Business transformation is a significant undertaking that requires active leadership buy-in. This includes creating a dedicated team to manage the transformation program. This way, the company can focus on its core activities without worrying about distractions.
Commercial transformation is one of the key ways to achieve business growth. This includes retooling your commercial operations and enabling the automation of critical document-based processes.
Defining your target operating model
A target operating model (TOM) is a blueprint for your vision and business goals. It defines your company’s operations and what capabilities, processes, structures, and technology are needed to deliver on those goals. It also helps you create a roadmap for achieving the necessary changes. Defining your TOM is essential for success, regardless of whether you’re changing a few small things or transforming the entire organization.
The first step in defining your TOM is to assess the current state of your business. This assessment should be rigorous and include an internal and external analysis. Using a framework like the Challenger sales methodology can help you achieve this. This will give you an accurate picture of your business’s strengths and weaknesses.
Often, the direct jump from your current to future state will be impractical, and it’s essential to identify the necessary changes incrementally. This will ensure that your project can be executed quickly and successfully.
You can then use your TOM to create a change roadmap and develop an implementation plan. This will help you grow your business through a strategic commercial transformation program. The critical components of a TOM include design principles, value drivers, and a steady-flow business model. This model should be well-aligned with your corporate strategy and backed up by solid insights.
Creating a roadmap
A roadmap is a high-level plan defining an overarching strategic objective and capturing the significant steps for achieving that objective. A good roadmap is clear and compelling, and it helps stakeholders get invested in the project. It also helps teams stay on track throughout the project, providing a sense of accountability and driving better product development.
A business roadmap is different from a traditional business plan. While a business plan contains market analysis, sales and marketing plans, and equipment requirements, a roadmap focuses more on driving execution and business outcomes. A business roadmap also requires a lot of teamwork to create. To make a good one, involve the entire team and communicate the vision to all stakeholders.
The first step in creating a roadmap is to break down the project scope into manageable chunks. Then, identify the work items that need to be completed and their timelines. This is a crucial step because it ensures that everyone understands their role in the project. It also allows for clear communication and collaboration with other departments.
A good roadmap is organized around significant themes and includes the reasoning for prioritizing each item. It also shows how things relate to each other and identifies dependencies. Finally, it should include a plan for achieving each milestone and deliverable. This will help you maintain a tight delivery schedule.
Managing the change
Commercial transformation is an ongoing effort to align commercial capabilities with business goals and objectives. It aims to improve performance by changing how a company does business, including adjusting marketing, pricing, and sales processes. It also involves building new strategic capabilities and technology to meet future customer needs.
It’s important to understand that transformation will take a long time. You’ll have to be brave and focused to get the change embedded. It will also be challenging to balance tactical needs with the need for strategic change. This tension is exacerbated by the speed of change that many organizations expect.
The first step in a commercial transformation program is determining the project’s goals. This will help you develop a roadmap for implementation and ensure the project stays on track. Once you’ve established the plans, creating a program team is time. This team will be responsible for overseeing the transformation and ensuring that it runs smoothly.
Another critical aspect of a commercial transformation program is communicating it to stakeholders. This includes both internal and external communication. It’s essential to share an apparent reason for the change and ensure employees understand why it will be in their best interest. This will help build enthusiasm for the change and ensure it sticks.
Implementing
A strategic business transformation is an effort to reposition a company in the market to increase customer profitability and value. It may involve changing products, services, or how a company conducts business. It can also include building new growth businesses or leveraging technology to make existing operations more efficient. This change often comes in response to significant market challenges, such as disruptive competitors or industry discontinuities.
Regardless of the motivation for the commercial transformation, the key to success is creating adequate buy-in from all stakeholders. This includes the board of directors, managers, and employees at all levels of the organization. Developing buy-in requires clear communication of the objectives and goals of the initiative. It is also essential to provide the resources needed for implementation.
One way to achieve this is through a program of financial incentives. According to experts, companies that implement financial incentives tied to transformation outcomes experience a fivefold increase in total shareholder returns compared with those without similar programs. Nonfinancial incentives can be equally powerful, mainly with a high-performance culture.
While many organizations have a digital transformation strategy in place, most have yet to realize the benefits of this effort entirely. A survey of companies in the global manufacturing sector found that they had a high level of focus on digitally transforming documents but less emphasis on pricing, vendor negotiations, and other critical processes.