Navigating Uncertainty: Transforming Support Functions for the Digital Era

As the landscape of corporate operations experiences seismic shifts, the traditional concept of support functions finds itself at a critical point: either evolve to drive measurable impact or become fully automated.

The challenge for business leaders is to understand how they can empower their support functions to more effectively contribute in the fast-changing digital environment. In the past, support functions generally focused on well-understood operational activities such as budgeting, staffing, and process optimization. Many of the day-to-day tasks have already been outsourced or automated due to advancing technology. At the same time, the global, digital economy is more complex than ever. Support functions face disruptions in their normal operations, just as customer-facing functions do. Think pandemic, supply chain issues, cyberattacks, and so on.

Understanding Support Functions and Their Evolution

Support functions, often thought of as “overhead” in financial discussions, nonetheless are critical to the organization’s success. From HR and finance to legal, IT, and facilities management, these functions are the backbone of business operations. Despite their foundational importance, they are often labeled as “cost centers,” since they don’t have a direct influence on revenue generation. Accordingly, they are often singled out for cost-cutting measures.

However, support functions are far more than just cost centers; they play an integral role in the daily operations of any business. They ensure regulatory compliance and create a secure environment for employees to do their work. They help develop sound financial policies and track metrics that inform operational decisions. They attract, select and retain top talent. In short, they provide essential services without which businesses can’t function.

Embracing a customer-centric approach is paramount — support functions must treat internal colleagues as customers. In this way, they foster innovation, facilitate timely resource allocation, and collaborate with revenue-generating units to optimize desired business outcomes.

They’ve also developed a reputation for existing in their own sort of “fiefdom,” treating other stakeholders in the organization more like subjects than customers. As a result, they’re often referred to as “corporate antibodies,” stifling innovation and hindering “risk-taking” that might lead to significant progress.

Disruption of Support Functions: Embracing the Unpredictable

The traditional landscape of support functions has been disrupted by a multitude of factors, contributing to an environment of uncertainty. The pandemic acted as a catalyst, forcing an abrupt shift to remote work, and underscoring the urgent need for digital transformation both within and outside organizations. The “big quit” phenomenon brought on by burned-out workers, the frequency of cyber-attacks, the rise of privacy concerns, all compound the complexity.

Navigating the Technological Challenge: Balancing Efficiency with Human Abilities

Efficiency-improving technology leads to workforce reduction. But simply cutting staff threatens the function's ability to evolve to meet business needs. Policies and processes will literally be codified. Human creativity and intelligence is required to meet emerging challenges.

Forging Ahead: The Path to Transformation

The transformation of support functions from mere cost centers to strategic partners requires a fundamental shift in perspective. Moving beyond a myopic focus on cost efficiency, these functions need to adopt a forward-looking stance. Legal teams should assess risks while simultaneously empowering the organization’s future endeavors. Finance departments should redefine budget management to reward outcomes, not merely output. HR units should explore methods to incentivize performance outcomes over simple task completion.

Embracing a customer-centric approach is paramount — support functions must treat internal colleagues as customers. In this way, they foster innovation, facilitate timely resource allocation, and collaborate with revenue-generating units to optimize desired business outcomes.

The uncertainty surrounding these functions demands a paradigm shift — one that propels support functions into a dynamic, agile, and customer-centric domain.

The need for support functions to mirror the agility and entrepreneurial spirit of product and innovation teams cannot be overstated. A critical aspect of this transformation involves being “cross-functional” as required by the situation. Shifting the focus from “efficiency of output” to “efficiency of outcomes” ensures a results-driven approach. And, establishing strong connections with business teams can create a culture of collaboration, facilitating the exchange of insights and knowledge. Everyone’s rowing in the same direction.

The path toward transforming support functions depends on the current state of an organization. However, several overarching steps can be undertaken. Engaging in empathy-driven interactions with business units will help pinpoint challenges within the function’s purview. Ideating solutions and validating assumptions through controlled experiments form the bedrock of future policies. To solidify the transformation, investing in new skills development and aligning each function’s vision with the organization’s strategic priorities is essential. Embedding support functions within business units is one to create a seamless fabric of collaboration and adaptability.

Conclusion: Charting the Course for Future Excellence

As the uncharted waters of modern businesses continue to surge forward, the transformation of support functions emerges not just as a necessity, but as an opportunity for growth. The uncertainty surrounding these functions demands a paradigm shift — one that propels support functions into a dynamic, agile, and customer-centric domain. By embracing innovation, nurturing collaboration, and aligning with strategic objectives, support functions can shed the cloak of the traditional “cost center” image and emerge as essential catalysts for organizational success in the digital era.

In the dynamic and ever-changing realm of evolving business, the support functions that underpin success are undergoing a seismic transformation. To truly unlock the potential of your organization’s support functions in an era of digital transformation email me: [email protected]

BRANT COOPER, The New York Times bestselling author of The Lean Entrepreneur and Disruption Proof and CEO and founder of Moves the Needle, is a trusted adviser to startups and large enterprises around the world. With more than 25 years of expertise in changing industrial age mindset into digital age opportunity, he blends agile, human-centered design, and lean methodologies to ignite entrepreneurial action from the front lines to the C-suite.