Johannesburg, 17 May 2010
The key to 21st century business success is: out with the silos of departmental ideas that moulded 20th century organisations, and in with a fresh breath of collaboration, consultation and co-ordination that is already shaping the new approach to business.
Business processes today are becoming increasingly complex with rapidly changing technologies, ever-growing global competition, and tighter time-to-market deadlines. Accordingly, alliances between companies and suppliers, customer networks, outsource vendors and other industry role players are more important than ever for strategic success.
To better prepare the groundwork for such complexity in the business arena, organisations around the world are upping the ante by creating centres of excellence to focus on specific areas within the business, collaboratively determining solutions to complex business issues, and ensuring the application of best practices.
A centre of excellence (COE) in a company is a team of people established to promote collaboration and the application of best practice.
A business analysis COE (BACOE) defines the business rules, processes, knowledge required, skill and competencies and tools used to perform business analysis activities throughout the business solution life cycle. This extends from strategic planning and project initiation to service delivery and benefits realisation, and finally, to solution deactivation.
Numbers present the strongest case for the establishment of BACOEs. It was found that 68% of companies lack the necessary competency in requirements discovery at the start of a project to assure project success. These companies are likely to spend almost 50% more for the solution than their competitors who use a BACOE.
Where "average" business analysis teams were used in projects where significant process re-engineering was a primary consideration for project success, only 36% achieved their goal. In contrast, where "highly competent" analyst teams - BACOEs - were used, 88% were successful.
While BACOEs are still fairly new around the world, take-up of the concept in South Africa has been slower than elsewhere. Organisations in the UK, Europe, US and Australia have recognised the value to be had in establishing BACOEs, which are staffed with business and technology experts who can act as a central point of contact to facilitate collaboration between business and IT for company success.
The most critical component of establishing a BACOE is the selling of the concept to executive management. Bridging the gap between business and IT is not easy. To do so, the BACOE must deliver multidimensional services to the many diverse groups within the organisation.
By its very nature, the BACOE destabilises the sense of balance and power in an organisation. Management at all levels traditionally tends to operate in silos, possessive of the intellectual property in specific departments.
The BACoE requires executives to make decisions based on the benefits to the organisation rather than to their specific focus area. Similarly, functional managers are often afraid of losing their authority and control over resources. These examples of resistance to change are common, and pose a significant risk to the successful implementation of a BACOE.
Careful co-ordination and communication of the value a BACOE will lay the ground for its acceptance within the organisation, with an emphasis on the value it will bring to the business. Advantages like cost savings from reduced project time, reductions in project cost overruns, projected investment costs, and expected value of projects versus actual costs will encourage the executive team`s buy-in to the BACOE.
Planning the BACOE can seem a daunting task, as its scope can be all-encompassing. Defining how and where that scope will start and end is essential.
The first step in establishing a BACOE is to decide where in the organisation it will be located - ideally select an environment where business operation and IT are aligned. The next critical step is to decide whether the BACOE will be project-centric, enterprise focused or strategic. This depends entirely on the maturity of the organisation.
In establishing a BACOE, consider the scope of the projects you wish to embark on. Understand the major tasks and deliverables, and the timeframe in which the goals need to be accomplished.
Patience is vital to the successful introduction of a BACOE to the organisation. Strategically, a cultural shift will not happen overnight, as any change in business practice needs to be carefully nurtured over time.