tl;dr (too long, didn’t read) – Switching to the latest toolset just catches you up to competitors, it doesn’t take you past them. If your goal is differentiation and increasing value past “par” then design for rapid technology change, perform regular system evaluations and have an honest and transparent tool selection processes.
Your enterprise has several platforms that are capable of accomplishing literally anything. With enough development these systems can likely perform many business functions. But should they? Just because your jackknife has a saw doesn’t mean you will enjoy using it; there may be a better tool.
How can you tell what each system should do? Enter the “Enterprise Architect” (EA), this person is essentially a business analyst and technologist, and hopefully has a great deal of understanding how systems fit together. They are ready to tell you which tools should do which tasks. They do this by analyzing toolsets and balancing the goal of optimizing value while decreasing overhead. For instance, building an intranet site for department use on SAP is going to take quite a bit of customization and org-change, while Sharepoint is built for this purpose (and your company already has a license). Bring them your goals.
This applies to all functional areas. Daily work in human resources (HR) handles aspects of talent and career paths, these functions are unique to this team and have specific tools that work great for this space. Building something from scratch is not a wise investment and can lead quickly to waste and missed opportunity. But if the organization is a talent agency, it’s likely they have a custom system for managing people. This is their differentiation.
So what happens when new tools or demands are raised? Enter the “Business Relationship Manager” (BRM), this role is essentially a business analyst with great listening and persuasion skills. These people partner with the architects mentioned above to make things happen – this can mean pushing features that didn’t exist before, switching platforms or finding better data sources or integrations.
In the HR example above you can quickly see how HR uses these features and technology to differentiate their value. They are collectively better as they improve and iterate their tools and processes. Perhaps their toolset allows them to cross-reference LinkedIn data with compensation, or compare performance with career path; whatever the case, if there is business value in quality talent, enabling these toolsets is the goal. This should be clear to the BRM and Architect alike, and they should know whether the talent management system can handle an integration of that sort. Maybe they get a business intelligence app involved or just work slowly toward this goal.
This applies broadly across the enterprise. If you aren’t able to differentiate, you run the risk of missed value and ultimately irrelevancy. As technology continues to be the differentiator of choice, the importance of having quality Architects and BRMs increases. Getting quality masterful value out of your toolsets is their sweet spot.
Cassy Lueneburg