Overview
- Medium-sized company in the fashion industry
- Number of employees: approx. 2,500 international
- Department: Customer Service Management
- Project duration: from approx. 1 year, from May 2020 to June 2021.
- Core team: Interdisciplinary project team of approx. 15 people (against the background of significant staff reductions, close cooperation with HR, Legal and the Works Council)
- Those affected: Almost 90 managers and employees were affected by the changes
The challenge
The Customer Care Management division was forced to transform itself due to historically grown structures and an unclear understanding of roles and was seen as a strategic investment decision. The team was characterised by homogeneity in terms of age and heterogeneity in terms of performance and was not future-proof in many areas. Together with the newly appointed division manager, it was necessary to plan and implement a future and customer- oriented alignment of the CCM department in line with the new functional strategy that included both organisational and technical changes.
Our approach
Due to the high sensitivity and impact on the entire department, not only strategic foresight and organisational design were required, but also excellent planning and organisation,
communication and change management in operational implementation. Our team took on the central project management with the following responsibilities and activities:
- Strategic sparring: During the translation of the strategy into an implementation procedure and conception of the reorganisation, we supported the division manager as an advisory sparring partner with specialist expertise and strategic perspective.
- Project management: During the implementation phase, we managed the project, planned the necessary project activities and managed the workstreams to achieve the defined scope in terms of time and quality. In doing so, we kept an eye on the progress of the order and project goals via project controlling.
- Project Management Office (PMO): We organised the necessary project structures and tools and coordinated the parties involved in the project as well as the necessary meetings, which we supported with preparation, follow-up, implementation and moderation.
- Communication: We developed comprehensive communication plans and prepared the content for all stakeholders.
- Change management: We created the detailed change scripts, which included the actual and target analysis of the organisation, the design of the new structures, as well as the methodology and procedure for implementation.
- Risk management: We not only organised decision gates to measure target achievement, but also continuously monitored the risks and critical key figures during the transformation for active mitigation planning and control.
- Knowledge transfer: We established project and change management competence in the organisation through active knowledge transfer and coaching.
Our added value
The implementation of the project led to lasting changes, which are reflected in the significant optimisation of the key service figures:
- New organisational design: Introduction of a new organisational design that corrects previous inefficiencies due to redundancies or missing functions.
- Targeted staffing of the organisation: Rapid, collaborative agreement with the Works Council on the targeted termination of employments through a voluntary redundancy program
without the need for a social selection. At the same time, development and staffing of new profiles and skills. - Comprehensive support services: High acceptance at the interfaces and socially-responsible support offers for those affected (e.g. outplacement or pension advice, coaching), despite changing regulations during the corona pandemic.
- Future-proof positioning: Establishment of processes and structures for a modern, customer-oriented and competitive customer care service organisation that is prepared for constant (further) development and change.
