For us in NSDL, establishing a world class depository was a challenge in itself. Once we did a decent job of this, we proceeded further to figure out what our core strengths are which could act as the foundation for our growth. We did not want to limit ourselves as a player in capital market alone.
We now see NSDL as a total solution provider Covering Information Technology, Process Design, Operations, Legal & Administrative infrastructure and Integrating multiple agencies to Manage very large databases and large volume transactions in a Secure and Efficient manner.
With this diversification we want to ensure that the organization does not get too unwieldy and non-responsive in our service delivery. We want to make the passion for excellence a habit and not an exception.
To achieve this, a host of areas needs attention. We sat down and assessed our immediate challenges in the projects we are on and the core strengths around which our growth strategy is built. This posting briefly describes our operational strategy that is still evolving.
One of the first things that we have taken up is to structure a simple model that could direct our prioritization. We call it E = MC2; which summarizes our belief that Excellence can be derived from a culture that Measures each and every drivers of performance and strives for Continuous improvement with a Customer focus. Let me explain each of these in a little more detail.
Measurement
Measurement and MIS are integral parts of all management processes. But often these measures and reports hide more than what they reveal. As a cynic observed “Statistics is like bikini; what it reveals is interesting, but what is hides is the most critical’
We decided to have a “bare it all” culture when it comes to measurement. When we measure we try to remind ourselves “No Pads Please”. We realize that the matrices that we chose and measure could change our behavior, help to make the performance visible, improve control and help in decision making.
This is most easily preached and more difficult to practice. So we try to establish rituals to make this a habit than response to the big boss’s whims. We have also developed a framework that drives our measurements. (I shall discuss this in details in another posting)
Continuous improvement
The measurements help us to know where we are and where we appear to be going. It also helps us to identify trends and exceptions and then get to the root cause(s). This helps us to identify and anticipate in advance potential pitfalls and take preventive/ proactive actions and not just react to emergencies.
Customer Focus
Measurement and Improvement can be distractive and could lead to enormous waste of resources if we don’t have focus. We attempt to inculcate in each of us a belief that the most powerful factor that provides a ‘right focus’ is the customer.
We developed (and continue to develop) a series of measures which we call “Customer Service Commitments” (CSC). This is fundamentally different from the service level agreement (SLA). SLA is a commitment on the minimum below which we will try not to go. But CSC is what we try our best to deliver; a level much above SLA.
Footnote: These are foundations on which our operations are built. This, as you would see, is not a static model. It is a virtuous cycle of that continuously up the bar and helps us to achieve our vision of establishing ourselves as the First Choice Information Utility in India which offers the Optimum solution at the Optimum price.
Nice and catchy, very usuable as a slogan for a service institution. It's clear, quick and stays on message
ReplyDeleteThe concept of ‘Measurement of Performance’ is a bit which kids are taught right from the school days..
ReplyDeleteAfter teaching the Kids, Schools try to ‘quantify’ how much they have learned by conducting exams & measuring their performance by grading & ranking them regularly. (In schools, these days, kids have tests/exams almost every week or every day:-).
Any process without having measurement mechanisms in place can be compared to a school without exams or results..
None of us can ever forget the amount of anxiety we used to go through & suspense element involved in this entire exercise when our results used to be published on the School Notice Board…
Similar kind of an intense feeling or even ‘more’ is what we experience in NSDL, when we publish our CSC results in a public domain. I mentioned that it is even ‘more’ intense because of reasons twofold. One, because, in our case, it is the student (Each team of the department) who writes his own result on the Notice Board himself & two, because, we measure our performance against our own service commitment. In our school exams we never used to commit our performance levels before the exams were held :-)
It is commendable that NSDL has changed the way clearing and settlement happened in India. However, it looks like NSDL has lost steam as far as depository business is concerned (may be because it has diversified into a number of other activities or it has stopped listening to its customers). I want to quote one of the services of NSDL called speedy where customers could submit instructions to its DP. This is a great service but customers have been asking for a facility where they could submit instructions that may result in transferring shares to the other depository. As you are not providing this facility, investors are forced to submit paper instructions. If we go online, should we not go whole hog? Also there are number of other features that are missing in speedy.
ReplyDeleteI think time has come for depositories to contemplate whether it could directly offer depository services to customers. We have heard NSDL saying that it would not like to compete with its own agents. Should investors not have a choice? By not competing with DPs and allowing DPs to compete among themselves, has NSDL provided the best option to the users. In other countries, such facilities exist. With the introduction of unique identification for the citizens, can depositories not open accounts for customers and provide them with online account operating facility. This would definitely bring a lot of efficiency and convenience in transferring shares.
I may tend to agree with you that NSDL follows the principle of ‘continuous improvement with customer focus' but don’t you think you listen to your customers only when it is convenience to you.