Julia Hammer – Alle auf neu
As a change manager and shareholder, you and your team have spent the past year and a half pushing the transformation of your company with great energy forward. Today, enomyc is more present in the market than ever before, with an extended range of services, a new brand identity, and contemporary communication.
For many years your company operated successfully under the name K+H Business Partner as a management consultancy for medium-sized businesses - what were the reasons for changing and setting up an extensive transformation process?
As consultants we recognise changes in the market at an early stage and act with foresight. While digitalisation is in full swing in many industries, our core clientele - medium-sized businesses - is still a little behind. What many are postponing, we will have done in 2016. Back then, we systematically examined our business model for digital maturity and identified that many of our processes and tools were not suitable for digital change. We then decided to revamp ourselves. After all, if you want to guide others into the digital transformation, you have to lead the way. At the same time, we realised that digitalisation offers us great opportunities for growth. We have set ourselves clear goals in terms of services, culture, instruments and processes, and have largely implemented them to date.
What were the biggest challenges during the implementation?
Asking the right questions at the beginning. Which of our processes will meet our growth targets, which will not? Which digital tools and skills do we need? We found the answers with internal and external digital experts and came across many manual and person-related processes. One example: We previously used different, non-standardised tools to manage our customer contacts. Today we use the leading CRM system across the board to professionalise our internal and external communication.
It was a courageous step, but also the right one. Our company has further increased in value.
The adjustment of your brand positioning even went as far as changing your former company name - can you explain this step further?
We asked ourselves: If our transformation is as comprehensive as we plan it to be - with a significantly expanded range of services, new processes, an integrated consulting approach and a team strengthened by young digital experts - will our old name still fit our completely renewed brand? We did not think so. Today we know: It was a courageous step, but also the right one.
What message does the new company name enomyc carry?
The name enomyc is composed of the words "economy" "nominal" and "dynamic", and fits perfectly to what we do for companies after our transformation: with us, medium-sized companies will thrive in the digital age, crisis-resistant and powerful at full speed. We are performance management consultants - not necessarily strategy consultants. We are focused, hands-on and visionary.
How long did it take from kick-off to go-live of the new brand?
My colleagues and I have set ourselves a two-year target. And we were able to meet that target. But you really need this amount of time.
How does one communicate such a change internally and externally?
We had put together an internal committee from various departments. Everyone was invited to participate. There were regular updates on the status quo. That was good and important. Taking staff along is key to ensuring that a company can convincingly present its new brand image to the outside world. We started external communication four months before going live. We invited our most important contacts to a roadshow - but only with the information that something would change dramatically. We later revealed the secret in person. That worked brilliantly!
With us, medium-sized companies grow crisis-resistant and powerful at full speed in the digital age.
You said that medium-sized businesses are a little behind in terms of digitisation - how far do you think medium-sized businesses have already been digitally transformed?
We know that many CEOs take the topic of digitisation very seriously. But really initiating digitisation processes and seriously putting money into it - at the moment, probably only ten percent of SMEs do that - at least that we know of. Unfortunately, many only get going when they have sales difficulties, product quality is low or they no longer generate a return.
What challenges do medium-sized companies face in the digitisation process?
We can already see that many SMEs are not familiar with the products and processes of digitisation. Many of them find it difficult to assess what digitalisation will bring financially or when the right time might be to start. But we also observe that "sound" SMEs are getting into difficulties due to poorly managed digitisation. Example: Confronting established personnel structures with the implementation of new processes and new software can lead to defensive attitudes in the workforce and management that cannot detach themselves from old processes. Companies need time to get their employees used to digitalisation. To persuade skeptics, to promote the simplification of processes and to gain recognition for automated processes.
How do you support your clients to successfully master these challenges?
We stand for profitable solutions where the figures are right. This is based on clear analyses of the markets, competitors and the performance of our clients. We actively involve our clients in the process and provide security when implementing new processes. In addition, we advise and support companies in the hiring process of professional personnel.
What has the new brand identity achieved so far?
Attentiveness, contracts and excellent applicants. There is also more of a dialogue and greater openness. We quickly realised that online marketing is also possible and important in our field. We generate our contracts mainly through recommendations, but increasingly also receive inquiries from interested parties who find us online. The brand is well received. This is exactly what we wanted to achieve.
Where do you see your brand in the future?
I see it as a big and well-known brand in the area of consulting medium-sized businesses. It will play a major role in shaping the change that a large part of the German medium-sized business sector is still facing.