How to tear down work silos?
According to McKinsey and Co, Lack of cross-functional collaboration, or as we call them, siloed work environments, are the biggest barrier to getting work done quicker, across all industries.
This should not come out as a surprise to anyone, there is a common understanding in project management practice, that "Communication problems make up for 90% of project management problems". And of course, this translates to other areas as well.
Communication is key to great project management
But it is also key for any enterprise you get involved with, because communication is what enables collaboration, co-creation, and a common narrative we can identify with. Having a hollistic vision, is therefore only possible if we have a single source of truth for our operations and projects.
A collborative Project Management System like Wrike can help in generate a common vision and understanding of all the work of the organization, enabling transparency and stakeholder engagement.
People, Processes, Systems
In order to become a Data Ready Organization, it is required that all our best practices enable our systems to become the providers of trustworthy, clear, and valuable data that can be used to prove any service design hypothesis we devise. But for systems to work as intended and processes to become replicable, and transparent, we need to have the culture ready to adapt to the changes that digital transformations require.
Since Digital Transformation means new possibilities, enabling a safe space for improvements is the best way of obtaining innovation based on your workforce´s needs. Tools like Integromat, can help automate tasks and also unite data from all sources to level up any informational asymmetries that exist.
Creating a single source of truth
Having a Data Science or Business Intelligence team, does not necessarily mean being data ready, our process owners, collaborators, and system users need to understand how important their input and practices are to create a single vision. Not only the data, but the processes that generate the data have to be maintained, so creating a corporate dashboard is not just an IT job, it is the work of all the organization.
Choosing the right tools
Hopefully your organization has an ERP or other corporate systems where communication and knowledge can be shared and built, but when we don't, then we can still rely in the help of smart automation tools like integromat, to ensure that data that is created on other systems, can still be transferred in a systematic way to avoid errors typical of manual or paper processes.
Having a Service Design Mentallity
When complex problems require complex solutions, and Culture seems to be the culprit, a Service Design Approach can be the best way of solving complexities and generating an iterative way of working that can be focused on the needs of our customers.
Train, Play, Work
You will probably need to acquire or develop a training plan, empower your users by allowing them to use different tools for testing purposes and start with a proof of concept before scaling. Show the results and design how you will embed Service Design Thinking into your organization.
But you could start with a prototype, creating a Chatbot in Hubspot is Free and super easy, and enables new service possibiliities inmediately to the imaginative mind.
Ensure buy-in from Management
Get your C level support for any change, and make them the Sponsors the digital transformation, make sure that the desired changes match the Strategic Vision of your company and its goals and provide a simple explanation on how creating a transparent, reliable and trusted common language, enabled by your tools, will deliver it's impact to the bottom line in much less time than imagined.
If you need help defining a vision to become a Data Ready Organization and embrace the values of Service Design (Collaboration, Co-Creation, Hollistic Vision), then contact us and we will help you on your journey into becoming Data Ready.
data@odinideas.com
