Relationship management
Over the years, we have made significant investments in systems, methodologies and proprietary tools to meet the needs of large and complex multidisciplinary projects.
But we are also cognisant of the fact that this is only part of the solution because ultimately projects are delivered by people.
Accordingly, relationship management is a critical success factor along the way.
We are attuned to the demands of project relationships (internal and external) and have developed a responsive client relationship management model. It underpins our mission and helps us nurture strong working relationships throughout the project lifecycle.
Core support groups within the Caravel organisation are totally integrated into the business, providing effective project delivery support in the areas of
- Sales and marketing
- Human resources
- Information and communication technology
- Service delivery
- Training
- Administration and accounts
Project service vs. relationship management
In the day-to-day running of a project, it is often necessary to make unpopular decisions relating to the service delivery.
However, best-for-project decisions may have fiscal repercussions and can easily strain commercial relationships, especially when these decisions involve more work for the decision maker/service provider.
It is therefore paramount that difficult issues such as perceived priority conflicts of interest can be dealt with objectively and in an appropriate forum.
Our integrated engagement model creates this ‘project space’ by separating our delivery service from the relationship management.
This affords a clear commercial perspective for commercial issues on the one hand, while providing the necessary latitude for any necessary corrective action within the service delivery, on the other hand.
Integrated business delivery and seamless team integration
Unlike conventional consulting organisations, we manage client projects on-site and create deliverables within client premises.
We have designed our business model so that our delivery team and solutions merge seamlessly with your internal project processes; the objective being the optimal management of relationships in order to maximise project success.
Our services are delivered on client premises with total online access to Caravel’s tools, methods and collateral.
Our team becomes a virtual extension of your capability, and our activities are completely aligned with your processes.
Throughout the project lifecycle, our project management processes are mapped in a step-by-step fashion with your own processes. This means that from project initiation, project planning, project execution, through to project closeout your processes are integrated into Caravel’s methods and approaches.
Mapping each stage of the process ensures compliance with the client’s own internal process steps.
Caravel’s integrated service delivery model ensures that value is being added as part of the relationship management approach.
While we adopt generic Caravel® methods in our service specifications, it is important to note that our methods are always tailored and fine-tuned to the specific needs of your organisation in order to maximise stakeholder value.
In addition to the process mapping outlined above, successful team integration is further underpinned by a governance plan and a business unit partnering plan (which determines how business managers interact with the project).
Performance model
Caravel® deploys a performance management system that supports the client service delivery and the customer relationship team, as depicted below.
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