It’s a question of how you can create something digital, reasonably fast and at a reasonable cost, to scale your business. And that’s how we can help.
How do you help clients plan for and accelerate transformation?
What we’ve seen in recent years is a digital gold rush where companies like Tesla, Amazon, Google are using AI to expand the marketplace – at the detriment of other, smaller companies. They’re using technology to accelerate their momentum and push people out – then they come back to fill in the hole.
At the high-end of the market, you have these tech companies, and at the bottom you have start-ups that can be super nimble. And then there’s a great chasm in the middle consisting of companies that don’t know their business is already dead.
When we engage with clients, we don’t want to overly scare them. But it’s often a reality that they need to reinvent themselves, and quickly. The good news is that they have years of experience of customer engagement; they know the industry and market well, and if they are open to change, they are in the best possible position to scale in their vertical.
So now it’s a question of how you can create something digital, reasonably fast and at a reasonable cost, to scale your business. And that’s how we can help.
We focus on business strategy and innovation, rather than management consulting.
When working with clients, how do you plan and prioritise?
We start with an inventory of their assets, both tangible assets as well as soft assets such as brand, service quality or market position. We identify their strengths and weaknesses, and conceptualize a digital product that lends to their strengths.
When reinventing a business through digital solutions, the culture can be resistant to change. It’s like moving a big ship, and it’s very difficult to adopt a new way of doing business. We focus on business strategy and innovation, rather than management consulting. In some cases, it is easier to allow the current business to continue as it is, and develop an entirely new company around the new digital product, rather than trying to force the old team to adapt to what is new.
We’re trying to meet the customer where they are. Rather than have the customer join your journey, you join their journey.
What are the most effective strategies you use to help clients enhance their customer engagement, particularly obviously, on a digital acceleration path?
There’s no one answer because we’re trying to meet the customer where they are. Rather than have the customer join your journey, you join their journey.
Where a lot of people fall short is when they try to force customers on their own journey. For example, we have clients that have asked us to improve a hardware solution that their customers haven’t adopted – and rather than improving the hardware, we can see the solution isn’t necessary. The challenge can be solved another way through improved UX or software.
JONATHAN JUDD
Head of Strategy
Originate
How are you helping clients and organisations become more agile and resilient?
We build agile. We begin our engagements with our design thinking methodology, by developing a new concept with our clients through workshops and creative sessions. We lay out blueprints and go and build the solution using agile methodology. During those stages we are teaching clients the agile methodology. In the process of developing a product, we are showing clients how to think differently, and challenging the status quo of their business. We hope that permeates through the business, and they see the value of fail fast and learn. Because it’s far more productive.
Originate is a digital innovation company that helps organisations to take concepts to commercialisation. The firm specialises in helping clients to identify a way to pivot and scale their business through digital innovation and transformation, both internally and externally.