{"id":29254,"date":"2019-10-01T15:52:35","date_gmt":"2019-10-01T14:52:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/?p=29254"},"modified":"2019-10-04T11:10:23","modified_gmt":"2019-10-04T10:10:23","slug":"four-ways-to-ensure-your-it-integration-delivers-business-value","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/2019\/10\/01\/four-ways-to-ensure-your-it-integration-delivers-business-value\/","title":{"rendered":"Four ways to ensure your IT integration delivers business value"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With so much hype surrounding new technology such as Big Data, Cloud Computing and AI, it is easy to miss the point of integrating them into your business operations, enhancing the performance of employees, and ultimately the business. Jan K\u00fchn, Director at INOVO, offers four steps to translate integration into enhanced business performance.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contact centre environments, for example, there is great\ninterest in moving to cloud or hosted IT infrastructure, as well as other\ninnovative new technologies to boost efficiencies and to deliver a better\ncustomer experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, however, during the process of integrating new\nsolutions and applications into existing contact centre processes, many\nbusinesses fail to make a smooth and ultimately successful transition.\nArguably, this is because the focus during integration is placed on the new\ntechnology, instead of placing the emphasis on the unique needs of the business\nand its employees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result? In most instances, such an approach will make little\nto no difference to the existing customer experience or business processes,\nleaving decision-makers in a situation whereby they question the wisdom of\ninvesting in the new technology. A dismal outcome and one which is sadly all\ntoo common in an era in which technology is sold as an \u2018easy fix\u2019 for sluggish\nbusiness performance.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet by embracing a few key principles or \u2018rules\u2019 so to speak, businesses can work with technology partners to ensure that every new IT integration is a success \u2013 and delivers the all-important ROI. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Jan K\u00fchn, Director at INOVO<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Here are four steps to translate integration into enhanced\nbusiness performance: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clarify your intent or vision<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For any process of change or improvement to work, the business\nleaders and managers must have a clear idea of what it is they are trying to\nachieve. Within contact centres, there is often an impulse to integrate new\ntechnology without truly understanding why or how the new technology will\ndeliver value. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first step is therefore to identify the current challenges or\nweaknesses within the contact centre environment and develop a vision of what\nthe end result of integration and introducing new technology will look like. It\nis important to emphasise that there is no single technology that can deliver\neverything that is needed to transform the business processes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, by working with a trusted partner, businesses should identify technology that can improve upon and support specific areas within existing business processes. That is why it is imperative to understand the intent or the vision behind any integration, and then build the \u2018ideal\u2019 process from the ground up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Identify your champions of change<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next step is to identify the \u2018champions\u2019 or leaders within every department and rally these individuals to become your champions of change. Invite these leaders or influencers to share what they believe are the company\u2019s major challenges or weak points and ask them to be part of a core team that will facilitate and drive the integration process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These champions of change will become an integral part of the deployment team. Ideally, they will not only provide great insight into existing challenges but will also become crucial allies if they understand and support your integration vision. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trust the process <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For any integration to work, leaders have to let go of the way things once were. This is always a lot harder than it sounds. Yet new technology is often designed to automate many laborious and time-consuming processes, and in this way drive efficiencies and free up important human resources. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is often resistance to change (and to the introduction of unfamiliar systems and tools), but this resistance has to be overcome in order to realise the benefits of integration. So, if you are working with the right technology partner or consultant in a transparent and thoughtful way, your task is to trust the process and allow the transformation to take place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Empower your people <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every business is only as good as its people, which means that\neducating and empowering your employees during integration is a must. Often,\nthis requires providing specialised training on the use of new apps, tools and\nplatforms, as well as continuously garnering the feedback of employees during\nthe rollout. If any staff issues or challenges are ignored or overlooked, it\ncan severely hamper successful integration and nullify the benefits of the new\ntechnology and systems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To\ncome back full circle to our first point, this is where vision again becomes\nkey – always communicate your vision to employees, and clearly demonstrate the\nvalue of integration and how it will enrich and enhance their work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With so much hype surrounding new technology such as Big Data, Cloud Computing and AI, it is easy to miss the point of integrating them into your business operations, enhancing the performance of employees, and ultimately the business. Jan K\u00fchn, Director at INOVO, offers four steps to translate integration into enhanced business performance. In contact […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":29255,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4950,6,399,10675,262],"tags":[116,294,11253,1074,11252,1470],"class_list":["post-29254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis","category-insights","category-more-news","category-thought-leadership","category-used","tag-big-data","tag-cloud-computing","tag-inovo","tag-it-infrastructure","tag-jan-kuhn","tag-roi"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29254"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29324,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29254\/revisions\/29324"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}