Staying the same won’t support survival

Kodak thought they had a ‘cash cow’ and therefore had little or no incentive to change or transform their business model. It appears as though they did not foresee or understand (or maybe they chose to ignore) the changes within their own industry.

Other examples of missed opportunities:

• Automakers (Ford, GM) – slow to move from gas guzzlers to fuel efficient vehicles despite rising gas prices and consumers wanting to reduce their carbon footprint
• Budget retailers (Sears, Kmart) – consumers want low prices, but don’t want to feel like they are shopping in low-end stores

Success stories:

• IBM: from computer hardware to consulting
• Apple: from desk top computers to hand-held mobility
• McDonalds: from unhealthy junk food to offering salads and fruit

What are you doing to support your organization’s survival??

*Contributor – Karen McIsaac, Managing Director

To read the Harvard Business Review blog about Kodak’s transformation, click here.

Click here for the PDF version

Looking Into the Crystal Ball for 2012

Moving into a New Year infers ‘change’ and not just the calendar year.

So let’s look at our businesses through a new lens.

• Why do the ‘same old’ all over again?  We all know what this leads to; have we looked at updating our business models?  They may have worked well in the past but perhaps not in the future.  What about new products, new services?  Everyone’s pain points are not the same as in the past.  Understand and leverage your client’s pain points to help them and your business.

• Think Positive – everyone wants to focus on ‘the recession’ via our media outlets.  One thing the recession has accomplished is the retention of cash by many companies.  Find ways to get companies to want to spend that cash with you! Again, understand your client’s pain points.
• Get your brand out there when everyone else is cutting marketing.  No one knows to call you unless you are a ‘recognized’ solution provider.  Change your messaging, change your logo, change your brand – make yourself noticed and be the new ‘news’.

Year after year, change is not an event, it is continual.

*Contributor – Karen McIsaac, Managing Director

Click here for the PDF version

‘Twas the Night Before Implementation

‘Twas the night before Implementation, when all through the shop
not an Executive was stirring, not even the head of Global Ops.
The status reports were hung by the whiteboard with care,
in hopes that success soon would be there.

To read the rest of the story, click here.

Happy Holidays,

The ABEO Group

System Conversions Cannot Be Successful Without People Conversions

Why do we seem to forget about the people and process changes and focus our efforts on the technology changes?  Is it because the technology is more black and white vs. human, the more nebulous side?

When our organizations undergo significant transitions that involve technology, in order to get the best return on their investment, the people and processes have to change (otherwise, we may be automating and exacerbating our problems).

System conversions may represent challenges, resume enhancers, lots of work, as well as opportunity for the technology teams.  The people impacted by and using the new technology may feel very differently. The people impacted are not only the internal employees; they can also include external customers.

When speaking about system conversions, remember to include the people conversion.  One cannot be successful without the other.

*Contributor – Karen McIsaac, Managing Director

What can happen if there is no Governance and Transparency during a Merger?

We all know that during times of ‘uncertainty’, like a Merger or new reorganization, people react differently to the circumstances around them.

Most of us know the importance of a ‘governance’ process to vet new projects and associated expenditures.  We also recognize that transparency around the financials, schedules and ROI results are also important.

So with uncertainty and no Governance, people may begin to create work in the form of projects to keep their jobs and stature within an organization.  The projects may but more than likely not, align with a business strategy.  The projects may execute, complete, then re-execute to redo or undo the project results, representing costly endeavors with minimal return on the investments.

This may be an extreme case and situation but it can easily happen when there is no Governance and Transparency around where the merger related dollars are being spent.

*Contributor – Karen McIsaac, Managing Director

Follow Up To: Change management is more than just announcing a change

Here’s an update on Netflix’s situation since deciding not to go through with the addition of Qwikster

NYT: How Netflix lost 800,000 members, and good will

And here is our previous blog on how Netflix could have managed these changes differently

Netflix:  Change management is more than just announcing a change

How do you really know if your change investment is in trouble?

Earned Value is a technique for measuring progress in an objective manner.  The ongoing utilization of Earned Value provides an early warning signal of performance problems within a change investment. It combines measurements of the change scope, associated financials, schedule and progress to present an objective assessment of progress.

Scenario:

You are receiving a report on the progress of a major change investment. The report indicates everything is in green status.  Your financial report indicates that your spend on this change initiative is now 80% of budget.  Sounds good, but is it really good and does ‘green’ reflect more funds will be needed as only 20% progress is represented in the 80% utilization of budget?

You are presented with a major change in scope for your change investment.  How will you go about making the decision to approve the change in scope without objective reporting of the progress to date, spend to date and the overall impact of the scope change to both?

The price is not the cost

How many times do you look at the price of external resources and conclude ‘we can’t afford it’?

Did you think about the cost of schedule slippage, the cost of personnel replacement, the cost of not managing your vendors, the cost of missed opportunities when you decided to do-it-yourself?  The ABEO Group can demonstrate that the price is not the cost.

What does ABEO mean?

ABEO is a Latin word meaning ‘to change’ or ‘to exit or leave’. Both translations reflect the philosophy and culture of The ABEO Group. We lead change. We drive change. We exit at the end of every business transformation. We are not there to sell future engagements on your time. When you want to change again – we know you will call us back.

Netflix: Change management is more than just announcing a change

Given the recent actions of Netflix, the DVD and internet streaming media giant, it’s easy to see why change management experts following this story are beating their heads against the wall. An article from Fast Company quotes the CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings as saying their problems (including a 44% decrease in stock value) stem from “a failure to communicate”. Unfortunately for Netflix, they’ve got bigger challenges – how they manage change going forward – of which communication is only one piece.

The announcement of a 60% price increase two months ago and the ensuing customer backlash eventually led to an email from Hastings to all Netflix customers – but in change management – that’s too little too late.

Here are several key lessons learned:
1. Conduct ongoing risk assessments of what could go wrong with the consumers and always have a mitigation plan.

2. Understand that no one likes surprises and introduce the changes accordingly – Netflix should have known that a surprise rate increase, a new company name, etc. was too much within a short amount of time.

3. Communications should be executed early on to gain buy in – Netflix could have offered an incentive to consumers to ‘make the change’ vs. force feeding them with information.

Although we can’t predict how the outcome would have been different if Netflix had managed these changes differently, it’s a lesson to everyone that managing change is more than just communication.

*Contributor – Karen McIsaac, Managing Director