Non-profit organizations have always operated in challenging environments where mission and donor expectations directly impact the outcome of their work. In a post-pandemic environment, needs are high and competition for charitable giving is even higher. In response, effective and efficient operation is key. The most successful non-profits will recognize this and incorporate a solution into their strategic plan. Some organizations require outside help in this planning. But how do you know you need NGO consulting? Below are 3 reasons an NGO might choose to work with a consultant. Including a preview of future thoughts on how to ensure you’re selecting a consultant that is right for you.

NGO Consultants Provide an Outside Perspective

There are several reasons why a consultant’s outside perspective will benefit an NGO. Their ability to provide a non-partisan, non-political, straightforward view and recommendations is only the start.

Consultants provide value by leveraging their ability to perform business analysis at a variety of levels. Internal staff is often much too close to the process and environment to be able to take a step back. They need to examine the organizational elements from a 30,000-foot level. This is necessary to see the whole picture, as well as what the upstream and downstream impacts are of various processes and experiences. Starting at this level of analysis ensures that the new design and implementation considers these changes’ impact, beyond the micro-level

In addition to the above, consider that part of any strategic planning is the insights gained from discussions with staff. A consultant brings a unique ability to gain these insights in an unbiased and unobstructed manner. Staff is often apprehensive about sharing details with peers or superiors that may adversely affect the culture or generate backlash. A consultant, however, can provide anonymity in these discussions, allowing the true value to arise.

Optimize New Technology and Ditch the Dated

You don’t have to be an expert in Moore’s Law to know how quickly technology can become obsolete or dated. With the doubling of computing power, even technology that is 5 years old will have shortcomings. Some NGOs are operating on technology that is 20 years old, significantly impacting the success of operations.

Over the past decade, we have seen technology move from on-premise to cloud. We have also seen many vendors move from integrations and middleware, solutions to modules, to increasing native technology to provide a complete solution.

These moves impact functional requirements, technical requirements, user experience, cost of hardware and software, and the need for ongoing maintenance. Additionally, organizations that continue to grow and leverage technology operate more efficiently and effectively, maximizing the use of their fundraising dollars. Consultants’ familiarity with the advancements in technology and their experience with vendors gives the NGOs they work with a serious advantage in ensuring proper use of their technology.

Increased Competition Leads to Higher Demand for Dollars

As the economy has experienced significant fluctuations, the need and competition for philanthropic dollars have become more intense. So much so, that even Facebook is targeting faith-based organizations and experiences on their platform as a major area of growth. While I’d like to believe that is out of the goodness of their hearts, I’d imagine they recognize the financial impact as well.

What does this competition mean for organizations? How does our consulting help organizations overcome this competition? The need for an updated strategic vision and a focus on customer experience is amplified. And just as an internal employee may be hesitant to share information with a superior, a customer or donor may feel the same, or may not share productively. Working with a consultant that focuses on strategy and customer experience ensures that information needed to drive this planning is collected in a valuable and unclouded way. Then, this information can be used to drive strategy and success.

Selecting the Right Partner is Crucial to Organizational Success

So you’ve decided your NGO will benefit from a partnership with a consultant. But how do you know you’re selecting the right one? Rather than selecting based on a brand name, you want to be sure that whoever you invite into work with you meshes well with your team, culture, and organization. Stay tuned for part II of this article, as we dive deeper into this topic.

It is important, especially for a mission-based organization, to select a partner with similar values. You want someone who aligns with your mission and culture. This allows you to understand who will be on your project team and the background of the firm. Will they come in and tell you what to do and claim to be the experts on all things? Or will the consulting group be a true PARTNER, working with you collaboratively to create a strategic plan that fits your needs? Consider these things when making a selection and you’ll find the one that is the best fit for your organization.

If you’re looking to learn more or would like to chat more with us about the work we do with non-profits, head over to transforming.com, check out our NGO offering, or contact us to set up some time to chat.

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Digital transformation is a popular phrase not only in business but in the world today. Pushed by customer demand, rapid advances in technology, a proliferation of data availability and value, and the covid-19 pandemic, those looking to survive and thrive in today’s world are focused on becoming more digital. We all know the benefits of digital transformation. But do we know the key elements that will help this transformation be successful and sustainable? At TSI, we value all the elements of transformation (our name is Transforming Solutions after all!) but 3 elements are key to ensuring the success of your transformation efforts.

1. Don’t Forget the Processes
2. Consider the Customer Experience
3. Ensure sustainability with OCM

Don’t Forget the Processes

Digital transformation takes on many forms and brings with it the opportunity for cost reduction, service excellence, and quality improvement. Maximizing the realization of these gains requires more than just installing a new technology and expecting to start living the high life! A failure to examine processes for opportunities to leverage the new technology will likely result in a true “lift and shift” where the organization is operating the same process, just in a new and more expensive technology. The ultimate loss here, in addition to risking the success of the transformation, is a decrease in the ROI for the new technology, effectively wasting the investment.

Well designed future state processes will strengthen the digital transformation by resolving past areas of waste, bottlenecks, and inefficiencies. Handoffs will be clean, workflows will improve speed and effectiveness, and metrics will be collected to drive continuous improvement. The outcome? A future state that maximizes ROI and is truly transformative.

Consider the Customer Experience

Great, so you’ve taken a look at your processes, resolved your pain points, and have a solid picture of how your operation will work post digital transformation. But did you look at these improvements through the lens of those that will stand to benefit or lose the most? That group being customers, both internal and external. Adoption is all but guaranteed if the users help design and understand the new technology as internal and external customers. The interface must be intuitive, easy to use, and provide maximum value to customers. Otherwise, repeat use and repeat business will struggle to grow.

Successfully considering and incorporating Customer Experience ensures all of the hard work to design and implement is fruitful. This successful design will consider and incorporate a robust set of requirements for the transformation. As a result, these provide a comprehensive picture of the need.

Ensure sustainability with OCM

With digital transformation, process improvement, and technology implementation, a failure to consider organizational change management (OCM) and the impact on company culture is very difficult to overcome in the success of the implementation. We often see organizations neglect this consideration or do a ‘light’ version of OCM. Often the outcome is increased implementation cost, lower adoption rates, delays in implementation, and damage to company culture. 

However, utilizing a strong and comprehensive OCM plan instantly improves the chances of success for the digital transformation. For our engagements, this includes a change readiness assessment, clear communication plan, messaging from top down, providing the opportunity for organizational involvement and feedback, evaluation of the ongoing success, and the agility to adjust elements for continued success.

So What Does It All Mean For Digital Transformation?

Digital transformation can mean a lot of different things. Whether it is a modern system implementation (ERP, CRM, SIS), installing a customer portal, automating your operations, boosting supply chain management with technology, or optimizing your digital footprint, there are several elements to consider for success. We’ve touched on 3 key elements here: process, customer experience, and OCM. Others include the organization’s strategic plan, selection of the ideal software partner based on requirements, and implementation management. If you’d like to discuss how any of these may impact your digital transformation, reach out to Transforming Solutions.

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Let’s face it…this year was unexpected and challenging! As TSI turns 26 years old this week, we are taking some time to both celebrate and reflect on our team’s ability to adapt within the past year.

*Join us in celebrating by helping us blow our candles out above!*

How We Adapted this Year

Throughout this past year, we were able to adapt and leverage skills that we have been growing for years. Fortunately, we already had our technology infrastructure in place to allow us to be remote at a moment’s notice. So, we leveraged apps like Zoom, Slack, Google Drive, and Teams – but like many others, we had to move past simply using the tools; we had to become more proficient and creative with each so we can serve our clients and make progress in the areas of people, process, and technology!

Last year, as our Founder, Dan Feely was reflecting on our 25th anniversary, he noted the need to focus on challenges our clients were encountering:

After working at one of the largest consulting firms in the world, and two mid-sized firms, I felt that there was an unmet need to serve clients differently. I wanted to focus on the challenges they encountered as they were striving to grow, adapt and transform.

Dan Feely, Founder of TSI

Although our 26th year presents unique hurdles, it is these challenges that propel us forward. Through a willingness to adapt and serve our clients differently, we were able to focus on that growth, adaptation, and transformation alongside a variety of organizations throughout this past year.

Thank You!

To our clients and friends, we would like to offer a heartfelt thank you. Your partnership with us has made all the difference in the world. Our mission is to serve you through being an outside thought leader, facilitator, project manager, change agent, and catalyst. As we look ahead, we look forward to continuing to help you and others to transform for years to come!

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With the end of the first calendar quarter approaching quickly and the relevance of looking back, I was recently reflecting on what similarities and differences there were compared to last year and years past in terms of the type of project I was engaged in. One thing that struck me as relevant during my reflection was the presence of certain trends in change management, including topics in organization and service. Further, in researching a bit on the topic, I came across this article from our managing partner, Dan Feely, written 10 years ago! And while the projects have changed, I feel the top 5 trends in change management are still very much present.

In his article, Dan presents the following trends as the top 5 of change management, with some supporting insight into the experience he has had with these trends:

1. Rapid, Process, and Quality Improvement Events
2. Need for More Performance from Technology (Results Relative to Cost)
3. Developing a Shared Services Model
4. Driving Customer Service and Service Excellence
5. Training

Below, I’d like to share some of my thoughts and insights on how these change management trends are still relevant and top of the list of things we are seeing 10 years later, in 2021.

#1 Rapid, Process, and Quality Improvement Events

Over the course of my first few years in consulting, I became accustomed to long engagements of 6-12 months, or longer. We often performed deep dives into change management and processes, mapping and analyzing over 350 processes for one client alone! While we still have these types of engagements, it seems we are seeing more organizations interested in sprints. This may mean tackling one functional area or more high level processes to see where efficiency can be gained including reducing hand-offs, removing manual entry and review, and adding more automated workflows and approvals.

Regardless of the direction an organization wants to go with their project, we can tailor our service offering to fit their needs and ensure maximum value for their investment with TSI.

#2 Need for More Performance from Technology (Results Relative to Cost)

In 2011 we asked our constituents to consider “do you know your organization’s total spend on technology?” This cost consideration included licenses, security, maintenance, data centers, staff, ongoing support, consulting fees, and the cost of upgrades. 2021 is no different, with additional focus on the sharp movement to the cloud over the last 10 years. The fact of this matter is simple – technology is expensive and the costs arise in a variety of different areas. It is not simply the subscription cost.

Chances are your organization is considering or has recently completed an IT assessment or technology improvement. Many organizations are finding this increasingly necessary due to the sunsetting of legacy systems and the aforementioned move to cloud-based solution. Often, they discover many disparate or redundant systems that have been accumulated over the years. Examining your IT inventory and infrastructure for redundancy, the cost of managing this technology, and where you may see an advantage in right sizing can save you millions.

#3 Develop a Shared Services Model

With the growth of cloud-based solutions and a common focus to reduce redundancy, the shared services model continues to be a popular trend in change management. Just as we have highlighted for several years, the advantages of the shared services model are not just cost savings from reduced redundancy, but also improved operational efficiency by removing information silos. Ultimately, the design of these shared services organizations should take on a focus that leads the organization to being more customer centric and value add focused.

#4 Driving Customer Service and Service Excellence

We’ve seen elements of various trends showing up in the qualities and benefits of the others. Perhaps no more so than the overall improvement of customer service. So much of an organization’s strategic planning, especially in times where competition and information are at an all-time high, is based on service excellence. Additionally, this commitment to service may be the differentiator in shaping customer decision-making. Along these lines, Voice of the Customer is central in many of our projects, even those not specifically devoted to this effort, making the foundation of the project stronger and the results more impactful for the growth of the business.

#5 Training

As we pointed out in our original article, as budgets get tighter training is often one of the first items to be eliminated. However, more pointed training programs may be well worth their investment and pay dividends in the future. We specifically have recently engaged in some large-scale business process improvement training and other change management processes. This program has the benefit of quickly completing valuable improvement of several process and training resources within your organization with skills to keep the improvement efforts going well into the future.

Bottom Line

Just as in 2011, there is a robust market of talent available. However, we recognize that there is also a valuable opportunity to improve the organization by joining one or more of the trends mentioned above.

To share a quote from 10 years ago that withstands the test of time – “investing in self-improvement initiatives, these organizations will create an efficient, cost-effective organization that will thrive in any market.”

If these self-improvement initiatives generate a spark and you would like to learn more, feel free to contact us.

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2020 showed us that those organizations that have not properly addressed their technology and digital infrastructure paid a significantly larger price when the pandemic hit than those that did invest and successfully shore up their infrastructure.  But we can’t stop there.  In 2021, organizations of all sizes and industries need to continue to rethink how they execute their business strategy in this age of digital transformation.  This should start with how an organization delivers products and services to how it interacts with its customers to how it keeps its customers engaged with the context of key scenarios that may be likely in the months ahead.

Organizations cannot simply claim to be digitally transformed simply by adopting new technologies or business applications. Technology is only a channel, the true value lies in leveraging it to empower ones’ workforce by streamlining processes and increasing visibility for informed decision making. Just as how social media is a channel in which there are various aspects which determine the growth of a channels subscription or views on a video in the same way but in a broader sense technology gives us the liberty to grow our organization but we must know how to aptly use it for us to make the best use of it.

IoT, Big Data, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Cloud, Social Media integration and Mobile are few of the many capabilities organizations today are pursuing in a digitized ecosystem. Simply stated, these capabilities can be achieved via implementing extensions and point solutions on top of traditional Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems or it may require a more extensive and encompassing change.

Executives today have a wide variety of enterprise applications to choose from, often putting them at risk of making wrong choices in a time-sensitive environment. New entrants, who are looking for enterprise applications for the first time can easily fall into the trap of building an application portfolio that is a conglomeration of best-of-breed applications, or picking an all-in-one ERP solution. Incumbents often get overwhelmed by choices they have to make in terms of moving to the cloud or staying on-premise, and how they can upgrade their existing technology stack to meet digital transformation initiatives.

In a near real-time decision making setup of technology landscaping projects, the default starting point tends to be magic quadrants or other research articles that provide analysis of the top players in a particular industry or functional area. Decision makers fail to pay attention to the obvious basis of these research artifacts; though the information provided is authentic to a degree, the criteria for evaluation are generic. The majority of these research artifacts evaluate software based on generic criteria such as – vendor’s customer base, geographical spread, new customer acquisition, common industry business processes to name a few.

Organizations blindly following these research articles as their Bible, fail to realize that a generic evaluation is not sufficient to substantiate a software’s fit to their organization. Technology solutions should supplement or complement ones’ business objectives. Just by choosing a prominent solution, one cannot claim to be prepared for thriving in a digitized ecosystem.

To avoid common pitfalls, organizations should establish a framework for their technology landscape that is driven by their “business strategy” as well as their technology strategy. This becomes mission critical when one thinks of the speed of technological change in any given industry. Frameworks would help executives establish a methodology to frequently evaluate their organization’s technology landscape against business objectives. Hence, allowing organizations to keep up with technologies driving transformation without losing sight of its relevance to business strategies.

TSI’s consultants bring experience from helping our clients evaluate or reevaluate and redesign their technology roadmaps. With deep understanding of client’s industry, technology trends and business goals, we can help you –

• Carefully think through and clarify your business strategy – in 2021 – what is YOUR unfair advantage?
• Think through important scenarios that may be forthcoming and consider the “impact analysis”
• Outline a relevant, scalable and business strategy driven technology landscape
• Plan a thoughtful and pragmatic implementation based on what your organization can and should take on
• Design and foster a culture that would allow you to adapt to digital transformation capabilities

Contact TSI to discuss your digital transformation strategies or if you need assistance in strategizing one.

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A few of TSI’s favorite Harvard Business Review articles come to us from over the years, focused on a number of organizational topics, from transformational leadership to machine intelligence; even how to talk to your boss about the possibility of working from home. The following list is comprised of seven intriguing articles we’ve found recently, that are still trending today. Below each link is an interesting highlight from the article’s content. 

Check out our favorite Harvard Business Review (HBR) articles below (they are listed in no particular order), and let us know your thoughts! 

What the Best Transformational Leaders Do, by Scott Anthony and Evan I. Schwartz

Quite possibly the most critical of which are the tendency to “Develop a Road Map Before Disruption Takes Hold”, and the ability to “Communicate Powerful Narratives About the Future”. (Anthony & Schwartz, 2017)

The Most Important Leadership Competencies, According to Leaders Around the World, by Sunny Giles

When the top 10 leadership competencies were grouped into 5 themes, the most common theme was noted to involve strong ethics & safety within the organization: “This theme combines two of the three most highly rated attributes: “high ethical and moral standards” (67% selected it as one of the most important) and “communicating clear expectations” (56%).” (Giles, 2016)

The Simple Economics of Machine Intelligence, by Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, and Avi Goldfarb

Disruption in the way of machine intelligence proves the ever-changing dynamic of business process and automation: “As machine intelligence improves, the value of human prediction skills will decrease because machine prediction will provide a cheaper and better substitute for human prediction, just as machines did for arithmetic.” (Agrawal, et al., 2016)

Four Tips for Better Strategic Planning, by Ron Ashkenas

Ashkenas details four key steps to follow in order to improve your organization’s strategic planning capabilities, as well as execution, as follows:

1. Insist on experiments to test the assumptions you’ve made
2. Banish fuzzy language
3. Escape from template tyranny
4. Ask provocative questions (Ashkenas, 2013)

A Healthier Approach to Business Travel, by Peter Bregman

“Although business travel can be exciting and even fun, it is a surprisingly profound stressor on the body, mind, emotions, and spirit.” (Bergman, 2015)

The Truth About Customer Experience, by Alex Rawson, Ewan Duncan, and Conor Jones

Customer experience can often be overlooked due to the multitude of tasks and projects underway, but the authors describe the overall benefits of effectively managing your customer experience by stating: “In our research and consulting on customer journeys, we’ve found that organizations able to skillfully manage the entire experience reap enormous rewards: enhanced customer satisfaction, reduced churn, increased revenue, and greater employee satisfaction. They also discover more-effective ways to collaborate across functions and levels, a process that delivers gains throughout the company.” (Rawson, et al., 2013)

How to Convince Your Boss to Let You Work from Home, by Rebecca Knight

Knight’s list of “Do’s” when attempting to convince your boss to let you work from home:

• “Be honest with yourself about your motivations for wanting to work from home
• Make your case with empirical evidence. It’s hard to argue with someone who is reasonable and prepared
• Experiment with a three- or six-month test run, after which you and your boss discuss what went well and what needs fine-tuning” (Knight, 2017)

TSI’s Resource Library:

TSI also has a comprehensive resource library, comprised of Blogs, Case Studies, and White Papers. See our expert team’s thoughts on various industry trends and other important content related to technology strategy, process improvement, organizational change management, business transformation, management consulting, and much more here.

The post TSI’s Favorite Harvard Business Review (HBR) Articles: May, 2017 appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..

Unsubstantiated quote attributed to

Charles Duell, Commissioner of the U.S. Patent Office, 1899

Having spent some time in the Intellectual Property arena, the above fictional quote attributed to Charles Duell, the patent office commissioner at the turn of the 19^th century, is one of my favorites. I like it in part because my maternal grandparents were both born in 1898. Looking back over their lives, they witnessed mind-boggling technical advances such as the automobile, airplane, landing of a man on the moon and disposable diapers (I’ll never forget my grandmother’s dismay when she first saw me change one). I wonder what they would have thought of smartphones, the cloud, 3D printing, gene therapy and the multitude of other innovations that have emerged after their lives.

We live in fascinating times, where the pace of change and innovation never slows down and continues to accelerate and disrupt our world in ways we couldn’t imagine a short decade ago. It is only fitting as 2016 comes to an end, that I share my Top 3 Future Technology Disrupters. There are dozens to choose from and I’m interested in hearing from many of you about your favorites.

Here goes…

1. Self-Driving or Autonomous Vehicles

In the 1900’s we removed the horse from the equation and a little over a hundred years later we are ready to remove the human driver.  The potential for autonomous vehicles to drive major transformation on many fronts is enormous. Thinking back to my time in the Property and Casualty sector, I can only assume traditional auto insurance executives, repair shop owners and parts manufacturers are quaking in their boots. How will policies be rated and priced? Will premium levels sustain the current level of insurance company overhead (hint, no)? Who will be held liable and responsible in a driverless accident? Ok, Stephen Babcock Partners personal injury lawyer is here, but what about all the rest? How will bodily injury attorneys replace lots of lost billable hours? How much will demand for auto parts decline when accidents decrease? How will health care costs be impacted? Get ready for some unexpected major consequences across this massive sector of our economy, including potentially millions of lives being saved and injuries avoided.

2. Amazon Go 

No, I do not own Amazon stock but perhaps I should have bought some a while ago. I couldn’t help but be fascinated by their vision of the retailer of the future outlined in a recent article. The concept – you walk into a grocery store (or any business), pick the items you want, and walk out the front door without waiting in line for a cashier to scan and bag your items – would have seemed like grand larceny just a few months ago. But Amazon has harnessed technology to make it happen. Not only is the consumer convenience play a huge one, but the impact on a major job category is monstrous. There are millions of cashiers and grocery baggers whose jobs are going to the place where travel agents, typists and many other obsolete careers have gone to eternal rest. I wonder if my self-driving car or drone (honorable mention – probably number 4 on my list) will be picking up my groceries? Undoubtedly drones for sale have increased over the years and the advancement of them makes me wonder how very soon tasks which seemed impossible or required a lot of wastage of funds can be simply done with the help of a drone in the near future. How can you leverage self-service and similar capabilities in your business?

3. Robotics

Here I go dating myself again, but an early favorite robot of mine was “Robot” in the 1960’s TV show Lost in Space.  Today’s robots are not your grandparents’ or parents’ robots. At the industrial level, from warehouse order picking and services listed on Industrial Auction Hub website, to assembly line manufacturing, millions of jobs will continue to be automated out of existence. At the human level, relationships and personal interactions look likely to change in ways that would have made my grandmother blush. Combined with advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning, the IOT, big data analytics and other technology, this whole arena poses some big threats to our traditional notion of employable skills while presenting significant potential for improvements in our daily lives. What are your competitors doing to leverage robotics and related technologies? Stay tuned, lots of interesting change is coming here. I can hear “Robot” warning “Danger, Will Robinson.”

That’s my list. What’s on yours? At TSI, we advise our clients on how to foster innovation and effectively utilize technology to drive major performance improvement. Read more about TSI here.

Contact TSI to learn more about how TSI can help your organization stay ahead of technology in the face of major disruption.

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