Case Studies

Improving Customer Outcomes

Customers wait hours for an answer. Patients wait months for a procedure.

How we approach it

Cut the time between someone asking and your team delivering.

Every case here ran on A3 thinking, from the problem to the fix:

  1. Define

    Pin the problem down with data: what's happening, what should be, and how big the gap is.

  2. Diagnose

    Get from what to why, until the root cause is backed by evidence.

  3. Fix

    Turn the root causes into tests, run them, and watch the number.

Methods used in these cases: A3 thinking, SIPOC, 5 Whys, Kaizen.

Results

Where we've fixed this

Cheetah · Support

From a 22-hour to a 6-minute support response

Watch how first response went from 22 hours to 6 minutes

First response: 22 hours → 6 minutes

The problem

First response to a support ticket averaged 22 hours. Requests came in over five disconnected channels, and about half were resolved outside any system.

The diagnosis

A3, SIPOC, 5 Whys

There was no structured front door. A person had to read, sort and route every message, and the most common questions had no self-service path.

The fix

  • In-app intake: the customer picks the order and the issue, which creates a tagged ticket
  • Automatic routing to the right agent, with every channel feeding one system
  • Self-service for invoices, credits, returns and truck location, and agents allowed to approve small credits
  • First response22 hours 6 minutes
  • Tickets assigned correctly, automatically10% 95%
  • Tickets submitted in the app10% 70%

Read the full case study →

Hospital · GI suite

Cutting a 5-month patient wait to 2

Referral to procedure wait: 5 months → 2 months

The problem

A two-room GI suite took about 29 minutes to turn a room over, capping each room near 10 procedures a day while more than 560 patients waited up to five months.

The diagnosis

A3, Kaizen, 5 Whys

Changeover was only part of it. Often the next case couldn't start because the physician was elsewhere or the next patient wasn't ready.

The fix

  • Standard work for room turnover, with supplies staged where each step needs them
  • A standard GI order set and recovery protocol in the records system
  • Pre-op readiness: IV placement priority, prep and fasting screening, a cleaner handoff
  • Referral to procedure wait5 months 2 months (target was 3)
  • Room turnover29 min 23.7 min
  • Procedures per room per day10.4 11.4

Read the full case study →

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From case study to program

We built these methods into the Scale Up Program

Both of these cases took months of work inside the operation. That is what the Scale Up Program is: 3–6 months of embedded implementation alongside your team, so the fix and the business run together.

See the Scale Up Program

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