What happens after a detailed journey mapping project? The National Science Foundation (NSF)’s office of Budget, Finance, and Awards (BFA) needed to sort that out.
They approached Informed XP’s embedded CX team at NSF with a completed journey map from the General Service Administration’s (GSA) Customer Experience (CX) team, but no clear insights about what to do next. As one executive sponsor said, “I hate journey maps!” This was not because she didn’t have a thorough and insightful journey map, but because she wasn’t given the tools to move forward from a journey map to creating value for stakeholders.
First, the Informed XP team got organized. We gathered together all the materials that the GSA research team had been able to provide, cataloged what we had, and determined where we could expand on in order to add value and strategic direction to the prior research project. We worked with stakeholders at BFA to track down additional background information and began to use our established research operational methodology to ensure the information could be analyzed as efficiently and thoroughly as possible.
Once the field of existing research and analysis had been thoroughly organized, we looked for gaps that could be expanded on within a limited amount of time. We put hosted a collaborative session with stakeholders outlining our initial impressions, open questions, and ideas for where we could take the research next. At this meeting, we determined that we could create an executive overview of the journey map, an exploratory roadmap to further innovation and efficiency, and an actionable implementation plan the client could use to move ahead.
An effective executive overview to create buy-in
We knew that a single, easy-to-understand image could put everyone on the same page in a way that a detailed journey map could not. To that end, we worked to extensively understand the existing journey map and underlying research, then created an attractive and easy-to-understand infographic that communicated the key findings. Additional analysis and collaboration with our stakeholders enabled us to show themes and next steps, taking conclusions farther toward solutions than the initial journey map.
An exploratory roadmap toward smart + efficient progress
When we initially discussed BFA’s plans following journey mapping, one team member told us she didn’t know what to do next besides to start drafting requirements. But to do this right away would be to miss a key stage – to dream big. We leveraged their customer research, analysis of comparative and adjacent industries, and multiple brainstorm sessions internally and with the clients to present a catalog of solutions – both big and small, from out-of-the-box to obvious, to help us dream together and determine a vision for what near-term, mid-term, and long-term success might include. Prioritizing and right-sizing this vision collaboratively, we built an exploratory roadmap that defines a clear direction but can be tailored to shifting leadership goals during this time of change.
An implementation plan for agile program improvements
Ideas need action in order to take shape. Any customer experience delivery should could with not only analysis and vision, but also clear next steps. This is why we delivered a CX implementation plan that functions as prioritization and planning tool to set and track not only the steps to take next to implement customer success, but help to track them in alignment with what customer pain points or strategic goal these steps are intended to address. By delivering not only strategic but also tactical tools to our clients, we can ensure lasting impact in alignment with customer success.
The results – executive buy-in and client praise
After just one month, we helped BFA deliver a presentation that garnered real success, by achieving buy-in from executive sponsors. In the words of a key stakeholder: “I’m still amazed at how, in just a few weeks, you analyzed and synthesized the data we provided—at warp speed—to not only produce a visually compelling and insightful executive overview but also an actionable exploratory roadmap. I was reviewing the presentation again this morning and the solutions you offered are truly on target and address our key pain points with precision! Beyond that, I was/am blown away by your initiative to create an implementation tracker, which ensures we have a well-structured process to execute this and maybe other initiatives. Thanks again for the effort, speed, strategic thinking, and commitment to excellence that you put into this project.”
