Challenge
Sometimes, it’s hard for companies to understand what’s wrong.
Hidden problems can slow companies down and block tech transformation. It’s often hard to know what to solve first. One Fortune 100 manufacturer knew that it needed help identifying issues, especially in procurement and human resources. “The company is really hundreds of small companies brought together. So, they had duplicate processes everywhere — and they knew this — but they simply couldn’t find all of them,” explained Grant Thornton Growth Business Development Executive Patty Bogosh. “A lot of times, employees have ideas that can fix problems that are unseen by leaders.” But those employees often don’t have the time or power to speak up — so those problems, and their solutions, stay hidden.
The company needed to tap into employee knowledge that would help prioritize problems and identify tech solutions.
Solution
The Grant Thornton team told the company about alyx™ — a platform for collecting problems, tracking and prioritizing them, and connecting them with the right solutions. alyx lets people within an organization easily submit problems without interrupting their work, then it shows leaders a dashboard of the submissions with the projected ROI of the solutions. “It was really intriguing to them, not only to get their team’s feedback in real time but also to understand the ROI and complexity of the solution,” Bogosh said. Grant Thornton Advisory Services Partner Tony Dinola said, “It disrupts the traditional IT model and really puts the power of solutioning and capturing value in the hands of the business.”
The team deployed alyx in procurement and human resources to collect employee input and refine it into a clearer view of which solutions would yield the best returns.
How we clarified tech: GT used alyx to gather problems at all levels, estimating ROI and priorities
Results
The company’s procurement and human resource functions presented unique problems to alyx — and achieved unique results.
Procurement was undergoing a multi-year technology implementation, but employees needed a tool to capture small tactical issues that required quick solutions. “We captured challenges like where one person has to duplicate work in three or four different systems,” Dinola said. alyx helped identify and prioritize these issues efficiently, so the company could determine what to solve right away.
“The HR side was kind of the opposite,” Dinola observed. Employees submitted individual problems to alyx, and they sought individual solutions. But the company had recently implemented Workday. When alyx helped leaders view the problems collectively, it became clear that the business needs could be met with existing technology. “It’s not that they needed more technology. They needed to figure out how to use existing technology more effectively,” Dinola said.
The alyx solution provided the tool to gather and prioritize employee insights, while the Grant Thornton team provided perspective on technology and business transformation, Now, the company has clarity about its most important problems and the most efficient solutions.
Sound advice
Business Development Executive Patty Bogosh and Advisory Services Partner Tony Dinola discussed how Grant Thornton helped the company tap into employee knowledge that clarified solutions and tech transformation.
“It disrupts the traditional IT model and really puts the power of solutioning and capturing value in the hands of the business, versus relying on a monolithic IT organization that has a very detailed roadmap of projects that takes them well out into the future.”
— Advisory Services Partner Tony Dinola”
Listen in as Patty and Tony explain the thinking behind the approach:
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