Drakelow Consulting offers a number of consulting services to help your business gain competitive advantage.
1. Improving Forecast Accuracy
Let us review your forecasting models and processes. We will identify where accuracy can be improved and the usefulness of forecasting can be developed.
We have had much success in improving forecasting accuracy in a wide range of industries and applications, including multichannel contact centres, retail sales and energy demand.
Our approach combines an academic rigour with many years’ experience of real-world forecasting – maximising accuracy through selecting the optimum model, gathering insight from across the business, applying judgement and gaining consensus.
2. BPO Planning Improvement
We have a great deal of experience improving resource planning relationships between businesses and their outsource partners.
We can quickly identify barriers to performance, and then collaborate with both parties to create win-win solutions that satisfy both commercial and customer goals.
We can review current outsourcing contracts, processes and models from either a client or supplier perspective. We can help identify improvements and help negotiate how to implement those improvements in practice.
3. WFM Implementation & Fix
Drakelow Consulting has successfully project-managed the implementation of different Workforce Management Systems for clients. This has involved system implementation together with the design and introduction of new processes to ensure you get the maximum value from your investment.
Further, where you have an existing WFM tool in place, but you feel you are not getting full benefit from it, we can help you gain full commercial value, so that your investment in the system brings full benefit.
4. Resource Planning Optimisation
We can help you improve your Resource Planning capability, so that you can reliably satisfy your customers’ challenging requirements. This includes scheduling solutions to improve schedule match; recruitment planning tools; and processes to ensure short-interval planning.
Having experience of very many different scheduling systems, Drakelow Consulting can help you design the optimum system for your operation, and create usable and robust tools that reliably slot into a solid planning process.
What makes resource planning particularly difficult is the need to balance the three competing objectives of customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction and cost. By designing planning concepts and processes appropriately, the result can be a flexible framework where all three goals are met.
The result for your operation is that resource levels match with your varying demand, so that your service levels are met.
5. Support Services Development
A well-designed and functioning support services capability can bring significant competitive advantage. We can help you design the optimum support services structure to boost the performance of your operation.
We have strong insight into optimum advisor-to-analyst ratios, together with many years’ experience of how to structure winning support teams.
We can also deliver training & coaching to accelerate development of your forecasting, planning, reporting and analysis capability.
6. Operational Performance Improvement
We have a range of techniques and tools that can be quickly applied to your business operations to identify performance improvements.
We can identify where such initiatives as process improvement, performance management, reporting and new technology can bring benefit.
We can also model your operation dynamically, and demonstrate the commercial benefit of identified performance improvements. We can also help you implementation to deliver the benefits.
7. Analytics & Modelling
Drakelow Consulting has a solid academic background in Operational Research, and a strong track record of helping clients by applying modelling techniques.
We have a wide range of modelling techniques to apply, and we can help select the most appropriate software to bring the best result to address your opportunity.
We can support long and short term projects and initiatives with statistical analysis/commercial modelling, for example for more efficient working, contract negotiation or business case analysis.
If you have identified an opportunity where analysis can help, we would be delighted to discuss this with you.
8. MI Improvement
We have considerable experience of developing robust reporting systems to maximise performance within operations and to establish commercial control of cost and revenue.
We have particular strength in helping clients select and identify the most appropriate measures to maximise performance, ensuring no alternative pathways.
Our focus is on specifying and delivering a reporting system that will reliably and speedily provide feedback to aid optimum performance management.
9. Interim Support
Drakelow Consulting can provide and arrange temporary leadership for your operational support areas/planning team. We offer robust intrim management support to guide and develop your support managers and analysts.
We can also provide support for quick and reliable delivery of specific planning and modelling objectives.