Express Enterprise Optimization
Change. It’s a hackneyed word. From rich-wooded corporate boardrooms to the Oval office, change is presented as essential to progress.
But, is change really the optimal approach to transformation?
Change is often cited as difficult because people tend to resist it. Well, change can be positive or negative depending upon the interests of the particular stakeholders. This is why I prefer optimize as both a vision and approach. In the optimization process, goals are defined, the problem domain is adequately scoped, assumptions are listed and a breadth of solution spaces is designed and evaluated vis-à-vis the anticipated goals. Optimization seeks quantifiable perfection within the problem domain’s scope.
The next wave of change cannot simply be driven by previous approach to change management and incremental automation of business processes. Executive management should continuously seek enterprise optimization via an integrated approach to people, process and technology. The challenge to enterprise optimization is fourfold:
§ First, management needs to have a framework [Zachman’s Enterprise Architecture?] in which to define their business.
§ Second, it needs a sophisticated scorecard [Norton & Kaplan’s Balanced Scorecard] in which to define and measure business results [both financial and non-financial metrics].
§ Third it needs to infuse the enterprise optimization concept throughout the organization.
§ Fourth, it needs to establish the necessary governance to define and continuously update a roadmap for achieving strategic transformation
Unfortunately, to optimize is even more difficult than to change. Today’s enterprises and the environment in which they compete are increasingly complex. The time to market a new product has been drastically reduced. There is less-margin for error and less tolerance for inefficiency. In order to keep pace, executive management needs an approach to not only understand the complexity but also a means to design and communicate enterprise transformation. Express Enterprise Optimization is a contemporary approach to model-based management that seeks to mitigate the risks associated with traditional Corporate Strategy & Enterprise Architecture initiatives. There are 2 aspects to “express.” First, it’s an agile and cost-effective alternative methodology and set of artifacts based on years of Strategy & EA program experience with leading enterprises including QVC, Cigna, Independence Blue Cross, Merck, ACE Insurance and others. It's focused on continuously linking architecture activities with value metrics thus establishing a strong relationship between strategy and financial results. Second, it leverages marketing principles to design models in order to best express them to stakeholders.
But, is change really the optimal approach to transformation?
Change is often cited as difficult because people tend to resist it. Well, change can be positive or negative depending upon the interests of the particular stakeholders. This is why I prefer optimize as both a vision and approach. In the optimization process, goals are defined, the problem domain is adequately scoped, assumptions are listed and a breadth of solution spaces is designed and evaluated vis-à-vis the anticipated goals. Optimization seeks quantifiable perfection within the problem domain’s scope.
The next wave of change cannot simply be driven by previous approach to change management and incremental automation of business processes. Executive management should continuously seek enterprise optimization via an integrated approach to people, process and technology. The challenge to enterprise optimization is fourfold:
§ First, management needs to have a framework [Zachman’s Enterprise Architecture?] in which to define their business.
§ Second, it needs a sophisticated scorecard [Norton & Kaplan’s Balanced Scorecard] in which to define and measure business results [both financial and non-financial metrics].
§ Third it needs to infuse the enterprise optimization concept throughout the organization.
§ Fourth, it needs to establish the necessary governance to define and continuously update a roadmap for achieving strategic transformation
Unfortunately, to optimize is even more difficult than to change. Today’s enterprises and the environment in which they compete are increasingly complex. The time to market a new product has been drastically reduced. There is less-margin for error and less tolerance for inefficiency. In order to keep pace, executive management needs an approach to not only understand the complexity but also a means to design and communicate enterprise transformation. Express Enterprise Optimization is a contemporary approach to model-based management that seeks to mitigate the risks associated with traditional Corporate Strategy & Enterprise Architecture initiatives. There are 2 aspects to “express.” First, it’s an agile and cost-effective alternative methodology and set of artifacts based on years of Strategy & EA program experience with leading enterprises including QVC, Cigna, Independence Blue Cross, Merck, ACE Insurance and others. It's focused on continuously linking architecture activities with value metrics thus establishing a strong relationship between strategy and financial results. Second, it leverages marketing principles to design models in order to best express them to stakeholders.
