)
As the world gets increasingly complex, it will be interesting to see if the Apple model, which has received so much attention, has a major influence on the way companies do business in the future, Alan Siegel tells Rohit Nautiyal
Your new book Simple addresses the lack of simplicity in the functioning of today's businesses and governments. Not many thinkers and management gurus have addressed this area. What exactly triggered your quest for simplicity?
Let me address this by sharing a personal experience. In the mid-seventies, I was working as a consultant for First National Bank (now Citibank). They asked me to redesign all the forms they used in their retail operations. I found that many of their legal contracts, notably their instalment loan notes and mortgage loan documents, were impenetrable and even frightening - certainly not the kind of documents you want to give to increasingly sophisticated customers from a bank that was promoting the image of being a global leader that was responsive to consumers.
After a couple of months, I convinced them to let me simplify their instalment loan note. I reorganised the document to reflect the way a consumer would review it, starting with the computations, working through the payment schedule, conditions of default and other related issues. The document had captions for each of the main areas using this sequence, radically simplified language that could be understood by someone with a high school education, and a design format that balanced the integrity of a legal document. It took a year to get the bank CEO to approve this radical change. Surprisingly, research showed that the biggest benefit came from the employees who were excited about the ability to interface with customers and answer their questions without having to go to the lawyers.
More From This Section
You have said that simplicity is not commercially appealing always. Why is 'simple' not so attractive?
Research shows unequivocally that people are faced with all kinds of complexity in our society and yearn for simplicity. One of the most successful companies in the world is Apple, based on Steve Jobs' vision and overriding commitment to building simplicity into everything they do.
As the world gets increasingly complex, it will be interesting to see if the Apple model has a major influence on the way companies do businesses in the future.
A few years down the line, simplification will be the hallmark of great companies and effective governments.
If companies are simplifying their offerings and documents, is there a chance they are deliberately trying to keep the consumer in the dark?
Certainly. Many companies are not particularly interested in simplifying things because doing this involves a complete change of mindset and the lawyers always create obstacles. I can't confirm that companies are purposely trying to obfuscate, to keep the customers in the dark and put provisions in their documents that work to their advantage. But they haven't appreciated the value of simplification.
Most consumers have this 'learned response' that since they can't read document and can't do anything to get offensive provisions taken out, they blindly sign anything. I have been enormously frustrated over the years at how many companies have not lived up to their responsibility to create documents that help customers make an informed decision. I'm excited to see, with the advent of the internet, that consumers can group together and put pressure on companies to eliminate offensive provisions in their contracts. This is true with internet contracts, as we've seen with Facebook and Google. I anticipate there will finally be pressure on businesses and governments to simplify their communication.
Can you share your experience of working with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the United States?
IRS has been an ideal client. This is surprising because there is so much criticism of the complexity of the tax code and personal tax instructions and filing forms. We learnt how it is absolutely critical to have an executive champion. It is important to conduct diagnostic research to understand the tax payer's perspective, where they are confused and what procedures and information need to be clarified and customised.
What will it take for MNCs to simplify their offerings as they penetrate emerging markets in Asia for growth?
Since the publication of my book, Simple, I have had a lot of response from MNCs operating in emerging markets. To be sure, the book has attracted a lot of attention in Europe as well. Since many consumers in the emerging markets are not sophisticated or have the skills to really evaluate offerings from these companies, there can be tremendous benefits from simplification.
What these companies can - and should - do is an audit of their business practices, put a team together to investigate where simplification may be used to enhance their position in the marketplace to build employee and customer loyalty and enthusiasm. While this takes time, is disruptive and costs money, the benefits vastly outweigh the year or two it will take to instill simplification into the company.
Is it easier to incorporate fundamentals of simplicity while starting a new business? What kind of simplification procedure will work for established businesses?
Start-ups should use simplicity as one of their values and must begin by bringing clarity, transparency, and functionality/usability into the corporate culture. Firms that have been in business for a while will have a hard time bringing simplicity into their culture because it will threaten employees who cannot live up to the standard, disrupt existing relationships with vendors and suppliers, and involve significant change, which could unsettle people.
Once again, I would urge established companies to build simplicity and clarity as one of their basic values and appoint a senior executive to be an ombudsman, to not only bring change into the core of what they do but also to monitor that the company lives up this standard. It is important to emphasise that integrating simplification into the core values of the company will be demanding and will not work unless the senior management believes in, supports and lives this value.
THE LAST WORD
Journey towards simplicity
- In the mid 70s, Siegel consulted Citibank on how to redesign forms used in their retail operations. After a couple of months of haggling, he convinced the bank to simplify its installment loan note
- While working with the IRS in the US, Siegel learnt how critical it was to have an executive champion. It is important to conduct diagnostic research to understand the tax payers' perspective, where they are confused and what procedures needs to be clarified and customised, he says
