Your list of service initiatives is probably long, and the level of effort required to do everything exceeds the staff and or budget you have available. You can’t do it all so you need to prioritize what is most important. This article offers guidance on how to prioritize your most important initiatives.
Prioritize Your Service Initiatives
Prioritizing service initiatives is a necessary process to determine the order in which initiatives will be worked on and the level of resources committed.
Prioritization does not imply that an initiative will or will not be done, simply that resources will be allocated in an order that yields the most benefit to the business.
Remove Bias
Prioritizing service initiatives is often subjective because different stakeholders will view projects and initiatives from their perspective, thus there is bias.
Effective prioritization attempts to remove any bias introduced by narrowly focused objectives, and evaluates initiatives based on what really matters to the business.
Focus on What Matters Most
The first step in prioritization is deciding what matters most to the business in terms of expected impact and timeframe.
Evaluate Impact
The impact of an initiative should be quantifiable. If you cannot easily define the expected outcome from a service initiative, chances are that it is not more important than other activities competing for resources. To evaluate impact consider:
|
Impact Type |
How the initiative will impact the business. |
Possible Impacts:
|
|
Magnitude |
What is the extent to which an initiative will impact the business | Example: 10% |
|
Timeframe |
When expected benefits will be realized | Example: Within 12 months |
Define the type and magnitude of expected impact(s) from an initiative. It is not enough to say that an initiative will reduce churn. Express the extent and timeframe that an initiative will yield the expected impact.
How to express the Impact of an Initiative:
By doing INITIATIVE A, we can reduce customer churn by 10% within 12 months
Assess Dependencies
Prioritizing service initiatives by their expected level of business impact is ideal, yet the reality is that some initiatives will depend upon the completion of others. When you have completed your prioritization, you will need to evaluate if any priority initiatives have prerequisites – initiatives that must be completed before new, priority initiatives can occur.
Examine Consequences
Sometimes an initiative will not yield positive changes in performance or outcomes but is necessary to mitigate negative consequences of not doing something. Make certain to highlight the potential negative impact(s) of not allocating resources to an initiative. Consequences may include:
- Customer churn
- Employee attrition
- Lost revenue
- Increased costs
How to express the Impact of an Initiative:
If we do NOT do INITIATIVE A, we will lose 10% of our customers at the next renewal cycle.
Create Your Prioritized List
When you understand the potential impact from initiatives – both positive outcomes or negative consequences – it is possible to prioritize activities and allocate resources. Be certain to factor in time and resources to complete any prerequisite initiatives.
Establish a prioritized list of initiatives with the order, types of resources to be allocated, expected outcomes, and timeframe for competition. Use agreed upon criteria to objectively evaluate all initiatives competing for finite resources.
Consensus
Build consensus along the way so that all stakeholders have an opportunity to provide input about what initiatives, impacts and consequences are most important to the business. Assure that the evaluation criteria used and the prioritized list generated are aligned with the inputs and expectations of all stakeholders.
You may not be able to do everything on your list, but when you focus resources of the most important activities, you can maximize the impact of your efforts to improve service outcomes and reduce risk.
