Summary of Interview

Person interviewed: Designer and Technologist

Questions:

• What do you do in this company?
• Do you feel that you are doing your work properly?
• Do you think you and your co-workers are well organized?
• How many special orders do you take from customers now, and how it was last year?
• How time consuming is preparing documentation?
• Would you like to see improvements?
• What would you change in your work?

Summary of Interview:

After this interview I have to say that both answers were similar.

Designer and technologist are both preparing documentation about a special products. Designer is responsible for appearance and technologist for materials and basically for technology. They both like their work and they think that they do it properly.

They are working 8 hours a day but both staying overtime(pay double). They said that for a last year there is a lot of work to do and they don’t have enough time to do it on time. They couldn’t specify amount of orders but they said that there are number of orders which are waiting to do. They told me that usually order is waiting around 4 days until they start preparing projects. It doesn’t take a lot of time to do this, but they have to many orders prepare.

They both complained for communication. They are not working together in the same building which makes huge problem. They cannot co-operate together. They are using phones but this not enough because they can’t exchange with documents.

There are few things which they want to be changed. They would like to work in the same building or they would like to have computer system which will allow to exchange with documents. They would like to have new computers and new software to work faster.



Person interviewed: Sales department

Questions:

• What do you do in this company?
• What are the most often complaints from customers?
• Do you think you and your co-workers are well organized?
• How do you think, why does it take so much time to prepare documentation and a price list?
• Is there something you would like to change in your work?
• Is there good co-operation with designers?
• Do you think you have to much work to do?

Summary of Interview:

This person is working in Sale Department and is responsible for a contact company-client. She takes special order and she gives it to designer next day.

She said there are sometimes complains for people who deliver and install product but this is not so serious. She claims that major problem is time which client has to wait for documentation and price list of non catalogue product.

She think that Sale Department is well organized. They have a lot of work, but last year they hire more qualified employee to make it more efficient, however she admitted that they forget about specialist who prepare documentation.

There is nothing what she would like to change in her work, but she claims that contact with designers is not so good because she has to wait till end of her work to give document with order to designer. She said that they don’t have computer system to help them in communication.



Person interviewed: Manager of sales department

Questions:

• Do you think that your department is well organized?
• How do you think the company can solve problems with late documentation and price list?
• Do you see any other major problems in the company or in your department?
• Do you know how to solve this problems?

Summary of Interview:

He claims that his department is well organized but it could be better. All his employees are qualified and they are doing their job well. They are planning to install new computer system and update old computers for better communication.

He thinks that problem with late price list and documentation occur because they don’t have enough people who can prepare this. They can’t hire ordinary people without qualification to prepare this and to find someone with good recommendations is very difficult. There is also a problem with computer system which they are planning to change to do their work more efficient.

He couldn’t find any other series problems.

Interview

Questions:

Designer and Technologist:
1. What do you do in this company?
2. Do you feel that you are doing your work properly?
3. Do you think you and your co-workers are well organized?
4. How many special orders do you take from customers now, and how it was last year?
5. How time consuming is preparing documentation?
6. Would you like to see improvements?
7. What would you change in your work?

Person from Sales department:
1. What do you do in this company?
2. What are the most often complains from customers?
3. Do you think you and your co-workers are well organized?
4. How many special orders do you take from customers now, and how it was last year?
5. How do you think, why does it take so much time to prepare documentation and a price list?
6. Is there something you would like to change in your work?
7. Is there good co-operation with designers?
8. Do you think you have to much work to do?

Manager of sales department:
1. Do you think that your department is well organized?
2. How do you think the company can solve problems with late documentation and price list?
3. Do you see any other major problems in the company or in your department?
4. Do you know how to solve this problems?

Content Management vs. Knowledge Management

As organizations in today’s economy grow up it is becoming more and more important to know how to design distribution of knowledge. I found this article very interesting because author is explaining step by step how to do it. He shortly presents content management systems (CMS) and knowledge management system (KMS) and explains why the first one is preferred for managing knowledge-driven websites.

The table below shortly summarizes the differences:



Although the article may seem to be difficult I believe it is very important and helpful to understand the need of right information flow in organizations.

Aligning Strategy with Execution

The subject of the article is basically helping how to align strategy, analysis and execution. The author claims, that the secret to success is simple—closing the gaps between these three stages. There are several tools to do that and most of them are shortly presented. You can find some tips, so that your efforts related to defining enterprise strategy and architecture, analyzing
and optimizing business processes and execution day-to-day operations would pay off.
I would like to quote a very interesting fragment, that summarizes the sense of “closing the gaps”:


“Many companies have flirted with bankruptcy at the same time they are winning quality improvement awards. Why? Because they are either focusing on the wrong things—a victim of the gap between the strategy and analysis silos—or they are optimizing processes with no way to actually deliver and benefit from the improvements—a victim of the gap between analysis and execution. Or perhaps both gaps exist.”

DEHL DIAGRAM

How to Integrate Customer Feedback Into Business Processes.

I have found on Gartner very interesting research which describes how companies can use feedback from customers to improve business processes.

In authors opinion many companies have spent years on CRM projects trying to gain a holistic view of the customer, yet they still don't know what customers really want. These companies' efforts were disappointing, because they did not include direct feedback, but instead tried to analyze operational data into behavioral insights. They received no results. Organizations that are searching for ways to complement the massive loads of transactional data they already have are looking for direct contact with customers to learn their likes and dislikes, and to plan for better delivery to them.

If you read this article, you will know how enterprise feedback management can help companies increase the business value they gain from customer feedback. How it helps them gather insights into how they're working, what areas or products need help, and how to leverage feedback knowledge and tools to improve processes.

If you are interested in this topic, you can read the whole article on this website:

http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?ref=g_search&id=566421&subref=simplesearch

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