The enhance phase of a Digital Evolution includes the analyze, evaluate, and refresh steps and is necessary to circle back to the innovate phase to re-prioritize remaining capabilities.
Project success is significantly affected by what happens after system deployment, so don't overlook this phase. Use analytics tools to track data, determine how well the system is being used, decide if changes are necessary, and be prepared to circle back to the innovate phase.
The most overlooked phase in the Digital Evolution cycle is enhance.
This may be my favorite phase, although I think I say that about all of the phases. I get excited to hear how systems are working in the field and if the solutions are accomplishing the stated objectives. This phase includes the critical steps of analyze, evaluate, refresh.
As I've said before, success of digital projects is greatly impacted by what happens after the system is deployed. We must inspect what we expect from our systems and that begins with analytics. There are no excuses for not leveraging modern analytics tools to track important data about your systems. Everything from technical performance to user engagement data can be collected and aggregated in near real time. The level of granularity will depend on many factors, but minimally we need to understand the high-level metrics about user adoption, engagement, and performance.
Once we've implemented the appropriate instrumentation, we can use that data for the next step: evaluate. This is where we inspect how well the system is being used and the attainment of our business objectives. After all, that IS why this investment's been made.
Finally we reach the enhance step. Based on our learnings in the previous steps, we now begin deciding what changes, if any, need to be made to the solution. In almost every case we will find some things that made perfect sense in the planning and testing phases, but just aren't working as expected in the field. That's ok, because if you've been following the Digital Evolution cycle, you've prepared for the unexpected and are ready to address it in the next innovate cycle. Another aspect of this step that's equally important, but not as much fun to talk about, is OS and device changes and how they impact the application. The devices and operating systems we're using now don't stand still for very long. The enhance step must consider these changes and be prepared to address them each quarter throughout the year.
As I said in the beginning, there isn't really a start and an end to the Digital Evolution cycle. The enhance phase may be the last in this cycle, but it really just ends that round and feeds right back into the innovate phase where we re-prioritize the remaining capabilities and begin planning the next create phase. Innovation is a journey, not a destination. If you need help planning your journey, we'd love to talk.
Thanks again for watching, I'll see you again next week.
Our team is always looking to connect with the business community. Do you have questions about Venado Technologies, the companies we serve, and how we can positively impact your business? Contact us - we'd love to connect with you! You're also welcome to call at 888.556.9761.
At Venado Technologies, our passion is helping customers solve important business problems by applying technology the right way. We believe that emerging technologies will continue to change the way work gets done. Venado Technologies helps business leaders and their most critical workers use technology in a way that makes their work easier, better, and safer.
Venado Technologies provides the brainpower and processes to ideate, create, run, and refresh digital experiences where mobile workers connect with the physical world. By bridging the divide between IT and line-of-business demands, Venado strikes a balance between the mobile worker experience and secure, reliable enterprise technology requirements to drive business outcomes.