The Microsoft Office Suite is undeniably the prevailing standard in the vast majority of companies across North America and Europe. The added value offered by this software suite is a proven entity, and VisioTM has become a safe bet when it comes to equipping a variety of users for their conceptualization initiatives. So much so that nowadays, most large companies have inherited, probably like you have, a large amount of legacy VisioTM files. However, some limiting factors of this approach can put the brakes on organizations striving to reach their strategic objectives.
In this regard, we have identified two complementary processes for improvement:
- Countless sources of information are not valued and used the way they could be
- The benefits of this production made by modeling experts are far from used in an optimal way
That said, the answers to this need for improvement are quite limited in number and unclear. The main approach in the market is the “steamroller” one that consists of putting away your VisioTM licenses and force your users into deeply changing their habits to equip themselves with new and more structured solutions. This approach may work if it is accompanied by the right level of investment and if the maturity level is already there!
The approach we propose tends to go in the opposite direction of the “Big Bang” method for several fundamental reasons:
- Capitalizing on existing information cannot be summarized in a simple import of data since the drawings become normalized models that use multidimensional objects.
- Reusing the vocabulary and graphical norms integrated into VisioTM is clearly the preferred way to ease the transition path
- The inventory and analysis of VisioTM users enable to identify several kinds of profiles: some are occasional users, and others are real modeling aficionados. It then becomes essential to provide them with tools that are adapted to their use and expectations.
Finally, to make a proper transition between a tactical project-based approach towards a perennial enterprise initiative, the company has to rely on its culture and vision. This initiative needs to scrupulously follow an iterative method that is focused on reaching tangible results as soon as during the first weeks!
These few lines really tend to give the perception that VisioTM has become our best enemy. And as with any strategic enemy, we need to deal with it and learn to work around it or conquer it.
To illustrate this observation, we invite you to have a look at a concrete demonstration in the video below. It will probably shed some light on the answers that Casewise has to offer in this specific situation.