Chapter 2: The hunt for a helping hand
It had been a big few weeks for RetroForge Manufacturing.
After a prolonged period of inefficiency and low performance culminating in the loss of a long-standing customer, Louise Walker had finally come to terms with the need to overhaul the business's operations.
And with that realisation, RetroForge Manufacturing underwent a digital transformation and they all lived happily ever after…right? Far from it!
Louise knew that the very future of the company might depend on the success of this transformation, meaning it was absolutely imperative they got it right. Understandably, the pressure of this realisation had resulted in many sleepless nights - after all, RetroForge lacked the experience, expertise, and resources in-house for a project this technical.
Having found herself flicking through the channels at death o’clock for yet another evening, Louise settled on Braveheart - a welcomed change from the usual low-budget horror and Z list indie flicks found on Film 4 at that time of night.
Watching through blurry eyes, she chuckled to herself as she began drawing parallels between herself and William Wallace. OK, she wasn’t quite a noble knight of rebellion - and she sure hoped she wouldn’t become a martyr anytime soon - but Louise related to Braveheart’s tale of embracing change and overcoming adversity to secure a more prosperous future.
Just as she wondered whether this self-comparison was the first sign that a lack of sleep was really starting to take its toll, one line in particular stuck out (even with the volume low): “we can't do this alone.”
With Wallace’s words still ringing in her head the next morning; Louise knew it was time to take action. RetroForge Manufacturing hadn’t survived this long because its CEO sat on her hands, after all. Keen not to fall any further behind the times - or indeed, her competitors - she decided the next step was to bring in some experts to help navigate the journey.
So the hunt for a digital consultancy began.
Following an internal meeting to discuss the plans ahead, the bad news was that nobody had any direct contacts. The good news, however, was that the RetroForge team had an extensive network they could leverage for recommendations.
One senior leader - a self-proclaimed maestro of the LinkedIn game but in reality the only one of the team with a LinkedIn Premium membership - said they’d put out a post asking for any referrals from their connections, while another agreed to do some research online and come back with some options. Louise also consulted one of the factory managers, who planned on speaking to some of his counterparts in the supply chain.
One week later, they all reconvened to discuss their findings.
The Lord of LinkedIn, more commonly known as Kevin from C-Suite, hadn’t had much luck. “Engagement was great”, he jokingly reported, “but after 173 comments from agencies all offering their services, to be honest I kind of gave up.”
The supply chain had proved a tad more successful, with contacts providing a few referrals with a general idea of what they could offer and a ballpark cost. Meanwhile Janey, RetroForge’s CMO who had been tasked with researching agencies online, had discovered and made contact with a few potential agencies that had asked for a project brief to review - but the truth is that they hadn’t made it that far yet!
Louise knew that they needed to take the right approach to picking their consultancy, as this team would be the right-hand-man that could make or break the project. In other words, they needed to find the McCartney to their Lennon (just with a lot more technical expertise than Paul presumably has - no way he knows what an ERP system is).
So, Louise made the call to hold a meeting with three consultancies to help further whittle it down - two referrals, and one found scouring the web.
The first meeting was a little overwhelming. Four people turned up to give a three hour presentation on everything - and we mean everything - they have done, have thought about doing, and will do in the future. Despite not really asking any questions about RetroForge or their specific requirements, they seemed supremely confident that they would be able to address all of the project’s intricate concerns and had a lot of flashy ideas that, unsurprisingly, never really seemed to hit the mark.
The second meeting was held with the consultancy discovered online, who had worked with a number of large companies and boasted a stirring set of credentials. They came equipped with an impressive slide deck and a thorough digital transformation framework, and clearly explained how it worked and how they augmented themselves into the team..
The final meeting was with a referral from a trusted contact who spoke highly of their experience with these digital experts. It was a smaller business but one who had worked in the sector before, and they took the time to give a considered presentation covering their services, how they worked, and even some case studies. This team asked questions throughout and were gleaning information about the business in a fluid conversational manner, with a personalised touch that felt informal but with purpose. This consultancy suggested some small discovery days with the relevant stakeholders in the business, as this would allow them to get to know RetroForge better and enable them to craft a digital strategy and proposal informed by the unique needs and concerns of the business.
After a tiring day full of meetings, Louise had begun to feel a bit like she’d been on an episode of Dinner Date, only with her potential partners wooing her with technical expertise rather than a subpar three course meal. This feeling helped Louise reach another important realisation, too - she really needed to stop watching late-night TV.
On the positive side a full night’s sleep was finally on the agenda, with Louise not having to make her decision just yet. Each meeting had ended with the consultants stating they would follow up in a few days with an indicative proposal, and these would be shared around to discuss at the next monthly meeting.
The proposals drifted in over the next few days, and in the next weekly management meeting, Louise asked everyone for their thoughts.
“Remember the agency that just talked about themselves?”, said Kevin. “At least they’re consistent, because so does their proposal! Apparently they can do anything - well, anything linked to a very high fee!”
“What about the second guys?” asked Louise, who admittedly has written off Option A before the meeting had even started.
“They were great and possibly the safer choice if they were to believe them - remember we are in a sales pipeline”, began Janey with a wry smile. “But…they have indicated we would be embarking on a multi-million, multi-year transformation and I’m not sure this is what we are looking for. Especially the multi million pound budget!”
“And Option C? How many millions would they like to charge?” Louise asked somewhat defeatedly.
“Well”, rebutted Janey. “This consultancy has taken a different approach. Their feeling is that we’re not quite ready to embark on a large project, so have suggested a series of workshops over a period of weeks that will allow them to scope out a specification and recommendations.
They said that these sessions would enable them to create a number of documents that will outline both the challenges and possible recommendations that we can use for the next stage of the procurement. At that stage, we’re not even tied to them!”.
“So we could use Option C to help us fully define our needs in more detail before making a large investment?”, Lousie clarified.
“That seems to be the case”, confirmed Janey, “and I really like this approach. I also liked the team - yes they’re smaller than the rest, but if anything that could work in our favour. It’ll be easier to get to know them better, and they have a decent client list that’s testament to that.”
Weighing up this feedback, Louise had made her decision. She asked Janey and Kevin to let the other two agencies know that they were thinking things over and would be in touch in a couple of months. In the meantime, RetroForge would bring in the smaller consultancy to spend some time with the team and start developing a realistic approach based on their current capabilities.
“Start small, define and grow”, finished Louise, “that’s the best approach”.