- Lumo Energy is an electricity and gas retailer based in Melbourne that supplies over 500,000 customers. They implemented Promapp to better document and improve their business processes.
- Their previous attempts at process documentation failed due to high staff turnover and a lack of process ownership. Promapp allows for centralized, collaborative process documentation and management.
- Lumo Energy grouped processes by function rather than business unit to encourage collaboration and process standardization across the organization. Strong leadership support helped drive successful implementation and engagement with Promapp.
- Using Promapp, Lumo Energy saw improved business metrics like a 44% increase in net promoter score, reduced complaints, and greater process consistency. It became a valuable tool for process documentation, management
1. CASE STUDY
LUMO ENERGY
smarter processes www.promapp.com
Lumo Energy is a Tier 2 electricity and gas
retailer based in Melbourne which supplies
over 500,000 customers in SA, VIC, NSW
and QLD. They employ around 600 people
on the ground in Melbourne and use the
services of a dedicated contact centre in
Mumbai of around 150.
“We are confident that
Promapp's capture of
processes and use of these
processes has contributed
directly to some fantastic
business results, including a
Net Promoter score increase
of 44%”
Michelle Scott, Documentation
Specialist
Energy retailer's process
mapping drives unexpected
business successes
The key challenges
A problem ridden project in 2010 attempting to document all Lumo Energys' business
processes wasted a substantial amount of money and time. Due to the pace of change,
high staff turnover (and resultant ownership issues) all we had at the end was dust
collecting on the 50 completed processes in ring-binder folders. This meant the
executive leadership had no confidence in process documentation and needed a
different model of capturing and then improving our processes.
Why Promapp?
In 2012, there was some work around process mapping standards and a Business
Improvement function was created. We quickly established the Executive Process
Improvement Forum which agreed on a process governance policy and approach (this
drives our Lean Six Sigma improvement programme). The process governance policy set
targets for coverage, utilisation, accuracy and continuous improvement.
We needed a tool to support business process management and help us achieve
process governance targets. We involved the business in developing requirements and
knew we wanted something centralised, that was simple to use and collaborative. We
chose Promapp because it promotes consistent process delivery, and staff collaboration
and ownership with aligned processes and procedures for the whole organisation.
Importantly, it's also simple to use!
The implementation
There were two aspects to our implementation model. The first was the decision to group
the processes by function, and not business unit. Why? Well, many processes are in fact
shared by multiple departments who think they do things differently, but actually don’t.
Over time we want to rationalise and optimise these processes by grouping them by
function. We needed staff to think in terms of ‘what we do', not 'what business unit I'm
in' and encourage them to step outside their silos. The aim of this was to achieve
2. CASE STUDY
LUMO ENERGY
smarter processes www.promapp.com
"First and foremost Promapp
gets processes read, used,
improved"
Michelle Scott, Documentation
Specialist
simplicity, and a consistent customer experience, while requiring less effort and
encouraging collaboration across the business.
The second aspect was to drive business ownership by getting business owners to set
the programme and set aside resource to capture process. Strong leadership buy in was
critical, which is the role the Executive Process Improvement Forum played. This meant
high engagement early on, rather than the project led approach which had failed
previously at Lumo.
Implementation has been very successful, with publication of around 500 processes in
the first 12 months and a high degree of engagement which we monitor and drive
through utilisation measures and communication activities.
The outcomes
First and foremost Promapp gets processes read, used, improved.
We are confident that Promapp's capture of processes and use of these processes has
contributed directly to some fantastic business results, including a Net Promoter score
increase of 44% - rising to 13% from -31% (Energy Retailers typically around -25%), and
significantly reduced ombudsman complaints. We've also achieved greater collaboration
across the business, meaning a more inclusive culture which can only be a good thing
for any business.
Having a single source of truth for the business makes process consistent for everyone,
and being able to iron out the kinks in a process where things might in the past have
been conducted inconsistently. For example, agents in some business areas have been
told that if they adhere to a process in Promapp, they will not ever be marked down for
process quality. As well, having a master list of processes in the business makes
information gathering and analysis much easier for any change project.
We also used Promapp as a collaboration tool to make improvements to our
cancellations processes. The outcome has been commonly agreed processes across the
business resulting in a better customer experience, reduced effort and revenue loss.
Our Quality assessment team also love Promapp! Now all agents have a clear and
consistent source of truth for their quality assessments. This has led to improved quality
results for Lumo.
We have now got to a point where Promapp is really central to the business. People
throughout the business actually come to us asking "how do I document this in
Promapp?" or "I have a new intranet page, can I link to some material in Promapp?" or a
new inductee says "This is a great tool. I wish I had something like this at my last place!"
What's next for Lumo?
Focus on improving our metrics, namely: Promapp utilisation (as a measure of
engagement), process improvement suggestion turnaround (90% <2weeks), completion
of annual reviews and audits to identify and deliver optimisation opportunities
Get our IT team engaged to capture their material
More competitions/communications/rewards and recognition – any sort of incentives
Try and put a $ value on improvement delivered
Tips for new players
Make single sign on part of the original business case – this will make Promapp an
integral part of everyone’s working day as soon as they log in!