Business and Transformation not or !

The context in which companies are operating is changing rapidly. Geo-political, environmental, societal, energy,… challenges are more than ever unstable and require companies to adapt their business strategy continuously. Agility is more than ever required to face these challenges.

The challenge :

?Long term planning is difficult and companies are moving to rolling strategies with shorter timeframes. The increases pressure to keep the stakeholders (customers, employees , shareholders,…) aligned not only a shared vision/purpose but also the way organizations are organized around ‘aligned autonomy’.

?Turning strategy into action is difficult as it requires change in 3 dimensions : people – processes and technology . Although many transformations are kickstarted as a result of a change in business strategy studies show that more than 70% of the transformations do not reap the intended business benefits or even fail ( some examples ).

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A change in business strategy requires a sound and focused transformation approach

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Our experience (over 375 experts at AE )?in many transformation initiatives boils down in 5 areas :

?The fundamentals :

A change in business strategy requires are transformation masterplan. Depending on the intended goal this can be on company level, departmental level, service area. A detailed masterplan requires a good understanding of the business strategy and translates the current state (capability driven) towards the intended state. The transformation masterplan is translated into a detailed project plan taking into account the budgetary constraints and the interdependencies. A good plan is action oriented . It envisions and enables!

Digital as an enabler : today digital is in nearly all transformations a key enabler.? Historically IT departments were in the lead , nowadays this is a joined responsibility of both the business and IT (although they will still do a lot of the heavy lifting) . Alignment is fundamental and results in multi-disciplinary (people/processes/technology or more holistic : organization/business/technology) projects.

The fundamentals need to be well addressed and are key. Transformation projects most often fall in 3 categories : more business, more efficient ways or reduction of risks to do the business

Total Experience :

Transformations with a goal to raise the company business results. In the past most projects were around product /service design and experience. Today this has become broader and is to be regarded from a total experience viewpoint. The question is not only anymore "what" but more "what and how". As an example the ergonomy and use of a customer website or journey cannot be isolated anymore of the ergonomy and customer view by services departments in a customer obsessed strategy.

Operational efficiency :

Operational efficiency has been and will remain an important focus point. A gradual move has taken place from cost reduction initiatives towards how technology can liberate employees of manual work and focus on distinct work (a driver in the war for talent). Automation as a driver too eliminate (more a focus point of?process re-design driving simplicity) has moved to human assisted automation.

Risk excellence:

In a digital world new risks appeared. These risk can stall operations and /or have considerable impact on brands. Reducing the exposure and risks in digital security, data security and privacy, identity theft, single points of failure, employee attrition have become key.

How to look at it?

Be clear about the WHY, focus on outcome and make choices. Chop the challenge into actionable projects. Context changes require speed and agility. Adding up to the complexity looking at theses challenges into an isolated way is not possible anymore. Each transformation is often a combination of?: Focus on experience, Investment in talent & culture, adopting an agile approach and install lean governance, becoming more data driven and applying digital technology . A balancing act.

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More than ever we live in an era of (fundamental) challenges. Organizations need to adapt faster than ever in order to realize the opportunities. Adaptability is not a buzz word anymore.

Please share your thoughts and experience. We all can learn from each other.