DILO – what it is, and how it helps our customers

In today’s software landscape, the way a product is designed and the way it is used in daily operations naturally evolves over time. While implementation often begins with strong alignment, usage patterns may shift as customers adapt the system to fit their routines and priorities. If processes are left unchecked, this gradual change can create inefficiencies and reduce the value the product was meant to deliver.

That’s why ION introduced a day in the life of (DILO) a program, which is designed to improve customers’ operational efficiency.

Defining DILO

DILO is a narrative or documentary account that showcases a typical day or routine of a particular person, profession, or entity. It provides insight into their daily activities, challenges, and experiences, often highlighting opportunities for improvement.

The origins and usage of DILO

A quality management and analysis tool, DILO originates from the operational excellence mindset. It is used to observe and analyze the daily activities of workers or teams, providing insights into operational inefficiencies and working methods. For example:

• In consulting, DILO is used to understand how employees allocate their time between different activities, to identify areas for improvement and inform strategies for behavioral change and process optimization.
• Operations teams use DILO to analyze the daily tasks and challenges faced by employees. Activities can then be categorized activities into value-added and non-value-added tasks, helping operations teams to prioritize improvements and optimize processes.

Understanding the ION DILO framework

At ION, DILO delivers measurable impact by helping customers use ION’s product more effectively. Rather than relying solely on feedback surveys or formal review meetings, a DILO provides a direct, unfiltered perspective of how the software is used, day to day.

A small team –usually three people, including client-facing managers and solution experts – spends time observing users in their actual work environment. By shadowing multiple users at their desks, the team collects insights across three essential dimensions:

• Activities: The real tasks and workflows users perform with the system.
• Pain points: Challenges, bottlenecks, or frustrations that reduce efficiency.
• Potential solutions: Improvements, automation opportunities, or better use of features that can address the gaps.

All findings are carefully documented, compared across users, and organized into a structured database. The result is actionable intelligence that can be used immediately to enhance adoption and long-term value.

Tracking alignment over time

The evolution of a typical customer’s system usage is illustrated in this graph:

Alignment between customer and product is high immediately following implementation. However, as time pass and the system adapts to real-world workflows, small divergences appear. By the six-month post-implementation phase, this shift becomes visible. Over the following year to 18 months, the gap can widen as usage diverges from the most optimal path.

A DILO exercise is designed to address this. Conducted at the right point in the relationship, it pinpoints where the system is underutilized, where workflows can be streamlined, and where users need support. As shown in the graph, this creates a positive inflection – realigning product use with intended value and setting the stage for long-term success.

Structuring a DILO

A DILO exercise is most effective when treated as a structured process rather than a simple observation. Its purpose is to provide clarity on how work is carried out in practice, highlighting where processes run smoothly and where inefficiencies arise.

The value begins with clear objectives. A well-defined scope ensures the exercise is focused on the questions that matter, rather than becoming a general record of activity.

During the observation, the emphasis is on identifying patterns and nuances that routine reporting often overlooks – whether it is a recurring bottleneck, an unexpected workaround, or an area of duplicated effort.

Equally important is how findings are used. Transforming observations into structured insights, supported by data and visualization, allows organizations to move from anecdotal feedback to evidence-based decision making.

By approaching it in this way, a DILO goes beyond capturing a snapshot of daily activity. It becomes a tool for uncovering opportunities, supporting change, and enabling teams to work more effectively. 

Why DILO matters for customers and how the ION DILO program helps customers

For our customers, the DILO’s benefits are immediate and eye-opening. While some customers had identified bottlenecks, the demands of daily business-as-usual activities often hindered them from implementing solutions and crafting a strategic path forward. This was the challenge faced by Veolia, one of the world’s leading providers of environmental solutions.

Veolia’s treasury team puts it like this, “While we were aware of inefficiencies embedded in our daily processes, working with the ION DILO helped us identify the corresponding solutions and build a defined plan to resolve them. The DILO surfaced a wide range of issues, from fragmented reporting and manual reconciliation to inconsistent dashboard configurations and approval delays, that were slowing us down and creating unnecessary complexity. The structured walkthrough helped us connect the dots across systems and teams, revealing where improvements could have the greatest impact. ION’s recommendations helped us automate key processes, streamline reporting, and improve visibility across forecasting, settlement, and reconciliation. We’ve seen immediate benefits from enhanced dashboard usability [and] reduced manual copy pastes ”

The ION DILO program is designed to help ION and the customer. For customers, it’s a chance to address their challenges with actionable solutions and use the ION software functionality more effectively. It gives customers the opportunity to benchmark themselves to their peers while contributing to best practices. The feedback sessions during the DILO exercise also influence product evolution and can drive development priorities, allowing customers to contribute to the product roadmap.

For ION, the DILO program provides a window into the real-world use of our products. It provides invaluable feedback on what customers need, and what they do or don’t use, contributing to constant innovation. More importantly, it strengthens our ION community, deepening relationships in line with our commitment to long-term success.

The ION DILO program is about more than systems – it’s about our customers and understanding their daily realities to help them build a better future.

If you’re looking to unlock hidden efficiencies and enhance how your current treasury management system (TMS) works for you, connect with your account manager for more information and schedule a DILO today.