Issue #15

Hi there,

During the closing months of 2022, we’ve had the pleasure of developing, delivering, and testing some exciting new initiatives here at Mäd.

As we begin to look towards 2023, we’ve identified new ways to build upon our multi-disciplinary strengths, seeking out ways to deliver as much value as possible to our new and existing clients. With this, a particularly exciting service area we’ve been building out is business process analysis and design.

For those of you who have worked with us before, you will already be familiar with the detailed foundational work we undertake during each and every project. Oftentimes, the foundational work we deliver is tightly linked to business process analysis and design. Through discussions with our clients, we’ve recognized that the same methodologies and principles found in human-centric design are extremely effective at quickly analyzing business processes and effectively identifying any pain points that may be hindering an organization’s true potential.

All this ties back to our mission to unlock strategic thinking in the world’s leading organizations, and we’re delighted to be developing valuable new initiatives to support this.

Kieran Glover — Managing Director

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Thoughts.

It’s not uncommon for people to get confused with the concept of “consulting” — it’s quite vague, and even as a consulting company, we (admittedly) have trouble summarizing our service offerings and our work clearly. In this excerpt from our insight on how to analyze business processes, we answer the question of what consultancies are, and why companies can benefit from their services.  

A consultancy is a professional service firm that provides advice to businesses and organizations. The industries that a consultancy serves can vary, and its offerings can include anything from advising on strategy and operations to providing sales and marketing insights, HR services, or supporting companies in their digital transformation efforts (one of Mäd’s areas of expertise).

Companies work with consulting services to improve their performance in certain areas instead of hiring specialists or entire departments. If they do have an in-house team, consultants can still support them in areas that are lacking.

Essentially, consultancies provide guidance on strategic decisions — for some businesses, this could be the question of what new products or services to launch, and when and how to do so.

Read more.

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The Landscape of Digital Banking in Cambodia.

Mäd has worked with a number of major Cambodian financial institutions, including Amret MFI, Canadia Bank, Vattanac Bank, and Pi Pay. We’ve seen firsthand how local financial firms have embraced industry trends, continuously striving to expand and improve their service offerings.

Read our white paper to find out more about the development of mobile banking in Cambodia.

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Visit our Financial Institutions page to learn more about our services.  

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News.

• Interview with the CEO of Realestate.com.kh. We had a fantastic opportunity to meet Tom O’Sullivan, CEO and Director of Cambodia’s leading real estate portal — Realestate.com.kh. We sat down to chat about everything from real estate and digital transformation in Cambodia, to leadership and working with humans. Stay tuned for a full rundown of this informative interview!

• Blue. A big congratulations to our friends at Blue for being awarded Best Project Management Tool Provider in 2022 by Corporate Vision Magazine! Blue helps thousands of companies across the world manage their projects in a simpler, calmer way. Blue has also made some cool updates to its platform, including the new Docs feature and Todo dependencies. Download the newly released Blue iOS app for all the latest features and updates.

Spotlight.

• Comin Khmere. We’re very pleased to announce a collaborative project between Mäd and Blue, working with Comin Khmere — one of Cambodia’s leading providers of efficient and sustainable engineering and design, as well as consulting and contracting services and solutions. Comin Khmere serves public and private clients in the power, commercial, industrial, hospitality, health, infrastructure, transport, and education sectors, and they were seeking a more effective process for their extensive services and maintenance requests. We had the pleasure of hosting the Comin team at our office for an intensive two-day workshop, in which we applied design sprint methodologies and activities to business process design.

Insights.

• Applying Critical Thinking to Process Design. Efficient business processes can significantly improve organizational performance, leading to increased productivity and profitability — so it’s valuable to regularly monitor existing processes, and actively update workflows and procedures. To do that, business leaders should apply critical thinking. This enables the analytical and problem-solving skills necessary for designing successful business processes.  
• The ROI of Good Business Processes. ROI is typically used to calculate the profitability of a financial investment. But when it comes to operating a business, updating the tools and procedures required to improve a process is a different kind of important investment. To gauge the effectiveness of a business process, we can estimate its ROI.
• The Mäd Six-Pager. The six-pager was originally introduced by Amazon and was meant to increase productivity, focus, and clarity. As the name suggests, it is a six-page document in long-form text that outlines the subject matter along with the necessary background information. Inspired by Amazon, we have been using this format for many of our project proposals and presentations over the years.
• Optimizing Landing Pages. A landing page is often a customer’s first point of contact with your product or business. When it comes to digital products, in particular, a well-designed and well-optimized landing page can ensure website visitors take the actions you want them to take. This can help to secure higher conversion rates and better performance.
• Scaling Professional Service Firms. Most professional service firms have similar histories and are also built on the same set of fundamental principles. But although there is a great deal of information on how to scale a product business, not much discussion is dedicated to scaling a service firm. We explore the key factors to consider when starting, running, and scaling a professional service firm, and discuss how to turn it into a successful business.

Work Like Mäd: Free Chapter.

You might already know from our past newsletters that we’ve been actively preparing to publish our first ebook, Work Like Mäd. If you haven’t received our previous email, we’d like to invite you again to read a complementary chapter of Work Like Mäd to get a preview of what’s to come!

Download it here.

From the Web.

• When to Consult Your Intuition.

Should you trust your intuition, or rely on your analytical decisions? As a consulting firm, at Mäd we rely on good decision-making to achieve results — so this is a dilemma some of us might often face when advising clients or proposing strategic changes. In this excerpt from his book, cognitive scientist Gary Klein explores the credibility of intuition and how it is affected by experience and feedback.

• Half-Life: The Decay of Knowledge and What to Do About It.

Facts change all the time. While we gain more knowledge on certain subjects, some information quickly becomes outdated or even obsolete — in fact, much of what we know might soon be incorrect. Everything has a half-life, from chemical elements and drugs to information, documents, marketing campaigns, and even careers and business models. But understanding and applying the concept of half-lives can also help you determine where you should invest your time and energy in daily life.

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Lastly, with 2023 fast approaching, much like what we’ve been doing here at Mäd, it’s time to look ahead and sketch out what the strategic roadmap looks like for your firm.

If you would like to discuss this with us, our team will be delighted to assist you with any questions or inquiries you may have.

We hope you had a productive November and all the best for the month ahead.

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Until next time!