Yesterday...I went to a concert. It was a real classic. I mean, it was a classical orchestra with violins, cellos...In fact there appeared to be four groups of instruments;

    * Strings, with violins, violas, cellos and double basses
    * Wood-winds, with flutes, clarinets and bassoons
    * Brass, with French horns and trumpets
    * And Percussion

As it was late and I was tired, the instruments changed before my eyes and before I new it I was back to work. Wondering about this new solution we were working at. A question came to my mind;

What kind of problems do you “need” in order to implement workflow management?

The sound of the violins faded away. The French horn took over.

We had many application. Too many. And this was only the beginning of a long period in which we would have much more. Our company was growing and new activities demanded new teams and systems. In the mean time the existing systems where still profitable.

There was this problem however. At the front office, clients could be helped all the way. The agent needed to check some information he couldn’t control. It was outside his reach. It became apparent that all the different parts of the organization were playing their own music.

“If I was a client,” I thought, “Would I hear one and the same concerto, the way I do now, listening to this orchestra?”

How could we arrange our business that it appears an orchestra when listening from the client side?

“Life inside an organization would probably conduct itself less easily,” I reckoned, “but something in the area of a conducting (this complex orchestra) might very well be part of the solution.”

© 2006 Hans Bool

Hans Bool is the founder of Astor White a traditional management consulting company that offers online management advice. Astor Online solves issues in hours what normally would take days. You can apply for a free demo account

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