Technology has come a long way, especially in the last 20 years, but it’s not everything. When I look back at what was around in 2000 when I started my professional career, I can see just how much technology has transformed how we interact with the world – in work and in our personal lives.Back then …
online shopping wasn’t a thing,
the world wide web was in its early stages,
there wasn’t any googling when you needed an answer …
and mobile working involved a dial up connection – connecting for short periods, so as not to stop anyone calling out or ringing you on the landline. Those were the days! Looking at the technology advances that we have seen over the last two decades, it’s hard not to see how this has been fundamental in the evolution of how we live our lives today. However, what remains constant – and is often forgotten in the excitement of all the shiny new toys – is that it is not so much about the technology as it is about the solutions. The value to our lives has come from the solutions that the technology has allowed us to provide. It’s all too easy to get caught up with the next technology trend and then think how you can embed it into your business. It’s all too easy to lose sight of the business driver for implementing these technology changes. It’s all too easy to lose sight of your customer. If you begin with the idea and the needs of the business, you will always start with what is driving the change … and the reasons why you need to change! These are the most important and are usually the most overlooked when delivering change. Change is complex and needs to be looked at holistically from the lens of people, process, and tools. Tools enable the process, and the process is driven by people. Change is multi-dimensional! If you focus solely on the tools and not on the people, it is almost inevitable that your process will not bring the business outcomes you were looking for. A process isn’t improved by adding technology. If your process doesn’t work today – which is probably your reason for change – technology by itself is not going to make it any better. Customer and User journey mapping is an effective way of laying out what it is your customers and users need and how they can do it best, and there will be different journeys for different customers and different users. Journey Mapping can provide you with your visual insight. Once you have optimised your journeys, you can assess the changes needed across people, processes, and tools. Identifying these will give you the true scope of your business change. It will help to ensure that your Customers and Users are at the heart of your decision making, making your business solution a customer-centric solution and not a technology led solution. Think-Review-Do.
