Operational Efficiency Strategies

Innovation is only as valuable as the problem it solves. We live in an age where technological advancements move faster than our ability to strategically adopt them. It’s no longer a question of can we implement this? but rather, should we? The real challenge isn’t access to innovation. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞. Discipline to pause before we purchase. Discipline to align tools with outcomes. Discipline to measure impact before we declare success. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐱: • 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐲 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐎𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐞: The irresistible pull towards the ‘new’ and ‘novel’, often at the expense of sustained objectives and an overarching strategic vision. • 𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐎𝐮𝐭 (𝐅𝐎𝐌𝐎): The anxiety that failing to adopt new technologies or trends could result in missed opportunities for growth or competitive advantage. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤: • 𝟑𝟎% of App deployments fail • 𝟕𝟎% of Digital Transformation initiatives don’t meet goals • 𝟕𝟎%+ of manufacturers worldwide are stuck in pilot purgatory • 𝟓𝟖% of IoT projects are considered not to be successful • 𝟔𝟏% of manufacturers don’t have specific metrics to measure the effectiveness or impact of AI deployments 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡-𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬: 1. 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐞: Evaluate whether the technology fills a need or optimizes current operations before investing. 2. 𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧, 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐀𝐜𝐭: Ensure that any new tech acquisition is in alignment with your strategic business goals. 3. 𝐌𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞: Develop clear metrics or KPIs to track the success and relevance of your technology investments. 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐜, 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬:  https://lnkd.in/eX89kQ6n ******************************************* • Visit www.jeffwinterinsights.com for access to all my content and to stay current on Industry 4.0 and other cool tech trends • Ring the 🔔 for notifications!

Too often sales managers and VP's 'Set Expectations' but then are SHOCKED when people don't follow through. More often than not it's because they skipped some VERY important steps when it comes to rolling out anything new. So for change management to really occur, any new process, these are the steps you have to follow. 1. Sell vs Tell - Sell WHAT you want done. Tell the story. Tell the impact. Sell the WHAT, not just tell it. 2. Explain the how - Aka WGLL (wiggle aka what good looks like) - Here is what good looks like. 3. Teach and Train - Don't just assume people know how to do it! You have to actually teach it step by step. 4. Get Agreement and Commitment - You need direct agreement back saying 'yes I will do this thing and I feel confident i can do this thing' 5. Do it together - The first few weeks/iterations ideally are done as a group. Get the momentum going, get the questions out of the way, etc. 6. Inspect and Follow Up - Don't let weeks go by and THEN check in. That needs to be done before something is due AND after. Don't wait for the miss. 7. The 4 R's - Recognize (If they did it, recognize them for it!) Reward (same idea, what does it unlock) Repercussion (If they didn't what are the repercussions) Repeat/Repetition (Keep it going. Review, Update, etc) This is change management. So if there are certain things your team is supposed to be doing but arent... Go to these 7 steps. Did you miss something?

Cloud computing infrastructure costs represent a significant portion of expenditure for many tech companies, making it crucial to optimize efficiency to enhance the bottom line. This blog, written by the Data Team from HelloFresh, shares their journey toward optimizing their cloud computing services through a data-driven approach. The journey can be broken down into the following steps: -- Problem Identification: The team noticed a significant cost disparity, with one cluster incurring more than five times the expenses compared to the second-largest cost contributor. This discrepancy raised concerns about cost efficiency. -- In-Depth Analysis: The team delved deeper and pinpointed a specific service in Grafana (an operational dashboard) as the primary culprit. This service required frequent refreshes around the clock to support operational needs. Upon closer inspection, it became apparent that most of these queries were relatively small in size. -- Proposed Resolution: Recognizing the need to strike a balance between reducing warehouse size and minimizing the impact on business operations, the team developed a testing package in Python to simulate real-world scenarios to evaluate the business impact of varying warehouse sizes -- Outcome: Ultimately, insights suggested a clear action: downsizing the warehouse from "medium" to "small." This led to a 30% reduction in costs for the outlier warehouse, with minimal disruption to business operations. Quick Takeaway: In today's business landscape, decision-making often involves trade-offs.  By embracing a data-driven approach, organizations can navigate these trade-offs with greater efficiency and efficacy, ultimately fostering improved business outcomes. #analytics #insights #datadriven #decisionmaking #datascience #infrastructure #optimization https://lnkd.in/gubswv8k

How tech companies are saving 10+ hours a week (with these 6 simple Salesforce automations): Companies waste hours every week on tasks that should be automated. They lose time in ways no one even notices: • Clicking through screens • Manually updating fields • Logging calls by hand Each task seems small. But together, they slow everything down. Here are 6 Salesforce automations that save tech companies 10+ hours every week: 1) Data entry and lead enrichment Manual data entry slows everyone down. New leads are auto-enriched with: • Company info • Contact details • Other relevant data No typing required. That means sales can sell, marketing gets clean data, and RevOps stops fixing spreadsheets. 2) Lead management and routing Without automation, leads sit in limbo. Sales and marketing waste time figuring out ownership. So we automated lead assignment, marketing handoffs, and customer success escalations. Now everyone knows exactly where a lead belongs. No confusion. No delays. 3) Automated follow-ups, demos, and approvals If teams rely on memory for follow-ups, deals get lost. We trigger automated task reminders when key actions happen. • A new lead comes in • A demo is booked • A proposal goes out Teams get notified automatically. No more missed follow-ups. No bottlenecks. 4) Proposal, contract, and quote generation Teams shouldn’t waste time building proposals, contracts, or quotes manually. We automate it. Pre-built templates pull in Salesforce data: • Proposals are ready in minutes • Contracts auto-route for approval • No chasing down managers Faster contracts = faster deals = faster revenue. 5) Automated email and activity tracking If it’s not logged, it didn’t happen. But teams forget to log emails, calls, and meetings. So we integrate Salesforce with Outreach, Gong, and Slack to log everything automatically. Now leadership gets full visibility into: • Emails sent • Calls made • Customer responses No manual tracking required. 6) Real-time reporting and forecasting Leaders can’t make smart decisions without real-time data. So we build dashboards that track: • Pipeline health • Deal stages • Team activity Better visibility = faster, smarter decisions. The Bottom Line: Manual processes, bad data, and disconnected tools are slowing you down. We help tech companies fix this—fast. If Salesforce feels like more work than it should be, let’s change that. DM me "Salesforce" and let’s talk.

This is a book that will never pop up on a "best of" list because it doesn't have the marketing behind it the popular business books have, but it's groundbreaking in it's concept around executional excellence. I've seen this work in the real world and it's one of my keys to success as a leader. Ken Carrig and Scott Snell researched companies in various markets and found a very interesting insight. What separated the highest performers and the lowest performers in most markets was not their strategy. In many cases they had the same, or very similar, strategies. The difference between them was how well they executed that strategy. This forms the basis of Scott's 4A framework for driving executional excellence: ✅ Agility - This is your proficiency at learning rapidly and responding to change. It's not new news to anyone that business is dynamic with market shifts constantly in motion. Those who learn from these shifts and take action on them the fastest will be operating like they are playing a game with cheat codes on. But there are no cheat codes and every team is capable of being more agile if they keep their eyes on the market and make an active effort to avoid getting complacent. ✅ Architecture - This is your infrastructure and supporting systems. It encompasses both they way you operate and the technology you employ. So many teams give very little thought to how work gets done. Any place where you can drive even the smallest operational efficiency will have a big impact if you combine enough of them. This is why I'm also bullish on tech stacks being as efficient and as simple as possible. If your team is spending more time managing the software than strategically deploying it to amplify their impact then that is a problem. ✅ Ability - This is the talent of your team and their collaborative capacity. This one is pretty simple. You can't have a top performing team unless you have top performing team members. You need a thoughtful system for evaluating talent and be prepared to offer above market compensation when you identify above market talent. Also, don't overlook the team's collaborative capacity. You can have superstars in every individual role, but if they don't work well together the collective efforts of the team will suffer making each team member a worse performer than if they were working on their own. ✅ Alignment - This is clear intent, high expectations, and accountability. This is a sneaky one where unless you're on top of all 3 of those elements you won't have true alignment. Things like OKRs, KPIs, and other goal setting systems lull teams into a false sense of security. They think they have alignment simple because these systems exist. Bad OKRs are about as useful as having no goals at all. Achieving alignment is not a once a quarter thing. It's a continuous effort to provide more clarity and hold people accountable. #leadership #management #books

Every task that comes to me is urgent and important. Sound familiar? This is a challenge many of us face daily. Early in my career, prioritization was relatively straightforward—my manager told me what to focus on. But as I grew, the game changed. Suddenly, I was managing a flood of requests, far more than I could handle, and the signals from others weren’t helpful. Everything was “important.” Everything was “urgent.” Often, it was both. To handle this effectively, I realized I needed to develop an internal prioritization compass. It wasn’t easy, but it was transformative. Here are 6 strategies to help you build your own: 1/ Be crystal clear on key goals Start by understanding your organization’s goals—at the company, department, and team levels. Attend organizational forums, departmental reviews, or leadership updates to stay informed. When in doubt, use your 1:1s with leaders to ask: What does success look like? 2/ Deeply understand KPIs Metrics guide decision-making, but not all metrics are equally valuable. Take the time to understand your team's or function's key performance indicators (KPIs). Know what they measure, what they mean, and how to assess their impact. 3/ Be assertive to protect priorities Not every task deserves your attention. Practice saying “no” or deferring requests that don’t align with key goals or metrics. Assertiveness is not about being inflexible—it’s about protecting your capacity to focus on what truly matters. 4/ Set and reset expectations Priorities change, and that’s okay. What’s not okay is working on misaligned tasks. Keep open communication with your manager and stakeholders about evolving priorities. When new demands arise, clarify and reset expectations. 5/ Use 1:1s to align with your manager Leverage your 1:1s as a strategic tool. Share your current priorities, validate them against your manager’s expectations, and discuss any conflicts or challenges. 6/ Clarify the escalation process When priorities conflict, don’t let disagreements linger. If you can’t agree quickly, escalate the issue to your manager. This avoids unnecessary churn, ensures trust remains intact, and keeps momentum focused on results. PS: You won’t always get it right—and that’s okay. Treat each misstep as an opportunity to refine your compass. What’s one tip you’ve used to prioritize when everything feels urgent? --- Follow me, tap the (🔔) Omar Halabieh for daily Leadership and Career posts.

The successful adoption of legal technology requires a methodical approach that balances innovation with practical implementation. Key elements include: 1) Strategic Process Mapping Understanding your current workflow forms the foundation of effective digital transformation. Begin by documenting how your team actually works—not how they should work on paper. This means tracking time allocation across tasks, identifying repetitive processes, and gathering direct feedback from clients about service delivery pain points. By mapping these workflows to strategic objectives, firms can identify where technology can create the most significant impact. 2) Outcome-Based Goal Setting Move beyond abstract objectives by establishing concrete, measurable targets that link directly to business outcomes. Rather than pursuing technology adoption for its own sake, focus on specific improvements in service delivery. For example, reducing contract review time from four hours to one hour per document provides a clear metric for success. 3) Rigorous Solution Evaluation Have your team (and likely key users) test potential solutions using their most challenging matters and complex workflows. Further test solutions through sandboxes and proof of concept excercises. This practical evaluation approach helps ensure that selected tools address real needs rather than creating additional complexity. 4) Structured Implementation Planning Successful technology adoption requires dedicated leadership and clear accountability. Develop a phased rollout plan that designates practice group champions and establishes regular review cycles. These champions should have allocated time for implementation oversight, and the firm should conduct formal assessments at 30, 60, and 90-day intervals to measure adoption progress and address emerging challenges. Note: I've already shared in a prior post another critical element - change management. The link to it is in the comments. #legaltech #innovation #law #business #learning

If your big bet on driving customer outcomes is “let's get everyone back in the office,” you've definitely changed the view, but are you also driving customer value? Ask yourself a really simple question: do your customers see badge swipes? Customers actually experience faster answers, cleaner handoffs, and fewer do-overs. Don't confuse a facilities policy dressed up as a strategy. Here's a quick use case I can share: A global payments team mandated three days in the office to “unlock collaboration.” Onboarding dragged on for the same amount of time, tickets bounced around like they were in a pinball machine from 1978, and escalations still spiked every Friday at 3pm EST. Nothing meaningfully changed until a small group of motivated team members mapped the work, identified duplicate approvals to be killed off, set decision SLAs that were aligned to the customer, not the company, and documented the work for others to follow going forward. Cycle time dropped because the operating model changed, but the most work happened outside of the hybrid policy and within a collaboration tool, not on a whiteboard in the office. This is what being “customer-led” is all about: It's outcomes first, then org. You measure cycle time, right-first-time, and customer effort across the journey. You publish artifacts that survive meetings. You create working agreements, decision logs, and playbooks. You train managers to coach on throughput and quality, not attendance. If presence helps these metrics, great. If not, you're only slowing yourself down. If you're in a leadership position, here's what to consider doing next: Replace your attendance target with an outcome scoreboard and review it weekly with your team. Redesign rituals. Have standups by artifact, decisions by SLA, docs by default. Run a 30-day experiment on one journey slice and fund whatever cuts time-to-value the most. And be vocal about what you're looking to do at your company, not only with your team members but also with your leaders too. Not sure how any leader is going to argue with what you're trying to achieve. #customerexperience #employeeexperience #futureofwork #leadership

How GCC Leaders Can Improve Work Execution to Drive Employee Experience, Productivity, and Quality Most GCCs focus on scaling operations and cost efficiencies, but the best leaders go beyond that. They rethink how work gets done—removing inefficiencies, empowering employees, and ensuring quality outcomes. Here’s what truly moves the needle: 1. Fix Process Inefficiencies and Automate the Obvious Too many GCCs still replicate HQ processes instead of optimizing for agility. Identify bottlenecks, eliminate redundant approvals, and automate manual tasks—especially in IT, HR, and finance. Workflow automation can cut task times in half. 2. Align Teams Across Time Zones with Outcome-Based Execution Global teams struggle with coordination, leading to handover gaps and rework. Instead of micromanaging, real-time dashboards, and clear outcome ownership. Focus on customer impacting outcomes not effort. 3. Empower Employees with the Right Tools and Autonomy A poor employee experience leads to low engagement and productivity loss. Give teams self-service analytics, knowledge bases, and low-code/no-code tools to solve problems independently. Cut meeting overload and encourage deep work time. 4. Prioritize Learning, Growth, and Cross-Functional Expertise GCCs shouldn’t just execute work—they should drive innovation. Invest in technical upskilling, global mobility programs, and leadership rotations to create a future-ready workforce. 5. Governance Without Bureaucracy Traditional governance models slow down execution. Instead of rigid top-down approvals, implement agile decision-making frameworks and RACI models that balance control with speed. GCC leaders must shift from process execution to work transformation—optimizing workflows, leveraging AI, and making employee experience a top priority. The results can be significant: • 15-30% productivity gains by automating and streamlining workflows. • 10-25% cost savings through elimination of reduntang processes, process efficiencies and automation. • 20-40% improvement in employee engagement by reducing friction in daily work. • 20-50% faster execution of key projects by reducing delays and dependencies. • 25-50% fewer errors through improved governance and automation.

Is your GenAI strategy missing a key ingredient? Successful AI adoption is about change on three fronts: 1) operational development, 2) people, and 3) tech change, not just tech upgrades. Successful AI adoption needs a two-pronged approach LLM + HLM (Large Language Model + Large Human Model): 1. Operational Development Change: Adapt workflows, processes, and IT infrastructure for AI. Think of it as preparing soil for a new plant. Examples: streamline data collection, redesign workflows, train employees on AI tools, and upgrade IT systems. 2. Cultural Change: Shift mindsets to embrace AI. Create an environment where people are comfortable and excited about AI. Examples: address employee concerns, communicate benefits, and foster a culture of experimentation and learning. >> Why Both Matter: Implementing the latest AI tech alone won’t guarantee success. Your operations, including IT infrastructure, must support it. Without employee buy-in, AI investments may go to waste. Think of it as building a house: Operational changes lay the foundation. While cultural changes ensure employees feel comfortable and fully utilize AI. Both are essential for successful AI adoption. Thoughts? ------------------------------- 👋 I'm Mariana Saddakni. I help businesses grow with AI by enhancing business efficiency and keeping teams up-to-date with tech evolution.