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Advising & Guiding
One example from our portfolio of guidance assignments:
Acquisitive minded corporation was gathering views on probable integration issues and opportunities inherent in $13.5 Billion hostile acquisition. They turned to TLIR since certain Board Members had read and agreed with John’s analyses of the HP/Compaq and Nike debacles.
John shone a light on issues that would probably arise during integration and consolidation of the assets and resources of the companies since both of them marketed themselves as expert acquisition integrators to their clients and prospects and who were now about to be consolidated into one entity.
Advise Board/CEO/Executives on Change Challenges…
We are well known for our ability to quickly assess the impact of change mechanics, dynamics, optics and politics upon the business and to provide leaders with opinion on ways to mitigate risk and improve the prospect for success. Consultations are typically aligned to Board schedules or arranged as and when change is on the agenda.
Intervention & Recovery of Problematic Projects
Significant corporate divestiture in the technology/telecommunications market space required quick and complete re-engineering of infrastructure, systems and processes.
Project centric mindsets that focused on scope limits rather than business imperatives caused significant process disconnects in ERP, e-commerce, CRM and PRM systems across the global business.
Multiple projects were sanctioned, each focused on one or more critical aspects of what had to be dome by a certain date, without fail.
Although each project was well staffed with good, capable people the absence of an overarching authority over all projects caused project chaos – projects were bumping into one another, users were pulled in different directions, vendors threw their arms up in horror and stakeholders grimaced as costs mounted.
John realigned projects to business realities; recommending that some projects be stopped, others be consolidated and that others speed up. As a result, the business met the divestiture deadline while enjoying overall cost efficiency increases of 10% and eradicating process disruption losses.
Resolve Outsourcing Gaps & Disconnects
Situation: Conflicting ‘outsource project’ dynamics where disconnects between client expectations and BPO realities threatened original business case rationale. Client Leadership opted for outsourced manufacturing and logistics arrangements that alleviated overall cost pressures yet raised obstacles for international operations. ‘US Domestic’ perspectives about how outsourcing would work in the ‘Global marketplace’ backfired, leading to serious revenue leakage and customer relationship issues in international markets.
One side thought they knew what the other side would be doing, when, where and to what end; the other side knew full well what they going to do, when, where and to what end – except, the ends did not meet up!
The U.S. domestic market was the jewel in the crown and anything that could be done to preserve that market was right and proper; unfortunately, international markets got caught underfoot in the rush to save the US domestic market.
TLIR guided international technology and process engineering teams retrofitting 32 major process flows spanning sales, manufacturing, logistics and delivery functions with the result that order cycle time was reduced by 15% and monthly order rejection rates equal to $35 Million in lost sales were driven down to less than $500K.
Business Improvement Plans…
An excellent example of how we can quickly help clients improve their business improvement plans follows:
Venture Capital Firm sought an independent viewpoint about the ascendancy of China, Malaysia and Uruguay into the IT and BPO outsourcing space and what this might mean for Western and/or Indian consulting companies. Our cutting edge insights helped them focus on certain elements of the market that warranted special attention to ensure their $3Bn investment bore fruit.
Business Improvement Proposals…
Proposals take many forms; some are internally generated with others being proffered by external parties (vendors, consultants, etc.). In many cases, the proposal focuses on addressing a specific requirement and does not speak to what impact implementing the proposal will have upon upstream, downstream and parallel processes. TLIR excels in quickly assessing the wide angle impact of any narrow focus proposal.
New Ways of Doing Business…
We are solution agnostic with no alliances, partnerships, home grown solutions or preconceptions about what should recommended and/or who ought to do the work. Our independent, unbiased expertise provides organizations with value laden advice about the issues and opportunities inherent in deploying new ways of doing business.
One recent assignment looked at the issues of ‘information / process verticality’ within multiple government ministries and examined the potential for ‘seamless, horizontal connectivity’ between ministries.
With the right mix of technology, leadership and the will to make information a truly valuable asset – Place Based Information Management has the potential to be the key that unlocks the true value of information in government at all levels and businesses in all sectors. Here are the Key Conclusions from the assignment:
Ø Place Based Information Management has the potential to cut through mountains of process specific Information; filtering, interrelating and highlighting Information independent of Process...
Ø Place Based Information Management can pinpoint key facts and figures about places, communities, areas and regions that would otherwise be buried, overlooked, ignored or taken for granted...
Ø The means by which place based information is presented to the viewer also provides incremental benefits by providing linkages between people, actions and events pertinent to the place, community, area or region…
Please contact John directly to explore the applicability of PBIM for your enterprise.
Establish Thought Leadership Forums…
Requests come from global organization looking to ensure that business units around the world are all on the same page when it comes to change.
We are also sought out by sector specific associations / conference planners looking for strong, thought provoking ideas on ways to improve the performance and results of business improvement projects.
Define Waves of Change Necessary to Meet Objectives…
We are frequently asked to provide advice and opinion about the probable and probably very expensive issues associated with deployment of corporate applications into acquisition target operations.
We help client leadership to understand and cater for the realities of corporate application deployment into ‘hostile’ environments where legacy, non-conforming systems and processes had been effectively meeting the needs of the acquisition target’s staff and customers.
Ensure Effective Corporate/Subsidiary Interlock...
We are often asked to deal with the issues of Corporate/Subsidiary Interlock from three interrelated yet diverse viewpoints.
1. Corporate Leaders ask us to help them propel and compel the deployment of corporate business improvement initiatives across the spectrum of their subsidiary holdings. Given the typical diversity of subsidiary structures, their business focus and the people who run them - this is no small task yet we are ideally positioned to provide support in this critical area by virtue of the real worlds expertise we have gained and used to advantage to manage differing opinions, methods and perspectives.
2. Leaders of ‘subsidiary’ organizations are expected to manage the business, meet quota, outwit the competition, exceed marketplace expectations, etc. AND comply with any and all ‘requests’, ‘suggestions’, directives and imperatives from Multi National, Conglomerate or Parent Company Head Offices. Similar directives flow like water in corporate structures with a mix of management methods and structures like Market or Product Verticals, Regional (Multi Country) Management or Functional (Matrix) Management Models and more. Our background includes significant experience bridging the mechanic, dynamic, optic and politic dichotomy between subsidiary management and corporate dictate.
3. Corporate decisions in the realms of technological and process re-engineering imperatives carry a host of implications for subsidiaries and many of these implications are foreign, even of no consequence, to those who made the decision. Our unique perspective provides a basis for bridging the gaps and disconnects that arise those who conceive corporate improvement initiatives and those who have to bear the consequences.
Maximize Business/Process Re-Engineering ROI…
Here is an outline of one of the many assignments TLIR conducted in the quest to ensure maximum ROI from every business improvement project:
Business Units around the Globe operated under a decentralized transformation model where business improvement projects were handled directly at the local, national or regional level. We were engaged to assess the effectiveness of the decentralized model.
Our analysis revealed that cohesion between organization centric intent and project centric execution was essentially non-existent and at the whim or mercy of ego, power, NIMBY and control conflict across the global business. In summary; local demands dictated local solutions in isolation, the global organization had potentially wasted $675+ Million.
Pave the Way for Enterprise Wide Clarity & Cohesion…
Here is an example of a significant corporate transformation requiring complete re-engineering of infrastructure, systems and processes, the key issue being that individual projects were not well aligned:
Project centric mindsets (internal staff and vendor) that focused on scope limits rather than business imperatives caused significant process disconnects in ERP, e-commerce, CRM and PRM systems across the global business.
We aligned projects to business realities; recommending that some projects be stopped, that other projects be consolidated, that other projects be sped up in order to improve project performance and business unit satisfaction. As a result, the business enjoyed overall cost efficiency increases of 10% while process disruption losses of $65 Million p.a. were eradicated.
Establish/Oversee Corporate PMO Capability...
We have established PMO and project governance/assessment models to assure quality delivery from multiple, international vendors in accordance with policies and standards in both profit and policy centric environments.
As of June 2009, we have helped clients negotiate contract terms governing timely delivery of new applications, hardware, infrastructure and process re-engineering efforts in excess of $4,600 Million.
Establish Change Management Protocols...
We have established BPE/BPR centre of excellence with modeling, simulation and process analysis tools in profit centric environments around the world.
TLIR has led internal client and external consulting firm teams assessing “what is”, modeling “what will be” and defining the “waves of change” necessary to move organizations to new operating paradigms.
Strategy & Planning
External financial advisors had analyzed how a significant acquisition ($8.5Billion) would allow the combined company to dominate the transportation / logistics market, on paper. What was missing was real world advice about the probable and probably very expensive issues associated with deployment of corporate applications into the acquired company’s operations.
Client leadership’s initial thoughts were to ‘force fit’ corporate applications into the acquired company; thereby quickly achieving economies of scale and commonality.
TLIR laid out reasoning why the ‘force fit’ approach was not necessarily the wisest course in this particular case since ‘shoehorning’ unfamiliar systems and processes into foreign, potentially ‘hostile’ environments where legacy systems and processes were tried, tested and beloved by staff and customers could well prove extremely costly to execute.
Subsequently, TLIR recommended a ‘waves of change’ approach that would derive the same value over a slightly longer period with far less risk of cost overruns and customer dissatisfaction.
In this case (as in many other ERP initiatives) the full cost and time to achieve full, seamless and complete integration into the operating fabric of the organization was understated. The cost, time and effort necessary to re-engineer business processes to extract the real and worthwhile benefits of ERP functionality is usually so significant; vendors and parties who espouse ERP applications tend to downplay the non-technological costs with dire consequences.
As Phil Knight, CEO of Nike so eloquently stated… “Look what I got for $500 @#^%& Million! Nothing!”
Manage/Oversee Business Improvement Projects…
This example deals with the problems associated with integrating assets that come as part of the deal but are not necessarily the key assets that made the deal worthwhile:
The acquiring company ‘inherited’ 450+ web sites from the target company that spanned R&D, manufacturing, logistics, sales, marketing and support functions in 35 countries. One stipulation of the acquisition deal required that all publicly viewable information be re-branded or culled by a strict deadline or penalties would accrue.
We directed global efforts to define a common taxonomy for the new corporate entity, consolidate multiple content management processes into one central unit, reduce web hosting infrastructure costs and curtail future site proliferation. 378 web domains were shut down; the number of major portals reduced to 5, annual virtual business costs reduced by 45% with the information hosted on the remaining web domains now seamless, cohesive and relevant for the new business, its customers and stakeholders.
Quelling Internecine Warfare (Internal Factions & Cliques)…
Our background provides us with the ability to take firm control of business improvement projects whenever they run into problems due to less than effective collaboration between project and organization staff. One example:
Conflict between integration teams and business unit management threatened the objective of quick, effective consolidation of technology, processes and people during integration of a $17Bn acquisition. John was brought to the table to act as advisor, mediator and arbitrator to ensure that critical decisions were made, when they had to be made to ensure target operating cost reductions of $347 Million p.a. would be realized.
Correct Vendor/Consultant Mistakes & Miscues…
We have found during the course of assessing many ERP initiatives that the full cost and time to achieve full, seamless and complete integration into the operating fabric of the organization is badly understated. The cost, time and effort necessary to re-engineer business processes to extract the real and very worthwhile benefits of ERP functionality is usually so significant; vendors and parties who espouse ERP applications tend to downplay the non-technological costs with dire consequences.
In one recent assignment, we investigated why project centric assumptions rendered a $450 Million ERP project tenable on paper yet the reality of the project pointed to eight times the investment cost; would take three times as long and the payback timeline would extend far beyond acceptable limits.
Resolve Organization vs. Project Conflict…
This example is a little different in that it was a surprising move by a leader in what would be thought a staid and conservative industry (derivatives being the exception of course!):
Financial institution established autonomous R&D facilities to test and institutionalize virtual technology including smart cards, wireless and loyalty program trigger devices (RFID). Organization centric egos fought amongst themselves, seeking to control the autonomous entity to meet their own needs thereby promulgating project centric chaos.
We aligned R&D with multiple business priorities while mitigating power and control conflict between business unit leaders. The R&D function delivered opportunities for the business to offer new services through new channels while realizing cost savings in excess of $150Million p.a.
Fix Multi Channel Information Request Issues
Organization of some 15,000 staff distributed in 9 regional operating centres accountable for timely disbursement of $5 Billion in transfer payments to hundred’s of external agencies and partners looking after the needs of the socially disadvantaged. Due to ultra high sensitivity on the part of the public as a whole, media generally and Government specifically about the plight of socially disadvantaged groups, the organization was beset by a multitude of information requests of varying importance from internal and external stakeholders.
While the requests for information were doubtless valid in the eyes of the enquirer - the time and effort spent by staff and partners responding to a deluge of information requests every day were severely disruptive of day-to-day operations. Management recognized the need for improvements and retained us to assess where gaps, disconnects and chokepoints existed and to recommend ways to address them.
We examined the mechanics, dynamics, optics and politics of the requests and recommended a suite of process/technology corrective actions (short, medium and longer term) that would allow the unit to better address information requests. The Project Sponsor noted he was surprised and pleased at just how quickly we had got to the heart of the matter and identified critical deficiencies, several of which were able to be addressed quickly by internal staff.
Resolve Business vs. IT Conflict…
We have a significant portfolio of assignments where we were called upon to help resolve Business vs. IT implementation issues and problems. In this example, it is the classic case of project centric resources attempting to both shoehorn the solution and short change the business as to the completeness of deliverables:
The client asked us to broker peace between business units who knew exactly what they needed to manage their businesses and a global ‘project’ team who also knew exactly what the business needed in order to manage their business. Needless to say, a significant number of cost overruns, delays, quality problems and stakeholder acceptance issues were seriously disrupting a $225Million project.
We were tasked with putting an end to the conflict between the factions and to do it quickly since more time was being spent in ‘blame assignation’ contests than resolving problems. We stopped the bleeding, secured quick victories and realigned the teams.
Establish Alliance & Partnership Information Channels...
This is a typical example of where the organization’s legacy culture was the barrier to significant improvement. The legacy culture was perfectly acceptable in the old way of doing business; it was totally unacceptable for the future of the organization:
Client business model was changed from direct sales and marketing to a product delivery model via business partners and alliances in technology and service sectors.
Efforts of teams defining and implementing a global, single instance architecture that enabled ‘balanced connectivity’ between business units and external partners, integrators and third parties was less than effective since the culture was still very much 'inward facing' and 'engineering driven'.
We realigned and reenergized teams to ensure objectives were met; 65% of inbound (telephone/e-mail) information requests (2.4 Million p.a.) migrated to the new virtual channel, partner sales force productivity increased by 28% and technical support received significantly higher satisfaction ratings from customers.
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