Why operational excellence does not have to be difficult

Rodrigo Musicante, manager of operational excellence (OPEX) at Melbourne-based bank NAB, shares his greatest OPEX achievement to date and offers his top tip for getting started on OPEX in your own organization. He will discuss the topics covered below in-depth at PEX Network’s upcoming PEX Live: OPEX APAC 2021, taking place online on 12-13 October.

PEX Network: Could you please give us a brief overview of your career so far and your greatest OPEX achievement?

Rodrigo Musicante: I worked in logistics for the first few years of my career where I was first introduced to the world of projects, which I really enjoyed. Then my MBA gave me the opportunity to move into finance for a few years where I was once again able to lead some improvement projects and I finally decided to move on to business improvement.

This is what I have been doing for the past 14 years, across a number of industries such as chemicals, mining and, of course, banking. I have been lucky enough to live and travel extensively in South America, North America and Europe before moving to Australia.

One of my greatest achievements throughout this time has been at NAB, where I led a squad of consultants who have delivered capacity release of almost 250,000 hours across our branches in 18 months.

PEX Network: What are the biggest trends you are seeing with regard to navigating operational excellence in the APAC region?

RM: From my perspective, the biggest trends continue to be a focus on several major technologies and practices that are being applied to OPEX initiatives. This includes the automation of simple and low-effort tasks, which has necessitated the simplification of organizational processes prior to automating them and going digital.

We have also seen the trend of businesses producing smarter insights from the data that they leverage. They now apply these  in increasingly innovative ways through the application of powerful business analytics platforms and process mining initiatives.

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PEX Network: Can you give us an overview of any OPEX initiatives currently underway at NAB? 

RM: There is plenty happening at NAB at the moment, but one initiative we have been working on over the past 18 months is focused on making it easier for our customers and bankers in collaboration with the call center team.

Our goal has been for customers to reach a banker quicker and be able to get an outcome in a simpler way while at the same time making it easier for the banker to have this conversation.

For example, by stopping calls coming into the call center which should go directly to other teams, we reduce queues, avoid transfers and ultimately improve customer and employee experience.

PEX Network: What is your top tip for organizations looking to begin their own journey toward operational excellence?

RM: I think they need to have clarity of what their issues are but more importantly they need to develop an understanding of how operational excellence can or cannot help them.

It is also very important to define the plan for this OPEX journey beforehand, whether this OPEX transformation will be simple or complex and whether it will be a short or long-term strategy.

PEX Network: What do you hope viewers will take away from your session at PEX Live: OPEX APAC 2021?

RM: OPEX does not have to be complicated. Organizations can unlock true value with simple solutions that often require minimal or no funding, and can be delivered in weeks.

Good OPEX initiatives should stem from understanding the problem, recognizing the pain point and deciding on a feasible solution or set of solutions that will solve it.

To hear Musicante discuss these topics in more detail register for PEX Live: OPEX APAC 2021.