Back to Basics: Deep Dive Part 2

How to understand the customers business as well as possible.

In every successful project I have worked on, there was an analyst who knew almost as much about the business functions as the business itself. Yes, you have heard me correctly.

Over time, the software analyst who goes deep understands the business so well that they become an invaluable resource to the business, providing valuable insights for decision makers to improve their business.

"Understanding a business well makes you an invaluable resource."

Here are a few practical points to help deepen your knowledge of a customer’s business:

1. Get on site

In today’s very comfortable virtual world, people are getting too lazy to travel to a customer’s office or site. This is direct, but true. Although there’s a lot of room and sense in virtual meetings, nothing gets to a proper in-person, on-site visit.

I once did system analysis where the customer wanted to go paperless, aiming to replace a pen and clipboard in a manufacturing plant with a tablet. Visiting the plant and understanding the skills of the current staff by talking to them, as well as exploring the practical implications of getting the WiFi network working there, and the practical implications of working with a tablet in that setting, helped me make informed system decisions and recommendations.

In initial customer engagements, one learns so much more from observing and understanding practical realities by being on-site.

2. Talk to as many users as you can

The more you speak to users and business stakeholders, the more your understanding will grow.

You can download our white paper for more information on this, or subscribe to our blog to see in depth information.

3. Document your findings

Writing down your learnings and thoughts on how it can be improved kick-starts the brain and encourages you to think of many more questions to ask.

4. Research the industry and similar companies

Researching the industry will go you extensive insight into the business and will allow you to recognize opportunities and threats that might be going unnoticed. AI tools can be very helpful to help build industry knowledge to speed-up the process and questions to ask.

5. Prepare for meeting

Do not show up unprepared.

For each meeting, think through the following:

What do you want out of the meeting?
What questions will you start with?
Ask to validate your understanding by telling them how you understand their business
Test early on solution concepts and ideas

6. Think of all the business areas

Their customers
Staff roles
Business processes
Systems they use
How money flows
The customer journeys

For more information and insight you can download the whitepaper from https://jalia.co.za/services/

Author: Henk Maritz (jalia.co.za)

No part of this publication may be copied or used in any form without prior written permission from the author.