MARKET VIEW 08
Greg Hudson
HEAD OF TECHNOLOGY
What are the most important considerations for an organisation planning to accelerate?
Knowing you want to accelerate is only the start of the journey, it’s also crucial to understand (as much as possible) what the future looks like for your business and the path you need to take.
Here at M247, we have a team of evangelists who are always looking forward with the aim of identifying and understanding what trends and changes are on the horizon, and what this may mean for our customers. This helps determine future requirements and drives our roadmap, both from a technological and support point of view, and means as a business we are able to have a focussed, adaptable and innovative methodology.
We don’t stop there; we also implement a ‘blue sky thinking’ approach and regularly engage in conversation with our customers. This provides invaluable insight and direction on future requirements, helping us to unlock new technology developments, to become a leading business provider. We encourage everyone to think outside the box.
We have a team of evangelists who are always looking forward with the aim of identifying and understanding what trends and changes are on the horizon, and what this may mean for our customers.
How can you help client organisations become more resilient and more agile?
As a business what we do is pretty unique. We have a broad portfolio of solutions and products and have always taken a methodical approach to things, focusing on one thing then moving on to the next.
However, over the past 12 months like most businesses we have adopted different ways of working. As customer demands and needs have increased in response to the changing landscape and the fact that technology wise, they are spinning more plates, we have needed to deliver more, and with limited resource, what were previously set frameworks and methodologies have had to adapt and become more agile. We have achieved this by adopting SAFe (scaled agile development framework). Whilst it’s fair to say the last 18months has not been without its challenges, it’s been very interesting at the same time.
It’s imperative for us that we stick to the SAFe principles, which focuses on the economic outturn for both ourselves and our customers. As we transition from a more traditional top-down waterfall approach, we need to constantly be asking how and seeking new ways to enable velocity and keep moving faster. Whilst no business likes to experience failures, we ensure that in those instances where we do, we learn from mistakes and move forward. Whilst adapting an agile approach, key to success is still in the clear setting of project milestones and objectives; meaning both we and our customers can visualise what the work in progress looks like and what the end goal will be. Internally we create pods of cross departmental virtual teams who work together to deliver each project, with a clear and combined focus on customer value – this approach enables us to resolve issues and ensure timelines stay on track to ensure we meet the needs of our customers.
As customer demands and needs have increased in response to the changing landscape and the fact that technology wise, they are spinning more plates, we have needed to deliver more, and with limited resource, what were previously set frameworks and methodologies have had to adapt and become more agile.
What role do leadership, culture and mindset play in becoming more agile and resilient?
I’m a big believer in good communication and that this goes hand in hand with clear, strong leadership and direction. To me it’s critical that everybody in the team knows where we’re going, what the business wants to achieve and how we are going to get there.
Having the right balance and mix of people around you is crucial so you can be confident that the team can deliver on the plans and promises made to customers but also to have the agility and resilience to adapt when required.
Having the right balance and mix of people around you is crucial so you can be confident that the team can deliver on the plans and promises made to customers but also to have the agility and resilience to adapt when required.
How has the pandemic influenced the way your firm delivers transformation services?
Like many organisations, we had to adapt. We have a big team with a strong culture, and we see great collaboration when people are in the same room. It’s difficult to recreate this immediately when things change overnight. In response to the pandemic, we adopted complete remote working which required a lot of discipline and planning. I’ve worked remotely for 20 years but for some of our team, that way of working came as a big shock and took some time getting used to.
The way that we have addressed the imposed changes and continued to drive the company culture is through strong communication – both internally and to our customers. As a business there have always been weekly leadership team meeting which ensure everyone is focused and aligned on the week ahead, then a monthly meeting with the whole business to talk about our strategic direction, and what progress has been made in the last month. The ability to move this type of communication virtually due to technology has been a key driver in keeping the drumbeat going.
I’m pleased the restrictions are starting to relax as we find workshops with customers are more productive face to face. Being able to read body language and use a whiteboard together for brainstorming can keep the conversation flowing and unlock new ideas and solutions. It's been a real breath of fresh air being able to return to that way of working; but I’m pleased to see that technology has enabled hybrid working to flourish.
The way that we have addressed the imposed changes and continued to drive the company culture is through strong communication – both internally and to our customers.
How is your firm enhancing its own engagement with customers and evolving your marketing strategy as a result of the move to virtual?
We have a multi-channel, multi touch digital first marketing strategy that is constantly evolving. As the move to virtual happened we were already in a strong place, we simply built on our existing online presence, enhanced our online content and increased our online webinars to continue to engage with our customers and prospects seamlessly.
Customers proactively reached out to us for advice, support and implementation for remote working - our marketing content reinforced our capability and expertise in this area and provided advice and best practice on how to select and maximise new tools they may have adapted. This in turn supported our sales effort.
