AON
05/07/2007
A Praxis interim manager successfully pulled together two teams and introduced new working methods in direct mail operations for LGH.
London General Holdings (LGH), the UK underwriting and administrative arm of Chicago-based Aon Corporation, is the leading provider of extended warranty insurance for domestic appliances, motor vehicles and creditor protection on the UK market. Following an acquisition the company had two direct mail operations designing, printing and mailing around eight million letters a year. The acquired direct mail team outsourced its operations whereas the existing team used in-house facilities. Rationalisation was clearly necessary.
The problem LGH faced, due to the acquisition, was lack of management time. The direct marketing function needed re-engineering but the project manager responsible left and no-one else was available. So LGH decided to bring in an interim manager.
They chose John Adkins for his strong track record of heavyweight implementer and successful project manager.
John’s first task was to assess options for handling the combined mail volumes and determine potential costs. He put forward criteria for effective use of resources and quantified the cost-benefit equation. He recommended outsourcing to a dedicated mailhouse to save costs and reduce management load LGH’s board agreed with his recommendations.
Next he had to obtain quotations from contractors and negotiate contract and service level agreements with the chosen bidder. A project team was formed to transfer work to the contractor and introduce changes to ensure the new operation worked efficiently.
This was a critical time. “To John's eternal credit, his personality and management skills came to the fore,” comments Ian Kenny, director of LGH's largest business division.
“He drew middle management into this process. He focused individual minds on the rationale behind his recommendations and gained not only acceptance but people’s trust”. He then started implementing the changes. This involved rationalising print tasks and driving through improvements to some of the data processes.
Originally seven different computer systems and databases were involved on the two sites. A development project was set up to remove two systems and automate scheduling and extraction of data for print runs. Finally, data trsfer lines were established to the contractor and a means developed to transmit each print application and the large volumes of associated customer data.
John left after three months at LGH having established processes which allowed the team to work effectively. "This was an incredibly challenging assignment," he says.
“LGH has approximately 70 clients and all their requirements had to be catered for in terms of direct mail demands.”
Ian Kenny concludes, “It was a very alien concept to bring an outsider to work on a project within the company, but it proved to be a very valuable experience. John looked at our company through fresh eyes and made recommendations which were very effective. He made our operation more efficient, which means our service to customers is more efficient. I would definitely use an interim manager in the future if the need arose.”
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