Six SIGMA for Financial Services: How Leading Companies Are Driving Results Using Lean, Six Sigma, and Process Management

Business process excellence methods can and should be used everywhere. Look at the author's examples and figure out how they can relate to your business. Identify your objectives and use the methods to reach those goals.

The title of this book is misleading. In fact, its subtitle is more relevant. It does not focus on Six Sigma only, but rather on a variety of tools that companies offering financial services are - or should be - using to achieve what Rowland Hayler and Michael D. Nichols call "business process excellence": creating the greatest possible value for customers. The book is based on a study (described in the index) of 11 leading financial-services companies, some international and some local. The authors frequently cite useful examples from their respondents to anchor some of their theories in real life. Unfortunately, managers who are eager to benefit from this important information may find the authors' prose opaque and abstract. The charts and chapter summaries are helpful, but some readers may need perseverance to learn from this book. Nevertheless, we find the authors' goal laudable: to show how financial-services companies can improve their often-abysmal customer service standards, and thus increase their profits and competitiveness.

As a certified Six Sigma Black Belt and more importantly having a leadership role in a financial service company, I found this book to be very insightful. Hayler and Nichols's model for Business Process Excellence provided great examples on how to execute enterprise wide process improvements. By reading this book, I was able to assess my own company's journey to business process excellence, highlighting opportunities and tools to enhance and evolve our program. I have recommended this book to some of our executive management team responsible for enterprise process improvement and I'm sure productive conversations will have resulted from it.