Make Change Happen!

Business Change and/or Transformation

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In management it has been said that Business Change and/or Transformation involves making fundamental changes in how business is conducted in order to help cope with shifts in market environment. However this is a relatively narrow definition that overlooks other reasons and ignores other rationales.

A better understanding is achieved by considering that Change and/or Transformation is generally a response to two things. First, there are underlying problems or causes of organizational pain that need to be addressed. They have to be properly understood but nevertheless they are a key component. Second, there is a desire by the top management and other senior stakeholders to use the opportunity of addressing these causes in ways that fundamentally alter the paradigm of the organization. Others describe Business Change and/or Transformation as the process of fundamentally changing the systems, processes, people and technology across a whole business or business unit. As such, a business transformation project is likely to include any number of change management projects, each focused on an individual process, system, technology, team, department, etc.

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When Business Change and/or Transformation is deployed

 

The need for Business Change and/or Transformation may be caused by external changes in the market such as an organization's products or services being out of date, funding or income streams being changed, new regulations coming into force or market competition becoming more intense. This management approach may also incorporate Business Process Reengineering. However, BPR does not of itself constitute a business transformation, the outcome should be the deciding factor as to whether any activity is truly transformational or simply improvement. Other methods like Lean or Six Sigma are rooted in incremental improvement rather than paradigm shifts in the way things are done.

• to increase revenue or market share

• to improve customer satisfaction

• to cut costs   

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Components of Change and/or Transformation

 

Business transformation is achieved by one or more of the following: 

• recognizing the need to change and gaining consensus amongst stakeholders that change is necessary

• agreeing what form the change should take, the objectives of the change and a vision that describes a better future

  • Compelling Change Story​

  • Burning Platform

• understanding what the organization is changing from and what the organization needs to change to

  • How we will get there​

• designing the new organizational way of working and how it will be supported by management

• testing and implementing changes, usually in waves (this may take place over a number of days or even over the course of years)

• Understanding that the organization cannot move back to how it was doing business previously

  • Burn the ship​

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