Harvard Business Review

JULY 19, 2013

However, most companies require considerable planning and need both a competitive advantage and a solid business plan in order to succeed. For my company, I focused on a big market and found a profitable and attractive niche. If you''re thinking about starting your own company, here''s my advice: Set realistic expectations.

Entrepreneur 8

Entrepreneur Hotels Travel Call Center 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 5, 2014

Instead, the last few years have seen a proliferation of C-suite titles that include a component of marketing. This diversity reflects not only a deepening understanding of the connection between growth and customer satisfaction, but a much greater awareness of what marketing can do to help forge that bond.

P&L 8

P&L Banking Marketing Call Center 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 10, 2017

Bernstein studied assembly-line performance at a company he called “Precision.” If you require them to post predictable earnings each quarter, they will reduce their investment in their companies’ adaptive performance. However, most companies measure only tactical performance. Building Balanced Cultures.

Organization 9

Organization Tactics Call Center Metrics 9

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 13, 2013

When I took over as CEO of Intralinks, a company that provides secure web based electronic deal rooms, the company was hemorrhaging so much cash that its survival was at stake. I spent more than four hours listening in to client support calls at the call center. So, what I do on my first day?

Call Center 9

Call Center Learning-by-Doing CEO Planning 9

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 6, 2017

Insight Center. Shore up your company’s first line of defense. You can use old technology like a land line to enter your SSN or you can relay it to a call center employee in India who can verify it. The Human Element of Cybersecurity. Sponsored by Varonis. There is a beauty in the simplicity of the nine-digit SSN.

Crisis 8

Crisis Insurance Technology Credit Scoring 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 2, 2012

My client Janet already had her laptop open when I asked how many versions of the budget report were on her company's SharePoint drive. Everyone from product managers, to call center reps, to the front-line worker in the branch or store uses information to make decisions. It's a hidden cost, and a growing one. And in a Web 2.0

Business Intelligence 13

Business Intelligence Budgeting Report Library 13

Harvard Business Review

MAY 5, 2016

This painful decision cost tens of thousands of jobs but proved strategically, organizationally, and culturally essential to the company’s future success. Stagnant growth in its core PC market recently led Intel to announce layoffs of roughly 12% of its workforce. But the past is merely a prologue.

Levitt 8

Levitt Disaggregation Kaizen Call Center 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 2, 2014

It’s the same in a company. You have front-line employees who create what you sell or who deal directly with customers: software developers, sales reps, call-center staffers, and so on. You also have support staff, including the people in marketing, finance, HR, and other functions.

Cost 9

Cost Span of Control Management Bureaucracy 9

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 28, 2016

Every company these days seems to be either contemplating or pursuing digital transformation. We believe the greatest challenge to companies today is not keeping up with their competitors , but with their own customers. Operations need to go beyond the efficiency of the company to the efficiency of the customer.

Loyalty 8

Loyalty Peer Review Efficiency Call Center 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 8, 2017

Companies that claim to be “transforming” seem to be everywhere. In a study of S&P 500 and Global 500 firms, our team found that those leading the most successful transformations, creating new offerings and business models to push into new growth markets, share common characteristics and strategies.

Franchising 12

Franchising CEO Business Model Strategy 12

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 23, 2012

How many organizations would rely mainly on intuition when taking a new product to market? Yet, when it comes to the workforce — one of a company's most expensive and valuable assets — too many executives rely on hunches, making decisions without making use of relevant data. Asking those questions is the first step.

Metrics 12

Metrics Parcell Call Center Productivity 12

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 28, 2017

For the moment, this is good news for those companies still experimenting or piloting AI (41%). Thirty percent of early AI adopters in our survey — those using AI at scale or in core processes — say they’ve achieved revenue increases, leveraging AI in efforts to gain market share or expand their products and services.

Survey 9

Survey Execution First-mover Advantage Technology 9

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 31, 2018

They also generate $1 trillion as consumers and $361 billion in revenue as entrepreneurs, launching companies at 4x the rate of all woman-owned businesses. Developing a diverse leadership pipeline can benefit companies in all sectors. And what factors helped or hindered advancement in their organization?

Management 9

Management Tacit Knowledge Diversity Leadership Pipeline 9

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 9, 2011

It may seem counterintuitive, but smart companies need to routinely rid themselves of less profitable customers, the same way an asset manager or rebalances an investment portfolio or a Major League Baseball general manager trades a declining player. We call these people Cost Center Consumers, and they come in two flavors.

P&L 14

P&L Supply Chain Retail Price 14