Case Study: Digital Transformation in a Family Business

Client: A dynamically growing retail chain with the profile of a traditional family business.

Business Challenge: Despite its large scale, the organization lacked internal, hard IT competencies. The decision to implement a CRM system was a breakthrough but carried significant risk. Without proper oversight, the company was exposed to purchasing a “boxed” (off-the-shelf) solution that would not reflect its specific work culture, and to signing an implementation agreement creating permanent dependence on the provider (so-called vendor lock-in).

Implementation (PM & Legal Model): Acting as an external operational advisor, the law firm became the missing competency link between the Management Board and the world of technology. The project was strategically divided into a needs analysis phase and an execution phase.

As part of these activities:

• We translated the family business’s business processes into specific use cases, creating the foundation for the technical specification.

• We identified gaps in the original IT proposals that ignored unique aspects of customer service developed by the company over many years.

• We assumed the burden of contract negotiations, ensuring milestone-based payments (pay-for-performance), precise SLAs, and a guarantee of post-implementation support.

• We consulted on the progress of the work with external IT consultants to supplement the client’s internal knowledge.

Result: By filling the gap in IT competencies, the client avoided a costly investment error. Ultimately, a “tailor-made” system was implemented that did not stifle the spirit of the family business but provided it with modern tools for further scaling.