               Business Process               
References                 Reengineering                       Case
(First Item)

June 30,1994

Re-Engineering's buzz may fuzz results; high goals and focus work best.

CSC Index Inc., the Cambridge, Mass. Outfit that helped ignite the corporate re-engineering wave, finds that many of the 621 companies it studied confused the term with blunt downsizing. "People tend to call anything that moves 're-engineering," says David Robinson, president of CSC Index. Nonetheless, the poll found, among other things, that setting aggressive goals in a re-engineering plan is the most successful strategy, while settling for modest goals often resulted in companies falling short.

Overall, CSC Index found a failure rate of 25% in its survey, far below the 85% estimated by others. What's next? Companies need to aim for "fewer initiatives, but with higher impact," says Mr. Robinson. That sort of tight focus on complaints about high gas bills helped Brooklyn Union raise customer satisfaction by 20% to 30% in a pilot. The old complaint process could drag on up to four months as phone representatives passed tasks back and forth with field workers and service staffers.

Now, one phone rep "owns " the caller from initial, computer-assisted complaint through all follow-up.

               Business Process               
References                 Reengineering                       Case
(First Item)