Business managers have likely encountered situations where changes or developments in one part of the organization unexpectedly impacted their operations—often discovered far too late. These last-minute surprises can lead to quality issues in the ongoing developments or create unforeseen workloads, stemming from insufficient collaboration between business units. Sound familiar?
A key challenge lies in how individual processes within end-to-end (E2E) operations—or business scenarios—are often understood only within their specific business units. This limited perspective makes it difficult to identify dependencies or predict how changes in one process might affect others in the chain, particularly when those processes span multiple business units. Moreover, often there is a pressure for speed and agility, which might lead to lacking stakeholder alignment, especially if process ownership have not been defined and communicated within the organization.
By structuring and mapping critical E2E business scenarios and clearly assigning process ownership, organizations can ensure early communication about changes in one process. This proactive approach enables business units to collaborate sooner, effectively identifying and addressing potential indirect impacts of rapid developments across the entire process chain.
Illustrative example of how in-direct impacts of development can be identified using E2E business scenarios, enabling efficient collaboration within the organization.
Importantly, business development operating models supported by a structured process architecture (a comprehensive structuring of organization’s processes across legal entities, business units, countries etc.) shouldn’t hinder the ability to pursue quick and efficient continuous improvements. Speed and agility is naturally important. However, we often recommend establishing a standard operating procedure to ensure that any developments in one process are promptly communicated to the process owners within the relevant end-to-end (E2E) business scenario.
When key processes contributing to critical business scenarios (such as variations of “order-to-cash”) are clearly identified, it becomes easier to determine which E2E scenarios might be impacted by changes in a single process. This clarity enables swift and effective communication across business units, ensuring that process owners of related processes are kept informed.
Keeping process owners in the loop enhances the likelihood of successful and efficient business development initiatives by reducing surprises, minimizing rework, and fostering collaboration across the different units within the organization.
