In anticipation of her co-presentation at Building Business Capability in Vegas, Nov. 2 – 6, 2015, we asked Jessica Armendariz, Senior Business Process Analyst at Bridgepoint Education, a few questions about pursuing business excellence. Check out her interview in relation to her BBC co-presentation entitled Transformational Restructures:  Using Customer-Centric BPM to Re-Organize and Optimize Department Processes.

Q: How is your organization advancing the pursuit of business excellence and how does it impact your business units/departments?

A: Bridgepoint Education is dedicated to focusing on the student experience and student retention. By being more committed to the customer, strategic initiatives have been implemented that aim to save employees time, reduce response times and SLAs, and reduce department costs. This allows us to better serve our students while creating efficiency’s across the enterprise.

Q: Can you describe the challenges you face or have already overcome in establishing a more cohesive and productive company or organization?

A: Bridgepoint faces challenges that are similar to other organizations: resource availability, department restructures, acceptance of process change and accountability.  We overcome these challenges with open and frequent communication to frontline staff and by involving front line staff in process design. It is also crucial to create clear and measurable metrics from the beginning. Establishing a baseline and setting a clear goal will guarantee a way to measure process improvements.

Q: What are your near term goals for creating a more agile organization at your business or company?

A: Our near term goals are to continue our focus on efficiency by removing pain points and bottlenecks within the business. We also work with the business to project manage initiatives to avoid duplication of efforts. Lastly, we always connect our initiatives to strategic goals so we can tie our measurements back to the customer experience.

Q: What’s the most valuable thing you’ve learned in 2015 thus far? What’s the most important goal/trend for [pick one or two: business analysts, business architects, business process managers and/or business rules managers] to keep in mind?

A: The most valuable thing we have learned is to change our mindset into thinking big picture and higher level. We connect our efforts back to the impact it will have on student enrollments, retention, and customer satisfaction scores. Lastly, we are flexible to changing business needs.

Q: What’s the latest method/process/tool you have implemented to help your organization or business run more efficiently and effectively?

A: Business Process Improvement, Enrollment Services, and Business Intelligence collaborated to create SCI, a Student Centered Index that is used to evaluate Enrollment Services performance. It offers visibility to the value that ESAs provide their organization through their inputs and outputs. In addition, SCI is designed for use as a diagnostic tool that aids in the discovery of a distinct, individualized path for improvement in key areas. SCI delivers a different perspective on ESA success while driving behaviors that benefit students as well as Ashford University. There are three scores that measure valuable areas of an ESA’s performance. The Compliance Score measures ESA compliance during student conversations, the Student Index Score (SI) measures an ESA’s efficiency and effectiveness with the resources given to them, and the Persistence Score measures how well an ESA prepares each student to be successful in their program long-term.

Q: If you could give your five-years-ago self insight and advice about this industry, what would you say?

A: Focus more on retention, customer service, and coaching fundamentals-get back to the basics.

Q: Sneak preview: Please tell us a take-away that you will provide during your talk at Building Business Capability.

A: How to be proactive in addressing the concerns of a department restructure while ensuring the front line staff impacted is involved throughout the process.

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Don’t miss Jessica’s co-presentation, Transformational Restructures:  Using Customer-Centric BPM to Re-Organize and Optimize Department Processes, at Building Business Capability on Thursday, November 5, 2015 from 10:40 to 11:40 am. Click here to register for attendance.