Old Business Transformation Methods Don’t Fix Today’s Problems

The world has changed. The old ways of doing business are dying fast.

The world has changed. The old ways of doing business are dying fast. To keep up, you need to change and transform your business. You need a new tool. A tool that'll help you avoid business transformation failure.

Heath Gascoigne Tweet

To keep up, you need to change and transform your business.

You need a new tool.

A tool that that’ll help you avoid business transformation failure.

Still not convinced? Here’s what you need to know.

What Is The Problem With Business Transformation?

The problem is….

70% of business transformation programmes fail.

In a previous post , we discussed the reasons why they fail .

These are:

• Lack of user involvement
• Changing requirements
• Incomplete requirements, and
• Poor planning

These reasons are happening because…

...existing frameworks for business transformation programs are not business driven.

They highlight the importance of technology, without listening to the businesses’ needs.

They’re not supported from the top.

They don't involve the businesses’ stakeholders

And don't cater to changes necessary for the organization.

Why?

We’re not saying that old established processes have no credibility.

...but the point is they’re too old.

There are two leading business architecture frameworks:

First is TOGAF®.

This  stands for The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF®).

It is owned by The Open Group, for developing Enterprise Architecture (EA).

The Open Group and TOGAF® view Business Architecture as a single phase...

Here’s a figure that illustrates what I mean:

TOGAF® doesn’t see Business Architecture as a discipline, methodology or framework in its own right.

Instead, there's a heavy emphasis on the technology-side of the business, compared to the business-side.

Another framework is the Zachman Framework in 1987.

It’s not actually a ‘framework’ per se.

It’s a method of classifying the documentation which makes up the Enterprise.

What’s The Ideal Framework For Business Transformation?

Ideally, Enterprise Architecture is made up of equal parts Business Architecture and Technology Architecture.

Although,  Business Architecture is an important aspect of the Enterprise Architecture, there’s been a growing emphasis on technology architecture for the past few years.

To keep up, you need to change and transform your business.

You need a new tool.

A tool that that’ll help you avoid business transformation failure.

Still not convinced? Here’s what you need to know.

What Is The Problem With Business Transformation?

The problem is….

70% of business transformation programmes fail.

In a previous post , we discussed the reasons why they fail .

These are:

• Lack of user involvement
• Changing requirements
• Incomplete requirements, and
• Poor planning

These reasons are happening because…

...existing frameworks for business transformation programs are not business driven.

They highlight the importance of technology, without listening to the businesses’ needs.

They’re not supported from the top.

They don't involve the businesses’ stakeholders

And don't cater to changes necessary for the organization.

Why?

We’re not saying that old established processes have no credibility.

...but the point is they’re too old.

There are two leading business architecture frameworks:

First is TOGAF®.

This  stands for The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF®).

It is owned by The Open Group, for developing Enterprise Architecture (EA).

The Open Group and TOGAF® view Business Architecture as a single phase...

Here’s a figure that illustrates what I mean:

Business Architecture is an important aspect of the Enterprise Architecture, there’s been a growing emphasis on technology architecture for the past few years, even if it's more important.

Heath Gascoigne Tweet

...so business architecture is slowly becoming less prioritized.

...even if it’s very important.

so what’s the answer?

You need a business-led framework that puts the business first.

It has to be  business-driven

And you need to use an agile framework for that.

When we say agile, it means that it has the ability to change and be flexible.

And most importantly….

It addresses the 4 causes of business transformation failure:

• Lack of user involvement
• Changing requirements
• Incomplete requirements, and
• Poor planning

...which we discussed in our first post.

Thank you for reading this!

Sincerely,

Heath Gascoigne

P.S. Existing frameworks for business transformation programs are technology-led not business driven.

P.P.S. If you want to learn the right frameworks that will help you transform your business, check out The Business Transformation Playbook here.

For more information, visit https://hoba.tech