CONSULTING – MANAGED SERVICES – EDUCATION
BUSINESS ANALYSIS (BA)
The term ‘Business Analysis’ can mean many things – although with the risk of being interpreted in a narrow context, such as certain suite of accounting ratios or requirements analysis/management in relation to IT.
As a services firm we have a much broader view of business analysis and its applications, closely tied to the area of performance. We help clients identify areas of weakness or improvement, at the same time understanding and acknowledging organisational strengths; and how best to leverage them.
This agile process usually starts with clarifying the existing business model(s), as well as its legacy, understanding the value chain(s) with the use of our ‘business canvas’ methodology from our BA Playbook. We help organisations clarify objectives, make key decisions, formalise and implement changes to existing business infrastructure to improve outcomes.
With varied team structures, gaps or confusion around contributions can emerge the further down the organisation you travel. This frequently requires supporting educative interventions.
Our BA Playbook expertise includes a suite of methodologies covering advanced analytics tools, often delivered with data visualisation techniques or storyboards. These can focus at any level or function of the organisation.
In one form or another, business analysis is deployed in all our client assignments, complementing existing client-organisational expertise (often spread thinly, whether by default or design). In certain instances, we have set up the BAO – The Business Analysis Office, often within a given function. Make no mistake, in today’s marketplace ‘Business Analysis’ is increasingly seen as a core organisation capability in all its guises.
PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS (PA)
As a company, Performance Analysis goes back to our roots in 2003. Organisation and function scorecards were very much part of our early history, particularly in assignments on people strategy and performance. and the complexity of deriving measurement frameworks of intangible outcomes.
This led us to specialise in assignments that looked to optimise performance through people and talent management; and with it, functional and operational excellence through scorecard implementation.
However, our approach was differentiated by examining the measurement constructs rather than just the output data visuals that dazzled many into a false sense of security. We apply a behavioural underpinning to scorecard usage (or its abuse) and with it the important educative process that is often overlooked.
Though scorecards are now common, challenges still remain in keeping them relevant and clear of GIGO (‘Garbage In, Garbage Out’), and more importantly, protecting against ‘gaming’ or the minimising of the ‘artefact effect’. In the maelstrom of organisation operations, KPIs and objectives can become ‘bent’ or distorted at each level of setting or reporting through management behaviour. Our PA Playbook expertise guides clients to achieve ‘Performance Leadership’, often with knowledge transfer to the organisation’s internal resource.
CHANGE (ORGANISATIONAL) ECONOMICS
Often in BA or PA based projects related to change, an understanding of its opportunity or value can be hard or, worse, entirely omitted. Trying to ascertain this brings many benefits, not least challenging ‘perceived wisdom’ within the organisation, often around its internal business model or highlighting misaligned expectations/objectives, process breakdown in team/function interconnectivity, and/or ineffective prioritisation.
In essence, our CE Playbook expertise covers:
CASE STUDIES
See also:
Customer Value Proposition/CM Strategy
Employee Engagement/Talent Management
Leadership/Management Development
Managed Services/Programme Management
Organisation surveys & Analytics
Strategy & Organisation Design/Transformation
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