Why Business Infrastructure is the Key to a Great Customer Experience

Customer retention is an undeniably critical component of long-term success.

For instance, it's5-25倍购买新客户的昂贵than it is to retain an existing customer. So if you don't focus on having high customer retention, you're constantly wasting time and money seeking out new prospects.

此外，客户保留率会极大地影响业务收入。实际上，客户保留仅增加了5％将公司收入增加25bob全站app-95％。

All of which is to say:Customer experience matters。

And chaotic growth, high employee turnover rates, or a poor customer support experience can all contribute to negative customer retention.

Fortunately, thereisa way to mitigate these risks and ensure your business grows effectively and sustainably. That solution? Business infrastructure.

In this article, you'll learn what business infrastructure is, how to start building it, and what it looks like. Let's dive in.

What is business infrastructure?

商业基础设施是一种连接组织人员，流程和工具或技术的操作系统，以确保增长是可持续，可重复和有利可图的。

当有人听到“基础设施”时，他们会想到交通。

运输基础设施将道路，火车，船只和飞机连接起来，以有效地移动人们和货物。

同样，业务基础架构将保持组织始终如一地运行的运营组件连接到最少的停机时间。

It provides a foundation for support during threatening moments by focusing onoperations- 任何组织中看不见的后台和心跳。

How to Build Business Infrastructure

It might surprise you to know that many organizations of all sizes are unable to articulate what they look like on the inside.

部门或部门的定义松散，任务重复运行猖ramp，而指挥的报告链充其量是基本的。

最糟糕的是，众所周知的左手不知道右手在做什么。仅这些因素就会导致孤岛，员工流动人数高以及客户不高兴。

That's why business infrastructure encompassesallareas of an organization by answering four main questions:

这是您和您的团队可以做一些低技术/模拟练习来回答这些问题的。

1. What work needs to be done?

集思广益，以保持业务运营所需的所有任务或活动是建立组织的业务基础架构的关键。将其视为所有其他业务基础架构均基于的构件。

下图展示了第一个练习。1. Gather your team together, either in-person or remotely.

2. Brainstorm all tasks or activities performed throughout your entire organization, no matter how mundane or complex.

3. Write those tasks or activities onto individual index cards.

4.继续集思广益，直到您捕获了所有任务。

好处：

• 从人们的头上和纸上获取居民知识
• Gives visibility into exactly what everyone does

专家提示：Jumpstart your brainstorming by taking existing job descriptions your company may have and extract tasks from those. You can also ask people you outsource work to (i.e., your accountant, lawyer, graphic designer) to send you a list of tasks they perform for your company. They may be doing things you're unaware of!

2. How is the work organized?

Now that you and your team have identified all tasks to perform, it's time to organize them into departments.

下面的插图展示了将任务分组为六个部门：运营，法律合规，技术，会计，营销和人力资源。bob体育苹果系统下载安装

1.从集思广益会话中传播所有索引卡，这些索引卡在大桌子上。

2.征求团队的参与。

3. Group index cards with similar tasks into nine or fewer columns.

4. Place a blank index card, preferably a different color, above each column.

5.编写任务所描述的每一列的部门的名称。

好处：

• Communicates what your organization looks like on the inside
• 消除对工作和信息流的歧义

专家提示：在他的著名论文中The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two,哈佛大学cognitive psychologist乔治·米勒理论上，普通人可以轻松地回忆起七个或减去两个信息。通过将任务组织到九个部门或更少的部门，您可以有效地创建一个易于理解和遵循的结构。

3.谁将完成这项工作？

在这一点上，您和您的团队已经确定了所有任务，以执行并将其组织到部门。现在是时候为每个部门内的这些任务分配角色了。

下图展示了运营部门的报告结构。

Of the tasks identified, three are assigned to the Technician and two to the Chief Operating Officer (COO). The color-coded circles next to them indicate that the COO role is a filled, full-time employee one and that the Technician role is vacant.

1. Focus on one department at a time and its associated tasks.

2. Remove all other index cards from the table.

3. Spread the remaining index cards across the table again.

4.拿一个棍子数字或不同的颜色索引卡，并写出角色的名称shouldperform each task.

5.Identify each role by type: employee, outsourced/freelancer, intern, volunteer.

6. Identify which role(s) are vacant by writing the title(s) in red font.

7. Repeat steps #1-4 until all roles are identified for all tasks in each department.

8.记录结果。

好处：

• 使每个人都应该做什么明确
• 建立围绕工作定义和范围的明确界限

专家提示：Just because you can, doesn't mean you should! This exercise helps you figure out how and where to delegate. When assigning roles to tasks, write whoshouldbe responsible, not who's currently responsible. The results might surprise you!

4. How is the work performed?

Now it's time to group the tasks you and your team brainstormed earlier into processes.

The illustration below demonstrates how tasks within the Operations department are sub-grouped into an Order-to-Delivery process. Those tasks are then placed in sequential order with tools to use during the process also identified.

1.一次专注于一个部门及其相关的任务和角色。

2. Remove all other index cards from the table.

3. Spread the remaining index cards across the table again.

4. Sub-group tasks that, when grouped together, form a distinct process.

5.在每个地方不同的颜色索引卡sub-grouping of tasks.

6. Write the name of the process the sub-grouping of tasks describes.

7. Identify all tools (including software, equipment, checklists, and templates) by placing yet another different color index card near each sub-grouping of tasks and writing the names of all tools onto it.

8.记录结果。

好处：

• Gives insights on how to perform the work identified
• 提供了优先级和文档的基线

专家提示：过程是“橡胶遇到道路”的地方 - 太僵硬了，人们感到被他们监禁；太灵活了，人们会发展自己的做事方式。通过定义的流程指标促进自下而上的报告结构使人们在某些界限内拥有其工作所有权。

业务基础设施是什么样的？

So, what's the value of writing on index cards and continuously moving them and stick figures around?

The outputs!

These outputs serve as your organization's armor and include:

Job Descriptions & Organizational Chart。Including the identified tasks for each role into new or updated job descriptions gives a level of transparency that arms you with the information to hire the正确的人们。定义的部门和相关角色使您可以轻松地传达组织的报告结构和促销路径。

Records Management。Knowing the departments of your organization makes it easy to structure both physical and digital files. Your team can quickly locate information by organizing files and records according to department and assigning appropriate access levels. This can be a game-changer when responding to customers to provide support.

工作区布局。Arranging your physical workspace into zones that mirror your organization's departments is invaluable when ensuring efficient work and information flow. This even applies for one-room and home-based offices.

Processes。Documenting processes based on the tasks identified within each department ensures consistency in product and service delivery. Documentation eliminates guesswork and communicates how performance is measured.

通往的门户Customer Experience

Now that you've completed this exercise, it's understandable how business infrastructure links all operational elements of your organization and why a change in one area can impact others. Gone are the silos and miscommunication. They're replaced with seamless workflows and visibility into all parts of the organization.

That's why it's critical for customer-centric organizations to be backed by a solid business infrastructure. Similar to收入运营, a subset of business infrastructure, it promotes consistent, quality customer experiences coupled with a support framework that lets customers know what to expect and that you care.

（在HubSpot的RevOps & Operations Community。)

尽管本文描述了建筑商业基础设施的一些初始练习，但仍然是一个摘要。有关综合指南，请阅读立面的背后：如何为可持续成功的公司运营构建公司运营bob全站app。

As your organization grows, you'll want to remain proactive to ensure your business' foundation is sustainable for the long run. Start building your business infrastructure now and rest easy knowing that you have a foundation to revert to when danger strikes.