Search Results

The Client: The mission of the state agency is to generate revenue to support higher education, health and human services, environmental conservation, and economic and business development. Being efficient and effective is critical for the agency to deliver more value to Arizona. The Challenge: In the Fall of 2018, executive leadership at the agency set out to execute an ambitious growth plan that called for accelerated introduction of new products, improved transparency and compliance, and enhanced customer service. They quickly realized that the outcomes they were seeking could not be fulfilled by the organization’s legacy technology infrastructure, an underutilized application portfolio, insufficient governance controls, and the constant need to achieve more with tighter budgets. The client leadership saw the use of cloud services as a sustainable competitive advantage allowing them to leapfrog these issues. They turned to MSS Business Transformation Advisory (MSSBTA) to develop a cloud strategy and roadmap to effectively leverage cloud services, while building the foundational capabilities to manage the cloud services most effectively. Our Solution: MSSBTA worked closely with key stakeholders to craft a strategy with broad consensus. A rigorous, data-driven methodology was used to baseline the current state. This included a Capability Maturity Assessment to understand organizational readiness across six key areas: Provisioning & Orchestration, Financial Management, IT Service Management, Security, Operations Management, and Business Service Management. The consulting team also surveyed all application owners to identify and rank applications and infrastructure components that were best suited for the cloud based on several factors, including complexity, data, criticality, performance, and TCO. Based on these findings and a desired future state, a detailed roadmap was developed that included applications to be moved and the foundational projects to improve organizational readiness. Once the client was ready to pilot movement to the cloud, MSSBTA assisted in identifying a cloud platform provider and supported moving a few business-critical underperforming applications. MSSBTA worked closely with the cloud platform provider and the client teams to design and build the infrastructure needed, manage cutover, operationalize key processes, and train internal IT resources that would manage the solution in the future. The Results: As a result of meticulous planning and execution, the client was able to successfully utilize AWS services to create an instantly scalable, agile, compliant, and secure solution. The client was able to save over $3M in operational expenses over 10 years, which further enables the agency to reach their strategic goals. Deliverables: Leadership Capability Assessments Business Requirements Strategic Roadmap Vendor Selection and Implementation

Client Detail: The client is a large multi-billion-dollar national retail grocery store engaged with more than 270,000 employees. MSS Business Transformation Advisory (MSSBTA) was engaged to conduct a review of the retail accounting processes. The analysis of the current state processes focused on the identifying areas of improvement. The functional areas within retail accounting that were reviewed included: General Ledger/Journal Entry Accounts Payable Accounts Receivable Tax Reporting Asset Tracking Period (Monthly/Annual) Closing The Challenge: The client’s retail accounting processes had become increasingly inefficient which impacted the labor and technology cost to the organization. The primary factors leading to the process inefficiencies were manual workarounds and custom ad-hoc applications that were created because of their aging infrastructure, specifically their ERP system. MSSBTA’s expertise was needed to quantify a “business case for change” to address the identified inefficiencies. Our Solution: The initial catalog of processes to be reviewed was determined using the APQC® Process Classification Framework for accounting/finance. Collaborative workshops were conducted with each of the identified functional teams of the client’s retail accounting group to document their current processes and pain points. After each session, MSSBTA performed process analysis to identify gaps and inefficiencies. Recommendations from MSSBTA’s process analysis were validated with the retail accounting functional teams. Then, targeted areas of improvement were prioritized by the executive team based on quantified impact. This iterative approach gave ownership to the real accounting teams to sustain results. The Results: An executive summary of the process analysis was presented to the retail accounting management team as well as representatives from the corporate financial management team. Based on the discussion, it was agreed that a project should be funded to examine the technology infrastructure that was supporting the retail accounting group. Deliverables: Leadership Governance Retail accounting process analysis Executive presentation summarizing the recommendations

Client Detail: The mission of the state agency is to generate revenue to support higher education, health and human services, environmental conservation, and economic and business development. Being efficient and effective is critical for the agency to deliver more value to Arizona. The Challenge: The client was operating a public website that was inefficient, manually supported and not achieving their goals for accessibility to the public. This impacts revenue generation through reduced website traffic and an increase in cost to maintain. Due to their infrastructure design that required manual server utilization monitoring and load balancing, the client was having issues with customers being unable to reach their website. MSS Business Transformation Advisory (MSSBTA) was engaged to assess their current state and identify areas to improve efficiency and reliability. Our Solution: MSSBTA designed and rebuilt the cloud infrastructure environment to manage higher peak website traffic at a lower cost and improved reliability. Utilizing a cloud service provider, they implemented an ability to auto-scale server capacity which would ensure servers reaching peak utilization would automatically shift application loads to newly created servers without manual intervention. Once high utilization was no longer an issue, it automatically scaled down to reduce the cost. For example, this would shift the website from two servers to four servers to meet higher demand (increase in customer traffic at once) to avoid a website outage and then would move back to two servers once the demand turned to normal. Additionally, a serverless computing solution was implemented to run some application features without reliance on a server. This also reduced the load from servers which increased capacity and reduced cost. Their Results: The client saw a reduction in outages, increasing reliability and availability while also reducing costs to support the infrastructure environment. MSSBTA continues to support the client in improving their infrastructure efficiency to support their growing needs. Deliverables: Assess current state of the client's website Design a solution to address their needs Identify a cloud server provider & solutions necessary to improve efficiency & reliability Implement the solution & monitor for continued improvement

When building a business case, it is time to rethink how you measure project success. Let us start with some introspection. How many times have you heard a transformation project successfully fulfilled the operational and financial benefits as laid out in its business case? Now, think of the number of times you heard that a project was successfully delivered under budget and on schedule. If you had difficulty thinking of a single project that measured success as “Meeting business case objectives” and not “Delivered on schedule and under budget”, you are NOT alone. Almost 50 percent of transformation projects do not even quantify benefits or draw up a robust business case! These are literally once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to generate value for organizations. As a result, two-thirds of those without a business case do not track value delivered once the project is labeled complete. Both of those scenarios are squandered opportunities to create true differentiation in the marketplace. Is it really a surprise to hear that ROI on transformation programs is usually disappointing? Almost 70% of transformation programs deliver less than 50% of their targeted value. That is not what anyone would consider success! Build a Business Case A well-thought-out business case is a promise of a better future, based on educated, consensus-driven assumptions and projections. At MSS Business Transformation Advisory (MSSBTA), we strongly believe large transformation efforts need to be clearly articulated and thought-out, detailing the operational and financial drivers of value, both qualitative and quantitative. Partner with a third-party advisor that uses a proven, holistic methodology that combines a top-down approach (based on goals, market analysis, and industry benchmarks) with a bottom-up approach (historical performance, leadership inputs, and proforma projections), to formulate a realistic and strong business case. Measure Results to Capture Value Creation of the business case is only one half of the story. Once you have documented the targeted value by which success will be measured, you owe it to your organizations to ensure that delivered value meets or exceeds targeted value. At MSSBTA, we have developed a Value Tracking and Maximizing methodology that can drive effective capture of value. Along with strong, ongoing oversight, our approach enables you to identify and pull the right value levers. Pulling them in the correct sequence can influence desired outcomes and help capture benefits faster. For example, in a new inventory system transformation, one possible driver of financial value is working capital reduction. One of the levers we can pull with the transformation is improved forecasting capabilities. Ensuring the identified lever is truly engaged across the organization, we can assure the targeted benefits are realized. It is high time we stopped measuring project success solely based on schedule and budget. The true test of project success is “Did we accomplish what we set out to achieve?”. Share This Article:

Many organizations implementing ERP drive hard to go-live, but once the system is up and running, they fail to optimize for the changing business environment. Where they could utilize ERP efficiencies within the system, they are ultimately leaving money on the table. ERP Efficiencies Commonly Missed Automated bank transactions warehouse Automated inter-company sales Budget checking on PO’s (tightly controlled encumbrance process for grant tracking) Landed cost linked to inventory through manufacturing to get true costing Automated cash receipts / lockbox processing In addition to the above, consider if your organization is making the most of the functionality available in the modules you own. For example, in the Purchasing module, are Approvals being utilized fully and successfully? Are Purchase Requisitions and/or Purchase Quotes used most efficiently? In another article, 8 Differences Between a Common ERP Approach and an Optimized One we discussed the example of a user interface that hadn’t changed since the initial implementation. As a result, it looked “old school” and didn’t offer the experience users were used to with other systems. By simply implementing other available versions of screens for ease-of-use, they could have easily changed processing options or data selections making data entry faster and easier, thereby increasing productivity. Improve Overall Operations By uncovering efficiencies already available in your ERP system your organization could be just steps away from realizing company-wide benefits that optimization brings and avoid leaving money on the table. Uncover and implement new hidden efficiencies by: Meeting with your ERP end users to identify usage and/or training gaps Assessing your ERP environment with a focus on improving efficiencies via setup/ technology/reporting Providing ERP documentation comparing your current system to the latest releases of the application Share This Article:

You have updated your IT Strategy and communicated it to the organization. You have established a governance framework to track progress and monitor risks. To convert your IT Strategy into action, you will need targeted metrics and a transparent performance management process and system to drive continuing operational performance to meet your strategic goals. When an IT organization has a business-aligned strategy with engaged and excited employees ready to execute, a key component is ensuring the focus remains on the organization's goals with metrics targeted to achieve them. Imagine a fully transparent Performance Management Dashboard that tracks operational metrics such as: application and infrastructure performance information security employee engagement and safety IT organization financial performance and customer satisfaction. These are examples of metrics that will keep the IT organization performing well. In addition to operational metrics and goals, you should track progress against strategic goals. Once your strategy and key initiatives are defined, identify how to measure the outcome. Tracking progress against strategic goals while monitoring operational performance will inform leaders of adjustments that need to be made during the Transformation. MSSBTA has experience in establishing and leading the implementation of Performance Management Processes, including identifying metrics and designing dashboards. The process and tools can be implemented in phases: METRICS - Identifying your metrics. This is the most important and difficult step, as the wrong metrics can lead to negative outcomes. Remain focused on your strategy and business value you are seeking to achieve and include important operational performance metrics that "keep the lights on". PROCESS - Create and implement a performance management process used to review and communicate performance. Initially this might involve manual spreadsheet tracking but should evolve to a performance management dashboard. A Performance Management Process Owner and individual Metric Owners are necessary for accountability. TECHNOLOGY - Transition from manual tracking to a Performance Management Dashboard. There are a variety of data visualization solutions available on the market. Start with understanding who will be using it, what resources are available to ensure data accuracy, and how much support is needed. CULTURE - Drive performance management as part of your organization’s culture. Effective Change Management is key to driving focus. It starts at the top with CIO and IT leader alignment and sponsorship. REASSESS - Continually review metrics and adjust goals. Once goals are achieved, set the bar higher or invest resources in other areas where performance gaps are seen. IMPROVE - continue to invest in your automated performance management process. To proactively address quality issues, over time invest in real-time monitoring of Infrastructure, Application, and Information Security. With real-time monitoring enabled, IT organizations can identify root cause for on-going performance issues could take days or weeks. Download How to Build a Performance Management Dashboard PDF Once you have a well-established IT Performance Management Process and System, you can expect to gain significant value which includes: a high-performing organization IT investments focused on the right areas the ability to quickly pivot to address the enterprise needs improved customer satisfaction, and achieving strategic goals while minimizing risk. MSSBTA can assist in a full implementation of performance monitoring or within one of the phases. Share This Article:

Your IT Strategic Planning Process doesn’t have to be a long and winding road. In life, plans are good. You probably have a plan for your daily commute. In public sector agencies, IT strategic plans are necessary. IT strategic plans are the vehicle used to ensure that the Agency is optimizing how it leverages technology to create value for the Agency. They are the on ramps to arrive at short- and long-term organization objectives. But creating a strategic plan takes effort and, well, planning. In this article we take a panoramic look at the 8 steps that span a successful IT strategic planning process. 1. Get on Board Identify Key Stakeholders Stakeholder assessment In IT and outside of IT Include internal and external May want to include input from customers The first step toward successful IT strategic planning is stakeholder involvement. Stakeholders hold the keys to input, feedback, resources, and support. Having them on board is essential. What is the best way to go about this? Include them in the planning process from the start. This helps ensure that IT initiatives receive the necessary support and resources to successfully implement. Your planning team might include: IT leadership – of course! Agency executives Senior and middle managers Technical and support staff Customers/citizens Former leaders of the organization A trusted advisor to provide leadership, governance, and accountability throughout the process. These stakeholders are now your planning team. They will play an important role in formulating the IT strategic planning process. 2. Know the Rules of the Road Establish Policies, Procedures, and Guidelines Establish planning process and timelines Clearly define guiding principles Establish parameters Rules are created for a reason – at least they should be. Help the IT strategic planning team be efficient and effective. Adopt procedures that support the planning process, the planning team itself, and information about the IT strategic plan. This will help team members understand their roles and responsibilities for the duration. Include a governance model to establish a clear decision-making process throughout the planning journey and procedures for addressing the planning timeline and budget. Validate or create a set of IT guiding principles. These principles create the structure or rules that need to be considered when developing the IT strategic plan. Guiding principles should inform 1) What decisions should be made, 2) How decisions should be made,and 3) Who can make and enforce decisions along with parameters to be applied in decision making.An example would be “We optimize first, buy off the shelf second, and customize/build as a last resort”. 3. Know Where You're Going Define Future State Identify target IT maturity level Identify strategies to close gaps and improve performance Raise the bar, innovate to move the needle on Agency goals and objectives Maximize value to the organization Begin with the end in mind. It seems natural to start with understanding your current state. However, the best approach is to start your strategic planning by clearly defining your desired future state. Taking this approach will allow you to focus on the IT function from the perspective of how it adds value to the Agency. When you begin with current state there is a tendency to focus on ways to improve IT (internally IT focused). Instead, look at the value the IT function can deliver to the Agency. 4. Know Where You Are Assess Current State Assess current IT maturity level Gather feedback from business and IT stakeholders Assess current alignment with business goals and objectives Identify gaps/opportunities Know where you are starting from. A solid understanding how IT currently functions and derives value for the organization is necessary before formulating any plans to move the organization forward. Understand ITs current state by gathering information and feedback from stakeholders in a variety of ways. Information gathering can include employee surveys, focus groups, stakeholder interviews and any number of Assessments. Leverage industry benchmarks and maturity models; you do not have to reinvent the wheel. An inventory of IT capabilities is critical to developing a strategic plan. Knowing the current level of IT capabilities and their direct alignment to realized value lays the foundation for planning improvements that will optimize performance in the future. 5. Know Why You're Going Align Goals and Objectives Understand Agency goals and objectives Define IT vision (desired future state – what you want to be) Define IT mission (purpose and how to achieve Vision) Set IT goals and objectives (how will progress be measured) As with any trip it is important that you know the big picture and why you are going. With IT strategic planning this begins by clearly understanding the Agency goals and objectives. The planning team should keep the value the Agency wants to create directly in their line of sight. Aligning IT objectives and goals to Agency objectives ensures that IT initiatives, operations, planning, and leadership are synchronized to drive value for the organization. This will accelerate positive outcomes when the Plan is implemented. This level of synchronization is accomplished by establishing a clearly defined and realistic IT vision and mission aligned with the vision and mission of the Agency. This will provide a unified focus and direction for the IT organization. It will also challenge them to think and move beyond current strategies to achieve the vision and mission. In support of achieving the IT Vision and Mission the organization should develop goals and objectives to measure progress towards the envisioned future state. When IT objectives are successfully aligned with Agency objectives, you see: Consensus around IT investments Improved decision-making about IT priorities Compatible and supported long-terms goals Agreement on ITs role throughout the organization Download the IT Strategic Planning Checklist Download Road to IT Strategic Planning PDF 6. Map How You'll Get There Develop the IT Roadmap Review prior roadmaps/plans; identify keep, stop, and continue initiatives Identify new initiatives needed to achieve the desired future state Prioritize initiatives based on strategic alignment, cost, risk, and complexity Develop initiative roadmap Determine budget impact/needs With the starting point and desired destination clearly defined it is now time to clearly define how to get there. This is done by creating a technology roadmap to outline how the Agency will cross the bridge from the current state to arrive at the plan’s desired future state. The IT roadmap should address which initiatives should start, stop, and continue. They should also address specific improvements to IT operations, staffing, security, and any other functions where making improvements will clearly derive additional value for the Agency. The roadmap should include any resources required to make the trip including the overall budget. A roadmap also ensures that technology and infrastructure investments are aligned to meet the short-term and long-term objectives of the Agency. 7. Are You There Yet? Measure Progress Identify key portfolio initiative metrics Set targets Develop a monthly (minimum) dashboard Implement leadership, governance, and accountability for each initiative Implement weekly dashboards for each initiative (include cost, time, and quality metrics) Review progress regularly and formally at least monthly Take corrective action Once the IT strategic planning process is complete, hold your Agency accountable to implement it on time and on budget. Check your team’s progress frequently along the way. Formal metrics are necessary to keep an eye on the road ahead and create common goals that bind all parties to the plan itself. In addition to tracking key IT operational metrics set up metrics to track the progress of key initiative and the value IT is driving for the Agency. Most importantly, these metrics need to be monitored and corrective action taken to make sure you continue on the path to your desired destination. 8. Do You Still Want to Go There? Review and Revise Review Agency goals and objectives along with the IT Strategic Plan regularly and formally, at least quarterly Make adjustments Do not let the finished IT strategic plan collect dust like an old atlas. Ensure success by reviewing it regularly. Track progress and make updates as unexpected factors alter its course. Present the Strategic Plan to Agency executives, senior management, IT staff, and other key stakeholders. Publish it for internal, and sometimes external, distribution depending on Agency requirements. It is important to establish a regular planning cycle to keep the IT strategic plan current and aligned with the Agency’s goals and objectives. Final Destination The path of an IT strategic planning process does not have to be a long and winding road. Follow these 8 steps of strategic planning and arrive at your intended destination successfully: Identify Key Stakeholders Establish Policies, Procedures & Guidelines Define Future State Assess Current State Align Goals and Objectives Develop the IT Roadmap Measure Progress Review and Revise Share This Article:

Change leaders must be developed from within their organization because there is no doubt that digital transformation has become and will continue to be a primary driver of change in organizations for the foreseeable future. Digital transformation is not about introducing a single change. Rather, it is about catalyzing continuous, potentially disruptive change that cascades throughout the organization. True digital transformation effects business processes and mission critical operations changing the way a company functions and thinks. It stretches across business units, departments, and functions. It comes with large capital outlays, and it represents high risk for the organization and the leadership. To say that most digital transformation efforts fail to meet their objectives is almost cliché, but unfortunately, it is cliché for a reason. The most recent research shows that only 12 to 25 percent of digital transformation efforts approach the expected level of return on investment, and these statistics do not even take into account the delayed realization from poorly executed strategies. From a return on investment perspective, digital transformation continues to be a high-risk proposition. Despite this continued level of failure, the expectations for DX are high. According to International Data Corp, by the end of 2019, company spending on digital transformation will reach $1.7 trillion worldwide, a 42% increase from 2017. At the same time, 59% of companies are stuck at stage two or three of digital transformation maturity, “Digital Impasse.” This illustrates a material gap between investment and realization of benefits which puts IT leaders into a truly precarious situation. As a Change Leader, Don't Be a Roadblock The answer is not surprising to anyone who has been involved in digital transformation. According to almost any survey of executives, the top roadblock to successful digital transformation is organizational culture. Companies are just incapable of responding to the changes digital transformation catalyzes. In fact, according to a Gartner survey, CIOs view culture as the largest barrier to scaling digital business over resources and talent. In this age, technology is more than just a tool to improve performance, it is an amplifier of the organizational culture. Technology determines the flow of information, it enhances and changes the ways people interact, and it drives operational behavior. But, investing in new technology does not transform a business alone, it provides a catalyst to transformation. If people behaved one way before the new technology, they will not simply adapt to a new approach. For digital transformation to succeed, making a cultural change is at least as important as implementing new technology. As a result, the IT function has increasingly become the driver of organizational change. The application of change management methods is on the increase (Prosci reports that they have certified 45,000 change management practitioners in a 2017 study, up from 30,000 in 2015), and Change Management has become an expectation on major technology projects. digital transformation requires IT leaders to move beyond the role of a service provider to adopting the role of change leader. Again, according to a Gartner survey, 95% of CIOs expect their role to change as a result of digital transformation strategies, 78% believe it is about making their organization better prepared for change, and 29% see their most significant future role as a becoming a change leader. While the IT leaders cannot drive change on their own, by its very nature, digital transformation requires integration with lines of business and other business functions that impact people and operations. How Leaders Can Prepare Their Organization for Change At MSSBTA, we believe a core issue is that traditional change management is not sufficient for digital transformation. There is no doubt that when traditional change management methods are applied to projects, it has shown it can vastly improve adoption and utilization. One company we know that provides technology solutions for thousands of organizations saw 5X the uptake when implementing with change management in tandem with the technology. For all of its worth, though, traditional change management is not adequate to address the level of change that digital transformation requires because it tends to focus on step-by-step processes designed for single projects, similar to project management but with different tools and language. These methods are designed for business models operating within the constraints of traditional organizational structures. But as we have discussed, digital transformation is almost biblical in the way it breaks through these barriers and creates change which begets more change and so on, tearing down traditional structures and changing the business model. Failure manifests under these conditions because leaders do not understand the full costs of the digital transformation journey, nor are they able to foresee all the potential consequences. With so much uncertainty, they cannot predict the extent of change, so they do not adequately prepare the organization for it. Delays are incurred, resources are stretched, focus is lost, and resistance behaviors not only go unmitigated, but often expand. In the end, companies either cut the digital transformation program short or limp to the end failing to improve the company’s competitive position. The first step to managing change on a scale that digital transformation creates is to understand that your company is changing its business model and operations, not just its technology and that it is a process that will continue far into the future. The assumption is that change management will drive adoption and utilization of technology, but this mindset understates the immense effect that it has on your business model and operations. At a minimum it requires a multifaceted approach on four levels: Employing an Enterprise Change Strategy Developing Your Change Management Framework Enhancing Your Change Leadership Capabilities Growing Organizational Competency for Change Enterprise Change Strategy & Structure While most change methods are designed to drive A to B change in a single project, Enterprise Change Management goes beyond the project level and focuses on building the capacity to carry out multiple, simultaneous changes on an ongoing basis. This means having multiple A to B projects running concurrently and continuously. At the same time, change management is lifted from a primarily administrative function to a strategic function. Structuring the organization for enterprise-level change means looking at your talent from leadership to front line managers with an eye on their capacity for driving change. How the organization views change moves from an arduous process to a strategic competitive advantage. Developing Your Change Management Framework Change management is a discipline that has grown up over the last few decades. As a result, there are a number of approaches and methodologies that can be applied to your business situation. As stated above, most are inadequate for digital transformation, but they can provide a basic framework to build on. At MSSBTA, we recommend building a framework that fits your business best, tailoring it to meet your strategy, testing it on a few early efforts then optimizing and expanding it as you prepare to execute your digital transformation strategy. The framework should be holistic and flexible to account for cultural diversity and local requirements in its application, and should include the methods, templates and tools in a central repository that is continuously updated by both change managers and users. Finally, the role of change management is to educate the organization on the framework, coach them through it, and gather feedback on its application. Enhancing Change Leader Competencies Building change leader capabilities means ensuring your business and IT leaders have the skills to manage ongoing change at the Enterprise level. Leadership is, for all intents and purposes, driving change, but that does not mean that all executives are good at it. Many executives rose through the ranks because they were good at running and optimizing the status quo, but they may be lacking even the most basic change skills required for a sponsorship role. Moreover, digital transformation requires a particular set of skills. Change leaders need to see beyond business requirements to driving desired business outcomes. This requires a combination of strategic, technological, and change management knowledge and experience that is hard to find in most individuals. Change leaders need to build competency for self-awareness, active listening and communication, making the business case for change, mitigating resistance, and driving adoption, while remaining adaptive and flexible to unforeseen consequences. And they need to do all of this at scale. Growing Organizational Capacity for Change Growing a capacity for change throughout the organization is a long-term proposition, but if done right, leaps forward can be made by taking some simple steps. digital transformation presents a unique opportunity to build the capacity for organizational change and make these leaps. To fully realize and sustain the benefits of digital transformation, a company needs to be able to drive incremental continuous change over time and build an ability to respond to disruptive change that can arise unexpectedly. This means integrating change management mindset and skills into the organizational DNA through training, talent and structure deep into the organization, beginning with your change leader. This also means assessing talent, structure, and information flow to allow for transparency, collaboration and emergent behavior. The more agile and responsive the organization, the more likely it can turn change capacity into a competitive advantage. Digital transformation is a massive undertaking but one that sets up an organization to tackle an uncertain but exciting future. To realize the full benefits of the opportunities that can result, organizations rely on their people to not only adopt and utilize new technology, but to see the potential of transforming the business processes, operations, and business model. Leaders and employees need to be enabled to adapt and respond to incremental as well as disruptive change, and to build the competency for managing it continuously. Simply implementing change management as a project level tool will not accomplish this. Only by thinking of change management as a strategic advantage on an enterprise level and building an organizational competency for change will the full opportunity be realized. Share This Article:

Evolution is an often-misunderstood concept. Our elementary vision of it is of fish growing legs, crawling out of the muck as alligators turning into rodents then monkeys then apes and finally something resembling people. Of course, this is not how it works. In fact, evolution is quite complex. On one hand, it requires billions of mutations spread over millions of organisms. Many failures die out while others stick and eventually the whole system reaches a tipping point leading to a great evolutionary leap. On the other hand, drastic environmental changes can lead to significant mutations within a few generations. Both types of evolution are relevant when looking at digital transformational and the role of the CIO. How Technological Evolution Happens Technological evolution follows similar patterns as biological. Much of it happens because of millions of small innovative changes that take place before the next technological era occurs. Take for example, the transition between the agrarian age to the industrial age. Many innovations, discoveries and failures were made over hundreds of years until they culminated into the technologies that enabled mass production. This similar process has been taking place over several decades culminating in the digital age. Just some examples of current technological “mutations” include: Blockchain – Distributed electronic transactions, Drones – Unmanned autonomous vehicles, Internet of Things (IoT) – Any device connected and exchanging information over the Internet, Robots – Virtual agents assisting humans, 3D Printing – Manufacturing techniques used to create three-dimensional objects, Virtual Reality – Simulated images that viewers can realistically interact, Augmented Reality – Virtual reality overlaid on the physical world, and Artificial Intelligence – Automating human intelligence Any of the above can be considered a major advancement in applied technology, but we happen to exist in a time when they are all maturing into useful applications simultaneously and being used to transform entire industries. It is from this aggregated development and maturity that we will likely see the next great leap as these new technologies come together to create the next tipping point. One specific example of how this works is Jaguar’s augmented reality windscreens. You may have heard of heads up displays (HUD) for fighter jets. Essentially, it is a transparent display that presents data in a view that allows the pilot to see the information and the viewpoints beyond. Well, Jaguar is also applying this technology to their automobiles. The HUD highlights obstacles in red, yellow, or green to indicate their distance. It allows the driver to see through the sides of the car so they appear to be fully transparent. It can even project a “ghost car” that the driver can simply follow instead of listening or looking down to a navigation device. Meanwhile, Tesla, Google, and Uber are taking it to the next level by producing cars that can autopilot or don’t even need a driver in the car. These changes are literally transforming the automotive industry. As the bridges between accessibility, artificial intelligence, and automation closes, organizations move faster and faster and bring us closer to the evolutionary tipping point. One day, in the future, we will be able to clearly identify the “mutations” that enabled the leap to occur like the ape tossing the bone in 2001 a Space Odyssey (that, when tossed, turned into a satellite), but during the process, the specific contributions are difficult to foresee. We just know it is coming. How Must CIOs Adapt? For the CIO this presents a challenge. The CIO must evolve as well, but in the way that responds rapidly to the new environment. There are so many possibilities and opportunities, yet the outcome is uncertain. So, how do you know what strategies to pursue and when to pursue them? How do you know what capabilities to build when you are not certain of the requirements? While the final evolution of the CIO’s role in technological evolution is uncertain, there are several steps that one can take to be to be prepared for the environment: The Business Strategist – The CIO has a new role in leading business initiatives rather than just the technology applications. The focus of the CIO is changing from that of controlling IT spend to meeting and managing business outcomes. You need to review your strategic planning from a Business-IT alignment point of view, establish a clear vision based on business objectives, and develop an agile execution approach. Moving faster only helps if you are moving in the right direction. Otherwise, you might find yourself in Death Valley when you were trying to get to Yellowstone. The Change Leader – CIO’s are often responding to or causing change. But you also need to be a change leader which means becoming a visible and active advocate communicating the purpose of change and the expected results to the employees and stakeholders. A CIO cannot afford to be an introvert. You need to engage and interact face to face with all constituents. This will enable you to accelerate change when necessary and keep the organization engaged. The Framework Architect – Volatility and uncertainty mean that the CIO also needs to develop an ecosystem and structure that is flexible and adaptable to variation. This goes against the grain of traditional, hierarchical command and control approaches into more organic structures where team members are embedded into the organization they serve, collecting intelligence and testing innovations. This way when one or more components changes the ecosystem to adapt. Just like a smart phone can incorporate different apps within a single framework. The Bimodal Manager – A CIO needs to have an innate ability to manage both stability and innovation at the same time. This might be accomplished with separate teams each focused on either stability or innovation, or separate projects with a different focus but using the same resources. The key is both stability and innovation need to co-exist throughout technological evolution. The Keeper of Data – After all the strategy discussions, where the rubber meets the road is with your data. No matter where your ever-changing path leads you, your data needs to be there with you. Now, where it is stored, how it is stored, and how it is retrieved may all change, but in the end, you will always need quality data (customers, products, clients, staff, etc.). Your data needs to be in an agile environment and available so the business can respond to an ever-changing market. Yes, if you don’t already have a BI tool, you could go out and get one, but you need to be thinking large scale. To evolve you need to think not just outside of the box, but outside of all existing boundaries. The Chief Security Officer – Protecting data extends to ensuring that the data you keep it safe from intrusion. This is more and more a challenge as there are more entry points and methods available for those who want to benefit from your data or just want to disrupt the world. You must be on top of these methods but also build systems that adapt and advance faster than those with bad intentions can think. As technological evolution happens through the trial-and-error method until the tipping point is reached, the CIO needs to evolve by being responsive to the environment over a short period. Fast, flexible, and fluid are all traits that are import, as is being the sponsor of change. In the end, when we look back, we will see that it was the CIO with the combination of great leadership skills and promoting innovative change that really led us all into the next digital age. Share This Article:

What an incredibly lousy feeling! You have sunk a significant investment into new technology, and people either are not utilizing it as intended or regressing back to the old inferior technology and process workarounds. Whether you are in the planning stages, or have already implemented an expensive new system, this just might be the worst-case scenario. This is especially true for organizational leaders who have invested their own political capital in pushing for the change. Unfortunately, this scenario is far too common. Every day, we encounter executives who are frustrated having made investments in solution applications and have done all the hard work leading their organizations through a transformation, only to see the application not live up to expectations. The technology they have put their weight behind does not deliver the anticipated improvements in efficiencies and cost reductions. The nagging part is the application continues to show promise, but employees and end users just are not adopting it. Why does this continue to happen? The intriguing thing is the bulk of vendors today are pretty good at delivering against well-defined technical requirements; in fact, the software itself is rarely the problem. Typically, the problem is that the people side of change is usually an afterthought and not managed with the same amount of rigor as the technical side of change. Improve User Adoption Through Change Management This people side of change is called Organizational Change Management (OCM). We define OCM as the set of processes, strategies and activities that support organizational and personal transitions from the current state to the desired future state to achieve and sustain the desired business vision and strategy. At MSSBTA, we understand that OCM is an integral component to any successful major transformation initiative, especially user adoption. What are the risks when the people side of change is not managed well? The top risk is that end-users actively or even passively reject the new technology because they either do not understand it well enough, or feel it was forced upon them. They don’t feel ownership. Change resistance can also come from a lack of coordinated communication (or even the rumor-mill) about why the system is being implemented, who it will impact, and how it will impact them. Post-implementation, one of the first indicators of low/no adoption is whether processes start to break down. This typically happens because people do not have sufficient knowledge or visibility of the bigger picture, their role, and downstream implications of not following the process. Download OCM Checklist PDF A common misconception is that OCM is synonymous with training. Many leaders will even point to the lack of adequate training as the root cause of why user adoption is low and suggest the solution to this issue is more training. While we agree that inadequate training may be a contributing factor to low user adoption, training is just one facet of managing the people side of change. More training alone will not automatically lead to higher user adoption and a subsequent increase in ROI. To maximize ROI, a more comprehensive OCM approach should be deployed as part of any major technology initiative. OCM assessments should be done in the initial decision-making phases of a potential project. OCM plans should be an integral portion of the overall project plan and inform communications planning. During implementation, OCM tools can be leveraged to engage stakeholders and mitigate adoption risk. For example, the knowledge and application of Prosci’s ADKAR Model will help leaders systematically overcome barriers to an individual’s acceptance of change and increase ROI. If you notice people are creating workarounds rather than using the software or are lapsing back to the old way of doing things download our Application OCM checklist and use it as a reference guide to help manage the people side of change. Share This Article:

We have all seen the proverbial tree swing story graphic. Twelve independent framed images representing twelve different outcomes of the same business requirements. While amusing, this is reality for many organizations and has a significant impact on project outcomes. According to the Info-Tech Research Group “70% of projects fail due to poor requirements.” Unfortunately, awareness will not provide quality business requirements. You must plan for it. Eliciting and clearly documenting requirements is a skill set. Like any other tool, your ability to effectively use this has a significant impact on the results. Whether you are embarking on an enterprise deployment, or a small cross-functional expansion, the basics need to be covered. Business Requirements Gathering Process Business requirements gathering is necessary to create a shared vision within your business. The importance of engaging, eliciting, and prioritizing requirements with all impacted stakeholders is critical. Requirements gathering is most effective with a robust process and a strong Business Analyst. The framework below illustrates a comprehensive requirements gathering approach consisting of a Requirements Gathering Process (Elicit, Analyze, Validate) and a Requirements Governance Process (Plan, Monitor, Communicate and Manage). The standard approach to gathering requirements includes three core activities: Elicit, Analyze, and Validate. Elicit Phase One of the common traps is selecting a technological solution before fully examining the business need first. Prepare your elicitation approach. Identify your stakeholders and elicitation tools such as BPM, SIPOCs, brainstorming sessions, interviews or focus groups. Put in place an elicitation process with a top-down approach, starting with senior management. Take advantage of generating a transformational change by reinventing a process instead of fixing small deficiencies in the current one. Conduct the elicitation process to identify the business processes the application will need to support and identify the “as is” process and how to improve upon it. A strong elicitor will have a blend of industry knowledge, core analytical thinking, and proficiency in BA tools. Who did you bring into the elicitation? Did you bring in the right people? Participants, at minimum, should include customers, end users, business analysts, system analysts, testers, and business sponsor(s). Avoid focusing on just the functional requirements. Make sure you examine all regulatory, business, user, functional, non-functional, and transition requirements as well. Confirm the understanding of each requirement using active listening skills, and revise as needed. According to Info-Tech Research Group requirements should be: Verifiable – Stated in a way that can be easily tested Unambiguous – Free of subjective terms and can only be interpreted in one way Complete – Contains all relevant information Achievable – Possible to accomplish with budgetary and technological constraints Traceable – Trackable from inception through to testing Unitary – Addresses only one thing and cannot be decomposed into multiple requirements Agnostic – Does not pre-suppose a specific vendor or product Analyze Phase This phase defines the solution scope. Ensure you organize and prioritize the features based on importance, effort, and resource considerations. Also, verify they address the original business goals. Using the right tools to analyze the information such as flowcharts, context-level data flow diagrams, use case diagrams and scenarios, swim lane activity process flows, and process models, can help represent a meaningful, easy-to-understand business requirements document. Organize requirements to eliminate duplicates and identify relationships and dependencies. Creating specific and clear requirements is the end goal. Prioritize requirements using established organizational core values as weighed measures or simply use the MoSCoW (must-haves, should-haves, could-haves, and will not have at this time) prioritization method. Finally, verify all information is captured as it was intended with your subject matter experts. Validate Phase Validate the complete business requirements package with the stakeholders. This approval process provides a final opportunity for the voice of the customer to confirm and verify the package represents all their prioritized business needs. It mobilizes stakeholder commitment and minimizes future change requests. In this phase, all requirements are translated into technical requirements. For traceability, all requirements should have a requirements traceability matrix that link back to test cases. All testing opportunities should be allocated to the proper team and test scenarios. Identify who will do the testing and at what stage (Functional, UAT, System Integration, Performance, Penetration). Requirements should be verified by domain SMEs to ensure that the analyzed requirements continue to meet their needs. Obtain final approval via signature sign-off. Use the sign-off process as one last opportunity to manage expectations, obtain commitment from stakeholders, and minimize change requests. The complete business requirement package should include: Project summary and background Operating model Business process model Use cases Requirements elicitation techniques Prioritized requirements Assumptions and constraints Signature page Requirements Governance Process The Requirements Governance Process lays the foundation for how requirements will be gathered, managed, and communicated. The four key components of the Governance Process are Plan, Monitor, Manage and Communicate. Plan Setup a structured playbook that outlines a repeatable and scalable process for all requirement gathering efforts across your organization. The playbook should provide guidance on how to Elicit, Analyze and Validate requirements. Monitor Avoid one-off, autonomous processes that do not capture agreed upon, organizational KPIs. Follow up in regular intervals (every 6 months to 1 year) to check on the effectiveness of the requirements gathering process (average number of reworks, number of change requests, user adoption rate, etc.) to gauge if the playbook is having a measurable effect in the organization. Manage Know that some requirements may change and evolve as the team learns more about a solution, or as the business changes. Do not let sidebar or one-off conversations surface new requirements without the team recognizing and raising them as such. Continuous management of the requirements is necessary. Communicate Make sure you have a change control process that is visible and communicated to all key stakeholders. As a result, any new learning and team discovery can be captured, discussed, mitigated, re-estimated and approved. Requirements Management is Important Effective requirements gathering and management is critical to achieve your organization’s desired business outcomes. This requires a skilled Business Analyst, clearly defined processes, and appropriate tools. The process must involve input from all key stakeholders, resulting in clearly aligned expectations. Use these requirements to test the final solution. Clearly defined requirements serve as a checkpoint to validate the most important question: “Did we accomplish what we set out to do and will it deliver the anticipated outcomes?” Share This Article:

We all have a love/hate relationship with buying big ticket items –the excitement of having something new that hopefully solves a problem we are experiencing, against the anxiety of going through the procurement process. Procurement people think this is the exciting part, not so much for the rest of us. There are several tools available to communicate your needs and desires to vendors, each one able to generate a specific outcome along the purchasing path. The tools are: Request for Information (RFI) Request for Qualifications (RFQ) Request for Proposal (RFP) Each has its place in the process, depending on what you want to achieve and the amount of knowledge you have about the item or service you are looking for. Let’s start with the most familiar first –the Request for Proposal or RFP. Depending on the business you are in, you may have been involved in generating an RFP for a product or service or been on the other side of the table providing a response to an RFP. Typically, a Request for Proposal is specific in what it is asking for. It will have a specific set of requirements. These tend to be more specific than high level business requirements but not as detailed as technical requirements –in other words, the level of detail required to ensure you get what you are asking for. It may also include specific contract requirements that the vendor will need to comply with. The vendor typically responds indicating how they will satisfy the requirements stated in the document, agree to the contract requirements, and provide specific pricing for the product or service you are looking for. What do you do if you don’t really know what solution you want? The Request for Information (RFI) or Request for Qualifications (RFQ) would better suit your needs. These two tools are thought of as predecessors to the RFP. The Request for Information is a useful tool when you may not know exactly what you want –you are looking for vendors with products or services that can solve a particular issue you have. While less burdensome than an RFP, there is still a level of effort required on your part. You need to be able to articulate what you are looking for either through a detailed statement of the issue or a high-level set of business requirements for the vendor to review and respond to. If your organization has particular contract requirements, this is a good spot to introduce them. If you need budget cost numbers, this is a good time to ask for them. Understand that you are not guaranteeing you will purchase the goods or services identified and at the same time the vendor is not providing actual pricing. The end goal of this document is not to get a vendor on board or a contract in place, rather, the objective is to find a pool of vendors offering a solution that can work for you. The RFI or RFQ process is typically followed up with an RFP sent to the vendors you have identified as qualified from the RFI / RFQ process. Having gathered information from a variety of vendors, you are now better prepared to write your RFP. Level the playing field with Scoring All these processes, the RFI, RFQ, or RFP, will require some sort of scoring process for the responses. Typically, the scoring framework is developed in conjunction with the end user of the item or service. The scoring should be based, at least initially, on the vendor’s response to your requirements –do they say their product or service can do what you need it to do? Is their solution acceptable to the user of the product or service? This is the first phase in determining who you would like to have further discussions with. In the case of the RFI or RFQ, you are looking to reduce the number of vendors you will have involved in the RFP process so you are only reviewing proposals from vendors that can provide you with the product or service you need. In the case of the RFP, you are determining who you want to work with further on purchasing a solution. If you are looking to begin a purchase that will require a RFP or RFI, check with your organization’s Procurement team. They may have templates and guidance that can help you in creating these documents. If your organization does not have a structured purchasing process and you feel an RFI or RFP is required, there are outside resources that can assist you. These resources bring a level of expertise in developing requirements and documentation as well as working with vendors to assist you in the procurement. You can find organizations that are “vendor agnostic”–they have no association with a specific vendor and are focused on getting you the best product or service. Engaging these resources can help you streamline the process and get a better result–often it is a shorter period. Crafting a successful RFP, RFI, and RFQ are some of the most difficult tasks for people dealing with purchasing. It requires analyzing needs and resources, coming up with ideas for possible solutions, and allocating budgets. Knowing what types of requests to use, however, can make these process much simpler and prevent you from feeling overwhelmed or underprepared. Taking advantage of the different request forms is an easy way to make sure that vendors get the most accurate information they need to effectively offer their services or products to your organizatio. If you have any questions about which tool to use or aren’t sure how to best craft your request, don’t hesitate to get in touch with MSSBTA for helpful advice on navigating through the pre-purchasing process. With the right tools, efficient communication between buyers and vendors becomes easier and helps ensure satisfaction on both sides!