Flowtale Hits the SPOT at Ramboll Management Consulting

Article By

Rasmus Hanberg Thomsen, Director, Flowtale
Hanna-Maija Kuhn, Head of Business Development, Ramboll  

In October 2017, Ramboll Management Consulting (RMC) introduced an Excel-based, internally built forecasting solution they dubbed ‘SPOT’. From that day, SPOT opened the door to a greater understanding of the forecasting opportunities associated with seamless access to customer data. 

That’s why in end 2018, RMC took the next step in their data evolution by beginning a thorough search for an external provider that could build on the success of SPOT and tap into the opportunities of a more granular forecasting system. “We were looking for a provider that could build a solution which would be simpler and more durable for the long-term, while at the same time making life easier for our consultants” says Head of Business Development, Hanna-Maija Kuhn. As a result of this process, Flowtale was chosen and SPOT v2 was born.

“One of the things I’d like to emphasise is the benefits we’ve experienced, of working with a local provider” says Hanna-Maija, “The Flowtale team was always available, easy to access and easy to talk to. That was a really big benefit for us, instead of having to deal with a big firm – we really felt like we were in good hands.”  

Since launching SPOTv2 in March 2019, RMC is already experiencing the benefits of a more advanced forecasting system, with the identification of a critical workflow gap in May. “We work a lot with the Danish Government and we could see that even though we had a lot of work over the next 12 months, the more granular forecasting with SPOT 2 showed us that suddenly we didn’t have enough in May because the government slowed down due to the upcoming general elections” said Hanna-Maija Kuhn, “so this meant we were ahead of the curve and could adjust our resourcing accordingly.”

SPOT v2 has also driven an immediate reduction in the time consultants use to input data, and consequently a reduction in the knock-on effects caused by the frustrations associated with manual IT processes, “The reason we chose Flowtale was that they were thinking outside the box in many ways – like the use of open source to reduce costs and a minimum approach to IT disturbance – everyone would just see an upgrade to the existing system via a URL” said Hanna-Maija. 

In fact, the IT transition to SPOT v2 was so seamless for RMC consultants, that many didn’t need to undergo training on the new system. As a result, training webinars initially conducted weekly, have now moved to monthly. Furthermore – and perhaps the most significant evidence of the success of the simplified system – is that support requests from consultants that previously came into Hanna-Maija’s team on a daily basis have now reduced to zero.  

“This is one of the better examples of an externally developed solution happening in Ramboll right now,” concluded Hanna-Maija. So while the SPOT v2 solution has been tailored to RMC, the immediate and obvious benefits have prompted an investigation into the possibilities of broader usage across Ramboll.