organisational change

Knowing what you’re not: defining your design principles

Successful products and services are those with a definite point of view, those that avoid an identity crisis by knowing exactly what they’re not.

Government Digital Service (GDS) has garnered much praise for its transparent and reasoned approach to design.

And whilst smaller organisations may not need ten principles (like GDS), those with a distinctive approach to digital experiences are gaining competitive advantage.

Here’s a revealing case study, from a tech startup founded in 2011, that I think provides food for thought for any business creating new online services.

Changing company culture: six things to try

Changing company culture is difficult to do by definition.

Steve Denning, author of several leadership and management books, describes organisation culture as ‘an interlocking set of goals, roles, processes, values, communications practices, attitudes and assumptions. 

The elements fit together as a mutually reinforcing system and combine to prevent any attempt to change it.’

But company cultural can change, right? This assumption is an integral part of many digital transformation programmes.

Digital transformation: GDS shows the generation gap is as frustrating as ever

In just a few weeks, the UK’s Government Digital Service (GDS) has lost its head, its deputy, its strategy man, its chief designer, its head of user research and its delivery and performance chief.

There seems to be a mix of messages coming out of Whitehall – some talk about the plan always being to devolve the central GDS team into newly-prepared departments (a question of tackling transformation at the correct scale) and others seem to suggest a November spending review is curtailing a GDS that is losing an argument with some of its vocal critics.

I don’t know anything about the machinations of governments but in a broader context it’s pertinent to remind ourselves that momentum doesn’t always gather behind transformation projects.

Digital in financial services: Chris Woolnough on life at MBNA

The Festival of Marketing 2015 will feature a variety of companies discussing the challenge of keeping pace with customer expectation.

The complexity of personal banking provides a particular challenge, one which Chris Woolnough has been wrestling with at MBNA (Bank of America’s credit card).

We caught up with Chris to ask about MBNA’s journey. Here’s what he had to say.

The Festival of Marketing includes 12 stages – see the speaker line-up and book your ticket at festivalofmarketing.com.

Five common mistakes when writing a digital job description

Staying on top of changing digital job descriptions is difficult for HR and senior managers.

That’s why Econsultancy has put together a raft of digital job description templates for junior and senior roles in digital that you can adapt to your needs.

But what are the mistakes you want to avoid? Here are five that can attract the wrong candidates, damage your brand or compromise your interviews.

Was I wrong about Chief Digital Officers?

Recently Mike Bracken announced his resignation as Executive Director of Digital in the Cabinet Office.

He had been leading the digital transformation of UK government through the Government Digital Service (GDS), earning a CBE among other plaudits for his work. 

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Marketing and sales: how will they work together in the future?

More than anything ‘digital’ has blurred lines.

That might be blurring the lines of what we used to consider typical consumer behaviours or models (e.g. increased focus on behavioural segmentation and targeting rather than relying on, say, demographics), the blurring of lines across physical and digital channels, the blurring of lines across value and supply chains, the blurring of national boundaries and commerce. 

More marketers are needed in the boardroom: report

In November we published our Value of Marketing report, in which we discussed the need for CMOs and CFOs to talk the same language.

The current status quo where finance commands the greatest voice in the boardroom needs to be challenged. Half of the FTSE 100 CEOs have an accounting or financial management background, compared to just 10% who come from marketing or advertising.

Q&A: Microsoft on CRM, retail and B2B marketing

I’ve been eating tapas in Barcelona at Microsoft Convergence.

One area I was keen to discuss with Microsoft was retail, an industry the tech giant is doing more in, not just with vanilla CRM but also POS, end-to-end solutions and web.

I spoke to Seth Patton, senior director of marketing for Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Here’s what he had to say about change in this sector.

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