ineum consulting
Lean Six Sigma applied to the Financial Services Industry : deliver better, faster and cheaper The economic conditions are changing the rules of the financial game, creating opportunities for those that are able to manage costly problems, the subsequent uncertainty and complexity of financial organizations. Even if the key words “cost cutting” are more than trendy, it has to be approached in a different strategic way, focusing on “how” to better manage cost reduction, capital efficiency, customer satisfaction, flexibility and adaptability. Financial companies have become more complex and multifaceted organizations in which services to customers tend to be delivered by a series of stand alone silos creating an inward focus and preventing the creation of value for customers.
The concurrent market pressures, the high impact processes and many out-of control symptoms are the main opportunity areas for which Lean Six Sigma can offer its contribution. It allows reducing running costs of financial companies by simplifying product portfolio, organization and processes to what is required by the customer and it also permits to manage significantly complexity. The most usual case faced by businesses is proposing more services than customers are willing to pay for it. Simplifying that complexity not only contributes to eradicate a root of wasted costs, but can also lead to an attractive competitive position. The reduction of complexity needs to be an operational and strategic priority for banks who intend to keep their cost structures in line with their revenue growth. 12
2010
Lean Six Sigma helps clients transform operations and services by removing waste and driving highquality business processes through the integration of confirmed and proven improvement methodologies : Lean reduces waste and increase process speed, Six Sigma improves performance and quality on critical customer requirement. Thanks to the combination of both concepts, processes become faster (20-70% improved lead times), better (20-40% improved services) and cheaper (10-30% more efficient). Lean Six Sigma, by achieving operational speed, quality, cost reduction and customer satisfaction in the delivery of products and services, is definitely a key ingredient to achieve high performance and sustain competitive advantage in organizations.
Understanding what services are valued by customers, assessing the real cost of providing those services, designing processes to handle more variety of value-added services, and innovating around those services are the success key factors for operational excellence.