The Think Digitally Blueprint

Over the many years of developing software solutions across numerous industries, we can certainly say we have seen most, if not all, of the challenges that get presented in this line of business.

In this four-part series, we at Think Digitally intend to cover what we consider the best practices for enhancing your business software with a SaaS product that will improve your business not only now but also into the future. It can be challenging to achieve this goal, so this step is the most critical part of the entire process.

So to what am I referring? 

"It is about knowing what you already have and what you already do." 

We have dealt with many companies who do not fully understand how the business operates at a granular level, and we still find this quite surprising. However, once you dig more in-depth, the answer to this phenomenon is quite simple. 

The vast majority of software and systems were put in place in the mid-'90s through the mid-2000s. Staff change over time, and tasks get passed onto the next person who takes over the role, and they follow the same process as before. Why, because it works, and it is more straightforward to pursue something that works than attempting to understand or improve it.

And herein lies the fundamental problem when it comes to replacing software solutions, how do you even know what you are trying to replace? 

"With business software, the detail is everything."

Think Digitally has a solution to this problem. We call it a business blueprint.

Think Digitally will not take on a project without doing a business blueprint. We do this as a fixed price project, so there are no budget surprises. Upon completing this process, you receive a thorough analysis of your current software and business processes to know how your business operates and why these processes operate in the way they do.

Clearly, from a Think Digitally perspective, we would like to use this valuable knowledge to move your business onto steps 2 to 4. However, this document is yours to keep and improve if you decide not to take the next step.

The objective of creating a business blueprint is not for us to make money off it. We believe it is critical that your business and Think Digitally clearly understand your business needs to ensure we can deliver software on time and within budget.

"The business blueprint is critical to achieving a successful outcome!"

Upgrading software can be painful. It forces you and your business to think about existing processes and how to improve them. As a society, we are resistant to change, and this also forms an integral part of the process, which we will cover in the third part of this series.

As part of our business blueprint, we will undertake several workshop sessions to achieve the detail needed. We encourage everyone within your business to have an opportunity to highlight what software (including spreadsheets) they use to perform their jobs. 

We strongly encourage the management team to sit in on these workshop sessions. The sessions are very insightful and provide the foundation for ideas that can improve process efficiency and, ultimately, the business's bottom line.

At the workshops' conclusion, we will draw up a thorough blueprint of your business and the processes. We will verify all the identified business methods with all contributors before presenting the final document to your business.

The business blueprint will enable your business to decide whether to move ahead to the design phase, which we will discuss in our next article. The design phase scopes out the requirements with input from everyone within your business.

In conclusion, if it is time for your business to update your business software, we welcome the opportunity to create your business blueprint.

Roger Graham MACS

Think Digitally (APAC) - www.thinkdigitally.com.au