Process Excellence Network Annual Report 2021

PEX
REPORT
2021
Capitalizing on change and innovation
in an altered business environment
INSIDE
Coca-Cola European Partners’ journey to process standardization

Hitachi Vantara’s approach to business process excellence
LEGO’s view on the current state of operational excellence
How continuous improvement is facilitating innovation at Maersk
Why HEXPOL embraced data-driven continuous improvement
Brought to you by
About Survey results Expert insights Success stories What’s next
ABOUT THE
REPORT
Editor’s note
Contents
Contributors and partners
The PEX Report 2021

Editor’s note Contents: 3
Hello, and a warm welcome to PEX Network’s annual 3 About

state-of-the-industry report. What a year it has been,
Page 3 – Editor’s note
filled with change deemed unimaginable a year
Page 4 – Contributors and partners
ago. Think back to January when most of the world
was gearing up for a year defined by the Olympic
5 State-of-the-industry survey
Games and the US presidential elections – instead,
the Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way we Page 6 – The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on process
live, interact and work overnight, with a ‘new normal’ excellence professionals
Page 9 – Deploying OPEX and business transformation to
created for which most of us were unprepared.
improve efficiency
Page 15 – Budgets, challenges and investmentsv
It has been a year of constant challenges for OPEX Page 19 – Looking ahead to the future of work
and business transformation leaders, but also a year of
opportunity, where they have been vital resources as 21 Leading experts’ insights
organizations battle to survive the crisis.
Page 22 – Welcome to OPEX Week 2021
Page 23 – Driving business transformation and process
As Peter Evans, director of service and performance
excellence in a merger – Dr. Tobias S. Witte, director
management for shared services at LEGO, puts it: “An of global project management and business process
OPEX professional has to stay pragmatic, proactive excellence at Hitachi Vantara
and be the first to recognize what is happening to the Page 26 – The importance of organizational agility and what
business to reflect those changes in an OPEX program.” it takes to get there - Maneesh Subherwal, executive director
of business transformation, commercial bank at JP Morgan
Chase & Co.
This report features the results of our annual global
state-of-the-industry survey and is filled with insights
29 Success stories
on how businesses are managing the crisis, what
processes are their priorities and what challenges Page 30 – Harmonizing and standardizing processes at
they are expecting to face over the coming year. It Coca-Cola European Partners – Giovanni Angeli, senior
manager BPM, IT strategic business solutions at Coca-Cola
includes insights from leading experts from renowned
European Partners
organizations who share their own transformation
Page 33 – Continuous improvement as a facilitator to
journeys toward operational excellence, the challenges
innovation and organizational transformation – Vikram
they face and their recommendations for success. Mehta, head of continuous improvement at Maersk
Page 35 – How HEXPOL built a culture of continuous
The PEX Report 2021 is your guide for navigating a improvement and data-driven decision-making
global crisis and building a strong base for innovation,

process excellence and growth at your organization in 37 What’s next for the process
the year ahead. excellence industry
Page 38 – “You don’t have to be good to start... You just

have to start to be good!” – Joshua Zable, chief marketing
and strategic planning officer at Minitab
Alice Clochet Page 40 – Digitizing processes to succeed in a pandemic
Editor, PEX Network world – Olivia Bushe, CEO at Flowforma
Alice.Clochet@iqpc.co.uk Page 42 – Operational excellence in practice: Transform,
optimize and control
Page 44 – 1 + 1 = 3 – The convergence of technologies –
Helge Hess, SVP and chief evangelist at Software AG
The PEX Report 2021

PEX Report 2021 contributors: 4
PETER EVANS JOSHUA ZABLE

Director of service and performance Chief marketing and strategic
management for shared services at LEGO planning officer at Minitab
DR. TOBIAS S. WITTE

OLIVIA BUSHE
Director of the project management and business
CEO at Flowforma
process excellence at Hitachi Vantara
JOE D’APOLLONIO PAUL STONE

Senior director PMO and operational Product strategist
excellence at Philips at FlowForma
MANEESH SUBHERWAL HELGE HESS

Executive director of business transformation, SVP and chief evangelist
commercial bank at JP Morgan Chase & Co. at Software AG
GIOVANNI ANGELI CATHY GU

Senior manager BPM, IT strategic business Event director, OPEX Week: Business
solutions at Coca-Cola European Partners Transformation World Summit
VIKRAM MEHTA
Head of continuous improvement
at Maersk
PEX Report 2021 sponsors:

FlowForma
FlowForma is revolutionizing the traditional BPM space with an innovative approach to developing award-winning
process automation and workflow products. It is passionate about innovating intuitive and affordable process
automation tools for Office 365. FlowForma Process Automation empowers organizations to digitize processes, comply
with ease and increase productivity with no-code.
Learn more at www.flowforma.com
Minitab
Minitab is the leading provider of software and services for quality improvement and statistics education. More than
90 per cent of Fortune 100 companies use their flagship product Minitab Statistical Software and more students
worldwide have used Minitab to learn statistics than any other package.
Learn more at www.minitab.com
Software AG
By connecting applications on the ground and in cloud, businesses, governments and humanity can instantly see
opportunities, make decisions and act immediately. Software AG connects the world to keep it living and thriving via
its platform to make a world of living connections possible.
Learn more at www.softwareag.com
The PEX Report 2021

SURVEY RESULTS
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the role of

process excellence professionals
Deploying OPEX and business transformation to
improve efficiency
Budgets, challenges and investments
Looking ahead to the future of work
The PEX Report 2021

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on 6
the role of process excellence professionals

How organizations are responding to a disruptive force, managing change in the ‘new normal’
and preparing a strong base for the future
It is near impossible to discuss the state of process

excellence in 2020 without acknowledging the impact that Q: Has the global Covid-19 pandemic
the Covid-19 pandemic has had on organizations and the changed the way your company views
resulting sudden culture of remote working that many were OPEX and business transformation?
not prepared for. As Dr. Tobias S. Witte, director global
project management and business process excellence at
Hitachi Vantara puts it, “Covid-19 is changing how we deal
with each other and conduct business”. Yes
No 27%
In this report, PEX Network brings together a group of
process excellence professionals to decipher the results
of our 2021 state-of-the-industry survey for OPEX and
business transformation to uncover the trends and
issues they have been facing in their roles at leading 73%
organizations around the world as the pandemic causes
economic disruption on a historic scale.
The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way technologies in the ‘new normal’ is changing working
organizations view OPEX and business transformation. It methods and interaction within organizations, as well as
has transformed approaches toward business hierarchy, with their customers.
continuity and risk, while the adoption of new
Below, we reveal a handful of responses we received on

Q: How has the Covid-19 pandemic the impact of Covid-19 on the organizations our survey
changed the way your company views respondents work for and the strategies implemented to
OPEX and business transformation? deal with the crisis.
“The pandemic has

prompted discussions on
“The pandemic has heightened the how to develop strategies
“There is
need for the continuous implementation that formulate survival
more focus
of our digital transformation strategy.” and sustainability in lieu
on business
of the decline in activity.”
continuity
and risk.”
“Digital workforce and work
from anywhere are now our “There is much more urgency to innovate
primary challenges.” and flatten hierarchical structures.”
The PEX Report 2021

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the role of process 7
excellence professionals
Q: How has the global Covid-19 pandemic forced your organization to realign OPEX and
transformation priorities?
No change to our OPEX strategy

20% 17%
16%
Automation projects accelerated 15%
OPEX projects accelerated
Respondents (%)
OPEX projects delayed 11%
10% 9% 9% 9%
More time/investment capability development/training
Automation projects delayed
Less time/investment on capability development/training 4%
Started developing OPEX strategy
Moved away from OPEX strategy 0%
It is no surprise that many of our survey respondents have The LEGO group is an exception and its director of
had to realign their OPEX and business transformation service and performance management for shared
priorities, with some accelerating automation projects services Peter Evans has seen the company experience
(16 per cent) indicating an increasing move toward cost minimal disruption. The pandemic has caused some
savings, while others are seeing OPEX projects accelerate difficulty which it has overcome and it is very much
(15 per cent) so to enable change and adapt to the ‘new business-as-usual where possible. This is not necessarily
normal’. While the leading answer from our respondents the case for many organizations out there, however.
was no change to their OPEX strategy (17 per cent), But for those who had a strong OPEX program in place
it demonstrates that fewer than one out of every five before the crisis, Evans remarks that “Covid-19 does not
respondents feel in a strong enough position from a get in the way of companies operating well”.
process standpoint to adapt to the Covid-19 world.
The PEX Report 2021

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the role of process 8
excellence professionals
Q: In which areas has the global Covid-19 pandemic forced you to accelerate digital
transformation within your organization?*
39% 31%
Adoption of a new operating model Cloud adoption for 31%
infrastructure-wide digital IT infrastructure modernization
transformation
38% 24% 18% 5%

Increased use of data
AI It has not Other
* Survey respondents could select more than one option
The majority of our respondents are either adopting a new The increasing use of data is starting to be seen as a
operating model as a result of Covid-19 (39 per cent) or must during the pandemic, as PEX practitioners need
increasing their use of data (38 per cent), demonstrating to have visibility over their processes’ performance and
that PEX and OPEX practitioners can help support change compliance. D’Apollonio sees data as one of his top
within organizations through the implementation of new priority in remote-working times.
business models or data-driven decision-making.
“I need to have the visibility and daily confirmation on
Joe D’Apollonio, senior director PMO and operational whether a process is operating effectively and efficiently,”
excellence at Philips, believes the Covid-19 pandemic he says.
provides a great opportunity for PEX practitioners to be at
the forefront of the adoption of a new operating model. The Covid-19 pandemic has prompted organizations
to adopt cloud solutions to allow information sharing
“The pandemic provides a burning platform to embed across departments during remote-working times. IT
lean management into businesses’ new operating models, infrastructures are also being modernized, indicating that
and this will increase organizations’ ability to see flow, to organizations are trying to keep up with the rapid pace of
identify waste and to do continuous improvement activity.” digital transformation across industries during the crisis.
The PEX Report 2021

Deploying OPEX and business 9
transformation to improve efficiency
Q: Which of the following best describes how your company views OPEX/business
transformation?*
65% 63%
A way to improve productivity and efficiency
A mission-critical strategy to help the organization drive 56%
growth, manage turnaround and deliver strategic objectives 53%
50%
A way to improve customer satisfaction through better
quality and efficiency
40% 40%
A way to reduce operational cost or reducing headcount
Respondents (%)
A way to manage business risks and ensure
business continuity
A way to deliver culture and leadership change across
24%
an organization
20% 18%
A way to ensure compliance with regulatory regimes
A way to automate processes through the application of
software suites as BPM suites
A way to combat the disruption of the Covid-19
global pandemic
0%
In this year’s survey, we found that most organizations a discussion we are having at Hitachi Vantara, which
view OPEX and business transformation as a way to capabilities to keep and which ones to remove, as
improve productivity and efficiency (63 per cent), while they are either not adapted to the market or not in the
last year the top answer was focusing on a mission- profitable segment,” Dr. Witte explains.
critical strategy to help the organization drive growth,
manage turnaround and deliver strategic objectives Surprisingly, combatting Covid-19 disruption is the
(35 per cent last year). While the latter answer still lowest selected option for views of OPEX and business
features very high in the minds of our respondents, the transformation from our respondents, indicating that
shift indicates that organizations are focusing first on they see business transformation as an initiative that
ensuring their operations run smoothly during the crisis goes beyond overcoming the challenges associated
before turning their focus back toward growth. with Covid-19.
Hitachi Vantara’s Dr. Witte notes the move away from Dr. Witte believes that even though Covid-19 is a strong
growth is triggering a focus toward process optimization, influencing factor for companies, it is temporary.
automation and ways to scale capabilities down
efficiently and effectively. “Business transformation is always longer term and it
takes a long time to transform a business or optimize an
“It is important to keep capabilities to grow again as OPEX structure,” he notes.
soon as the market recovers from Covid-19 and it is
The PEX Report 2021

Deploying OPEX and business transformation to improve efficiency 10
Once organizations have their house in order, the Cathy Gu, event director of OPEX Week: Business
attention will shift to growth. Already more than half of Transformation World Summit, agrees, noting: “This is
our respondents (56 per cent) said they viewed OPEX a sign that business transformation is no longer than a
and business transformation as a way to drive growth, cost-cutting initiative, it is much more than that – it is a
manage turnaround and deliver strategic objectives. growth-supporting and customer experience initiative
that will help businesses on the long run.”
Q: What is your primary measure of success for your OPEX/business transformation?
Top three survey answers:
25% 24% 23%
Cost savings Business top-line Increased

growth throughput/efficiency
Top three primary measures of success for OPEX in PEX Report 2020
Increased Improved customer Business top-line

1 2 3
throughput/efficiency satisfaction growth
For the first time in two years, increased throughput/

efficiency is not being viewed as the primary measure of
success for OPEX and business transformation programs
and occupies third place behind cost savings (25 per
cent) and business top-line growth (24 per cent). This
indicates that organizations are focusing on generating
revenue and saving costs as much as possible as a priority.
These metrics, as Gu notes, are not on par with how

organizations describe their view of OPEX and business
transformation. While they view it as a way to enhance
productivity and efficiency, “we are still using cost savings
as a measure of success for programs”, Gu remarks.
Improved customer satisfaction has fallen from 20 per

cent last year to only eight per cent this year, with many
The PEX Report 2021

organizations putting more focus on operating as usual Evans explains: “Organizations start with a view that
during the crisis rather than on their customers. customers are important and then they get excited by
the cost savings they can make and the customer focus
This is not something that LEGO’s Evans recognizes as gets switched off.”
he instead sees OPEX and customer satisfaction as
inseparable. It is, however, not an uncommon approach in According to Evans, it is almost impossible to do a great
the OPEX world. job for customers without encouraging the benefits of
operational efficiency.
“There should be no compromise on the focus on

the customer for OPEX professionals, even in these
challenging times,” he asserts.
While not a primary measure of success for OPEX

and business transformation, customer satisfaction
should always be in the mind of PEX practitioners when
undergoing a business transformation journey, as
increased productivity and efficiency could in turn lead to
enhanced customer satisfaction and ultimately growth.
Cost efficiency
Q: Considering the impact of Covid-19 Profit/growth

Enhancing customer service
on the global economy, which of the
Remote working
following drivers will have the most
Compliance
influence on OPEX programs in 2020?
Survival
Other
It is no surprise that cost efficiency is the main driver of

OPEX programs in 2020, followed by profit and growth.
9%
Companies are seeing OPEX as a way to ensure their
survival during the crisis by cutting internal costs.
9% 1%
Paul Stone, product strategist at FlowForma, warns

38%
organizations not to forget about their customers while
they are implementing strategies to cope with a ‘new 11%
normal’ that focuses on cost savings and efficiency.
“In the end, you can cut your cost down to zero and
still go out of business. Organizations should not ignore
14%
the opportunity to grow in these times by remaining
competitive, operational and focused on their customers,
18%
so they come out of the crisis in a much stronger
position,” he says.
The PEX Report 2021

Q: Which of the following best describes the current scope (2020 onward) of the process
excellence/operational excellence deployment at your company?
35%
35% 32%
Enterprise-wide transformation
Deployment at one or more 24% 24%
business units 22%
Respondents (%)
Have trained process

17%
improvement resources but
14% 14%
no formal process excellence/ 13%
operational excellence program
Small-scale pilot
5%
No PEX/OPEX program
0%
2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019
Disclaimer: The 2019 results are from PEX Report 2020.
Enterprise-wide transformation has increased from 24

per cent last year to 35 per cent this year, indicating that
organizations view OPEX as a company-wide strategy
that involves all departments in order to deliver strategic
objectives. Deployment at one or more business units also
increased almost 10 per cent on last year, demonstrating
that investment in OPEX and PEX programs have been
made to support specific functions to help organizations
operate. Meanwhile, fewer companies than last year
have no OPEX or PEX program which means that more
and more organizations across the board implement one,
showing the increasing importance of processes.
Gu notes: “OPEX and transformation are now becoming

a key company-wide strategy from the top level to help
organizations operate and deliver strategic objectives, as
opposed to a siloed activity aimed to help only a few.”
FlowForma’s Stone agrees and takes the examples of

process automation to explain: “In the past, businesses
would be looking at automating processes in individual
departments – now, they see the real win is to automate
at an enterprise-wide scale especially during the crisis,
and they see great benefits from it.”
The PEX Report 2021

that the value of transformation is increasingly being

Q: Who is the sponsor of your business recognized by top-level management.
transformation program?
FlowForma’s Stone believes the Covid-19 situation has
influenced people and digital transformation has risen in
44% the boardroom agenda.
CEO
29%
18% “CEOs are now taking responsibility of business
COO
28% transformation because it is seen as a way to alleviate
the risk posed by Covid-19, contributing to business
0% Respondents (%) 45% continuity during this difficult period,” he remarks.

OPEX Week’s Gu believes C-level support is essential for
More than 40 per cent of this year’s survey respondents any business transformation initiative to succeed, noting
cite their CEO as the one responsible for their company’s that “when transformation is not supported at the C-level
business transformation program, growing from almost is hard for organizations to succeed at an enterprise-
a third last year (29 per cent), which was already an wide scale in general and especially to ensure a strong
increase from the previous year (24 per cent), indicating response to the crisis”.
Q: Which methodologies and solutions are you currently using to support your
operational excellence projects?*
Change management Robotic process automation ISO

Business process reengineering Leadership and culture consulting Business architecture
Agile Project portfolio management Enterprise architecture
Strategy and transformation consulting Process mining Hoshin planning
Lean AI DFSS
Lean Six Sigma Total quality management/total Dynamic case management
Design thinking productivity management Other
56% 54%
60%
39% 36% 36%

Respondents (%)
32% 32% 32% 28%

27% 26%
22% 22% 20%
18% 15% 15%
10% 6%
5%
0%
Top three methodologies used in PEX Report 2020
1 Change management – 57% 2 Business process reengineering – 46% 3 Lean – 45%
The PEX Report 2021

Q: Which one of the following best describes your business transformation strategies?*
55% 50% 49% 41%
Optimizing internal processes Enterprise-wide Adopting OPEX methodologies Venturing into new
on departmental or business reengineering (LSS, agile, design thinking and business models
business-unit level for operational and automation technologies to
customer excellence drive operational efficiency)
34% 32% 31% 22%
Adopting customer Updating IT infrastructure Deploying cloud Flattening the

experience framework across to be more agile and technologies organizational infrastructure
the entire organization customer-centric to be more agile
21% 17% 9%
Deploying BPM and Deploying Other * Survey respondents could select
intelligent BPM ERP system more than one option
Change management and business process will be very different than anything we have experienced
reengineering remain the top two methodologies used to so far, with the ‘new normal’ expected to involve remote-
optimize processes on a departmental or business-unit working on a scale we have never seen before,” says Stone.
level, or for enterprise-wide reengineering for operational
and customer excellence. Hitachi Vantara’s Dr. Witte sees PEX practitioners at the
forefront of change management in organizations.
This is a trend seen by FlowForma’s Stone in businesses
across various industries as they look toward process “Our role as OPEX and PEX professionals is to educate
digitization to facilitate remote working. the organization about why and what we are doing is
important from a business perspective – because simply
“People are definitely looking to business process said it all starts with the process.”
management at this time to prepare for the future as it
The PEX Report 2021

Budgets, challenges and investments 15
Q: What is your organization’s annual

budget for investment in OPEX and 18%
transformation next year (US$)?
31%
$0 – $100,000
8%
$100,000 – $500,000
$500,000 – $1m 4%
$1m – $5m
$5m – $10m 7%
$10m+
Don’t know
11%
21%
Q: Which statement best describes

the effect the economy is having 45%
43%
on your operational excellence 35%
program budget? 30% 28%
27%
Respondents (%)
23%
18% 17%
Budget is expected to increase over next 12 months
Budget is expected to remain flat over next 12 months
Budget is expected to decline over next 12 months
0%
Don’t know
2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019 2020 2019
More than half of respondents are seeing their OPEX budget decline, an increase from last year, which
budget increase (18 per cent) or remain flat (35 per cent) many attribute to the negative impact of the Covid-19
over the next 12 months. pandemic on many industries.
While Gu sees this development as a good sign as LEGO’s Evans believes what matters is where the budget
not many more organizations have seen their budget is being impacted, as this will help OPEX professionals
decline compared to last year despite the extremely understand how to adapt.
challenging market environment of the moment, Hitachi
Vantara’s Dr. Witte sees it as being industry-specific, “If this means that there is less OPEX resource to help
noting that “we should not forget that Covid-19 is businesses become more operationally excellent then you
creating demand in some industries such as goods have to cut your cost accordingly,” says Evans. “An OPEX
delivery and remote services”. professional has to stay pragmatic, proactive and be the
first to recognize what is happening to the business to
However, 30 per cent of respondents are seeing their reflect those changes in an OPEX program.”
The PEX Report 2021

Q: What solutions are you looking to invest in to drive your OPEX and transformation
programs over the next 12 months?*
Digital transformation Digital business platform Process modelling/mapping tools

Data analytics/business intelligence AI Process mining
Cultural transformation RPA BPM suites
Workflow automation Business transformation consultancy Process simulation
Behavioral/employee engagement Process excellence consultancy Other
Top three solutions to

44% 44%
45% invest in PEX Report 2020
32% 31%
30% 29% 28% 1 PEX consultancy
26%
Respondents (%)
23% 22% Digital

20%
2
16% transformation
12% 11%
Business transformation
5% 3
consultancy
0%
Q: What types of process improvement work will be the focus of your program in 2020–21?*
Creating a culture for culture for Design thinking Implementing process management
transformation Agile transformation frameworks
Change management strategy Aligning process and IT Holistic business transformation
Customer-centric process management Redesigning performance metrics Process mining
Developing leadership behavior End-to-end process architecture Process modelling/documentation
Driving innovation RPA Restructuring/redesigning the
Process automation Integrating data into process organizational structure
Process redesign (i.e., process intelligence) Other
AI Six Sigma process improvement projects
40% 36% 35%

32%
30%
28% 28% 28% 28%
26% 25% 25% 25%
24% 24%
Respondents (%)
22% 21%
20% 19%
17%
16%
15%
3%
0%
The PEX Report 2021

Digital transformation is the number one solution for our currently in, a clear understanding of where it wants to go
respondents to invest in over the next 12 months, closely and an execution plan,” Evans says.
followed by data analytics and business intelligence, which
have both replaced PEX and business transformation At LEGO, this means creating compelling stories of what
consultancies in last year’s top three. This shift reflects a it means to be operationally excellent to help change
clear focus from organizations on transforming and gaining the language of the business and its culture over time
a clearer view of their business in order to know where to in respect to how the organization thinks about its
improve and make data-based decisions. customers, processes, performance and improvement,
Evans explains.
Culture and change management are key focuses
for process improvement work over the next year, “You have to change the language of the business
which LEGO’s Evans sees as the starting point of any and the understanding of people,” he adds. “In the
transformation initiative. end, people will go from point A to point B in your
transformation because they want to, not because they
“Initiatives need to start at the top with an openness and are told to get there.”
honesty about the current situation the organization is
Q: What do you see as your primary OPEX and transformation challenge for the next
18 months?
Cost/budget limitations
Deploying new technologies
Linking process improvement with top-level business strategy
1% 1% 1%
Overcoming too much short-term focus
Ensuring a customer-centric focus throughout the business
Lack of alignment between business and IT departments 5%
Overcoming resistance
5%
Maintaining executive buy-in
Sustaining change 5%
Skills shortage
Securing executive buy-in
5% 37%
Other
5%
Top three challenges in PEX Report 2020

6%
Linking process improvement with
1
top-level business strategy
Overcoming too much short-term

2 11%
focus
18%
3 Deploying new technologies
The PEX Report 2021

This year, cost and budget limitations have jumped from Linking process improvement to top-level business
a mere five per cent last year to the top challenge of the strategy is still a key challenge and remains in the top
next 18 months, which is an unsurprising impact of the three, which demonstrates a lack of alignment and
Covid-19 crisis for many businesses. understanding from high management on how OPEX and
business transformation initiatives can help them achieve
As Gu notes, “numerous organizations are feeling the strategic objectives.
pinch of the crisis and unfortunately budget limitations is
a reality for many”. Philips’s D’Apollonio asserts that top-level business
strategy should be carried out through Hoshin planning,
The focus on digital transformation uncovers a key which was selected by 15 per cent of respondents as a
challenge in the months to come for organizations to methodology they are currently using to support their
deploy new technologies (18 per cent), which has OPEX projects.
moved up one place since last year and is now the
second top challenge, replacing overcoming too much “The Hoshin process is supposed to facilitate process
short-term focus (12 per cent last year). PEX professionals improvement becoming the avenue by which
can play a big part in helping organizations with this organizations meet business strategies and make
particular challenge. everybody aligned all the way down to the process level,”
D’Apollonio adds.
Philips’s D’Apollonio believes they should be driving new
technologies, especially ones that provide the visibility
and daily confirmation whether the organization is
operating effectively and efficiently.
“Numerous organizations are feeling the pinch of the crisis and

unfortunately budget limitations is a reality for many.”
Cathy Gu
Event director, OPEX Week: Business Transformation World Summit
The PEX Report 2021

Looking ahead to the future of work 19
With the ‘new normal’ likely to involve a disparate Below, we reveal a handful of responses we received on
workforce, with some office-based and many more how our respondents expect to drive engagement and
than before finding themselves working remotely, PEX manage projects, and what skills will be needed to drive
practitioners can help business leaders drive engagement OPEX programs in the future.
and manage projects in the future by providing the right
tools and capabilities to allow them to do so.
Q: With the new normal expected to involve a disparate workforce, how do you expect to
drive engagement and manage projects in the future?
“Promotion of awareness “Maintaining executive buy-in and linking projects

to drive engagement and to strategy.”
project management
conducted with improved
tools which afford greater “Using platforms that help to manage
“Remote
flexibility.” the internal process, digital management
check-ins.”
of data and diagnostics.”
“Collaboration tools enabling “Increase in change management and

people to work from anywhere.” engagement programs from an HR point of view.”
Q: What are the new skill sets you are looking for to drive your OPEX program?
“Strategic thinking, facilitation “Process mining, BPM, “Business intelligence,

to drive vision alignment, digital integration data analytics, digital
customer focus, design thinking and business model transformation, design
and embedded AI.” consulting.” thinking and AI.”
In the future, LEGO’s Evans does not believe the skill sets recognize the pressures on the business, the customer
required to drive OPEX programs will be different. needs and optimize that to deliver to them.
“OPEX is about the journey that you are working with the “You do not have to have the world’s greatest technology
business to go on, which means you have to have an to be operationally excellent,” Evans adds. “It is all
understanding of the whole business holistically,” he explains. about the culture, understanding what the business can
afford and where it wants to go, and then applying the
To create an operationally excellent world, OPEX understanding of OPEX in that framework.”
leaders have to talk in the language of the business and
The PEX Report 2021

Looking ahead to the future of work 20
Q: How do you see the future of work environment and how will OPEX be able to support that?
“The work environment has to be more simplified,

data and process-driven. There will be lot
“The future of work will
of opportunities to reengineer the business
be distributed between
processes which the OPEX can support or drive.”
teams collaborating
across the globe. OPEX
implementation is
expected to make the “Work from anywhere will be
distributed workforce more the new norm. This means
cohesive and focused on workforce management KPIs
achieving OPEX.” such as productivity, quality

and throughput will need to be
measured virtually and require new “OPEX will provide a
OPEX toolsets to provide real-time strategic framework for
corrective actions and training.” organizations to improve
business growth and
customer satisfaction.”
“Remote work environment is
established. The trick will be to
balance it with expectations
of outcomes from traditional “Challenging – moving to a more
work execution. OPEX holistic approach aggregating lean, six
will play a key role in the sigma, business process management,
business transformation digital transformation, RPA, IA, big data
and mental health will take analytics and Industry 4.0 programs.”
priority in health, safety and
environment statistics.”
Conclusion
This survey has showed that it is more important than of this report provides insights from PEX practitioners
ever for companies to optimize their processes to adapt from leading organizations on continuous improvement,
to the ‘new normal’ while managing change. This is no organizational agility and business process
surprise because the Covid-19 pandemic has been a management to give our readers the knowledge they
disruptive force that has driven many organizations need to drive change at their organizations during a
to suddenly shift to a remote-working model. The rest time of huge upheaval.
The PEX Report 2021

21
LEADING EXPERTS’
INSIGHTS
Welcome to OPEX Week 2021

Driving business transformation and process
excellence in the Hitachi Vantara merger
The importance of organizational agility and
what it takes to get there
The PEX Report 2021

Welcome to OPEX Week 2021 22
Dear colleagues,
We have been driving change in the industry for over 20 years and with the community have focused on the speed of
change, the scale of change and how best to lead and manage change. The high-impact network and business-critical
insights we provide have inspired evolutionary transformations and helped the OPEX community to navigate through
turbulent times including 9/11 and the 2008 financial crisis.
Earlier this year, the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has struck the world and shaken the very core of how we
live and work, plunging the world into a situation that has not been seen before. It is fair to say that this is probably
change in its most extreme form. Transformational and OPEX leaders are faced with the most tremendous challenges to
navigate through this unchartered waters and lead their businesses to find new grounds for survival and growth.
It has never been more important for businesses to be able to realign priorities to adapt to the changing working
environment, pivot toward new operating models, instill continuous improvement and business resilience, and push the
boundaries of agility and speed to market even further.
Against this backdrop, PEX Network will stand firmly with the OPEX community and do what we do best: to provide
the absolute business-critical insights to help organizations navigate through these unprecedented challenges while
driving their transformation. OPEX Week and Business Transformation World 2021 and our annual report will focus on the
following key themes:
1 Realigning and pivoting at speed to push the boundaries of agility to drive customer value.
2 Accelerating digital transformation through process automation, advanced analytics and AI.
3 Building resilience through continuous improvement and problem-solving capabilities.
4 Transformational leadership to develop authentic, unbiased leadership capabilities to enable change.
5 Future of work to drive future-proof workforce and workplace innovation to sustain and thrive in
uncertain times.
With our featured industry experts, conference speakers and the wider community support, we look forward to
navigating this challenging time with each and everyone one of you.
Stay safe and see you again!
Cathy Gu
Event Director, OPEX Week:
Business Transformation World Summit
Cathy.Gu@iqpc.co.uk
The PEX Report 2021

Driving business transformation and 23
process excellence in a merger

Dr. Tobias S. Witte, director of global project management and business process
excellence at Hitachi Vantara, explains his key process objectives and the challenges
he is encountering during the merger of Hitachi Vantara and Hitachi Consulting
Hitachi Vantara and Hitachi Consulting merged in task for this multibillion-dollar company, as Hitachi
January 2020 and we are now on the path to operate Consulting almost doubled the size of Hitachi Vantara.
as a combined company, Hitachi Vantara. As director of
the global project management and business process Those entities have had a different business focus.
excellence for strategic operations, I am responsible for Hitachi Vantara was a big player in the infrastructure
bringing people, systems and processes onto the same marketplace, while Hitachi Consulting focused on
page – especially the business processes. professional services with a project approach that
included selling services to customers to make them
I define business process excellence as process efficiency more efficient, profitable and successful. Now with the
and effectiveness, and process excellence in the context merger, a combined approach is needed with 100 per
of this merger represents lean processes that have cent alignment of processes and portfolio. I want to
minimum variations and waste that adds no business enable the merged organization to be more profitable by
value. I am sure you can never achieve true excellence cross-selling and solving issues that customers face by
but the way toward it are our guiding principles to make a providing a specific product and building helpful services
process as efficient and effective as possible. around it.
My role is primarily process-focused, and my ultimate “I am sure you can never

goal is to define standard processes and streamline the
achieve true excellence but
connected IT environment as much as possible. There are
a couple of challenges. the way toward it are our
guiding principles to make a
First and foremost, in the process of growing Hitachi
Vantara in the last couple of years to a global player in
process as efficient and
the IoT sector, we have a lot of systems which still need to effective as possible.”
be merged to create an ideal, scalable IT environment.
Currently this is causing additional cost and challenges Dr. Tobias S. Witte
for our IT team. Director of the global project management and
business process excellence at Hitachi Vantara
Secondly, our processes are very customer-oriented,
which creates a lot of process variants and drives My third focus is customer-centricity. Hitachi Vantara
complexity. That is a big challenge we currently extended its product portfolio with Hitachi Consulting’s
try to solve with a broad business process service component and is now able to solve entirely
management initiative. different business challenges. The merged company
can provide a service team who actively work on
My key focus during the merger is to capture process problems and can bring in the product team for
synergies to make the newly formed company more support and create growth, profitability and efficiency
efficient. This is a major target and a multimillion-dollar for our clients.
The PEX Report 2021

Driving business transformation and process excellence in a merger 24
Most of the time process standardization starts with the determine which processes were documented and
underlying policy which defines the broader standards in which way. We found out that it involved a lot of
for a business process and is a very important part Microsoft Visio, Word and Excel documents, so we
of this journey. To accomplish this, we define a global decided to create a centralized platform with a
standard which we communicate to the business. This simple methodology to document processes. With
determines process and procedure, as well as underlying this centralized platform, we have the capability to
system changes. We have to bring all this, plus the tribal work cross-functionally more intensively with the same
knowledge – the unwritten information of a company – methodology and standards for all processes. Now we
on one page. can provide easy access to cross-functional process
information to every single uses in the company.
I also work actively on optimizing business processes
which drives system changes. This will give us the To understand what we needed to do next, we looked at
scalability we need and allow us to integrate the different the Gartner model for BPM maturity and started with the
product and service components together. At the end process awareness stage. This included to understand
of the journey, we might end up with two variations of a which process variations were IT-driven and which
process, a product-specific one and a service-specific were business-driven to remove as many variations
one to create an ideal environment. as possible and streamline our processes. Today, all
employees have access to the central platform to get
To start standardizing our processes we first created the same understanding of our processes and drive
a business process management (BPM) initiative to process excellence.
Gartner model for BPM maturity

Source: Gartner
The PEX Report 2021

Driving business transformation and process excellence in a merger 25
This BPM initiative made it easier for us to have teams or the ones receiving the biggest revenue decline
discussions with the IT department about customizing during the Covid-19 pandemic.
and integrating IT systems into one and create
connections between systems. “We are currently trying to
We thought that because a centralized team was
achieve business process
documenting all processes, we could quickly redesign excellence through the
them. But we realized quickly that this was not working,
understanding, optimization
so we shifted our process management methodology
to a completely self-service approach. So, how did we and automation of processes
do this? We appointed process owners, clearly defined together with the governance
process experts and supported them with a simple
methodology to help them document their processes via
structure we created.”
standard rules.
Dr. Tobias S. Witte
Director of the global project management and
We used a pyramid model with different levels of top
business process excellence at Hitachi Vantara
down – from executives to process experts. This model
drives transparency, accountability and transformation
with clear process governance. Now, we have more The strategic perspective is critical, and the most
people working on and taking on ownership of their important element of the merge is to figure out how
processes. They are responsible for updating them the various portfolios can fit together best to sell an
and redesigning them, if necessary. This was crucial added value to clients. The next step is to create a
to establishing process governance globally across dedicated plan to prioritize the right elements, the ones
different functions. that will drive the biggest benefits to the company, and
understand the efforts that are needed to be put in to
We are currently trying to achieve business process achieve this.
excellence through the understanding, optimization and
automation of processes together with the governance It is super important to have a dedicated team driving
structure we created. Automation is a key priority for us this. They can have the right discussion with the right
at the moment and was before the Covid-19 pandemic. people. At Hitachi Vantara, we established smart
We have a RPA team focusing on which processes to measures and laid out strategic initiatives, milestones,
automate, and which ones we can simplify and redesign and deadlines to keep our efforts on track and ensure we
in our systems. Our main focus is to get the biggest had deliverables that were measurable.
bang for our buck by working on the ones that bring
high benefits with low efforts. Our key areas for process Our success factor was and still is the executive
improvement are in order-to-cash, corporate finance and committee awareness where we share our results and
controllership, tax and procurement. issues and make the committee aware of any decisions
that need to be taken. They are very supportive to drive
I am working toward achieving some strategic objectives our efforts and they help to make people aware of the
the company has, such as cost optimization, process significance of our process excellence initiative across
simplification and scalability of our business. To do this, the board. The executive committee helped my team to
I break them down into operational objectives first and accelerate the mind-set shift toward a more process-
start reengineering processes related to the company’s oriented one and more importantly to one team,
biggest pain points or main process issues, the largest Hitachi Vantara.
The PEX Report 2021

The importance of organizational 26
agility and what it takes to get there

Maneesh Subherwal, executive director of business transformation, commercial
bank at JP Morgan Chase & Co., explains why organizations need to be agile
more than ever, and shares his recommendations on what they can do to succeed
in getting there
PEX Network: Why should organizations move their mark quickly. They are always looking for companies
to agile ways of working? where they can identify opportunities and drive value
fast, with no bureaucracy.
Maneesh Subherwal: Agility has always been important
to organizations given market uncertainty, volatility, The last nine months have radically transformed customer
complexity and disruption. It is imperative for businesses and employee expectations and needs with and within
to respond to their ever-changing market conditions organizations, and created a multiplier effect across
quickly, and to also benefit from those changes rapidly these factors.
as well. If you believe your organization is in an industry,
sector or segment where this does not hold true, think This is not unique to any industry, or any geography.
again. You have only two paths ahead – you are either Banking, for example, has been seeing this disruption
being disrupted, or you are the disruptor. first-hand, caused by emergent fintechs and evolving
customer needs.
Business environments are evolving fast due to several
factors, and the Covid-19 pandemic has only accelerated Organizations need to think, lead and work differently.
this evolution. They need to inspire cultures that celebrate this constant
change. They need to get ahead of their current market
Technology is evolving rapidly, and so is the need challenges, as they boldly outline their next market
for organizations to keep up with their infrastructure opportunity. They need to be resilient and be agile to stay
and stay on the front foot. They need to avoid being ahead, in an environment where needs are changing at
stuck in a legacy environment to nimbly respond, scale, at speed, and at the same time.
adapt and even stay ahead of technology changes
and the modernization curve. Continuous technology PEX Network: What are the key criteria that
modernization needs to be an inherent, central part of make an organization agile?
their long-term business strategy.
MS: Many people think the key criteria for agility is
Secondly, customer expectations of information nimbleness, the ability for an organization to renew itself,
availability and access has also changed; they want change and adapt quickly.
more information, more frequently, and on more channels.
Offline information synchronization is a thing of the past; While that is true, organizational stability is also an
customers are looking for viable information at viable important and necessary criterion. It is the strong core
points in time, creating a windfall of product and feature that describes what the organization is trying to do: its
requests for information transparency and visibility. mission, vision and purpose.
Thirdly, there is a war to hire and retain top talent, With agility and stability, organizations can balance the
especially in times like these. Talented, passionate people speed, the flexibility and all-in engagement with a clear,
aspire to drive impact with purpose, and look to make impactful mission, vision and purpose to drive toward,
The PEX Report 2021

The importance of organizational agility and what it takes to get there 27
a good example being supermarket chain Morrisons and own their goals. A tribe, generally a line of business, is
which completely transformed its inventory management a collective of squads that states the overall mission and
system. purpose. This is how agility and stability come together.
PEX Network: In order to execute their Thirdly, organizations need a rapid feedback and
organizational redesign toward agility, what decision-making governance model to allow these
are the key factors to success? teams to move quickly and continuously to identify
root problems, run hypothesis-based experiments to
MS: There are five critical factors that drive organizational solve them, validate with customers, and evolve their
agility success. hypothesis based on learnings. Rinse and repeat.
Firstly, the organization must have a clear north star Fourthly, agile organizations need to focus on developing,
which articulates what the business hopes to achieve in nurturing and engaging talented people. These are the
the coming year(s), and why. Usually, organizations have ones driving goals and purpose, with passion. To do so,
hundreds of initiatives, often in conflict with one another. they need to move away from command and control
They are difficult to track, measure and holistically operating models and leadership styles and, instead,
manage, eventually creating hierarchical, structural and must create a culture of empowerment where employees
traction challenges. want to, and are able to, take full ownership of their work.
Finally, organizations need the technology and tools to

push for collective transparency and collaboration, where
systems enable an organizational culture to support and
solves problems together.
PEX Network: What is a leader in an agile

organization and how do they guide
objectives? What is their role in managing
change in the workforce and implementing
new technology?
MS: An agile leader is one who focuses less on

themselves, and more on building trust and relationships
within their teams. They help teams clearly understand
the organization’s objectives and their alignment to
Secondly, organizations must invest in creating a those objectives, while steering and guiding them with
network of empowered, cross-functional teams to move qualitative and quantitative data toward impactful
away from hierarchies and role-based structures, with results. They constantly inspire their teams and
managers reporting up a long chain. The idea is to have empathetically support them, while relentlessly reducing
organizations made up of small teams, each clearly the burden of heavy processes, bureaucracy, structure
describing their independent goals and working model and blame.
with other teams. The Spotify Model uses a construct of
tribes and squads to define a network of such teams. A The leader’s role is critical in managing change, starting
squad is a cross-functional team of seven to nine highly with ensuring that their teams understand the reason and
motivated, empowered individuals, small enough to focus need for change, and then doing all they can pave the
The PEX Report 2021

The importance of organizational agility and what it takes to get there 28
way for that change. As servant leaders, they support time to shift, but it is worth the effort. To drive this shift,
teams in any way possible to drive the goals toward leaders also need to reorient their own ways of working,
that change, for instance, helping team members gain moving away from blame, and toward enabling learning
required skills and providing needed resources. and celebrating risk-takers.
One useful approach for leaders to strategically guide “For organizations to truly
and manage change is the objectives and key results
succeed, they need to find a
(OKR) governance model. It recommends leaders to clearly
articulate their mission and reason for change (objectives), way to think big, start small and
and outline the measures (key results) to guide and steer move quickly.”
the change. The organization then cascades and aligns
these OKRs across business lines and teams, and makes Maneesh Subherwal
the key results transparent to the entire organization on an Executive director of business transformation,
ongoing basis, either monthly or quarterly. commercial bank at JP Morgan Chase & Co.
PEX Network: What are the main challenges Leveraging an OKR-based governance approach could
that organizations usually face when trying to provide guidance and direction to such an organization,
drive organizational agility? a north star. Within the OKR framework, leaders decide
their top three to five core strategic objectives (and no
MS: There are significant organizational challenges at more), and transparently align and measure work across
play that tend to stall or slow down transformations, the organization to these objectives to ensure focus,
including lack of goal clarity, inconsistent momentum or clarity and traction. It also seen to drive tangible forward
a close-minded culture, due to organizational fatigue, momentum and enable an experimentation-friendly
disinterest and disbelief. culture, due to its impact-driven, transparent approach.
Organizations that stall due to a lack of goal clarity try PEX Network: What are your recommendations
to do too much without a clear articulation of purpose or for organizations to succeed in their agile
impact, or adequate senior leader sponsorship. journey?
Organizational challenges with inconsistent momentum MS: For organizations to truly succeed, they need to find
are encountered when leaders drive transformation a way to think big, start small and move quickly. Identify
outcomes for the near-term, without connecting the the strategic opportunity, find the path to the smallest
dots on their long-term strategy. They miss the forest initiative to drive measurable impact, and rally and support
from the trees and start multiple, unrelated short-burst an empowered, supported team to execute on the goal.
transformation initiatives, driving operational inefficiencies,
confusion and slowing down the wider agenda. To make this work, clearly articulate goals and objectives
for the short and long term, unleash and empower a
Culture also plays a very important role in stalling talented team while they execute, inspect your results
organizational agility. Leaders need to relentlessly drive and adapt your hypotheses often.
the organizational culture away from a legacy mind-
set (“We have tried this before, it will never work here”) This will change the way people think about their
and toward an open, safe mindset (“Yes, we can try work and their impact, and encourage constant
this here, let’s experiment and learn together”). This is a learning, experimentation, and engagement. That is
monumental cultural challenge and takes a considerable truly being agile!
The PEX Report 2021

29
SUCCESS STORIES
Harmonizing and standardizing processes at

Coca-Cola European Partners
Continuous improvement as a facilitator to
innovation and organizational transformation
How HEXPOL built a culture of continuous
improvement and data-driven decision-making
The PEX Report 2021

Harmonizing and standardizing 30
processes at Coca-Cola European Partners

Giovanni Angeli, senior manager BPM, IT strategic business solutions at
Coca-Cola European Partners, explains the journey so far to harmonize and
standardize processes across the three former organizations that merged to
form the company in 2016
The three companies that became Coca-Cola European To start harmonizing processes, we focused first on master
Partners (CCEP), despite bottling and distributing the data management for products and suppliers to simplify
same products, all had discrepancies in their way of harmonization discussions. We then needed the business
working. Demand for Coca-Cola is either driven by part of the company to organize their processes as they
sporting events or seasonal changes. Our processes help own them, describe them clearly and build strategic
anticipate rising demand, but they need to be localized. objectives around them so we could support them.
Some processes were the same but conducted slightly For instance, we are currently undergoing autonomous
differently across the three former companies, who used trucks experimentations in Sweden; it is a strategic
different systems and databases. In other cases, there decision that processes can support. Once we focus on
were real differences in the way processes were carried harmonizing transportation processes there might be a
out which might have been dictated by local situations or branch considering autonomous vehicles going in and
needs, or because it gave the company a differentiator out of facilities, which might lead to different procedures
against competitors in a particular region. than regular trucks.
Now that all three former companies have come together At the process level, supporting strategic objectives
as one, we need to identify which process variations are might mean to identify opportunities for automation
best and try to standardize them for CCEP to operate as or gathering information to enable the business teams
one. We need to identify and remove waste; for example, to make decisions. We need to understand what the
if one process is being carried out identically through three important tracking points of a process are so we can
different systems. We are trying to identify what we can build the right KPIs on it. When we look into a process we
merge and preserve to standardize one way of working. want to see if it is efficient and performing properly, but
a process might have many interactions and we must be
In the first period after the merger and for the last sure of what we are measuring.
couple of years, our main priority has been to treat
CCEP as a single company and start putting together
the process harmonization strategy without ever
disrupting operations.
We started to re-yield and relook at what our processes

were so we could identify which ones needed to be
reconsidered. We also shared best practices on processes
and their variations to help differentiate the company
against competitors and improve its operational
efficiency. We did not have a specific requirement for
processes, just as long as they were effective.
The PEX Report 2021

Harmonizing and standardizing processes at Coca-Cola European Partners 31
This is why the lead time of a process must be described to make it more process-oriented. We evangelized the
by the business teams, because otherwise there is space company about what BPM was, why we were doing it,
for interpretation and the different regions might be what we were expecting from the people in the business
measuring process performance at different times and and what they could expect from us.
points in the process. When this happens, it creates
confusion and information-driven decision-making We introduced the business teams to the idea that
becomes a guess. they could become more efficient, identify opportunity
for improvement and better respond to crises by
“Now that all three former understanding their processes better.
companies are forming one, we

need to identify which process
variations are best and try to
standardize them for CCEP to
operate as one.”
Giovanni Angeli
Senior manager BPM, IT strategic business
solutions at CCEP
To standardize processes across CCEP, we set up two

main initiatives.
Firstly, we built a new team to facilitate business process

management (BPM) and do process governance,
methodology training and coaching. While the business
owns the processes as I mentioned earlier, the team
in which I work supports their execution and runs
governance workshops for people to discuss them.
We are making all the information produced around The first focus for process improvement after the
a process and their description available for everyone merger was the hire to retire process to standardize
in the company in a standardized format through the way CCEP was working with its employees. This
a business process model and notation, which is a was interesting because usually aspects or practices in
modelling language for our processes. We also added marketing and commercial operations are a big focus for
additional requirements to our process designs such CCEP and they became one soon after the hire-to-retire
as the capability or strategic decision that the process process had been sorted out. These processes were more
is supporting. All this information is handled in an key than others to understand as they usually define new
enterprise-wide BPM platform where everybody can requirements for technology at CCEP. They also represent
work, share and collaborate on designing processes. the most variations across countries and we were
streamlining them the best we could while giving them
Secondly, and this was probably the most important the flexibility to work properly locally before the Covid-19
initiative, we started changing the culture of the company pandemic hit.
The PEX Report 2021

Harmonizing and standardizing processes at Coca-Cola European Partners 32
As the biggest and most invasive crisis that Coca-Cola networking, connectivity and our capacity to work on
has ever experienced in terms of business impact, the systems used remotely; it all had to be revised
pandemic caused much steering in our work. It urged us and enhanced very rapidly in the first few weeks of
to completely reconsider all of our strategies and ongoing the pandemic.
projects, and it made us shift our work toward areas of
the original three companies that we did not originally “As the biggest and most
plan for to tackle the sudden crisis.
invasive crisis that Coca-Cola
has ever experienced in terms
of business impact, the
pandemic caused much
steering in our work.”
Giovanni Angeli
Senior manager BPM, IT strategic business
solutions at CCEP
We also needed to share consistent and helpful

official information on how to tackle the crisis and we
saw that we were spending a lot of time translating
communications in our own processes. We did not have
the tools and the capacity to translate so much material
in different languages however, so we recognized the
need to automate some of it. We rapidly scaled up
a pilot project into production which used machine
learning tools to carry out automatic translations of our
communication packages. Word documents, PowerPoint
presentations and emails can now all be translated into
the various languages used in the company.
Although we are still quite early on in the journey,

we already have some success stories to tell such
Managing our cash flow and supply chain moved to as the language translations on BPM helping during
the forefront of our work and we are currently redoing critical times. Undoubtedly, we will keep learning from
and finalizing processes for market to order, order-to- situations and continuously improve our processes in a
cash, source to pay and forecast to load. Because the coordinated fashion.
pandemic is stretching these processes, we are learning a
lot and this is a good opportunity for us to sort them out.
We also needed to rescale our existing capability

to adapt to what was needed for remote working
in our internal, administration and financial services.
Remote working put a lot of pressure on our IT security,
The PEX Report 2021

Continuous improvement as a facilitator to

innovation and organizational transformation
Vikram Mehta, head of continuous improvement at Maersk, explains the importance
of continuous improvement for organizations to be transformation ready
The importance for companies to implement Recommendations for a successful continuous

continuous improvement improvement program
Continuous improvement is a must for organizations It is important for organizations to start by acknowledging
as it facilitates innovation and helps organizations there is always room for improvement via a bottom-up
transform and become more efficient. Ultimately, it leads approach. They should ask their customers what they
to improvements in customer satisfaction and employee need and what would work for them, because these are
engagement, as well as helping organizations grow the areas where efforts should be invested.
organically which is important in today’s economic climate.
They should also involve their employees in their
Continuous improvement helps organizations benefit strategy for continuous improvement. Organizations
from a first mover advantage and allows them to adapt should consider viewpoints of customer-facing staff who
to new elements in the market such as the latest global form a major part of their workforce and are closest to
technology or a crisis. It allows organizations to move fast the customers.
and make changes quickly. A well-structured continuous
improvement team can have significant positive impact Organizations should see continuous improvement as an
on employee and customer satisfaction. investment instead of a cost. Like any other investment,
they should put strong efforts at the beginning and
expect good returns, but also spend time on getting
the strategy and basics right. They should not reinvent
the wheel where things are working well already and
prioritize initiatives with maximum results and minimum
effort or change.
The world of continuous improvement is changing. Many

methodologies used 10 and 20 years ago are still being
used, but a lot of newer approaches such as agile, AI
and minimum viable product have emerged, and are
becoming increasingly important in today’s rapidly
changing business environment.
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic

on the execution of Maersk’s continuous
improvement program
We had to quickly adapt to changing business,

customer and employee needs in order to stay ahead in
the market during the Covid-19
The PEX Report 2021

Continuous improvement as a facilitator to innovation and 34
organizational transformation
pandemic. We were able to immediately bring in new The evolution of continuous improvement in
ways of communications, engagement and reaching out the next few years
to customers.
At present, organizations have a continuous improvement
We have a robust business continuity planning setup team that is expected to drive the improvement journey
and change management team supported by flexible and come up with ideas. In the future, I see continuous
IT solutions. We also have a well-balanced continuous improvement teams driving organizations by promoting
improvement team consisting of a good mix of trusted an owner’s mind-set with the entire leadership team
experienced people and new people with new ideas, across all functions in order to enable true commitment
technologies and knowledge. We were prepared with toward change. This change has already been
a contingency for a situation of this nature and have happening over the last five or 10 years, but I see it
continued with the mind-set of business as usual from becoming more important in the future.
day one.
I also believe continuous improvement teams will evolve
At Maersk, we have a strong pipeline of continuous faster in adopting new methodologies and have a higher
improvement projects and initiatives, so we could appetite for calculated risks. The technology we have
reprioritize and continue with initiatives that had become now, the minimum viable product approach, AI, machine
more urgent and important, and we postponed what was learning and data science are relevant today, but they
not an immediate requirement or was no longer feasible. will become commonly known terminologies in the future.
We were able to continue our improvement ambitions at I see organizations increasing their investment on digital
the same speed as before, if not more. products and services in order to stay relevant with the
continuous improvement team having an important role
“Continuous improvement is to play in this transformation.
a must for organizations as it
When it comes to minimum viable product, organizations
facilitates innovation and helps need to acknowledge that, as Mark Twain said
organizations transform and continuous improvement is better than delayed
become more efficient.” perfection”.. The journey is not going to be perfect and
any changes will create disruption in the beginning. If
organizations can put their heart into it however, it is
Vikram Mehta
going to bring about positive differences.
Head of continuous improvement at Maersk
The PEX Report 2021

How HEXPOL built a culture of continuous

improvement and data-driven
decision-making
The rubber compounding organization saved internal costs
by implementing a culture of continuous improvement
HEXPOL Compounding, a provider of rubber management who work on a project via planning
compounding for customers in several industries such as tools and forms available in Companion by Minitab,
auto, construction, healthcare, energy and oil and gas, and conduct analyses in Minitab Statistical Software.
wanted to improve its performance. Companion by Minitab provides flexible and customizable
built-in templates called roadmaps that organize the
Faced with increasing expectations from customers, tools, forms and analyses into phases following various
sustainability recommendations from the United Nations project management methodologies.
and overall growth in its business, HEXPOL strived to
eliminate waste and aimed to transform its culture With the define, measure, analyze, improve and control
to continually improve with the aid of data-driven (DMAIC) roadmaps that HEXPOL uses, consistent steps
decision-making. for each stage, expected deliverables and integrated
analysis results from Minitab Statistical Software are all
HEXPOL director of continuous improvement Ram clearly laid out in one place.
Sukumar explains: “Our goal is to develop data-oriented
leaders who will drive and deliver results throughout our Trainees use various tools in Companion and Minitab
company. The prime objective is to give all the knowledge Statistical Software to define a problem, verify their
and skills necessary for our organization to continuously measurement systems, incorporate data analysis and
improve and evolve.” identify root causes, improve the process and finally
control and sustain the changes implemented. The
Sukumar and his steering committee are developing Companion templates help HEXPOL’s Sukumar set
the HEXPOL Production System to implement Lean and expectations for each stage and drive consistency in
statistical analysis problem-solving techniques. As part how results are reported across the company’s sites
of this, it is training prospective Green Belts on project globally. This is helpful to reinforce the training and
“Our goal is to develop

data-oriented leaders who
will drive and deliver results
throughout our company.”
Ram Sukumar
Director of continuous improvement
at HEXPOL
The PEX Report 2021

How HEXPOL built a culture of continuous improvement and 36
data-driven decision-making
generate straightforward reports and summaries for After completing two waves of training and certifying
executive management. more than 30 Green Belts, HEXPOL has already saved
significant financial resources. As the program picks up
Sukumar notes: “Trainees have given feedback that steam, HEXPOL is expecting to save even more each year.
Companion and Minitab Statistical Software are
easy to use – we give them the basic understanding of the Sukumar credits Companion and Minitab as key elements
waste and then they use these tools. If I do not have much of their program success, helping him champion process
time to explain to them, I point them in that direction.” improvement and waste reduction efforts in the rubber
manufacturing field. Although many manufacturing
Examples of some of their current projects are listed operations are no strangers to Lean methods, people
below in the Companion project repository. tend to be more focused on chemistry rather than math
and data in rubbers.
Some of the tools HEXPOL Production System trainees use
the most in Companion include project charters, SIPOC Sukumar says: “Rubber mixing is very straightforward –
and process maps as well as fishbone diagrams, cause- you mix all the chemicals, just like cake mixing. There is
and-effect matrices, critical-to-cost or critical-to-quality however a lot of waste in our process, especially with all
trees and Pareto chart worksheets. this complicated equipment around the plant, and there
are a lot of opportunities we can fix by utilizing data and
Even outside the training program, people can submit doing projects like this.”
their ideas into the project hopper available with
Companion’s workflow feature, which can be turned into
projects based on a project prioritization matrix.
Minitab Companion project repository
The PEX Report 2021

37
WHAT’S NEXT FOR

THE PROCESS
EXCELLENCE INDUSTRY
“You don’t have to be good to start – you just have

to start to be good!” – Minitab on data analytics
FlowForma on why digitizing processes is key to
succeed in a pandemic world
Software AG on operational excellence in practice:
Transform, optimize and control
Software AG’s view on the convergence of
technologies toward a holistic operational excellence
The PEX Report 2021

“You don’t have to be good to start – 38
you just have to start to be good!”

Joshua Zable, chief marketing and strategic planning officer at solutions
analytics company and developer of data analysis and process excellence
software Minitab, explains where and how data technology and people come
together to realize organizations’ digital transformation visions
Access to data – or frankly most things – is becoming Nearly 50 years ago, our founders at Minitab took a
easier and faster. In 2020, much of the global economy modern approach to analytics: It is not about memorizing
transformed to working from home, which was only possible a formula or developing complex algorithms, it is about
thanks to the availability of technology and our respective enabling everyday people to use proven mathematical
operations or IT teams that helped us get access to it. and statistical methods to deliver value.
Those that were enabled quicker pivoted and executed.
“The first step toward digital

Digital transformation is all about leveraging technologies
and data to continuously improve. As we see from this transformation is empowering
very report, leaders from the C-suite down have bought people with the right technology
into the “what”, but continue to struggle with the “how”.
Furthermore, business transformation programs, data
to gain deeper insights from
analytics and cultural transformation are in the top three their data.”
solutions they are willing to invest in. So if the support
is there and investment is available, why is digital Joshua Zable
transformation such a struggle? Chief marketing and strategic planning officer at
Minitab
Because as leaders attempt to rethink their
organizations’ business models and processes regarding The good news is your people are likely doing some sort
digitalization, they constantly wrestle with what comes of analysis, so you are halfway there. In fact, they are
first, whether people or technology. While they debate probably presenting data and graphs all the time. The
the proverbial “chicken or the egg”, they are missing problem is, they are not really providing insight. Do you
the point. The first step toward digital transformation is want to know the number of manufacturing defects or
empowering people with the right technology to gain your highest-selling region? Look at a chart. Do you want
deeper insights from their data. to know what is influencing those outcomes? Now you
need analysis.
Your people are the right people
The even better news is that there are people within your
Any company that hopped on the big data bandwagon organization that are solving these types of challenges
in the past 15 years can tell you: Blindly investing every day. Your manufacturing experts are using statistics
in creating a silo of data scientists does not light up your to ensure the quality of your products; continuous
personal path to operational excellence. While data improvement departments are analyzing data every day;
scientists stand at the forefront innovating newer, quicker research and development are designing experiments to
and more reliable ways to glean insights from data, create innovations. These folks can all be leveraged to
domain expertise and day-to-day experience are just as help your organization.
critical to successfully improve your operations.
The PEX Report 2021

“You don’t have to be good to start – you just have to start to be good!” 39
Using the right technology transform we see success because our software bridges
the gap between data scientists, process improvement
With your colleagues ready to read data, analyze it practitioners and everyday business decision-makers.
and make decisions from it, they are going to need
the proper technology. There is going to be a greater The path forward
demand for accessing numbers in real time and
collaborating globally. Your people will need easy- Enabling your employees with technology to access
to-use analysis packages and they are going to want and analyze data is key to digitalizing your business.
to be able to quickly share valuable insights and Data-driven decision-making across your organization
demonstrate results. is actually one of the first things we outline to customers
as we help them realize their vision of success. If you are
Successful cultures of digital transformation have a business leader, you likely know incorporating data
essentially democratized their data. From associates analysis into day-to-day decision-making results in
to managers to executives, all levels have developed better questions, deeper understanding and defensible
a universal language that connects the processes for conclusions. You also know that growth requires change
collecting and analyzing an organization’s data, as and that fear of things like statistics or machine learning
well as the best practices for data-driven decision- will hold you back.
making and the institutional memory to continuously
replicate and improve upon past successes. When we make data-driven decisions, we remove the bias
and opinions that we unknowingly bring to discussions.
That is why we see the future of data technology as If you want to leave behind a legacy of change and
whatever empowers data-driven workforces to innovation, you will find the key is in empowering your
communicate and gain real insights, not surface- current workforce with a data technology stack to move
level reporting. Every time Minitab helps organizations the whole operation toward success.
Achieve Your Vision of Success

Don't just see your data. Act on it.
minitab.com
Digitizing processes to succeed in a 40
pandemic world
FlowForma CEO Olivia Bushe explains how removing paper processes is
essential to help reduce the spread of the virus and prepare for a permanent
remote-working culture
PEX Network: How has process digitization do not want to be limited by IT resources. IT should act
evolved in the past year? in more of a supporting role rather than a leading one
regarding no-code tools and they will be able to use
Olivia Bushe: Since the Covid-19 pandemic, we have their time to focus on other tasks for the organization,
seen a renewed urgency around process digitization that leaving the development of the processes to those who
was not as evident previously as paper processes have understand the process best.
become an inhibitor in remote-working conditions.
In a world where remote working has become the new

normal, there is now a focus for organizations to empower
business users and citizen developers on the use of tools
to digitize companies and automate processes.
PEX Network: What is the recipe for successful

process digitization?
OB: The starting point changes a lot from vertical to

vertical. I usually advise organizations to prioritize
their paper processes and enable remote working as
much as possible, as it looks like the minority of our
time will be spent in an office, as opposed to the pre-
Covid-19 world.
The processes that organizations should focus on initially

are the ones that have a big impact on the business, will
benefit the most from automation and will show clear
return on investment. These processes should also be
used by employees across the board to help get the buy- Companies need to lay out their processes and each
in for further digitization across the organization. of their steps clearly before implementing a solution
and choosing a process to digitize. A common mistake
A key element to succeed in a process digitization businesses make is to jump straight into technology, but
initiative is to empower the users beyond the IT staff they need to rally first. They need to take the time to
to use the digitization tools which will help with their outline what needs to be automated and think about
adoption. Organizations should empower non-linear what the next steps look like and how it all fits into the
IT people such as citizen developers to move at the structure of the organization. This usually takes longer
speed they want to. I believe you will see more of this as than the actual digitization of a process, which can go
organizations are becoming less dependent on IT and live fairly quickly with no-code tools.
The PEX Report 2021

Digitizing processes to succeed in a pandemic world 41
For example, Maverick Corporation, an engineering PEX Network: What big developments are you
and construction firm with operations across the US anticipating in process digitization over the
and Europe, has replaced paper internally across the next year?
organization to enable employees to complete forms
from anywhere and at any time. It successfully got its first OB: Analysts are expecting the no-code market to
process live in less than a week because it knew exactly experience a spike in growth as it has become more
what it wanted to do when it signed up with FlowForma. critical in light of remote working and collaboration.
We had a lot of conversations with prospects about
PEX Network: In a Covid-19 world, what our no-code solution throughout mid-2020 and we
processes can organizations benefit the most are seeing that a lot of the less tech-oriented verticals
from digitizing? are interested in it. For example, businesses in the
construction sector have realized they need to invest
OB: We have seen a lot of interest from healthcare in process automation to enable their workforce to
organizations in removing paper-based processes in collaborate and work effectively remotely, which will be
recent times. IT director at a leading European a requirement moving forward.
hospital wanted to digitize paper processes to enable
clinicians, nurses and doctors to do their job more Another area is the integration of key tracks such as
efficiently. He wanted forms generated at the initial digitized processes, automation, RPA an AI. Digital
point of patient care in one part of the hospital, to be process automation and RPA are already being used
accessible by administration in another part of the together and in the coming year you will start to see the
hospital within seconds. proof that integrating AI into the mix will make process
digitization more efficient.
“The processes that
organizations should focus on
initially are the ones that have
a big impact on the business,
will benefit the most from
automation and will show clear
return on investment.”
Olivia Bushe
CEO at Flowforma
Another reason for removing paper-based processes

is to eradicate the risk of paper being lost or handed
from place to place, which has become more
prominent in a Covid-19 world. Beaumont Hospital
contacted us in March 2020 to expand the use of our
solution to entirely remove paper in order to limit the
risk of spreading the virus. It was experiencing high risk
when individuals with the virus were arriving to hospital
with paper notes from their GPs and sharing possibly
contaminated paper with staff.
The PEX Report 2021

Operational excellence in practice: 42
Transform, optimize and control

How to solve the core problems of strategic change just like Philips
and other industry leaders did
When global electronics conglomerate Philips decided risks. Driving operational excellence to create long-
in 2012 to change its strategic direction dramatically and term value relies on the three main pillars, transform,
to become a leading health tech company, its executive optimize and control.
board knew that the biggest challenge would be to rally
everyone behind the new strategy. Philips’s new focus on
customers and solutions was bound to lead to a large
transformation involving everyone in the company.
Philips leadership team also understood something else.

Changing the company’s focus would mean having a
single standard operating model that defines exactly
how it wants to work – the Philips Business System (PBS).
The PBS is a collaborative model and covers all aspects
of how Philips operates, from strategy, governance
and organizational design, process and IT systems, to
people and culture. Through translating the PBS into the
standardized Philips Management System underpinned
by Software AG’s ARIS, Philips is driving agility and speed
of execution.
Gaining total control of changing business is now key to

every company. The drivers to change are multiple and Turn your strategic vision into results using an enterprise
well-known and reach from globalization, regulations, management system powered by ARIS. Nine essential
cost-cutting initiatives, changing workforce and elements for operational excellence help you to build that
economic crises, as the Covid-19 situation proved. solid foundation for change and put you in the driver’s
However, the solutions are stuck somewhere into the seat so that you can support these three pillars and bring
organization and companies fail to support strategic your strategy to everyone.
change toward operational excellence. Why?
Here is what we found out talking and working with

industry leaders from enterprises all around the world,
whether multinational companies, market leaders or
regional niche players.
Transformation and strategic change are much more

than just defining and announcing a new strategy.
It means sparking real, comprehensive change in
your entire organization from end to end, including
addressing your processes, IT systems, people and
The PEX Report 2021

Operational excellence in practice: Transform, optimize and control 43
Transform or how to turn vision into results with a user-friendly portal that offers role-based access
to information. Roll-out strategies and standards to
Deep transformation of your business model requires putting all departments and stakeholders world-wide and
your strategic vision into practice across your operations. encourage your employees to contribute their expertise
to your processes.
Define how your enterprise creates, delivers and captures
sustainable value. Rethink and adapt your operating model Control and secure your license to operate
and design a winning game plan for your business.
Document and design your processes to map your Take full control of your business to secure your license to
corporate strategy and align with the business. For a operate at all times.
better customer journey, take dependencies between
organizations, processes, data, risks and IT applications Make sure to link process management with risk
all into account. management. Secure and optimize running business
thanks to process mining and analytics, deep-diving
Optimize and achieve operational excellence into compliance and conformance checking of your
real-time processes.
Optimize your business to achieve operational excellence.
Business and processes – including customer journeys – Create an all-encompassing dashboard view of all
are analyzed, refined and approved before the workforce relevant business information and KPIs to drive reliable,
enablement starts and adoption is checked. Data-driven confident business decisions. Use innovative analytics
dashboards help discover dysfunctions in the business to provide easy-to-interpret insights at a glance. Use
and find ways to improve it. the power of continuous improvement based on process
mining insights and business analytics.
Manage and govern your operations while including
all relevant stakeholders in the automated processes. Implement relevant laws and regulations like GDPR
Promote transparency, collaboration and communication and define appropriate controls to ensure compliance.
Create an integrated view of how well your organization
manages its unique set of risks and install effective
measures to eliminate or mitigate them. Be optimally
prepared for all kinds of future events.
This is where an enterprise management system

powered by ARIS becomes a strategic asset for
your business. It helps you to build the way of
working to be in full control of your changing
organization. You will gain greater end-to-end
visibility of operations and the transparency
needed to make impactful, future-proof business
decisions while solving organizational pain points.
Learn more about ARIS
The PEX Report 2021

1 + 1 = 3 – The convergence of 44
technologies
Helge Hess, SVP and chief evangelist of Software AG’s ARIS platform, shares his
thoughts on converging technologies to achieve a holistic operational excellence
Especially in times of high uncertainty and volatile mining measures the execution of each individual process
demand, organizations’ primary agenda is back to the instance and provides insights into where weaknesses in
basics: optimization, effectiveness and efficiency. This is the running operation can be found.
not only about cost saving, but also about recognizing
the potential for differentiation from the competition and The discussion about modeling or mining is a
further expanding one’s own strengths. Compared to the discussion of yesterday. An integrated platform uses
beginnings of business reengineering, technology has the appropriate technology or, in many cases, a
made great progress and conquered many new use cases. combination of technologies depending on the issue
at hand. Let’s have a look at relevant use cases and
The strategic business model gives clear guidance the needed capabilities.
on which processes are actually relevant to provide
a competitive advantage – it makes a big difference Strategic transformation: The implementation
on whether to position themselves as cost leaders or of strategic decisions requires a ‘translation’ into the
by delivering outstanding service quality or the most operating model. Success depends on communicating
innovative products or services. Depending on this the ‘new way of working’ and its individual role and
strategic positioning, the differentiation opportunities lie impact to each employee. It is also important to
in other areas and business processes, such as innovation monitor progress in strategy adoption.
(idea-to-product), order processing (order-to-cash) and ARIS capabilities: Strategy mapping and
customer service (issue-to-solution). adaption monitoring, process design and publication,
collaboration and confirmation.
Process owners should see performance and risk or
compliance aspects as two sides of the same coin, Optimization and definition of future-state
and balance both well against each other, especially processes: Process mining, also in connection with
in regulated industries where proof of compliance is the task mining and client-side analytics, is the tool of
‘license to operate’. choice to identify weaknesses in process execution.
With the help of simulation and what-if scenarios,
Process modeling and analysis is used to document and processes are optimized and rolled out.
analyze processes including all relevant company assets ARIS capabilities: Process mining, what-if scenarios
such as organizational responsibilities and IT systems, and and simulation, process design and publication,
to make this knowledge available to employees. Process collaboration and confirmation.
The PEX Report 2021

1 + 1 = 3 – The convergence of technologies 45
Business process automation: There is a variety semantic gap between business and IT.
of automation techniques (RPA, low-code, BPMS/DPA), ARIS capabilities: Process design, enterprise
but it is central to recognize first where the potential architecture, publication and collaboration.
through automation is highest as well as optimizing the
process before automation. We should abandon the technology-based separation
ARIS capabilities: Process analysis, process between process design and mining. Companies need an
automation. integrated operational excellence platform that optimally
supports all use cases. What does this mean for the
Customer journey optimization: It is about organizational anchoring in the company? As a rule, a
understanding the customer’s perspective and business transformation office is set up for strategic issues
optimizing the customer journey along with the in close connection with top management. A center of
relevant touchpoints. Modeling, analysis and mining operational excellence is the central point and multiplier
capabilities are transferred to this external perspective. for all questions regarding operational implementation
ARIS capabilities: Journey mapping, journey and efficiency optimization closely linked to the business
analysis/mining. line management.
Management of compliance requirements:

Legal requirements and their impact on processes Key learnings
are to be managed in a structured way and control
mechanisms are to be established. The effectiveness Process modeling and process mining
of these controls is to be demonstrated in internal provide different insights for the successful
and external audits, in particular as the automated management of an organization but the
comparison of to-be and as-is processes provides an question of modeling or mining is a discussion
overview of compliance violations. of yesterday.
ARIS capabilities: Process design, compliance
management, process mining. In many use cases, only the combination
of modeling and mining in the form of an
Management of operational risks: The Covid-19 integrated operational excellence platform
crisis is an example of how companies that defined provides a competitive advantage.
risks and emergency plans were at an advantage
and a business continuity management (BCM) The appropriate organizational anchoring
system is indispensable to efficiently manage future enables all stakeholders to make optimal use
crisis situations. This is based on a combination of of this integrated set of capabilities.
monitoring (alerts, which processes/supply chains are
at risk) and design (process landscape, responsibilities,
ARIS Process Mining seamlessly integrates
emergency plans) capabilities.
process mining with process design in ARIS to
ARIS capabilities: Process design, process mining,
check users’ adoption to the prescribed process
business continuity management, risk management,
behavior and to trigger all required actions for
collaboration.
process improvement within one integrated tool
to cover the whole lifecycle of processes.
Enterprise architecture: Although ‘software is
Find out more and try ARIS
eating the world’, a layer is needed that connects
Process Mining Elements for free
IT assets with business capabilities and processes. A
central repository as a single point of truth bridges the
The PEX Report 2021

25-29 JANUARY 2021
VIRTUAL EVENT
For 21 years, OPEX Week has been the largest, most progressive and exciting platform for thousands
of transformation leaders to learn, connect and celebrate brilliant transformation stories.
With it being digital this year, you can join (as you always wish you could) and experience the magic
of OPEX Week. This is the number one OPEX show, and a unique opportunity for you to be part of
the biggest, best OPEX community that leads the business transformation world every year!
FIVE TRANSFORMATION THEMES WILL BE EXPLORED

IN THE BRAND NEW 2021 AGENDA:
Realigning and pivoting at speed: Pushing the boundaries of agility to drive customer value.
Accelerating digital transformation through process automation, advanced analytics and AI.
Building resilience through continuous Improvement and problem-solving capabilities.
Transformational leadership: Develop authentic, unbiased leadership capabilities to

enable change.
Future of work: Driving future-proof workforce and workplace innovation to sustain and
thrive in uncertain times.
JOIN US AT THE 22ND EDITION AND WALK AWAY WITH A CLEAR

VISION FOR YOUR OPEX AND TRANSFORMATION 2021 STRATEGY!
For the complete lowdown, view the new event guide now for a first look at the complete
speaker panel, their presentation details, mind blowing case studies, virtual interactive
discussion groups and more!
SEE YOU ALONGSIDE THE WORLD’S

REGISTER HERE
GREATEST IN OPEX AND TRANSFORMATION

Process Excellence Network Annual Report 2021

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Process Excellence Network Annual Report 2021

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

PEX

Coca-Cola European Partners’ journey to process standardization

The PEX Report 2021

Editor’s note Contents: 3

Hello, and a warm welcome to PEX Network’s annual 3 About

global crisis and building a strong base for innovation,

Page 38 – “You don’t have to be good to start... You just

The PEX Report 2021

PEX Report 2021 contributors: 4

PETER EVANS JOSHUA ZABLE

DR. TOBIAS S. WITTE

JOE D’APOLLONIO PAUL STONE

MANEESH SUBHERWAL HELGE HESS

GIOVANNI ANGELI CATHY GU

PEX Report 2021 sponsors:

The PEX Report 2021

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the role of

The PEX Report 2021

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on 6

the role of process excellence professionals

It is near impossible to discuss the state of process

Below, we reveal a handful of responses we received on

“The pandemic has

The PEX Report 2021

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the role of process 7

No change to our OPEX strategy

The PEX Report 2021

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the role of process 8

38% 24% 18% 5%

* Survey respondents could select more than one option

The PEX Report 2021

Deploying OPEX and business 9

transformation to improve efficiency

* Survey respondents could select more than one option

The PEX Report 2021

Deploying OPEX and business transformation to improve efficiency 10

Q: What is your primary measure of success for your OPEX/business transformation?

Top three survey answers:

25% 24% 23%

Cost savings Business top-line Increased

Increased Improved customer Business top-line

For the first time in two years, increased throughput/

These metrics, as Gu notes, are not on par with how

Improved customer satisfaction has fallen from 20 per

The PEX Report 2021

Deploying OPEX and business transformation to improve efficiency 11

“There should be no compromise on the focus on

While not a primary measure of success for OPEX

Q: Considering the impact of Covid-19 Profit/growth

It is no surprise that cost efficiency is the main driver of

Paul Stone, product strategist at FlowForma, warns

The PEX Report 2021

Deploying OPEX and business transformation to improve efficiency 12

Have trained process

Disclaimer: The 2019 results are from PEX Report 2020.

Enterprise-wide transformation has increased from 24

Gu notes: “OPEX and transformation are now becoming

FlowForma’s Stone agrees and takes the examples of

The PEX Report 2021

Deploying OPEX and business transformation to improve efficiency 13

that the value of transformation is increasingly being

Disclaimer: The 2019 results are from PEX Report 2020.

Change management Robotic process automation ISO