Scale your business with Operational Excellence, by Ranya Barakat Director of Global Services, Avidly

Wilma Eriksson: [00:00:00] Hi there. Do you have tuned into Fail and Grow as an Operational Excellence podcast? Actually, season seven fail and Grow is for you who wanna increase your revenue and become more profitable. I mean, who doesn't? So by listening and learning and laughing with world class leaders within opics, who are your.

Not just full of knowledge, but also humble enough to share their fuck up and what they learn from it and who you're listening to is me. I'm the host and my name is Wilma. I'm one of the co-founders and the CEO of Delq Configure Price Quote, and our tool is, of course, seamless, integrated with your favorite C, reducing the cost of errors that directly affects revenue.

And your profitability. But enough about that, today's experts is, no, no, no. One less than Ranya. Barkett, the director of [00:01:00] Global Services at Avidly. And what Ranya isn't able to answer about HubSpot is nearly impossible to find. So I'm gonna do some bragging now here. So she has been, uh, she's founded a company Serum Toolbox that was acquired by.

Avidly, uh, she has been a hub partner for 12 years. Uh, she has been a part of the HubSpot ecosystem, like all over the world, like EMEA North and Latin America. She's a professor in HubSpot Academy Discovery called Bootcamp. That would be really interesting for anyone out there wanna have more. First meeting.

I mean, I could go on forever, Rania, but it's a true pleasure to have you here. And maybe I should say something about ADI as well. Oh, it's so much, I'm so much bragging here. I always wanna do the bragging. So Avid is a leading global partner, five years running actually, and they are present globally with over 2,500 successful implementation Rania.

It's a. Huge pleasure having you here in the podcast, your failing role. Warmly welcome. [00:02:00]

Ranya: Thank you, Wilma. It's, uh, my pleasure to be here. Um, and thank you for taking time to speak with me. Of course, of

Wilma Eriksson: course. So, um, from your point of view, who is Rania and, uh, what do Avidly do?

Ranya: Um, okay. I'll start with avidly and then I'll jump into, um, Ranya.

Avidly is, um, a global HubSpot partner. That focuses on enterprise, um, CRM rollout in addition to mid-market. Uh, we've been HubSpot's global partner of the year for the last five years running. We're global, meaning we have presence in North America, in EMEA and, uh, apac, jpac, uh, a team, I think now more than 350 people.

Um, so yeah. Um. Longtime HubSpot partner with a focus and specialization on that, who is ranya? Ooh,

Wilma Eriksson: that's a complex question, right?[00:03:00]

Ranya: It is a complex question. I like to start by saying I, um, I'm a, I'm a global, I'm a soul on earth, but also a global citizen. Meaning I have lived, worked in all continents on the planet, with exception to Antarctica and Asia. Um, I am a very high energy, um, sometimes considered a little bit too energetic for some, um, not for me, but lots of high.

Yeah, I've heard that as well. Yeah. Um, but yeah, that's me. I tech lover anthropologist by, um, by study tech, lover by design. I guess that by coincidence maybe. Yeah. By

Wilma Eriksson: coincidence. Oh

Ranya: yeah.

Wilma Eriksson: Nice. Good to have you here. And, uh, I always ask, uh, my dear guests what their favorite of the work drink is. So of course I'm wondering that from you at spell.

Oh,

Ranya: so good [00:04:00] question. If it's, uh, been, um, you know, one of those days at work where uh, you've sort of felt a little bit drained, uh, I would go for. Relax or breathe empty. Uh, if it's been a boom, I closed a really good deal, or I got a really good NPS or anything on those line. I'd probably say rum. Rum.

Mm-hmm.

Wilma Eriksson: Whatever rum sounds specific. Rum,

Ranya: uh, I'd go with whatever rum. Um, and if you ask me when I still lived in Chile, in Latin America mm-hmm. I would tell you, uh, pi. Yeah. So Peruvian origin drink, uh. Made from grapes. I really don't know how they make it really good. And then they mix it with, um, marquia, which in English is passion fruit.

Wilma Eriksson: Ah,

Ranya: okay.

Wilma Eriksson: Nice.

Ranya: Very nice.

Wilma Eriksson: That sounds very good. [00:05:00] Very nice. I wasn't about to ask you like. Uh, I've never had an idea, like I would go to a bar and order rum, then the clothes I would get is like moto. And then I'm also like, is this really rum and meto? So, you know, my rum knowledge is very poor here. So I was thinking to ask you like, okay, how to enter like the world of Rome, but maybe then uh, through that passion, fruit efficacy.

Ah, I can see that happens.

Ranya: That's one way. And then I think the other way entry with rum is 'cause it's so sweet. So it hits you really? Um, okay. Like hard, um, efficient. Yeah. So, um, short,

Wilma Eriksson: yeah, that, that's uh, actually a very nice segue into today's topic. I have another question before that, but to be very efficient, operational excellence is about being efficient.

So maybe that's something, uh, that comes with your core.

Ranya: Yes. Get to the point quickly. It's like, you know, gonna mix it and then I have to have five of them, just few shots. You're good to go. A

Wilma Eriksson: good friend of mine, we. [00:06:00] We are, uh, yeah, a couple of people meeting up like every, I dunno, four to six months, you know, we've done that for almost 10 years or something.

And he was like, he, he trains a lot. He often doesn't drink alcohol at all. And, um, but, um, but I can like, you know, being that, you know, losing a bit of control, having that juice feeling as we say in Swedish, it was very to English, but like just being a little bit tipsy maybe. Yeah. If you can transl to that.

Yeah. Uh, but I don't like. Drinking. I can't, I don't like the taste of it. And I was like looking at him, I'm like, how hard can it be? He has to take a few shots. I mean, how hard can it be? But yeah, but then I have to take the shots. I was like, please, how hard could it be? But then maybe this is something for him.

Ranya: Yeah, and that's actually why I chose rum because of the taste. Like, I don't like the taste of vodka karon, like the taste of whiskey wine is. I think I might have had too much of it in my life. It's a bit too vinegary in a way. Yeah. Yeah.

Wilma Eriksson: Okay. Well thank you for sharing very good advice. I will bring it forward to him.[00:07:00]

And my next question is your funniest work related fuckup that you dare to share with us. What is that, Ron?

Ranya: Funny or sad?

Wilma Eriksson: You choose. You can take two. That's also okay.

Ranya: Okay. I think funny or it sounded, well, it's relative, depending how you look at it. I think my, probably one of my biggest fuckups that stayed with me

Wilma Eriksson: mm-hmm.

Ranya: For a while and I had to reflect and process it and it, it impacted me physically and emotionally was back in 2018, like before I even, you know, was anything to do with avidly. Mm-hmm. Um, I had my own agency and I remember it was December, 2018. And someone from HubSpot reached out and was like, Hey, there's this deal we really need your help on.

And I was like, oh, okay, cool. And then we started working the deal and it was a huge deal. Enormous, I think probably the biggest deal I've ever worked on in my life, [00:08:00] which is why I was so excited about it. Um, but all through the sales process, I kept seeing the red flags. You know when that happens, like in every single call, my gut, my intuition, my brain would be like, oh, red flag, you shouldn't be doing this.

Oh, red flag. And I'm like, no, no, no. But the mmr, you know,

Wilma Eriksson: they're just sharing for us. It's not red flags really. It's just, it's like, it's just cheerleaders.

Ranya: No, I was like, maybe it's just 'cause I'm tired. I'm thinking that way. Um, and so I, we closed the deal. Mm. And it was an enormous deal, which, you know, in everything seems so positive, be it for revenue for the company or HubSpot revenue, like whatever, what it is.

And then like three weeks into the project, um. I remembered all of those red flags,

Wilma Eriksson: they become very clear. They weren't, she cheerleaders. Not,

Ranya: no, no. It was the bitter, harsh reality and I thought, okay, Ranya, you [00:09:00] have two choices. You can either just. Walk out now or you can suck it up like a big girl,

Wilma Eriksson: right.

And

Ranya: try deal with it. Um, you know, and, and sort of iron it out and make it work. And I tried that for like three months. Mm-hmm. Nuh uh, not good. Not one little thing about it was good apart from the learning of like the fuck up, was not listening to my intuition, not. Pushing back when I saw those red flags

Wilma Eriksson: mm-hmm.

Ranya: Uh, everything about it was horrible. It was like verbal mental abuse. It was just bad, you know? And I think, um, the reason it stayed with me for so long was, was like, you know, as a business owner, it's, it's, it's hard to sort of choose peace of mind over revenue.

Wilma Eriksson: Mm-hmm.

Ranya: Um, but that was the best learning. In this, that, you know what, not all revenue is healthy.

Wilma Eriksson: They, [00:10:00] you think they go like hand in hand, like revenue done. Peace of mind. But yeah, we all know that doesn't have to be the case always. No, not with the red, red flags. Exactly.

Ranya: And, and I was really annoyed because like as, as a human being in general. I have really strong intuition.

Wilma Eriksson: Mm.

Ranya: And I always follow it, but it just, in this case, I was like, no, no, no.

Let's close the deal.

Wilma Eriksson: Let's try something new. Yeah.

Ranya: Um, you know, who runs a business on intuition? How crazy is that? Right. Um, so yeah, I would say that was, um, my biggest work. Fuck up.

Wilma Eriksson: Okay. Thank you for sharing. And, uh, not, we don't have to know what customers is. I think it's irrelevant. I mean, the learning here is the interesting parts.

Uh, but what, why do you think, was the customer very stressed? Were they, were there something that were in their environment and made. The situation as well, despite you not seeing the red flags during the wake, but was it something particular, or [00:11:00] particular they state they were in?

Ranya: I think it was, um, two things.

Mm one, um, when there is a, like the way their modus apparatus, the way they work the way. They communicate with themselves, with their own teams.

Wilma Eriksson: Yep.

Ranya: Um, was very different to the way we work.

Wilma Eriksson: Okay. Right?

Ranya: Mm-hmm. And the way my team functions. So I think it was a corporate cultural misfit. That would be one.

Um, and I think the other one is, um, and I don't mean it in a bad way because not, not every big company's like that, but usually. The high, the bigger the enterprise, the more complicated the relationship, the more stakeholders there are, the more, you know what I

Wilma Eriksson: mean? Yeah, yeah.

Ranya: Um, so I think a combination of size and in addition to just very different mindsets, you know, like we, at the [00:12:00] time when I had my own agency, nothing to do with Avid here.

Um. For us, it was very important to never be treated like a vendor,

Wilma Eriksson: right?

Ranya: We're a partner. We're in this together. We're on equal sides of the table. We're. And I think that was one that was not there. Very small things like good morning, how are you? You know, the whole human-centric approach that makes a working relationship fund.

Wilma Eriksson: Yeah. That

Ranya: was very big for us, but not necessarily this company. Okay. Um.

Wilma Eriksson: It was like a culture. Culture super clash. If

Ranya: you'll Oh yeah. A way of work like I corporate culture. 'cause it's not a location culture, right. It's a, a culture of each company. Like we're the agency again, before avidly days, it was all about a human centric.

That was our core. Yeah. Of how that was our North Star.

Wilma Eriksson: Okay. Rania, thank you so much for sharing. I think we all could, uh, see our ourself in [00:13:00] that situation. We actually just had a discussion this morning, uh, here at Vox Queue. We are a customer that are, they're changing a lot internally and we have a very hard time to reaching the true decision makers, and the users are like super happy, but.

To be honest, in combination, we have like tricky prove, uh, what's very obvious for us, like providers and using it, but to prove that, or actually to be, to be heard.

Ranya: Mm.

Wilma Eriksson: And uh, I, I used, I talk about exactly same thing. We are also, uh, spoiled, I would say like being partners with our customers. We are partners with avidly, like partner, partner, but our customer relationship is like they, they can call us for anything and we can call them as well for.

And in this specific case, it's so clear mm-hmm. That like they are vendors and that is, it's very tricky. But that's for another podcast show. Yep. But I could really see that the corporate culture, uh, misfit could really make up even more [00:14:00] red flags than might existed. Yep. For other reasons. Yep.

Now we are gonna. Uh, dive into, uh, a shared, uh, topic that we are both very passionate about. We're gonna talk about operational excellence, uh, and, um, my first question is, what is operational excellence for you, uh, and why is this important for other companies to be as passionate about as you? I Mm.

Ranya: So great question.

Operational excellence for me is doing more with less. That's like how I would summarize it

Wilma Eriksson: and then we could shut out the recording. No,

Ranya: I agree. I agree. Yeah, continue. And the, and the reason, uh, that's important for businesses is, um, optimization, which will impact your profitability. And once you have, you know, profitability that will impact scalability.

Um, and I feel those are really [00:15:00] important sort of metrics. Not v only, but one of. A very important metric that businesses need to keep an eye on. Yep. Um, for that peace of mind so that you have that six month runway of, you know, cash in the bank. If there is whatever happening, it's okay.

Wilma Eriksson: Right.

Ranya: And, and, and what I mean by doing more with less, it's like, um, how can I serve more customers without necessarily the need to consistently be hiring more people?

For example, how can I increase my team's utilization rate without impacting their mental health?

Wilma Eriksson: Hmm. That's a good one. Tricky one.

Ranya: It's a tricky one. Um, but it all comes down to how efficient are you, right? And to be efficient is tied to processes, tied to technology, tied to project intake. Try to project information like there's many moving pieces.

That start in pre-sales, you know, and so [00:16:00] as we work with companies, help them becoming a more operationally efficient, it's like, think of it as a, as a business journey where, what do we need to do in the pre-sales so that we have everything we need to ensure that my delivery team. Very efficiently understands customer goals, customer challenges, customer plans, customer options, like the basic info you need to be able as a CRM consultant to actually add value.

Uh, then you have to look at, well, what does my actual sales process look like? How frictionless is it? How many touch points do I need to do? What are the battle cards that I need to use? And the less the better, of course. Not to say I don't wanna spend time with my customers in the sales process I do, but we all know time is our most valuable asset.

Wilma Eriksson: Sure.

Ranya: Uh, so if we can guard it, that's not a bad thing yet, maintain that really high, um, value that you're [00:17:00] adding.

Wilma Eriksson: Mm-hmm.

Ranya: And so if you think with this mindset of. Every single step of the way. Pre-sales, during sales handover, from sales to service handover, from sales to finance, sales. You know, going from say, service team, picking up the start of the project to getting the kickoff booked, and then all throughout the project, extending customer lifetime values at every stop of those ways.

It's always about what do I need to do to, as the saying goes, cut the fat. Yeah.

Wilma Eriksson: You know what I mean? Yeah.

Ranya: That was a very

Wilma Eriksson: long answer. Yeah. But that's, that's why we have a podcast show. You know, we can go forever if you'd like. That's great. We can talk about how successful companies have. Implemented this, or we can talk about common mistakes you choose.

Mm-hmm. Common mistakes when trying to think about this. So you choose the success cases, or should we have some more fuck ups here? I'm eager for both.

Ranya: I think like I can start with common mistakes. Mm-hmm. Because that's somehow the [00:18:00] other side of successful companies that have done this.

Wilma Eriksson: Sure.

Ranya: I think one of the most common mistake I've experienced is.

Trying to set a plan for efficiency for 1, 3, 5 years. Mm. It's too long a window, right? Um, and so successful companies on the other hand are the ones that approach it in a really agile and lean way. Mm. So, for example, what are, what do I need to do for the next quarter,

Wilma Eriksson: right?

Ranya: What am I going to test? What are the, what metrics am I going to use to determine was this successful?

Was it not? And taking that data-driven approach and consistently refining and optimizing quarter after quarter instead of trying to go for that long shot.

Wilma Eriksson: How do you combine that with like long time strategies or long time goals? Uh, or maybe that isn't a question you often receive. Maybe that's something that sit in my head, but just So

Ranya: I think it depends on the goal.

Like if I'm looking, if I keep [00:19:00] two goals. Utilization rate and profitability as the two things that I'm gonna look at. Then what I'm gonna do is at every quarter I'm gonna stop and say, Ooh, did the needle turn right? Did I manage to actually reduce the number of hours that are being spent? So in turn, my profitability's gonna go up At the same time, I can more customers and the utilization is also going to go up or.

Did I, did my service quality drop.

Wilma Eriksson: Right.

Ranya: You know what I mean? Yeah. Um, I, that said something like profitability utilization rate. It's not a quick fix, and that's why I prefer to have these really frequent check-ins. Mm. And a really honest, hard conversation with the stakeholders.

Wilma Eriksson: Mm.

Ranya: What's the data saying?

Let's look at it. Right. What worked well? Where's the area of improvement? Hmm. And repeat. Right.

Wilma Eriksson: Makes sense.

Ranya: Does that make sense?

Wilma Eriksson: Yeah. Yeah. Shorter interaction time, if you will, or shorter goals, but shorter to [00:20:00] often interact and see what a trend goes like

Ranya: or, um, multiple. Frameworks and communication channels for that interaction.

Like not everything has to be a meeting with five or six people.

Wilma Eriksson: No, please not. If you ask me, someone told me, I was like, Lima, you don't have to because I, I said that my schedule was a bit tactic, uh, and this person told me like, yeah, but you don't have to go on everything. And if I could just, it was he, he was like, if I'm in a meeting and I don't feel it's valuable, then I can just say, so I was like, uh, yeah, that's never happened to me because, because I would never enter a meeting that I don't feel beneficial for me.

But I don't, I know not everyone is as bold as me. Then people belong. Term attitude

Ranya: that is spot on. Like, like I think a really, you know, successful companies, for example, having. Um, like what you call a playbook for meetings. Right? No agenda. Mm. I'm not gonna attend it. Right? Yeah. [00:21:00] Amazing. Right? If, if I don't need to share my screen, guess what I can be, could take this meeting on my phone and while I'm walking or, you know, getting some fresh air.

Mm. Um, if, uh, we are going to be discussing something critical in the meeting, I'd like to receive the slides and video before the meeting. Where we can actually go through the info. So the time spent in the meeting is actionable rather than just you looking at a screen, someone presenting something.

Right. You know, there's small little hacks that you can do where you're still. Having interactions. Yeah, you're still engaging with the customer, but it's always that face-to-face time via online or in person is always so that it's actionable. Okay. So that it's not just talk. Just talk. That's great.

Unless of course it's a brainstorming session, then that's another topic.

Wilma Eriksson: Then it's just clear and agenda. Yeah. Okay. So what our. Mistakes. Do you see people trying to be more efficient?

Ranya: Hmm. Um, [00:22:00] depending on, uh, pretty slides.

Wilma Eriksson: We all seen that one. You know, and trying to achieve it as well. By all means,

Ranya: no one cares, you know?

There, there you go. You just answered it. Literally, no one cares. It's not a pretty slide that will. Make your process more efficient, but it's actually building a process with the supporting documentation. Even if it's just on a plain, you know, blank Google doc, that's fine. You know, or a Clickup Wiki or whatever it is, right?

Um, but I often see. Companies spending hours and hours and hours perfecting the visual. Mm. But what's core and concrete in the process is lacking. Mm. So it's like visual impact versus, um, sub substantial impact. Mm. In a way. Okay. Yeah, that's one. Um, another one is, ooh, this one is quite interesting because there's like, you know, different viewpoints on it.

[00:23:00] So there's the whole school of specialization. Having resources that are specialized and only do one thing. And then there's the school level. I'll have a bunch of resources that are multi-skill, and so what I often find is some companies will go either way. But I think successful companies typically have a mix of both those kinds of resources.

Because when you have a multi-skilled team,

Wilma Eriksson: yeah,

Ranya: it's quick. You don't need to keep bringing in additional people to solve one pain. Whereas there are some, you know, parts of a business or a deliverable where you do need a specialized skill, that's fine, because then you can hand off from multi-skilled to skilled and back.

Wilma Eriksson: Right?

Ranya: And so that multi-skilled resource can do more.

Wilma Eriksson: Mm-hmm.

Ranya: While the skilled resource can focus on only that little part.

Wilma Eriksson: Right. Hmm. Interesting. Never thought about it. Do we have any more mistakes? Um, I hate to say it. Office [00:24:00] space. Ooh, this is one. Yeah. Okay. Let me hear. What's your thought on this?

Ranya: I, I, I don't know if it's me or just the team that I manage, but like we, I've been managing fully remote teams since 2018.

Wilma Eriksson: Mm-hmm.

Ranya: What's interesting is two things. The first one is remote environment was more productive.

Wilma Eriksson: Mm-hmm.

Ranya: Like what people deliver and produce in a remote environment. Uh, the data. Showed was higher than people in the office. 'cause I think that dynamic group behavior of, oh, let's just have a coffee and chitchat in the corridor, and it's very easy when someone is sitting next to you, Hey, how do you do blah, blah, blah?

Or, Hey, where is la, la la? As opposed to when you're on your own. And focused, you'll go to the Wiki and check it, you'll google it. You'll, you know how you can ask Gemini or any other ai. Right?

Wilma Eriksson: Right.

Ranya: That's, that's one

Wilma Eriksson: that's a very debated, uh, [00:25:00] topic it feels like at the moment because it feels true. Like, uh, yeah, the, the pandemic, uh, arrived, uh, and then everyone was more or less forced.

Home.

Ranya: Mm-hmm.

Wilma Eriksson: Uh, so all companies had to adjust to that. Mm-hmm. Uh, and then at least to me, it feels like the trend is like if you are a really competitive like IT company, not it like the company that are really, really growing or being very profitable, whatever goal they have, then they have. They are proud of having, like, we come to the office, we meet here, uh, this is where we actually build the success.

And as a person, I love having people around. I'm very extrovert, getting like energy from other people, you know. Uh, so when I'm at home working, I get a lot more things done. Being very productive, but maybe my soul isn't flourishing, if I can say so.

Ranya: Mm-hmm.

Wilma Eriksson: And then I've been thinking so much about this, like why does it have to [00:26:00] be really a trend?

And then we have it's work from anywhere. So I truly believe that where you are as a person, I mean Rania, you are a human and you are also employed avidly, but you are, yeah, foremost a human. Where you are, where you thrive, there will you be most productive. That is my general beliefs. Yep. And, and then it goes back and forth.

And now I've been, you know, analyzing. This at the office. And we are a small team. And I'm like thinking all that discussions, like, was that really productive? Was it good? Maybe team building or you know, we got to know each other better. We can uh, we can be more efficient when we work together if we get to know each other better.

Yes. That I just approve of, but are we really more productive?

Ranya: Hmm.

Wilma Eriksson: I

Ranya: dunno. Yeah, it's, uh, I completely understand what you're saying. I think there's a couple of. Sort of follow up points, like picking up on people's energy, getting to know everyone that [00:27:00] is team building. Yep. Yes. Like you can start to understand this human being better, like their facial expressions, their body language, and so on and so forth.

Will that make you more productive? Maybe not. Maybe? Yes, I don't think so. Will it make you a better team player?

Wilma Eriksson: Mm-hmm.

Ranya: Potentially. So there's a difference between productive as an individual.

Wilma Eriksson: Yeah.

Ranya: And where I fit in the wider org versus I understand my teammates, so I know how to push or pull back a little bit because I've met this person, uh, in presence.

Another thing that I found is when you said Covid came and companies were forced. There's a huge difference between companies that were forced to go remote. Mm. Who never wanted to be remote, who never thought of being remote, who never had their processes [00:28:00] built for remote, right. Versus companies. The wanted to be remote, therefore, the mindset was, what do I need to do for my company to function in a productive, efficient way in a remote environment?

Right? Those are very, very different experiences. Yeah. So that's, that's one. And then the other thing that I find is, um, and this could be another topic for a really long podcast, but what I feel is in a remote environment. It gives every individual in the Zoom call or the Google meet or whatever, what technology is.

It sort of democratizes everyone's opportunity. And then what I mean by that is it's literally a face and a brain and a mouth, and that's it. There's no what I'm wearing, how I'm moving my jewelry, my perfume, how cool my shoes are, how none of the [00:29:00] extra. Sort of things. Mm-hmm. That's really true in a, in a group environment that contribute to either a psychological, social, or emotional hierarchy.

Wilma Eriksson: Right? Mm-hmm. That's very true.

Ranya: I also, you know what I mean? Mm-hmm. I also find that remote environments, um, enable. Specific types of personalities to be more productive. For example, introverts.

Wilma Eriksson: Correct.

Ranya: Put an introvert in an office that's like, woo,

Wilma Eriksson: you and I come with our hands. You know, like

Ranya: Yeah. And it's like, this is way too much for me.

Right. Neurodivergent team players. Mm-hmm. You know, there's a lot of neurodivergent people in teams where lighting. Can impact their productivity. Yeah. So if you look at the, if you sort of zoom out a little bit and you look at what do I need to do to provide a human [00:30:00] being with the ability to be most productive and content that's, it varies, like you were saying, from person to person, but the formula is a nice workspace, healthy food.

Life habits.

Wilma Eriksson: Right.

Ranya: Can you have those three things in an office? Maybe, but I, I don't know, like from, you know, just our experience since 2018. We found that. Oh wow. 'cause we had both, we had remote team and we had in-house team. And if you just look at the data, it was fascinating. So that what sort of led us to the decision of let's just go fully remote.

Wilma Eriksson: Right?

Ranya: Right. And then I added to, we added another layer when Covid hit, like we went remote before Covid. And with Covid, because the whole world became online, like you were saying, we were like, okay, let's look at the data. [00:31:00] If we go to our team and we say, listen, if your splint sprint is complete by Thursday, you can get Friday off.

Wilma Eriksson: Hmm. Interesting.

Ranya: And that was an approach to combat mental health, zoom fatigue and all of that. And what we found was. Because we had a remote first approach and process and documentation and, and, and, and because we worked in experience and had the structure for it, everyone owned it. So like, of course I wanna take Friday off.

Wilma Eriksson: Right? Yeah.

Ranya: And so that increased efficiency and productivity because you have to do more and less, more work. Five days worth of work in less time, right? Four days worth of how am I gonna do that? I need to be really efficient. I need to not waste time. I need to be highly productive. I need to make sure I have all of the requirements for whatever it is I'm [00:32:00] working on, really well documented and structured.

And so all of this leads to an even more efficient way of work,

Wilma Eriksson: right?

Ranya: If you look at it from a sort of the other side of the coin where. We don't like remote work because we can't manage or control our team. Of course, we're not going to do a four day week because who's going to pay for the fifth day?

There's something wrong in your operational efficiency. Does that make sense?

Wilma Eriksson: Yeah. I think it's very interesting. It's good also, you know, when, when, when can back up stuff with data, uh, as well. And maybe someone them would say, but then they get even more stressed because they work more the four days.

Yeah. But yet optional and so forth and so forth. Yeah. But it's very interesting takes on it. So if we look at operational excellence, I mean, it's a very broad expression. Uh. And we should, um, I mean come up with three things like, okay, you have understood that this is important. Maybe, uh, the company you're working at or leading [00:33:00] already works with this on a recurring basis.

Uh, do we have like 1, 2, 3 things? Like this is the re the recipe to actually make it work.

Ranya: Hmm. Processes. That are refined every quarter. And what I mean by process is mapping out your whole business process, every single touch point along it. Just like looking at your sales funnel and identifying where does it leak, where does it get jam, right?

Same idea doc documentation. And what I mean by documentation is enabling every single person on the team to be efficient by finding what they need quickly. Easily and in multiple format, like you cannot assume that Oh yeah. Just 'cause I have my knowledge base in text that it's sufficient because people learn differently.

Um, so you need to have your documentation in written form, in spoken form, in visual form and examples. [00:34:00] So that it's, uh, for the use of a term domy proof,

Wilma Eriksson: right? We can call it a playbook. Call

Ranya: playbook. And you need to, the third thing you need to have is, um. Transparency on that shared metric. How is this process that we are implementing impacting that metric?

Where can everyone in the team go and see it to understand, well, is it working, is it not? Is my contribution helping or is it making it worse? Right? And for that, you need to have. I put emphasis on transparency.

Wilma Eriksson: Mm-hmm.

Ranya: But add a fourth one. Yeah. An enablement plan. A personal enablement plan for every individual in the team because people learn and function and produce at different paces than others.

Wilma Eriksson: Mm-hmm.

Ranya: Um, and so anyone who's in a leadership position who's managing a team that is trying to be more operational efficiency, [00:35:00] the burden is on the leader to make sure that. You know, everyone in your team is supported as needed instead of having that general approach.

Wilma Eriksson: Is the fifth or are we happy with four?

So don't interrupt again. Okay. Uh, and if we see company size where you think you, you should. Start making those processes. I mean, it's whether you like it or not, it takes some time to actually make all the documentations and visuals and, and things You mentioned like you should start here and it's absolutely critical you're doing it here.

If that is the number of employees or turnover, whatever, what would you say?

Ranya: Um, I would say. Like as you're building your company and you know, startup going through growth and scale up, you need to start from day one, build it to be efficient. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So that, so that you don't end up with a mess that you need to sort of reverse [00:36:00] engineer.

Wilma Eriksson: Mm-hmm.

Ranya: But if I look at company size, maybe using like HubSpot definition, I'd say starting mid-market and up at, uh, well actually now that I think about it, all sizes need to be efficient. Operational efficient. 'cause the smaller the company, the less humans you have, but the more you need to be doing.

That's where that multi-scale of the juggling

Wilma Eriksson: right,

Ranya: uh, sort of comes. Mm-hmm. Then when you go with mid-market, you're sort of going from growth into scale up. So 200 to 200 people. Right? So you need to be really efficient there to ensure that scale up. And then with enterprise. Like, what I've generally seen is, um, because there's so many more people than that, efficiency somehow drops down.

But if I use Tesla as an example, like they're very efficient, just, you know, using robots [00:37:00] to build cars and, and mm-hmm. Now they have the self-driving actually takes the car. Out of the factory and puts it on the tractor.

Wilma Eriksson: Really? So,

Ranya: so now what actually, you said, is there a fifth one There is technology.

Wilma Eriksson: I knew it was something more.

Yes.

Ranya: You need the technology to enable all of that, right? Without it, it's like not gonna work.

Wilma Eriksson: Very interesting. Okay. And anything else on the topic that you would like to add that I mean, we haven't addressed or I haven't asked about? When it comes to operational excellence,

Ranya: there is one thing I would like to add.

Just because a company's becoming more operationally efficient Mm, does not mean that the quality of work goes down. Mm. Just because a company is spending less hours customer facing time does not mean they care less about the customer. Mm. It's, it's, it's none of that. It's, uh, you can still deliver a world class solution without standing results, while continuously becoming more [00:38:00] operationally efficient, um, so that your profitability is consistently and, and that nice.

Wilma Eriksson: Do you have some clear data? Done this like some KPIs, successful companies, you mentioned Tesla. I'm sure there's many, many more out there that you actually can see if they grow more quickly or if they have higher profitability. Do we have some clear numbers?

Ranya: I don't have clear numbers, but I would also use HubSpot as an example, uh, themselves.

'cause if you look at how the number of. Customers that HubSpot serves versus the number of people in the team, they gotta be doing something super well in there.

Wilma Eriksson: Interesting. Yeah. Kuda, very interesting to hear. And if you, when you the source of inspiration, or if you look in podcasts or read books or whatever, uh, to learn more yourself about operational excellence, where do you turn to?

Ranya: Izzy

Wilma Eriksson: Izzy, who is Izzy? [00:39:00]

Ranya: I turned to Izzy. Izzy is my life partner as well as my business partner for the last 20 years. Wonderful. He is a master of making everything in life more efficient.

Wilma Eriksson: Isn't that hard to live with someone who is like that even though it feels, uh, feels right. Nice as well? Like, no. No, we don't do that.

I, you know, I'm in control here. You know, we do this. It's more efficient. It.

Ranya: I think it's a, it's a superpower somehow.

Wilma Eriksson: Sure.

Ranya: To be able to do it. And he, it, it's almost like it's his passion in a way. Uh, so yeah, I would definitely choose Izzy for that one.

Wilma Eriksson: Okay, good. Interesting. And, uh, I'm very curious, uh, now we like doing some outro questions here, so be prepared.

It's a little bit high and low. High and low. Uh, what are your main challenges in your business at avidly right now, problem that you are addressing or trying to solve in a better way? Smith, way more efficient way. I don't know.

Ranya: Um, maybe, um, cross [00:40:00] continental team collaboration. Mm-hmm. So having 350 people or more across three regions across a 18 or 20 hour time zone.

There's a lot of variables there.

Wilma Eriksson: So you just work 24 7 and go out for a walk when you get to need so many. Or how do, how do one tackle that really, it must be challenging for sure.

Ranya: It is. It is challenging. And then, um, also, um, as companies grow, um. Through acquisition.

Wilma Eriksson: Right?

Ranya: Right. Uh, so every company you acquire has a way of work.

So the magic becomes when you streamline all of those processes for many different companies and cultures and languages and, you know mm-hmm. So that's a, that's a constant. Um, I, I don't think it's a challenge that will, you know, one day be like, oh, okay, we found the solution. Um, because it's, it's like evergreen.

There's always something you. You can do better. There's [00:41:00] always a process you can optimize. There's always a colleague on the other side of the world that could do it better than you.

Wilma Eriksson: Yeah. I, I, I suppose it is, you know? Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Ranya: It's, uh, that's one. And I also see it like, not only from the avidly perspective, but because we serve a lot of global companies.

Mm. Um, so a lot of the time when I'm in the sales process, having discussions with them, it's like, well, okay, what are you currently. Struggling with, oh, you know, uh, team EMEA and Thek are doing it different than Iberia. Who's doing it different than uk? Who's doing it different than the us? It's a very normal thing because you're trying to build a global culture, and it's not that easy.

No. No. Okay.

Wilma Eriksson: Thank you for sharing.

Ranya: Yep.

Wilma Eriksson: And, um, and good luck with that. Uh, I think it's challenges being as small as we are, just, you know, back to that, uh, the, you know, the remote dialogue we have. Yeah. Uh, that is a challenge itself, so. Hmm. Ku, you guys, um, and [00:42:00] what. Um, who would you like me to invite as I was like, is it Izzy?

If

Ranya: you wanna dive deeper into the operational efficiency, uh, definitely Izzy would be your go-to. Like he's, um, he's more than

Wilma Eriksson: welcome, be a pleasure,

Ranya: breathes, sleeps, dreams, technology processes, like Yeah.

Wilma Eriksson: But you're still working together. Yeah. Is he as at a, well,

Ranya: absolutely.

Wilma Eriksson: Wow. Do you talk about a, something else about Avid?

No. Podcast, others, other show? Um, yes. Uh, fooling myself here.

Uh, material Science time, co-founder of Sales Genomics. And I'm curious if you would choose one thing that businesses needs to change [00:43:00] within the coming two years. What's the single most important thing that. In general need to change.

Ranya: I would say leading or having a working culture that's not human-centric.

And what I mean by that is, um, I find in a lot of companies or in a working relationship, the norm or the stereotype or the expectation is to not really show who you truly are. But just be a role.

Wilma Eriksson: Hmm.

Ranya: You know, uh, you have to speak a certain way. You have to dress a certain way. You have to think a certain way.

You have to not think a certain way. And I find that when companies are role-based rather than human centric, you don't get the most out of everybody.

Wilma Eriksson: Hmm.

Ranya: Um, [00:44:00] and the reason I believe that is. If we can tap into each individual's uniqueness, not only in a role, but in a role and as a personality and what they can bring to the table.

Um. It's a very, very different outcome.

Wilma Eriksson: Yeah. Do you believe so internationally or have you been like, influenced by the, uh, very strict swish culture? No,

Ranya: I believe so. Internationally.

Wilma Eriksson: Mm,

Ranya: okay. No, no. Definitely internationally, like, um, we manage a team, you know, that spans across, uh, three different continents.

Wilma Eriksson: Mm.

Ranya: Uh, speaking eight different languages. So that's a lot of culture and problem solving style and, and everything is different. And if we did not tap into that, I think we would not be the successful team that we are today because [00:45:00] it's a superpower.

Wilma Eriksson: Yeah. Yeah.

Ranya: I think that one

Wilma Eriksson: very interesting. Very interesting.

Ranya: That one. And if I could add another one, of course it would be shying away from the type of. Team player or resource for the use of a term that cons, that is considered challenging.

Wilma Eriksson: Hmm.

Ranya: U Usually people who are challengers are sort of sidelined. They're out, they're canceled because they keep poking. And it's, it gets very frustrating.

Wilma Eriksson: They're hard to maintain.

Ranya: And there's a book, uh, Adam Grant.

Wilma Eriksson: Mm-hmm.

Ranya: Uh, by Adam Grant, think Again.

Wilma Eriksson: Mm-hmm.

Ranya: Brilliant book. Uh, it talks a lot about why you should embrace. That challenger role, you should always have somebody in your team that is consistently challenging everything you say.

Wilma Eriksson: Yeah.

Ranya: And the reason [00:46:00] is it is forcing you to think again and think again, and think again.

Because the more, the more people challenging you, the more your mind. Or solution or idea gets refined. If you support yourself with people that you know are very compliant, are always applauding and clapping,

Wilma Eriksson: then we'll have to have all the answers to yourself. I think those,

Ranya: yeah, those two are tied together.

Wilma Eriksson: Yeah.

Ranya: The human-centric. The, let's not pretend at work. Yeah. And, uh, allow people to challenge. Mm. And that's just, it's not easy to manage, but it's, um, the outcome is beautiful. If you're confident in what you're doing, you'll have an amazing team.

Wilma Eriksson: Uh, okay. And now. The best part. So depending on the day, and I think, I mean, I think it's always time for celebration if you can find something to celebrate.

Ranya: Mm.

Wilma Eriksson: So we order that rum with passion fruit. I don't really recall the, [00:47:00] the correct. Mar Marra. Marquia Marquia. And this, uh, songs come up and then you become, become even more happier. Maybe you start dancing or something. What are we listening to them? What's your favorite of the work? So.

Ranya: Ooh, if it's uh, rum, it will definitely take me to Reggaton.

Mm-hmm. Which will definitely take me to j Baldwin. Nice. Which will probably take me to the track assu, which is blue in Spanish or Blanco. Mm. Um, both of them are, um, are very big on earth beats and drum beats. Yeah. It's, it's all in that motion. Exactly. I was born and grew up in Kenya, so I think drumming is like, ah,

Wilma Eriksson: wow.

You know,

Ranya: was everywhere around me. So as soon as I.

Wilma Eriksson: You start. Unfortunately people can't see us when we do these things. Or if you look at YouTube you can, but if you're looking at the podcast, you don't know that we look like too old now, like moving around our [00:48:00] head. Uh, okay. Definitely

Ranya: beautiful. Uh, those beats.

And it's, uh, the reason I would choose that is that movement, that's the energy. In your body, uh, flow. And I think it has, it brings out a lot of feminine power. Hmm. Interesting.

Wilma Eriksson: Maybe another podcast show. Thank you so much for joining today, Rania. It was such a pleasure. Cheers, and have a beautiful weekend.

Ranya: Thank you Elma. Lovely speaking with you and speaking with you. Have a great [00:49:00] day.

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