The Problem
This was a German funded project aiming to assist the main Egyptian entity tasked with MSME development in improving the efficiency of the services that the entity currently offers to MSME owners and other beneficiaries. This was done with the objective of providing more comprehensive and relevant services to better meet the needs of these business owners. This was undertaken by focusing on enhancing Customer Relationship Management (CRM). In this regard, a long-term plan to implement the CRM system was agreed on, with the goal of providing suitable services to the business owners.
The Approach
Acumen, along with a group of international consultants were tasked with mapping the operational processes of all the services offered by this entity to business owners. This mapping was conducted in order to study and assess the gaps in service provision, and in doing so redesign the services so that they meet the beneficiaries’ expectations.
Several steps were undertaken in order to accomplish this.First, an introductory meeting between the project’s consultants and the heads of the different sectors within the took place in order to identify the current services that are being provided , to introduce the process mapping methodology, and to select employees from each sector to participate in the workshops. Then employees from the different departments and sectors of the entity participated in a three-day workshop led by the team of consultants who introduced the process mapping methodology. Participants then drew the process maps for each of the services provided by the entity. The consultants then used a program called Visio in order to digitize the process maps that were drawn by the participants during the workshop. Approximately 12 to 15 validation meetings took place between the consultants and those working within the different departments and sectors of the agency in order to review the maps, and receive recommendations on how to fine-tune them. These recommendations were documented and compiled.
