The latest acquisition supports Netcall’s goal to help customers deliver significant change, fast
Netcall, a leading provider of AI-powered automation and customer engagement solutions, today announces the acquisition of Skore, a Portsmouth-based process improvement platform provider.
The acquisition will enable Netcall to expand its digital transformation offering to customers, making Netcall’s Liberty Suite a unique one-stop shop for mapping, analysing and automating processes and customer engagement, blending low-code, RPA, process mapping and analysis, contact centre and AI solutions.
The Skore platform allows people to easily map and analyse processes to drive improvements and innovation within any organisation. Teams can build a sustainable and engaging process library that underpins any transformation throughout the organisation. The Skore platform features in the Capterra ShortlistTM ranking for Business Process Management in 2023.
Skore customers include Ashford Borough Council, Cielo, Holland & Barrett, Iris Group, Northrop Grumman and University College London NHS Trust.
According to Forrester’s 2023 Global Digital Process Automation Survey results “organisations remain committed to process improvement, with over half (56%) of them considering it a strategic investment and 71% still reporting end-to-end automation as a primary driver.”
Netcall plan to leverage AI capabilities within Liberty platform to make it easier to map and automate optimised processes, faster than ever. Introducing Skore to Liberty, customers will benefit in a number of areas:
Quickly and intuitively map any organisational processes and then rapidly build them in Liberty
Analyse process costs to identify tangible efficiencies and savings to enable the best use of resources
Collaborate on process mapping in real time and benefit from joining a thriving community of Liberty users sharing knowledge and industry best practice
See a holistic view of how processes are executed, making it easier to demonstrate compliance and identify potential risks and areas for improvement
Gain control over processes, resources and overall business operations with a structured framework for continuous improvement and adaptability
Gain access to industry-specific process templates, best practice process libraries and benchmarking solutions to shortcut the process improvement journey
James Ormondroyd, CEO at Netcall comments “We are delighted to bring Skore into Liberty platform and business process discovery and optimisation to our toolkit. Like our other Liberty solutions, it’s intuitive and easy to use and anyone in the business can get involved in mapping and improving processes – it’s a perfect fit with the Netcall ethos. We believe this will give our customers the opportunity to drive process excellence across the whole organisation, to meet changing customer expectations.”
Craig Willis, Chief Executive Officer at Skore comments, “Our mission at Skore is to empower teams to rapidly identify process problems and continuously improve at scale. By joining forces with Netcall our customers can now leverage the power of the Liberty platform to build solutions, streamline and automate processes faster than ever.
With so many synergies that will benefit both our partners and customers, we’re really excited for this next stage in our journey. The team at Skore see this as the next logical step in achieving our vision of empowering everyone within an organisation to improve processes.”
In joining with Netcall, Skore customers will, therefore, be able to continue to enhance their process improvement journey and open up the opportunities of the wider Liberty platform and the community of like-minded organisations to collaborate and share best practice with.
Training teams on the importance of business process mapping, and how to do it, can be daunting. Process mapping can be a dry topic and it may be a challenge to make it more interesting. But using a process training game not only engages people and is a powerful tool to get your point across effectively.
The Skore process improvement platform is all about making processes easy to understand and accessible for everyone in an organisation. However often, there is still a need to train people to understand the importance of business processes in the first place. In this blog we’d like to share a selection of games we regularly use to engage people in process training and design workshops. We hope you find them useful and would love to know how you get on with using them in the comments below.
A simple business process training game
To start with here is a simple process training game we’ve used in many training sessions in the past. It’s a very straightforward exercise that gets people out of their seats and thinking about basic process flows.
First provide a set of cards to the attendees that each describe individual steps in a predefined process. You can download a set of cards that describe a recruitment process below.
Some of the cards are activities – things that happen, and others are triggers or outputs. You can see in the recruitment process that we provide that it starts at the top left of the first page and flows left to right, top to bottom. Print and cut the cards out. Shuffle them and hand them to the group asking them to place the cards in the right order
Simple process training game in action
The trick is to get them to follow a simple methodology. They should start with defining the scope, where does the process start and where does it end. Our 5 steps to the Perfect Process guide will also help with this which you can download below.
Next they lay out all the activities. The activity cards are clearly described using a verb and noun. The group should lay these out between the initial input and final output. When this is completed they should lay down the outputs from each activity.
This is a great exercise for getting people to remember the 5 step methodology and to think about the key difference between an activity and an output from each activity. For larger training groups it can be even more fun to break the group into smaller teams and have them compete for who finishes the exercise first.
Process training game for Directors and Execs
This is a similar game to the above but also includes a board on which to place the cards. As well as training people to think about high level value stream processes, it’s also useful ‘homework’ for business leaders to do before a process workshop.
In this game there is a set of cards that describe high level activities, or capabilities, within common types of organisations. These cards are designed to be double sided so each sheet should be printed on the back of the previous sheet. Download the cards and board described below here.
On the front of each card is a high level activity. On the back of each card is a description of that activity. Once you have printed and cut out the cards you can print out the board on an A3 or over two A4 sheets.
Game board
In the exercise the group has to agree which of the key activities are relevant to their business. Then they should place them on the board in the preferred sequence. Note, it’s not always possible to put all activities in a perfect sequence – thats ok. Its a great way however, to generate a discussion about why and how else they may be placed. You can use a marker pen to draw lines if you need to. Let the group be free to discuss and explore the topic.
Next the group needs to discuss, and then write down the first input and final output on their sequence. Once this is done they then need to complete each of the handover points between each activity. This will generate a lot of important discussion and often leads to improvement suggestions that need to be recorded. Make sure you or someone in the room is ready to take notes. You may find some really interesting points come out of this part of the session.
Finally the team needs to fill out the Owner section under each of the activities. This means that they decide who, in the business, is ultimately accountable for the execution of each activity.
The cards can be stuck to the board but typically it needs to be documented in some way once the exercise is complete. Make sure you have a way to do this, you can always use the Skore platform as one easy way to map online.
Process improvement game
We are also going to include this fun game that can be used to come up with some real process improvements. We find it is useful in training as well as in a real process improvement workshop. The idea for this game originally came from Alec Sharp and is described in his book here.
The idea of this game is to take an existing process and try to identify improvement opportunities. When teams are so used to the existing process it can be hard for them to come up with new ideas. Therefore in this exercise the team takes a different view of the process which helps highlight issues.
With the process visible to everyone, a nominated speaker walks through the process out loud. However, at each step in the process the speaker articulates that step as something that absolutely MUST be done.
This forces the rest of the team to really think about why it MUST be done and whether it’s really necessary or can be replaced by something easier.
Really simple steps in a process can sound ridiculous when articulated in this way so it sparks a bit of fun. In doing so it also releases fun suggestions that can lead to real improvement ideas.
This game is highly recommended where teams are looking to run process improvements on existing processes.
Dogs in space game
Finally Dogs in space is our name for a lateral thinking exercise that’s particularly useful where you are looking to truly transform a process, or design something completely new. Lateral thinking exercises can seem a bit awkward at first but once the team gets going it can be a liberating experience.
Dogs in Space
The object of the exercise is to come up with the most far fetched ideas based on the vague context of the problem that you want to solve (see our Petcare example below). Each member of the group should come up with an idea. The ideas are shared and then the group votes on their favourite idea.
Next the team must try to work out how they will achieve the solution. What are the steps required to get there and how would it work. During these solution sessions teams will often come up with innovative ideas for solving long standing problems.
The name of this exercise came from a Petcare company who were looking to expand their service offerings. The team were challenged to think of new services they could offer to pet owners. Using this type of lateral thinking, one of the suggestions was to put a dog on the moon. This was chosen by the group to explore further.
One of the challenges for putting a dog on the moon is the transport required to get there. The team discussed partnering with SpaceX to use their rockets to get there. Then they explored how they would kit out the rocket to be dog friendly. A team of experts would be assembled that had different skills drawn from the existing business.
It was at this point that the team realised this new group of experts could actually be used to provide advisory services across different industries. Advising businesses on making the workplace pet friendly, advising hotels and tourist attractions etc. In this way a new service line was developed and launched by the company. This is a really great example of how what can be perceived as a little fun can actually produce some great insights and bright ideas for the organisation.
Conclusion
Each of these business process training games are designed to help educate teams on the nature and benefits of business process improvement. When you’re buried in a process everyday it can be very hard to think differently about it. Each of these games provide a different lens for people to look at their processes and come up with new ways of working.
At Skore we use these in training or real live process workshops to kick off conversations. The Skore platform uses UPN (Universal Process Notation), the simplest way to capture and describe a process and is designed to be understood by everyone in the organisation, not just the experts. Processes can be visualised and mapped straight into the software while people describe them. These games make an excellent addition to workshops that help accelerate process improvement and generate innovative new ideas that can again be captured directly into Skore and shared with the wider team.
Continuous Process Improvement doesn’t have to be hard.
As we come to the end of the year most of us are turning our attention to 2023 and finalising our plans for the year. Through 2021 and 2022 we met a lot of teams that had a vision to build more agile and resilient businesses.
The experience of the pandemic, supply chain disruption, the great resignation, conflict and high inflation, all in a short space of time, has taught most businesses they need to be ready for the unexpected.
While the vision was clear, a lot of teams are finding it difficult to plan for and get started.
Something that touches every part of a business is complicated. With a large number of stakeholders involved it can feel like herding cats. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Over the years we’ve learnt these 4 simple steps that can help teams across a business develop an agile and resilient mindset.
Step 1 – Standardise processes with a simple common language
Using a simple common language ensures that everyone understands and is aligned with how things work today, rather than a small group of experts. This is your foundation and it doesn’t need to be extensive. Start with one process, or one team, and just start documenting in one simple way. The benefits include:
* Capturing valuable knowledge before it escapes the business
* Helps teams avoid duplicating effort
* Allows you to agree and share best practices
* Reduces the amount of time people are spending searching for information
Step 2 – Identify wasted time and effort
We’ve seen time and again that previously undocumented processes are typically hiding between 10 and 20% of wasted time or cost. In fact this year we had one client that identified over 90% of the time spent on one process to be wasted. Once you’ve documented your processes apply some simple tools such as Lean waste or a Risk analysis to find improvements. The benefits include:
* Find hidden inefficiencies
* Highlight risks
* Uncover automation opportunities
Step 3 – Remove the waste
Sometimes you’ll find low hanging fruit, inefficiencies that can be easily fixed as soon as they’ve been identified. But in most cases, removing the 10 to 20% waste you find in your processes will need to be planned and implemented carefully. So spend some time exploring different scenarios by designing different versions of the process. Then compare your new process with the original to understand the gaps and then build a plan for how to fill them. The benefits here include:
* Ability to predict the outcome of different approaches
* Clear view of the dependencies
* Clearly communicate the impact to everyone
Step 4 – Continuously review and improve
At this point the heavy lifting is done. The major improvements have been identified and implemented. So to avoid them returning you need to put in place a system for continuous review and update. For each process ensure there is a clear owner and schedule regular reviews. Make sure the processes are visible to everyone in the organisation. The benefits of this include:
* Each team can continuously optimise their own processes
* Drives ownership and accountability
* Makes processes transparent for all
Skore has been designed to deliver these 4 steps and take away a lot of the effort typically required to develop and build such an approach. If you’d like to learn more about how Skore can help you on your journey to an agile and resilient business, get in touch with one of our experts.
Carte Blanche, the award-winning creator, distributor and licensor of branded gifts, cards and apparel, is best known for Tatty Teddy, the cute grey bear with a blue nose who is the signature character of the much-loved Me to You brand. The Chairman of Carte Blanche Group is Stephen Haines, who founded Carte Blanche Greetings Ltd in 1987 with a dream and a collection of just 12 greetings cards. More than 30 years on, design and innovation are at the very core of the Carte Blanche business.
In 2019, Carte Blanche embarked on a sustained period of change and implementation with a view to enhancing the company’s organisation and productivity. The successful implementation of two new software systems (MS Dynamics and Perfion) plus personnel changes and diversification of product offering meant Carte Blanche recognised the need to reevaluate and review operating procedures and approaches.
Stuart Morgan, a Process Engineer with over 20 years of experience in the organisation, was tasked with leading this initiative. Aware that Carte Blanche would benefit from greater clarity and understanding of their processes he was clear from the beginning that before they started changing anything they needed to comprehend the current state of the organisation.
To successfully achieve this,, Stuart was looking for an effective solution which met the business’s needs:
‘Process mapping in the past has fallen down for two reasons – it’s been produced on sticky notes, which is laborious and inevitably wrong when you revisit it, or it’s been mapped on archaic software for which only one person in the organisation has the expertise and access. We recognised that our processes are living things – they evolve and change – and people need to be able access and understand them and easily change them when needed’
Stuart Morgan, Design Engineer, Carte Blanche
Finding the Simplest Solution
“We chose Skore as our solution because it’s perfection as far as simplicity goes… Everyone can look at a Skore map and understand it. It’s a very simple system. Everything can be broken down into two types of boxes – what we’re doing and why we’re doing it.’
Carte Blanche used Skore initially to simply record and clarify what happened in their everyday business. A visual tool, the team used Skore to facilitate workshops and map at the speed of conversation whilst allowing their colleagues to focus on the realities of the process being recorded. At this point it became an integral tool in the business to achieve analysis and improvement. The team used Skore to note any issues or queries whilst mapping the processes. Everything was easily logged as a simple attachment in the process map. This enabled the team to carry on capturing information and engaging with colleagues whilst documenting important information. At the end of the exercise the team could export all the extra details as issue logs and use them as a checklist to resolve any issues to improve and enhance the current processes.
Engaging the Organisation
‘We began to understand that we could use Skore as a way of engaging with a significant number of colleagues. We have the opportunity for colleagues to understand how processes work and how they can be improved. We can map technical processes and system interactions. A huge bonus is that it shows people that our processes are robust and we can dispel myths around technical issues.’
Using Skore meant they could visually display how complicated some parts of the process were which enabled them to discuss collectively in a team how to improve and make things easier.
‘It made us start thinking differently and challenged us, we realised we could make different choices and we couldn’t have done this without Skore.’
Analysis and Improvement
With a long history and great depth of experience, Carte Blanche are proud of their diverse range of products servicing many customers with their own individual needs. When reviewing processes Skore allowed Carte Blanche to recognise what areas could be improved, record specific issues and most importantly empower the team to make changes. It enabled Carte Blanche to continue to take this diversity into account and effectively tailor processes to the individual needs of customers.
When focusing on the Sales Process for UK Independent Customers – a vital part of the customer base, they were aware of the complexity involved with servicing them. With so many variables built in it was a good example of a complicated process. In addition, the team needed to engage with a wide audience and a range of tools, including the Operations team, the Sales team, systems used by Sales Reps, internal software systems and the introduction of new products. With Skore they were able incorporate all this information and clearly document it to whittle away perceived issues and misunderstandings.
‘We really understood through Skore that we could clean up a messy process. It has saved us a huge amount of time by streamlining our flow of activity and understanding that, by resolving issues earlier on in the process, we could make it easier for our people to do their jobs.’
An Innovative Future with Skore.
To date Carte Blanche have focused on Procurement & Inventory, Sales Orders & Fulfilment and Product Management, but recognize the potential for the rest of the organisation. Their objective is to build an even clearer and more complete picture of the business.
‘There really is an amazing human centric benefit to Skore beyond the mechanics of process mapping’
The next venture for Carte Blanche is to explore the possibilities of using responsibility matrices through Skore. Using the RATSI method they will be able to define who is doing the work, who is signing it off, who is helping and who is informed. This will help everyone understand what people do, create job descriptions, understand workloads and how they can help each other.
They also see the opportunity for employees to have complete clarity over their roles. Employees can use Skore to navigate and understand their roles. They can understand what is expected of them, where they fit in the process, to whom they speak to understand an issue, to learn how to do their job and appreciate why their role is vital.
‘Skore has become the place to hold all that vital information. It’s so much more than we imagined at the beginning. As Carte Blanche expands and diversifies, it’s great to know we have Skore at our centre to help support all our staff to do their jobs and to keep delivering fantastic customer experiences to all our clients.’
Skore is the Process Improvement Software designed to be used and understood by everyone in your organisation. Our reporting and analytics, plus a simple two shape system, creates powerfully simple processes.
More than 30 years on design and innovation is at the very core of the Carte Blanche business and as well as growing and nurturing the Me to You brand and complementary ‘Blue Nose’ brands, My Dinky Bear for four to eight year olds, toy brand, My Blue Nose Friends and nursery brand Tiny Tatty Teddy, Carte Blanche now boasts award winning humour brand, Violent Veg, sentiment brand, Wishing Well Studios and a fast-paced, trend-led offering from Hotchpotch. Carte Blanche are also proud to license and distribute designs from Blue Mountain Arts giving customers a uniquely comprehensive offering of some of the best brands the industry has to offer. Please visit www.carteblanchegreetings.co.uk for more information. Follow us on Twitter @CarteBlancheGrp and Instagram @carteblanchegrp
How to make sure you hit the ground running in your next project.
A seasoned professional, Mark Jarvis has offered his consultancy services to businesses of all shapes and sizes from process-mapping in large multinationals to team building days for fledgling start ups. A natural enthusiast who believes people learn and develop best when their environment allows them to thrive, his fundamental values and approach have ensured a successful career in transformation projects. We sat down with Mark to get some of his top tips and advice on how he ensures satisfaction and successful outcomes in the projects he takes on.
Get the right people in the room
For Mark one of the biggest challenges in any project is getting the right people in the room. Whether physically or virtually – this is vital to the success of any project. Mark is acutely aware that the people you need are inevitably the busiest. He recommends that you always ensure that your project has buy-in right from the top.
‘If the MD or a high level project sponsor gives your initiative some clout then you have momentum. Make sure you can identify if this is the case from the beginning. Projects without tend to drag on and on – wasting your time and the organisation’s.’
Don’t overcook it
For some in an organisation there will inevitably be some resistance to change, or a feeling that this has been done to them before. Mark appreciates that it’s part of his role to ensure that those who attend a workshop are going to come back wanting more. His advice: be prepared for your first workshop, make sure that you finish early and most importantly, that everyone gets something out of it.
‘Remember, people will talk about your workshop’ warns Mark ‘it’s up to you to ensure that it’s favourable. Make sure they go back to their colleagues understanding the value of what they just participated in, that’s going to mean future buy-in and attendance at the next workshop’.
Facilitate other people’s success
Having worked on many software implementation projects, Mark helps organisations to capture their current and future state processes and examine the gaps between them. In Mark’s own words he thrives on helping people do the work themselves;
‘My role is to be the catalyst in the room that enables the journey for them. I allow them to discover that yes, they can do this. My role is all about facilitating success.’
Understand that your role isn’t necessarily to do the work for people but enable them to achieve it themselves.
Make sure you have the right tools ready to use.
Facilitation of a workshop can sound simple to the inexperienced but Mark knows that ensuring you are ready to take on the challenge is really key to the success. For Mark there are two tools that spring to mind to assist him in his endeavours. Smartsheet – a project management tool is one example. ‘It works for me every time’ says Mark, ‘it’s cloud-based and easily prompts people to do their tasks’. Alongside Smartsheet Mark uses Skore, process improvement software, in all his workshops
‘Skore doesn’t get in the way’ – It’s really simple and easy to use. People get it, they understand it because it’s a simple, straightforward way of displaying what they are talking about. It gives me an opportunity to highlight parts of the process and engage people in a conversation’.
For Mark the conversation in the workshops are the most important aspect and these two tools really help ensure that the conversation flows from the start.
Embrace the complexity
Mark views the changes in his industry as challenging and exciting. Software implementation projects are becoming more complex and interconnected and this poses different challenges to business analysts. He would argue that it is harder to be definitive in this different world. ‘A lot of our work will become more nuanced’. He sees projects becoming more trial and error and seeing smaller steps of incremental change rather than the dramatic changes of the past.
‘It’s becoming a different beast and people are going to have to accept that they cannot be 100% right 100% of the time. That’s an uncomfortable place to be for many of us. We need to make sure we are ready and we have the tools ready to adapt and accept this.’
Leave every project well
For any of those considering a career in the industry, Mark offers up his experiences and tips to help get started. His advice is clear – stay interested. Mark observes – ‘generally people like talking about what they do. Be interested in everything. If you are a generally curious person then that is always going to help you in this type of work.’
And his final piece of advice? Leave well.
‘Whatever the outcome of the project, even if it wasn’t as expected or didn’t finish on time, make sure that you leave on good terms. Never forget that people really buy from people. Virtually all my work comes from referrals and that is something you can’t put a value on.‘
For Mark, his career has led him to experience variety and learn more about organisations he’d never considered before. Definitely an unexpected advantage, Mark considers himself really fortunate to have discovered so many interesting roles and organisations.
‘I never knew that was a thing!… is a phrase I utter a lot. I love that everyday is different and that I have learned so much from so many people – it’s truly been a fascinating journey so far! ‘
Skore is the Process Improvement Software designed to be used by everyone in the organisation. Why not take a trial and find out how easy it is.
Skore is delighted to announce a partnership with Softools – the no-code development platform for enterprise quality DIY apps.
Softools is an advanced zero code web application platform that enables users to build and deploy business process apps in hours. They will be recommending Skore’s process mapping software to their partners and customers as they firmly believe understanding a process is essential to successful digitisation.
Vipul Lakhani, Chief Commercial Officer, said
‘Historically we know that great application solutions have always involved our partners mapping out the process. It is vital for our customers to understand their business processes so they can identify opportunities to improve the process before digitising and then use this understanding in their training to increase adoption. Skore’s easy intuitive software platform enables us to achieve this effectively’.
Softools will use Skore as part of their offering as the simplest way to map out processes and together are considering further platform integrations. That future would enable Skore customers to not only identify but also execute digitisations. For Softools, the benefits would focus on enabling their App Builders to better understand processes that they are digitising and to support training and change management.
Chris Green, Chief Commercial Officer, Skore, said
‘Being able to create business applications in hours is hugely powerful, yet we still see teams spending far too long discovering and defining the problems to solve. Using Skore, you can now engage all people in an easy to understand methodology that takes hours, not days. Coupled with the Softools platform, customers can now deliver rapid results across the whole project lifecycle.’
The partnership between Softools and Skore presents the opportunity to ensure clients wanting to digitise their processes are offered a solution that not only looks at the implementation but also furthers the success and adoption of any application.
Vipul Lakhani added,
‘Having an understanding of your business processes is a vital element to success. Our shared values of collaboration, enabling visibility and governance ensure that this partnership will pave the way for a prosperous and successful relationship between us.’
Skore’s CEO, Craig Willis, had the great opportunity recently to be invited on to the Improvement Nerds Podcast. Talking about the power of process mapping as a communications tool, Craig explained how capturing a process opens up so many opportunities for discovery and reflection. Of course using Skore as a model means that this process revolution is collaborative and easy too!
We are aware that some users have reported experiencing issues whilst using the Skore platform.
Our internal systems alerted us to this issue at 13.33 (GMT) and full service was restored by 14.26 (GMT).
Some users were unable to connect to the server and some other users may have lost recent edits within this time window.
We are currently performing an investigation to understand the cause of these issues. We apologise for any inconvenience that this may have caused you.
Chris and Craig had the opportunity to elaborate on how Skore makes Process Mapping and Improvement simple. Discussing how a structured and interactive approach to process discovery is the way forward, they demonstrated how easy it can be to map a process at the speed of conversation.
Our Skrum networking and learning event in December sparked lively conversations and generated some great networking connections.
Skore ran their final event of 2020 on Tuesday 8th December. Skrum has been a constant in the Skore event calendar for several years and in 2020 has successfully moved online in response to the pandemic.
For the team, one of the greatest advantages of this has been the larger numbers we have been able to welcome to the event which previously were held face to face in UK venues such as in London or Sheffield. In the most recent online events we’ve had attendees from the United States, India, South Africa and Nigeria, to name a few.
This time our theme focused on Cloud Computing and the impact it has had on Small and Medium Enterprises. Craig Willis, one of Skore’s co-founders, kicked off the event by elaborating on the size of the SME market and the potential for Change and Transformation professionals. Craig discussed what steps could be taken to aid SMEs on their growth strategy and how to position yourself in the market. A panel discussion followed. Hosted by Skore’s Angus Sim, our two guest speakers Lucy Beck from A2Z Cloud and Rowan Van Tromp from App Advisory Plus, provided their expertise and views on the topic.
The event finished with a lively networking session and an opportunity for all our attendees to contribute and comments on the points raised. In a time of remote working it was great to see so many people get involved and contribute. We are already excitedly planning our next event in February. Watch this space for more details soon.
