The good, the bad and the ugly – how did Ops teams perform in Q1?
UK & Ireland are in decline, Australia & New Zealand flatlining & North America on the up
18th May 2023
By Stuart Pugh, Ian Carter, Richard Jeffery, Dr. Mona Ashok
In the shadow of high inflation, rising interest rates and a series of banking collapses - operations teams around the world have had a mixed performance in Q1. The UK & Ireland has continued to slide as leaders struggle to plan effectively, Australia & New Zealand has flatlined with capacity going unused and North America is showing steady improvement but at the cost of maintaining customer service.
Be prepared: the 60-second lowdown
Six key trends that are impacting operations teams around the world.
OpsIndex performance across regions
Operational performance globally remains below pandemic-era highs, though the direction of travel is sharply divergent across regions. In the UK and Ireland, performance continues to decline against a backdrop of economic malaise and an ongoing cost of living crisis. By contrast, organizations in North America have shrugged off disruption in the banking sector and shown steady improvements over the past quarter (albeit with signs that improved effectiveness may be coming at
the expense of customer service). Meantime, the top performing region, Australia and New Zealand, has seen its winning streak of post-pandemic gains finally stall, with performance flatlining in the opening three months of the year. The region’s performance over the coming quarter should give a clearer indication if this was just a temporary blip or if attempts to squeeze out more productivity gains have run out of steam. Read the full analysis →
Operational performance globally remains below pandemic-era highs, though the direction of travel is sharply divergent across regions. In the UK and Ireland, performance continues to decline against a backdrop of economic malaise and an ongoing cost of living crisis. By contrast, organizations in North America have shrugged off disruption in the banking sector and shown steady improvements over the past quarter (albeit with signs that improved effectiveness may be coming at the expense of customer service). Meantime, the top performing region, Australia and New Zealand, has seen its winning streak of post-pandemic gains finally stall, with performance flatlining in the opening three months of the year. The region’s performance over the coming quarter should give a clearer indication if this was just a temporary blip or if attempts to squeeze out more productivity gains have run out of steam. Read the full analysis →
What’s new in this edition
In each OpsTracker report, we spotlight new topics that operations teams are grappling with and invite industry experts to share their experiences and opinions on these challenges.
Making sense of ChatGPT in ops
Dr. Mona Ashok
Associate Professor at
Henley Business School
Advanced AI tools like ChatGPT have significant potential to shake up how operations are run.
Overcoming ‘productivity paranoia’
Richard Jeffery
Chief Executive Officer
at ActiveOps
There is a level of paranoia among senior leaders about their people, believing if they’re not in sight they must be skiving.
Digital transformation expert Dr. Mona Ashok discusses the growth and adoption of ChatGPT in financial services. Learn how advanced AI technology will transform operations in the future.
As senior leaders wrestle with the paranoia of operations teams working hybrid or remotely, Richard Jeffery explores how using the right data can improve decision-making and evolve working policies.
Making sense of ChatGPT in ops
Dr. Mona Ashok
Associate Professor at
Henley Business School
Advanced AI tools like ChatGPT have significant potential to shake up how operations are run.
Digital transformation expert Dr. Mona Ashok discusses the growth and adoption of ChatGPT in financial services. Learn how advanced AI technology will transform operations in the future.
Overcoming ‘productivity paranoia’
Richard Jeffery
Chief Executive Officer
at ActiveOps
There is a level of paranoia among senior leaders about their people, believing if they’re not in sight they must be skiving.
As senior leaders wrestle with the paranoia of operations teams working hybrid or remotely, Richard Jeffery explores how using the right data can improve decision-making and evolve working policies.
More operational insights & inspiration
Missed the first OpsTracker report? Don’t worry. See how operations teams performed around the world before, during and after the pandemic.
Watch Bhavesh, Michael and Stuart to learn how to use benchmarking data to measure your operational performance.
There are 5 metrics every COO should know. Ian Carter explains why they are so important to help you to build operational resilience.
‘Quiet hiring’ is one of Gartner’s top workforce predictions for 2023. What is it? And how can you boost staff retention and productivity?
Discover how data can help your operations team to become more agile without having to downsize your workforce.
Richard Jeffery talks to Ticker News about the reasons Ops teams in Australia and New Zealand are top performers.
About the authors
Richard Jeffery is the founder and CEO at ActiveOps; Stuart Pugh is Chief Product Officer at ActiveOps; Ian Carter is Head of Insight & Innovation at ActiveOps; and Dr. Mona Ashok is an Associate Professor of Digital Transformation at the Henley Business School.
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