One of the things I love about working as interactive maven is that occasionally you get to play the role of “change agent.” I met with an 80 year old man who served as CEO of a 110 year old family business. That’s really incredible when you think about it. How many times has this company had to retool, redesign and rethink its business over its lifetime. And yet, that’s what successful businesses do everyday – reinvent themselves to stay current.
And so, as I lead the CEO and his son into the light of e-commerce, we are finding entire processes within the organization that need to be modernized. We call it the “front-end” and “back-end” of change – in this case, both are in need of complete overhauls. And this is where the fun begins for any change agent. Delving into the business and understanding their day-to-day operations. Recommending ways in which technology will simplify, enhance and improve each function across the sale cycle. Building and deploying web-centric applications, and training management on how to use it.
I think David Bowie said it best, “Turn and face the strange ch-ch-changes, Oh look out, you rock and rollers, Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes, Turn and face the strange ch-ch-changes, pretty soon now, you’re gonna get older…”
