New workflow system for financial firm takes off with a guiding hand
Brief
Our client is a financial services provider which administers financial ownership data and drives user engagement, analysis and insight through technology; it delivers complete solutions for companies, large asset owners and trustees across the globe. Our client partnered with a leading software company to implement a new workflow management system to be rolled out across the company worldwide, meaning a number of legacy systems could be retired. The program enabled processes to be adapted to, and interact with, multiple input channels (such as paper, email or online) and enhanced a number of business processes so customers could interact at the appropriate stage of the process, significantly improving their experience. We applied the SAFe Agile methodology across the change program and split the scope into more than 30 features to be rolled out over two years. The change program was a triple first for the project and business teams, meaning all stakeholders – project, IT and business – had to adjust: not only was it the first change program of this size ever attempted in the organisation, it was the first to impact the whole company, across all divisions locally and internationally, and the first to use this methodology. In addition, this change also ran parallel with other organisational shifts, including ongoing merger and acquisition activities, making it quite a challenge for an organisation which had had limited change maturity in the past. Its strength, however, was a strong desire for better ways of managing change.
Solution
Our brief was to assess, design, build and test a repeatable, structured change management method, with supporting processes and tools, and to simultaneously support the first three months of the new workflow system. The work began with a needs-based assessment that informed the design and ensured an appropriate change approach: from the outset, the focus was on business readiness and adoption of a structured change management approach for sustainable business outcomes. In the initial period, our consultants worked shoulder-to shoulder with the project team and stakeholders to collaboratively build and test a fit-for-purpose change methodology to align to Agile principles, framework and tools, including a suite of easily adaptable and adoptable processes. This approach enabled the team to learn as they went.
Results
Blue Seed Consulting provided expertise and guidance on effective change management, as well as a tangible framework, tools and processes to handle the change, in partnership with the client. Our consultants hit the ground running in both assessing the change environment across the company and developing the program’s change definition. The client was delighted with the quality of engagement at all levels and the value of the outcomes. This was demonstrated by the fact that the new change approach and methodology was recommended by the business to be adopted company-wide and beyond the initial workflow management system program; our client was so impressed with the work completed in the first phase that we were asked to stay longer to continue our change value creation. Months later, after lifting and stabilising the client’s capability and confidence, we left this client in much better shape than we found it, which is part of our change management philosophy.
