Tom King, Commercial director, Mubaloo
Business transformation needs transforming. Research shows business transformation has a 30 per cent success rate. Can you imagine how much time, money and probably jobs this must waste?
It clearly takes more than blue-sky thinking or asking users what they want, which often ends up in directionless and risky initiatives based on opinion, not fact.
At Mubaloo, we’ve learnt that the key to successful transformation is having an in-depth understanding of the “problem” or “opportunity” that we’re trying to solve; coupled with the usual careful planning, internal buy-in and the right culture.
With experience supporting dozens of clients through business transformation, we’ve developed a three-step process aimed at making transformation a success through giving our clients clarity, focus and confidence. Let me explain how it works.
The first step is the creation of a vision for digital. This gives us direction and team alignment; it helps steer our overall objectives and tactics, whether that’s to increase specific process efficiency by 7 per cent, unlock a new market or even being seen to be more innovative.
The second step is to identify the “unmet needs”. By this we mean the user tasks which are important but currently unsatisfied; these form the opportunities for improvement. We like to use a methodology called “jobs to be done”, which looks at the tasks users are trying to complete, not the process they use today.
It allows a set of products services to be evaluated from the ground up and has been proven as a reliable way for product/process innovation. This is about customer/user first; technology is just the enabler to get us there.
Once that process is complete, we move to the third stage aptly named digital product design. We work on a product, create a prototype, user test and deliver that in the form of an iterative digital product – it could be a web dashboard, mobile app, Alexa Skill, augmented reality experience or even just sending a SMS – that’s continually developing and growing.
For example, we worked with a leading shipping and logistics provider to identify their vision for mobile, uncover the jobs that needed to be done and developed a mobile app to unlock a multi-million-pound market.
This approach materialised by enabling small, medium-size companies and individuals to book shipping container space with the help of an easy-to-use mobile application, where you can manage your freight and know at all times the status of that shipment.
The result was a total rethink of the shipping industry, while removing the middleman – other companies booking shipments for smaller clients – and unlocking a new market segment for the company.
Even dynamic companies can feel overwhelmed trying to re-engineer their organisation amid turbulent industry conditions on their own. It helps to introduce a fresh perspective, someone who looks at outcomes and is disconnected emotionally from a current process or product. Our clients are the experts in what they do and we have the expertise in innovation/transformation. The combination is very powerful.
This mindset means a consultancy agency can often rethink even everyday aspects of a business model and give you a starting line for your business transformation.
Mubaloo works with clients across industries and we frequently partner with clients that are looking to make a significant change. It works best when clients embrace new ways of working to create digital products which meet both user and business needs.
We’re a digital transformation agency and mobile experts with more than nine years’ experience in planning and developing digital products and experiences for world-leading clients. We can help you deliver end-to-end business solutions that cut costs, improve efficiencies and disrupt markets.
To find out more please visit Mubaloo.com
