4 simple ways to accelerate digital delivery

Agile approaches are crucial for a digital-first culture, helping to build collaboration, flexibility and deliver more value to customers.

Large and traditional organisations are waking up to the importance of adapting their delivery practices to remain competitive. However, adopting wholesale Agile methods isn’t always feasible, especially when managing change across a large organisation.

We’ve compiled four simple techniques that accelerate and improve delivery practices. These methods will help you to embrace modern ways of working without undergoing a full-scale transformation–enhancing efficiency and increasing customer satisfaction.

1. Treat your colleagues as customers

Use internal colleagues as ‘customers’ to solicit feedback, creating natural pressure for faster, iterative delivery of products and services aligned with user needs. 

Why does it work?

This approach creates a safe environment to demonstrate the value of rapid feedback and iterative development, enhancing product quality and accelerating delivery cycles. 

A leading UK travel brand worked with us to modernise their digital guest experience. Using insights from 70+ interviews with their colleagues, we helped them to improve their app user experience, increasing revenue.

Put it into action:

• Identify internal colleagues who use your products/services
• Create simple feedback mechanisms to gather insights
• Share feedback with delivery teams and stakeholders
• Use this feedback to justify shorter delivery cycles
  
  

2. Replace traditional status meetings

Transform traditional status meetings with engaging demonstrations that highlight the business value delivered, focusing on tangible outcomes and achievements.

Why does it work?

This technique satisfies executives' need for strategic alignment by linking project outcomes to business goals, encouraging teams to demonstrate tangible progress, and building a culture of transparency.

HEINEKEN worked with us to drive profitability through a new deal modelling platform. We highlighted the direct impact of the platform on business profitability through interactive workshops, demonstrating alignment with strategic goals.

Put it into action:

• Convert regular project updates into live demonstrations
• Frame progress in the context of strategic goals
• Show functional products or features rather than presentations
• Celebrate tangible business outcomes, and encourage stakeholder engagement
  
  

3. Show progress in real time

Swap traditional project reporting with dynamic, real-time visualisations of key business metrics using a live dashboard. This will give stakeholders immediate insights into project performance and its impact on your overall business.

Why does it work?

Live dashboards help to drive behaviour change by making delivery performance visible in terms that executives understand, enhancing efficiency and promoting data-driven decision-making.

We provided EVRi with real-time insights into user behaviour to help them test a value hypothesis, enabling data-driven decision making around a new AI-powered chatbot.

Put it into action:

• Replace monthly PowerPoint updates with live dashboards displaying critical business metrics
• Track blockers and their business impact instead of traditional status reports
• Visualise trends in delivery speed and outcomes to identify improvement areas
• Link delivery metrics to strategic objectives and KPIs
  
  
  

4. Cultivate cross-team collaboration

To identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies, map out processes that span multiple teams. This will allow you to easily pinpoint areas where delays occur. 

Why does it work?

This technique resonates with traditional organisations that are familiar with bottlenecks and efficiency, enhancing productivity and aligning efforts with strategic goals.

We partnered with Shawbrook Bank to build a high-performing, streamlined team that reduced development costs and shortened end-to-end business processing time by 97.32%, from 112 days to 3.

Put it into action:

• Map how work transitions between teams in business terms
• Make handover points and delays visible
• Identify where business value gets stuck
• Enable teams to spot and solve coordination problems independently
  
  

Start accelerating your digital delivery

These simple techniques build on familiar concepts and allow organisations to evolve at their own pace. This fosters a culture engaged in continuous improvement and sustainable, impactful products or services.

At AND Digital, we work with major organisations such as Jaguar Land Rover, Sky and Lloyds Banking Group to deliver transformation, at pace. From unlocking the power of data and AI to building digital products that your customers will love, we partner with you to achieve your ambitions and establish a digital-first culture that lasts.

To get started on your journey of faster digital delivery, reach out to us today or learn more about how we can help you deliver at speed.