"The results of the improvements have been amazing..." - Interview with Defne Erogul of Vodafone Turkey

Defne Erogul joined Vodafone Turkey in 2006 to lead their change initiative. This included the design, deployment and maintenance of a Six Sigma and Business Process Management environment and the creation of continuous improvement culture.

She is a frequent speaker at international quality conferences.

What led Vodafone Turkey to use Lean Six Sigma as its Business Improvement Methodology?

Vodafone Turkey began its Lean Six Sigma journey in November 2006. The need arose with Telsim’s acquisition by Vodafone on May 2006. The acquisition marked the start of a period of significant change in management style and this change environment was seen as an opportunity to introduce a new business improvement approach and culture focused on driving superior customer experience and process excellence.

Lean Six Sigma was selected as the Business Improvement methodology of Vodafone Turkey as it is customer driven, data based, a structured approach and a management system, which is proven to deliver significant customer & financial results across a large number of organisations.

The Business Improvement deployment through Lean Six Sigma has been positioned to:

• Improve CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
• Eliminate WASTE, Reduce COSTS, Increase REVENUE
• Develop and Empower PEOPLE
• Move to a culture of CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

What was your approach in deploying Lean Six Sigma?

Considering the company’s transformation and change environment and its size, selecting the most suitable approach to deploying Lean Six Sigma was critical. Vodafone Turkey made the difficult decision to move away from the traditional Top-Down and full-time Black Belt Six Sigma Deployment to riskier Bottom-Up and part-time Green Belt approach.

The deployment was structured like a project and business case, 3 year plan, key dates, milestones, resource requirements were defined and agreed and projects tied to the strategic plan. The deployment was championed by Assistant General Manager of Strategy, Planning & Business Integration Directorate. A central Business Improvement team was formed with facilitation responsibility.

The deployment first started with a pilot project. The activation process was selected due to its strategic importance, customer impact and financial implications. Also in this process, the problems had always been solved with workarounds and people were not happy with the results, and [it was thought that] this project might lead to identification of many improvement areas. It was also an end-to-end process, starting with the customer and ending with the customer.

Then the penetration into departments started using the success story from the Activation process. As the deployment’s focus was “Best Customer Experience”, Customer Operations and Network Departments were selected as the first departments to enter into deployment. Champions were selected from these departments and champions and critical management team were given 2 days training involving theory and simulation of 6 Sigma system.

The next critical step was the selection of right projects and assignment of right people to projects to deliver and sustain results. Critical business projects from strategic plan and burning platforms from employee ideas selected with the approval of a Governance Committee. To get employee ideas, internal branding studies and advertising were used and an idea pool was formed.

With project selection, special consideration was given to end-to-end processes and a structured project selection matrix applied. Employees already working in corresponding areas were assigned part-time (30%) to projects with the approval of their managers.

Vodafone Turkey developed a unique and customised Six Sigma educational system, which now includes the following eight inter-related training programmes: 2 days Champion / Sponsor / Process Owner Training; 10 days Green Belt Training; 2 days Red Belt Training; 3 days Brown Belt Training; 20 days Black Belt Training; 2 days WOW Continuous Improvement Training; 8 days MBB Training and one day Financial Representative Training.

Candidates training started with classroom introduction and exercises provided by a Six Sigma professional. Training continued in a real work environment where candidates applied Lean Six Sigma principles to assigned projects.

Throughout each project, candidates received real time coaching and technical support. Six Sigma experts in Business Improvement Team with the support of one external consultant provided high-quality training and real-time technical coaching.

Fifteen Green Belts and fifteen projects started in June 2007 as 1st Wave Green Belt projects. Certain projects were dropped in Measure phase as pre-feasibility analysis did not validate the opportunity or Green Belt’s special conditions. 2nd Wave projects started in November 2007. The Lean Six Sigma DMAIC methodology was adopted and tailored according to Vodafone Turkey and project needs.

Projects were tracked in common teamroom and integration to the project tracking software was initiated. Benefit measurement and tracking approach was defined and agreed with Financial Decision Support and financial representatives were given one day financial representative training. Financial representatives are involved in the projects from the start even at the project selection phase.

During the deployment and projects execution, Six Sigma knowledge, lessons learned and projects around the other Vodafone OpCos were benchmarked and when applicable adapted to Vodafone Turkey (VF TR) environment. Best practice sharing has also been promoted and after the project transfer phase, projects and lessons learned are shared with other Vodafone Companies.

How was the initial results?

Results of the improvements have been amazing, appreciated and benchmarked even by other Vodafone OpCos. Benefits can be categorised under 3 headings:

1. Financial Benefits. VF TR part-time Green Belts completed 10 improvement projects, representing 2million Euros realised benefits in cost saving and revenue enhancement areas. Break even reached in the first projects; forecasted ROI is 5 times higher than expected.
2. Delighted Customers. Core customer processes have been simplified and through Lean non-value added steps eliminated. CDI scores especially in Customer Care and Network perception improved and VOC systems have been designed to take proactive action.
3. Engaged Employees. In the course of one year, more than 10% of VF TR’s employee population have been exposed to Six Sigma Training and participated at projects either as sponsor or process owner or project leader or team member or support member or financial representative. People actively started to drive improvements by consulting Business Improvement or trying to initiate 6 Sigma projects, rather than by leaping straight to a perceived solution. Cultural change started. No of projects recommended and number of people that wants to involve with the programme is increasing at a very high speed.

The programme created more interest than expected showing its difference from other change and quality initiatives. Today VF TR pipeline includes 19 active projects, and 25 additional projects are about to start in June with five of them being a Black Belt project. The transition from Green Belt to Black Belt has been finalised and bottom-up approach has been supported with top-down support. Also, after the first year, other business units where the deployment focus was not heavy (e.g. support functions) have started to volunteer to be involved in the deployment.

What worked particularly well in Vodafone Turkey Lean Six Sigma Deployment?

The following worked very well in Vodafone Turkey and contributed to the success of Six Sigma Deployment:

Right Framework:

• Adapting deployment approach to company needs and being flexible
• Well organised programme & change management plan
• Choose your grounds, use your friends
• Follow the Lean Six Sigma approach but tailor it to local needs
• Rigorous execution & benefits capture
• Six Sigma supported by Business Process Management environment

Right Communication:

• Create appeal, advertise the success

Right Projects:

• Pilot Project
• Focus on key business drivers and also use employee ideas to drive improvements

Right People:

• Active monitoring and ownership of deployment
• Expert coaching and support in initial phases from outside consultant
• High potential people trained to run projects part-time – Green Belt approach worked
• Highly motivated people proposing improvement

What were the key challenges and what lessons have been learned?

During our journey, we learned that special consideration should be given to the following:

• Top-Down and Bottom-up approach need to be combined at some point in time
• Executive commitment and strong deployment leadership is critical to make 6 Sigma deployment successful
• Biggest issue is stakeholder management and pace of change
• People tend to implement quick wins rather than end to end solutions
• Important to build into the Governance of the Company (Voice of the Customer collection, Process Management, Strategic Planning integration, Project Selection, Benefit Tracking)
• Dedicate and retain right resources
• Takes time and energy!
• Human Resources: give people a career development

What advice would you give to other companies who have decided to implement Lean Six Sigma?

• Choose the right approach/framework
• Set up strong governance/management
• Develop buy-in via bottom-up & by chosing your ambassadors/projects
• Get stakeholders’ support
• Execute restlessly
• And communicate your successes (see below!)

Figure1: Examples from Vodafone 6 Sigma Branding & Advertising