Business Profile
Colin R. Coleman is chairman of the ISC Group, which owns the ISC brand and associated intellectual property licensed to consultancies and specialist services supporting rail, telecoms, and corporate jets. He discusses his twenty-year vision to establish ‘best in class’ railways for the UK
‘A
progressive competitive business model is built by paying constant attention to defining better processes derived from previous direct experience,’ said Coleman, who explained how he has structured ISC Best Practice Consultancy (ISC-BPCL) to become one of the most competitive suppliers of specialist services to the UK rail sector. In May 2011 the Public Accounts Committee probed why the UK rail sector was typically 27 per cent more costly than its counterparts in comparable economies. This is not the case said Coleman. ‘SME’s in the UK rail supply chain are internationally competitive. For instance, ISC-BPCL has continued to develop better processes originally devised by the BAA Heathrow Express strategic enabling support team, which I chaired to mitigate the potential losses after all three tunnel bores collapsed under Heathrow Airport in 1994.’
Coleman was seconded to HM
Treasury from Babcock International. When the Treasury closed the National Economic Development Office in 1992, he concentrated on consultancy and has built an extensive and high-level client list.
‘Nearly everybody knows that benchmarking is good business,’ he said. But as the DfT’s recent shortcomings attest, with Toc’s there is little point in just benchmarking competitors when mediocre is the norm. Even when innovators do their sums properly and break the mould to derive better processes, it is all too easy for them to be outbid by the legacy attitudes. In the Thatcher era we had the freedom to think and act outside the box. So, I hope to persuade the DfT to be more imaginative and include the option in each mainline rail franchise to provide a dedicated premium train service in the first instance.’
Continued Coleman: ‘What I have in mind is a true Pullman-style First and Second Class train service, on which Anytime tickets are fully interchangeable, but on payment of a supplement of, say, £20. While the incumbent Toc is under
June 2013 Page 103
no obligation to exercise this option – and this is the competitive spur – if it does not take-up the option under the franchise then another provider would be free to operate premium service only trains under Open Access provisions. This would not only offer improved value on established routes, albeit at a cost, but would also open up more imaginative customer focused routings and calling patterns driven by market demand.’
The proposition in detail Under the first scenario, if the incumbent Toc takes-up the option of running a dedicated premium train service, it would focus on business customers and respond to other unfulfilled value-added market requirements. Typically, by segregating the market more effectively a premium service would be able to offer corresponding value-added services within the premium cost charged, such as free wifi; the expectation of a seat and an ‘at the table’ meal service offering freshly prepared food even in second
class. This approach would attract the most imaginative managers, who in turn would motivate the most dedicated staff to concentrate and operate premium customer services on trains run at times
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132