Beneath The Change: The Hidden Hurdles in Business Agility

Myopia and missed opportunities

We are not in this situation for a lack of trying. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) drove the mapping of processes and applications deemed critical to a company’s financial reporting processes. The Payment Card Industry’s Data Security Standard (PCI) pushed merchants and service providers to enumerate and protect their cardholder data networks. More recent requirements from the Bank of England (various policy statements) and the European Union’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) are adding focus via an operational and technology resilience lens.

On one hand, we have produced reams of Visio diagrams and spreadsheets. These are often done by project teams who create what they need at a point in time but aren’t motivated or funded to do this in a way that will sustain once the project is completed.

On the other hand, we spend billions on tools – Configuration Management Database (CMDB), business process management, enterprise architecture and governance, risk and compliance (GRC). Attack Surface Management is a relatively new tool in the Chief Information Security Officer’s arsenal that exists, arguably, because other efforts to understand the environment have failed.

Deploying anything across the enterprise for the long-term benefit of the business is difficult to sell and execute. As a result, software sales teams typically start with narrow use cases to land and hopefully expand. This combination of pressure results in isolated initiatives and insights. The shift to near real-time data gathering recognises the limitations of manual efforts but falls short of generating enterprise insights because of a lack of business context. Machines, for now, lack the awareness to illustrate the relationship amongst applications, infrastructure, supplier, customers or regulators.

In either case, we end up with an overly narrow view of the business and its relationship with technology.  There is a better way, and the combination of human and data driven approaches have a role to play.

Curtailing the cycle of complexity

The digitalisation process is not self-generating or sustaining. On the contrary, systems thinkers may see a stock of enterprise capabilities intended to increase business agility being delayed by the inflow of… new capabilities. This is a pernicious loop akin to an investment product which promises decreasing returns as you invest more. This, of course, assumes the organisation has the confidence to move past the more comfortable state of doing nothing.

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Simplification can, on the hand, create the virtuous cycle needed for ongoing adaptability and resilience.

Shift the mindset – This is a solvable problem. By reimagining and repurposing enterprise software tools, Protiviti has created a framework to tie new and previous ‘discovery’ efforts into a sustainable business and technology insights platform. This combines:

• Human-driven engagement – Unsurprisingly, the gap in completely data-driven approaches – inability to overlay systems with a dynamic business context – is where human-driven intelligence proves vital. Workshops and surveys, effectively planned and executed, are still the favored approach to capturing components that are closest to users, for example, processes, applications, suppliers and risks.
• Data-driven automation – Any sustainable, modern approach to understanding business and technology requires the ability to automatically extract, transform and load (ETL) data from a variety of sources. This is particularly useful for capturing commodity system components, e.g. servers and data centers, but also any other indexed data. Advances have also been made, for example, in process mapping using reusable components and relationships.

Secure sponsorship – This shift in mindset requires the backing and active participation of executive leadership. The drivers are clear. By enumerating the complex relationships amongst business and system components, business can:

• More rapidly change business models
• Avoid costs and increased regulatory scrutiny resulting from unplanned outages
• Maximise returns on compliance efforts

Start small – While this capability will ultimately cut through the enterprise, it is a different approach to business intelligence and a ‘lean cycle’ or ‘model office’ approach will facilitate quick wins and continuous improvement. Executive sponsorship will ensure the lean approach doesn’t result in overly narrow efforts.

Sustain – To drive continuous benefits through this framework, the data needs to be managed like any other important business data. Large organisations have teams dedicated to Master Data Management, who enforce rules on data that cannot be configured into applications. Organisations with strategic data fabrics have proportionate data governance practices. The same or greater attention should be given to understand how your business interacts with technology.

Act like a start-up … with inherited business value and complexity

As we navigate through this era of ongoing transformation, businesses must embrace change while addressing complex integration challenges. By shifting our mindsets, securing executive sponsorship and driving sustainable outcomes like a lean start-up business, we can leverage technology effectively to drive business success. Remember the heritage of our businesses don’t only bring complexity, but also business value and richness that can be unlocked by combining human-driven engagement with data-driven automation. Remember also that digitalisation is not just about surviving; it’s about thriving in an ever-evolving business landscape. Let’s embark on this journey together, guiding each other towards a future where technology empowers us to excel beyond our expectations.

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