The Coronavirus pandemic continues to be a hot topic of conversation for businesses and the country. The phrase we hear most from the politicians and experts is "there's light at the end of the tunnel."
Well, a lot of the businesses we talk to here at Northern Insight are still searching for that light. Perhaps it’s easier to spot from an ivory tower!
Thankfully, help is at hand in the shape of Qrious.
Qrious, as MD and Co-Founder, Nick Salloway, likes to say, “is in the business of redesigning businesses.” Their team of technologists, UX designers, service designers, software developers and digital strategists, have a remarkable track record of helping their clients to improve customer experience and capitalise on technology’s potential to accelerate growth, productivity and profitability.
When it comes to ensuring that businesses really ARE giving their customers the ultimate experience, Qrious say they can support those firms to “break down the traditional organisational hierarchies, operational silos and sometimes inflexible management models that stifle creativity, slow down decision making, kill innovation, and ultimately, impact negatively on customer experience”.
“We’re about helping our clients to transform their WHOLE business; their customer experience and the operating and management models that support it,” says Nick.
And let’s face it, at the moment EVERY business is thinking about changes they need to make to keep operating – and in some cases, survive – by serving their customers as best and efficiently as they can. Hopefully, while focusing on the long tunnel where light is shining at the end,….allegedly.
Asked about the impact of the pandemic on Qrious, Nick responds “Like all businesses, Covid-19 has disrupted us, but the pandemic also presented an excellent opportunity to practice what we preach.”
“A crucial part of what we do requires close collaboration with our clients as we work with them to design strategies and solutions for their business. Under normal circumstances, our teams would be in a room with our client for several weeks, but that isn’t currently possible, so we’ve had to rethink how we use technology ourselves. We ended up completely redesigning our business and design processes to ensure we can remotely deliver our services.”
Nick says that the result was QLab, a completely online version of Qrious’ digital transformation service, that, before the pandemic was delivered face-to-face, in a room fall of whitewalls, pens, and post-it notes. Instead of white-walls, Qrious now provide their QLab service to clients using virtual collaboration and design tools, and video conferencing.
“It’s been hugely successful,” says Nick. “Q-Lab is creating more and better opportunities for collaboration with our clients as they can involve more of their team in our process. Geography is no longer an issue – people from anywhere in their organisation can attend and contribute to the work. The time they spend with us is super focused, and although we have to manage the length of sessions carefully to avoid Zoom fatigue, we’re finding that clients are more engaged in the process.”
Nick goes on: “I do believe that a lot of firms, including Qrious, will emerge much healthier from the disruption caused by Covid-19. Inevitably, some will, sadly, fail. But those businesses that survive will come to reflect on the pandemic as a pivotal moment – a period that forced them to fundamentally rethink how they create value for customers and reimagine how they capture value with innovative business and operating models that utilise technology in entirely different ways.”
“In the medium term, this kind of disruption usually proves to be favourable for companies, although, I’m sure many probably won’t see it that way at the moment!” “Covid has been the incentive for many firms to accelerate their digital strategies” adds Nick.
“Many businesses, and SMEs in particular, are a long way behind the curve when it comes to transformation and making use of technology. Firms must now adapt and digitally transform quickly to survive. As they do so, it’s essential for them to recognise that digitising a service here and there or doing meetings on Zoom is not transformation; successful digital transformation requires firms to rethink how they apply technology to every aspect of their organisation. For example, suppose they aspire to a leaner, more agile way of working, but operate a hierarchical management model. In that case, they’ll need to also look at how they can use technology to flatten their management structure, speed up decision making, and shorten planning and finance cycles to align with how agile teams work.”
“Digital Transformation is a whole-business endeavour”, says Nick. It’s impressive stuff from a relatively small, North East based digital consultancy playing on the same turf as some larger national consulting firms, and it seems to be working.
“Half a dozen firms have been through the QLab service since it launched last year, and with another 3 in the pipeline, it looks like the virtual offer is becoming the preferred option for our clients,” says Nick.
So, not just light at the end of the tunnel, but blazing sunshine!
If you need to transform your business or give it an in-depth digital health check, the best idea is to chat with the guys at Qrious.
Start thinking about the future of your business.
Get Qrious.
