Money in the bank for Portman Building Society

Money in the bank for Portman Building Society

eg solutions delivers growth and cost reductions through Information Management

eg solutions plc, the IT software and services business, has been engaged by The Portman Group to improve consistency in Operations Management Information (MI), management practices and quality of service. The objective is to establish performance benefits as part of a strategic Business Transformation plan to deliver growth, reduce costs and significantly improve the customer experience.

Portman was looking to implement a system of performance measurement covering quality, service standards, staff skills, work throughput and productivity. The information would then be used to produce an operating model that defined resource and skill requirements under current and forecast workloads and, in the long-term, reduce operating costs.

The process involved a review of the Production and Operations areas of the Portman Group, based in Bournemouth and Wolverhampton, incorporating Investment, Insurance and Mortgage Servicing, Mortgage Processing, together with Underwriting and Credit.

“Key for me was to drive change that not only took cost out of the operation, but also delivered an improved and more consistent level of customer service,” said Mark Goldman, Director of Production & Operations, Portman Building Society.

eg solutions rapid performance improvement programme consists of two core elements, an operations MI software package (eg work manager® and eg operational intelligence®) and a structured programme of training & coaching for Managers & Team Leaders in the eg principles of operational management™.

“The initial implementation project was a relatively quick and intensive exercise to implement eg work manager®, the eg process for managing® and the behaviours that go with it,” said Elizabeth Gooch, CEO, eg solutions. This stage focused on implementing a consistent process for managing supported by the tools and techniques of Operational Management, and provided the Operational Intelligence required to manage performance and identify improvements.”

Use of the system as part of a proactive management system has resulted in immediate and measurable performance improvement. A reduction in operational costs was achieved within the first year and bottom line cost benefits for the company – budgets were reduced for the following year (2006) by 15% based on the anticipated savings – actual performance has not only been within this reduced budget but they are currently running a further 6% below providing a total bottom line saving of 21%!

Increased work volumes are handled by the same number of staff through the revised approach to managing work volumes. This complete and accurate picture of true capacity and actual people and process performance is through the consistent management information provided by eg work manager® resulting in the ability to make fact based decisions.

There is now a desire to maintain consistency across teams, departments, locations and in delivering predictable and consistent high levels of customer service.

“Implementations are rarely achieved at the same time and at such pace, but we did it. We are now operating at a high level of service performance and cost improvement not previously achieved here. In addition we have raised the performance bar for all our Managers and they have responded fantastically by improving their performance and that of their people,” concluded Goldman.

Notes to editors:

eg is the leading provider of Operations Management solutions that form a rapid performance improvement programme to Improve Customer Service Delivery.

Operations Management improvements are made through the deployment of two core products/services:

• Proprietary operational intelligence software packages
• Training and development for Managers and Team Leaders in Production management methodology

eg’s proprietary software packages, including eg work manager® and eg operational intelligence®, have been developed and refined over the last 15 years and form a comprehensive work, resource and performance reporting tool. They enable clients to gather information about the key factors affecting performance, thereby identifying appropriate decisions and actions to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

When implemented with the eg principles of operational management® methodology, eg work manager® provides the opportunity for eg’s clients to double their productivity and dramatically improve customer service levels almost immediately. It also forms a foundation for continuous improvements in subsequent years.