Business Agility: How Companies Overcome The Greatest Obstacles

Business Agility: In many companies, digitization of all business areas is at the top of the to-do list. The IT service provider CGI. CGI sees the next logical – and necessary – step in utilizing the entire company, which was initiated by the introduction of agile software development. The well-known and proven methods from application development can help here, but they are not sufficient. Rather, the design and validation of business agility for the entire company require end-to-end change management. Several obstacles have to be overcome, resulting from the established corporate structure and the traditional behavior of the employees. Here are the three most important hurdles to be overcome in this redesign process:

Business Agility: Agile IT Alone Is Not Enough

It is not enough for business agility to set up agile workflows and process models within IT. The company’s skill can only be successful if all departments are involved in a holistic process in which all company areas that are involved in the realization of a product as part of the value chain work together in an agile manner. This applies, for example, to sales and marketing, development and portfolio management, and personnel and finance departments.

Sticking To Knowledge Silos

The application must be oriented beyond the conventional line organizations to the value chain and integrate all those involved. The aim should be to reduce bureaucracy and to rely on direct and cross-departmental cooperation. This is the only way to identify obstacles at an early stage and use synergies. Mutual isolation prevents the development of interconnectivity between teams and departments, which is necessary for close coordination along the value chain.

“Do Agile” Versus “Be Agile”

Agile frameworks and tools, such as process models such as Design Thinking, Scrum, or Kanban, are not sufficient for real business agility. Rather, it requires transparency in all departments, investments in the necessary tools and infrastructures, and a courageous, cooperative management style. But not only is management required but the teams are also challenged.

Agile product development requires the assumption of collective responsibility, the willingness to lifelong learning, and the development of T-shaped skills, i.e., understanding new technical skills beyond one’s area of ​​responsibility. This can be, for example, a sales employee who acquires in-depth knowledge of the CRM solution used to accelerate company processes. This enables cross-functional teams to interact better and optimize the value chain together.

Continuous Improvement Through Business Agility

“Companies must be aware that business agility is not a status that is finally reached at some point and on which they can then rest. Rather, continuous improvement is a core aspect of business agility. Leadership management is at the beginning of all legalization processes in the company,”. “Leadership has to exemplify agility. This is the only way to develop a culture of cooperation, responsibility, and error that gives employees the professional competence and emotional security to do so. “

Founded in 1976, the CGI Group is one of the largest independent IT and business process services providers. With 76,000 consultants and other experts worldwide, CGI offers a broad portfolio of services – from strategic IT and business consulting through system integration, managed IT and business process services, to intellectual property solutions. 

ALSO READ: B2B Sales: 5 Common Mistakes SMBs Make When Digitizing