Every change is challenging, even when it brings improvements.
Eva Strmljan Kreslin is the director of the organization Mala ulica, which provides comprehensive support to young families. Primarily, it offers a space for socializing and play, as well as creative workshops for children. Additionally, the organization provides free psychosocial support programs for parents, parenting training, and other forms of support for raising and caring for children, along with various activities for mothers on maternity leave. One of their most important services is quality and diverse holiday care for schoolchildren from grades 1 to 5, helping parents balance work obligations during school breaks.
Customer and user relationships are critical nowadays. How do you manage these relationships at your organization?
Without our visitors and users, we wouldn't exist. We continually adapt all our programs for preschool children based on their age, abilities, and needs. Flexibility and adaptability are also our guiding principles for holiday care and programs for parents. We recognize that families have different needs, desires, and possibilities, and we try to adapt to them individually as much as possible. Even though, as a public service, we are greatly limited in terms of staff and finances, I can confidently say that we care about each visitor or user. We do our best for everyone.
Do you use any digital solutions at your work?
Our work is very personal. We encourage visitors to make our family center a phone-free space where parents engage with their children and teach them by example, rather than by scrolling through phones or computers. However, a certain degree of digitalization is necessary. It can even enhance the sense of homeliness in our family center. For example, access with a digital annual pass allows holders to enter Mala ulica as if they were coming home—without additional registration or ticket purchase. Digitalizing entry through the annual pass also provides us with important data about our visitors—how often they come, how long they spend at Mala ulica, which days and times are the most popular, etc. This data is also important for our supporters and funders, as it helps us demonstrate visitor numbers and justify the existence and funding of Mala ulica.
Another significant upgrade to our work was online registration for various activities, particularly holiday care. In the beginning, we had many issues with “manual” registrations. Today, with nearly five times more schoolchildren in our care, we couldn't function without this system. This summer alone, we took care of over 900 children, so processing all the data manually would have been… well, unimaginable work.
Many people today are considering digitalizing their business, but they are afraid of changes, such as implementing new systems and software. What advice would you give these entrepreneurs?
Every change is difficult, even if it brings improvements. We all know this, but it's worth biting the bullet and learning how to use new programs, tools, and solutions, as they make work easier, more streamlined, and more economical in the long run.
Digitalization enables the use of various solutions. Is your organization considering any additional innovations for customers in the future, such as upgrading a loyalty program?
I admit, we are a rather computer and digitally illiterate team, as we focus much more on interpersonal relationships, personal contact, and mutual assistance. Nevertheless, we are open to being persuaded by experts regarding new solutions and are open to innovations, especially as the volume of bureaucratic work increases year by year.
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