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Global Intelligent Automation Consulting - Associate Director at Cargill

Operating Model: Is your organization set up for success?

Companies have the vision of a successful business, which in most cases is to be agile, effective, and innovative. They want to excel in customer experience, leverage new technologies to improve their processes and build value through those experiences. In a dynamic and always evolving market, we often tend to focus on new technology advancements and the hype of the moment, which is in our heads linked to innovation. With too much focus on technology only, are we set up for success? In many discussions with partners, I always hear: "Should we instead focus on what problem we're trying to solve rather than technology?". That question for me resonates a lot and is often ignored. If it's so important, why is it overlooked?

The building blocks

When we analyze the business from the top, we tend to see a strategy defined at higher levels, teams structured in functional areas, and many one-off initiatives that don't have a big enterprise impact.

Gains are disappointing, in many cases, not sustainable, and the lack of an Integrated Operating Model becomes more visible. With the disconnect between process, data, and technology, and with an organization structured not aligned to create enterprise-wide impact, results are noted but far from the full potential. As teams are organized by Function, they tend to focus on improving existing processes and applying technology to broken processes.

The result is well known, where value is captured but at the cost of not improving the customer experience. Over time, the lack of focus on the customer journey, which starts with their needs (not what they ask only), shows the price at some point, which is usually customer dissatisfaction, churn, and increased levels of stress for employees who manage those processes.

The path forward

A successful enterprise has a clear, Integrated Operating Model. With the right organizational structure, clear goals and priorities, and governance that organize the execution around the objectives set earlier. In those high-performing organizations, we see teams organized and focused on customer journeys, identifying the pain points and, most importantly, redesigning the processes that can be later automated and enhanced with analytics. The starting point is the strategy, vision, and how value can be measured, and work prioritized. With this, the next step is to select the customer journeys that are likely to generate the highest impact and what value means for them. With the focus on improving business outcomes, different skill sets can be organized in a team with a clear mission and grounded by data to support improvement. Lastly, without processes to sustain the value, the excitement goes away. Monitoring the value achieved, capturing the lessons learned, and changing the Operating Model are key to achieving long-term value and transforming the business. On top of this, people are at the core of the Operating Model; they should be involved in changes, collect their feedback, provide training and clarity, and also recognize the wins. Is your organization set up for success?

The articles from these contributors are based on their personal expertise and viewpoints, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of their employers or affiliated organizations.