Do you lead or work in a medium-sized organisation that is challenged to either manage growth or remain sustainable?

Does the organisation face pressures to improve its effectiveness and reduce operating costs?

For example, do any of these apply?

• The business has outgrown its old structure
• Roles and responsibilities are unclear
• Your systems are not connected to each other and you have manual, overlapping or inefficient processes
• You don’t have the data you need to make good decisions
• You have procured new software but it doesn’t help
• You have too many customer complaints
• You have unhappy staff
• You think that everyone else out there is using AI, but you are not, and maybe that would help.

If so, what are you looking for?

• The right way to get started
• A review of specific business operations
• Requirements for a new software system
• Something else to help solve the problem?

Whatever your perspective, if you are a medium-sized organisation in a knowledge or service based industry, a not-for-profit or a smaller government agency that does not have experienced business analysts on staff, Elkera can help.

We can work with you to improve your structure and business processes so that your business produces better results and becomes a better place to work.

Getting started on business improvement

If you have a specific project in mind to improve processes in part of the business or to develop requirements for new software, Elkera can help.

More commonly, senior managers see many problems but they are not sure how they relate to each other or how to start fixing them. Often, senior managers do not know how the rest of the business outside their own area really functions. Without being able to see the big picture, decisions to effect change are piecemeal and likely to be ineffective, even detrimental.

The ideal way to start is to develop an overall picture of the business so all problems are understood and to give you the tools to plan changes. At Elkera we call that a ‘functional model’. A functional model is a high level view of your business functions, main business processes, the roles given responsibility for those functions and processes, and the contributing or dependent stakeholders. It is described in our blog article Growing pains for medium businesses: Why you should clearly define internal business structure.

With a functional model, you will know exactly how the business works. You will understand your challenges and be able to prioritise them according to business value. When you act to solve a problem, you will know how the proposed solution should relate to all your business processes and stakeholders.

The time to act is now!

The costs of delayed action are real and they compound over time. They undermine the future prospects of the business and the returns to the business owners.

You may be concerned about the risks of finding the right consultant or you may be concerned about the value a consultant can provide.

Elkera’s way of working removes those risks. Elkera follows a step by step approach that minimises the common uncertainties that prevent organisations from acting in the most effective way to address cost pressure and productivity problems.

From the outset, Elkera’s consultant will be focused on finding improvements for your business that will provide a positive return on your total investment in the project.

We provide a continuously evolving business case for our work that gives you confidence about the way forward and removes many of the traditional barriers to hiring a consultant. Elkera’s way of working ensures that:

• you will be able to assess our understanding of your business before you make a financial investment, and
• at each step in the process, you will be able to assess the value of completed and proposed work before making a commitment to proceed further.

The key to this approach is to determine very early in the project if you can expect potential benefits that will justify your likely investment.

What we deliver

Elkera will definitely help you on the path to improved profitability and sustainability.

We will work with all your stakeholders to understand your business and the root causes of the problems you face. We will help you to devise and implement improved ways of working that will overcome those problems. Your business can produce better results and become a better place to work. You can expect at least:

• A clear picture of how relevant parts of your business work, the problems it faces and where there are opportunities for improvement.
• Recommended improvements to your internal business structure so that roles are optimally aligned to how your business ought to work.
• Identified changes for smarter, more consistent and automated processes that reduce cost and effort.
• Clear requirements for new software that may be required to support your business.
• A change plan that will guide implementation, including for any software procurement.
• A business case for any required investment.
• Assistance through any software procurement process.

Why Elkera?

• 20+ years of experience analysing business processes and systems, and helping clients to streamline and automate business processes.
• Innovation mindset with a practical understanding of how to implement new technologies.
• Extensive experience at senior levels across a range of businesses.
• Experience as the founder of several software businesses that developed completely new, innovative products.
• Extensive experience as a supplier and consultant working with government.
• Expertise leading complex software development and software procurement projects.
• Clear, professional, independent advice with no affiliation to any vendors.

Please follow the links below to detailed service descriptions, or book an appointment for a free, introductory consultation.