About i-Enterprise
For most Estonian companies, the desire to become more efficient, more competitive and more innovative is characteristic. Digital maturity creates conditions for better realization of competitive advantages and more efficient use of resources, thereby improving a company’s profitability.
Columbus Estonia has developed an entirely new approach to enterprise digitalization – i-Enterprise – starting from the beginning and looking at the company-wide picture. A program, where digital possibilities are analyzed, i.e., Digital diagnostics are carried out, a digital vision and a digital development plan are created based on the company’s strategy and objectives and are helped to implement them gradually.
Origin story
We live in a time where the development of technology is more rapid than ever before. Competition is becoming increasingly fierce, and along with the development of technology, the behavioral patterns of clients are also shifting. The struggle for survival and growth is a dramatic journey for many enterprises. There is little time to react to changes and the necessary competence in the management of digital development. It has quite often not been developed in the enterprise.
On the other hand, the development of technology and changes in the market offer new and unique opportunities to grow and modify products/services to meet the demand. We also seek to change the market and customer behavior in a favorable direction for these products/services.
There are different examples, including Uber and Amazon. Columbus’ objective has always been to improve the business of its customers and to implement the best business software solutions. The software, employees, and machinery must work together as a uniform system to create values for the company’s customers and guarantee the enterprise’s sustainability and development.
In Columbus’ service portfolio, business consultations have been available for years, as a separate service. In addition to regular business software, we have also supported our customers in management, process improvement, LEAN production, business analysis and much more.
Various business consultation projects carried out over the years with various companies helped us to realize that in many cases the problems are similar, regardless of the size, location or area of activity of the company. To manage digital development, companies need an action plan based on business advantages that help to implement them.
We have developed a business innovation, and digitization service called the i-Enterprise program. The letter ‘i’ in the name represents digital innovation, which is now a must in the development of one’s business. During the development of the service and the preparation of the implementation methodology, we used the best supply chain management concepts and worked with the Tallinn University of Technology and Harvard University Publishing.
Holistic approach
The development of an enterprise is linked to various factors. For instance, the external factors affecting companies, include the market situation and competitive circumstances. The biggest impact on development, however, comes from within the enterprise.
The development involves constant changes both for the company and for the management of these changes. Successful change management requires that the company leader understand the “bigger picture.” It is not sufficient to develop a certain area or to improve a certain process. Change management must be holistic, i.e., aimed at the whole.
One of Columbus’ six quality promises states: “We only deal with things that create value for the customer.” This objective is shared by the i-Enterprise program developed by Columbus – to help entrepreneurs manage digitalization and innovation in their enterprise in a way that improves value creation and competitive advantages.
Digitalization is not sufficient for single projects. Achieving a major objective requires systematic action and the proper implementation of improvement projects. To do this, however, it is first necessary to develop a vision and an action plan.
To keep the overall picture focused, the impact of every change (project for improvement) must be understood. Therefore, together with enterprises that have joined the i-Enterprise program, we have created a framework that can be used to monitor the progress of digitalization and the impact of improvement actions on the overall picture.
Do you wish to launch your i-Enterprise programme?
