Progress Software was kind enough to reach out to me and share some of their thinking on Operational Responsiveness (OR). Over the course of the next few posts I’ll share with you some of the key components of OR. My approach will be:
- An introduction to OR, the point of this post.
- A deeper look at how Progress Software define OR.
- How does OR compare to Social CRM? Is it the same thing?
- Where I would like to see Progress Software go with OR
Why am I interested in OR? I see OR as being related to Social CRM, and I will share the reasons why in later posts. Alright John, we’ll wait. Tell us, how does Progress define OR?
“Operational responsiveness is the ability of business processes and systems to respond to changing conditions and customer interactions as they occur, enabling business leaders to capitalize on opportunities, drive greater efficiencies, and reduce risk.”
Flexible, agile, systems and processes that can react to changing market conditions to enable business leaders to make the right decisions… If you’re thinking Social CRM you’re not alone. While the concepts put forth in the white paper are not as evolved as the conversations the Social CRM (#scrm) crew is having on Twitter, I see the right core concepts in play:
- Awareness of the broader business environment. You must clearly understand the goals of the business and the strategies and tactics being employed. Your processes and systems must support this environment.
- Awareness of the market through observation. Using the tools at your disposal to understand changing market conditions and how your business and your competition (both the competition you are aware of and that which you have yet to identify) are impacting this marketplace.
- Change management. In OR the use of agile techniques to quickly drive process changes is critical.
While this has only been an introduction, what questions or comments do you have?
John
