Controlling external business and system integrators in transformation processes

System and business integrators and loss of control

Hearing these two words in one and the same sentence normally bodes nothing good. Except in the case of this blog post. In times when innovations and change management are part of the daily routine, external system and business integrators play an ever greater role for companies.

They're meant to help implement new strategies and technologies and thus deliver transformation projects successfully. But how do you keep the overview in the face of all these changes? And the far more exciting question: how do you control that the external service providers really do what you expect of them?

We reveal to you how, in collaborating with external service providers, you avoid a loss of control and ensure the success of your transformation initiative.

Why choosing a suitable system integrator is decisive for the success of transformation processes

The answer to this question can best be illustrated with one of the popular light-bulb jokes:

„How many programmers does it take to change a light bulb? None. That's a hardware problem.”

Even if it was perhaps only enough for a small smile, the joke shows the mutual relationship between the system/business integrator and the success of a transformation quite clearly.

If an external service provider is chosen for a change process that isn't suited to it, you risk the initiative failing. And now let's apply this insight to a larger level:

Imagine the changing of the light bulb is a transformation process and necessary for the smooth day-to-day business of a company.

That means the revenue and competitiveness of said company lie in the hands of the person or institution that inserts the new bulb – the system/business integrator.

Now the problem: with complex IT transformation processes, most companies depend on external service providers. The reason is that in many cases the necessary know-how about new systems, the tools, the capacities and the knowledge of how a system introduction should run is missing.

That holds two enormous risks at once for organizations:

1. They place a great responsibility, which can decide the future of their own company, in someone else's hands.
2. They lack the means and the specific expertise to monitor and steer the work of external service providers.

That's exactly why, for companies, not only choosing a suitable system/business integrator is decisive for success. 

Just as important is that no loss of control arises during the collaboration with external service providers.

Risks of a loss of control in transformation processes

IT transformation processes like, for example, an ERP transformation come with profound changes for companies – technological, procedural, organizational as well as on a cultural and personal level.

If an organization hands the scepter to an outsider during such a phase of strong upheaval, a dangerous situation arises:

An external service provider, as a rule, doesn't know the individual requirements and peculiarities of the company, or not well enough.

That increases the risk…

• …that resistance arises within your own workforce.
• …of not fully covering the requirements of the transformation.
• …of working past the goals.
• …that the initiative fails completely.

Ideally, an external system/business integrator should therefore serve as a supporter in the process. But not be enabled to steer the entire transformation independently and make its own decisions.

In other words, to secure the long-term success of a profound change initiative, control over the transformation has to lie within the organization itself.

But how exactly can that be done?

This is how your company keeps control when collaborating with external system and business integrators

Let's recall the starting situation once more:

If internal knowledge and the necessary tools are missing for (IT) transformation processes, a company is often left only with the option of buying these resources from external providers.

For this collaboration to work as intended, mechanisms have to be created on the organization's side to verify and steer the work of the system or business integrator. 

Mechanism #1: Build the missing knowledge in the organization

Fundamentally, companies have two options for dealing with the lack of professional know-how:

1. The missing knowledge can be temporarily compensated by drawing on the consulting and service offerings of external service providers.

This solution is extremely efficient in the short term. The organization benefits directly and without delay from the expertise of the business/system integrator.

However, that also means the level of knowledge within the company doesn't rise sustainably. So the internal employees can't control, in the long run either, whether the external service provider delivers good work and takes the right measures. And thus the necessary evil of always having to hand control back to external institutions continues.

Far more sustainable is therefore the second option: 

2. The company does buy the missing knowledge through specialized service providers, but in a form that allows it to integrate the know-how into its own teams in the long term.

That means you enable your own employees so strongly that, in the long run, they replace external consultants or at least build enough expertise to understand and confidently steer the integrators' work.

This becomes possible with the help of a neutral partner who accompanies the planned IT transformation from the start in close exchange and conveys their comprehensive knowledge to the workforce.

How does building knowledge through a neutral partner work?

For the gain in expertise to happen efficiently, it's advisable to actively involve your own employees in delivering the transformation processes. This way they can learn relevant aspects quickly and hands-on, and gradually apply them themselves.

This works, however, only if the following conditions are met:

• The teams have to bring the willingness to learn from external consultants. For this, it's worth communicating the approach and the benefit of the measure transparently within the company beforehand. Employees should recognize the benefit and not get the feeling that the work isn't trusted to them.
• The neutral partner should not only bring extensive expertise at the highest level. It also has to act completely objectively toward the planned transformation project, the organization and the other service providers.
• There has to be a clear understanding of roles and a clarification of the responsibilities of everyone involved.

And that brings us straight to the next aspect:

Mechanism #2: Gain control through clear responsibilities

Change processes like IT transformations are a special case for a company and not everyday business. Each of these initiatives is different and has different conditions and challenges.

On the basis of this dynamic, it's accordingly hard for the decision-makers within an organization to plan relevant tasks, responsibilities and accountabilities.

But if this aspect is neglected when concluding a contract with an external system/business integrator, misunderstandings and conflicts can quickly arise later in the project.

With a RASCI matrix, however, you can avoid such a problem from the start. With the project-management tool, you have the option of presenting responsibilities within the company clearly.

Ideally, the breakdown is created already before the tender for the system integrator and maintained throughout the entire project.

The steps required to create a RASCI matrix, briefly summarized:

1. Collecting all relevant activities and tasks (which can be supported by an experienced, neutral consultant).
2. Categorizing the list into those tasks that can be handled internally and those that an external partner should be responsible for.
3. Checking during the contract negotiations whether a potential system/business integrator can take on the respective tasks in full.

This approach offers several advantages at once.

Already before the project start, all activities and responsibilities are set, so there can be no misunderstandings about them. The company thereby puts itself in a position from which it reduces the room for negotiation and actively influences the design of the transformation process.

That creates clarity from hour zero and leaves the business/system integrator no room for „excuses“ later in the project. Instead, the organization orchestrates its tasks and responsibility – exactly as needed.

Mechanism #3: Create the conditions for a successful transformation internally

It's no news in itself that effective project management is one of the decisive levers for the success of change projects. Nevertheless, many transformation processes still fail at exactly this point.

Adequate project management includes aspects like:

• Defining realistic requirements and deadlines.
• A clear role definition of everyone involved.
• Efficient communication within and outside the involved project teams.
• An organizational system that allows fast and correct decisions.
• Consciously living a culture around mistakes.
• Cultivating an appropriate level of agility in order to implement the planned methodology.

But implementing these and further elements of project management is ultimately only half the battle.

The second important condition for a successful transformation process is that these measures are also regularly checked for their efficiency. Not to forget that this also includes the courage to readjust afterward – even in the face of resistance on the side of the external partner or your own teams.

Which leads us directly to the next step:

Mechanism #4: Constant control through systematic and detailed quality assurance

Transformation processes – especially those in IT – often touch business-critical elements. Companies depend on these business areas functioning smoothly during and also after the change initiative.

To minimize the risk of problems and disruptions, adequate quality control should consequently take place already during the delivery of the transformation.

This way you ensure that all modules and components of the new (IT) system function properly and interact seamlessly with each other.

Possible impulses for this are:

• The quality criteria regarding the deliverables of the system/business integrator should be defined precisely before the project start. That prevents overly high expectations and makes steering the collaboration easier.
• The criteria that have to be set here include, among other things, the scope of the deliverable, the requirements for the deliverable and the underlying standards.
• If different service providers are used in different phases of the transformation project, the same standards should apply to all of them.

A common method for implementation is templates handed to external service providers at the start of the collaboration. These can be reworked at any time in the further course and make ongoing quality assurance easier.

A neutral third-party service provider can also be of enormous support in creating these templates. Consulting firms have tried-and-tested, detailed templates that they can adapt individually to client needs as required. That saves you a lot of work and reduces the danger of mistakes that could lead to costly rework.

Mechanism #5: Choosing a suitable system integrator or business integrator

Now that the practical framework is set, only one aspect is missing. And it's at the same time the most important one – the choice of a suitable service provider.

How can you find out which is the right one?

There's no universally valid blanket answer to this question. As mentioned before, every (IT) transformation initiative is unique.

However, there are 3 key questions with which you can significantly narrow down the selection of potential candidates:

1. Does the system/business integrator fit culturally with the organization and with other project participants? Do the chosen methodologies and agility levels fit?
2. Does the system/business integrator have the necessary expertise and industry experience for the planned transformation?
    
3. What role does the organization, as a customer, play for the system/business integrator? Is the company a priority or is it put on the back burner?

With the answers to these 3 questions, you can narrow your search to those external service providers that have both the necessary expertise and the right size for your needs.

Once this preparatory work is done, the second step follows:

A professional tender sets the standard for the entire collaboration

The first impression counts. In the search for external service providers for transformation processes too.

Because even though the company is in the advantageous position of making the choice of a cooperation partner, the decision is still a two-way one.

And the uncomfortable truth is: a service provider who gets bad tender documents loses respect for the customer.

With incomplete, unstructured or qualitatively suboptimal tender documents, organizations convey that they have a low standard for the upcoming project.

Conversely, professional tender management demonstrates professionalism, seriousness and commitment – which will also influence the behavior of the business/system integrators.

How grandega can support you in steering and controlling external system integrators

Do you remember the passages of this article where we mentioned the elementary importance of a neutral partner?

We can be this neutral partner for you. 

As an independent third party, the grandega consulting team brings the necessary IT knowledge and project-management know-how to sustainably strengthen your teams in their new tasks and to assess and steer the activities of external implementation partners.

Your advantages: 

• We combine technical expertise and multi-layered professional competence in a neutral position.
• We act as a connecting link, because we speak not only your language, but also that of the system integrator. Which at the same time reduces your dependence on a single service provider.
• That fosters successful communication and makes controlling the collaboration easier.
• Thanks to our neutral position, we can mediate on risks and problems. This way they're cleared out of the way before they endanger the success of the transformation.
• On difficult and far-reaching decisions, we're available to you as a sparring partner.
• We share our knowledge with you and your employees, without fear of building competent teams in your company.

We don't just want to actively accompany you and significantly increase the chances of project success. Rather, we want to enable you to take your transformation into your own hands and be even better positioned for the future.

Curious? Then feel free to contact us!