1. “North Highland has broad capabilities
that span strategy development through
to operations management and process
improvement, to people and change
management, to technology advisory
and enablement.”
OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
By Kennedy Consulting Research & Advisory
A REVIEW OF NORTH HIGHLAND’S
CAPABILITIES FROM ONE OF THE
WORLD’S LEADING ANALYST FIRMS
2. STRONG STRONG MODERATE MODERATE
ORGANIZATIONAL
OPERATIONS
CUSTOMER INTERACTION
MANAGEMENT
PERFORMANCE
IMPROVEMENT
FINANCIAL
OPERATIONS
CAPABILITIES SUMMARY
Here’s what Kennedy
Research says about
North Highland
ORGANIZATIONAL OPERATIONS
“North Highland is strong in this segment due
to a highly experienced consulting model, which
allows it to quickly facilitate operational change
within client organizations.”
“Clients that prefer a lower leverage model
(i.e., higher share of senior consultants) will
often find that smaller consultancies, such as
North Highland, are better suited to helping them.”
NORTH HIGHLAND’S EXPERIENCE
“North Highland has broad capabilities that span
from strategy development, through to operations
management and process improvement, to people
and change management, to technology advisory
and enablement. North Highland seeks to provide
clients with a unique consulting experience, with
a more experienced set of consultants available
to help clients in the areas where its clients
are located.”
“... a more pragmatic approach to consulting
engagements.”
NORTH HIGHLAND’S MODEL
“North Highland’s experienced hiring model
allows it to utilize smaller consulting teams
to more quickly help clients than under a
traditional pyramid staffing model.”
“The partnership has grown to include eight
consultancies around the world, a reflection
of its successful ability to pull together local
capabilities to provide more global solutions.”
NORTH HIGHLAND’S EXPERTISE
“…the firm’s consulting approach resonates
well with clients’ requests for deeper industry
expertise, and the firm has a solid track record
working with many leading brands. Additionally,
for the past few years, the firm has consistently
been selected as one of the best consulting
firms at which to work, which will give it an
edge for hiring skilled talent.”
“… strong ability to combine strategy, OM,
and technology skills to provide clients with
‘solutions’ rather than one-off projects.”
“North Highland has particular depth of expertise
in Enterprise Performance Management, Process
Improvement, and Organizational Change
Management. NH’s experienced consulting
approach lends itself well to successfully helping
clients with organizational change.”
3. CASE IN POINT:
Helping The American Red Cross Improve Donor
Experience and Gain Market Share
Client Issue:
The American Red Cross Blood Services division’s
revenues had fallen due to an inability to generate
enough supply (i.e., fewer blood donations). As a
result, the Red Cross was facing a challenge of
declining market share (down roughly 10% over
the last 10 years) and increased competition from
other non-profit and for-profit blood collection
organizations and competing blood banks.
Firm Selected:
North Highland was selected to work with the client
to develop and execute on a strategy to improve the
customer experience of donors and sponsors. As the
client put it, “North Highland brings expertise – we
like them because they get much more involved in the
execution and success of projects than just providing
advice. They bring far more practical expertise to the
table than others we’ve worked with in the past.”
Solution/Work Done:
The problem was that the Red Cross was internally
focused and did not have a customer-centric approach
for acquiring and retaining customers (e.g., donors and
sponsors). North Highland developed a new customer-
focused vision for the Blood Services division, along
with a roadmap with 16 initiatives and associated
recommendations for donor and sponsor recruitment
and retention. North Highland developed a customer
lifetime value model that analyzed customer propensity
to donate blood. The Red Cross subsequently altered
its strategy to focus on donor retention rather than
donation frequency.
Results:
The Red Cross expects to yield over $10 million
in revenue, conservatively, simply through a one-
percentage-point improvement in donor retention.
The Red Cross improve(d) its customers’ experience
by better targeting marketing to its various donor
segments, better allocating marketing spend and
campaign metrics by customer value and behavior,
and consolidating its marketing initiatives and call
centers to improve consistency of the customer
experience. In addition, by developing a comprehensive
approach to managing customer experience and
utilizing a more customer-centric marketing
approach, the Red Cross hopes to regain market
share and improve its ability to meet the needs of
hospitals and patients.
Lessons Learned:
The Red Cross has developed a long-term, rewarding
relationship with the North Highland Company, and
decided to work with the consultancy again to help
it improve its customer interaction approach and
processes within other of its divisions, such as within
the Humanitarian part of the organization.
From Operations Management Consulting Marketplace 2010-2013, Key Trends, Profiles and Forecasts,
Kennedy Consulting Research & Advisory, Ashley M. Newton and Erick Burchfield. 2011.
