Who are Tratech?
Tratech Consulting was founded in March 2021, at the height of the pandemic with the sole purpose of wanting to make the end-user the focal point of Retail and Hospitality IT projects. It was started by Matt Rose, who, after 12 years of consulting with large globally based retailers, wanted to turn IT projects on their heads.
What do you mean about “turning projects on their heads”?
For years, IT projects have been driven by IT departments’ need to try and keep up with new and ever-changing technology, evolving customer trends and sometimes just because there is a budget that they need to spend. These projects are typically ones that force new systems and processes on the end-users, be they internal or external. The end-users have very little say in the need or implementation of these systems and processes where they are just informed that they are coming, or they need to change their way of working and therefore adoption rates are low and resistance to the new ways of working is high.
Tratech has a mission to change that! We believe that the end-user should be deeply involved in solving the technological problem from the start. Be that a pre-study or RFP construction, through the design and implementation phase right through to deployment. They are the people who use the system day in, day out and know the problems to be solved. Too many times, involving the end-user gets left to the end of a project where they first see the new system or process when they get asked to attend a User Acceptance Test. By this point, it is too late and pressure is high from the project team to adopt the system.
How do you do it and what makes you different to other consultancies?
Simply, we stand up for the end-user. We challenge business and project stakeholders from initial project start-up, when the Target Operating Model is being defined, and ensure that there is business involvement within the project (even if it is one or two senior business leaders with good ‘on-the-ground’ experience to start with).
We are always validating designs and implementations to make sure they are fit for purpose from an end-user perspective and are focused on the user experience (UX). Let’s face it who would want to work with a solution every single day which was overly complicated, difficult to navigate and took hours to do something which you used to do in minutes?
But we can’t release end-users full-time from their day-to-day jobs. How can we accommodate?
We recognise that taking end-users out of their day jobs can be difficult. The balance of project vs day-to-day operations is a fine one and it is something that we factor into setting up a project where the end-users are involved. We work around the need for the users to be in their day jobs and identify times and phases of the project where their involvement can be minimalised. There are obviously periods where the users will need to be heavily involved i.e. UAT or certain Design phases, but again this can be planned carefully to support both the needs of the project and the business.
What does Tratech Consulting offer?
We have experience in many areas across the Software Delivery Lifecycle and Project Management, including Business Analysts, Programme and Project Managers, Test Managers, Data, Technical and Solution Architects with all having a Retail and Hospitality domain specialism.
We can help support you on your project journey as we have done with some of the biggest retailers in the world.
If you want more information on Tratech and how we can help support your project to be successful with your end-users, get in touch today.
