In January 2021, Jauco Noordzij and I will start a business as consultants for digital business strategy in the Dutch public sector. That sounds chic and just a tad bit vague – but it means we provide supervision during the construction of digital projects of (semi-)public institutions which do not develop their own software. And there are many of such organisations – the primary process of a health care provider is to provide healthcare, not to “integrate software into an existing application landscape” nor to “develop of a roadmap for migrating services to the cloud”.
Compare this with large improvement projects in your home. For most of us, you just don’t do this often enough to know exactly which problems you’ll encounter. Working with an experienced professional helps you to attain your preferences; someone to assist with formulating your requests for suppliers; and who acts as an intermediary between you and your contractors or architects.
We provide such an independent service for digital transitions. Starting next year, Jauco and I will combine forces to work for the public sector. Especially health care attracts us. We are not an extension of the software industry but work directly for our clients. We are motivated by developing new creative digital solutions for social issues. Innovation is never a goal in itself. We focus on buzzwords like “AI”, “data driven”, and the “IoT” when these solve problems in the real world. Problems that hamper the execution of operational processes, now or in the future. And we explicitly ensure that the technical solution fits the departments involved and can be sustained at every level of the organisation.
In short: we make sure that software companies not only build good software, but also the right software.
Benefiting from years in academic research we have a habit of challenging the assumptions in a business case and look for empirical proof when drafting a roadmap. Running experiments on potential solutions is in our DNA. We combine this with a unique capacity to involve people: from boardroom to workplace. And, of course, when necessary we will reach out to our extensive network in the computational or social sciences to ensure the success of our projects.
In case you are interested in exploring a cooperation, or consider employing our services, we are readily available for a meeting. Please contact me at gertjan@fourdays.com.