Introduction
Algar Telecom, since its creation, has had the mission to serve. The company offers high-speed fiber optic internet, quality cellular, voice, data, and IT services, including cloud and network security services, as well as management systems for small businesses.
Backstory & Initial Challenges
Algar Telecom’s case revolves around the transfer of their so-called “Integration TIC” tribe/department to a Business Unit with a strong focus on identity and Agile practices.
While the business unit was already experimenting with Agile ways of working, the Integration tribe/department managed work in a more traditional way. Therefore, the main challenge for Algar Telecom arose from the lack of work standardization and consensus on how to deliver value in this new environment where the Business Unit and the Integration area had to cooperate.
To name a few, the Integration department’s environment was categorized by some of the following challenges:
- Low solidity in project management
- Unclear delivery metrics
- Little to no standardization of flows
- Low visibility and transparency of projects
Adopting A Digital Mindset Through Lean/Agile Ways of Working
Getting Started with Kanban & Introducing Agile Ceremonies
With the main goal of Algar Telecom to bring digital transformation in the management of work in the Integrations department, Agile coaches – Frederico Oliveira and Ednaldo Azevedo attended “Agile Brazil” in November 2022. The main idea was to find a tailor-made approach that could be tweaked to fulfill the characteristics of their operations.
This is how they chose the Kanban method, which they combined with different Agile ceremonies such as "Retrospectives", "Reviews", etc.
Mapping Workflows & Digitizing the Customer Journey
While being at “Agile Brazil”, Frederico Oliveira and Ednaldo Azevedo got familiar specifically with Businessmap and decided to replace their existing tooling with the platform.
The first step of the implementation was to build Kanban boards for the different teams inside the Integrations tribe and illustrate their end-to-end delivery steps.
Visualizing Project Flow on Digital Boards
One of the main digital benefits that the boards gave the Integration tribe was the ability to see what was blocking the work and how everything is connected across the hierarchy to manage dependencies.
Combined with visualizing work performance data across dashboards, Algar Telecom reported that project managers saved hours of manual reporting time, which they could convert in gathering customer requirements and better understanding them.
Dashboard to Monitor Workflow Performance
Key Results for Process Improvement
Because of the regular "Retrospectives" and the analysis of dependencies on interconnected Kanban boards, Algar Telecom reported improvements in their project flow.
For example, in March 2023, the Integration department delivered 15 reviews in total for the month. Due to the new ways of working, the teams synthesized 12 root causes and resolved 20% of procedural obstacles at an emergency level, speeding up the overall project flow.
Next Steps on the Digital Transformation Journey
In terms of future plans, the Integration department within Algar Telecom aims to expand the use of Kanban and Businessmap to all parties involved within the main Business Unit and introduce OKRs (Objectives & Key Results) within the platform.
Read Algar Telecom's whole story in the case study below.
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