Japanese technique of continual improvement. Kaizen involves making small incremental changes to business processes to improve them continually, to bring about exponential rewards. And the best part is that Kaizen can be applied to all industry sectors including manufacturing, service etc. Also, Kaizen can be applied effectively in both non-regulated and regulated industries.

In fact, Kaizen-ing had got most of Japanese companies out of a messed-up economy post world war II. Therefore, Kaizen is a proven business improvement methodology. Having said that, do make sure you’re tweaking Kaizen to suit today’s business environment, especially your organizational culture.

Industry 4.0 involves digitization, automation, robotics, artificial intelligence, remote working etc. Kaizen can be superbly adapted to present day’s work and working norms. Know more about how Kaizen can help your company here.

Combining Kaizen with yet another Continuous Improvement methodology- Lean, has been found to bring-in larger and faster returns. 
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Overall there are more than eighteen scientific, structured, and time-tested Continuous Improvement methodologies. Pick any one or a combination of methodologies that can bring best rewards for your organization.

Once you have decided on which Continuous Improvement methodology to take-on, the next question is- How to initiate the Continuous Improvement campaign (in your organization)? 

It’s said, “Every journey begins with the first step”… and the first step in the Continuous Improvement journey is to acknowledge whether your business processes are or aren’t Effective … since, if the problem isn’t identified, all solutions are bad! 

Lack of business process effectiveness is usually exhibited by low employee motivation, high employee turnover, defective products/ services, product recalls/ returns and customer-complaints. While poor business process efficiency is exhibited by high overheads as well as wastage of time, money and other resources.

The first step of initiating Continuous Improvement in an organization is to build a robust Process Improvement strategy and execution plan. This strategy must be broad and encompass all aspects of the organization’s operations, products, finance, competitors, employees and customers that impact the company’s survival and growth.
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This broad strategy must then be sub-divided into sub-strategies with an aim to modify or re-design each underlying business process to make them Efficient and Effective.

After strategy design, the next step to initiating Continuous Improvement campaign is to conduct a Value Stream Map and Swimlanes to identify all underlying business processes that must be either improved or re-designed. Then map out and detail various stages in each process, analyze each process step and investigate to find out root cause of the problem.

Once root cause(s) of the problem(s) are known, then go ahead with modification or re-design of the process(es) to get rid of the problem(s). Once the problems are ridden, the new process must be backed up by appropriate resources.

Another vital point while improving business process effectiveness and efficiency is to find out- What the customer wants and whether the company has its focus on those wants.

Note that implementing new business processes can be a large step and may require special change management models to facilitate bringing-on change. In addition, employees must be educated on the reasons behind new (modified) business processes that are being implemented to ensure that the process effectiveness rises high.

Therefore, create an environment which fosters employee-engagement. Employees in all departments need to be able to communicate freely and to be heard on various topics, such as their ideas regarding inadequacies or areas that are lacking within the organization. It is vital to take employee suggestions, especially from those most close to the process.

Alongside Continuous Improvement campaign, a successful way to increase business process effectiveness and efficiency is to add greater focus on daily business activities and figure out how they can be made more profitable.

After all steps of Continuous Improvement installation are complete, it is vital to review the changes and continue to use the modified business process to sustain both process effectiveness and efficiency.

Note that, even if a good Continuous Improvement strategy is developed, it does not mean much unless it is applied effectively. 

​In most organizations big and small, business processes such as those underlying Communication, Employee engagement, Training and re-skilling, Product life cycle, Infrastructure, Voice of customer are some of the critical ones to first look at for modification or re-design to thrive-in thru the new normal.

In conclusion, note that, all Continuous Improvement methodologies must be tweaked to include evolutionary customer demands, organization's culture and workplace changes such as- digitization, automation, robotics, artificial intelligence, remote working etc. and adapted to present day’s work and working norms.

​Planning on initiating Continuous Improvement campaign at your workplace?

#ContinuousImprovement  #Kaizen  #Lean #BusinessProcessEffectiveness  #BusinessProcessEfficiency  #ContinousImprovementStrategy #NewNormal  #Covid19  #BusinessProcessImprovement #ProcessDesign

So far rising competition and changing customer demands have posed immense challenges to businesses. However, businesses today must deal with two additional problems namely- high rate of 'change' and irregular cash flow. 

There is little direct control a business has over change, market economy, competition or customer demand. But preventing a situation of irregular cash flow is hundred percent in the hands of the company.

As many as 80% of small businesses worldwide deal with irregular cash flow crisis on a daily basis. This can be completely avoided by installing a culture of Continuous Improvement in your company.

A culture of continuous improvement straight away means continuous business improvement, lower operational costs and higher profits.

But, for Continuous Improvement programs to generate faster ROI (return on investment), we must consider following four factors-

1. Employee engagement.
2. Communication strategy.
3. Employee training.
4. Choice of Continuous Improvement methodology.

Let's look at them one-by-one ...

Employee engagement-
One of the most important ways of developing culture of Continuous Improvement in an organization is to let the employees know their significance to the 'Continuous Improvement' goal.

​Adding an incentive to Continuous Improvement campaigns has often been found to raise employee morale. Incentives such as monetary rewards, flexible work timings, insurance, promotions, paid education, low-interest loans are usually appreciated by employees.

Next success factor is- Communication strategy.

Communication strategy-
Developing a culture of Continuous Improvement often relies on the Continuous Improvement change leader's ability to communicate regularly, precisely and authentically share ideas with employees.  

While designing communication strategy, it is necessary to be conscious that, everyone do not have the ability to communicate exactly what's in their mind. Regardless of the caliber, level of education or work cadre, people do have challenges expressing thoughts and feelings, and it is very human, nothing wrong with it.

Hence, continuous improvement change leaders and HR leaders must design communication strategy over a solid foundation of emotional quotient to empathize and anticipate employee concerns.

Also, change leaders must repeat their messages frequently. The '7 times rule' of branding also applies here.

The 7 times rule says that information must be brought in front of the audience at least seven times via multiple channels and at periodic frequency. Employee-communications must be repeated frequently, so that employees are often reminded of the objective underlying the continuous improvement campaign, and also how their contribution is vital to the success of the campaign.

Further, employees should know whom they can ask questions to; because it is vital that employees are encouraged to ask questions and feel comfortable asking them. 

Lastly, the communication strategy  must be modified from time-to-time as work-place realities change.

The third success factor is Employee training ...

Employee Training-
Continuous Improvement in an organization means that employees are constantly learning, improving and consistently contributing to the main goal of the company.

​In any company big or small, employee mix has various components- old hands, new hires, varied levels of intellect, analytical ability and memory. Therefore learning tools and techniques must be malleable and customized according to leaner's capabilities, only then it will give best rewards.

Another point to note is that, unlike previously, skills today have a short shelf life of 2-3 years. As technology advances or customer demands change, companies need to continuously reinvent themselves to stay afloat. Employees too must unlearn and reinvent themselves to stay relevant. And this can happen with continuously learning.

Therefore corporate learning and development strategy must focus on continuous re-skilling and up-skilling, so that your talent pool is always confident and job-ready.

The fourth success factor is Continuous Improvement methodology itself...

Choice of Continuous Improvement methodology -
​Continuous Improvement necessitates all individuals within the company to move in the same direction and meet goals in an organized manner. Using a variety of assessment and planning tools determine the speed and duration of change, operational effectiveness and sustained organizational excellence with the Continuous Improvement initiatives. 

There are over 18 different time-tested Continuous Improvement methodologies including- Lean, Kaizen, Six Sigma, ISO, Kanban etc. These Continuous Improvement methodologies are scientific in outlook, easy to implement and versatile- meaning they can be applied to any industry sector.

The choice of the continuous improvement methodology largely depends on the size of the business, work-place culture, product offerings, regions of operations, customer persona, cash-flow situation and operational pains of the organization. Hence, it is extremely important to understand ‘how to choose a continuous improvement methodology’ that is most beneficial for your business.

Selecting the right continuous improvement methodology is therefore, lifeline of your continuous improvement program.
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Ensuring excellence in strategy design of all of the above four success factors and its execution, largely guarantees sustained success with continuous improvement aka business growth!

#ContinuousImprovementMethodology #ChangeLeader #BusinessImprovement #CommunicationStrategy #EmployeeEngagement #StrategicBusinessImprovement

​In this battered economy (as a result of Covid-19 pandemic) when every penny counts even the smallest increase in revenue or reduction in expenses can have an impact on cost and ultimately on your company’s profitability.

The good news is that, a large-scale company overhaul is not necessary. By and large, in most cases, it has been observed that it is short, often done, and simple improvement steps improve the bottom-line.
 
However, to calculate, manage or reduce cost, a critical understanding of all the tasks or activities that generate such costs is essential.
 
Cost, in accounting language are of various types- fixed cost, variable cost, controllable cost, uncontrollable cost etc. But in Kaizen parlance, costs are basically of 2 types-

1. Obvious cost.
2. Hidden cost.

​Obvious cost as the name suggests are ‘obvious’ and cannot be eliminated, as they are incurred to run the business. For example- wages, rent, purchasing raw materials, payment made to others in the course of running the business, etc. Although ‘obvious’ cost cannot be eliminated, it can be controlled to a significantly large extent.
 
Hidden cost on the other hand are like a leaking faucet that drains out water from a storage tank. I would say that a ‘hidden’ cost situation is grave and should be a huge area of concern in any company- be it big or small.
 
‘Hidden’ costs if not eliminated can actually toss out a company’s balance sheet out of the window. ‘Hidden’ cost therefore must be completely eliminated- just fix it! 

​There are three primary categories of ‘hidden’ cost- 

1. Cost due to ‘Variability’
2. Cost due to ‘Waste’ and
3. Cost due to ‘Inflexibility’

 
Addressing these three categories will open-up numerous areas of opportunities for cost reduction.

And Kaizen methodology can be used to identify areas of opportunity for cost reduction that would ‘control’ the obvious cost and ‘fix’ hidden cost, find favorable solutions to sort out the cost-problems and sustain results.
 
But most businesses do cost-reduction ad-hoc. What do I mean by that? Let me narrate you an incident-
 
Imagine Quarter 1 results have come-in and you notice that profit figures are not as targeted, they have dipped. The reasons for this could be many, for example- the new product scheduled launch didn’t happen on time or a critical raw material’s procurement cost had suddenly risen due to a shortage or the manufacturing over heads became higher than what was budgeted, or sales didn’t happen as planned …

The cause factor(s) may be one or many, but the first or most-likely comment by decision-makers is- "We must contain costs” and then there's a hiring freeze!

​In my view this is an ad-hoc cost-reduction decision. 

In Lean Kaizen, Lean defines various types of wastes which create costs, while Kaizen provides the mechanism to address those wastes. By Kaizen-ing, one can reduce the ‘obvious’ costs and eliminate the ‘hidden’ cost.
 
However, to apply Lean Kaizen methodology accurately, it is vital to understand its underlying principles, advantages and implementation challenges. You may read more on Lean Kaizen here.
 
Is your organization cutting costs correctly?  To know more on how you can strategically cut costs at your workplace contact us for a free preliminary online consultation.

​#CostCutting #CostReduction #KaizenForCostReduction #LeanKaizen #BusinessImprovement  #StrategicCostReduction

These PSGs provide recommendations for developing generic drugs and generating the evidence needed to support Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) approval, thereby helping to streamline generic drug product development by industry and ANDA assessment by FDA.  

The batch of 69 PSGs includes:  

• 26 new and 43 revised PSGs.
• PSGs for generic products for important treatments for diseases such as: Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Leukemia, Opioid Use Disorder, Post-Partum Depression. Read details about the guidances here.

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This requires pharmaceuticals and allied organizations to keep pace and revisit their Kaizen strategies around the products impacted (if at all) by the above regulatory changes. 

​There are eighteen top business improvement techniques- Kaizen being the most propitious. 

Kaizen has its origins in Japan and is one of the most promising business improvement tool for pharmaceutical, medical device and biotech companies. It can be implemented in innovator as well as generic pharma set ups.

Moreover, Kaizen works equally well with at-site and remote operations. 

Kaizen involves making small improvements at all levels within a product’s lifecycle. These incremental changes then bring-on exponential benefits such as-  
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1. Good quality affordable medicines.
2. Lower operational costs.
3. Error-free processes.
4. Increased safety, productivity.
5. High speed product development and
6. First-to-file.

Kaizen is based on cooperation and commitment (vis-à-vis radical or top-down changes) where employees at all levels of a company work together proactively to achieve regular, incremental improvements. Kaizen thus combines the collective talents within a company to create a powerful engine for continuous business growth. 

To learn more on how Kaizen can help your organization successfully drive thru the rough patch posed due to Covid-19 check here.