The document discusses key factors for successful business transformation: 1. Having the right team, including roles like a Business Project Manager, Transformation Lead, Lead Business Analyst, and Lead Solutions Architect. 2. Securing talent either internally or through partnerships if needed skills are not available internally. 3. Adopting solutions with minimal customization ("adopt, don't adapt") and having strong governance through a steering board to challenge customization requests.

1. why talent is
the key to
successful
business
transformation
COGNITIVE GROUP 2018

2. 01
Sales
Process
Organisation
process
BI
Reporting &
Analytics
Communication
Change
Management
Strategy
People
implementing business transformation
underpinned by enabling IT solutions.
The rapid pace of change in the business world today
means that companies must transform or wither.
Business transformation is very complex and many
organisations don’t set themselves up for success by
addressing all of the key elements.
Collaboration
Modern Desktop
Security & Compliance
Cloud Voice
Customer Engagement
Operations
Business Apps
Cloud Infrastructure
& Management
Application Innovation
Data Platform &
Analytcis
Modern Workplace Business Applications Apps & Infrastructure Data & AI
Implementing transformational solutions is something most companies do once or
twice a generation, and it’s like performing open heart surgery. The decision to
undertake these projects is not taken lightly, and the business world is plagued by
examples of implementations that haven’t delivered the desired business outcomes,
are late and exceed budget.
Organisations today need to automate processes and systems which can span their
entire business. Microsoft has developed a suite of business solutions which span
the entire enterprise. These solutions are:
Most companies need a start point for their transformation agenda, this is typically
in the customer engagement journey and finance and operations.
This article discusses the common features that differentiate the successful business
transformation programmes from the failures. All programmes must address the
following: clarity; having the right team; securing talent; selecting the right partner;
adopt, not adapt; strong governance; external assurance.
Many companies see technology as the key to
delivering transformation and whilst technology
plays a vital role in enabling business change, it is
only one piece of the jigsaw.

3. 02
1. Clarity.
Having a business case and a clear set of guiding principles that set out what success
will look like once the solution has been implemented is critical. Pro-actively using
them to manage scope, and challenge the need for customisation and complexity is
key to controlling costs. Recognising we all operate in a rapidly changing world, and
that the business needs will change throughout the project means the business case
needs to be updated.
If the business case doesn't exist, don't do it.
2. having the right team.
Business Transformation is challenging for any organisation, especially if it involves
implementing IT solutions that enable core business operations like, customer
engagement, finance and operations. The resources needed to successfully deliver
such a programme are significant and most organisations do not have all the skills
internally.
We asked the key consultancies, partners and systems integrators in Europe (PwC,
IBM, Hitachi Solutions, eBECS, Avanade and QUANTIQ) for their opinion on which
roles were vital to ensure project success. Their considered opinion was that the
core project team should contain: Business Project Manager, Transformation /
Change Lead, Manager, Lead Business Analyst and Lead Solutions Architect.
So, which roles are essential to have in house?
Steering boards are designed to steer the project NOT for the project team to simply
report back. As such the steering board should play an active role in shaping the
solution and challenging the business case. The Steering board typically consists of
the following; board sponsor, business lead, transformation lead, lead business
analyst.
The steering board has the clear mandate to provide clarity and focus
on the project strategy and the required outcomes. An effective
steering board should ensure that it informs the project team of any
changes in strategic direction or priorities that impact the solution.
"
Iain Fox, Group Chief Executive, KPMG CrimsonWing

4. 03
If the client thinks they can’t justify the four critical roles which will determine
success or failure, and therefore allocate budget to ensure the right resources in
the role, then they’re better off not putting a gun to their own head by choosing
not to recruit ‘the least important’. They are all critical to success.
"
Tony Riches, Project Director, Hitachi Solutions
Governance
Budget
Execution
ROI
Planning
Organisational
transformation
adoptiontraining
Business
readiness
Process mapping
stakeholder
management
functional
requirements
Interfaces
Solution
Design
functional
requirements
Business Project Manager
Lead business analyst lead solution architect
transformation / change lead
four critical roles
Stakeholder
engagement

5. 04
Key responsibilities
Business Project Manager
Key responsibilities are to ensure the project is:
Correctly governed and documented.
Proactively managed with progress
constantly monitored.
Appropriately budgeted, with funding
based on an agreed plan. Expenditure
being tracked and controlled with an
appropriate contingency held in
reserve for the inevitable requirement
to make changes to scope.
Tightly planned, with all inputs and
outputs understood, dependencies
mapped and managed and subject to
regular review and reporting.
Client side Project Managers are the
dedicated eyes and ears looking over the
investment to ensure that the project
delivers on time, within budget and to a
high standard. Whether customer insight,
or finance and operations, careful
consideration is required from a people,
process, data and technology perspective.
"
Kelvin Cheema, Global Digital
Transformation Director, eBECS (DXC)
Without experienced project management, it is highly unlikely that any business
transformation programme can be expected to succeed or even to go the distance
without being cancelled by C-suite who become disillusioned at continual expense
without significant progress.
Governance
Budget
Execution
ROI
Planning
If I was building the client team, after
involvement of the project sponsor, I
would not compromise on the role of the
programme/project manager, ideally
combined with a solution leader, as the
investment in these roles will provide
you with the best chances of success.
"
Colin Bain, COO
QUANTIQ Technologies

6. 05
Transformation / Change Lead
Key responsibilities are to:
Advise the business as to what will
change, and do this in enough time to
allow the managers to manager the
change.
Assist senior management in selling the
change, making sure that they take this
fundamental requirement seriously.
Drive active and frequent
communication around the project team
and business.
Ensure that training is carried out on
time and to a high standard in order to
ensure that the new solution can be
used on day one.
Ensure business readiness and winning
hearts and minds.
Organisational
transformation
adoptiontraining
Business
readiness
stakeholder
engagement
The omission of the Change Lead role is likely to be the cause of an even worse outcome than the
cancellation of the project. Although the software solution may very well be delivered with
comparative success, failure to communicate, educate and transform the business will result in a
sub-optimal business outcome for the project.
Hitesh Amin, VP and Senior Executive Partner IBM
"
winning hearts and minds.
as much time needs to be
spent on ensuring that the
organisation is able to use
the business processes as
on the system itself.
It’s essential that end users understand the business rational for the project and
that they are well trained in the new processes. Understanding that ‘short cuts’ they
may identify for themselves, could cause issues further down the process is an
important mindset to establish.
Most companies recognise that
business ownership is critical but
spend very little time on business
readiness, focusing almost exclusively
on system readiness. This is counter-
intuitive.
The transformation scale should be organised to spend time on stakeholder
engagement and metrics defined and actively monitored to deliver progress on
business readiness – ultimately change is as measurable as any system building
activities.

7. 06
Key responsibilities are to:
Understand and map the "As Is"processes
prior to selection of the project software
solution and map the "To Be" processes once
the solution is live.
To complete all requirements gathering from
the users in all functional departments. This is
a vital part of stakeholder management as it
ensures buy in from the organisation once the
solution is designed and deployed.
To fully document the end solution to
maximise user adoption and ensure
international quality standards compliance.
This phase also facilitates post live product
support.
Process mapping
stakeholder
management
functional
requirements
Key responsibilities are to:
Lead Business Analyst
Make sure that the software can deliver the
desired "To-Be" processes in functional
terms.
Understand the degree of modification that
is unavoidable.
Know how to configure the application to
best effect.
The Solution Architect (SA) role is also key
to helping the Business Analyst(BA) to
understand the nature and features of the
revised to-be process that inevitably result
from the introduction of new software.
The role of Lead Business Analyst is of critical importance to the business as it ensures the
organisation actually understand the nature and scale of the oncoming change. Stakeholder
management is crucial to this role as it will determine the buy in from the users in the organisation.
The SA and BA roles are effectively twinned, and one should not be considered without the other.
The lack of a business skilled BA who knows the client’s business inside out may very well result in a
poorly informed SA who will in turn design a software solution that fails to deliver the expected
benefits or which undermines them with functionality that does not meet the business’s real needs.
"
Alastair Thomas, VP, Hitachi Solutions
Interfaces
Solution
Design
functional
requirements
lead Solution Architect

8. 07
Achieving the right balance of internal vs partner / system integrator (SI) resource
is essential. How this team is balanced is a function of how an organisation intends
to operate and maintain the system over it's lifecycle.
Augmenting an internal team with specialist
contractors can be a very cost effective and
efficient means of resourcing a complex
project.
" Martin Burden,
Director, Head of ERP, Avanade
3.securing talent.
If you can't secure the key resources internally
then partnership can be the way forward
Don’t forget your organization
can augment permanent resource
with specialist contractors who
can efficiently deliver highly
specialist skills and transfer
knowledge. The key is to ensure
that the roles and responsibilities
of all parties are clearly defined
with outcomes well documented.
Over time the composition of the team will change. Typically, the initial phases will
have a higher concentration of partner resource and specialist contractors, but as the
project matures and knowledge transfer occurs, the balance shifts to enhancing the
internal team with reduction in the partner and contractor resource.
Composition of resource (split by Partner/SI, Contract Specialist and Client) throughout the project life-cycle:

9. 08
4.Selecting the right consultancy
partner.
Clients tend to focus less on ensuring that their objectives align with the System
Integrators (SI’)s. For example, many SI’s make significant money from building
customisations, yet clients want to keep the solution as ‘vanilla’ as possible.
Knowledge transfer from the SI to a
client team is essential – particularly if
the client plans on managing any roll-out
or post go-live application maintenance
support themselves. Having clarity on
the skills needed in house to maintain
and enhance the solution should drive
the shaping of the knowledge transfer
plan, which should be actively managed.
It is always important to consider the cultural
alignment and to define shared objectives.
It would be sensible to find a commercial
mechanism that rewards the SI for helping
drive towards vanilla – for example sharing
any unspent funds in the ‘development pot’
with the SI.
"
Stephen Fraser, Consultant Partner PwC
With the move to cloud solutions it is even more imperative to ensure that the business is
using the solution in the way that has been designed to be used. Businesses need to
constantly challenge themselves as to whether they are putting their business in an IT
solution or an IT solution into their business.
5.Adopt, not adapt.
The steering board should challenge the project team to justify any material
customisations – and help to remove blockers to change from the decision-making
process. This approach which is cascaded from the top of the organisation down,
demonstrates that the company is willing to transform and this in turn has a profound
impact on the willingness of the rest of the organisation to embrace and adopt change.
Maximise the
use of "vanilla"
software
Customisation, as far as possible, should be
limited to what truly differentiates a business in
the marketplace – not replicating how it’s always
operated. The programme team needs to take a
process view and challenge the business as to why
the standard processes in an IT solution won’t
work for them; rather than ask the business what
they want – which today is typically ‘what we have
today, but faster screens and better reporting’.

10. 09
Business transformation programmes should be a Board agenda item, and actively
sponsored by the leader of the relevant business functions – not the CIO. The CIO is
a ‘supplier’. Programme status needs to focus on measurement of progress against
the desired outcomes, and to include adequate focus on contingency and mitigation
plans.
6.Strong governance.
a key reason programmes fail is poor governance
A good PMO, who is an experienced project manager with deep planning skills, makes
a huge difference – PMO is not an admin task. If a client does not have anyone with
those skills the SI should be able to provide one – but this role needs to report into a
senior member of the client. Ownership for the project delivery needs to be retained
by the client (albeit supported by the SI).
7.independent, objective advice.
Many clients struggle to understand how to work effectively with an SI, and how to
manage these programmes. Having an independent third party Assurance Partner,
coming in on a regular basis to review the overall health of the programme and report
back to the steering board in order to provide assurance that the programme is on
track, and should help the Board sleep better at night.
Cognitive Group acknowledges and thanks the following people and organisations for
their contribution to this white paper:
Carl Turner - COO (Cognitive Group) Author
Tony Riches - Project Director (Hitachi Solutions)
Colin Bain - COO (QUANTIQ Technologies)
Kelvin Cheema - Global Digital Transformation Director (eBECS, DXC)
Hitesh Amin - VP & Senior Executive Partner (IBM)
Alastair Thomas - VP (Hitachi Solutions)
Martin Burden - Director, Head of ERP (Avanade)
Stephen Fraser - Consultant Partner (PwC)
Iain Fox - Group Chief Executive (KPMG)
Acknowledgements

11. COGNITIVE GROUP
Cognitive Group enable organisations to successfully
implement Microsoft Solutions by attracting and
developing the best talent within the market, and
connecting that talent to the most exciting Microsoft
projects.
We work with all Microsoft technologies, including:
Azure; Power BI, Data and AI and Dynamics 365.
Typical roles include: Business Change Project
Manager; Business Intelligence Specialist; Test
Management; Solution Architect; Tech Consultant;
Business Analyst; CRM/ERP Trainers;
Infrastructure/Integration Architects.
To find out how we can support your organisation or
career growth, contact us:
T: +44 203 587 7772
E: info@cognitive-group.com
Contact details:
T: +44 203 587 7772
E: info@cognitive-group.com
www.cognitive-group.com