42 percent of CEOs have already begun business transformation according to a recent Gartner survey of 388 CEOs across the globe. Today’s world is changing at a very fast pace due to many factors such as technological advancements and regulatory change. Organizations that fail to transform with this pace of change are facing declining prospects and struggling to stay afloat. More than 52% of Fortune 500 companies from a decade ago are no longer on the list because they weren’t able to adapt. Nokia’s CEO has been famously quoted as saying “We didn’t do anything wrong, but somehow, we lost”. Such admission drives home the importance of business transformation and continuous improvement. Equally, if not more, important is to ensure that any business transformation initiative is heading in the right direction. Top factors to ensure a sustainable and successful business transformation include:
Clear, Concise Vision: In order to transform a business successfully, you need to have a clear, concise vision of what you are trying to achieve. Through business transformation, are you trying to achieve a competitive edge in the market or are you trying to achieve overall changes in the mission, vision, and values of an organization? Also you need to make sure that you have addressed the primary operational excellence challenges driving this initiative such as linking process improvement with top level business strategy, sustaining change, and cost/budget limitations.
Clarity on the path forward: You need to have a good plan and approach on how you want to execute the change. You need to make sure that you have a responsible executive ownership to execute the plan. Also, you need to make sure you have considered leading solutions and methodologies that can be used to achieve business transformation such as Dynamic Case Management, Robotic Process Automation (RPA), and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Make the case for change internally: You need to make the case for change internally. The message should be clear to understand for all from top management to grass root. Each individual should be aware of why you are changing, what you are achieving because of this change and what preparation internally you need to make to adopt the change.
To summarize, a clear vision, clarity on path forward and comprehensive internal communication plan play an important role in achieving a successful business transformation. We have more than a decade of experience in leading successful business transformations. Should you require expertise during your next business transformation initiative, please contact us at info@polariseme.com.
*References: Global state of process excellence 2017 by Process Excellence Network (PEX)