Six Sigma

Since 2002, Venturehaus has been at the forefront of thought leadership in Lean Six Sigma. Whilst the broader consulting and training market has remained complacent in serving up ‘one size fits all’ technical Six Sigma – little changed from its manufacturing origins – Venturehaus has pioneered a different path. Building on our people’s deep expertise in Financial Services operations, Venturehaus has developed a unique and specific curriculum and approach for process improvement in Financial Services.

Our Design for Operational Excellence™ approach sets new standards in the industry and has been adopted by many of the world’s leading global financial institutions. As a result, Venturehaus is now recognised internationally – by both clients and peers alike – as the leading specialist in Lean and Six Sigma for Financial Services and Capital Markets.

An approach that works in Financial Services

The Venturehaus approach to Lean Six Sigma is designed specifically for Transaction Processing Operations in Financial Services companies. Our methodology, “Design for Operational Excellence” (DFOE™), has been developed especially for Process and Service Improvement in capital markets and financial businesses. Whilst it follows the traditional Lean Six Sigma DMAIC cycle, it places greater emphasis on Voice of the Customer, Lean Principles, Process Mapping, Operational Improvement, Implementation and the “soft” skills, such as Change Management and Facilitation, required to deal with the particular issues found in services businesses. It gives less emphasis to the advanced statistics and manufacturing-biased tools found in most conventional Lean Six Sigma approaches, since these rarely, if ever, have relevance to Financial Services businesses.

Current and relevant experience ensures an appropriate response

Our previous experience of delivering successful Lean Six Sigma programmes within the Financial Services sector enables us to prepare Black Belts and other improvement project team members better for the challenges they are likely to face, such as:

Lack of Process documentation and transparency
Poor Supplier inputs and data quality
Suppliers who are also Customers
Lack of accurate or even available Process metrics

Venturehaus has drawn on experience from previous successful deployments and has incorporated the lessons learnt during these programmes into our own methodology and training materials. Our model has been designed to provide the best tools and techniques for the environment in which they are deployed.

“We are considering launching a Six Sigma Programme... what is the first thing we should do?”

The first thing organisations should do is realise that Lean or Six Sigma are neither strategy nor panacea. Six Sigma is an approach to solving problems. It is no substitute for a coherent operational strategy. The starting point is to define what it is you want to achieve as a business. Then you decide how you’re going to get there. If Lean or Six Sigma are appropriate means, then use them – they are great approaches. But a clear and meaningful operational strategy is the starting point and that drives everything that follows.

Our experience has shown that few companies have been successful when they simply launch into DMAIC projects as soon as the in-principle corporate decision has been made to “do” Six Sigma. This is because the “a.s.a.p.” launch into projects does not allow for appropriate and deliberate project selection. The net result is that companies invest fortunes in training for, and working on, the wrong projects. This will never produce the desired return on investment.

Are there any risks associated with implementing Six Sigma?

The major risk is getting it wrong and failing to make a return on investment. Management will inevitably end up with egg on their faces and it all fizzles away as yet another one of those quality initiatives. We believe the most important thing to remember when setting out on a programme of operational change is always to focus on what the business wants to achieve. There is a real danger that Six Sigma can become a self-perpetuating academic function within a business and loses touch with commercial reality. People are going around reporting theoretical productivity gains, or ‘Sigma Dollars’, calculated using statistics. Management should never forget that at the end of many Six Sigma projects in a service company come tough decisions. Unless executive management are willing to take decisive actions, it will be very difficult to achieve a return on investment.




	"Great course – Thank you! Delivery was excellent – brought Six Sigma to life for practical application." Major European credit card, loans and personal insurance provider

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