Waikato Business News January/February 2017

Digital
Thinking
High performance digital thinking
Working with organisations across the Waikato & Bay of Plenty to raise their digital performance
Last year at Vo2, we brought 5 companies together to form Vo2 Group, covering IT
Managed Services, Professional Services and Online & Integrated software development.
One of our learnings during this time was to simplify wherever possible, this resulted in
decreased workload for the team and enabled us to bring more of ourselves into our roles,
without having to follow burdensome process but using the greater talent of the team
to work effectively. Simplification is an activity of purification, as we remove those things
which hold us back and are therefore able to place an increasing amount of talent on those
activities that really benefit our customers.
What do you want to be?
Woody Allen once mused that “My one regret is that I’m
not someone else”. The thing about regrets is that they
are always retrospective, and unless your car has some
special features at 88 MPH there’s not a lot we can do
about the past. There is, however, everything we can do
about our future. The beginning of the year is a great time
to consider who that ‘somewhat else’ is you want to be by
the end of the year. Without this self-determinism, organisations
tend to become the benefactors (or more often,
the victims) of luck, but with determination, transform into
collections of people that are energized and provide real
value to our communities and economies.
What do you need to move?
All this good intent requires actual action. High level plans
need to be discussed and agreed, milestones committed
to and people mobilized.
Transformative actions fall into 2 groups, ‘remove the
blockages’ and ‘build the new’ as we begin to let go of
the comfortable but ineffective old, and learn to work in
different ways. To help identify what some of these transformative
actions are, you have 2 expert sources at your
fingertips who are more than happy to provide real insight
and suggestion, they are your own team of staff and your
customers. A few coffees and open conversations and it
will quickly become apparent what needs to be done, in
addition by involving them you will also have buy in and
commitment to your cause as you have provided them
with, and valued, their experience.
Use of technology
To understand how technology can help, it’s useful to
understand what technology is. In its essence, it’s the
creation of a device that can achieve something with less
effort than it would take a person to do it. From the JCB
digger to the dishwasher, even the humble teaspoon is a
daily reminder that we can use ‘things’ to accelerate our
achievements.
In today’s information and communication soaked environment,
with more connected devices than you can
imagine, the array of simple tools to help us out is inspiring.
The old Apple quote ‘There’s an app for that’ isn’t far
wrong, and if there isn’t, one can be made quickly and
cheaply. As you take transformative steps in this new year,
remember to always ask the question, ‘how can digital
help’, and if you’re not sure, give us a call, we’re always
happy to sit in on a meeting, listen and provide some insight
that may help.
As a final encouragement, the great NZ summer is world
famous for recreation, so this summer why not re-create
your organization and use our modern digital age to make
a brighter 2017.
Come see for yourselves
To see how this looks in action, come visit us, ring the number below or email us and let us know when would suit, we’d love to share
what we do, learn a bit about you and what spins your wheels!
07 839 9390 hello@vo2.nz www.vo2.nz