How being customer-centric and cost-effective come together in agile organizations

If you transform your organization according to an agile pattern, you avoid frustration among employees, cut costs and boost customer satisfaction.

A few years ago, Dutch health insurer VGZ received an NPS score of -2. This score measures customer satisfaction and is around 70 for companies like Apple or Google. ‘So, more people disliked us than were happy with us. That was a shock’, says Frank Elion, Chief Client Officer at VGZ. The score now stands at 15. ‘We’re not there yet, but we aim to be the Apple of health insurers.’ 

From 4 to 2 million calls

VGZ also invested heavily in digital transformation. ‘Three years ago we had 4 million calls, now there are just 2 million. 70 percent of our customers work digitally’, says Frank Elion. ‘Our goal? Customer contact face to face or by phone only if you really need personal advice. We want to offer the rest via digital solutions. And again: once customers have opted for a particular digital channel, they don’t need anything else.’

The organization itself often acts as a brake for innovation, Simon Anthonis knows. Then, you have to establish new organizational models. ‘Before, organizations felt they had to choose between customer-centric or cost-effective working. That’s all in the past, it’s and-and now.’

Be ambitious and groundbreaking

But don’t just blindly transform your organization, warns Anthonis. ‘The management must have a clear reason for the transformation. There are usually as many reasons for transforming as there are seats on the board. What’s the most compelling reason? You need to define this very clearly because it helps set the pattern for your future organization.’

Be ambitious, even groundbreaking, in your thinking, advises Anthonis. ‘Too often, organizations start their transformation by identifying all of the constraints. What’s impossible? This leads to marginal improvements that customers barely notice. We apply the MAYA principle: Most Advanced Yet Acceptable. What would the organization look like in an ideal world? Only then do you look at what’s feasible in practice. This brings you to more radical models with more impact.’

EY has a specialized team that deals exclusively with agile transformations: people with insight, who are familiar with the pitfalls, who know which models work in which situations, and who look at figures and data. ‘That’s really useful, because organizations can sometimes lapse into agile fundamentalism’, stresses Anthonis. ‘Don’t forget that it’s a means to achieve something, not an end in itself. You have to be brave enough to apply the model too.’