Horizon Centre, Inc.

Horizon Centre...Your Trusted Partner and Resource

When confronting the need to improve efficiency within your development services functions, turn to Horizon Centre, Inc as your trusted partner and resource. We will provide you with unbiased, expert advice to help your agency cut costs, improve performance, and keep the support of your elected officials, businesses and residents. We are your "one-stop" destination for development services expertise.

Understanding Your Challenge

an image Now, more than ever, development services related agencies are UNDER THE SCRUTINY OF the public eye. Elected officials, businesses, and the public alike want improved regulatory services.

BUT HOW DO YOU DELIVER IN A CLIMATE WITH GROWING AND numerous challenges?

WE HELP agency executives and managers must ADDRESS AND MEET THE HIGH DEMANDS for tangible and immediate results, IN A CLIMATE WITH THE CHALLENGES OF:

	A downturn IN the economy WITH BUDGET CUTS THAT RESULTS IN constrained and insufficient funding levels
	COMPLACENCY IN A Government culture TOO OFTEN entrenched and comfortable
	Service improvements involving COMPLEX multi-departmental processes and systems
	Political expectations for quick fixes WITH limited patience to spend time on sustainable change

With numerous challenges and high expectations, it is clear that executives and managers have to get creative and be flexible. In order to be successful, they have to collaborate with other managers on strategies and solutions and take a comprehensive look at how services are delivered to its customers. Most importantly, they must begin to think from the customer's perspective. WE CAN HELP. HERE'S HOW.

Our Strategies to Overcome the Challenges

   Customer
   Feedback &
   Involvement

Meeting customer expectations in the development and building processing system is crucial. Understanding what those expectations are and how they relate to the system performance is the challenge. Horizon Centre's proven customer involvement process addresses and alleviates those challenges. Harnessing customer feedback, building a partnership for changing the process, and turning opposition into political support is the primary goal.

Comprehensive
Systems Approach

Understanding that the development and building process is a "system", will yield opportunities for efficiencies. The system is more than just procedures. It includes many other system parts, such as the people side of project management, the regulatory framework, information technology, physical space, and performance measurement. Horizon Centre's unique approach examines opportunities to create a comprehensive performance improvement program that includes all aspects of the system.

Service-Oriented
Process Model

Development services customers often face multiple and fragmented local government departments when attempting to get comprehensive information, process a project they have in mind, or file a complaint. Horizon Centre has a unique service-oriented operational design model that defines processing system service delivery from the customer's perspective. This model embraces a "customer sits in one chair" cultural philosophy to stop customer runaround and strives to make the process more seamless.

Cultural Change
Management

Making changes happen in local government can be challenging due to entrenched institutional thinking, lack of buy-in and management support for new ideas, and resistance due to organizational "turfs". Horizon Centre's change facilitation process establishes a framework for sponsorship, "out of box" creative system designing, and customer involvement to assist in ensuring success. The framework centers on creating team structures for discussion, agreement, buy-in, and communication of planned improvements.