7 reasons why to use the SIPOC to create your Customer Journey Map

How much should we learn from other disciplines? David Epstein's book "Rank: How Generalists Succeed in a Specialized World" explains the following: "The way to excel is by sampling broadly, gaining a variety of experiences, taking detours, experimenting relentlessly, delving into many interests - others. words, developing a range”. 

The SIPOC is a tool that is traditionally used in Lean Six Sigma continuous improvement projects, so it is precisely a tool to start this relentless experimentation that Epstein comments in his book. 

By learning the tools and techniques of other disciplines, you are also learning extensively from your own. For this reason, this Blog will present the most important reasons to use this tool in the Customer Journey Map. 

Index 

• What is a SIPOC? 
• 7 reasons to use it in the Customer Journey Map 

What is a SIPOC?  

The SIPOC is the graphical representation of a process, so called by its acronym in English Supplier-Input-Process-Output-Customer. This diagram is like a Customer Journey Map as both define processes, always keeping the customer in mind. 

The diagram is usually a simple representation, so the ideas in each of the spaces corresponding to the components should be as brief and concise as possible. A SIPOC diagram defines the scope of work of a team and identifies at a high level the potential gaps between what the process expects from its suppliers and above all what the customer expects from the process. 

7 reasons to use the SIPOC to create your Customer Journey Map 

Ideal complement 

SIPOC involves thinking about the entire journey of a product or process, starting with the supplier all the way to the customer. There is an alternative way to approach process mapping which is to think about the process from customer to supplier, also called COPIS. Still, the best way to take advantage of the SIPOC for the Customer Journey Map is to add a new letter. 

This new letter corresponds to the customer experience and can be represented by the letter "E". In this way, every time a SIPOC is created, there will be an important added value: What do you want the client to experience throughout this process? 

Do we want the customer to be happy, excited, delighted, appreciated throughout the entire process? By including this letter, a key component of the Journey Map, the client's emotions, is being included in the analysis.  

This new approach to the SIPOC diagram can be referred to as SIPOCE and serves as the input information for a Customer Journey Map. 

Provides a structured and easy way to brainstorm. 

Brainstorming is an intrinsic tool in the creation of both the Customer Journey Map and in the creation of the SIPOCE. By using these tools deep down you are brainstorming. One of the most important challenges of generating ideas is to keep a control and a clear goal for each of the spaces in which different people provide many ideas. 

The SIPOCE can be easily generated with an online visualization tool. This because the SIPOCE in essence is a table where the specific information of a process is placed in a concise and simple way. 

With this you have a tool that can be seen as the result of brainstorming. It can be said that the more structured the ideas, the more relevant they will be for a Customer Journey Map.

SIPOC allows thinking beyond process. 

This tool is used to be clear about all the variables that affect a service or a product. This global vision of observing from different points of view is key in the Customer Journey Map. To look beyond the process, the SIPOC diagram answers these specific questions: 

• Who are the suppliers and customers of the process? This can be internal and external to the organization. 

• What are the inputs and outputs? These can be materials, services, or information. 

As can be seen, SIPOC focuses on capturing a set of inputs and outputs instead of focusing only on the individual steps involved in a process. The SIPOC is the first step to get cause and effect thinking. 

It is a visual and simple tool. 

As can be seen in this image, the SIPOC diagram is a tool that can be applied very easily. An important reason to use this diagram is that a lot of information can be stored in a structured and concise way. 

When you have a process with many variables and verticals, to fully explain it, you will have to create a document that has many pages. This makes the exercise of analyzing a process worthless and the author of that document will probably not receive any constructive feedback from his work. 

A SIPOC can be done with online mapping tools which makes it extremely useful in modern times. Also, if you wanted to do an exercise on creating a SIPOC, you could use an A3 sheet or sticky notes. What makes this diagram a very visual tool of a group result of critical thinking on a specific topic. 

Helps understand how the process serves the customer

Each of the steps in the process must add value to the customer. This is a key pillar in both the SIPOC and the Customer Journey Map. The model of a SIPOC is used so that the process is highly effective and efficient. But none of this would be worth it if the customer is not considered in all the steps of this. 

When doing the analysis of the process with SIPOC, it must be considered that each individual step must have an added value for the client. This could be complemented with a value-added matrix. Where to be placed all the procedures or activities of a process and is asked if it adds value to the end customer. Once it is identified which of these procedures does not add value to the customer, a way must be found to eliminate or transform these activities so that they do add value. 

So, the exercise of understanding how the process serves the customer is a fundamental part of the type of thinking that should be used in a Customer Journey Map. 

Enables multi-group collaboration and Helps create shared understanding 

There are methods to unite work teams such as smarketing, which basically pretends that the sales and marketing teamwork for a common objective. An exercise in creating a SIPOC diagram requires the knowledge of people from multidisciplinary areas. 

The purpose of the collaboration of several groups is that the diagram of the process is as close to reality as possible and for this it is necessary that the experts in each of the activities that surround the process contribute their ideas and points of view. In addition, it allows you to familiarize people whose familiarity with a process has faded or has become obsolete due to changes in the process. 

To conclude, SIPOCE can be seen as the structured, visual and elegant result of brainstorming a process. The diagram must be aware of the analysis of the experience and the added value for the client in each of the procedures and activities of a process. In addition, it is said that the best way to achieve this is with multidisciplinary teams and in this way have a shared understanding between different groups. 

These are some of the reasons why use this diagram in a Customer Journey Map. Even so, reader, I invite you to put this tool into practice and thus learn more about these advantages to take the customer experience to another level.

Read More: Understand the difference between Customer Journey and User Journey