Recently it has felt as if Britain has been casting a wistful eye over its shoulder towards a former version of itself.
Recently it has felt as if Britain has been casting a wistful eye over its shoulder towards a former version of itself. This has been reflected not only through political debates on issues such as the expansion of Grammar schools, but also in our broadcasting schedules with a handful of BBC comedy hits from yesteryears being handed a return to our screens. For my team at LexisNexis Enterprise Solutions, September has seen the launch of our Client Advising regional forums and whilst forums are something of a ‘blast from our past’, this is the first time that we have organised them as a joined-up, larger client focused event.
Whilst preparing for one of these forums, I happened to catch the 80’s favourite, “Are you being served?”. During the course of the episode, the senior manager Mr. Rumbold is challenged over the use of his new Amstrad, which as is pointed out by his young boss, is not actually plugged in. This scene caused me to reflect on my time as a young trainee (a few years after 1989 when that episode was set) being shown one of the firm’s first desktop computers mounted on my senior Partners substantial oak desk. He explained to me that this was the future of Law, and whilst very impressed as a lover of technology, I wondered to myself why the screen was blank...
So what is the relevance of these two things to my article, if you haven’t already guessed? It’s all about what we do ‘after’ the initial investment is made. We may have purchased the very best piece of software or hardware, but if we aren’t clear on what we want to get out of it, have a plan for how we will deliver on that and have the ongoing engagement and investment of time from key stakeholders; we are likely to face disappointment.
Year two of a software project is where things often start to get hard for a variety of reasons and this is where the LexisNexis Enterprise Solutions Client Advising team, can help. Once the glitz and glamour of the initial software sale has passed, we need to focus on how we continue to align the business’ purchase requirements to its ongoing goals and strategies; and retain buy-in from the key stakeholders in the business. In our user forums, we have been considering some of the key areas of concern and what some of the common adoption, strategy and growth challenges are.
In this blog series, we will look at some such issues. If you are a business who has invested in Lexis InterAction or Lexis Visualfiles and haven’t yet attended a user forum, please do consider coming along next time. They are for anyone who has an interest in the growth and success of their business and wants to optimise the systems for maximum commercial benefit. They are also a great opportunity to learn best practice from other organisations.
If you would like advise on getting the most out of your investment, please speak with your LexisNexis Enterprise Solutions Account Manager to see where Client Advising could help you. My team and I would love to discuss with you what happens after someone plugs that desktop PC in...!