Business and technology transformation

Strategy models - Ansoff's grid

by Alex Roan on Oct 4, 2024

Whilst working as a consultant I’ve found this framework simple, but useful. When an organization is planning ahead it provides a way to think about the focus on current products, services and markets in alongside opportunities to developing new products/services and/or enter new markets.
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Understand the root cause of scope creep & disagreements

by Alex Roan on Oct 3, 2024

This happened to Huawei in May 2019. President Trump used an executive order to block Huawei from transacting for information or communications technology with US organisations. An obvious impact for Huawei's mobile handset business was the loss of access to Google's android platform and services. Less obvious was the loss of access to Oracle's ERP software. The impact of this may have been bigger.
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What if an organisation loses it's Enterprise Resource Planning system (ERP)?

by Alex Roan on Jul 2, 2024

This happened to Huawei in May 2019. President Trump used an executive order to block Huawei from transacting for information or communications technology with US organisations. An obvious impact for Huawei's mobile handset business was the loss of access to Google's android platform and services. Less obvious was the loss of access to Oracle's ERP software. The impact of this may have been bigger.
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Operations assessment

by Alex Roan on Jul 1, 2024

Business transformation is a process where an organisation changes from an existing to a target operational state. Organisations spend a significant amount of effort identifying these improved target states. Corporate strategy drives this at macro level while team, department, function and business area managers are responsible for the execution at a lower level.
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Business framework

by Alex Roan on Jun 18, 2024

One of the challenges of improving operations is identifying and prioritising where to focus. A good way to provide some structure to the approach and to improve communications is by working with a framework or map which helps to visualise the areas of the business and the nature of possible improvements.
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Information gathering

by Alex Roan on Jun 13, 2024

My 4-step process to gather information for transformation projects. Uncovering operational details is often a challenge for programs such as restructuring, process design, IT implementations and acquisitions and divestitures.
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Business and technology transformation

by Alex Roan on Jun 25, 2020

The chart of account (CoA) is one of the most important structures in business. It reflects all the activities a business is involved in and it provides a foundation for the majority of financial and management reporting. Correct use of the chart of accounts can both simplify operations and improve decision making capability.
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A simple guide to cost reduction

by Alex Roan on Jun 19, 2020

Whenever discussing cost reduction it's important to consider corporate social responsibility as a starting point. Ideally, companies can find the right balance between reducing costs and thinking about employee and business partner (e.g. supplier) impacts. Employee layoffs can have a devastating effect on individuals. Business partner changes can put companies out of business. When planning and executing cost reduction these impacts should be considered. In real life, this might mean trying to offer employees other options (reduced hours / different contract terms / new profit-generating roles) or business partners a revised agreement.
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Improving project management by focussing on strategy and people

by Alex Roan on Jun 9, 2020

Many of the projects I’ve come into contact with over the years run into problems that stem from a lack of focus in two areas. A lack of ability to effectively deal with people. And a lack of understanding of strategy.
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SAP HANA and S/4HANA - A simple guide

by Alex Roan on Jun 3, 2020

Recent years have seen a resurgence in large organisations taking on major SAP upgrades with the relatively new SAP business suite 4 HANA (S/4HANA) collection of applications. But what exactly is HANA? and what is S/4HANA? How is implementing or upgrading to it different from the R/3 upgrades that were significant programs for many organizations over the last few decades?
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Blockchain - how it works

by Alex Roan on May 26, 2020

Blockchain has been one of the most hyped technologies of the last decade thanks to the massive profits that were made from bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Despite a lot of of the smoke and mirrors that surrounds blockchain it is a fascinating technology.
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Improving the record to report process

by Alex Roan on May 18, 2020

Starting from business transactions such as the purchase of materials, payments to employees and sale of goods and services. Ending with reporting and decision making including the submission of detailed annual reports. The 'record to report' process (RtR) is a long, complex process that involves people from across the enterprise. Despite the critical nature of this process, it’s rare to find RtR clearly documented from start to finish. I've found that few finance employees can describe the complete process. In part, this is because the process touches core operational transactions (purchases, manufacturing, sales etc.). From another perspective, it's because certain parts of the process require a high level of expertise.
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Insight in finance - the light bulb moment!

by Alex Roan on Jul 23, 2015

Insight is often talked about in Finance, but not always clearly defined. What does it really mean to provide insight and how does this differ from the core role of preparing financial and management reports and accounts?
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Can Big Business Cash In On Virtual Worlds?

by Alex Roan on Jun 22, 2015

$83,869,981 That is a big number. And surprisingly it is [the](https://robertsspaceindustries.com/funding-goals) amount of money that Chris Robert's computer game 'Star Citizen' has raised through crowd funding. You can pledge and buy the game for as little as $54, however if you are really into it and you have the money you can also buy ['The Completionist'](https://robertsspaceindustries.com/pledge/Combos/The-Completionist-Digital) digital package for $18,000. What do you get for $18,000 - access to the game and pretty much all the spaceships created for the game to date. So that is $18,000 for digital spaceships in a game not yet completed. Note - you can also get all the spaceships just through playing the game.
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Improving stakeholder interactions

by Alex Roan on Jun 22, 2015

One easy way to improve the likelihood of a project or initiative being successful is to interact with stakeholders in a skilled way. Some of the benefits of good stakeholder interaction
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Snapchat for Product Launch or Project Status Reporting?

by Alex Roan on Jun 22, 2015

Casey Neistat on YouTube is one of my favourite channels. Casey is a self taught film maker based in New York. He frequently posts VLOGS (video logs) on youtube that offer a great insight into the lifestyle of a sociable guy who is really into creating and sharing video. I recently installed Snapchat on my phone after I heard Casey mention it in one of his YouTube VLOGS. In case you are not familiar with Snapchat, it allows you to share snaps; either photos or up to 10 second video clips, which then disapear after being viewed. One of the features of Snapchat is called stories, stories let users string snaps together to create a narrative that can be viewed for up to 24 hours.
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Can sites like 'freelance.com' shake up traditional professional services?

by Alex Roan on Jun 22, 2015

Can tools like freelance.com replace traditional professional services? I have been thinking about this in reference to management consultants, lawyers, tax advisors etc. Yesterday I listened to an [episode](http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2015/06/how-to-get-paid-for-what-youre-good-at-with-matt-barrie/) of the James Altucher podcast which discussed this.
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YouTube Let's Play and How Businesses Can Benefit

by Alex Roan on Jun 6, 2015

I remember on one project a Russian business expert was offended by an Indian consultant shaking his head in disagreement. The Russian person didn't know that in India a certain shaking of the head indicates 'I am listening'. In another project in Morocco a user requirement was almost missed because a local expert was ashamed to tell a foreigner that a donkey was a transportation type that needed to be programmed into the process and system.
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Advice On Selecting Project & Outsourcing Service Providers

by Alex Roan on Jun 6, 2015

I remember on one project a Russian business expert was offended by an Indian consultant shaking his head in disagreement. The Russian person didn't know that in India a certain shaking of the head indicates 'I am listening'. In another project in Morocco a user requirement was almost missed because a local expert was ashamed to tell a foreigner that a donkey was a transportation type that needed to be programmed into the process and system.
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Tools & techniques to manage business processes

by Alex Roan on Jun 4, 2015

Working on improving business processes is popular, but sometimes organisations do the wrong things at the wrong time; spending money on process related projects which underdeliver on benefits. Often times the actual value of process work is hidden behind various technical sounding methods, tools, techniques and software. The first step to choosing the right process improvement approach is to understand some of the terminology out there. Here is a run down of various process terms, methods, tools and software followed up with some thoughts on choosing the right approach.
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