Adapting to Changing Client Needs in a Dynamic Business Environment
Liberty Advisor Group, like many professional services companies, has seen a significant shift in how it engages with clients. Over time, we’ve learned that co-location with colleagues on-site isn’t always necessary to perform our jobs effectively. Teams and entire workforces can excel, even when distributed, as we’ve demonstrated repeatedly.
Recently, Liberty guided a large and complex manufacturer through selecting a critical enterprise software solution with significant enterprise implications. This project, like many today, was executed entirely without the need for physical presence. Throughout this unique period, we’ve shown our clients that we have the resolve and capability to adapt to their needs while continuing to deliver value.
Requirements: Discovery and Information Analysis
We adapted our software selection methodology to ensure we could provide valuable outcomes for our client, even without traditional in-person interactions. Our project launch relied on client-provided documents, internet research, and preliminary discussions with various stakeholders. We placed particular emphasis on the requirements and information discovery phase, ensuring we captured all necessary details.
During this phase, we discovered that our client was more complex than initially perceived. While we knew the company spanned multiple countries and locations with a disjointed enterprise IT landscape, the multi-process nature of its environment became evident only through detailed discovery. This understanding would have been clearer with an on-site tour.
Another key challenge was securing participation and insights from all stakeholders, given the lack of in-person collaboration. Despite this, our client embraced an effective approach, which mitigated some typical pain points. We carefully documented every meeting, recorded demonstrations of current state software systems, and thoroughly detailed our information requests. This extensive discovery session allowed us to understand the existing software landscape and capture current and future business requirements, informing key documentation sent to software vendors and providing our client with polished materials for future reference.
Our unique project team model allowed multiple work tracks within the project to proceed simultaneously, minimizing the project’s overall length and cost. Concurrently, we engaged software vendors on our client’s behalf, ensuring legal agreements were in place and providing updates on progress toward selection milestones. This flexibility was crucial in gathering detailed software requirements and business benefits, as well as analyzing our client’s important information and business processes.
Client/Vendor Management and Software Selection
In addition to documenting our client’s existing technical landscape and business requirements, we provided significant value by managing all aspects of its internal selection committee. This included creation, communications, activity guidance, document reviews, vendor scoring, and feedback. On behalf of our client, we also managed all vendor-related project activities, communications, and demonstrations. This comprehensive management ensured that the decision-making process was well-informed and protected valuable client time, allowing a focus on other initiatives throughout the software selection engagement.
As the selection process neared its conclusion, we facilitated the client’s internal selection committee deliberation and recommendation for the new enterprise software. Simultaneously, we independently analyzed vendor proposals, commercials, and demonstrations to deliver an objective, evidence-based recommendation to the client’s executive team. This concluded a successful project launch and completion within two months.
Advantages and Recommendations
Running a fully digital software selection process has become the norm in today’s business environment. Liberty has embraced this transformation, continuing to deliver value despite the challenges of a purely virtual approach. As with in-person engagements, there are advantages and challenges to consider for digital software selection. Here are some of the benefits and recommendations on mitigating challenges:
Advantages of the Digital Model:
- Allows flexible, on-demand access to subject matter experts (SMEs) throughout the selection process, offering better value without added on-site expenses.
- Provides better access to clients with operations in multiple countries, locations, and divisions, simplifying collaboration and reducing unnecessary travel.
- Enables the efficient restart of delayed projects, providing forward momentum and meaningful value as companies emerge stronger from the pandemic.
- Reduces client time commitments and project management burdens due to Liberty’s expertise in managing business and project complexity in a virtual environment.
- Minimizes risk and exposure due to variations in local, state, federal, and international guidelines for executing projects in person.
Recommendations to Mitigate Challenges:
- “A picture paints a thousand words,” and seeing the client’s business complexity, processes, and challenges in real-time is invaluable. Recording as many discovery sessions as possible, including software demonstrations and business process discussions, ensures no critical detail is lost during the discovery phase.
- In today’s environment, with calendars full of virtual meetings, it’s crucial to reserve time early in the project for meetings, status updates, and demonstrations. Clear communication with clients about key milestones or meeting-heavy weeks sets expectations and helps eliminate potential conflicts with other initiatives. Emphasizing clear agendas and defined materials for each meeting ensures efficient use of time.
- Immersing oneself in the client’s company culture, particularly in companies that have grown via acquisition, remains essential. While recognizing non-tangible challenges can be difficult through digital interactions, personalizing conversations with video and building connections with clients encourages candid discussions and lively interactions. This approach helps build trust and overcomes the limitations of not being physically present.
As the business environment continues to evolve, Liberty is excited to partner with our clients in reimagining and discovering innovative ways of doing business and delivering results. Despite the challenges inherent in digital projects, Liberty remains committed to working closely with our clients to address their needs and find valuable solutions. The advantages of digital engagement far outweigh the challenges, providing flexibility in a time of unprecedented uncertainty. Liberty will continue to help our clients emerge stronger, whether working virtually or in person.
About Liberty Advisor Group
Liberty Advisor Group is a goal-oriented, client-focused, and results-driven consulting firm. We are a lean, handpicked team of strategists, technologists, and entrepreneurs – battle-tested experts with a steadfast, start-up attitude. We collaborate, integrate, and ideate in real-time with our clients to deliver situation-specific solutions that work. Liberty Advisor Group has the experience to realize our clients’ highest ambitions. Liberty has been named as Great Place to Work.
