Activity-Based Management for Financial Institutions: Driving Bottom-Line Results

CHAPTER 3

Implementing ABC

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.

—Confucius

ABC IMPLEMENTATION GUIDING PRINCIPLES

A best practice in project management for any formal project is a kick-off session. A kick-off session brings the stakeholders together to understand the high-level project objectives, the ground rules for the project team and, in many cases, meet each other for the first time. The following guiding principles, shown in Figure 3.1 are sample ground rules of an ABC/M implementations.

In case you choose to use the guiding principles in Figure 3.1, here is a little “color” behind each of the principles.

• Start with the Customers. This point is driven home several times throughout this book for good reason. ABM in financial services is most effective if the ABC design and implementation is understood, supported, championed, and used by product and customer segment managers. Secondarily, the Finance team needs to understand and use the model to drive change. What information and reports do they need to improve the product and customer profitability?

• Never choose the tool first. Future state requirements should not be limited by current state tools, processes, or structures. Don’t become a “fool with a tool.” Determine your requirements prior to tool selection. The requirements will drive the tool selection, not the other way around. Just as architectural genius Frank Lloyd Wright stated, “Form follows function.” Similarly, tool selection ...