Calyx Poised to Gain – and Maintain – Momentum: A Conversation with Jamie Moss, Chief Operating Officer
Share via
To learn more about the inside workings of, and plans for, Calyx, we visit with COO Jamie Moss…
What will be Calyx’s guiding principles?
Now that we’re independent, we’re using the opportunity to develop our own way of working. We’ve established seven operating imperatives that we see as key to our ability to deliver value to our clients (Figure 1). The foundation of these is customer-centricity, or our ability to put our customers’ needs at the center of all that we do.
To achieve that, we insist on excellence in the quality of our service and products (so that they are inspection-ready at all times), velocity (which is not merely speed, but momentum in a given direction), and our ability to deliver intricate and complex solutions that are simple and easy to use. We’re also committed to balancing the need to perform reliably and consistently with the need to be flexible – to bend without breaking.
All of this culminates in our ability to scale the business. And by that I don’t just mean to “grow;” I mean to continue evolving. To keep up our momentum while continuously improving.
How is Calyx structured to support this vision?
First, we’ve established our own commercial organization, and this team has long-standing relationships with clients. We ensure that we support our clients with multiple touchpoints to best suit their needs, for example, specialist consulting, inspection support, and executive sponsorship.
Second, we’ve created a matrixed organizational structure through which our service lines are supported by common functions and processes that serve as centers of excellence. These include program management, solution deployment, service operations, shared services, and business excellence functions. The new structure will integrate our specialized capabilities and unleash the full potential of our 2,400 experienced professionals.
How will Calyx achieve “scalability” while remaining nimble?
The functions I just mentioned are working to streamline our processes and standardize our tools so that we operate with peak efficiency and meet our customers’ quality and delivery expectations. But beyond that, we’ve re-engineered our enterprise operating model. Picture it as a virtuous circle, starting with blue-sky ideas that make their way through product development, technology development, and service delivery.
What is special is that it includes continual monitoring of client feedback and market conditions, resulting in a closed feedback loop that drives constant innovation and improvement. It’s a process that, combined with our culture and strategy, ensures we not only expand our capabilities to accommodate a growing business but that we also iterate as needed to continue to add value. We won’t be embracing “random acts of improvement,” but rather targeted improvements that align with our operating imperatives of customer-centricity, quality, velocity, etc.
What do you see as Calyx’s market advantage, given its strategy and structure?
We have the benefit of the best of both worlds: more than 25 years of experience to bring to bear in developing and delivering solutions AND a fresh organizational structure and operating model. We’re in a unique position to continue doing what is successful and to adopt new approaches. Our mentality of continuous improvement will serve us well in differentiating ourselves. And, we’re committed to offering best-in-class solutions, whether through our own capabilities or by partnering with others.
