BCE Small & Medium Business Strategy

Context: In 2006 there were five business units under the BCE corporate umbrella, divided by geography, ie. Bell Canada in Ontario and Quebec, Aliant in the Atlantic provinces, NorthwesTel in the Territories, Bell West and Bell Nordiq in Northern Ontario and Quebec. These five units each had a division responsible for servicing the needs of Small & Medium Business customers. Each of these units did their own market research, product research and negotiated vendor contracts. The BCE President of SMB mandated closer working relationships and Omakase Group was engaged to facilitate the development of the new plan.

Approach: Using a partipatory, immersive method each participant was quickly educated  in the product offerings, strategies and key performance indicators of the sister companies. More effective than PowerPoint presentations, we use graphic facilitation and small group work to get people quickly up to speed on the complexities of the session challenge.

Model building and iteration is a key tenet of the methodology, with cross functional teams creating initial plans that bring into account each team member’s specific area of expertise. Rapid iteration of these models with a variety of participants quickly solidifies the plans. Having multiple streams using this approach means that many parts of the overall challenge can be addressed simultaneously.

Personas and a customer focused approach provided a framework that was market driven rather than internal looking. This perspective was repeatedly used as a “litmus test” for any proposed solutions.

Results: The three days of work resulted in:

• a plan that when executed in 2005 provided an in year cost savings of $3 million and the savings have been sustained every year since (as of December 2008).
• a PowerPoint presentation to be used the next day for an executive briefing.

Participant feedback:

This was an excellent way to get so many people in so many areas of the company informed and working in the same direction. More multi-department sharing at early stage of projects pays off with greater, faster alignment.

I think the “persona” concept helped us a lot in getting the proper focus and in to the needs of the customer.