The global pandemic has deeply impacted the way we work. Technology, particularly software, has become crucial and will continue to be critical in delivering services, engaging with customers, and providing business continuity. In fact, even legal mergers and acquisitions (M&A) professionals, who are often among the major holdouts to embrace remote work and technologies, are increasingly using technology to automate common tasks, such as redaction and contract analysis. Most legal teams are even planning to stay fully remote or adopt a hybrid model for their work setup. In short, remote work is here to stay and further technology adoption is expected. Here we’ll talk about the key factors to innovating in a post pandemic world.
In light of this, now is the time for technology and software providers to continue to innovate and seize the moment. At Datasite, we take a customer-focused approach to innovation that has resulted in the rapid market success of our services and applications, which solve problems that have troubled M&A dealmakers for years.
To do this, we use three principles to guide our software product development.
Key Takeaways
- The global pandemic has changed how we work, increasing reliance on technology and remote models.
- To innovate in a post pandemic world, tech providers must engage directly with customers and understand their problems.
- Datasite follows three principles: engaging with customers, simulating solutions for feedback, and testing ideas quickly.
- The pandemic taught valuable lessons in managing transactions remotely, utilizing advanced technologies like video conferencing and virtual data rooms.
- With M&A expected to rise, focusing on strategic aspects over tedious tasks is essential for success in the post pandemic world.
Table of contents
Get Out of The Building & Engage with Your Customer
We engage directly with customers and have conversations with them to understand their problems, why they are important to solve, and our solutions. This is important if innovating in a post pandemic world. This is a principle I learned early on in my career when I first developed an application called Acquisition Trustee. I had heard from colleagues about the many pain points of acquirers when it came to conducting diligence and used those insights to develop a product that would streamline the process.
Bring the Future into the Present
At Datasite, we focus on simulating our solution before we put all the time and energy into building it. This allows us to get feedback early and often to make sure we solve the right problems, the right way with innovative and easy-to-use technology. All of that starts with knowing your customers and identifying and understanding their problems. At Datasite, we do a lot of customer discovery to validate problems and to understand if it’s worth solving the problem. If it is, we get that validated prior to building it. That way, we ensure that we’re focused on solving the right problem for our customers, especially in a post pandemic world.
Don’t Guess, Test
We cultivate a mindset called shoshin, which is a Zen Buddhist term for beginner’s mind, or having an attitude of openness and avoiding getting too wrapped up in preconceptions. We focus on taking our ideas out to our customers and testing them quickly, rather than making our decisions based on what we guess to be right.
We learned some valuable lessons during the pandemic, including how to operate complex businesses and processes, such as managing transactions, entirely remotely. Despite all the interruptions, companies and their advisers became increasingly adept at using remote technologies, including video conferencing, virtual data rooms and sometimes even drones, to conduct negotiations, market assets, prepare for a sale, and conduct due diligence.
Parting Words
With M&A expected to continue to soar this year, we are excited to continue to use our product development principles to help our customers focus on the strategic aspects of deal-making, not on the time-consuming tasks that can easily be automated. Again, this is key to successfully innovating in a post pandemic world.
So, how is your organization planning to seize the moment?
