Are we on target?

As we are two thirds through quarter one it is time to reflect on performance.  Are you on track for achieving the commercial targets set? If you are then that’s great news and you should celebrate the team’s success.  If you are not is it time for reflection as to why not? Were the targets set challenging, are you suffering with resource issues or are there other obstacles that need to be taken into consideration?



Regardless of which position you are in, attentions will shortly turn to Quarter two.  Due to the many different departments within the motor claims industry some areas may be performing very strongly whilst others might be falling behind, the question is why?

Whilst the Customer Service and customer retention areas of the business may be performing very well, are other areas? What about case management, debt recovery or any other part of the motor claims chain, are these delivering?

Targets and requirements of different departments frequently change often by quarter, sometimes by month. It is important to be able to adapt to these variables and have the resource and infrastructure in place to keep pace with changing demands.

Whether you are on track for success or failure, it is vital to have a clear understanding of what is happening.  What are the real issues, more importantly, what is the primary cause?  So how do we do this?

An ideal scenario would be to be able to benchmark current performance against a different metric.  Some may feel that this could be done in house with staff that are trained in the same company process. The problem in doing this is you are using the same metric which in turn will probably reveal the same or very similar results.  An alternative is to outsource and benchmark the internal performance against an independent outsource partner’s results.
​​
An external benchmarking exercise will give an indication as to the true level of internal performance.  Once this exercise has been analysed, over a period of time, the results should be shared, discussed and changes to processes made if required.  This approach will provide invaluable feedback and help to better understand true internal levels of performance, resource required and help improve operational processes.