Newsletter August 2020
Building Disruptive Business Models that are People Centric

Our People Centric Solutions specialist recently worked with a client to assist them navigate a COVID19 related section 189 process. The end result - a brand new business model, that required more talent acquisition, AND not a single retrenchment. That is what it looks like when it works.

The need to disrupt and reinvent business models has accelerated, some research would state, by up to 4 years. Did you have a 4 year plan for business model reinvention in February 2020?

When a business is able to acknowledge that it needs to respond and is open to organisational redesign and transformation that is where the magic happens.

As the worlds' economy opens up and we survey the damage, there are certain to be salary cuts, restructures and retrenchments on a scale that we have not witnessed in decades, possibly ever before. The blame for these massive job losses are likely to be placed on the economic downturn caused by the Pandemic, the down-grade of the South African Economy, Global competition and of course automations and 4th Industrial revolution innovations.

There are 2 approaches. The first will be companies who cut operational costs in line with diminished revenue streams which will invariably mean restructuring and possibly retrenchments, cutting into muscle and possibly too close to the bone.
‌
The second will be companies who brave the cycle of reinventing themselves to maintain a healthy balance between revenue-in and operational-costs-out, reorganising as organisations of the future and building new value generation and value capture opportunities.

Given the new realities, how will you reinvent your operational model and what new skills will you need when the company levels up?

The reality exists that even through this process of reinvention, not every job function is future proof. The identification of future skills and re-skilling the current workforce for meaningful work, either within or outside of the organisation is the socially sustainable course of action, especially as unemployment figures are at their highest recorded numbers in decades.

Solutioneers™ are working with companies who want to reinvent their operational and customer service models. New digital go-to market opportunities and diversification of value creating and value charging opportunities expands the scope for revenue capture and creation of shareholder value.
If the decision of “the how” to reinvent and structure your organisation lies with you – talk to us about this unique, more humane and socially responsible approach to harnessing new markets.
"Most companies are flying “data blind” with regard to the skills they need for transformation" Gartner 2020
A trap many organisations fall into when planning digital reinvention is to base their plans on how work is being done now, and not focus on the improvements. The current skills base, as well as current operating and service models cloud the vision for new models that will improve productivity and reduce costs; open new digital commerce and digital revenue sources.


Read the full Gartner article here
Imbokodo
We can't miss the opportunity that August gives us to unashamedly celebrate the phenomenal Solutioneers™ women who make up the majority of our team. Here they are saying a little bit about why the Solutioneers™ work is meaningful to them.
We are passionate about Women in tech, and this is embodied in Emily, our Head of Technology. Emily has her Masters degree in Engineering and she takes the lead in creative Solutioneering™ in order to advance people, processes and tech both internally and on behalf of our clients. "I love being part of a team that effectively uses technology to create new products and solutions that make a real difference to peoples' work lives. Work should be an outlet for your knowledge, skills and passions - not about doing boring, repetitive work, and Solutioneers™ work to make that a reality for companies and people."
Bridget is our Business Analyst. She has a BSc degree from UCT and is an experienced Project Manager and UiPath Business Analyst. Bridget keeps our projects on track, in scope and on budget. With an eye for detail and a passion for excellence. Bridget enjoys the quick turn over of the RPA projects. In particular, even given the formulaic structure of the projects, the work still avoids the trap of monotony because each set of automation required is different. It is also rather satisfying to see how quickly the bots can do the job once built.
Bianca is our Finance subject matter expert. So much of what we have been doing in the Solutioneers™ Bot factory recently has been automating mundane finance and administrative tasks. Bianca evaluates and redesigns processes to achieve the same outcome in a more efficient way. She is a perfectionist, and the definition of citizen developer as she has used RPA to make her own work-life easier. She is speaking about Digital Innovation at the Accounting and Finance show soon – catch it here.
Anne is one of the founding directors of Solutioneers™ and is an idea factory. The Solutioneers™ People Centric work is Anne’s passion as each and every business we work with has a unique problem to solve. “As a child Lego™ was, still is, my favourite toy – because with even a limited set of blocks the possibilities for creation were infinite. Businesses, like Lego™, can be reorganised and recombined to create new and exciting possibilities.” Anne has an Honors degree in Business from GIBS.
Torch Solutioneers™ work with South African companies to build disruptive business models by applying future thinking to today's business problems.
If you would like to continue receiving our newsletters, please click on any of the links on this newsletter or subscribe on our website.