A previous blog post outlined why IT teams need to make a shift in consciousness from supporting projects to supporting business outcomes. But how should we think about outcomes? How can IT teams and the companies develop a deeper understanding of ROI and its specific implications for their business? Here, we’ll explore these questions including why adopting new technologies as a strategy is ineffective and how to build a sophisticated relationship using metrics and outcomes that align your business unique identify and goals.
Don’t lose the plot
First, it should be clear: IT teams have done tremendous work in evolving longstanding habits of logistics companies and making them more tech-enabled. For example, industry-wide uptake on transportation management systems has brought massive value to logistics companies, and there are ongoing interventions that promise to make the supply chain even more digitally friendly.
But, if you’re on an IT team, and you’re worried about tech adoption, you’ve already lost the plot. Where IT interventions have stuck, they’ve done so not because they were exciting or interesting projects for IT teams, but rather because they were useful and (crucially) understandable to workaday employees or customers. Thinking based on outcomes rather than projects means that we no longer worry about widespread adoption or compliance with a new technology, because our employees see the value in the technology and take it up for themselves.
Rethinking outcomes
What do outcomes really look like? And how does people-centered technology help make that reorientation?
This question will have a different answer depending on the type of company responding. But one general word of warning: Companies should avoid the easy trap of an overly mechanistic take on outcomes. To make a successful shift to people-centered, outcomes-based technology, companies should ensure that, whatever IT solutions they leverage, they have clearly defined sets of metrics that are simultaneously precise enough to track while also expansive enough to capture the full spectrum of what value means to a modern company. This doesn’t only pertain to micro-interventions that improve immediate employee well-being and customer satisfaction — but also to broader points of sustainability and other ESG concerns, which impact both in the long run.
From corporate oversight to trusted advisor
Odyssey’s efforts to empower logistics with better technology has involved not just a set of discrete technological interventions, but rather, a whole change in thinking that re-anchors tech to the core business. This hasn’t always been easy. Making the kind of shift described above amounts to a serious shift in culture. And as such, it will take time. But in doing so, IT teams may not only find that their companies are doing better, but they may also observe a surprising evolution in how they’re perceived: from obscure and cryptic residents of an ivory tower to valuable strategic advisors and business partners. Which would you rather be?
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