Establishing a nucleus for Digital Transformation at an SME

CLIENT & INDUSTRY

Media Company (SME),
Media Industry, Book Retail, Library

SERVICES

Digital Transformation

Mindset Change

Culture Change

The wholesale business unit of a medium-sized media company supplied around 250 public libraries with books. It also ran its own public library with several thousand regular users.
Unfortunately, the unit had been making losses for years.
Therefore, the Executive Board hired a viadoo team member as interim manager. His task was to set up an online shop for wholesale and an ebook lending service (eLending).
Both projects became the nucleus for the digital transformation of the entire media company.

At that time, this project was one of several change initiatives that took place in parallel within the media company.
Consequently, the +30 employees of the wholesale unit worried whether the digital transformation could lead to job cuts or even a shutdown of the business unit.
This fear was threatening to paralyse internal innovation and performance.
But it was precisely these skills what the interim manager was now depending on to save the struggling unit.

In order to keep the employees’ fears and insecurities to a minimum, the interim manager informed and involved them comprehensively. He also actively involved the works council, although it wasn’t legally required at that time.
Then the employees evaluated the existing processes of the wholesale unit in SIPOC workshops lasting several days (documentation in flow charts).
The interim manager then formed a team of highly motivated volunteers with digital skills. They also had to be very familiar with the processes of the book market.
The team immediately began designing the online shop and the ebook lending service. It therefore partnered with other public libraries and collaborated with external experts. The interim manager empowered the team in addition with the training of new online skills (e.g. digital rights management).
In the end the team adapted a digital mindset and new corporate culture of customer-centricity, innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning.
It led to a saving potential of 15 % of the business unit’s balance sheet total. Through new digital products and collaboration with external partners.