Prashant Upadhyaya IMCI Consultants’ Forum

TOPSTM METHOD FOR BUSINESS

TRANSFORMATION
All business is a “going concern” and everyone wants the going to be smooth. In an ever changing
world where Moore’s law, Butler’s law and Kryder’s law seem to be inversely proportional to
customer perception; staying ahead of the competition becomes a matter of survival. But apparently,
as Hector Berlioz has said “Time is great healer, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils”; one does
not have all the time in the world to learn, apply and wait for the long run. Results are expected from
day one and most leaders do not realize that concrete outcomes are fructified only after deliberate
attempts are made to obtain them. If all of this sounds like Greek or Latin, then let me spell it out
directly – “Business Transformation” is the need of the hour if one has to maintain their operational
resilience amidst the fourth industrial revolution.
In my two decades of career, I have been able to witness world class manufacturing, best-in-class
productivity, industry best practices and several innovative methods to achieve overall improvement.
As a Management Consultant, I always insist on remaining a skeptic with an open mind without
which it is practically impossible to either learn from or advise your clients effectively. For any
organization, business transformation means management of change at its core. The more rigid the
organization, the more difficult it becomes. Let me clarify here that I’m not pointing towards agile
methodology, as in the current context even an agile organization is deemed to be rigid. Given the
innate nature of mankind, a definite structure appeals to us more than a formless manner of
functioning. Hence, resistance to change is imminent and how do we manage this resistance is critical
to success in modern times. A simple IFTTT (If This Then That) approach can be as disastrous as
the ITTYTWIT (I Thought That You Thought What I Thought) error that most of us are prone to. In
general, without mincing my words - most of us have witnessed that organizations, enterprises,
programs and projects are driven by HiPPOs (Highly Paid Person’s Opinion). While the matter of
fact is that opinions don’t matter, actions do. I have personally witnessed leaders in pretty good
organizations toying with ideas like “Thought Leadership” and “Design Thinking” and thereby
costing the organization huge amounts of wasteful expenditure by attempting to engage in
miscalculated or misleading steps and activities like using “post-it notes for process mapping”
involving entire top and middle management team for weeks altogether, where it could have been
easily executed by an outsourced expert at a fraction of the cost or like moving from one legacy
system to the other before ending up with budgetary constraints for a real digital transformation
project.
Let me bring you back to the current topic, where I wish to
present a proprietary method for achieving business
transformation with the least resistance as shown here:
As can be seen from this image, one can drive
transformation using any of the four paths viz.
Technology, Operations, Process and Strategy. However,
the stars provided for each indicate the weightage or
importance of that particular aspect w.r.t to overall
improvement in the organization. The stars also are an
indicator of the level of paradigm shift and ensuing
resistance to change that can occur while bringing about
the transformation. Hence, if an organization is geared up
for operational resilience right from the beginning, then it
would be ideal to follow the steps as described below:

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 STRATEGY:
Irrespective of the vision, mission and goals of the
company; the strategic direction must be formulated after
a careful consideration of the overall context to
successfully manage the stakeholders. A risk based
approach is required to envisage unforeseen circumstances
and be prepared for accommodating major tweaks in the
future.

The more flexible the strategy, the more resilient is the organization as opposed to a robust
strategy that harbors enormous internal resistance and does not provide enough space for
management of change. In pure layman terms, your strategy is your bulletproof vest – it has
to be soft enough to allow you to breath and hard enough to be impenetrable.

Strategy can neither be run through bias nor is it a mere thought experiment. From strategy
emanates tactics and from tactics flow maneuverability and from maneuverability comes
victory.

 PROCESS:
Once the overall strategy has been established, a clinical
approach to process management is required. Without a
process approach, an organization cannot achieve its
intended purpose. To do this effectively, one has to sift
through layer upon layer of existing dogmas, norms and
practices. One must not hesitate to question the adequacy of
the existing procedures and rethink the alternative possibilities of getting the job done.

Consider process as the battlefield formation, where it must work with synchronicity and
swiftness to enable one to adapt to ever changing requirements and newer environments.
However, one must be smart enough to not to reinvent the wheel when not required and
diligent enough to dive deep to uncover hidden treasures, if the need be.

Process transformation is one of the toughest nuts to crack and it really does pay in the long
run.

 OPERATIONS:
Now that an excellent process has been set up, one can
look into transforming operations. One must note that
both strategy and process are enabling functions while
operation is an execution function. Here, one must have
a hands-on approach to solving everyday problems. A
cursory glance here and slight nudge there will only
lead to weakening of the pipeline. A thorough systems approach is required to identify
opportunities for improvement and close the gaps if any.

Allegorically, operation is the weapon without which any enterprise is rendered unviable.
So, to bring about operational transformation it is imperative to get your hands dirty and
perform a microscopic examination of all the corners involved.

 TECHNOLOGY:

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Technological advancement is inevitable in the current times and organizations need to either
adapt to this change or adopt newer ways of working. But it must be noted that, any kind of
technological transformation must not be attempted if the underlying foundations of
operations, processes and strategy are not strongly resilient; unless one has the willingness
and capacity to change the entire landscape solely on the pillar of technology.

Technology can be either an enabling function or an

execution function or both depending upon the context, scale
of operations, and complexity of processes. Mere shift from
legacy systems to latest technology does not constitute digital
transformation. Business transformation that leverages
technology to build upon its operational resilience in
accordance with the strategic direction is the preferred way to go.

Technically speaking, technology is like a telescope that helps you aim better and hit the
bullseye with ease. However, it can be of no help to the one who is blind. In the current
context, what is implied is that going gung-ho with a haywire approach to whatever is the
latest will not work. A careful and holistic take is required to undergo transformation at the
technological level which must also be supported by the other three levels described earlier.
An organization can survive without technological transformation as this can be achieved later if not
imminently. Similarly, operational transformation may or may not affect the overall performance of
the organization in the immediate future but is important in the long run. In a competitive scenario,
revamping operations is a must in order to survive and stay ahead. On the contrary, process
transformation is a critical factor that can decide the bottom-line of the organization and define its
growth. If this is overlooked, things can go wary with the slightest of change in market dynamics or
the business environment. Under stable conditions, most organizations assume that their processes are
performing to their optimum values while the reality is otherwise. The greatest risk in times of change
or turmoil is that a company might cease to exist if processes are not reviewed periodically. Lastly,
strategic transformation is needed when there is massive change or advancement in the industry. If
there is rigidity and resistance at this level, then the existence of the company itself can be
questionable.
No matter which framework one may choose to adhere to or follow, the TOPSTM method for business
transformation ensures a smooth transition with the least friction.

Prashant Upadhyaya is a Strategy Consultant having about 20 years of experience

with expertise in operational excellence, digital transformation and product
management across several industry domains. He has handled over 150 clients
across three continents and is also a published author. To know more about him, you
can visit his LI profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prashantau

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