Unisys has developed a world-first methodology that allows organisations to analyse every facet of their business interactions and relationships and know the impact of decisions before they are made.
Called 3D Visible Enterprise (3D-VE), the new methodology offers traceability, which reveals the benefits of spending money before it is spent, and the consequences of any changes, before they are made. 3D Visible Enterprise projects have proven 25-40% cycle time improvement, 75-100% productivity improvement, 30-50% redundancy elimination, and 25-60% cost savings, says Marius Krige, director of market management, Unisys Africa.
Many other vendors have identified this space, but Unisys has stolen a march on the market by being the first to release a working methodology and deliverable framework.
3D-VE is not a proprietary technology: it uses industry-standard approaches, says Krige, adding that organisations can reap competitive advantage by knowing how to exploit change and uncertainty.
"3D-VE assists CEOs, CIOs, and CFOs - those people tasked with managing change in the business world - to deal with the problems businesses have today. These issues include top line growth, bottom line profitability, and statutory regulations.
"It also helps them to align the organisation so it has the agility and ability to quickly change, move and regroup to take advantage of changes in the market, as well as cut processes that have been in place for such a long time hampering the company`s ability to react to business changes."
Krige says studies reveal that 26% of companies complete less than half of IT projects as planned, and 20% deliver under half of IT projects within budget. "It is clear that there is a need for a more agile, adaptable, connected enterprise model that can increase visibility, align IT with business needs, leverage existing investments while adapting new technologies, cut pervasive redundancy and increase speed to market."
The methodology operates in four layers:
* Business vision and operations
* Business process and patterns
* Functional and applications
* Infrastructure
The key differentiator in the Unisys methodology is the traceability aspect between the layers, he says, which is made possible by Unisys`s 3D Blueprinting process.
"The true power of 3D-VE lies in its traceability feature, which provides the ability to see the cascading effects that change in one layer has on other layers, or in one part of the business has on other parts.
"Traceability reveals interactions and hard to see relationships across the operating enterprise, showing cause and effect, and connecting business vision to execution," says Krige.
It shows cost benefit and return on investment, before companies invest, as well as what is required for a new IT infrastructure integration, before implementation.
"It also delivers tangible benefits, allowing companies to connect strategy to execution, harness the power of change, and see the patterns and fully exploit them," says Krige.
"The CFO will be really excited about this methodology, as he doesn`t have to approve a multimillion-rand project without knowing the impact. He can see what the future will be."
The tool is reusable. It works on an open blueprint with mapped artefacts, so it doesn`t require a redesign for each business process or different scenario.
Unisys Africa`s primary focus for 3D Visible Enterprise is the public sector in SA.
"The government has committed itself to `Batho Pele` and is looking at ways to leverage the investments made in areas such as the Home Affairs National Identification System, to improve service levels over a wider front through improved business processes and using available technologies such as fingerprint verification. It wants national departments and organisations that provide services in a secure manner to the public of South Africa to define and align their `TO BE` business vision and processes within the available budget and infrastructure constraints. 3D Visible Enterprise will enable national departments to do just that," says Krige.
Share