How the Amazon Innovation Accelerator helped NPH Group rethink the customer journey

For many businesses, improving the customer experience can mean changing lots of things behind the scenes. But with limited time, money and expertise, managing those changes consistently isn’t always easy. 

For NPH Group, improving the customer journey was already a priority. Mark Philpott, Chief Executive Officer, joined the Amazon Innovation Accelerator looking for a better way – and found a process the business is now embedding across all areas of change. 

Finding a better way to manage change 

NPH Group is an occupational health and wellbeing business based in Newcastle. Founded in 2013, the team provide services such as health surveillance, employment medicals, absence management and health screening to businesses across the Northeast. 

When Mark joined the Amazon Innovation Accelerator, one of NPH Group’s biggest priorities was improving the customer journey and understanding where the opportunities were to add value. The challenge was turning those ideas into action. 

Before the programme, our approach to implementing new ideas was sporadic. Managing change was difficult due to the limitations around resources, money and expertise. We dipped in and out of many different methodologies to try and find a way to be effective and efficient. 

Mark wasn't looking for more ideas. He wanted a consistent way to assess them, put the customer first and turn them into changes the business could deliver. 

Working backwards from the customer 

The biggest highlight for Mark was Amazon’s PRFAQ process. It brought together several principles he already believed in, into one framework. 

Joining the Amazon Innovation Accelerator was a light bulb moment. We found a method that can take everything we were trying to do: be customer first, address things from a place of innovation and work backwards. 

NPH Group has already put the approach into practice. After a new travel health service received little engagement, the team used what they had learned to rethink the experience from the customer's perspective.  

Before the programme, we had launched a new service change that wasn’t getting much engagement. We're now relaunching it with a much stronger focus on the customer journey. I wouldn’t have gone down this route had it not been for the knowledge we gained from the Amazon Innovation Accelerator.

A new standard for change 

What started as a way to improve the customer journey is now influencing how NPH Group manages change more broadly. Mark has introduced PRFAQ to the management team and wants it to become the standard approach for future projects. 

The main takeaway has been the PRFAQ process, which is now being embedded as the standard for managing change across the business. 

The clearer process has given Mark greater confidence in the changes NPH Group wants to make next. With its next five-year plan starting in October, the business is preparing to scale and continue investing in technology. 

Without Amazon’s knowledge, we wouldn’t be committing to as much as we intend to deliver over the next year. I would have been more cautious and less willing to take risks. The change in confidence has been big.