Getting Off On The Right Foot — The Benefits Of The Discovery Process

Businesses evolve, they grow, they restructure. At one point or another, all creative organisations will have to update or upgrade their technology estate, as their existing processes and workflows are found wanting. 

When this time eventually comes, the instinctive strategy is to assess the situation in-house; trying to solo-navigate the ocean of software, systems, platforms or processes that could potentially lead back to the core goals of efficiency and quality.

However, an internal investigation often leads to a narrow focus, with limited line of sight on what could be major omissions or pitfalls. An embedded perspective often means that critical vulnerabilities and opportunities are overlooked. At this key moment of opportunity for the business - and bearing in mind the substantial effort and funding that a tech refresh can demand - a compromised clarity of vision is a significant risk.

There is, however, an alternative; instead of taking an insular approach to the task of rebuilding their estate, organisations can work with an external partner who is able to review their current and future states without the fog of familiarity. Such a review starts to uncover pain points and cross-departmental inefficiencies through in-depth interviews and process shadowing. By interviewing employees from various departments, discovery sessions aim to get a clear idea of workflows, the purpose of processes, elapsed time, roles and parallel vs serial effort. These individuals spend the most time using these systems, so their insights are extremely valuable, and the interview details are often the most enlightening part of the process, both for the partner and for the organisation itself.

This detail then escalates in value once it is combined and thoroughly mapped out, highlighting errors and duplications of effort that are negatively impacting efficiency and providing the conscious or unconscious impetus for the upgrade project. By creating a current state panorama, we can springboard to a holistic software and process solution design, and, thereby, bake success into the restructure from the outset. This is the ‘discovery process’.

IO Integration recommends a discovery for all our new clients and, indeed, for any significant organisational or technological change. Having spent decades working inside creative studios, our team of industry experts is strongly placed to conduct a comprehensive review. We have found this oftentimes uncovers avenues for improvements that were previously hidden under layers of assumption; perhaps what seemed to be a technology issue is in fact a toxic process interaction – or vice versa.

While we may have an initial idea of potential options for a customer as soon as we speak to them, it is only after the discovery process that we can determine the perfect solution. As a product-agnostic provider, our recommendations are based purely on best fit, driving towards repeatable, efficient, quality outputs for our clients.

The discovery process is, in essence, the best way for any creative business to begin its digital transformation. And by working with a trusted partner, you can ensure you’ll can get off on the right foot.