The Value of Disruption and Transformation

In order for a company to grow and prosper it must consider a complete review from time to time to ensure that the company is on the right path.  A disruption strategy by nature has typically been directed toward high technology companies or has been used to define specific market changes from a competitive point of view.

Our company Stratejis is now using this term to look more fully at medium and large sized business enterprises to actually find opportunities designed to grow a business in a changing market place.

Over the past few months many of my coaching assignments have focused in on helping companies set new directions not only with their marketing but with their whole attitude in regards to doing business in the new " mobile" era. 

Cyber Monday is the first of many new online marketing opportunities that companies and organizations will develop to capture online purchases and new customers. Inbound marketing is crucial now to the success of many organizations and as such many companies will now need to disrupt their current thinking in regards to customer solicitation and servicing and focus in on capturing information on who is searching them out and then marketing to these prospects.

Gone are the days when you could have qualified prospects visiting your site and you not knowing who they are or where they are coming from.

In order to get a better you picture all you need to do is put yourself in the picture and focus in on your own buying habits.  What is the first thing you do when you want to purchase a product? You search online.

How do you search? You use key words, to narrow down what it is you are looking for.  Where do you search;  world-wide then narrow it down to someone or some option within your own country and then to your own city.  

In the consulting business for example we do work with Odyssey Consultants, trusted advisers from throughout the world.  Using Skype, Webex, telephone, email and online communicators we can pretty much communicate with anyone anywhere in the world.

This is the main challenge for everyone and their business Who and where is your customer, how can you access them and what is the value proposition that should be considered to add more value to the online experience so that they will even consider you as a "player" in the purchase. 

This is the important part. Are you a " player " in their purchasing decision? Remember, they can shop anywhere world-wide to get the same service that you provide so are you not even considered because your web presence is bleak, not up to date, has limited appeal, does not have a solid response mechanism or value proposition or you have created something of value that will allow them to respond, reach out or return back at a later date.

Our view is that that the more searches that take place, the more companies will need to self disrupt and transform themselves in order to be even more responsive more often to capture all the changes in the market place. 

For example crowd sourcing opportunities and sponsorships that target specific audiences that allow you to build a relationship with highly targeted audiences will become even more crucial.  If you are in retail, then the Groupon mentality will continue to grow and the business case while not attractive defiantly draws customers, but are they the ones you want?  

A low margin customer secured in a low margin environment is a recipe for disaster.   Lots of low margin business is not exactly a profitable situation for a company with a high retail overhead and limited resources.  These are all the factors that you will need to consider as part of your transformation strategy.

Its not as as painful as the the name implies.  Disruption is something that is good to do especially if your business is flat lining or having limited growth or declining sales. 

Once you have cut your marketing budget or let those unproductive employees go, cut out the free coffee in the office and put the colour printer on ice, you know you are going to have to take some radical and creative steps to grow and transform your business and your business model if you plan on being in business still in 2020. So I hope this week we have given you a little more to think about in regards to the disruption of your current business model and how you can transform your company for more growth and profit.

Need help give us a call. Check back here, we will have some more tips for you.

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Stratejis Disruption and Transformational Strategies for Growth and Profit is an Ottawa based consultancy dedicated to helping organizations of all sizes grow and prosper through the use of creative change techniques, systems and technologies.  You can reach me at The Synergy Centre or at kenselt@sympatico.ca.   note our new fully active website with customer capture and inbound marketing attributes will be coming soon.  But for now, lets talk and see if we can help you.

 

A 5-step Process for Business Transformations and Helping to Build a Stable Organization

Over the past few months we have started the Synergy Centre and Stratejis Marketing and Business Transformations.  The purpose of our new hybrid agency is to develop a new company that focuses in on helping businesses and organizations grow and prosper through a new Level 4 process that takes a company from being just a sales organization, ( developing products, finding customers and selling them) and transforming the company into a 2020 Organization.  

The following is a 5 step process that demonstrates five steps that company will need to consider in order to develop its 2020 Transformation Strategy.  We would like to thank Kamal Hassan is the Founder, President and CEO (Chief Excitement Officer) of Innovation 360 for his views found in the 5 Steps outlined below.  His 5 steps provide a good overview of the steps that every organization must follow to go through the transformation process.

Step 1: Mobilize Senior Manager and Senior Leaders 

 

Organizational change begins with executive leadership, and the first step is to redefine the organization’s strategy. A strategy begins with an overall financial objective, such as return on investment or capital. There may also be a need to develop a process that will allow a company to be nimble or work with unique marketing conditions and changing or fickle customers.  This means that you will need to simplify process and perhaps reorganize your infrastructure. It also my mean to think a lot differently then you have in the past, get more creative about your business and enlist the help of staff at all levels since everyone will be part of the new marketing department.

Step 2: Translate Strategy into Simple Processes and Tangible Terms

The second step is to look at the company from a series of tangible perspectives :

• Financial Perspective – What financial objectives must be accomplished to satisfy shareholders?
• Customer Perspective – To achieve the financial objectives, what customer needs must be met?
• Internal Process Perspective – To satisfy both customers and shareholders, what business processes are critical?
• Infrastructure Perspective – To improve and optimize the critical processes, how must the organization be equipped?
   

It will become important to look at how all levels of the organization can get involved including staff, senior or middle managers, distributors and customer.  A lot of companies forget that the customer has a role in purchasing a product and if the the right processes are put into place including the key benefits and advantages for the customer then it will easy for the customer to take a role in the strategy as well.

Step 3: Align Business and Support Units - Structure These Through the Organization

After you identify the systems and processes that are critical to the success of your business, the third step is to assign metrics,For example, if you manufacture products, your core processes are likely marketing and sales, research and development, manufacturing, and purchasing. 

Each of these processes has certain outputs that should be measured by relevant PIs (e.g., an output of the manufacturing process is the number of units produced, which can be measured for a particular time period to establish a baseline metric).

 

The same logic applies to transactional organizations, such as hospitals, government agencies, banks, hotels, etc. The outputs of a service-based process may be less tangible, but they can and should be measured to track whether the organization is achieving optimal service levels.

 

In either case, the trick to aligning infrastructure and processes with strategy is to identify and monitor the metrics, or Performance Indicators, that support the organization’s strategic goals (e.g., Key Performance Indicators).

Step 4: Motivate Teams for Effective Implementation: Link and Reward Performance

. From the CEO to the executive team, mid-managers to project owners, leaders must be able to convey the overall strategy and supporting objectives in a manner that empowers the rest of the organization. This calls for more than simply managing the performance of others. 

 

It means guiding direct reports through activities and projects that will enable the organization to meet specific goals, while still maintaining daily operations. This requires an array of leadership skills, such as the ability to take action, provide direction, identify and eliminate distractions, motivate others and facilitate team success.

 

Leaders must also empower their best and brightest employees to become experts at understanding, improving and simplifying the organization’s core processes. Money and time must be set aside for training and professional development in the areas of Performance Excellence (e.g., Lean Six Sigma), innovation and leadership development. It’s not enough to send a few employees to training and then expect them to make change happen from the bottom up. The commitment to process improvement and organizational stability must be supported from the top and thoughtfully deployed throughout the organization.

Step 5: Strive for Perfection – Repeat the 5-step Strategic Process

 

Finally, this cycle of transformation must be integrated into the organization and embodied at every level. Go beyond these steps as a one-time checklist, and make the continual pursuit of perfection your goal. The hardest part is getting started. Once employees see how their contribution can make a difference, and management begins to see the positive effect on the company’s bottom line, a powerful momentum will motivate change. With each cycle of this five-step process, your organization will become healthier and more stable.