Worker Bees: How Contractors Drive Innovation from the Inside

To create the biggest impact for clients, it helps to learn all aspects of their work, first.

Sometimes the best solutions come from the worker bees—the contractors who provide additional labor to help with tasks. From inside, they can see why their client is drowning in work. Beyond the pain points they hear—often expressed as complaints—they experience the same inefficient systems, inaccuracies, and delays. But unlike the clients they serve, the nature of their work is temporary. This allows them to analyze the environment using a process improvement mindset.

Armed with this analysis, contractors can propose an out-of-the-box low-code solution or a customized application developed for any unique situation. For example, in one case, a Power Platform solution was implemented to address sub-optimal work processes such as shuffling event proposals through review and approval via email, copy-pasting data between multiple sources for reporting, and managing multiple users editing the same document simultaneously.

The solution created a single site for data collection, incorporating approval workflows with notifications for transparency, report-building tools, and trend analysis over time. Users were trained on the new system, with listening sessions held to gather feedback and adapt the application to meet evolving needs. The impact was significant—decision-making processes that once took weeks were reduced to days or even hours.

Contractors don’t just offer additional labor; they provide insight-driven innovation. Their fresh perspective and technical expertise enable them to streamline inefficiencies and introduce scalable, sustainable solutions. By fostering an environment that values external viewpoints, organizations can refine operations, improve efficiency, and remain adaptable in an ever-changing landscape.