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We help good people do good things.
We help teams start or hone their continuous improvement culture.
We know that with authentic and committed support, teams will find the best way of working for themselves.
We help good people do good things.
We help teams start or hone their continuous improvement culture.
We know that with authentic and committed support, teams will find the best way of working for themselves.
This was the improvement and benefits:
Improved the process so that 80% of the applications are processed now in an hour, saving 10.1 hours of capacity per application (and the 120 days), with the value of time saved totaling $1.29m per annum.
The problem:
A step in the process of processing applications often took 120 days, causing significant delays for the customer and increased workload in the contact centre with customers following up on progress, and eroding the reputation of the organisation.
ci lab worked to improve the end-to-end process, and to improve the decision making capability of the team.
This was the improvement and benefits:
Reduced queuing times at both airports during peak traveling times by at least 48% (queue moving almost twice as fast) with zero reduction to passenger safety protocols.
The problem:
Two international airports were both experiencing extensive queues during peak traveling times as people where looking to proceed through security - and all the issues that come with that including missed flights and poor customer experience.
ci lab worked with the teams in the airports to completely redesign the whole process.
This was the improvement and benefits:
Reducing days to handle and determine applications from 39.5 days to 19.3 days.
This reduced the queue of applications from 200 to 0 - and the queue has been at 0 ever since (mid 2023).
This also enabled the future recovery of revenue (where under-charging occurred) and reduction of penalties of not meeting time-frames, amounting to over $600k per annum.
The problem:
An organisation month on month experienced a constant queue depth of 200 applications - which took days before they were worked on, and a slow process causing reputational damage and penalty payments.
ci lab worked to improve the end-to-end process for speed, to provide better customer experience of status updates and ease to compete the form correctly.
This was the improvement and benefits:
Removed wasted capacity in a process of 15,347 hours per year across a team, freeing up that capacity, value of which was $400k per annum.
The problem:
An antiquated step in a process meant that customers needed to be surveyed to get the data needed to apply for funding and for forecasting. Critical, but a step that exhausted huge amounts of capacity from the team.
ci lab developed a statistical and automated process of sampling to reduce the vast capacity needed in this process.
What our customers say...
"Working with Darcy on a particular project, it went superbly well. Darcy took the time to listen carefully and understand the problem we faced. He collaborated extensively with the Team and empowered them to own the process improvements across 5 self identified initiatives. We freed up capacity across the teams and got the benefits we hoped to achieve."
Drazenka Dordevich, Executive Leader | COO
"Darcy facilitated a strategic workshop with my team, and in just one day, we achieved more clarity, alignment, and actionable outcomes than we had in weeks. His impact was both immediate and lasting. Darcy has a unique talent for unlocking team potential and translating big-picture thinking into tangible results. The day we spent with him wasn’t just productive - it shifted our trajectory in a meaningful way. If you’re looking for someone who can help your team gain momentum, cut through complexity, and get things done - I can’t recommend Darcy highly enough."
Nic Pennington, Innovation Expert | R&D Commercialisation Expert
"The shift in team culture has been remarkable. We have moved from a high-risk, reactive position to becoming a positive example within the council, with senior leadership now receiving commendations rather than complaints. Darcy’s expertise, practical approach, and ability to engage with staff at all levels have made a lasting impact, and I would strongly recommend his work to others facing similar challenges for swift, significant, and lasting improvements."
Alison Geddes, Director Environment & Sustainability, Hutt City Council
"Darcy’s enthusiasm is contagious. This has rubbed off on our CI Agents and this has been a great development opportunity for them. As a result of their work there has been significant improvements which have been made through changes with no financial cost to us other than a bit of time."
Warwick Burr, Station Manager, New Zealand Aviation Security Service
"Team buy-in was excellent due to Darcy’s positive spin on things and the way he worked with the team. He is genuinely a positive and caring person and looking to get the best from the team."
Michael Ross, Manager, Payroll & HR Technology, Customs New Zealand
Other quick fire benefits experienced by our customers...
Enhanced customer focus and support:
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Improved the ability of the customer contact team to answer all three key customer questions at the first time of asking (by the customer) from 0% to 100%, in turn reducing average call length from 96 seconds to 26 seconds and saving 2,760 hours annually across the organisation, being the customer contact team and those in the wider organisation who needed to reply to the follow-ups.
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Customer waiting time of an application reduced from 16 working days to five working days – 11 days faster for the customer, significantly reducing follow up calls to the contact centre.
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Improvements in providing better visibility of charges to the customer, reducing customer queries by 79%.
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Application rework rates with customers reduced from 61.2% to 14.3%, in turn reducing overall rework questions to customers from 4,100 to 555 questions asked, saving 1,030 hours of team capacity per annum.
Optimised invoicing and cash flow:
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Reduced the reworking of invoices from 74% to 24% and, combined with improving the automation of invoices through optical character recognition software from 0% to 61%, experienced an improved process for processing of invoices from 4.6 days to one, saving 2,292 hours of team capacity per annum, with the added benefit of late payments of the invoices dropped from 32% to 10%, improving the organisation’s reputation.
Waste reduction:
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Process improved for better notification of visits to a customer (from two weeks prior to two days prior) saving 12.5 km of driving per day, equating also to a saving 23 minutes per representative per day, saving 63.4 kg per week of CO2 emissions and reducing forgotten appointments from 19% to 0%.
Streamlined application processes:
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Reduced report writing from 142 minutes to 52 minutes per report, reclaiming 3,900 hours per year, value of time saved being $182k per annum.
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Improved application completeness (all the information is there) and accuracy (all the information is right) from 6% to 90%, and days to process from six to three days, saving 64 minutes per application, value of time saved being $126k per annum, and internally promoted a member from the team due to the freed-up capacity.
