Frankly Speaking

There are very few instances that warrant a great tribute. A Leicester Win is one such event, and it shook the sporting fraternity by surprise. It was a sustained effort over a full season to win the premiership title. Their approach articulates what Transformation is all about: Focus, Persistence, Dogged Passion through incremental efforts. A successful transformation need not be an expensive affair or time-consuming. What is required in a true transformation is incremental effort(s) towards a long-term vision. Delivering a truly radical transformation or turnaround requires solid focus on short term imperatives whilst keeping an eye on the long-term vision. But how do we achieve both the short-term goals and long term vision with balance.  The key lies in structuring the transformation programme into small projects/phases. Each project/phase is an "incremental effort" towards a long term goal. Secondly, achieving short-term wins deliver secondary benefits: valid...

Finally...and finally I found some space to write this blog. After all, I need to pay a great tribute to Year 2015 - it was a solid year with lots of positives in life. 2015 started as a dull year though...I struggled to get my first project only after six gruelling weeks - but, it did teach me an important lesson - Never every give up. Stay focused on strengths and believe in yourself. Secondly, it also taught me the nuances of the consulting business. No matter how strong and skilled you are - it does not matter in consulting world. What works in consulting is your ability to network and communicate effectively within the organisation and outside the organisation. I did a couple of major projects across Europe and Middle East and travelled crazy hours - I took almost 40+ flights over a 10 month period, but the journey was worth the effort. The projects were successful and was recognised by both my line managers and clients. I look back to the years that I spent at Oracle - what ...

Digital strategy is one of the key topics in business today. The digital technologies pervade to different areas in an organization starting from customer interaction to inventory tracking. The power of digital technology cannot be understated and will remain the priority of chief executives and chief information officers for at least the next 5 to 7 years. However, developing a comprehensive 5-7 years digital strategy is not an easy task either. There are several constraints that an organization faces in developing a solid digital strategy (including legacy IT systems and overcoming cultural issues). Besides all these challenges, prioritizing organization’s digital investments will be one of the key differentiators between a winning organization and laggard. The article is not focused on developing a comprehensive digital strategy but on an important strategic area: Prioritizing the digital investments Given that digital technologies permeate into different areas in an organiza...

Effective persuasion is a negotiating and learning process through which a persuader leads colleagues to a solve a problem through a shared solution.  Persuasion requires careful preparation, constructed arguments, evidence, and emotional match Four ways not to persuade: State a position at the outset, and then by process of persistence, logic, and exuberance try to push the idea!! Resisting compromise or middle-ground Believing that arguments and logic always win Believing that persuasion is an one-shot effort Effective Persuasion: Involves phases of discovery, preparation, and dialogue; dialogue happens before and during the persuasion process. Before the persuasion process, use dialogue to learn about the opinions, concerns, and perspectives. During the persuasion process, you invite people to discuss, even debate, the merits of your position, and then to offer honest feedback and suggest alternative solutions. Most effective   persuaders   see...

Most organizations have embarked on digital transformation to capture customer value – both internal employees and external customers. These digital transformation projects address some business objective such as improving user experience, improving collaboration, simplifying processes using digital technologies etc. In a traditional product-centric approach, we take the product/application as a given and then re-align processes to meet the product requirements. This could prove to be effective when the goal of the project is only automation and simplification. However, the digital transformation project has additional objectives – namely improving user experience and collaboration. To this end, it requires a different mindset – It requires project leaders to think from an end-user perspective and not just from product perspective. Developing a user-centric approach will be extremely critical if buyers are not consumers of a product/service. There can be a huge “expectation...

The IT environment is going through a period of heavy transition. The transition period that we are in now is somewhat similar to the transition period from Mainframes to PCs. The only difference is the transition that we are facing now will happen much faster than the Mainframe-to-PC era. So where are these changes happening. Similar to Mainframe-to-PC era, the changes are happening at every layer in the IT stack: Infrastructure, Information, and Application. Let’s explore a bit on what is happening in each of these layers. Infrastructure Layer: One of the major changes happening at the infrastructure layer is the move from on-premise architectures to cloud-based architecture. The cloud-based infrastructure is one that offers servers, networks, storage as service to the customers. There are lot of firms such as Amazon, Rackspace, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle offers such infrastructure as a service. So, why this cloud-based architecture is important for any firm and what are the ch...

‘Implementing a mobile-first strategy’ There are several objectives for an organization to embark on a mobile first strategy: Improve User experience, collaboration, employee engagement, real-time information etc. The ultimate goal for all these objectives is to improve productivity of the organization. Moreover, the eco-system to pursue a mobile first strategy is near perfect in several areas. The enterprise software vendors like Oracle, SAP, and IBM are building applications or revamping their existing product lines to be social, mobile, analytical, and cloud based. On the other hand, the usage of smart devices such as iPads and Tablets has been on the rise. The changes in eco-system coupled with productivity gains prompt the C-Suite executives to develop mobile-first strategy.   ‘Challenges in implementing a mobile first strategy’ Product Maturity: Most technological products go through the following five-stages: ‘Concept’, ‘Prototype’, ‘Minimum Viable P...

In my previous article, I mentioned or rather emphasized the use of change management and technology as part of large-scale transformation efforts. In this blog, I want to highlight the important domains of focus in transformation. Most transformation efforts start with a business case highlighting a need for change, supported by financial numbers, and how cost savings can be achieved. Planning, financials, business case are best practices to start a transformation effort. However, during an implementation stage, a transformation consultant has to be extremely focused on the following areas: Organization, Culture, Communication, Process, Technology, and Financials. All these six areas should tie with overall business strategy for transformation. Any slippage in these six domains will definitely screw the transformation effort - at best provide a marginal benefit to the business. 'Organization' - Creating the right organization structure for the future is one of the key obj...

‘Context’ Many years ago, when we first started setting up shared services in a major technology firm, we embarked on a journey that had many unknowns. Whether it was scope of work, projects, technology, or processes – nothing was clearly outlined. We had few excel sheets to guide us through the process of setting up shared service organization. It was no more than a simple ‘lifting’ of processes from each entity into a regional centre. The initial days were tough – It was about power, control, and other hidden aspects in organization. The lower end resources who managed the day-to-day operations struggled to meet the expectations from the internal clients. We had ‘all fingers pointing at one direction: shared services’, and always for the wrong reasons. ‘No defined parameters’ Now, when I look back to the unwieldy phase – it appears that there were number of interventions that could have been employed to mitigate the organizational resistance. In my experienc...

In ancient Chinese Philosophy, the concept ‘Yin-Yang’ describes how seemingly opposing forces work together to create wonders.   It takes a Sun and a Moon, a summer and winter, fire and water, Mars and a Venus to make life an enjoyable one.  Like the philosophy of ‘Yin-Yang’, the life at Oxford makes one to face seemingly different personalities, philosophies, doctrines, and yet all these differences are created with purpose…a purpose to serve humanity.   And it is because of this ultimate purpose that Oxford stands tall in all domains - whether it is academics, politics, business, or humanities. It’s a city like none other and its learning temple like none other. The Said Business School is an institution that embodies all the values of the City of Oxford. The Said Business School is a new business school when compared to most European and US business schools. Yet, it has reached a prestigious status and top rankings both in the academic world and business commun...

‘Unlimited Choices’ It is almost a month since I arrived at Oxford, the city of Dreaming Spires. By far, its one of the most beautiful places I have ever lived or visited – Its an architectural wonder. From the serenity of Port Meadows to the beauty of Brasenose, a day traveller will be spoilt for choices that Oxford offers. One of the striking features of this small city is its calmness in the midst of all the vibrancy. The port meadow, one of the last places yet to be invaded by modern life, offers the best of nature. The beauty of the hills and the streams that surround is a treat to the eyes. Guess what, I live only a mile away from the meadows – enticing isn’t it? A week of pub-crawls, several dinners, and meetings – we are all set to get the best out of Oxford life. The striking feature of the cohort is the diversity of the students from all parts of the world. There are 250+ students from 43 countries speaking multiple languages. In a few weeks, I had the opportunit...