THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW
Highlighting best practice
2| THE TECH DEPT
Over the years, we’ve invested in
three tech start-ups and developed
numerous digital innovations. The R&D
tax credits programme has helped us
continue to invest in new technology
and is a great support.
What you think you want
Technology change is arguably
the biggest issue we all face. Every
conference, trade magazine and
economic expert is rightly talking about
disruption and digital transformation.
The apps, the platforms, the innovative
new features – more than ever, it has
become necessary to empower your
IT team and to hire clever consultants.
This is understandable, because
software is consuming the world, and
the answer to what you need is usually
some form of new digital technology.
Even until recently, if you called our
company, you’d find us adhering
to the principle oftechnology first.
However, we have changed our
view since then. This is because we
discovered that what is needed isn’t
new technology but rather business
improvement.
What you need
If you focus first on what you’re trying
to improve, your technology strategy
is simpler, because you don’t actually
want a new website; you want more
sales. You don’t want a new CRM;
you want your customers to feel
in control. You don’t want a new
intranet; you want your team to talk
to each other.
By starting with “why”, you can
quickly get everyone up to speed
on what’s important – which is the
improvement, not the technology. The
focus on improvement becomes the
North Star in a long-term journey – a
direction in which to head, with many
steps along the way, some of which
(maybe most) are technological.
Jeff Bezos attributes Amazon’s success
to the number of experiments they
run. Because most new things fail,
the more experiments you run, the
more likely you are to succeed. It’s
a numbers game. The trick is to
design your experiment to be fast
(so it doesn’t cost a lot of time) and
focused (so it doesn’t cost a lot of
money), while also ensuring that you
capture and systematically build on
any lessons.
This means a shift in your thinking,
from technology being something
you “commission and launch” to it
becoming something you “test and
continuously improve” – a step-by-
step process, navigating, through
trial and error, towards your North
Star. By uncovering this truth, we
created genuine alignment with the
interests of our customers. Instead
of selling technology, we now create
improvement.
Business wellbeing through
“bootcamps”
The team at The Tech Dept have a
clear purpose every day. We do one
Encouraging an open
culture, they operate
a ‘management as a
service’ philosophy
Because most
new things
fail, the more
experiments
you run, the
more likely
you are to
succeed
“
“
Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett
Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles
