Intersect Investments

In order to survive in the tough financial market Intersect Investments must make some radical changes. In order to excel and succeed Intersect must increase it’s customer base, add diverse financial services and create an environment of change with it organizational culture.

This paper will present two benchmarks of companies that successfully created a change environment and dramatically increased their customer base which in turn increased profits. These companies have overcome similar circumstances faced by Intersect Investment. The goal of this paper is to show how these companies were able to overcome these obstacles.

CUNA Mutual Group

According to its website, CUNA Mutual Group is the leading provider of financial services to credit unions and their members, offering lending, protection, financial, employee, and member solutions. Once in charge, CEO Jeff Post did not hesitate in announcing the need for change at the company. Strong financials afforded Post to evaluate CUNA’s current state and analyze where the company was heading. “Recognizing that just because you dominate the market doesn’t mean you satisfy the market,” Post states (Diekmann, 2006). Understanding the importance of what customers want and what they expect was the driving force behind Post and his leadership through CUNA’s transformation.

Customer service became the predominant focus for CUNA’s transformation. Post noticed inconsistencies throughout the “siloed” organization, leading to the first step of “breaking down the silos” (Freeman, 2006). CUNA was a complex organization, and that complexity carried over to the customer. In addition, the complexity created high delivery costs for the company. Change, to satisfy the customer, was necessary Change creates challenges, and one of the first challenges for CUNA was internal buy-in. Post addressed this challenge by sharing un-edited customer feedback directly with the staff. (Freeman, 2006). Next, was the challenge of help staff with the “silo” mentality, to see the organization as a whole. Therefore, feedback was distributed company-wide. Finally, CUNA faced the challenge of changing processes without disrupting current service levels. Through a focus on customer service, with the customer always in mind, this challenge became easier

In addition to staff buy-in and breaking down the silo mentality, CUNA’s transformation focused on promoting efficiencies, protecting the environment, and supporting local nonprofit organization. CUNA’s focus has resulted in a program called UPLIFT, resulting in significant operational successes and notable community benefit (CUNA, 2006). Some of the highlights of change created by UPLIFT are a reduction of copy/print usage from 38 million to 26 million pages per year, saving 435 trees per year.