SOLUTIONS MUST BE DESIGNED FROM THE INSIDE

"To design the right solution, it is essential that you get to know the organization, the employees, the culture and the communication flows. If you don't do that, the new tools will never come to life and deliver the desired results".

Troels Nannestad is principal consultant, and he is lead when new solutions for budgeting, forecasting and resource management are adapted and implemented at exacto's clients. Throughout his time at exacto, he has had a broad client portfolio of several NGOs:

"It is important that it is the same person who is in direct contact with the client and designs the solution. I have previously worked at an NGO, which gives me a natural insight and special interest in the challenges this type of client faces", Troels Nannestad explains.

Organization and workflow

According to Troels Nannestad, the identification of the exact needs has a high priority in his work:

"Before we even begin the work of formulating the final scope for the design of a solution and an offer, we typically run a preliminary project of 20 hours, where we familiarize ourselves with the organization and its needs. We want to be sure that the solution we are negotiating is accurate and that the employees who will use it are included. Employees must have an experience of ownership and influence. Ultimately, this is the prerequisite for them to use the tools we develop for them.

At the same time, we need to understand culture and workflows. All organizations have their own way of organizing their work - this may apply especially to NGOs - and if we do not take this into account, e.g., what the communication flows and decision-making processes are like, we risk that the solution will not support the employees' work and give them the results, they need. Practice is not necessarily something that can be derived from an organizational chart”.

Close sparring

According to Troels Nannestad, there is an important relational aspect in the preliminary project:

"We interact very closely with our clients, and this is initiated with the preliminary project. I prefer to be with the client for as much of the total process as I can. During the preliminary project, I meet the key stakeholders who will become the driving forces. When we begin the actual design process, we continue to sit with the client and be in close sparring with them. It is absolutely essential that they do not get the impression that we arrive with a ready-made package that they just have to implement. The solution is designed in collaboration, where they continuously provide input or correct us if, due to a lack of insight or misunderstandings, we are heading in a direction that does not match their needs".

This collaboration continues during the implementation:

"A new solution has a different impact depending on who you are and what you do. The employees in the finance department are supported differently than e.g., a project coordinator in an NGO, who has a huge network outside the organisation. It is the concrete facilitation of these employees' work that I need to communicate to them during the implementation. This is how you get people to use the solution in a way that delivers the optimal results. The important thing is to show them why and how it is relevant to them". 

Troels Nannestad is aware that some unique circumstances apply to NGOs which derive special requirements for the digital support:

"There is the formal part. NGOs must comply with a number of very strict compliance requirements and have a distinct degree of transparency and traceability in their administrative work and financial dispositions. At the same time, there is the organizational level, with many different external more or less integrated actors, semi-independent local branches and a huge group of volunteers. Our solutions can provide great administrative relief to both, but it is obvious that you cannot use a standard solution. It must be adapted so that it accurately reflects the unique character of this particular organisation", Troels Nannestad concludes.