Process Management Takes a Starring Role in Amazon's 2018 Shareholder Letter

Written by Lucas de Boer | 2 min read
Published on: April 23, 2018 - Last modified: May 28th, 2021
2018 Amazon shareholder letter response - Gero speaking to camera

Last week, Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, released his annual letter to shareholders. The first of these letters was published in 1998, so this marks the 20th anniversary of this insightful tradition. Another founder and CEO, Dr. Gero Decker, had this to say about the 2018 Amazon shareholder letter.

2018 Amazon shareholder letter

Amazon’s power in the marketplace is orders of magnitude above that of its competitors, and with that power comes a great deal of influence. So much so, the annual Amazon shareholder letter is almost a ritual by now, a hotly-anticipated yearly event that can set trends not only for Amazon, but entirely separate businesses—and even industries! The 2018 Amazon shareholder letter is no different, inspiring comments and responses from individuals and organizations across a range of fields from around the world. For one such view, simply read on, and find out what role business process management has played in Amazon’s success...

Response from Dr. Gero Decker

"What are the three most important things everyone at Amazon focuses on?

  1. Customer obsession
  2. Ingenuity
  3. Operational Excellence

This probably does not come as a surprise. Most people know that already.

What is very interesting though, is the information that not all of these competencies have been there from the very beginning. As Jeff writes, 'When I started Amazon, I had high standards on inventing, on customer care, and (thankfully) on hiring. But I didn’t have high standards on operational process: how to keep fixed problems fixed, how to eliminate defects at the root, how to inspect processes, and much more. I had to learn and develop high standards on all of that (my colleagues were my tutors).'

This is great news for our customers and prospects: Process Management and Operational Excellence are capabilities that can indeed be learned. Take Amazon as the example. The number one company known for excellent process was not born with that skill. It, too, had to learn it over time.

It is never too late to embark on that journey and Signavio is the perfect companion. We bring tons of expertise and a rich of community of customers to learn from.

Combining Customer Experience and Operational Excellence is at the very heart of what we care about at Signavio. Our Process Transformation Suite focuses on taking an outside-in approach that starts with customer journeys, and translates them into operational processes."

Want to be the next Amazon?

You can fuel your own customer obsession by downloading Signavio’s Guide to Customer Journey Mapping. If you already know your customers inside and out, and are ready to improve your business processes just like Amazon, get started with a free 30-day trial with Signavio.

Published on: April 23, 2018 - Last modified: May 28th, 2021