Digital TransformationAgile ways of working

Then, of course, there’s a cultural shift requirement, and that means engaging with people; those in IT and those supporting or relying on IT services from across the organisation. Effective leadership and communication each have a big role to play in making it happen too.

McKinsey suggests that companies ranking higher on managing the impact of COVID-19, were also those with agile practices more deeply embedded in their enterprise operating models. Irrespective of whether organisations already have mature agile processes, many observed faster decision making as Covid took hold as pressure increased to create or scale up infrastructures to accommodate remote working en masse, bypassing usual red tape to achieve quicker outcomes. Whilst this can be one benefit of working in an agile way, Agile offers much more than this, with scope and ceremonies to address backlogs, rapid change and continuous improvement, and a heightened focus on business value, users and stakeholder engagement.

Unfortunately, this also suggests there are negative implications for less agile companies as national and world economies reopen.

In companies where revenues, profits & cash flows are in decline, costs will need reducing too, to avoid disaster. The survivors are likely to be the ones that quickly get to grips with cost, speed & resilience. Getting this right now will play a pivotal role in determining the success or failure of decisions in the post Covid era. Many organisations will have already have been discussing resilience & cost, but with the recent exodus of resources due to Brexit, the impact of IR35 & Covid-19 itself, there will be concerns about how they can achieve it, or more importantly how quickly!

Organisations now have the opportunity to reimagine their operating models. By adopting agile ways of working across the organisation (not just in IT), it will ultimately increase their ability to react quickly to external forces & threats, such as changing market conditions & future pandemics.

Irrespective of where you or your organisation is with its business or digital transformation initiatives, we can support your transformation activities by conducting a discovery exercise, create proposals recommending actions, lead or help lead you through various stages of the initiative. Please contact us for more information or to arrange an initial conversation to discuss how we can help.