I work at the Business Assistance Centre (BAC) for Percepta. The most common question that I get asked is “What is the BAC?” It’s a good question and one that I will attempt to answer in this, my second posting to the Percepta Blog.

It’s a fairly simple concept (I always begin by saying that then watch for glazing or widening eyes). Initially, BAC was just a name that we gave to a number of co-located (but unrelated) services that we provided in the B2B area.

One of the main challenges for the business to business functions was identifying the value statement and where possible, measuring return on investment. The greatest success story of this being Warranty where our team managed to provide an 11 to 1 return on claim savings versus operating cost. This approach matured into a clear framework through which we would discuss the business with our client, consolidate a number of similar functions, analyse the processes and data then implement improvements for the business.

Over time, with focus and strategy, this approach became a ‘way of life’ and an avenue through which we are now providing high quality intelligent services. The term that we use for the BAC approach is ‘Percepta Connect’, the three defined phases and activities are as follows:

#1 – Consolidate

Multiple contact routes cause confusion, unclear support is not support. This step looks at the way that your customer contacts the department and whether it helps or hinders the service user. Where possible, remove several options or numbers that filter calls/claims/queries in multiple ways. Overall, this step is about the right person taking ownership of the service user’s issue or query and managing it through to resolution.

#2 – Analyse

This step is continual and looks at the reasons for people contacting the department, can we provide communications that address issues before they need to be queried. Where is the highest area of expenditure? Is there anything that can be done to reduce spend? Are any cross-selling/up-selling opportunities being missed?

#3 – Improve

Any items that are identified through phase 2 will be placed on a priority rating scale based on client requirements, feasibility and cost to implement or cost that can be saved. The items that are selected will then be managed through to implementation using Percepta’s Roadmap methodology. Roadmap ensures that a consistent and structured process is followed for any business change management.

Today, we have 6 specialist functions and 9 projects operating in the UK BAC for one of our clients. Overall, the model is viewed as extremely successful and we are now at a stage where our subject matter experts share their knowledge across functions. Not only does this allow us to deliver a very high level of service, it also broadens our ability to have multi-skilled individuals sitting in our talent pool ready to move department or fill a promotion vacancy.

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