Impacting the Bottom Line: The Four Pillars of RevOps
In the last post, we introduced the concept of Revenue Operations (RevOps) and reviewed seven RevOps objectives in the context of Digital Transformation. In this article, we will explore WHY RevOps should matter to your organization, and what to consider when you decide to integrate RevOps principles in your organization.
Previously, we defined RevOps as a strategic approach that involves aligning and optimizing all revenue-generating functions within an organization. To build on this definition, we will categorize revenue-generating functions based on the revenue life cycle capabilities:
– Lead Generation
– Sales Productivity and Lead Conversion
– Revenue Recognition and Billing
– Customer Success and Retention
Each of these capabilities is essential in the revenue life cycle but when aligned and optimized through RevOps, it can have immense impact on the success of the organization. For example, TGG recently partnered with a client to optimize their sales function to best serve the organization. After an in-depth opportunity analysis, we connected the findings to their customer segmentation analysis, growth targets and seller performance, creating sophisticated models providing leadership with organizational design options and their impact on headcount and account coverage.
– Lead Generation: RevOps ensures that marketing and sales efforts are closely aligned, resulting in higher-quality leads and improved conversion rates. It streamlines processes for lead nurturing and qualification, enabling the efficient allocation of resources to the most promising opportunities.
– Sales Productivity and Lead Conversion: Optimizing sales processes, providing sales teams with the right tools, and offering data-driven insights, RevOps empowers sales professionals to work more efficiently and provides focus for their efforts on closing deals that are more likely to convert. It enables real-time visibility into the sales pipeline, allowing for proactive problem-solving and timely interventions to move deals forward. This, in turn, leads to shorter sales cycles and improved win rates.
– Revenue Recognition: The process of formally accounting for the revenue earned and it involves adhering to accounting standards and practices to accurately record and report revenue. Billing and payment processing are also crucial, ensuring that customers receive timely invoices and make payments.
– Customer Success: RevOps principles ensure that customer data is not lost after the sale but is actively used to drive post-sale engagement and satisfaction. This fosters long-term relationships, encourages upselling and cross-selling opportunities, and ultimately contributes to higher customer lifetime value.
Connecting and streamlining the main capabilities of the revenue life cycle through RevOps, provides a centralized and essential business motor to drive strategic value. By unifying sales, marketing, and customer success functions, RevOps ensures a holistic, data-driven approach to revenue management. This alignment enhances decision-making, maximizes operational efficiency, and provides a deeper understanding of customer behavior. RevOps empowers organizations to adapt quickly to market changes, identify growth opportunities, and scale effectively. In essence, it transforms revenue generation from a siloed, reactive effort into a strategic and proactive engine that propels business growth and success, making it a backbone function for any forward-thinking company.
Now that we understand the WHY behind RevOps, let’s explore the HOW – that is – how to deploy RevOps. As with every transformation, it involves four key pillars: people, process, data, and technology. Let’s delve into each aspect to understand how to successfully roll out this essential function.
PEOPLE
Building a capable RevOps team is the first and crucial step. RevOps professionals need to possess a unique blend of skills, including sales, marketing, finance, and data analytics. Start by clearly defining roles and responsibilities, then invest in training and make sure to keep your RevOps team updated on industry trends and tools. The most critical activity is to encourage collaboration between marketing, sales and customer success teams to ensure alignment and understanding of a shared vision.
PROCESS
Streamlining revenue-related processes is the cornerstone of RevOps. Start by mapping out your customer journey and end-to-end revenue process that support the customer journey, from lead generation to customer retention. Identify gaps, bottlenecks and inefficiencies in the existing processes. Develop a roadmap to address or preferably eliminate them. Develop and implement sales enablement strategies to equip your sales team with the right resources, content, and tools.
DATA
Harness the power of data – it is the core of well functioning RevOps. Start with ensuring that your customer data is centralized, consistent and accessible. Implement robust analytics and reporting tools to gain insights into sales performance, customer behaviors and revenue life cycle. Above all, value customer trust by prioritizing data security and assuring compliance with relevant regulations. To learn more how to assess your organization’s data maturity, click HERE.
TECHNOLOGY
Markets are saturated with numerous tools that claim to be the be-all and end-all of any given application type, so pick your tools wisely and be very selective. Identify technology gaps in the processes and look for tools that can not only fill those gaps but also add efficiency. Work with your technology team to ensure that the selected tool can be seamlessly integrated into your organizational ecosystem. You want to avoid creating data and/or process silos by adding new applications. Regularly assess the performance of your technology stack and make adjustments as needed to assure technology is efficiently supporting your people, processes and data.
As you strategize putting RevOps into action, remember that it’s not a brief project; instead, it’s a meticulously orchestrated transformation that requires deliberate change management practices and adept communication. We will explore this topic more later in this series.
In summary, the Revenue Operations function involves more than just adopting new tools; it’s a holistic approach that requires attention to people, processes, data, and technology. By assembling the right team, streamlining processes, harnessing data, and investing in the right technology, your organization can position itself for sustainable revenue growth and operational excellence. Embrace the RevOps approach, and you’ll be better equipped to adapt to the ever-evolving business landscape and drive success in the long run.
At this point, we shared with you WHERE RevOps fits in the context of Digital Transformation, WHAT RevOps is, WHY it should be important to your organization and HOW to implement it. As we continue with this series, next, we will explore different metrics that will help you organize for success, optimize performance, and maximize revenue.
Maximizing Revenue and Efficiency: An Inside Look at RevOps
In the fast-paced and ever-evolving digital landscape, businesses must embrace change and adapt to stay ahead of the competition. Digital transformation has emerged as a crucial catalyst for success, enabling organizations to optimize processes, enhance customer experiences, and drive innovation. As a resource to support industry professionals, TGG has created a detailed guide to a successful digital transformation that you can download HERE. In the upcoming series of articles, we will be focusing on one aspect of the digital transformation process that often gets overlooked yet is essential for business existence and success: Revenue Operations (RevOps).
The Role of Revenue Operations in Digital Transformation:
RevOps can be defined at a high level as a strategic approach that involves aligning and optimizing all revenue-generating functions within an organization.
Traditionally, businesses have operated in silos, with each department focused on its own objectives, leading to fragmented workflows and inefficient processes. Revenue Operations seeks to bridge these gaps and align various functions like marketing, sales, and customer success to work in harmony towards a common goal – generating revenue.
Digital transformation accelerates the need for RevOps, as businesses must adapt to the changing customer behavior and preferences in the digital realm. Embracing data-driven strategies, automation, and analytics allows companies to gain insights into their operations, improve overall efficiency and ultimately support revenue growth.
The Goals of Revenue Operations
In our experiences supporting client partners through impactful Digital Transformations and RevOps initiatives, successful RevOps have seven main goals. Each of these goals plays a vital role in supporting strategic outcomes.
1. Enhancing Customer Experience: In the digital era, customer experience is king. RevOps aims to unify customer touchpoints and interactions across different departments, ensuring a seamless and personalized experience at every stage of the buyer’s journey. By understanding customer preferences and pain points through data analysis, companies can offer relevant solutions, leading to higher customer satisfaction and loyalty.
2. Maximizing Revenue Growth: At its core, RevOps aims to drive revenue growth. By optimizing processes, reducing inefficiencies, and capitalizing on cross-selling and upselling opportunities, businesses can maximize their revenue potential. The focus shifts from isolated departmental goals to a unified approach, where everyone works together towards generating revenue.
3. Streamlining Sales Processes: Digital transformation brings forth new tools and technologies that can optimize sales processes. From lead generation and nurturing to closing deals, RevOps streamlines the sales journey, eliminating redundancies and improving overall efficiency. Automated workflows, AI-powered sales analytics, and customer relationship management (CRM) software enable sales teams to work smarter and close deals faster.
4. Data-Driven Decision Making: Revenue Operations relies heavily on data analytics to drive insights and decision-making. By centralizing data from different departments, businesses gain a comprehensive understanding of their performance and can identify areas for improvement. Data-driven decision making enables companies to be agile, adaptable, and responsive to market changes.
5. Achieving Sales and Marketing Alignment: Misalignment between sales and marketing can lead to lost opportunities and wasted resources. RevOps aligns the objectives, strategies, and tactics of these two critical functions. By fostering collaboration and communication, RevOps ensures that marketing efforts lead to quality leads that are effectively converted by the sales team.
6. Increasing Scalability: Scalability is a key aspect of digital transformation. As businesses grow and evolve, they must be able to handle increasing demands without sacrificing quality. Revenue Operations establishes scalable processes that can adapt to changing market conditions and support the organization’s growth trajectory.
7. Cultivating a Customer-Centric Culture: In a digitally transformed landscape, customer-centricity is a non-negotiable aspect of success. RevOps fosters a culture that revolves around the customer, where every decision and action is taken with the customer’s needs in mind. This approach creates a positive brand image and builds long-lasting customer relationships.
Digital transformation is not just about adopting new technologies; it is a holistic shift that requires an organization-wide commitment to change and improvement. Revenue Operations plays a pivotal role in this transformational journey by aligning sales, marketing, and customer success, and enhancing customer experiences. The main goals of RevOps revolve around improving efficiency, driving revenue growth, and creating a customer-centric culture. By integrating Revenue Operations into their digital transformation strategy, businesses can unlock the full potential of their operations and position themselves for sustained success in the digital age.
In the following series of articles we will provide you with strategic and applicable information that you can use in your organization. Stay tuned as we explore the Revenue Operations topic in greater detail and dive into RevOps components, implementation approach, key performance metrics, enablement and more. We are looking forward to embarking with you on this journey.
VETERANS AT TGG:
SERVICE, SUPPORT, AND TRANSITION
At The Gunter Group we take pride in hiring consultants from a variety of backgrounds. This purposeful approach results in a diverse team with talent and experiences that deliver meaningful value to our client partners. A key pillar of our award winning team are veterans who served in our country’s military.
Founder Mike Gunter said “The veterans in our company have been fantastic additions to our team. We actively look for team members with backgrounds that are not always typical for consulting, and their experiences and diverse skill sets have allowed them to thrive in our firm. The critical thinking skills necessary to succeed in the armed services translate well into the world of client service, where emotional intelligence, adaptability, and practical solutions are critical”.
Recently we sat down with three veterans and discussed their transition to consulting, what it was like wrapping up their military duties, and advice they have for others transitioning to the private sector.
To get us started, can you share when you joined The Gunter Group and briefly tell us about your military and professional backgrounds?
Liz: I joined The Gunter Group in January of 2022. I previously served almost nine years in the Navy; first as a Surface Warfare Officer and then as a Human Resources Officer, and spent time at the Naval Postgraduate School working on a Master’s Degree in Operations Research. I now serve as a Reservist, as well. With The Gunter Group I’ve had the opportunity to apply my data science skills in our tech services team supporting client engagements.
Brad: After commissioning out of ROTC, I joined the Army in 2013. I served 10 years as an Infantry Officer and am still serving as an Army Reserve Officer. I joined The Gunter Group in February of 2023 and am a certified Project Management Professional (PMP). My transition to TGG was pretty much a straight line as I received the offer letter while still on active duty.
Keith: I was in the Navy for eight years. I started out serving on a Naval ship and then wrapped up my time serving as a Military Policeman (MP). After leaving the Navy I completed my accounting degree as a potential step towards joining the FBI. After doing some accounting and financial work I decided to stay in the accounting and finance industry and worked in various capacities for a number of years. I accepted a position with TGG in November of 2020.
What knowledge, skills, or experiences from your time in the military were beneficial in your transition to management consulting?
Liz: Throughout my various roles in the Navy, I was constantly switching positions and taking on additional collateral duties, and in all those situations, I had limited time to figure out the scope of the work, how I was going to solve a problem, and who could help. To that end it really captured one of TGG’s Non-Negotiables, “Thriving in Ambiguity.” In management consulting I’ve found this skill to be very valuable and used frequently. It’s a skill I started developing heavily in the Navy and is applicable more than ever in the consulting world.
Brad: First off, it’s crucial to emphasize the development of effective people skills and leadership, both formally and in peer roles. In every military career, working with people is vital, especially in Infantry where the individual is the key asset. Effective guidance, supervision, and teamwork are pivotal. I echo Liz’s sentiment about the value of diverse job roles. This resonated with me when I served as a Chief Logistics Officer, and managed complex logistics including supply reception, analysis, resource transportation, and timeline management. These experiences greatly enhanced my move into management consulting.
Keith: I have been out of the military longer than Liz and Brad so my transition timeline looks a bit different. There are certainly skills the military provides that are beneficial to management consulting, especially experiences working with people. I found that in the military I worked with people different from my own background and culture set. There were numerous benefits to this experience and it has been very valuable in consulting.
What was it like when you started the process to transition out of the military? What were some of the questions or concerns you had as you approached the change?
Liz: For me leaving the military, the first big piece was: where are we going to live? However, we also needed a job to anchor the move. The other challenge was being a dual military household and both my husband and I getting out at the same time. Logistics were demanding: time zones for interviews, calendar coordination, moving cross-country with a child. Parental leave and a positive culture mattered, especially since we were planning for another child. The other biggest concern personally and professionally was finding a place with a great culture. Not one that talks about it but really lives it out—where I can transition well, learn, and connect.
Brad: Leaving the military is highly stressful. The military shapes your purpose and identity for most of your adult life. Suddenly, you face the challenge of rediscovering yourself. The first step is understanding who you are beyond the military, which is no simple task. Then comes the question: what’s next? Contrary to belief, not everyone has their post-military path figured out. After research and reflection, I knew I wanted to be a consultant. However, I didn’t want to relocate, living in the same place was a priority.
Keith: It was a little bit different for me because I was enlisted, not an officer. When I was leaving the military I was looking for financial stability and being able to take care of my family. At the time, I had almost finished my degree and I was fortunate enough to have a professor that had contacts in the accounting world and he helped me land my first post military job.
How did The Gunter Group support you during this process and transition?
Liz: In my situation I received my job offer in October and I was not able to start working in my new role until the end of January. The team at TGG set up recurring check-ins until I departed Virginia and stayed in good contact, making sure if I had questions I could receive answers and updates frequently. After that, the onboarding process was very smooth. With a lot of life changes going on, it was really nice how other people recognized I was going through a stressful time. That was something that really stood out to me.
Brad: There were two key ways, starting with the first person I met from TGG, Jim Calko. During my early exploration of consulting firms, Jim took time for meaningful conversations despite my non-employee status. He provided insights, aided my resume, and supported my transition from the military. It was genuine and meant a lot. The second part came during the interview and recruitment phase. TGG’s responsiveness, organization, and swift turnaround eased my already busy situation, turning potential stress into clarity and calmness.
Keith: TGG is the best company I’ve ever worked for first of all. I’m very happy with the people I work with. They are the smartest, kindest people I’ve come across in my career. The management is genuinely concerned about the employees and these characteristics initially revealed themselves during my recruiting and onboarding process and continue to exist on a routine basis year after year. Anytime someone is making a career change the TGG style would be a welcomed support but especially during a post-military transition.
What advice do you have for other military personnel that are about to conclude their service and enter the next phase of their professional career?
Liz: Write down your priorities for big life areas such as: family, work, and location. Then as you think about and evaluate post-military options, reflect on your lists. It’s okay to be picky. Don’t settle for a solution that doesn’t match with your priorities.
Brad: Figure out who you are and what is important to you. Develop a plan and don’t settle for the first thing that comes your way (it will be tempting). It can be beneficial to leverage the programs afforded to you as a transitioning veteran. Personally I found The COMMIT Foundation and American Corporate Partners the most helpful.
Keith: It may sound simple but I’d say to have a plan. Give thought to, and create a plan for what you want to spend your time on once you leave the military. Additionally, it’s incredibly beneficial to have an applicable skill that transitions to civilian life or to have an education plan to further your knowledge in professionally relevant areas.
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Interested in learning more about how our great culture comes to life? Click here and see what fuels our team, our relationships, and our work.
INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT –
PET CARE
At The Gunter Group we pride ourselves on supporting clients across a wide range of industries. Recently TGG Consultant, Lindsey Santamaria completed an engagement with a national pet care organization supporting an Oracle re-implementation initiative. Below is a recap highlighting the type of impact our team makes in the pet care industry.
Can you give us an overview of the situation and scope of the client engagement?
Our client was in the middle of a large-scale Oracle re-implementation project. However, the internal team lacked confidence in meeting their remaining deadlines and their go-live date. Despite setting goals, objectives, and deadlines for the initiative, they realized these were at risk based on the current path of the project. Furthermore, some of the deadlines were non-negotiable with their vendor partner which created additional uncertainty with the management of the work efforts involved.
How did you approach the work effort needed to support the organization’s goals for the project?
As I stepped into the engagement and did a deep dive into the scope of the project and its original intentions, I prioritized stakeholder alignment and bridging communication gaps as critical factors in successfully delivering the project. Recognizing the significance of effective communication, we focused on ensuring that all the stakeholders were rowing in the same direction and were working through conflicts with respect and accountability.
I also worked to develop and provide structure. We created a plan, a path forward that would help the client fulfill their goals with the teams involved. This approach helped everyone pause, recalibrate, and re-engage with the initiative’s original scope and objectives.
What was the work you actually did?
A large part of our involvement with the project centered on program management, working with the vendor, and the internal financial, technical, and supply chain teams. Additionally, I spent a lot of time working with the steering committee of the project and serving as a bridge to executive leadership. All of this was part of my regular reporting cadence.
My role as an advocate for the end users of the Oracle re-implementation was critical in enabling the group to perform their jobs more efficiently. We didn’t want to push forward a version of the project that would merely check the box; we wanted to ensure the final version would create a meaningful impact for the accounting, finance, and supply chain teams.
In line with this objective, I facilitated training sessions for the accounting and supply chain teams while also documenting any questions or challenges. This approach enabled us to deliver the most effective training resources possible as we approached the end state of the re-implementation.
What was the outcome? How is it helping the organization now? In the future?
The successful, on time go-live of the Oracle re-implementation was the primary outcome. The client honestly did not expect a successful go-live based on where things stood when we stepped in to support the initiative. Additionally, our involvement and approach addressed some notable training and knowledge gaps among a few of the critical teams. For example the accounting department moved from a 10-day close to a three day close, which was a huge gain for the team.
Moreover, we successfully streamlined many of the manual transactions and reconciliations that were taking place prior to the project and cleaned up a lot of the unnecessary data that was clogging their system and getting in the way of ongoing operational efficiency.
What did you enjoy about the work?
I really enjoyed getting to know the members of the client organization. It was rewarding working with different teams on the project, especially knowing we were doing challenging work that in the end was going to make their jobs easier and more efficient. I was really happy to see the teams experience these benefits.
Additionally, I really appreciated being able to step in as a calming, re-aligning voice. Being there for the team members and stakeholders in a way that would ease uncertainties, relieve stress, and provide tangible support.
Were there any personal takeaways or highlights?
For me as a consultant, joining the client halfway through the project and getting caught up and familiar with the initiative, and then start providing solutions was a really exciting experience. Another highlight was the stakeholder alignment and being able to connect with the leadership team at the client and how we could work together to support the re-implementation in a way that would deliver the results and timeline they wanted.
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Our team at The Gunter Group has significant and strategic experience supporting a wide range of clients as they navigate transformational change. If your organization is interested in driving meaningful change in your industry and beyond, we’re ready to help.
TGG RECOGNIZED AS A BEST WORKPLACE BY INC. MAGAZINE
The Gunter Group has been named to Inc. Magazine’s 2023 list of Best Workplaces. The recognition marks the third consecutive year that The Gunter Group has been honored by Inc. The list, which is featured in the May/June 2023 issue, and prominently featured on Inc.com, is the result of a comprehensive measurement of United States companies that stand out among their peers by creating exceptional workplaces and company culture.
When hearing about the workplace award, David Adams, Consultant with The Gunter Group stated:
“The first emotions that came to me were those of immense pride and satisfaction. I am proud of long standing members of The Gunter Group team who have built the firm into what it is today, I’m proud of those who continue the commitment of making TGG one of the best places to work in 2023, and on a personal note, I feel a great sense of satisfaction being part of this workplace. The second thought that entered my mind was that of validation; this is exactly what The Gunter Group was founded on and it comes as no surprise to me that they have, once again, earned themselves a spot on Inc.’s list of Best Workplaces.”
The Inc. recognition marks the sixteenth workplace award The Gunter Group has received since its inception in 2011. The inclusion on the national workplace award list comes as The Gunter Group continues its expansion efforts in Denver, CO, Salt Lake City, UT, Southern California, and beyond. TGG focuses on establishing deep client relationships throughout the country, providing its management consulting services to public and private companies across a variety of industries.
Hearing about the national recognition, Angela Tekulve, Principal at The Gunter Group commented:
“We are a company that is growing, but not at the expense of what we hold most sacred – our people and our culture. I continue to be amazed by the smart, authentic, and kind teammates here at TGG. Thank you to Inc. Magazine – receiving this recognition reinforces that we continue to be focused on what matters.”
Inc. collected data from thousands of submissions for the 2023 application process. Each company that was nominated took part in an employee survey, conducted by Quantum Workplace, which included topics such as management effectiveness, perks, fostering employee growth, and overall company culture. The organization’s benefits were also audited to determine overall score and ranking.
FROM OUR PARTNERS:
ANNOUNCING OUR NEWEST PRINCIPAL, PERIN WEHDE
The Gunter Group is excited to announce that Perin Wehde has joined the firm in Denver, CO as its newest Principal.
Perin comes to TGG with over 22 years of multinational consulting experience and brings significant expertise helping organizations develop visions and align strategies in order to successfully execute complex change initiatives that improve business performance. Perin is a passionate problem solver and an energetic, relationships focused leader that uses a listen-first approach to help organizations and teams drive towards a common goal. Perin’s leadership role will serve as another valuable addition to our Denver based team and our growing list of client partners in Colorado.
When asked about the announcement, TGG Founding Partner Mike Gunter stated:
“Welcoming Perin as Principal and as a member of our senior leadership team is a very exciting moment. Perin’s high level of experience and strong professional background in the consulting industry will be a great addition to TGG. Her skills, leadership, and natural alignment with the TGG culture will complement our focus and growth in Denver and additional new markets.”
INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT – EDUCATION
We pride ourselves on supporting clients across a wide range of industries. Recently TGG Senior Consultant, Keith McCarthy completed an engagement with a national education and child care provider supporting a customer experience and data structure initiative. Below is an engagement recap highlighting the type of impact our team makes in the education industry.
Can you give us an overview of the situation and scope of client engagement?
Our client partner was facing a significant challenge because the organization had a large amount of technical needs in order to access and strategically utilize the data sources they had from their customers. The client was in the infancy stages of building out a data environment that would help address this and they were looking for support and expertise to create the data environment structure, systems and metrics, and ensure accuracy and validity.
The foundational question from the organization was: How can we take our data and our different data sources, and build a strategic Power BI experience in order to help guide and inform our business?
How did you approach the work effort needed to support the organization’s goals for the project?
We started with a thorough thought exercise to identify what data and metrics were valuable to the client. What data points from their customers would provide the greatest insight and meaning to the different business units within the organization. For example: What are the customers’ pain points when trying to digitally interact with the company. The project sponsor also wanted to gain perspective on how, for non-tech savvy customers, the client could make the online experience easy to consume and interact with at a quality level.
One of the key pillars of the project was that the business had a variety of different data sources and systems in place. We needed to build a dashboard and BI experience that was able to process data from a variety of sources such as: finance, marketing, customer service, and operations. The new Power BI environment needed to not only be able to look at the data from a high level view but also be able to drill into greater detail as well.
The organization wanted to be able to learn, evaluate, and make strategic decisions for the betterment of the business both in the short and long term. There was a strong sense of urgency because the client wanted to be able to use the data to make decisions as soon as possible and there were new data sources that would become available and a new priority for the business that we would then need to incorporate into our new data system.
What was the outcome of the project? How is it helping the organization now? In the future?
The client ended up with a Power BI dashboard that provided the various data they wanted, in a view and format that was efficient to use and understand. The way we built the data environment also allows for the client to expand the sourced data and metrics in the future as well. Additionally, we helped train a new analyst on the client’s team in order to help them independently navigate the dashboard, data sets, and strategic functionality once our engagement had concluded. It was important to us to not only help the client with a meaningful solution, but also help equip them to sustain and execute the future moving forward.
As soon as we had completed the project the dashboard immediately started helping the client validate their data at a faster pace across departments and use the data to strategically identify with other teams (finance, marketing, operations, customer service) actionable steps to improve and maximize the customer’s experience with the brand.
By virtue of the industry the client must continuously be customer experience focused, therefore they want to add this data to their decision making process in an effort to make more informed and more impactful decisions.
What did you enjoy about the work?
I really enjoyed working with the project sponsor as they were new to the role and were really looking to make an impact with their broader organization and add value to their business. This created a fun and motivating situation to be a part of during the project. Helping someone else succeed is always rewarding.
Were there any personal takeaways or highlights from the engagement?
One of our Non-Negotiables at TGG is “Thrives In Ambiguity” and throughout the project when new data sources would surface unexpectedly or a new initiative needed representation, it was a great opportunity to pause, evaluate, and adapt in a forward-thinking manner. The opportunity to see our Non-Negotiables play out in real time was definitely a meaningful takeaway. The client also had a couple of tech capabilities that were new to me and it was fun to professionally expand my knowledge and learn these other tools and then analyze how to pull them into our data process.
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Our team at The Gunter Group has significant and strategic experience supporting education industry clients as they navigate transformational change. If your organization is interested in driving meaningful change in the education industry and beyond, we’re ready to help.
INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT – INSURANCE (Part 3)
We pride ourselves on supporting clients across a wide range of industries. Recently TGG Decision Insights and Data Services Manager, Ande Olson completed an engagement with a national insurance provider supporting an actuarial transformation initiative. Below is the third part of our industry spotlight, highlighting the type of impact our team makes in the insurance industry.
Can you give us an overview of the situation and scope of the client engagement?
Absolutely. Historically in the area of actuarial science over the last 30 years, a lot of work has been Excel based. The result is that actuaries often spend a lot of time copying work books, data tabs, and other tedious and inefficient steps.
Our client was trying to modernize how actuaries execute their responsibilities, complete their work, and identify elements of the workflow that could be automated across the enterprise. At the highest level, the goal was to free up actuaries’ time from tasks that can be automated in order to increase the actuary team’s opportunity and ability to provide strategic guidance to the enterprise. To get there, they recognized they needed to make not only process changes but technology changes as well.
How did you approach the work effort needed to support the organization’s goals for the project?
Actually, when I initially started working with the client I was brought in to work on a completely different project involving cloud automation and cloud tools. In meetings I learned the client was strategically looking at how the next generation of the organization would operate, with a focus on high performance and efficiency.
I offered additional support on this initiative as well because I have direct experience with the tools they were considering creating and implementing. It all started with a curiosity and desire to help the client in any way possible.
What was the work you actually did?
The first step was working with the project stakeholders to understand the vision and help shape the path forward so we could develop a proof of concept to show that a lot of the inefficient actuary work processes could be automated.
A big milestone in the project was when we built the back and front-end of the web application. We designed the application and I led a team actuarial developers to build the tool.
What was the outcome? How is it helping the organization now? In the future?
The initial release of the application is already helping actuaries efficiently valuate liabilities and assess claims impacts. Further releases will help price products and aid with long-term financial planning for the business.
Looking at it from just a time and value perspective, the processes we’ve automated previously took a team of two actuary modelers three days each to complete, but with the work we’ve done it’s been reduced to 4-5 hours.
The client is already experiencing an incredibly large efficiency gain, which allows the organization to more conveniently and effectively shift resources across business units when needed. As a result of the project’s early impact, we’re in the process of expanding the application beyond its current functionality, which is really exciting!
Were there any personal takeaways or highlights?
The work required on this project was about more than just delivering a great tool; it was about people, placing a premium on shared communication, and understanding a common vision and purpose. I was working on the business side of the organization but the engagement required a strong working relationship with IT, so building bridges and collaborating on the vision was critical for the progress and success of the project.
Another highlight throughout the project was how we constantly evaluated, refined, and maintained an agile approach. I wanted to lean into an agile team mindset where we were continuously delivering value and iterating on the project. I think this approach was key to the overall impact of the engagement.
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Our team at The Gunter Group has significant and strategic experience supporting insurance industry clients as they navigate transformational change. If your organization is interested in driving meaningful change in the insurance industry and beyond, we’re ready to help.
Industry Spotlight – Insurance (Part 1)
Industry Spotlight – Insurance (Part 2)
INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT – INSURANCE (Part 2)
We pride ourselves on supporting clients across a wide range of industries. Recently one of our Senior Consultants completed an engagement with a large national insurance provider supporting a data integration and data vendor implementation initiative. Below is the second part of our industry spotlight, highlighting the type of impact we make in the insurance industry — featuring the work of TGG’s Frank Gleason.
Can you give us an overview of the situation and scope of client engagement?
Frank: Our client was trying to implement a data integration and connection project, and independently started the project early last year. However they weren’t making the progress they hoped or needed, and the initiative was stalling and losing momentum. The client brought us in, stating a strategic deadline for the project. The initiative, which involved both an internal team and an external vendor, was closely tied to business objectives, so there was a high need for clarity, planning, and a detailed timeline.
How did you approach the work effort needed to support the organization’s goals for the project?
Frank: The first thing I did was facilitate conversations with the business to identify and prioritize the actual requirements for the project and work effort. It was critical to develop clarity and responsibilities for the internal team, and drive alignment with the external vendor’s role and work effort. In order to reset and restart the initiative, and meet the organizational deadline, we had to build a focused, realistic, and accountable plan to get the project done.
After gaining foundational knowledge about the current status of the project, it was clear to me that each stakeholder would benefit from seeing and understanding how they were important to the overall work effort and business goals. To support this I went through each requirement of the data integration with the client team and prioritized the requirements based on the best value opportunity for the organization’s strategy and timeline. From there I created a detailed project roadmap that involved the internal IT team and the external vendor team. This additional step was critical to the project because it aligned and connected the two groups that were vital to the integration’s success.
What was the outcome? How is it helping the organization now? In the future?
Frank: The client wanted to reduce the amount of time needed to onboard new customer groups’ data sets in order to accurately and efficiently begin the billing process. Previously the process was done manually, which resulted in delays. The project reduced manual steps and created a streamlined process. Additionally, the initiative resulted in cleaner reports for the client throughout the process. These reports also built value for future-state planning analysis. In the future this work will help the client scale faster as the organization grows and builds out new partnerships and onboards a greater number of customer data sets.
What did you enjoy about the work?
Frank: I really enjoyed the people I was able to work closely with from the client organization and the external vendor. It was great to have the opportunity to work with both the IT team and the business team with such frequency and help move the teams and organization towards their goal. It was rewarding and motivating to serve as a bridge, if you will, and not only focus on a single part of the organization.
Were there any personal takeaways or highlights?
Frank: It was a great group of people and we worked hard to keep engagement high with the different stakeholders in a positive and collegial style. We maintained a great balance of a fun and timeline focused project which made the process even more rewarding.
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Our team at The Gunter Group has significant and strategic experience supporting insurance industry clients as they navigate transformational change. If your organization is interested in driving meaningful change in the insurance industry and beyond, we’re ready to help.