Definition from the business directory (see this link) : In an organizational context, a process of profound and radical change that orients an organization in a new direction and takes it to an entirely different level of effectiveness. Unlike 'turnaround' (which implies incremental progress on the same plane) transformation implies a basic change of character and little or no resemblance with the past configuration or structure.
Who is responsible to drive the Business Transformation?
There are different thoughts on this which range from CEO, CMO to CIO. You can search the web for various points of view. In any case it should be very clear at the beginning of a business transformation effort who owns it. Whoever it is in your company they should actively support it.
Define in what environment a business transformation takes place.
- In case of a growing business
- Most likely the old processes and tools are no longer sufficient to deal with the challenges of a growing business. See this link to explore that in more detail
- In case of a mature business (and a growing business as well)
- Check this excellent article from McKinsey
- Key Points are
- Set clear objectives
- provide strong leadership support from the top
- setup a clear organization structure for the transformation
- maintain energy and involvement throughout organization
Who (System Integrator) can help you with the Business Transformation?
- Check this link to get a general idea about the challenges with System Integrators
- Make sure that not only cost dictates what you plan to do! You will work with this team for a considerable time and hence you need to be certain that there is a fit with your companies culture.
- Do you want to work with only one system integrator (SI) or consulting company or do you want to involve multiple SI/consulting companies?
Here are some signs, from my experience, that a business transformation effort has serious challenges
- Large parts of the organization don't understand really what the business transformation effort is about or what it tries to achieve
- Leadership does not actively and frequently support the business transformation effort (an occasional email or video on the intranet is NOT sufficient)
- It takes too long to see any progress (e.g. "PowerPoint transformations" can go on for a year or longer before any real progress can be shown to end users) --> this might remind you of a "Waterfall" Project
Here are some key to-dos, from my experience, that I would propose to any business transformation effort
- Ensure the whole organization understands WHY the business transformation is needed. The majority of company employees should clearly understand and support this effort (see also John P. Kotter "Leading Change" for basic Change Management guidance). This means COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE !!! --> everyone should be able to recite the elevator pitch for this transformation.
- Have active, visible and regular Senior Leadership support! (e.g. CEO, CMO, CIO)
- Assign clear Roles & Responsibilities at the beginning. This will require considerable time but is well worth the effort! Instead of stepping on each others toes teams can collaborate instead
- Break the business transformation effort into "digestible pieces"! e.g. a new ERP implementation can be overwhelming and should be broken up into smaller pieces so that the impacted stakeholders better understand what is changing and why it is changing (and hence increase the likelihood of a successful project/program)
- Have 3-6 month release cycles for the business transformation changes. That way it's easier to see and buy into the changes
- Have dedicated Change Management resources assigned to ensure impacted teams understand early on, how they will be impacted (and what the benefit is)
- Actively support team behavior between Business and IT Teams ! They are on the same team and should behave that way! Make sure this actually happens.
- Measure where the transformation effort is compared to the final objective and COMMUNICATE this regularly (e.g. quarterly) to all stakeholders
- Do NOT build "exclusive groups" of any kind - this is a team effort and needs to be treated as such!
