What is Digital & App Innovation and why does it matter?
We are proud to launch Digital & App Innovation services, to complement our existing portfolio – Future Workplace, Cloud Adoption and Network Transformation.
This article explains what Digital & App Innovation is and why it is relevant for today’s organisations.
Every organisation has processes and workflows in place, some more effective than others, to get things done. With the right use of modern workplace applications, businesses can add a level of automation to otherwise manual processes. Yet, it is rare to find an organisation that has effectively integrated each application into one cohesive system that provides a holistic view of the data flow across the business.
Consolidating the application ecosystem, the Digital & App Innovation practice aims to eliminate data silos and information gaps between applications, while delivering fit-for-purpose systems that optimise everyday processes.
How businesses can use digitisation
Digitisation means finding digital ways to automate manual and repetitive tasks with a goal to improve efficiencies and save employee, and customer, time. It is a process that can be applied to all industries and fields of work. Think of the last time you visited a GP practice, were you able to book the appointment online? Perhaps you could login into an online patient portal to access your appointment details, medical records and even message the care provider without having to make a call or send an email.
Let’s look at a typical visitor management journey to understand the differences between manual and automated workflows. When a visitor walks into a building, a receptionist typically hands over several pre-printed forms to populate and sign, asks to scan the visitor’s ID for a security check and so on – a manual process that takes a chunk of visitor and employee time.
If using a web-based visitor management application most of the manual tasks can be automated. Such workflow can look something like this: a visit is logged into the system which automatically triggers an email to be sent to the visitor with a link to upload their ID, review and accept required forms digitally, and insert other information such as car registration number, prior to their visit. That information is then passed to the building security vetting team who can approve the visitor and automatically pre-print a visitor pass. When the visitor arrives on the day, they only need to sign up in the lobby using a digital device to receive the pre-printed pass. Voilà!
Which journey do you think is more efficient for the business and visitor?
Digital & App Innovation step by step
Process Mapping
It is good to keep in mind “quality over quantity” before introducing new stand-alone applications to the existing digital ecosystem. On some occasions the desired functionality already exists, but it is not yet enabled or configured correctly. That is why we recommend performing a Process Mapping exercise as part of the Digital & App Innovation practice.
During Process Mapping engagement, specialist consultants at Forge Technologies meet with the key stakeholders to discuss business challenges and areas of improvement. The exercise reveals how information flows within the organisation, what systems and features support the flow, and what manual tasks are part of the workflow.
From there, we create digital process maps that help decide whether to 1) integrate existing systems so they can speak to each other digitally, or 2) build an application that meets the new requirements.
App Development
Let’s imagine your goal is to improve the visitor management journey. You may have a number of related systems already – security management, IT service management, CRM system – but none of them have a visitor management module within them. So, you are left with two options; buy off-the-shelf software or build a new application.
The biggest perk of developing a custom application is that it will have exactly the features you need. Yes, it may take a month or two to design, but you are left with purpose-built software that ticks all the boxes and talks with other systems you have in place.
But why spend time on customising a solution when the market has countless off-the-shelf software available for immediate use? Many off-the-shelf software offer a level of automation and integrations, making them a desirable option if you are looking for a quick solution. But setting up the application correctly to make the most of the functionality and integrating it with the rest of your app ecosystem requires time and, most likely, a developer.
So why not take the App Development route instead? Thanks to Microsoft Power Platform organisations of all sizes have an opportunity to quickly build low-code, custom applications and automate workflows.
App Integration
A potential downfall to look out for is the integration between applications. Manually moving data between applications is not a good use of anyone’s time, and sooner or later some level of integration is needed. Building manual point-to-point integrations may seem like an easy way to connect multiple overlapping systems but, over time, they become challenging to manage. This can cause data silos that slow down business processes and information flow within the organisation.
Through the App Integration process, Forge Technologies team builds an integration that sits in the middle and moves data effectively between applications across the entire organisation. Rather than storing data within individual systems, we use a common data environment for better visibility through the data lifecycle.
Your colleagues will thank you, and so will your customers
Digital App & Innovation offers multiple benefits for all organisations who care about employee and customer experience. Which, we hope, every organisation does.
Enhanced Data Analytics
Intelligent App Integration between systems means data and information moves easier within the business. Instead of having data hidden behind disparate applications (or worse, on paper!), it is a breeze to draw collective insights from one consolidated system.
Improved Employee Experience
Using automation to remove manual, repetitive tasks empower employees to focus on more valuable tasks. As a result, employee satisfaction is likely to skyrocket because, let’s be honest, who enjoys performing the same mundane tasks day after day?
The Bottom Line
From an employer standpoint, allocating employee hours smarter has an obvious impact on the bottom line. And we are not talking about just the time spent on printer queues. For example, how many hours your customer service agents spend handling simple customer requests? Through self-service portals customers can manage services, find information, and resolve issues independently – allowing your agents to focus on more complex requests.
Hassle-free Customer Experience
Best of all, when digitisation is done right, you provide a better experience for your customers too. Gone are the days when customers had the patience or equipment to print and scan documents at home or wait in the call queue to get answers to the simplest enquiries. Offering your customers access to online booking management, patient and customer portals, paperless invoicing, and using automation to improve communication are just a few ways to use digitisation for effortless customer experience.
Talk to us today to start your Digital & App Innovation journey. The team at Forge Technologies have the expertise and skill set to build custom applications, rapidly prototype them and roll them out at speed across your organisation. Based on user feedback, we adjust the applications and add new features very quickly to ensure your digital ecosystem is always running as effectively as possible.
