Liv Ryssdal Thorsen: Redefining traditional business approach with DigiLEAN
Top 10 Most Inspiring Women of Influence in 2021
There are two kinds of people in the world. Some adjust to
everything and try to make the best out of it. In contrast, some have the high
spirit to change some elements and contribute towards the betterment of
everyone. Having the same spirit in her mind and heart, Liv Ryssdal Thorsen
cemented up DigiLEAN to bring a change in the working culture of all the
organizations to maximize the output.
Behind the curtains
From a very young age, Liv had the spark for innovation. She
states, “Since I was a little girl, I enjoyed creating new concepts from almost
nothing. For instance, a vacuum cleaner from toilet paper and cardboard box, or
a whole village from paper and tape.”
As she grew older, her focus shifted from realizing personal
ideas to creating something valuable to others. She completed her master’s
degree in Computer science from the Norwegian University of Science and
Technology. As soon as she completed her studies, she started her professional
career as a consultant at TietoEnator. Then she worked her way up through
several roles and gained all the necessary skills.
During her professional career, she realized the importance
of agile philosophy. So, to change the existing approach and culture, she
conceptualized a unique idea and filled true colors in it with the help of her
friend and co-founder Brian Solli. This marked the dawn of DigiLEAN.
Hurdles along the way
The DigiLEAN team landed a recognized company within the
lean community as one of their first customer. Liv adds, “We were quite
flattered when they decided to use DigiLEAN to take the next step in their lean
journey. They asked us to implement new functionality to the system. We spent
six man-months before we realized that we had to stop the initiative.”
The most important lesson that they learned was the
necessity to check that whether the product was market-fit for more than one
client. She adds, “In addition, if you want to build customized functionality,
make sure you have the right commitment from the customer. In this case, the
CEO of the company left before we were finished, the focus shifted, and the
company decided to place our collaboration on hold.”
Striving for best with DigiLEAN
DigiLEAN is a cloud-based collaboration tool for companies
that want to maximize value and minimize waste. Strategic goals are
communicated throughout the organization and put into action. Dashboards with
KPIs can be created within minutes, including automatic display of business
data from other systems. DigiLEAN is web-based and available on all devices
engaging all employees.
She states that the team is quite proud of how their
customers describe their support as beyond expectations. She adds, “Being
available to help, give honest feedback and be a good collaboration partner is
part of our DNA. Happy customers are excellent ambassadors.”
From the start, DigiLEAN has created a unique bond with its
customers, partners, and lean communities. Continuous collaboration with them
has enabled the team to ask questions, test new features, and access brainpower
outside their office walls.
She adds, “We influence the culture of our workplaces in the
behaviors we adopt and reward. Employees at DigiLEAN are expected and
encouraged to act ethically, identifying potential risk and reporting any
concerns.”
DigiLEAN is built on the Microsoft platform and modern web
technology. Microsoft has been a valuable technology partner already from the
start. Today they are part of a program where DigiLEAN will be available in
Microsoft Teams.
Life as CEO of DigiLEAN
Being the CEO and co-founder of the company, Liv manages
different aspects and responsibilities. She says, “The ability to listen is an
important part of successful projects. Ask questions and truly listen to what
people are telling you. It could be a customer, employee, expert within your
field, or business expert. Reflecting upon their feedback has been crucial to
build a successful product.”
As a leader, she makes decisions every day to set the course
for the business. She bounces between a
stubborn and flexible approach and keeps an open heart to adapt to new
changes but still stays true to her vision.
Being inspired by the famous adage by Walt Disney, “If you
can dream it, you can do it,” she inspires the whole team to focus on
innovation. She is passionately driven by a desire to continuously improve and
make an impact and aims to make her brand the leading and preferred improvement
platform globally.
Achieving a work-life balance with finesse
She understands the value of a balanced life and strives to
maintain it on both a professional and personal front. She follows a strict
regime and includes time for her family and personal growth.
Her co-founder Brian states, “Liv has the rare combination
of excellent professional and human qualities, which makes her both a great
leader and a great friend.”
She likes to wake up early in the morning to spend some
quality time with her husband. After having a chat and discussing all the other
aspects, she indulges in her work routine. Then in the evening, she takes out
some time to help her kids with their homework, have dinner together, goes out
for a walk with the dogs, and spends some quality family time.
She loves to read books and goes to bed at a reasonable
time. She gets inspired by the famous saying, “Early to bed early to rise, makes
a man healthy, wealthy and wise,” and implements that in her daily life.
On the professional front, she strives to be an honest and
transparent leader. She adds, “The employees are kept in the loop. Key metrics
are open and discussed both good and bad results. Every morning starts with a
stand-up meeting where challenges are discussed, and yesterday’s achievements
are celebrated.”
Future roadmap for DigiLEAN
To become the leading improvement platform in the world, Liv
guides her team to grab new opportunities and exploit new heights. She adds,
“We continuously develop the product and release new versions. In 2020 we
deployed a new version every two weeks resulting in 300 initiatives.”
The investments secured in 2021 lay the economic foundation
for the continued development of both the company and product. She states, “We
want to make DigiLEAN available for all companies who want to combine lean and
digitalization. Our focus is, therefore, to have two new distribution channels
for signing up, Microsoft Teams and directly from our product site
www.digilean.com. We will expand our partner network and reach out to new
markets. Customer priorities and needs are evolving, which means the value
DigiLEAN provides must change with them.”