Picture Credit: Illetirres
According to Wikipedia, Self Service is defined as a practice of serving oneself. In today’s electronic and digital era, it could mean anything that can be accomplished without anyone’s help. Self Service is also referred as “Online Experience” or “Digital Experience” in the digital era.
I really enjoy the benefits of Self Service in many aspects of my life. This allows me to save time and resources. Some of the examples of Self Service online are:
- Make Transactions with my bank using online banking
- Book airline, car and hotel reservations online
- Shop for clothes, shoes online
- Learn new skills online
My personal favorites for Self Service sites are Amazon, Zappos, Costco, Alaska Airlines, Chicos and Investools. I enjoy the experience because these companies make an effort to save time and resources for me.
My curiosity and passions over the years have helped me to understand the nuts and bolts of Self Service. This all started at Oracle, when I was asked to build a Partner Self Service portal for pricing and licensing. The goal was to help partners get relevant information on pricing, licensing and business practices information in a timely manner. This portal helped boost partner satisfaction and helped Oracle reduce call volume, management escalations and increase deal velocity (they closed faster). Although it took several months, the key to success was a change in employee mindset. It takes a serious effort to change the way everyone thinks about Self Service.
If you think about it Self Service can become a differentiator for your group, division or the company. The benefits Self Service brings are very tangible and effective. My definition of Self Service is that it MUST help my customers save time, resources and it should make my customers feel accomplished (gain true value).
So how do I do it. Let me share with you my thought process and framework that I use. Over the years I searched for many models, since I could not find the one I could use, I developed one called FEO (Fundementals, Experience and Operations). This is a simple model that allows me to get relevant information, secure commitment, budget and leadership support.
Let me elaborate FEO model:
Fundamentals: This is a critical pillar. I spend a lot of time to understand the scope and complexity of the initiative. There are three variables to this element:
- Scope: Define: What is being solved? Who are the customers? What tasks are being automated? What is the scope of automation? How do you measure success? It is very important to ask these tough questions and get good understanding of the scope.
- Principles: Defining the principles upfront reduces debates significantly. The 7 most common principles that I use are: Easy, Secure, Contextual, Seamless, Multimodel, Social and Quick. Pick the principles that are appropriate to your project so you are always on target.
- Vision: In order for the executives to support execution, they have to buy into the vision and roadmap. It is important to have their support because Self Service is a long term strategy and it takes time to realize the benefits.
Experience: Visuals are fantastic in conveying the end results. The experience of the customer in Self Service plays an important role in getting support and approval of management and stakeholders ( Functional specs and documents are not effective). There are three elements to define the experience completely:
- Wireframes: Wireframes give clear understanding of how the experience will look like. They define the boundaries and set clear expectations of the initiative. I personally do now like to get into development until I secure approvals for wireframes. Once approvals are at hand functional specifics for development can be defined to build the solution.
- Marketing Plan: It is very important to start thinking about the messaging which will resonate with customers that will enable faster adoption. Also think about announcement plan, feedback loop mechanism and define online help
- Measurement: Knowing where you are going and making constant adjustments is key to success. Define key metrics that will help navigate to the final end goal upfront so these measurements can be incorporated in the architecture. These plans also help in articulating the success from the beginning.
Operations: An operational plan is key to the success of the initiative. Well thought plan will create more positive stories than negative noise. There are 4 elements that need to be considered:
- Collection and Prioritization of Requirements: There has to be a point person (PM) to collect all the requirements from various sources (team members, customers and management). Management of demand list helps to create roadmaps and ongoing improvement plans.
- Investment Allocation: This is a juggling act. Investment in new capabilities versus sustaining the experience is a delicate balance. I focus on allocating in capabilities that help my customers achieve their goals.
- Resource Allocation: Self Service is everyone’s business in the organization. Clearly defining roles and responsibilities will help in reducing chaos and confusion. At the end of the day customers lose if the resources are not available at the time of need.
- Listen and Respond: Ask these questions: Am I listening to my customer? What am I doing with the information? Active listening is key to the success of Self Service. Without a listen and respond plan all the effort becomes ineffective.
These are my nuggets to the Self Service implementation. Share your thoughts and experiences on how you might have done effectively. I am always listeningJ.
