Quality Fables Competition 2017

Imagine a world where humans are enemies of each other, and seeing them prepare for a war is a nightmare.

Humans always make mistakes and this gives advantage to others to win over them. Can we ever imagine a world without mistakes, without so called human errors? Every service provider uses its human intelligence to win deals and show their expertise as human to attract new customers. But is it only the manual work customers are interested in? Are we even thinking of addressing the actual need of faster, better, cheaper and different type of service?

We at eClerx had to challenge this situation, we had to take the giant leap, may be a step close to the future. We had to rise from the plain vanilla business to something more exotic and focusing more on customer delight.

The villain and its empire had to be conquered, no more survival of the fittest. It was time we had to show the world we are The Transformers with a promise to liberate.

The combat was approved by the steering committee and it was decided to work on the transformation. Thus raised the roboworx structure, all the manual and repeat work was taken care off. The perfect coding for roboworx built the best armor. There were no more errors, no more manual repeated efforts. The three basic coded layers for roboworx helped all to enter data and enjoy the output. The robot was skilled enough to generate the required output within minutes.

Trained with all skills to filter data, understand the logic to be used and process what is pending and deliver all the output well before time was like a new dream coming true every day. Minimum involvement of humans made the entire process extremely swift and error free.

Yes it was true, there was no error no human miss outs. It seemed we were dreaming but it was time we celebrated the victory. There was no more pain in the industry, no hue and cry any more. The roboworx rose and was similar to the statue of “Colossus of Rhodes”, we now had to stand tall and celebrate the victory over the villain.

Now it was robots working and not humans, the feelings itself gave a relief to the customers who were delighted with the performance and not compromised even by 0.001%. Now that was transformation to faster, better, cheaper and different type of service to the customers.

HealthCare Global Enterprises Ltd., the specialist in cancer care has its headquarters in Bangalore, India and is known to be the only dedicated cancer care network. Triesta, a subsidiary of HCG, provides world-class diagnosis at its pathology labs. The laboratory decided to “change for better” based on patients (Chemotherapy and Radiotherapy patients who came from outside Bangalore) and clinicians feedbacks….delays in receiving reports, increased length of stay and more.

Process challenges for laboratory included.

1. Large pre analytical waiting times due to lack of organized work flow and work cell, sample batching, lack of standard work and,
2. Staff challenges due to inefficient level loading and poor motivation.

Patient grievances and clinicians complaints combined with staff attrition made the laboratory management take stock of the situation. The laboratory management presented and discussed this project with the hospital management. The hospital management approved the project in view of its effect on improving service quality, reducing risk exposure, improvement in employee's quality of life and optimum utilization of laboratory space.

Patient’s feedbacks (such as the ones given below) were analyzed, that triggered the management to evaluate the situation further.

Feedback: Patient, for chemotherapy, had given the blood sample towards the end of day and was informed that the report would be ready on a ‘D’ day. The patient planned everything including a follow up appointment with his doctor, stay at Bangalore (Patient, outside Bangalore) with a hope that treatment would start soon and he will be relieved from pain. The patient arrived at the lab claiming for the report on the said “D’ day, only to be informed that ‘report would be ready only tomorrow’. ‘Why???’, The sample was received after cut off time of the laboratory and was taken for processing only the following day and estimation of ‘D’ day was wrongly misinterpreted. ‘Can you make the report possible today? We have come a long way’. Laboratory staff had a ready answer, ‘As per our laboratory policy, this report takes time. Nothing else is possible’. The patient said, “Do not hide behind your policies. Your policies are not helping us”.

That’s when the management realized that policies are only written for accreditation purposes and are not patient friendly. Thus the leadership team decided to address the issue of patients and staff and played an active role in implementing the required changes.

A project team formed. Regular meetings happened between the management and project team. A team of six people was formed to take the project forward. The team lead by the laboratory director also included the lab manager Mr. Vinay, quality manager Mr Rajendra Kumar, two technical staff Mrs. Saroja, Mr Devendrappa and the hospital nominated Dr Prathiba who is GM operations HCG hospital.

Results: In-depth analysis of every process step related to patient samples helped correct the work flow and 30 % reduction in TAT, staff shifts and recruitment of skilled staff to fix vacancies. This helped achieve good level loading and staff morale.

When the Senior Administrator was reviewing the quarterly activity reports, he was perturbed by the report from MRI. Recently the hospital had installed two new state-of-art MRI machines when the earlier single MRI could not handle the patient load. It was expected that the case load would double with easy appointment availability. However the numbers had not increased as per expectation.

So he decided to make a surprise visit to check the facts. Was he in for a surprise!

He went to the MRI at 11:00 pm and there were two families waiting in the MRI lounge. At first he dismissed it thinking they were emergency patients. However, on questioning the staff, the response was casual ‘these are appointment patients…you know how busy we are na?  It’s like this every day Sir!’

When he spoke to the patient relatives he was even more astonished. Mrs. Khatija told him ‘we waited for more than a day for an appointment for my son and still got only a 10.00 pm appointment! The doctors says there may be a brain tumour, so what choice do we have but to take whatever appointment was available at the earliest, even so late at night!’.

 This was also the case for Mr. Mehta. His doctor suspected a spinal cause for his back pain. Mr Mehta explained,  ‘I have difficulty is sitting for so long, so the MRI team has kindly offered me a stretcher to lie down, but I am still waiting for my turn and it is not very comfortable. It seems there is a delay of 30 minutes but what can I do? I will wait!’

So in spite of 2 MRIs it seemed the problem of appointment availability was also not resolved!

Lessons Learned:

• Delay in performing scans lead to patient dis-satisfaction
• This was adversely impacted the hospital referral base and in turn was limiting future revenue opportunities
• This also generated patient loss to outpatient diagnostics

The management reviewed the case and the main question was “Is underutilization of MRI machines because inefficiency on the part of our staff, doctors, and technicians?”

A detailed study using Lean Six sigma methodology was done wherein monthly volume and available time (based on available working hours) was studied to understand the underutilization of the resources, namely, manpower and equipment, with an aim to improve utilization of MRI.

The daily working hours were reduced from 32 hours to 30 hours with a reduction in average MRI time from 74 minutes to 60 minutes.

We were successful in reducing one manpower requirement by re-scheduling staff shift timings without hampering departmental functioning.

The patient load increased from 650 to more than 700 per month with changes.

While every business or organization is striving to generate more and more opportunities to grow their Business or create avenues for continuous flow of new business, various new sources were identified and formed by this highly respected Mutual Fund house. To effectively try and win business out of these opportunities, it becomes necessary to not lose connect with them at any level of required interaction. These opportunities called as ‘Data’ or ‘Leads’ need to be engaged effectively and managed well through a closely collaborated process and so was LMS (Lead Management System) formed in FY13-14, to generate business from the data or leads generated through the digital campaigns or marketing activities, managed by the marketing function.

The senior management observed that there was not much business growth through LMS with only 10% increase in gross sales year-on-year, with additional challenges of losing leads when they were assigned to our sales team and distributors for closure due to lack of tracking mechanism. In urge of quick and increased growth from every possible platform to help achieve the organizational goals, the CEO realized the huge potential of LMS in catering to all forms of data or leads generated by the organization and being a business generator it should be driven by sales. So, the current head of sales enablement & emerging markets, Mr Deepak Gupta who earlier co-headed retail sales was selected as the project head by CEO, viewing his vast experience and deeper understanding of the Business, to identify the problems and opportunities to frame a strong process and scale the business possibilities.

A team was then formed by him identifying and recruiting a fresh brain, Mr Niladri Chatterjee (Channel Manager – Client Engagement) as the main driver of this project for new ideas, and involved Mr Rahul Gulekar (Head – Business Excellence) to ensure detailed Quality assessment of the project.

Post team formation, some major actionable involved:

1. Brainstorming sessions with functional stakeholders to identify new, sustainable and cost effective lead sources or engagement activities
2. Set up of e-mail notifications / reminders to sales or distributors through a TAT matrix
3. Designed and published detailed dashboards or MIS reports
4. Published success stories internally and initiated rewards and recognition to motivate the lead generators and business drivers
5. Product trainings and refreshers with soft skill development sessions, were conducted
6. Brought 95% automation in the process by developing LMS module on sales CRM

The business acquired through LMS, doubled up from previous financial year. The number of opportunities or data generated for lead identification also increased 2.33 times, simultaneously improving the conversion rate. Increased our focus on Customer Centricity and convinced ourselves of sustaining the growth.

Ms. Shah, admitted on the 12^th floor (twin sharing room) requested for a glass of hot water to Sister Mithila who was administering medicines to her neighbouring patient. While Sister Mithila was on her way to the Nursing station, she passed by a Pantry staff Deena Maushi, and conveyed the patient’s request.  Deena Maushi was at the end of her 8 hours duty and further relayed this information to her colleague.

In the best case scenario the hot glass of water should have reached Ms. Shah. And it did. However, the ‘hot’ specification was lost in translation and transition. She expressed mild irritation to Sister Mithila saying “In such a reputed hospital, is it that difficult to get a glass of hot water?”

Thereafter Ms. Shah threw a tantrum. A Customer Care Officer Ms. Mayuri was called in to pacify Ms. Shah. What started off with a glass of hot water, got converted to many more complaints like rude behaviour of staff, delay in response of Nurse, taste of food and so on.

Oh well!! What have we gotten ourselves into?? Mayuri initiated the conversation saying “Ma’am, May I Help You!!” Ms. Shah is in no mood to let go and says I want to meet your Senior. Mayuri is exasperated but she says “Ma’am, we are Sorry“(Are we really???).

We can’t be spending rest of our lives apologizing. Come on Fella’s. It’s time to wake up… a roadmap needs to be devised for containing Patient Requests such that they do not pile up, and escalate into Complaints.

Can we empower our Patients to reach us directly (without the middle man) by creating more platforms?? Of Course we can!! Should we have time bound Service levels? High time!!!

A 400 bedded multi-speciality hospital, with 2500+ staff working in 3 shifts, on rotation and various categories. How many such tasks should be fulfilled and on-time, each time?

Although there is a Patient Feedback system in place, an in-depth review will almost always feature such smaller Requests that were incorrectly attended or delayed. Responsiveness in any Service industry is what builds Impressions.

Patients Expectations are on the rise. Requests not attended in a timely manner add up. Lack of a one-point resolution further adds to the patient woes, who have now also found Facebook and Twitter. This affects the Hospitals Brand Image.

Two voices that of the Customer and the Management directed the need for a Systemic Approach of Complaint Management to Enhance Patient Experience.

A multi-functional team, from core patient care areas, and supporting services, were carefully selected. Individuals with not only knowledge and accountability but also influence came together to contribute to this much needed centric goal.

It was the year 2016 and TITAN Jewellery was going through a tough time as gold bullion of 99.99% purity, commonly referred to as 9999 gold, was scarcely available in the Indian market.

The newly procured German equipment was working overtime to meet the ever-growing demand for 9999 gold which serves as the raw material for making gold jewellery in different karatages.

Mr Sanjay Ranawade (Vice President-Jewellery ISCM) had called for a hurried meeting with Mr Rajendran G (General Manager-Studded Jewellery) and Mr Leo Michael Y D (Group Manager) to discuss the developments in the Bullion market and the impact it would have on jewellery production.

Mr Sanjay explained that alternate sources for 9999 bullion came at a premium of Rs 65,000/kg, with a minimum order quantity of 100 kg, and a promised lead time of four weeks. This would greatly affect the cost competitiveness and delivery of Tanishq jewellery.

However, what was not spoken, but nevertheless understood, was that TITAN, being a torchbearer of TATA’s ethical values, could not stoop down to the dubious practices adopted by its industry competitors. This meant that TITAN was to take drastic measures to step up its production of 9999 gold.

Mr Kanthanathan P (Manager-Refining) hastily entered the meeting room and apologized for his lateness. He conveyed grave news. He had been informed in the morning that the purity results indicated that iron was in the 9999 gold produced in the Electrolytic Refining process. That too in the new German equipment.

Iron is deadly in a jewellery alloy. It causes quality defects in castings and machine-made chains such as blistering and porosities. This meant that both the productivity and the quality of the existing process were in question.

While Mr Sanjay brooded seriously over the matter, questioning himself if he should consider outside options for sourcing bullion, Mr Rajendran G, Mr Leo, and Mr Kanthanathan were in deep discussion, determined not to let down their company in its time of need.

Mr Leo raised a basic fundamental question/challenge. “If our Aqua Regia process can deliver 999 purity gold, then why can’t 9999 purity gold”? He announced that, with the In-house expertise of his Refining team he would develop a world-beating process that would deliver on both the productivity and quality fronts.

For three months, the Refining team was completely focused on this challenge. They brought to bear all the quality tools in their arsenal to realize every opportunity for quality improvement. Input quality of chemicals was improved, key process parameters were standardized and innovative ideas were tried and refined repeatedly.

Mr Sanjay & Mr Rajendran, whose trust and support in the team gave rise to the whole initiative were kept abreast of the entire proceedings on 20^th August 2016, they were greeted with the news that this team of highly motivated Titanians had achieved the World’s first Aqua-Regia Process that gives a guaranteed output of 9999 gold.

Mr Bhaskar Bhat, MD of TITAN, during his visit to the Jewellery Division, visited the Refining plant as well. The Refining team showcased their efforts in developing the World Class Refining Process. The MD congratulated the whole team for their innovative approach that created a new benchmark. Titan’s Flag flew to greater heights. He remarked that a deep yearning to achieve the impossible, coupled with determination and trust in one’s own abilities, will guarantee success. This is going to be our first step towards our future approach.

This team which demonstrated all the above went on to successfully bag the “Dream Team” award for excellence in team work for the year 2016 and Rs 1.8 lakh in prize money.

It was May 2015 when the Market Intelligence Data Solution process migrated to eClerx.

During the first business review of this process, Andrew (the client) said: "We are being one of the largest e-tailers and suppliers of more than a million products. Therefore, remaining competitive in the market is our primary aim. Also, eClerx should be able to meet the maximum product coverage without any quality issues in a cost-effective manner as we will also have other solution providers with whom we are in discussion."

Andrew's expectation was a challenge, as our team was struggling to deliver a little above 30% coverage with 70% accuracy. If we have to maximize, it meant revamping the entire process end-to-end.

Post returning from the business review meet, Saurabh (Senior Manager) called for an urgent meeting. He said, "Folks, we have a task at hand. The client is not ready to accept anything less than 85% product coverage and 95% accuracy."

"Himanshu…I want a plan of action immediately, we can’t lose this business ", our senior manager re-iterated.

My team along with a Black Belt got into a discussion and decided to take up a DMAIC approach to tackle this problem. In the first meeting itself, it became quite clear that this was going to be a challenging project to crack as the problem was deep-rooted and inherent to the process.

He said, "The problem at hand is the cumulative effect of multiple problems that are inherent to the process."

He conducted a brainstorming activity with our team to identify the various causes; it was like opening a Pandora's Box.

It was now understood that how deep rooted this problem was.

My team decided to attack this problem in phases. In the first phase, they came up with automation for each of the extraction, transformation, and loading processes. It improved the coverage and quality of the match to 70% and 90% respectively.

The client was informed to which he replied "You guys have done a superb job but a lot needs to be done. Keep up the good work"

There was a sigh of relief in our team. For the second phase, the machine learning approach was adopted, which improved the coverage and accuracy to 85% and 95% respectively.

An interaction of Sathish, a first time spectacle user, with an optician, after selecting a frame.

Optician: Based on your lifestyle and prescription, you should take photochromatic lenses with hard-multi coat (HMC).

Sathish: What’s that? What is photochromatic and hard multi coat?

Optician: Photochromatic lenses turn dark - like Sunglass - when you are outdoors and will provide you comfort and protection from UV light. HMC is an antireflection coating and EMI which will help you to see clearly indoors.

Sathish : I am even more confused, What is EMI? Can you show me that?

Optician: EMI is electromagnetic interference. Since you use laptop, this coating will protect your eyes from harmful emissions from the screen.

Sathish: Oh… I see! How much will it cost?

Optician: Lenses will cost you around Rs.5600/-.

Sathish: Sounds very expensive! Do all lenses cost so much in other shops too? My friend purchased a new pair of spectacle for only Rs.2000/-!

Optician: Yes Sir. The price will be in the range of Rs.5500 to 6000/-. Cheaper lenses may not have the above mentioned properties.

Sathish: So, how does one know what properties the lens has?

Optician: Sorry sir! I will not be able to demonstrate this to you.

Sathish: I see!

38% of Indian population (456 million) need primary eye care intervention and require vision correction and eyeglasses have served as one of the oldest vision correction aids, since the 13^th Century.

While there has been much advancement in lens products, coatings and technology, there has always been a need to differentiate between features of different lenses, such as hard coating, anti-reflection coating, UV protection, EMI, photochromatic, blue filter, etc. Eyewear industry in India is unorganized and fragmented, leading to a lack of transparency on features, benefits and price. This does not match and what they get in return.

Titan Eyeplus realised that there exists an opportunity to come out with a device on the lines of Tanishq “Karatmeter” (machine to test gold purity in a non-destructive manner) to showcase the properties of lenses and coatings to customers at the point of delivery.

The team took on a challenge to develop a low cost, portable and accurate instrument to demonstrate lens features at the point of sale. The Lens Analyser Version 1 was developed, prototyped and piloted for one year before being launched in the market.

The Lens Analyser has been well received by both store staff and customers. 89% of customers have found it useful to make an informed decision and 90% of store staff have found it to be an effective sales tool to exhibit transparency, which has led to higher C-SAT scores on value for money.