As many government departments go own the path of digital transformation, they are also transforming themselves into providers of services or service aggregators for smaller, related, downstream agencies in the sector - who often do not have the resources to deal with some of the complexities of running a full fledged IT operation.

Traditional IT suppliers and vendors have long played the role and are generally well set up with customer collateral.

When a large government department turns supplier, the expectation of of the prospect sector agency is the same as what it demands of its suppliers, perhaps peppered with a degree of skepticism.

And so, for the now-turned-supplier government agency, having well thought out, end to end, consistent and professional customer collateral is critical.

The customer collateral needs to fit for purpose through the lifecycle of the customer in their journey from suspect, prospect, signing up, implementation through to BAU.

For many IT projects, this falls under something called "Organisational Change Management" and while recognised as critical, often is not fully integrated and thought out, certainly does not go far enough in its scope.  

Done well, this approach takes a holistic view of what is required from a customer perspective.

Delivered well, it makes it easy to sell the concept to the customer, engender confidence, demonstrate maturity and to implement or on-board them.

And of course it provides the end-to-end continuity - in that you promise the customer, you show them how you deliver on the promise, then you deliver and show the customer that you delivered on the promise you promised

A little bit like going on a date I reckon.

In a way, this is having clear line of sight on customer outcomes, and keeping the end in mind.

Here below is a starter for ten on the customer facing collateral you will need per phase in the sales or customer lifecycle:

For prospecting new customers, you will need your:

1. Service Catalogue
2. Price-book or a Pricing Calculator
3. Value Proposition
4. Template Business Case
5. Customer Presentation

To sign the customer, you will need the:

1. Contract, Master Service Agreement & Statements of Work
2. Detailed Presentation covering how things will operate in the BAU world
3. Detailed Presentation outlining your Transition Approach

For pre-sales phase, and then to use when the customer has signed up, it is a good idea to have:

1. Sample Process Templates to be customised if required for each customer
2. Operational Templates
3. Checklists for Onboarding
4. Operational Process Training Plan
5. Operational Documentation 

All of this will help give your customer confidence of your experience and ability to deliver. All of this will also make it easy not just for your implementation team, but also for your BAU service delivery teams - all of who should have contributed and have had a part in the creation of the material.

If you have been following this series of blog posts, the logical sequence I am following is:

1. 12 Point Service Management Checklist
2. Setting yourself up, discovery & due diligence
3. Service Design & Strategy
4. Financials, commercials and the business case
5. Partners, Suppliers & Vendors

And now this post to do with Customer Collateral.

Coming up next: People, Processes and Tools.
 

Note: similar version published by IT Professionals NZ in their IITP Techblog 7th September 2016

There are more than a few nuances as organisations undertake the journey to transformation, digital or otherwise. Service Management is a key component to success.
 

Sunit Prakash has had many successes in organisational transformation on a global and local scale.
 

More importantly he bears the battle scars from the many lessons learnt. Don’t be one of the walking wounded - or worse. Call him and head off some of the challenges before you even get to the pass.

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