Question 9

1. A major customer queue at Accenture can occur when a client already being serviced on one project is waiting for key resources to be freed for an upcoming project. Lets say BP has 5 Accenture Peoplesoft experts with deep oil industry and BP process knowledge. They may have another project requiring people with Peoplesoft skills, but have to wait for for the previous project to finish before those resources can be deployed to the new project. They would not want to switch to another consulting firm because those new resources would need to get familiarized with BP's organizational structure, systems, and processes.
2. Using Maister's psychological principles of waiting - Accenture could explain to BP that the quality of service they will receive by waiting will be higher than selecting another vendor to complete the service now. As I said before, training consultants from another company would take too long even if they were deployed quickly. Another method would be to help BP deal with the anxiety by creating a transition plan where for example, 2 of the resources work half-time on each project while the remaining 3 wrap up the previous project. This would also serve to turn the pre-process wait into an in-process wait. Essentially, a the project would not be fully kicked-off, but there would be some work being done. This technically means the process has been started, so the customer is now waiting in-process. Lastly, Accenture would communicate in clear timeline what the approximate wait time will be to deploy their people. This would give BP some certainty about the queue time.

Question 8

1. At Accenture the service would run more smoothly if capacity and demand were better matched during the initial phase of the project. At Accenture the major capacity constraint is people. Say for an example, a project requires 3 people with deep knowledge of an SAP HR module. If those 3 people are already on different client engagements, the new customer will have to wait until an acceptable substitute can be found. This waiting time adversely affects the service because it shows that Accenture was not adequately prepared for the work they agreed to. If Accenture has the right people at the right time then the customer wait times will be minimal.
2. Demand and capacity can be kept in line in three ways. First, based on upcoming project work Accenture can hire experienced employees in the area. This ensures that there are people in the pipeline with the right skills for the work. Second, Accenture can hire new employees (such as college grads) who are cheap and also a blank slate. They can train these employees from the outset in the areas that need to be filled. Last, they can train existing employees, during project downtimes on new skills that will help fit the needs of clients.

Question 7

1. Accenture should track a variety of information about each customer. Because of the vast array of services offered to potential clients, I will focus on high level data. They would start with things like understanding the client's core business, business processes, number of employees, global areas of operation, ERP systems used, modules used, etc. For example, let's say they were doing a PeopleSoft implementation they would want to collect data on how the current software is setup, how many employees use it, what processes are they used for as well as technical aspects such as number of licenses, load times, etc. After the work has been completed, they should monitor things like improvement rates, adoption rates, cost savings, time savings, etc. This type of data can be used when marketing the same service to a different company.
2. This type of data should start to be even before Accenture is given the contract. During the RFP (request for proposal) phase they should be collecting this high level data to ensure that they are well suited to compete for the work. It's critical to know the companies core businesses and for systems work what type of technical architecture is being used. Once the work has been awarded, then they can dig down another level and begin to learn specific details of the processes and systems that will be affected.
3. The same type of data could be captured by a different service provider to help them differentiate themselves and their service to potential clients. Based on the the same information, they could compare themselves to Accenture and determine ways how they differ or how their service is an improvement over Accenture's offering.

Question 5

1. Accenture's processes would be both divergent and complex depending on the situation, client and type of work being done. An example of a complex process would be an implementation of certain functionality within an ERP module. Say the ability to record credit card transactions was being added to SAP. There would be an intricate process to follow, but one that has clearly guided steps and likely has been done before with another client. An example of a divergent process would be setting up a call center for a client. The project manager would have to exercise judgement in critical areas such as location, cost, team structures, roles and responsibilities, etc. In this instance there may not be a guided process that could be followed and easily implemented. There would be countless decisions that required judgement and discretion.
2. If I had a choice of substituting one of these processes over another I would substitute a complex process for a divergent one. I would do this to execute the process more efficiently and with goals in place to measure results. Further, completing and documenting the process once could allow me to leverage it for another client or customer at a later time. I believe this works best when executing fairly simple processes. For example, let say you provide a service that sends e-mail notifications for actions to customers. I would want a documented process that could be easily followed and executed by anyone that has access to the proper resources. I would not want a process where too many options are left to the discretion of the employee executing the task.