ARE YOU READY FOR DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION? IS YOUR TEAM?
Hi again, just a quick word about the importance of digital transformation. If you want to catch a portion of the upswing post Covid-19 your best bet is to ensure your clients are at the center of your digital strategy. Secondly, you need not be an exceptionally large company to update your processes. You simply need to see the value of the transformation. If you do not, then continue what you are doing.
SO WHERE DO I BEGIN?
Begin by analysing if your team is ready to update their processes. Start with asking your team to model their processes, identify waste the bothers them as much as waste the bothers you. Find out what is going on now and then shine a spotlight on those issues.
WHAT IS ENTERPRISE ARCHITECHTURE?
If you are a small or medium business, you may not see what enterprise architecture means in your world. The truth is that you are changing the architecture with technology and processes as well as business rules. These things make up the how of your business. To keep it simple, you sell a widget at $1.00. How did you price that widget? To whom are you selling it? How do you know when to order more widgets because your inventory is short? Can technology and business rules make this simpler for your team? The architecture of your business is important to you and your client. Understanding that your processes are layered over your resources, like people or technology. To complete your processes, you need to rely on the infrastructure to complete the task. For example, a counterperson at a tire shop greets the clients to identify what their needs are. That is a human task. What is in your digital first strategy you offer clients the ability to see what you have in inventory from the comfort of their home or business through the internet. Understanding the way, the person will connect and what you will allow them to do is the process and the business rules. Can a client order industrial amounts or can they order just two? Are there different types of clients? As a small or medium size business owner, you need to see your business like building a house with services and points of entry and exit. The Architecture you use in technology and process makes your client’s life better or worst!
GATHER YOUR TEAM AND SET THE VISION
If you can get your team members and junior leads motivated to find and eliminate wasted time and efforts, they will help you identify the errors in your present processes. Get them to think like a client, get them to identify with their frustrations. The truth will rise up and radiate with all.
DO NOT PUNISH THE LAZY
To often we hear of leaders that want data entered to much that time is wasted by doing it manually. Those that identify the waste are considered lazy and unwilling to make the effort. Maybe, that is true at times but maybe there are better uses for their time than entering the same data 10 times! Look to innovate the process to ensure that technology is present to alleviate the need for redundant data entry. Strategize and focus on the data quality not the data entry. There are so many ways to maximize the data in the CRM using third party data collection companies. If it is a salesperson perhaps, they are best serving you when they are introducing your product to a pre-qualified lead rather than hunting for the elusive white whale!
MODEL YOUR FUTURE PROCESSES
Speak to your team and identify the laggards that are not onboard with the new process development. Use them to see why the team might not be onboard with the latest and greatest changes. If you nip these issues in the bud early you may have the strongest opportunity to make real change! When modeling your new processes, keep you client at the center of the conversation. ‘What would my client say, feel or need.’ How can a more adaptive digital process help me make my client happy?
KISS
Keep the changes simple and focused on demonstrable improvements. An example of that is Bank security for Pins. Last week I was brain dead during a purchase, I entered it incorrectly, do not ask me how I did it, I am still not sure. Needless to say, I was upset, I contacted my Bank requesting that my card be turned back on. I figured that they would use my secret answers, and my voice to confirm my identify and allow me to select another PIN. Nope! Instead, they wanted me to go to a local branch and enter my card into a machine owned by their Bank. Well, have you noticed that in their digital first strategy they have been closing local branches! Wow, you must drive one hour to find the local branch! What a waste of time and effort. So, I asked if they could at least verify that my card was frozen. The person said he did but in fact once I went to the branch and entered my card, the card had never been frozen. The moral of the story is that when you think about digital progress this example is not one of them. No empowerment of their staff to help their clients, and no forethought as to convenience when they close the number of branches and cash machines. Meanwhile they purchase all this technology supposedly to make it more secure but without any real upside for the client. So, keep your changes simple and focused on your client and their improved outcomes. Save them time, make them safer and make those changes clear to your team so they feel that their part in the changes was a great contribution to an improved customer experience or a more secure future for the business and for the team.
Thanks for reading my blog!
Jack