Creating a unified operating model is key to enhancing efficiency and driving growth

In today's business world, leading with a holistic business approach is mission critical. Smart CMOs and CEOs understand that a fragmented customer experience is a long-term problem.

A connected business strategy ensures every aspect of the enterprise is aligned. By doing so, it breaks down silos and enhances employee and customer experiences. A key element in making this happen is creating a more unified corporate operating model, where IT can drive a holistic business approach. Part of this process involves selling the idea that business integration is essential, as the hidden labor costs of a disjointed business impact efficiency and customer satisfaction. For CIOs, fostering a unified company culture is key.

Creating A Holistic Business Approach

Employee experience (#EX) should drive customer experience (#CX). However, many businesses struggle to deal with their siloed strategies. These silos often exist not only across different business units but also within a traditional "plan, build, run" framework, which can be at odds with today’s agile and DevOps methodologies. This disconnect hinders business agility and responsiveness.

Creating a Unified Operating Model

Creating a unified operating model is essential for businesses looking to enhance efficiency and drive growth. IT, with its holistic business approach across the organization, can play a pivotal role in this transformation. Unlike other departments, IT understands the interconnectedness of various functions, making it the natural leader for promoting unified thinking.

By encouraging business leaders to look beyond their departmental boundaries, IT can help integrate CX and EX strategies, ensuring smoother business and IT alignment. Highlighting value chains, networks and interdependencies within the organization can significantly enhance operational coherence.

It starts with the CIO

The CIO can act as a catalyst for this transformation by demonstrating the benefits of integration and collaboration. IT can showcase how connecting operational silos through data and business metrics leads to more informed decision-making and a more cohesive business strategy. Starting with high-value, low-risk areas like marketing, sales and customer service, IT can illustrate the advantages of a unified model.

This approach not only bridges efficiency and effectiveness but also drives growth, paving the way for a successful digital transformation. By leveraging data and creating value-added services, IT can foster a more integrated and collaborative business environment.

IT owns the Holistic View

IT has a strong holistic view across the organization, that enables it to provide a joined-up thinking approach to things like CX and EX. The CIO can demonstrate the benefits of connecting operational silos inside the organization and be a catalyst for promoting a more holistic view of the business with data and business metrics.

Business Integration and Achieving Buy In

Selling business integration requires a strategic approach that highlights immediate benefits and long-term gains. It starts by identifying viable and visible use cases within the organization. Demonstrating success with these use cases can earn support from business leaders across various departments. As part of this process, it is smart to propose incremental steps toward a holistic business approach vision. The strategy should be to start small, move fast and think big.

By showcasing early successes, you can build momentum and sell the broader vision of business integration.

Start with Small Wins

Focus should be on the low-hanging fruit to secure small wins that can be built upon. Show tangible value in business terms, such as increased speed and efficiency. Demonstrate how integration leads to reduced duplication and costs, improved CX and EX, faster business cycles, higher quality results and more innovation. Highlight how faster access to data leads to more informed decision-making, ultimately translating to faster time to value overall.

Developing key supporters, especially from the CFO and CEO, can significantly bolster the case for business integration, ensuring alignment and commitment at the highest levels of the organization. Manufacturing CIO Joanne Friedman says, “Faster time to data, means faster time to more informed decision, which means faster time to value overall.”

Acting as One

Leading with a holistic business approach as a new CIO involves navigating a complex landscape influenced by organizational structure, market segment, and existing roles such as chief information officer (CIO), chief technology officer (CTO), chief data officer (CDO), and yes, perhaps even the chief artificial intelligence officer (CAIO).

The extent of autonomy among divisional IT departments and the presence of Shadow IT can impact the organization. The starting point should be identifying overlapping functions and investments, which can serve as a catalyst for sharing resources, services and data, ultimately moving toward integrated business services.

Suggestions for CIOs

Guidance for CIOs includes thinking in business versus technology terms, understanding the key performance indicators (KPIs) that the executive team focuses on, and presenting ideas to improve these KPIs through holistic actions. It's crucial to think across boundaries and build the capability and talent for integration. Demonstrating the art of the possible by showcasing successful integrations, both within and outside the organization, helps build credibility.

Additionally, arranging for financial benefits to flow back to the business from these integrations reinforces the value of a holistic business approach.

Unifying Leaders

What CEOs need to recognize is that a business is a series of collaborating organisms, working together towards a shared goal. CIOs need to recognize the holistic business, and there is no single view or single model that everyone will agree on.

This means fixing the problem, rather than trying to impose a single model. Data and integration have both shown that a single canonical form always fails; don’t fall into the same trap when trying to model and support a collaborative business organism.

Summary

The integration of EX and CX are required to overcome siloed thinking. IT must create a unified operating model by leveraging its holistic business approach across the organization to foster collaboration and integration. Business integration starts with visible use cases and securing early wins to establish momentum.

To achieve success CIOs must think in business terms, understanding key performance indicators, building integration capabilities and demonstrating the value of a unified approach.

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