Samantha BureauJohnson

May 24, 2016

Samantha Bureau-Johnson is the VP of Business Process Excellence and the Project Management Office at BCBSNC. She is currently accountable for an enterprise portfolio of strategic business initiatives that have an annual investment of over $300M, as well as, delivering over $100M in improvement initiatives since the Business Process Excellence program began in 2008. Her responsibilities also include Enterprise Business Architecture and Business Analysis. She has been with BCBSNC since 1996 and has served in leadership roles in functions across the company including Network Management, Sales & Marketing, Operations, and Human Resources.  
 
She is a dynamic business leader and champion for the enterprise deployment of Lean Six Sigma. She excels at translating strategy into execution to drive solid business outcomes. Her passion for developing talent can be seen in her commitment to coaching and mentoring employees and leaders, as well as, her appointment as an adjunct professor for Leadership Development curriculum in BCBSNC’s BlueUniversity.
 
Samantha is actively involved in her community and an avid supporter of the Girl Scouts, CORA Emergency Food Bank and the Carolina Tiger Rescue. She has dual Masters degrees (MBA/MHA), over 28 years of business experience, 23 of them in Healthcare Insurance where she has led core operational teams, emerging healthcare models, large project implementations, change leadership initiatives, business process redesigns and IT teams. She is also certified in Coaching, Change Leadership, and Business Leadership Development, and is a Six Sigma Greenbelt.
BCBSNC
VP, PMO and BPE
Insurance
Business Process Management (BPM)
Agile Business Analysis (ABA)
Analytics/Big Data
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Business Architecture (BA)
Business Decision Management (BDM) / Business Rules (BR)
Business Process Management (BPM)
Cloud Computing
Digital Transformation (DX)
Mobile/Social
Operational Excellence (OPEX)
Organizational Change Management (OCM)
Robotic Processing Automation (RPA)

Articles by: Samantha BureauJohnson

Scaling & Sustaining Your Digital Process Automation Program – Notes from the Field

Scaling & Sustaining Your Digital Process Automation Program – Notes from the Field

Author(s):

Samantha BureauJohnson
VP, PMO and BPE, BCBSNC

We are a year and a half into our Digital Process Automation program and have had some very strong successes as we learn new tool sets, build our enterprise capability center for governance and stand up an Agile way of working. Year one (1) we delivered over $10M in returned value on an investment of $3M. That early success buoyed our enthusiasm and optimism. It also pushed us to strive for bigger and better successes for year two (2).

We knew maturing, scaling and sustaining the new capability was going to be our focus for year two (2). However, that early optimism had us more bullish than perhaps we should have been. We were a bit stymied on the slowing of momentum as new and different challenges presented themselves.

Here are some field notes of our journey to date. This year, as we endeavor to drive forward and unlock business value using RPA/RDA capabilities, coupled with AI for Intelligent Automation, we have stepped back to assess, adjust, and learn.

Changing the Organizational Leadership DNA to Support a Digital Business

Changing the Organizational Leadership DNA to Support a Digital Business

Author(s):

Samantha BureauJohnson
VP, PMO and BPE, BCBSNC

 “You can change everything about your business by changing your thinking about your business” – Zig Ziglar

Every day, I get up inspired and passionate about the opportunities in front of our company, to “Improve the health and well-being of our customers and communities”. This is our rallying call, our lifeblood, and our purpose that fuels our passion. This is the WHAT we are here to do, as we serve our State, as a Health Insurer with a mission and vision of service.

Being clear in the WHAT, with a strong mission, vision and strategy, is an important foundation. Equally important is the HOW we are going to get there. I have the privilege of leading the teams that serve as the Enterprise Business Strategy Activation arm and several change initiatives that are shifting how we think about the business. 

Robotics is a GO, now what?

Robotics is a GO, now what?

Author(s):

Samantha BureauJohnson
VP, PMO and BPE, BCBSNC

 The Future Is Now

Many companies are making the decision to step forward and implement various forms of Digital Process Automation, namely some version of Robotics Process Automation (RPA). There is a spectrum of Automation (Exhibit 1), from simple tasks that “bots” can easily handle to Artificial Intelligence. RPA is the next generation of process automation, moving from scripts and macros, to automating repetitive activities. Companies are choosing where to jump in and how to stand up to the new business capability.

Exhibit 1

Robotic Business Process Automation is Here

Robotic Business Process Automation is Here

Author(s):

Samantha BureauJohnson
VP, PMO and BPE, BCBSNC

Robotic Business Process Automation is all the rage right now. It is the new cost reduction initiative that many executives are eager to implement. There are numerous conferences focused on Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and the evolution to Cognitive Processing or Machine Learning (AI). There are many emerging companies that show great promise and businesses are strongly considering adopting these tools. The following from Accenture, is a succinct depiction of the spectrum of Robotics, with RPA being the simpler end of the spectrum.

SBJ Image 1

Busting Organizational Silos with Business Process Management

Busting Organizational Silos with Business Process Management

Author(s):

Samantha BureauJohnson
VP, PMO and BPE, BCBSNC

Today’s business is global, spanning across supply chains, project delivery chains and changing fundamental business models. It is harder and harder to get clear line of sight into and accountability for how a business is operating. In addition to the shift to a global model, businesses require a matrix to link together the conventional organizational structures of functional and divisional models. Traditional business management models are not keeping up with the need to be more adaptable to the customers and markets they serve, thus the introduction of matrix management models.

A matrix model can be extremely effective if you can resolve the inherent conflict it creates. This takes hard work and active engagement to manage. Alexis Writing’s article “Different Types of Organizational Structure”, gives a good description of the matrix challenge.

Matrix

Implementing Enterprise Business Process Management – The change starts with the practitioner

Implementing Enterprise Business Process Management – The change starts with the practitioner

Author(s):

Samantha BureauJohnson
VP, PMO and BPE, BCBSNC

Over the past year, our Business Process Excellence practice has been working to develop an Enterprise Business Process Management (BPM) Framework for our organization, with implementation beginning this year. We utilize Lean, Six Sigma, Workout, Kaizen and facilitation methods to improve business processes that drive measurable business outcomes. BCBSNC is an $8 Billion dollar business with over 4500 employees and have had an established Business Process practice since 2008. We have a very strong brand and have driven over $80+ million in results since inception.

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