Johannesburg, 26 Aug 2014
Client profile
BVi Consulting Engineers is a multidisciplinary firm offering a range of professional services in the fields of civil, structural, electrical and mechanical engineering, project management and EPCM to both the public and private sectors. The company was founded in 1967 and is registered with the South African Association of Consulting Engineers. It is 47% black-owned and is one of South Africa's Top 300 Empowerment Companies.
Scoping the challenge
Historically, BVi was structured into highly autonomous regional units, each with its own managing director, professional staff and clients. This organisational structure made it hard for the group as a whole to leverage its combined - and significant - strengths and build on past experience effectively. Many of the benefits of synergy were lost, affecting both BVi itself and its clients.
A related challenge was the fact that many of BVi's clients are large national or multinational companies involved in large projects. A highly regionalised organisational structure was not the best way to deliver professional services to these clients. BVi's regional focus made it less than optimally effective in responding to tenders from both public and private sector entities.
In addition, BVi was increasingly focused on the consulting opportunities north of the Limpopo as the African infrastructure boom got under way. Again, its regional structure was a hindrance.
For all of these reasons, it was apparent to BVi's management team that the company needed to restructure so as to create a single entity under a single managing director. Full regional integration would facilitate the sharing of knowledge and resources, and a more convincing response to large tenders.
"BVi has a great team with skills that are highly respected in the industry, but we needed a new go-to-market approach suited to today's global business environment," comments Johann Grobler, group managing director at BVi. "Our team has always been multidisciplinary, which is what the market requires, but our structure did not make it easy to play to our strengths."
BVi enlisted the help of Barnstone to develop the new operating model and an appropriate organisational structure to take it into the next five years - the project was named "Vision 18". Barnstone's track record in the resources industry gave it the edge in understanding the kind of environment in which BVi operates.
Barnstone's approach
Over a four-month period, Barnstone consultant Willie Rudolph visited each of the regions, where he conducted workshops with the senior leadership. This highly structured process was designed to build a comprehensive understanding of how the company and its extended value chain currently operates, and to identify the design parameters for the new business model. The workshops also helped everybody concerned understand the implications of the proposed change.
Says Rudolph: "The fact that the 22 shareholders are also employees of the company makes for a unique dynamic: BVi works through consensus so it was vital that the process was highly participative."
Another key success factor was the close working relationship between Barnstone and a special BVi task team. All conclusions were thoroughly debated with this task team throughout the process.
Once input had been obtained from the regional offices, Barnstone developed the to-be business model. This model was refined via input from the BVi task team and then presented to the shareholders.
The new model creates a sustainable, client-focused organisation. It promotes a single organisational identity and culture, and positions the company to leverage the strengths of the entire organisation to tender successfully for large, multidisciplinary projects. By focusing on key clients, the new model also promotes repeat business based on deep and long-lasting client relationships - a key determinant of success in a very competitive market.
It also includes the necessary governance structures, as well as methodologies for measuring and managing performance.
Implementing the model
"Creating the model was an important milestone; even more important was implementing it," Barnstone's Rudolph observes.
Rudolph's first action was to create a transition plan to take BVi from its current status quo to the desired end state. At a conceptual level, this was primarily a matter of deciding on the organisational structure needed to support the proposed business model, and populate the new structure with the necessary roles. Each role then had to have a detailed job description. Once that was done, existing personnel with the appropriate skills were matched with the roles, and vacant roles identified
Giving the new organisational structure life also required writing policy manuals and handbooks to guide the company into new ways of operating.
As part of the whole process, the existing structure of separate regional companies needed to be collapsed to create a single legal entity, with the shareholders of the original companies accommodated in the new group structure.
Another important (and sensitive) issue was remuneration policy, which had to be aligned with the strategic goals of the new organisation - the greater BVi, if you like. "Because the company's focus was now its clients and how best to serve them, and not on the profits of each regional entity, the remuneration policy had to reflect how much value each person delivered in that context," says Grobler.
Alongside these changes, a new enterprise resource planning software package, was implemented to provide the framework and platform for the new business processes. Deltek Vision provides a common platform for managing the hundreds of projects that make up BVi's business.
BVi underwent a very profound change at every level, from the strategic and mindset level right down to the operational nuts and bolts. Change at this level needs to be carefully managed. Rudolph and the BVi management team conducted workshops and road shows to each of BVi's 13 offices, and implemented a comprehensive communications plan. Each group of stakeholders was kept current with progress and how each element would affect them.
The final piece of the puzzle was training and development to ensure that each employee understood his or her new role, and had the skills needed to fulfil it.
Delivering business benefit
Already, the new structure is generating benefits for BVi.
One clear benefit is that it's now easy for the company to identify exactly where the best skills are for a particular project, and move the person as needed. For individual employees, this means it's easier to advance in the company and to obtain new experience.
The integrated group structure also opens up new opportunities for personal growth. Thus a person who wants to learn from a particular expert within a discipline can do so more easily, no matter that they happen to be located in different regions. These are important factors because they aid staff retention, something that's even more important than usual as engineering skills are in short supply.
But, most important of all, the new BVi is much better positioned to serve its clients and thus to get a steady stream of profitable work. The new organisational structure and business model ensure that meeting the project requirements is the first priority, and that the right skills and experience can be brought to bear, no matter where they happen to be geographically.
The proof of the pudding, they say, is in the eating. Within a few months of implementation, BVi had already begun to grow, acquiring consulting engineering firms in various areas. The firm's goal of growing to 600 people by 2018 could even be reached ahead of deadline.
"Our new operational structure and business model make 'One BVi' a reality, and positions us much more favourably to obtain work on today's multidisciplinary and highly competitive projects," says Grobler.
Looking to the future, Rudolph also put in place a process for strategic planning. "Markets are very volatile and so it is vital that BVi has a process in place to recalibrate its strategies, including its business and organisational models, frequently," he says. "Strategic planning and implementation are vital in ensuring that the company remains successful."
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