“Oh, what a beautiful Monday morning! The leaves turn golden and red in the rays of the autumn sun… What shall I do today? Or maybe one could implement an insurance handling system?” – Oh! Wait! It doesn’t work like that! Let me re-say this: “For three months now, I have been hearing employees complaining that the current IT system is old and works slowly. I’ll buy them a new one, oh, this blue one – so pretty, they’ll be happy”- oh no, no, that’s not the way! Another case scenario: “In the last six months, the costs of one department have been increasing constantly, something is not going well there. I will implement a system tomorrow, as the situation will certainly normalize”- if you really think so, you are wrong. If you want tangible results, you better prepare yourself!
Goal
Start with asking yourself a few questions: Why do you want to change your organization? What for? What exactly do you want to achieve? What kind of results do you expect? How are you going to check if you have achieved what you wanted? How much time do you give yourself to get results? To get started, you need to set yourself business goals – long- and short-term ones.
Define your business processes
Determine what business processes take place in your organization, what is their course, and who performs them. You can do it yourself, delegate an employee to this task or hire an external consultant. Each of the solutions has its advantages and disadvantages. For example, someone from outside of your organization will need time to familiarise themselves with how you operate, but their view will be holistic, neutral, free from internal sympathies and dislikes.
Determine what needs to be improved
Indicate which processes you want to support with the IT system
You have a plan of improvement – great! Now is the time to look at these improved processes and indicate which of them (in whole or in part) can be performed with the IT system. Prepare a list of all activities that you want to transfer “to the computer”, prioritize them – indicate what will help you most to come closer to achieving your goal, what is necessary and what you can live without. Determine how much you are willing to pay for the system.
Find a solution
Take a look around in the market, check which solutions are used by your associates and competitors. Send your inquiries to potential suppliers and don’t forget to outline the business context and the goal. Try the available demo versions. Search for a suitable ready solution (product) or order a dedicated project. Here are the key elements which are worth paying attention to: waiting time for the system’s launch, its cost and adaptability. If you have a limited budget, you are pressed for time, and you value the stability of the solution – choose the product. If you have specific requirements and need an individual solution, you can wait, and you do not have limited financial resources – choose a dedicated project.
Agnieszka Kukuła
Agnieszka has started her adventure with business analysis over 10 years ago, supporting organizations in the process of optimization and implementation of IT systems. After a few years, she moved to the other side of the force to join the ranks of solution providers. She participated in projects for such entities as public, business, FMCG, foundry and smart city industries. Currently, fully caught up in the insurance subject, she is supporting VSoft clients. A lover of correct Polish. Recently, keenly interested in the so-called plain language.
