DiGence
Web Application
Generative AI
The Challenge
Geeks had been delivering digital transformation projects for a number of years. However, strategy services were delivered using simple non-specialised off the shelf products and a lot of time working in spreadsheets. So we set out to practice what we preach and digitally transform those services by designing and delivering an application to systemise data collection and automate data analysis. The challenge was how to deliver ROI quickly whilst not disrupting the continuing delivery of strategy services.
The Solution
Incremental delivery, constant iteration, leveraging AI
In order to minimise disruption I defined an approach to the project that broke up the strategy service workflow into stages. The team would then be tasked with delivering the application to replace each stage whilst ensuring that the old workflow would be unaffected. This did not mean simply starting at the beginning of the linear workflow, but building the application to replace the most labour intensive and complex stages first, therefore delivering a greater ROI sooner.
Having delivered the application for a particular stage, a part of the team would begin designing and delivering the next stage, whilst another part of the team observed the new application in use and fed improvements into the product roadmap.
As the project progressed it became clear that the data analysis stages of the strategy workflow could not be systemised using traditional software development approaches. Fortunately this was around the time that Open AI APIs became commercially available. By leveraging generative AI the team were able to deliver an application that did more than simply replace spreadsheets with a web application, but was able to deliver significant increases in productivity through automation.
The Outcome
DiGence, as the application was branded, has been used to deliver 10 Digital diagnostics projects since the MVP was launched. It has helped the team at geeks to create Digital Transformation roadmaps for clients in weeks using the new application, rather than months with the old workflow. We continue to deliver improvements and leverage generative AI to increase productivity.
Interface Designs
