Consultancy Technology Outlook - #6

Clients usually summon consultants for non-routine business issues. After all, if it was routine, the client could handle it himself. These non-routine issues imply that managers and employees, on average, have little experience with the issue at hand. Giving them a dashboard with meters and graphs won't help them much; unless these also provide some context. A specific variable scores 4.2 on a scale from one to ten. Is that high? Low? Nobody knows. Software providers that deliver 'ready to use' dashboard do provide the data, but not the context. Just check your dashboard: only data or also meaning? We think the acid test is the "ShouldIDo-norm." A dashboard frames an issue and its possible solution when it answers the manager's question, "What should I do?". A dashboard should not only inform, but guide as well.

The Virtual Consultancy platform PRAIORITIZE interprets graphs to populate dashboards with easy-to-understand advice. But the discerning user will want to dive deeper into the Why & How. That's when not only the dashboards explain themselves, but graphs do too! Initially, A.I. will analyze charts based on business rules. For example, A.I. could examine a bar chart and look for bars that are much longer or shorter than the other bars. Then, it could report back on high or low scoring items and even compare these items with the average score from other clients. After consultants have defined the business rules, A.I. will refine itself due to self-learning abilities.

With post-its and flipcharts increasingly becoming tools of the past, workshops go online. A manager can conduct these DIY workshops with one single click. Tailor-made, as the response of the manager's team members fuel the workshop. Clickstreams from these workshops are accumulated and compared by consultants to refine the workshop. And to determine who needs some extra attention over and above the Do-It-Yourself approach. Sample topics of such workshops include Praiority Picking, where the team discusses how to act upon a list of to-dos and Group Commitment, where a team discusses how to put their collective weight behind a new way of working.