Why Organizations Benefit from an Engaging an Outsider Early

When an organization embarks on a digital transformation initiative, they almost always engage outside expertise, although most wait until the selection or implementation of systems, which is the last level when designing in the digital transformation hierarchy.

While the internal stakeholders have deep knowledge of their organization and the industry, the outsider has a few standout benefits:

1. We see inefficiencies to improve that are often overlooked by internal teams that are accustomed to how they're already operating
2. We recognize patterns across industries that can be applied to achieve the same outcome with innovative approaches
3. We maintain independence from politics that influence how internal stakeholders jockey for resources and recognition

By introducing this expertise later in the initiative, it increases the risk associated with the program not realizing advantages and efficiencies that come from tailoring and streamlining the business processes based on the strategy.

Most organizations fall into this trap because:

• They assume that outsiders cannot learn their business without having experienced it as an insider
• They don't know how a new system should be configured or built and identify that as the challenging part of their initiative
• They are concerned about spending their program budget on areas that have less tangible outputs like discussions and documentation

However, let's look at where those logically fall apart:

• Outsiders see more business challenges than anyone else due to the nature of their work, which means we have more opportunities, and thus more experience doing it
• Systems work is largely commoditized (and will continue to be with the rise of generative AI), so outsiders can advise, instead of do, the implementation
• Solid business process design reduces complexity, which has an impact on the set of systems and customizations needed, thus reducing total cost

Practically all of my clients are able to maintain and incrementally improve their systems, and your organization is likely no different. The key is ensuring your strategy and business processes are solid from the start.

TLDR: Don't wait until system selection to engage an outsider. Bring us in early to shape strategy and business process design.