Businesses need to evolve to survive.
During a time of rapid economic and business change, transformation projects are crucial if companies want to achieve financial goals and remain competitive in their industries.
Companies that want to change their technology, processes, and organisational structure may need to reevaluate priorities and long-term objectives. In the right hands, these transformation projects can provide tangible results, help drive growth and increase competitive advantages.
With the help of business transformation consulting, companies can fix problems they're currently facing, like skill gaps or unproductive processes, and unlock new opportunities in their team.
So, just what does it take to think big and transform a company? Let's find out.
What is business transformation consulting?
Business transformation consulting is when a company is assisted in making fundamental changes to its operations. It has the potential to touch everything from technology to culture, market influences and operating systems.
Before starting any business transformation, you must understand exactly what the changes will involve.
Business transformation consulting can involve changes to:
Technology: Digital overhauls, systems change, digitising operations, implementing new technology.
Organisational structure: Restructuring hierarchy, fostering operational changes.
Processes: Operations, distributions, product development.
If you decide to take on business transformation consulting, the benefits can be huge.
Overhauling how you operate can help you carve out a competitive advantage, build more efficient work processes and make smarter strategic decisions.
What does a business transformation consultant do?
Every business has goals and milestones they want to hit—it's a business transformation consultant's mission to help them reach them.
The consultant works with the business on projects like goal-setting, strategy, improvement and implementation. These stages can vary dramatically between individual companies depending on factors like market trends and technological advancements.
A consultant can advise companies on best practices regarding software, sector movement, and other variables from an objective view so they can capitalise on these changes.
In practical terms, a business transformation consultant does this by:
Organising workshops and discussing what requirements the business has.
Developing and testing structural changes in the business.
Designing process and workflow maps so business owners can visualise proposed changes and understand possible scenarios.
At the end of the process, businesses are left with a blueprint built around change.
Freshminds understands that implementing these processes can be challenging and time-consuming, especially without the expertise of a business transformation consultant. Our network of analysts, consultants, and project managers have invaluable expertise to help improve digital structures and change management support using business transformation consultancy.
Want to find out how we can help you? Learn more about our Business Transformation Consultancy Services.
Is business transformation consulting worth it?
If you're asking if business transformation consulting is really necessary and what the end goal is—keep reading.
From private equity to banking and retail, sectors are changing rapidly. If a company doesn't meet demands, customer expectations can become increasingly difficult to manage.
For senior managers and team leaders, the thought of a business transformation can be overwhelming. There are several areas and variables to consider before taking on the project, including:
Vision: What is our overall vision, and how long will this take to achieve?
People: Who are the key players, and which managers will be involved?
Time: How will the project operate on a daily, weekly, and monthly time frame?
Risk: Can we identify risks, and how can these be mitigated?
Values: How can we present our value creation targets to stakeholders, staff, and customers?
While this is a lot to think about, senior managers should remember that the speed of transformational changes has shifted. An organisational or technological transformation that once took five or six years can now be undertaken in under a year due to improved strategies and digital processes.
How business transformation consulting can change your business in 4 steps
Going down the business transformation consulting road will likely involve modernising existing tech stacks, rethinking organisational structures and refocusing on overall goals and objectives.
Although this seems like a daunting task, with the help of a business transformation consultant, the process can be broken down into manageable steps.
Step 1. Decide on your strategy
Figure out who will be involved in the transformation of the business.
Transformation consulting gives a company a blueprint to decide how to allocate resources, including a budget, technology, team members, and external consultants.
This step will usually involve bringing in people from across the business and discussing how the transformation will impact different areas. For example, changing the CRM your company is using will impact different areas of the business, from marketing to sales and operations.
Working together and discussing what changes need to be made will help your company reach an overall consensus about the most important transformations that need to occur. These changes should be tied to goals and objectives to keep them on track when your company starts the work of transforming.
However, devising an ongoing strategy and successfully completing a transformation shouldn't be delivered in one bang. Technologies and markets will change, and therefore companies should be in a position to confidently monitor and deliver continuous change.
Step 2. Think about the team working on the transformation
Next, look at the team and organisational structure your company has in place.
Assessing the capability and capacity of your existing team is important to see if you have the necessary skills in-house to undertake the transformation. If you don't, your business may require bringing in external consultants and analysts to fill those gaps.
For example, hiring a bespoke project team allows businesses to bring in a flexible, high-impact group of people with the right skills and knowledge to make transformations on time.
These teams are already equipped with the knowledge and skills to manage the transformation process, ensuring it’s kept affordable and timely.
Step 3. Commit to the change the project will bring
To embrace transformational change, your business should have a motivating change story that everyone on the team can buy into.
It's easier to get everyone onboard with transformational change if they can see the value and end goals that the project will bring. Be clear about how the transformation will create value and what explicit benefits it'll bring. For example, if you are modernising your technology, outline to your team what they should expect in terms of improved workflow and productivity.
Tying the transformation to a broader change, like social change or outside goals, can also help your team visualise the results.
A great example of this comes from a large US financial-services company that was having difficulty committing to a change in competitive positioning. Working together with their team, the company's management created a narrative that included how the transformational would help with their workflows (faster-growing revenues, better technology, fewer manual errors). The narrative was also tied to a larger transformational goal—delivering affordable housing.
The change in narrative worked, and the team's commitment skyrocketed—they had a 10% improvement in efficiency in the first year after the company's transformation.
Step 4. Appoint a leader for the transformation
Finally, decide how the transformation will be managed and whether you should invest in a project manager to oversee the project.
Transformation projects, when combined with great project management work, can offer an investment that will deliver lasting value to your company. Assigning someone with the right skills to lead the project can help give it credibility and keep it on track.
Adding this task to a team member's existing workload could be overwhelming. Bringing in a business transformation consultant can help you manage the project in-house while keeping disruption to the rest of your team's workload to a minimum.
Here at Freshworks, we have teams of specialists that can help consult with you on your business transformation and find innovative ways to drive your ambitious ideas forward.
After we meet with your team to get a deeper understanding of your needs, our consultants and expert network can create a hybrid team with the right skill sets and backgrounds to guide your transformation. Even for transformations that need flexibility or have short timeframes, our consultants can change direction to ensure your business meets its goals.
Interested in seeing how Freshworks can help transform your business with bespoke consulting? Get in touch!
