Having never been to Africa, I was not sure what to expect when I arrived in Lagos, Nigeria for the first Certified Process Professional (CPP) Open course to be held on that continent.   I was warned of the traffic, yet I had no idea it could take an hour to drive five kilometers to the airport. Nothing prepared me for the volume of street vendors or the mass of people. I was also not prepared for the sharpest batch of CPP delegates I have had in a while. Representing a number of companies such as Virgin Nigeria and British American Tobacco, these delegates showed up to learn, work hard and also give each other a hard time.

These Nigerians worked the case studies and took those processes way beyond what most teams come up with in terms of actions to significantly reduce Points of Failure and Causes of Work and in creating large landscapes of innovation.  Here is what a few of the students had to say:

“This course is very informative. I have learned to think ‘outside-in’ and the idea of aligning innovation with customer outcomes is exactly what we need to maximize the opportunities that exist in this part of the world.” Funmi Adebayo

“A very useful training, with so many tips to infinitely improve on processes both at work and in personal life.  The coach is very knowledgeable and patiently explained gray areas.” Taiwo Obelawo

“…The course opened my eyes to a lot of processes at work that I would love to change and improve on, given the opportunity.” Dunni Adegboye

Imagine what they will do with the processes in their own companies once they get back to the office.  Beware, if you are a competitor with any of these companies or individuals! Your world is about to be turned upside down and your only defense will be to find yourself at the next Open Course in Lagos in November, Johannesburg in October, or anywhere else in the world an instructor-led CPP 1-3 course is scheduled (see complete Open course schedule here).

Congratulations to the August class of CPP 1-2-3 graduates in Lagos, Nigeria!  Job very well done!

Don Smith, CPP Lead Coach

Gilead Systems wins the Triple Crown – simultaneously improving revenues, reducing costs and enhancing service.
As Business Week puts it in the prelude to this years review of the top 50 performers in Standard and Poors 500 stock index “for many years pharmaceutical companies viewed the development of HIV treatments as a necessary – but unprofitable – public service. There was some logic to that view, given that the majority of victims lived in developing nations and were unable to pay what drug makers could earn from selling other products. But Gilead Systems had a different perspective"

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Synopsis
In PartOne of this three part article we reviewed the factors driving transformational change and how the old ‘inside-out’ approach to business is about as useful as a steam engine in getting to the moon. In Part two we’ll look at how some of the world leading trend setter companies are embracing the new outside-in challenge and creating new powerful business models driven by advanced forms of BPM such as the Customer Expectation Management Method (CEMM). (more…)

A lot has been said about leadership. The vast majority talk of those charismatic leaders, noted in history who led us through turmoil, war and strife. Great business leaders are also often noted for their ability to galvanize people and shape a collective future.

Figurehead leadership is the accepted way that we think of with names like Winston Churchill, JFK, Napoleon, Richard Branson, Bill Gates springing to mind. However as they say, this is only half the story when it comes to transformation and it may come as a surprise to many that Bennu Group research over the last two years of nearly 200 organizations across Europe and the US suggests that Business Process Management (BPM) reveals a different approach, which appears to be as effective and sometimes more enduring.

This approach is best summed up by borrowing from Nelson Mendalas book Long Walk to Freedom (more…)

Yes the evolution brought about by Customer Expectation Management (CEM) and Successful Customer Outcomes is well and truly underway. We have talked before about banks giving free money, airlines providing seats at no charge and PC suppliers handing kit to charities at no cost. These emergent strategies have now been articulated in an excellent book (FREE of course) - see the links below.

More so respected magazines such as WIRED are creating waves as they too present reasons and evidence of what the FREE business models implies for all of us, consumers, businesses and society in general. There are a range of books feeding this fire now and we provide several links that you may wish to pursue.

How could your company start giving away its products and services? What would your processes look like if your business started giving away its core product for free? (more…)