Plan for success
Successful growth does not happen by accident, and firms must plot a deliberate course.
Establishing some form of working party can be effective therefore, and could involve project managers and the relevant subject-matter experts meeting regularly to plan, assess progress and, crucially, identify where things may not have gone to plan and to take remedial action accordingly.
In my experience, it helps not to get too forensic in relation to any mistakes. Simply look at what happened, work out why it happened and decide what needs to change to ensure it does not happen again and then move on.
There are a wide range of software solutions to support project management, some commonly used ones being Power BI and Jira, which help turn insights from across the business into actionable tasks and workflows.
Technology as a whole is an important enabler for any firm’s business needs, goals and desired outcomes. However, firms often look at digital transformation the wrong way round and try to lead with a technology solution, whereas they should in fact be leading with their strategic goals and then sourcing the best tech solutions to fulfil these goals.
Finally, plan ahead to assemble the correct people to support a firm on its growth journey, because recruiting the right talent takes time.
Firms need to identify in advance how many people they need, with which particular skillsets and by when.
This could also mean upskilling existing employees or employing the services of external specialists or consultants, so companies should be pragmatic when assessing what tasks they can cover with their existing capabilities and where they may need to buy in or train up additional expertise.
By employing a bigger company mindset, with careful strategic planning, firms can plot an effective roadmap and ensure their clients can travel comfortably with them on their growth journey.
Sam Murton is chief operating officer at Progeny
