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The Hackett Group Senior Procurement Advisor Nicolas Walden talked with Associate Principal Jonathan Fehring about the impact of inflation on procurement, and how procurement leaders can address it.

Show Notes: 

Welcome to the Hackett Group’s Business Excelleration Podcast, where – week after week – we hear from experts on how to avoid obstacles, manage detours, and celebrate milestones on the journey to world-class performance. Today’s episode is hosted by Nic Walden, Senior Advisor at the Hackett Group. His guest is Jonathan Fehring, Associate Principal in Hackett’s Principal Advisory Practice.

Up until last year, inflation was not really a huge topic in procurement. The longevity and false predictions of the experts should be somewhat alarming as we see record inflation in almost every category. The response of the government was a major jumpstart to the inflation we are now seeing. This period is one of significant volatility, uncertainty, high demand, supply constraints, lockdowns and reopening, tight labor markets and more. In the U.S., the government directly financially supported those who were laid off. Whereas in Europe, the government incentivized companies not to lay people off. Many Europeans naturally slip back into their same positions while Americans were forced to reconsider the jobs they undertook moving forward. This is where we see the spiraling increase in wages and products. Inflation is not only impacting goods, but also services, labor, and property values.

From a policy perspective, the U.S. stopped accepting Russian oil which has significantly driven up prices. While America is not as dependent on Russian resources as European countries, the impact is still being felt day today including increased food prices. These impacts are more than likely here to stay for the long haul as Russia has refused payments in any currency other than rubles and European storage tanks are basically empty. One of the biggest drivers will have to be reducing demand and consumption of energy. There are too many things converging at this point to think that these sensations are transitory. Companies are raising prices and people are continuing to spend the money and Jonathan predicts these prices could remain until 2024. We are encouraged to look at the numbers and follow the data as it develops. It all starts at supply and demand and imbalances in the markets. Then, Nic shares a data point from Hackett’s client polls. In April, the expectation in terms of how high and how long of prices seem to be continuing to shift to the right.

Jonathan speaks to how we can manage in this time of inflation. Many clients are becoming less optimistic in their ability to hit price reduction goals. It is essential to make sure that incentive structures are aligned in mitigating inflation. Outside of that, it is a huge focus area and companies should be doing more intentional sourcing whenever possible. One third of companies reported that they are passing on pricing details directly to the consumer. Eventually, pre-existing contracts will have to be re-negotiated. This is where we will begin to see even more companies passing on prices. In seller’s markets, strategies and tactics must change as we recognize that prices are going up. As companies are approached by suppliers, they are encouraged to look at the data themselves and understand the structure of costs.

As we talk about delivering cost savings, maybe we should change the discussion from just talking about cost and actually thinking about how we change the mix. This includes how we look at requirements, specification and how some companies responded to semiconductors challenges. There may also be an opportunity in how we can better manage demand in certain areas. In closing, Jonathan reiterates that there is not a one single bullet approach to addressing these changes.

The Hackett Group Director Jay Ruffin Senior talks with Oracle Cloud CTO Yonas Yohannes and Oracle Vice President, Cloud Engineering Venu Mantha about how banks are accelerating their movement towards cloud-based digital solutions as a key element of their overall digital transformation efforts. Part 2.

Show Notes

Welcome to the Hackett Group’s Business Excelleration Podcast, where - week after week - we hear from experts on how to avoid obstacles, manage detours, and celebrate milestones on the journey to world-class performance. This episode of the podcast is hosted by Hackett Group Director Jay Ruffin and features guests Yonas Yohannes, Oracle Cloud CTO, and Venu Mantha, Oracle's Vice President of Cloud Engineering.  The Hackett Group and Oracle have partnered to create a series on emerging needs for the financial services industry, especially focusing on cloud platform and financial services solutions.  Today's episode is the second in the series; following on the last episode, it focuses on how banks are accelerating their movement toward cloud-based digital solutions as a key element of their overall digital transformation efforts.

As the conversation gets underway, Jay asks his guests how they expect banks will continue to meet customer expectations in a changing market.  The COVID-19 pandemic caused an acceleration in digital transformation in the banking space, with customers rapidly adopting and expecting technological services.  Traditional banks have been faced with the need to speed up their own shifts to digital platforms and offerings, and have found themselves in competition not only with other banks, but with big tech and financial tech.  They must both adapt to address a changing customer profile and mount a two-pronged attack against the pressures of big tech and fin-tech.  This attack involves forming alliances with fin-tech to together work against big tech.

Banks must also attend to matters of threat mitigation and efficiency, and this entails a new mindset.  Part of this overall mindset requires the need to think differently about how to interact with customers.  Customers are the primary asset of a bank, and banks need to be considering the entire life cycle of the customer and adopt a customer-centric model.  The new bank mindset must also be marked by agility, risk management, flexibility, and innovation.  Agile banks are best able to meet evolving demands and are marked by the kind of holistic thinking that is necessary to developing solutions for a changing market and consumer base. 

Moving forward, Yonas and Venu comment on how cloud providers are adapting alongside banks.  Cloud providers like Oracle are specifically working on fit-for-purpose solutions for banks, following several general steps in doing so.  They are helping banks with the challenging process of first simplifying legacy technology and then migrating aggressively in order to take advantage of the new digital environment.  Oracle is offering what Yonas calls automation plus, and the company has developed a robust two-part strategy of helping banking partners.  The conversation concludes with thoughts on current statistics reflecting the banking space.

 The Hackett Group Director Jay Ruffin Senior talks with Oracle Cloud CTO Yonas Yohannes and Hackett Consultant Matt Williams about how the pandemic has accelerated the movement of banks towards cloud-based digital solutions as a key element of their overall digital transformation efforts.

Show Notes:

Welcome to the Hackett Group’s Business Excelleration Podcast, where - week after week - we hear from experts on how to avoid obstacles, manage detours, and celebrate milestones on the journey to world-class performance. This episode of the podcast is hosted Hackett Group Director Jay Ruffin and features guests Yonas Yohannes, Oracle Cloud CTO, and Matt Williams, a Senior Consultant with the Hackett Group.  The Hackett Group and Oracle have recently partnered to create a series of information on emerging needs for the financial services industry, especially focusing on cloud platform and financial services solutions. Today's episode is the first in a five-part series diving into these topics!  

To kick off the conversation, Yonas comments on the current situation of the financial services industry with a particular eye to effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.  The pandemic advanced and expanded the digital transformation process already underway, pushing banks and other financial service organizations to adapt faster in order to meet customer expectations.  Banks, in particular, also face challenges pertaining to talent acquisition and understanding the "new customer."  This "new customer" is a large contributor to growing quality of experience, as the evolving customer base is not only demographically different (including millennials) but expects a strong, technologically current experience and a relational rather than transactional approach to client engagement.

One way to gauge how well a given subset of the financial services industry is doing in the digital transformation process is to look at its use of the cloud.  A high workload migration level is a positive sign, and a helpful aim for financial services organizations to pursue.  Companies in the industry can leverage technology in the same way financial tech companies do in order to achieve goals, and Yonas explains what this means for banks, in particular.  Banks have to deal with legacy technology and the "friction" it brings and can look to both learn from past merger processes and partner with a fit-for purpose cloud platform (designed for a specific industry).

Yonas sees the banking industry slowly progressing in its digital transformation and credits this momentum to such platform partnerships and to banking solutions.  As innovation in financial services continues, organizations will have to be intentional about enhancing cyber security.  Banks with cloud platform partners will find strong cyber security allies in their cloud partners but must remember that customer security is ultimately the bank's responsibility and needs to be incorporated into bank policies and procedures.  As the conversation wraps up, Yonas offers thoughts on what level of integration is necessary to get the full value out of a fit-for-purpose cloud platform and comments on how he thinks a CIO can prepare now for the future.

The Hackett Group Senior Director Philip King talks with Sanjay Patel, SVP and Global Head of Takeda Business Solutions about how Takeda has embarked on a digital transformation program designed to reimagine its global business services function to make it truly cross-functional, improving efficiency and strategic alignment. Takeda was named a finalist in The Hackett Group’s 2021 Digital Awards for its CFOinUrPocket AI-driven global finance dashboard.

Show Notes:

When Sanjay joined Takeda in 2019, he decided to change the name from “Takeda Business Services” to “Takeda Business Solutions.” During the timeframe in which he joined, Takeda was undergoing a reimagination of the future of the company. Sanjay believes that the term services leads to a servitude mindset, while the term solutions suggests active engagement and proactivity. It was more than just a cosmetic change, but rather a fundamental shift in the company’s philosophy. 

Then, Philip asks Sanjay to elaborate on the importance of alignment for Takeda’s overall business strategy. More prevalent today than ever, employees of all organizations must have a very strong sense of purpose and belonging. At Takeda, patients remain at the heart of everything the company does. It was crucial in their reimagination to ensure everyone involved in the pipeline was connected to Takeda’s vision, values, and purpose. They proactively took steps to prove their commitment to the company's purpose of better help for people in a brighter future for the world. They also recently launched an onboarding initiative called the Patients Connections Program which gives employees the opportunity to connect with patients directly and better understand their medical and life experiences. Through the emphasis placed on patient experience, relationships became critical in everything the company does. 

As we are seeing more and more within the industry, organizations are beginning to see the inherent value of shared GBS. Functions within the business now look towards GBS for guidance exploring innovation, automation, cost pressures and other new ways of working. The pandemic has further demonstrated the resilience of this operating model. One large benefit of GBS is the opportunity it allows to put digitization at the forefront of operations. 

The focus of Takeda’s enterprise includes digitization, automation, analytics, and solutions. Takeda made a commitment as an organization to unleash the power of data and digital to transform itself into a more trustworthy data driven, outcomes-based global biopharmaceutical company. Further, they believe that their people, not technology alone, will make all the difference in their data and digital journey. They empowered the organization through a program called Digital Ninja Program, which is all about building capabilities and skills within everyday actions. Colleagues underwent a 5-week immersive program where they learned to identify opportunities for automation and were equipped with the skillset to build their own digital assistance. TBS has built a digital culture in which they enable employees to develop next generation capabilities while creating an agile talent pool. 

Takeda has identified four key variables of their corporate philosophy: patients, people, data, and planet. As part of the people element, TBS moved from an organization delivering simple solutions to one in favor of an exceptional people experience. When surveying for improvements, a common theme was the desire for proactive and confident support for clients. Finally, Sanjay reveals how the business was able to stay afloat amidst the number of changes and acquisitions they were undergoing. He then reveals two examples of his pride in Takeda and the team’s achievements. As the episode wraps up, Sanjay shares his expectations and aspirations for the future of Takeda Business Solutions. 

The Hackett Group Principal David Ketchin talks with Principal Paul Morrison and Senior Director Hermann Waschefort about critical success factors for how companies can drive real benefits and improved performance through their digital transformation efforts.

Show Notes:

Welcome to the Hackett Group’s Business Excelleration Podcast, where – week after week – we hear from experts on how to avoid obstacles, manage detours, and celebrate milestones on the journey to world-class performance. This episode of the podcast is hosted by The Hackett Group’s Managing Director of Europe David Ketchin. His guests today are Paul Morrison, Principal and Lead for Hackett’s Digital Enablement Practice in Europe and Hermann Waschefort, Hackett’s U.K. Lead for Business Transformation team and Global Business Services.

Between the two of them, Paul and Hermann spend their time implementing end to end transformation programs with Hackett’s clients. Today they’ll discuss digital transformation and give tales from the front lines. To begin, Hermann defines digital transformation as the process of change in which new technology is combined with people and processes to create value. Its key components are change, combination and value.

Then, Paul elaborates on the broader themes to be addressed in tackling digital transformation. One overarching theme is what organizations can do to achieve maximum digital impact. He shares a few examples of clients Hackett advised on this front, including one targeting democratization of technology.  As a related trend about maximizing impact, we’re seeing growth of product-centric development and the use of a limited number of platforms. A final challenge is clarifying how IT and other functions are working together amidst tension.

It is clear that technology is not the only driver of digital transformation, but it is a key driver. Hermann touches on the two key components of a successful strategy. It begins with being very clear on your business objectives and what you’re trying to achieve. You must remain agile and evolve as priorities evolve. Then, have an understanding of the broader capabilities which can move you forward.

Each year, Hackett runs their Digital Awards every year, which gives them a fantastic insight into what organizations are achieving. Listen as Paul highlights two companies who are really succeeding in this field. First, ​​Mondelēz, winner of the Order-to-Cash category, has been on a multi-year journey towards world class performance in receivables. They raised the bar further this year by using machine learning to predict customer payments. Reckitt was the winner of the IT Opportunity-To-Deployment with their next gen living labs program. Their goal was to drive automation at scale through IT operations and bring to life user experience. Employees have improved their satisfaction by over 20%.

As the episode draws to a close, Paul and Hermann each share absolute critical success factors for organizations, namely those hoping to secure rapid benefits. First, Hermann stresses the importance of determining whether an organization is clear on the value of what they’re trying to unlock. A second question is what they hope to do with customer experience, which is key in unlocking growth. Lastly, what can they do to really leapfrog the competition? From Paul’s perspective, it’s key that digital should not seem that it is done to you by IT. Rather, digital change is something in which you are an active participant and decision maker. You must be able to ask yourself whether your function is set up for success in ongoing digital change.

The Hackett Group Senior Research Director Rick Pastore talks with American Kidney Fund CIO Gregory Smith about his new book “The New Normal in IT: How the Global Pandemic Changed IT Forever”.

Show Notes: 

To begin, Rick asks Gregory to share his motivation behind writing his most recent book. Initially, he had written about the topic of the pandemic’s impact on companies. His wife recommended he expand on the idea of the article and write a book. As an academic and intellectual, Gregory believes in continual learning and chafing knowledge. He feels it is his obligation to help educate the next generation of IT and business leaders, which is a key reason as to why he wrote the book. In the times of government shutdowns, technology organizations were the real lifeline keeping companies running smoothly. The well-deserved recognition of IT, Gregory explains, had two key long lasting effects. First, is working through the positives and negatives of a corporate remote work environment. Second is the focus on the significantly hostile cyber security environment. Cybersecurity tax has gone significantly up on various industries, combined with the challenge of revenue reductions, remote work environments and company culture changes. 

In terms of the future of the workforce, Gregory has observed diverging strategies and opinions taking place. While the old guard CEOs want to go back to normal, the employees want to stay remote. It can be summed into a labor vs. non labor battle and the employees will likely win. The term “work from anywhere”, however, really doesn’t apply when it comes to security.  Technology CIOs as a whole are comfortable with where they are and where they’re going. Gregory predicts KPIs will change to determine if companies are as effective as they can be when working in this new hybrid work environment. Many companies are recognizing the benefits of decreased operational costs as a benefit of the work from home model. 

Thanks to the pandemic, the pressure for digital acceleration to drive innovation is now even higher. To sum it up in one single phrase, Gregory states that software rules the world. Now that companies are employing remote workers from all over the world, they will have to adapt to different tools and skill sets to facilitate collaboration. Collaboration software has grown at an exponential rate. Gregory believes that when we are challenged as a society is when we do our best. The pandemic has forced society, corporations, and professionals to ask the harder questions and work together to resolve them. In the future, collaboration suites will be even more effective. 

Based on Hackett’s recent survey of 1,000 companies worldwide, the average percentage of technology infrastructure in the cloud is 40%. Prior to the pandemic, there was a good security model in place for the 3 main cloud models: infrastructure, software, and platform. The pandemic revealed an evolution of the digital cloud path starting to take off. The gradual shift for companies moving to the cloud is likely due to the infancy of these cloud models. 

Next, Gregory reveals the findings which came as a surprise during his research, including the diverging strategies between senior corporate executives and staff. He also speaks to the backfire of vaccine mandates on supply and demand resources trying to fight the pandemic in the first place. He advises CIOs on how they can lead in today’s ever shifting environment. Most importantly they should remain honest with themselves, their CIOs and employees about the future and plan for disruptions on a variable basis. As the episode ends, he offers advice for new CIOs. 

The Hackett Group Principal Robert Derocher talks with Associate Principal Joshua Nelson and Associate Principal Erin Blair discussed key findings from The Hackett Group’s 2022 Supply Chain Key Issues research, which details the priorities and challenges for supply chain organizations.

Show Notes:

To begin, Erin identifies the biggest issues we saw in 2022. Given the supply chain disruption because of the pandemic, she finds it unsurprising that the top three issues related to managing these disruptions. The number one key issue was reducing supply risk, the second was enhancing product availability and finally improving supply chain agility and resilience. Fourth, Josh shares, was sound the area of digital transformation, in which companies hope to achieve better visibility across the supply chain. Fifth is around cost efficiency and companies are keeping their eyes on the bottom line. Improving sales and operations planning and integrated business planning was actually number one on the survey last year. It dropped down a bit on the list, likely because many companies have acted on this goal. The talent gap was also evident this year, across all functional areas. 

As Hackett consistently conducts this survey every year, there is an interesting dynamic in observing what happens year to year. They saw the pandemic start to transform the priorities of executives. Companies are needing to mitigate risk and become more agile, all while keeping their eyes on the bottom line. They are no longer pursuing cost efficiency, though Josh predicts it may be an issue in the future. There are many different strategies companies are using to identify, mitigate and solve supply chain risk. First are supplier related strategies, including expanding supply base, multisourcing, leveling different geographies and having a backup plan in place. They are also doing regular evaluation of supplier risk. The third is around structural and operational changes, as companies look towards their entire network itself. 

Josh then elaborates on the digital transformation goals represented in the study. There are a whole lot of small-scale deployments occurring as companies roll out new technologies on a small scale or pilot phase. The top three focus are data visualization, supply chain analytics and robotic process automation. People are using other technologies within the supply chain, such as AI and blockchain, but Hackett is focused on small scale deployments at this time. The study also considers the types of apps companies are investing in, in which sales and operation planning really rises to the top. We are moving away from the spreadsheet mentality and embracing more structure and automation. 

In terms of what executives need to be planning for next, the survey shows that companies are expecting business activity to grow. One challenge is how to get employees enabled with technology and innovation to drive efficiency across the enterprise. Another developing area in 2022 is the outcome of inflationary economics. As wages and costs go up, companies will look to grow costs and be most efficient.    

Moving into another year of supply chain disruptions, it is important the leaders first keep their focus on the customer and demand. Collaborating and communicating what is possible and what is not is key. They should also invest in business transformation widely and efficiently. Ensure you have the right people and skills to make use of these technologies. With digital technologies comes the need to upgrade skills within your organization. Finally, Josh urges companies to make efforts to return back to a sense of normalcy in their operating model by stabilizing cost and headcount.  

The Hackett Group European Practice Leader David Ketchin talks with Global Advisory Practice Leader Tom Willman about key findings from our 2022 Finance Key Issues Research, which outlines changing trends, priorities, and challenges facing the finance function.

Show Notes:
Welcome to the Hackett Group’s Business Excelleration Podcast, where - week after week - we hear from experts on how to avoid obstacles, manage detours, and celebrate milestones on the journey to world-class performance. Today's episode is hosted by David Ketchin, who leads the Hackett Group in Europe, and his guest for the discussion is the Hackett Group's Global Practice Leader for Finance Advisory, Tom Willman.  David and Tom's conversation focuses on the key issues from the Hackett Group's latest research conducted at the end of 2021, and it identifies why these issues are the top priorities for finance functions in 2022.

While the Hackett Group's Key Issues Study identifies the top ten priorities for the finance function, David and Tom narrow their discussion to the first half of these priorities.  But first, David first offers business context concerning current realities of high inflation, labor shortages, labor rate and freight price increases, and COVID-19 recovery.  This context provides the backdrop for considering the priorities highlighted by the study, most specifically those of returning to growth and fostering agility.  Tom explains how he has seen the business context of the day impact finance, detailing how finance is being asked to do more with less staff and money, and so needs greater productivity and to lean into tech-enabled improvements.

The acceleration of digital transformation has actually jumped to be finance's top priority for the year ahead.  This priority is followed by the goals to enhance finance's role as a strategic advisor to the business, upskill and retain talent, and foster agility.  Digital Transformation, Tom says, is the process of driving change in which we will leverage new technologies combined with people and processes to create value.  He unpacks what this involves for finance before expanding on the priority of advising the business; this priority, at heart, looks like giving business leaders new insight, saying things they don't already know.  In terms of talent, finance needs to take stock of and improve its value function, and make changes within workforce and management strategy.  As the episode ends, Tom offers four absolute "get rights" for finance.  

The Hackett Group Senior Manager Vicky Kavan talks with Principal Chris Sawchuk and Principal Timothy Yoo about key findings from our 2022 Procurement Key Issues Research, which outlines changing trends, priorities, and challenges facing the procurement function.

Show Notes:
The Hackett Group runs a key issues study annually to identify the impact of changing trends and guide research for the following year. One of the strongest themes to come from this year's study was the importance of procurement issues. Supply Risk moved up to the number one spot ahead of cost production. Chris explains that the number of areas for supply chain leaders has broadened. Tim agrees that diversifying supply chain assurance and managing third party risk have been big growth areas for the procurement teams at The Hackett Group.

Leaders in procurement have similar agenda items across organizations, with focuses on supply assurance and protecting revenue. Cost has gone down to number four or five on the list, but is still the easiest item to measure. Chris says that we need to measure assurance and sustainability as well because they are growing in importance and what gets measured gets done. He wants to bring visibility to sustainability and drive behavior to adjust carbon footprint. Measurements for assurance and sustainability won’t be as exact as cost measuring, but Chris is certain that by collecting quantitative data changes can still be made. Tim says that designing processes with ESG in mind can help make the change to measuring sustainability.

Supply chain disruptions have been an issue throughout the pandemic. Something else the pandemic has brought to light is the need for more digital solutions, something Tim says The Hackett Group has never been so busy with before now. Investing in these digital solutions and a little bit of preparation can go a long way to growing your cloud base suite and make your digital transformation smoother. The pandemic exposed organizations that hadn’t invested in digital transformation, and Chris says looking at the glass half full, it has also given those organizations who were behind a reason to catch up. It’s not just about technology, it’s also about improving customer experience, increasing velocity, and investing in procurement professionals.

Today, Chris says there is a gap in data, analytics, and technology in procurement organizations. These are critical areas for procurement professionals. Analyzing and using data to predict risks is essential to becoming a trusted advisor to the organizations they support. Chris says that procurement professionals shouldn’t be outsourcing data analysis to third parties, but rather investing in it in house so they can have the most up-to-date information possible. Tim’s advice to organizations beginning their digital transformation is to plan appropriately. He recommends thinking about not only the resources you’ll need to implement the digital change, but also what resources will be needed to sustain it.

Workload in 2022 is going to increase over 11% and procurement organizations are recognizing that they need to meet those demands with technology, rather than relying solely on labor as they have in the past. Tim says that procurement organizations should be removing constraints to find the best talent. He and Chris agree that the globalization of the talent pool is one of the best ways we’re removing barriers to labor. Tim also suggests that organizations get creative in candidate backgrounds. He suggests that procurement backgrounds may be less important than technology and data analysis backgrounds as organizations begin their digital transformations.

Senior Director Chris Key talks with Principal Michael Spires about key findings from The Hackett Group’s 2022 Technology Key Issues research, which identifies priorities and potential challenges for technology organizations.

Show Notes:

Welcome to the Hackett Group’s Business Excelleration Podcast, where - week after week - we hear from experts on how to avoid obstacles, manage detours, and celebrate milestones on the journey to world-class performance. This episode of the podcast is hosted by The Hackett Group’s Senior Director Chris Key. His guest today is Mike Spires, Principal at the Hackett Group. The subject for today’s discussion is Hackett’s 2022 IT key issues study results. 

Every fall, The Hackett Group reaches out to their constituents to get an idea of their goals and areas for improvement in the upcoming year. Over 300 companies were polled for the results of this study focusing on the technology aspects. The first objective this year is securing data and systems. This is an issue at the top of every technology executive’s list. Mike explains that a core feature of being a good steward of your resources is making sure your data is secure. Number two is effective strategic partnering. This process means optimizing the processes and skills to enable effective stakeholder partnering, necessary to succeed in our transformations. This is no longer a tactical role, Mike says, but is now a collaborative and strategic effort. A partnership mentality drives achievement all down the pipeline. 

The third objective is maximizing the value of data. It is incumbent on our technology function to manage data for maximum utility. This isn’t just a one-time action, but rather an ongoing capability. Mike sees many organizations treat data as an enterprise asset part of an organizational construct. He stresses that how you schedule and treat staff, for instance, actually plays into operational efficiency. There are many dependencies built within this observation. Having the skills, business understanding of data and organizing talent all go hand in hand with getting value in your data. 

Fourth is aligning technology, skills, and talent to the needs of the business. The ability to attract and maintain talent is more of a challenge than ever. To address this, Mike explains that Hackett is trying to instill an overall resourcing strategy which determines key skill gaps and how to build an ecosystem of internal hiring, external third party and independent contracting networks to best fill these gaps. The fifth objective is enterprising transformation to a more digital operating model. The reality is that most organizations need to accelerate their interfaces. Creating alignment within your own model and product teams who are truly embedded is an effective digital partnership going towards market. And, Mike adds, the better you are at doing this, the easier it is to retain the talent you already have. 

Sixth is regarding the matured and industrialized analytics capability, which really unlocks insights and improves the speed and accuracy of decision making. The insight cycle begins with what we need to be doing as technologists and leads into the sources of data, how we’re doing analytics and who is the consumer. It is a continuous journey. Having the partnership, technology and functional teams aligned creates a sense of ownership on both sides. You can create models which adjust and adapt very quickly based on strength and both structured and unstructured guidance. Analytics gives the ability to drive better outcomes and business functions. 

Seventh is enterprise cost efficiency improvement. For the first time, we’re hearing that FTEs and operating budgets will keep pace with the expected demand and workload volume. Customer and workforce models are being driven by technology, and many organizations are recognizing the need to invest in better techn