Assessments

WE’VE ALL BEEN THERE BEFORE.

You plan an outdoor event days, weeks, and even months in advance just to be met with less-than-ideal weather conditions. Whether that’s a heat advisory during a family trip to the zoo, severe thunderstorms during a beach outing, or an obvious lack of snow during a ski trip – We can all relate to that, “If I only knew…” feeling.

For most people, one time is enough. After that, you’re checking weather conditions multiple times leading up to the planned event with a back-up plan (or two) on hand.

But what about that, “If I only knew…” moment in business? That one time could potentially result in an enormous loss, hindering the long-term growth of your company.

So, use assessments to know what you don’t know.

ALL ABOUT ASSESSMENTS

Your weatherman/weatherwoman collects a massive amount of data to analyze, gain insights, and provide a forecast so that you (and millions of other viewers) can make well-informed plans.

Assessments will help your business in that same exact way – collecting a massive amount of data, gaining insights, and unveiling unforeseen roadblocks so that you can craft well-informed plans for your business. If done correctly, an assessment is the perfect business tool to prevent that detrimental, “If I only knew…” feeling.

For any type of project in any type of industry, Access Sciences highly recommends conducting an assessment as the first step. In our own projects – both client and internal projects, assessments are used to uncover unknown issues within the company, find improvements to existing processes, and reveal where the company stands against competitors and industry standards.

Once the full picture is unveiled, we can leverage that information to craft a more relevant and successful game plan moving forward in the project.

ACCESS SCIENCES’ ASSESSMENTS

We offer assessments in all three of our focus areas: Information Governance, Technology Enablement, and Business Strategy. In each assessment conducted, our team members work closely with clients to:

• Ensure the assessment aligns with their executive objectives.
• Identify and document their current state and desired future state.
• Analyze issues and risks.
• Deliver actionable information to form both short and long-term goals.

Records & Information Management (RIM) Assessment

Our Information Governance Team conducts RIM Assessments on behalf of clients, collecting a wide range of data to analyze, gain insights, and determine the best solution moving forward.

Through surveys and business stakeholder workshops, our team gains an understanding of the client’s executive objectives, current state, and desired future state. Then, an extensive, in-depth analysis of the client’s current information management environment reveals its strengths, issues, risks, needs, and more.

Access Sciences reviews the data, forming insights and measuring the results against industry standards.  From there, we communicate the outcome with our clients so that the project team can base next steps on solid, reliable information.

A recent migration project’s environment analysis revealed that 60% of the existing content was eligible for disposition/archive, meaning only 40% of the existing content actually needed to be migrated. Without that initial assessment, the migration would have needed a lot more time and effort to complete, resulting in a higher cost for the client.

Cloud-Readiness Assessment

Our Technology Enablement Team follows those same steps to conduct a Cloud-Readiness Assessment.

As always, our team seeks to first understand. We administer surveys and hold business stakeholder workshops to capture information of the client’s executive objectives, current state, and desired future state.

Once we have a good grasp on the client’s needs and wants, we conduct an analysis to determine which applications, records, and files can and should be moved to the Cloud. This, of course, reveals the scope of the project – Is it doable? Access Sciences can measure your available in-house resources against the realistic time, effort, and cost it will take to carry out the project. This will help you determine whether your IT team has the skill set, resources, and availability or if you should enlist the help of a third party to successfully execute the project.

In addition to those analyses, our team will also assess your industry’s security requirements and regulations regarding the Cloud, ensuring you remain in compliance and out of legal troubles.

There are a lot of moving parts and factors to consider when it comes to a migration to the Cloud, and completing a Cloud-Readiness Assessment is an essential first step to avoid any less-than-desirable surprises later on in the process.

Cultural Readiness for Change Assessment

Before any new project – or anything that’s going to affect employees’ existing behaviors, a Cultural Readiness Assessment should take place. Access Sciences’ Business Strategy Team uses these assessments to measure the degree to which a business’ cultural norms align with the upcoming change.

In Cultural Readiness Assessments, surveys and workshops are not only used to determine executive objectives, current state, and desired future state, but to also capture the organization’s culture.

Some industries are known as innovative and forward-thinking while others are known to be a bit slow to change – So, where does the organization fall on that spectrum? If you’re introducing a new system, some employees may have years of experience with it, while others may have never even heard of it before – What’s that breakdown within this organization? It’s important to know the organizational characteristics that may affect how employees will perceive and accept change.

Based on the data gathered on the organization’s proposed change and cultural readiness, our consultants can evaluate the impact, including a realistic picture for the time, effort, and resources needed to successfully adopt the organization-wide change.

RIM, Cloud-Readiness, and Cultural Readiness are only three types of assessments we are able to perform for clients. As mentioned before, assessments can and should be the first step in any project. In business, just one “If I only knew…” moment can set back your goals immensely. So, before you embark on that project, make sure you know what you don’t know.

Watch Senior Consultant Constantine Noukas’ webinar, “Why Assess? Know What you Don’t Know,” to learn more about the value of assessments.