Andy Norman of Mobiquity On How To Use Digital Transformation To Take Your Company To The Next Level

I think our healthcare projects are the most rewarding. We are working on a mental health program, tools for helping those with addiction, apps for those with rare medical conditions, etc. While enabling more convenience or easier transactions is satisfying, healthcare solutions are the most rewarding.

As part of our series about “How To Use Digital Transformation To Take Your Company To The Next Level”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Andy Norman, President, NA at Mobiquity.

Andy Norman has a broad range of experience in the technology industry, encompassing multinational corporations, startups and fast-growth companies. He has played many leadership roles across a diverse range of technologies, products and services from infrastructure, technology products, and consumer applications. He enjoys the breadth of disciplines required to build a successful business.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?

I was fortunate enough to get an IBM scholarship to study at Brunel University in the UK and gained a BSC and M’Eng along the way. IBM gave me a great education across multiple disciplines, which prompted me to start a business which was subsequently sold to a US consulting company. That prompted my move to Boston and I’ve been in the US since 2007.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘take aways’ you learned from that?

It wasn’t funny at the time! My boss asked me to change some firmware on a set of machines on a production line, during one lunch time without the proper sign-offs in place. One of the six machines didn’t come back online and I got into some serious trouble. It made me very aware of change management and how to troubleshoot problems.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

I was in my mid-20s and started in a new department with a Scottish manager who could be brusque. His first words to me were “Sonny, I thrive on confrontation!” He also had a daily standup and the person with the worst performance got handed a wooden spoon! However, he turned out to be the absolute best, he believed in me and pushed me to take on new challenges. I learned that encouragement, as well as challenge, is the best way to optimize performance.

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

Riding the waves of culture by Fons Trompenaar, which I read on several trips to Israel was very helpful in understanding how different cultures work and how as a person doing international business you can be understood and relevant.

Extensive research suggests that “purpose driven businesses” are more successful in many areas. When your company started, what was its vision, what was its purpose?

When I started my own business, our purpose was to build a great team and help clients realize the benefit of the solutions we brought to them. We had a blast because the team was so well aligned and that shone through in the work we did. At Mobiquity it was about helping clients create applications that enabled their customers to live better lives; healthier, more convenient, more rewarding.

Are you working on any new, exciting projects now? How do you think that might help people?

I think our healthcare projects are the most rewarding. We are working on a mental health program, tools for helping those with addiction, apps for those with rare medical conditions, etc. While enabling more convenience or easier transactions is satisfying, healthcare solutions are the most rewarding.

Thank you for all that. Let’s now turn to the main focus of our discussion about Digital Transformation. For the benefit of our readers, can you help explain what exactly Digital Transformation means? On a practical level what does it look like to engage in a Digital Transformation?

It’s a very broad topic. In essence, it’s about providing digital means for customers to interact and engage with a brand to enjoy their products and services, to bring automation to processes to reduce costs and improve efficiency, and adopt the latest technologies (eg cloud) to provide levels of resilience, agility and flexibility to respond to changing customer demands at an optimum cost to the business.

Which companies can most benefit from a Digital Transformation?

Almost everyone, but particularly those with a requirement for a great customer experience, or need to improve operational efficiency, or need to respond to rapidly changing demands.

We’d love to hear about your experiences helping others with Digital Transformation. In your experience, how has Digital Transformation helped improve operations, processes and customer experiences? We’d love to hear some stories if possible.

Wawa — great customer experience and convenience, order ahead, multiple forms of payment, delivery, curbside pickup, gas pump autostart.

Millicom — during covid, digital applications enabled customers to consume telecom services digitally without having to go to a physical store.

Surepay — bringing more security and reliability to transferring funds electronically.

Merck — helping provide HCPs with better product information to best help their patients achieve the best outcomes.

Has integrating Digital Transformation been a challenging process for some companies? What are the challenges? How do you help resolve them?

Need to align to a common business goal and KPIs to track progress

Form teams that are aligned to these goals

Understand what changes operationally as transformation is executed

Ok. Thank you. Here is the primary question of our discussion. Based on your experience and success, what are “Five Ways a Company Can Use Digital Transformation To Take It To The Next Level”? Please share a story or an example for each.

Focus on customer behavior and needs — Travelers app rating enhanced

Adopt processes that can iterate quickly — Rabobank innovation

Track KPIs that provide feedback loops so you can adjust intelligently — KnG pump start

Make use of cloud services and technologies — AWS reinvent, spike to 200k users in one day

Use automation to enhance efficiency and drive higher levels of customer engagement

In your opinion, how can companies best create a “culture of innovation” in order to create new competitive advantages?

• Allocate resources
• Have a process that gets to POCs quickly
• Accept some ideas will fail
• Test ideas with clients, quickly and often

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Seek to understand in order to be understood

How can our readers further follow your work?

LinkedIn and Mobiquity’s insights page.

Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!