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Revolutionizing Business Operations: How to Build Dynamic Processes for Enduring Competitive Advantage
Don't risk the dire consequences of your work processes becoming obsolete-discover a powerful model for constant, ongoing, enterprise-wide process evolution and optimization.
If you have a great product, but don't have the operations in place to efficiently and effectively support it-production, manufacturing, sales, finance, human resources, etc.-you won't succeed. Product innovation is seen as flashier and so gets far more attention, but you can create an enduring competitive advantage by revolutionizing business operations.
The problem is most attempts to improve business operations are reactive, sporadic, and siloed. Tony Saldanha and Filippo Passerini's Dynamic Process Transformation model provides a living model for constant, ongoing process evolution and optimization.
The authors focus on maximizing three drivers of change. First, open market rules-each business process must be run as a separate business, instead of via monolithic mandates coming down from on high. Second, there must be unified accountability- outcomes must be clear and consistent across the company, instead of being siloed within departments. And third, there needs to be a dynamic operating engine, a methodology to convert the constantly changing business process goals into tactical day-to-day employee actions.
With numerous examples from leading companies, this book shows how to proactively keep business processes across the company from becoming obsolete and take advantage of a neglected key to success.
If you have a great product, but don't have the operations in place to efficiently and effectively support it-production, manufacturing, sales, finance, human resources, etc.-you won't succeed. Product innovation is seen as flashier and so gets far more attention, but you can create an enduring competitive advantage by revolutionizing business operations.
The problem is most attempts to improve business operations are reactive, sporadic, and siloed. Tony Saldanha and Filippo Passerini's Dynamic Process Transformation model provides a living model for constant, ongoing process evolution and optimization.
The authors focus on maximizing three drivers of change. First, open market rules-each business process must be run as a separate business, instead of via monolithic mandates coming down from on high. Second, there must be unified accountability- outcomes must be clear and consistent across the company, instead of being siloed within departments. And third, there needs to be a dynamic operating engine, a methodology to convert the constantly changing business process goals into tactical day-to-day employee actions.
With numerous examples from leading companies, this book shows how to proactively keep business processes across the company from becoming obsolete and take advantage of a neglected key to success.
- GenresBusiness
293 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 12, 2023
17 people are currently reading
31 people want to read
About the author
Tony Saldanha
12 books10 followersTony Saldanha is a sought-after thought leader, speaker and Fortune 25 executive in the Global Business Services (GBS) and Information Technology area. Tony has over three decades of international business expertise in the US, Europe, and Asia. He was named on Computerworld's Premier 100 IT Professionals list in 2013.
During a 27-year career at Procter & Gamble, Tony ran IT and GBS in every region of the world, helping create a multi-billion dollar best-in-class operation. Tony has a proven track record of GBS design and operations, CIO positions, acquisitions and divestitures, outsourcing, disruptive innovation, and experiences in creating new business models.
Tony currently provides advice to boards and CEOs in Fortune 500 companies on digital transformation, specially on internal business operations. His other activities include angel investing, advising non-profits and venture capitalists and start-up companies and starting up technology companies of his own.
Tony is a firm believer in the power of technology to do good in corporate, governmental and personal settings, and that it is up to each of us to live up to this potential.
During a 27-year career at Procter & Gamble, Tony ran IT and GBS in every region of the world, helping create a multi-billion dollar best-in-class operation. Tony has a proven track record of GBS design and operations, CIO positions, acquisitions and divestitures, outsourcing, disruptive innovation, and experiences in creating new business models.
Tony currently provides advice to boards and CEOs in Fortune 500 companies on digital transformation, specially on internal business operations. His other activities include angel investing, advising non-profits and venture capitalists and start-up companies and starting up technology companies of his own.
Tony is a firm believer in the power of technology to do good in corporate, governmental and personal settings, and that it is up to each of us to live up to this potential.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 24, 2023
As an advisor and board member to several small to mid-sized companies, I’ve witnessed, “Business operations grow complex, rigid, and siloed with time.” The authors’ road map to dynamic business processes can bring success to companies of all sizes.
September 21, 2023
Tony Saldanha and Filippo Passerini’s new book is titled Revolutionizing Business Operations: How to Build Dynamic Processes for Enduring Competitive Advantage. Much like an MLA paper, the title concurrently is essentially a half-thesis for the entirety of the material covered inside of the read. Saldanha and Passerini aren’t exactly polished writers, but they more than make up for it in terms of being succinct, bell-clear, and concise with respect to their communication of intellectually dense, sometimes complex information. Leadership and business advice books, as a fellow, professional writer, always are a hit or miss for me. It’s hard to balance making things objectively engaging for the widest possible audience, whilst simultaneously staying focused and sharp on the topical bottom line. Some writers overcompensate for this potential dryness of narrative. They are willing to become somewhat tangential so as to make the experience more fluid. The results and receipts, however, will be flawed. You have to be someone well-versed in knowing what you speak of, being comfortable with what you speak of, and knowing how to communicate what you speak of - never at the expense of all bases covered, concisely put yet never at the expense of clarity. And like any solid orator and expert in the field, they’re able to tie what I perceive about solid LA and BA writers with the immediacy of the topics they’re covering about business practice in the text. “There is a basic dilemma around business process transformation that most leaders confront. They absolutely want their operations to become more adaptable and more strategic; that's not the question. It's just that the path from ‘good’ to ‘great’ is unknown, and the costs and benefits unclear,” Saldanha and Passerini write.
They continue, “…All organizations fall somewhere along a defined spectrum of maturity of business processes. This spectrum can be divided into four distinct stages of maturity ranging from Stage I default business processes, through to Stage 4-responsive business processes. It follows that we need to pinpoint our start and end points on this spectrum…The four stages of maturity help us measure progress from current to future state, while the drivers specify the levers you pull to make progress…The good news for leaders looking for a road map to dynamic business processes is that each of the four stages of maturity has distinct characteristics. Moreover, there are clear steps that can take our organization up the maturity levels…Every business has business processes, whether deliberately designed or not. And all businesses measure the performance of their business processes. For instance, every organization measures its sales, profits, payroll, orders, and so on. Key performance indicators within finance, sales, marketing, supply chain, information technology, and others, foster predictable outcomes at appropriate costs. This is the starting point for all organizations--that is, measuring key performance indicators of key business processes and holding functional leaders accountable for delivering those metrics. As the saying goes, you get what you measure.”
Grade: A
They continue, “…All organizations fall somewhere along a defined spectrum of maturity of business processes. This spectrum can be divided into four distinct stages of maturity ranging from Stage I default business processes, through to Stage 4-responsive business processes. It follows that we need to pinpoint our start and end points on this spectrum…The four stages of maturity help us measure progress from current to future state, while the drivers specify the levers you pull to make progress…The good news for leaders looking for a road map to dynamic business processes is that each of the four stages of maturity has distinct characteristics. Moreover, there are clear steps that can take our organization up the maturity levels…Every business has business processes, whether deliberately designed or not. And all businesses measure the performance of their business processes. For instance, every organization measures its sales, profits, payroll, orders, and so on. Key performance indicators within finance, sales, marketing, supply chain, information technology, and others, foster predictable outcomes at appropriate costs. This is the starting point for all organizations--that is, measuring key performance indicators of key business processes and holding functional leaders accountable for delivering those metrics. As the saying goes, you get what you measure.”
Grade: A
June 27, 2024
Discover how to achieve Process Transformation
By Paul Laughlin · December 7, 2023
So much focus in the world of Digital Transformation is on products, too little attention is paid to Process Transformation. Agile ways of working can also cause a mindset of Minimum Viable Products (including data products) to be the focus for opportunities.
However, the worlds of business & customer experience already know how vital it is to have efficient and effective operations. To be able to deliver your promised products or services in a cost-efficient way via an enjoyable experience for users.
So, I was delighted to receive a copy of “Revolutionizing Business Operations” by Tony Saldanha and Filippo Passerini. Regular readers will know I was a big fan of Tony’s last book, “Why Digital Transformations Fail”, so I was intrigued to read his latest thinking. In this book review, I hope to persuade you that this is an important book for businesses today. Evidenced by so many case studies and personal experiences, the authors bring to life both the need for and how to revolutionize your processes. I hope the central model helps you as much as it has inspired me.
How is the book structured? How does it operate?
It is fitting for a book advising leaders on process improvement to be tidily constructed with a clear process to follow. After personal & theory introductions, this book is laid out in five parts. In part one, the authors bring to life over 2 chapters both their central model & why it is needed. That central model is called the Dynamic Process Transformation Model and it provides a guiding framework for the rest of the book.
Parts two to five each contain 3 chapters. These walk the reader through the 15 components of their Dynamic Process Transformation Model. Each of the four parts focuses on advancing maturity stages, from Default, through Intentional and Integrated, to the most advanced stage of Responsive Maturity. Within each of those parts, the 3 chapters explain in detail what is needed to benefit from 3 drivers of transformation at that maturity level.
Consistently, throughout the model (and thus the book), those 3 drivers operating at each level are:
1. Open Market Rules: Think beyond your own past & local standards, as if competing in an open market for the best processes relevant to this stage of maturity.
2. Unified Accountability: Ensuring clarity of ownership of end-to-end business process outcomes, again relevant to the complexity & cooperation needed at this stage of maturity.
3. Dynamic Operating Engine: Consistently improve and translate strategy, goals and designed processes into repeatable day-to-day delivery by the people & systems involved.
How can this book help data & analytics leaders?
By this stage, you might be thinking, ok, but that sounds like a book for operations directors or business
21
Book Reviews to cross post to Amazon & Goodreads
Discover how to achieve Process Transformation
process transformation geeks (Lean Sigma etc), not for me. Well, I’d advise you not to give up so soon. Firstly, the book is well-written and engaging, with short sections and plenty of practical examples. Secondly, the lessons you will learn apply across functional silos. Like all good leadership & management thinking, the authors transcend organisational divisions to help us grasp the bigger picture of what is needed.
Beyond all those benefits, as you read the examples of applying improvements at each stage of maturity, I hope you’ll see how applicable these are to the data world. For years now we have learned to focus on data products & improving analytics & data science methodologies by learning from the world of product management. This boom rightly opens our eyes to equal opportunities for improvement by learning from best practices in process improvement.
Reflecting on the conversations I have with different data leaders, I am also struck by how many of their present challenges lie in this remit. Many data science teams are struggling with execution limitations (often a process issue). Innovative AI teams need assistance to enable scaling successful pilots (again often constrained by limiting processes). Data engineering teams fail to secure the investment they need to deliver the infrastructure upgrade needed for future processes. Many analytics & insight teams feel constrained in how they can achieve the personalization customers expect (often because of a focus on improving products rather than processes).
What is there to learn and what were my takeaways?
I explained above the high-level structure of this book, let me tempt you further by outlining what you can expect in each chapter. Although such consistency of structure might sound boring, it results in a book that is easy to navigate & so will also be a useful reference guide.
After the introductory sections, each chapter starts with a picture of the Dynamic Process Transformation Model, which becomes a map for the content of that section. In Part One, that image is the framework of the model. For the subsequent parts, an expanded part of the section of the model for that maturity level is shown in context (giving you key bullet points to recall). Every chapter also has a Key Insight (normally one sentence) at the very start. Then the content is equally divided between explaining the theory for one part at a time & sharing illustrative stories. Those are a mix of both personal experiences from the authors & many case studies revealing theory in practice.
For me, I found two parts of the book the most helpful. The first is how part two reveals the danger of driving only efficiency in business processes & neglecting how effective they are for users. The P&G international relocation process debacle is a great example of such cost-cutting at the expense of employees (a timely warning for many employees today). I also appreciated the detail provided on creating a Service Management Framework & how to communicate a Business Value Proposition from process improvement (rather than just new products).
Should you buy this book?
So, we come to the nub of all my book reviews and my answer is yes. Whatever the maturity level of your business or your processes, I believe this book will help you. Even if your primary focus was not on
22
Book Reviews to cross post to Amazon & Goodreads
Discover how to achieve Process Transformation
process improvement, there are some great tips and models for driving greater ownership across organisations.
In many ways, this book reminded me of Tony’s last one (“Why Digital Transformations Fail”). It also has a guiding model which provides a framework for all the content. Both also culminate in a stage that is about how to embed ongoing continuous improvement & innovation into the culture of the organisation. For those leaders who have Digital Transformation programme responsibilities, I recommend reading this book as a complement to the former. It has more to say on the people & process aspects of achieving & sustaining such a change.
Another great sign that the focus of the authors is on helping people apply their hard-won knowledge is the discussion guide at the end of this book. They include two versions (for executives/consultants and teachers/students). Given the primary challenge for most transformation projects is breaking through barriers (structural & mindsets), I recommend CEOs or CDOs use this discussion guide. Working through the provided questions (after everyone has read one part before the meeting) should provide both insights & the needed debate/sharing for collaboration to flourish.
A great practical book for leaders on a topic that matters for business survival.
By Paul Laughlin · December 7, 2023
So much focus in the world of Digital Transformation is on products, too little attention is paid to Process Transformation. Agile ways of working can also cause a mindset of Minimum Viable Products (including data products) to be the focus for opportunities.
However, the worlds of business & customer experience already know how vital it is to have efficient and effective operations. To be able to deliver your promised products or services in a cost-efficient way via an enjoyable experience for users.
So, I was delighted to receive a copy of “Revolutionizing Business Operations” by Tony Saldanha and Filippo Passerini. Regular readers will know I was a big fan of Tony’s last book, “Why Digital Transformations Fail”, so I was intrigued to read his latest thinking. In this book review, I hope to persuade you that this is an important book for businesses today. Evidenced by so many case studies and personal experiences, the authors bring to life both the need for and how to revolutionize your processes. I hope the central model helps you as much as it has inspired me.
How is the book structured? How does it operate?
It is fitting for a book advising leaders on process improvement to be tidily constructed with a clear process to follow. After personal & theory introductions, this book is laid out in five parts. In part one, the authors bring to life over 2 chapters both their central model & why it is needed. That central model is called the Dynamic Process Transformation Model and it provides a guiding framework for the rest of the book.
Parts two to five each contain 3 chapters. These walk the reader through the 15 components of their Dynamic Process Transformation Model. Each of the four parts focuses on advancing maturity stages, from Default, through Intentional and Integrated, to the most advanced stage of Responsive Maturity. Within each of those parts, the 3 chapters explain in detail what is needed to benefit from 3 drivers of transformation at that maturity level.
Consistently, throughout the model (and thus the book), those 3 drivers operating at each level are:
1. Open Market Rules: Think beyond your own past & local standards, as if competing in an open market for the best processes relevant to this stage of maturity.
2. Unified Accountability: Ensuring clarity of ownership of end-to-end business process outcomes, again relevant to the complexity & cooperation needed at this stage of maturity.
3. Dynamic Operating Engine: Consistently improve and translate strategy, goals and designed processes into repeatable day-to-day delivery by the people & systems involved.
How can this book help data & analytics leaders?
By this stage, you might be thinking, ok, but that sounds like a book for operations directors or business
21
Book Reviews to cross post to Amazon & Goodreads
Discover how to achieve Process Transformation
process transformation geeks (Lean Sigma etc), not for me. Well, I’d advise you not to give up so soon. Firstly, the book is well-written and engaging, with short sections and plenty of practical examples. Secondly, the lessons you will learn apply across functional silos. Like all good leadership & management thinking, the authors transcend organisational divisions to help us grasp the bigger picture of what is needed.
Beyond all those benefits, as you read the examples of applying improvements at each stage of maturity, I hope you’ll see how applicable these are to the data world. For years now we have learned to focus on data products & improving analytics & data science methodologies by learning from the world of product management. This boom rightly opens our eyes to equal opportunities for improvement by learning from best practices in process improvement.
Reflecting on the conversations I have with different data leaders, I am also struck by how many of their present challenges lie in this remit. Many data science teams are struggling with execution limitations (often a process issue). Innovative AI teams need assistance to enable scaling successful pilots (again often constrained by limiting processes). Data engineering teams fail to secure the investment they need to deliver the infrastructure upgrade needed for future processes. Many analytics & insight teams feel constrained in how they can achieve the personalization customers expect (often because of a focus on improving products rather than processes).
What is there to learn and what were my takeaways?
I explained above the high-level structure of this book, let me tempt you further by outlining what you can expect in each chapter. Although such consistency of structure might sound boring, it results in a book that is easy to navigate & so will also be a useful reference guide.
After the introductory sections, each chapter starts with a picture of the Dynamic Process Transformation Model, which becomes a map for the content of that section. In Part One, that image is the framework of the model. For the subsequent parts, an expanded part of the section of the model for that maturity level is shown in context (giving you key bullet points to recall). Every chapter also has a Key Insight (normally one sentence) at the very start. Then the content is equally divided between explaining the theory for one part at a time & sharing illustrative stories. Those are a mix of both personal experiences from the authors & many case studies revealing theory in practice.
For me, I found two parts of the book the most helpful. The first is how part two reveals the danger of driving only efficiency in business processes & neglecting how effective they are for users. The P&G international relocation process debacle is a great example of such cost-cutting at the expense of employees (a timely warning for many employees today). I also appreciated the detail provided on creating a Service Management Framework & how to communicate a Business Value Proposition from process improvement (rather than just new products).
Should you buy this book?
So, we come to the nub of all my book reviews and my answer is yes. Whatever the maturity level of your business or your processes, I believe this book will help you. Even if your primary focus was not on
22
Book Reviews to cross post to Amazon & Goodreads
Discover how to achieve Process Transformation
process improvement, there are some great tips and models for driving greater ownership across organisations.
In many ways, this book reminded me of Tony’s last one (“Why Digital Transformations Fail”). It also has a guiding model which provides a framework for all the content. Both also culminate in a stage that is about how to embed ongoing continuous improvement & innovation into the culture of the organisation. For those leaders who have Digital Transformation programme responsibilities, I recommend reading this book as a complement to the former. It has more to say on the people & process aspects of achieving & sustaining such a change.
Another great sign that the focus of the authors is on helping people apply their hard-won knowledge is the discussion guide at the end of this book. They include two versions (for executives/consultants and teachers/students). Given the primary challenge for most transformation projects is breaking through barriers (structural & mindsets), I recommend CEOs or CDOs use this discussion guide. Working through the provided questions (after everyone has read one part before the meeting) should provide both insights & the needed debate/sharing for collaboration to flourish.
A great practical book for leaders on a topic that matters for business survival.
October 3, 2023
In today’s time whether the business is big or small, it needs to have a smooth and dynamic operations. Otherwise it may not cope up with the changing landscape of data and IT, customer expectations and satisfaction, profit margins and other aspects. With many fields and our lives witnessing silent revolutions, businesses aren’t exception.
The book ‘Revolutionizing Business Operations’ by Tony Saldanha and Filippo Passerini is a timely help to find out that much sought-after roadmap that today’s business leaders need to tread on. Both authors have a fountain of knowledge about setting business processes – what works and what needs to be shed down. The authors draw critical analysis and insights and practical steps from their own experiences and puts them in fine readable format, with stories lending credible voice to their theories. Also, as the book delivers critical insights on models and frameworks, their story of learning and resurrecting Procter & Gamble runs like banter in the backdrop.
The book lays emphasis on setting up a dynamic business process that can never go obsolete with changing times and in case of situations like Covid pandemic. The book’s main focus lies in business process transformation. And in a digital age, it’s imperative for all. The book clearly has the attention of business leaders, companies, non-profit firms and public sector companies.
The book narrated in over six segments, it chiefly focuses on dynamic process transformation. It can be better understood with dynamic drivers and maturity stages, which are linked for smooth transitioning. As it chugs ahead, it guides business owners and leaders how to embrace that transformation, what challenges they can face psychologically and in other ways. The book is loaded with information that cannot be found online and its wider objective is to help business processes run smoothly with least interruptions. This is one of the finest value-creating books on business operations transformation.
The book ‘Revolutionizing Business Operations’ by Tony Saldanha and Filippo Passerini is a timely help to find out that much sought-after roadmap that today’s business leaders need to tread on. Both authors have a fountain of knowledge about setting business processes – what works and what needs to be shed down. The authors draw critical analysis and insights and practical steps from their own experiences and puts them in fine readable format, with stories lending credible voice to their theories. Also, as the book delivers critical insights on models and frameworks, their story of learning and resurrecting Procter & Gamble runs like banter in the backdrop.
The book lays emphasis on setting up a dynamic business process that can never go obsolete with changing times and in case of situations like Covid pandemic. The book’s main focus lies in business process transformation. And in a digital age, it’s imperative for all. The book clearly has the attention of business leaders, companies, non-profit firms and public sector companies.
The book narrated in over six segments, it chiefly focuses on dynamic process transformation. It can be better understood with dynamic drivers and maturity stages, which are linked for smooth transitioning. As it chugs ahead, it guides business owners and leaders how to embrace that transformation, what challenges they can face psychologically and in other ways. The book is loaded with information that cannot be found online and its wider objective is to help business processes run smoothly with least interruptions. This is one of the finest value-creating books on business operations transformation.
October 4, 2023
The authors’ emphasis on service-centricity and understanding the business context resonated deeply with me. By adopting a restructuring approach centered on service-centricity and creating a dynamic Open Market Rules organization, most organizations can elegantly overcome hurdles of credibility. I highly recommend this book to fellow big company CIOs and business leaders who are looking to unlock the full potential of their organizations.
Want to read
March 10, 2024I'm returning back to my shelf... Maybe in a later time of the year I will continue it.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews