ADVICE & OPINION
TRULY AGILE TECH
FMJ AIMS TO SUPPORT TECHNICAL EXPERTISE IN THE FM MARKET
James Bradley, Director at The Churchill Group says applying an agile mind-set
to tech can drive innovation and help achieve company objectives; from talent
attraction and retention to the development of new ideas
As computer science has become
increasingly sophisticated,
technology has grown to fill roles that
would have been impossible before.
Once, technology was reactive. Now it
is proactive, creating new approaches
and opening up questions and ways
of thinking that would not have been
possible before.
But to fully incorporate such
developments, individuals and
organisations need to change the way
they think. The turbulence of today’s
political and economic landscape
demands novelty and innovation in
problem-solving and business growth.
This demands that business leaders
must also take a proactive and creative
approach; technology is only as good as
its design and implementation.
FROM EFFICIENCY TO AGILITY
The focus of reactive technology was
to improve e iciency and for a long
time, this has been the Holy Grail of
organisational improvements. But as
recent upheaval has demonstrated,
agility and resilience are just as
16 OCTOBER 2021
important as e iciency. Organisations
tend to push for e iciency because
it’s easy to measure and o› en boosts
their bottom line in the short-term.
However, a militant focus on e iciency
can stunt creativity and capacity to
break boundaries and solve problems.
Innovation requires a change in mindset.
The move from e iciency to agility
epitomises this change. Creating
more agile workplaces may lead to an
immediate decrease in e iciency as
employees change their approach and
take time to reconsider their approach
to work. The organisational output
may take a slight hit. However, this new
creativity gives teams time and capacity
to investigate their work practices. This
can lead to novel practices that improve
the quality and e iciency of work in
the long-term. Indeed, many of our
successful client projects were created
and driven by on-site teams, not the
management in head o ice.
Using our tech and embracing our
culture of innovation, our teams have
the freedom to suggest solutions and
new ideas, and drive projects from
beginning to end. This is true agility.
USING AGILITY AND
INNOVATION IN TECH
Moving to this growth and agility
mindset can transform the way an
organisation utilises technology and
innovation and, in turn, spark new
ideas and approaches. In the case
of one of our clients, waste disposal
was challenging as many smaller
organisations relied on a single
service. These users were charged at
an arbitrary rate not representative
of the waste they disposed. Using
our digital platform, Mo:dus, we were
able to accurately sort and record the
waste and recyclables from the various
organisations and cost accordingly.
Using a centralised digital platform, we
were able to better understand waste
flows and assist the client in reducing
them and to more accurately charge
for the waste that did come to us. All of
this was achieved at no extra time or
expense for the client or end users.
Such a simple change not only
allowed for a fairer and more e icient
system, but also provided us with the
information to educate users about their
actions upstream to reduce waste in the
first place. Information can be hugely
powerful but only for those who know
what questions to ask and how to use
the data they collect.
This is where agility comes into the
equation. Implementing technology
and collecting data may not always o er
exactly what you expect. Sometimes,
patterns you hadn’t even considered
arise. For example, you may see
correlations between certain events
and demand for additional cleaning,
heating, or waste removal that you had
not been aware of before. These patterns
may even fluctuate over the course of
a week, month, or year. Noticing and
understanding these patterns allows
your organisation to make changes to
improve e iciency.
SUPPORT EMERGING INNOVATION
Technology can also facilitate emerging
innovation. Bringing people together
and encouraging collaboration is a key
way to promote novel ideas. Technology
can help to improve communication.
Those accustomed to working from
home may immediately think of one
of the major video call platforms
when talking about technology for
communication.
There are voice and text-based
platforms and visual online spaces
designed for creative synchronous
collaboration. The challenge can
be knowing which media best suit
your teams. Here, data can be used
to quantify outcomes and analyse
success and preferences across di erent
platforms. So many organisations
moved rapidly from in-person to online
work and settled for the platform that
most closely mimicked in-person
meetings. Changing mindset means
exploring and testing the di erent
options and questioning whether even
the fundamentals of collaboration can
be improved upon.
A crucial aspect of embracing
technology and continuous
development is being able to question
your assumptions. Just because a
business has worked a certain way for
years, doesn’t mean that is the best
option. Technology allows us to stay
curious and continually investigate,
predict, and improve in a way that is
quantifiable. Understanding this mindset
can be transformative for any company.
FAST FACTS