Business Analysts Pty Ltd (BAPL) debuts on the CRN Fast50 list Australia at #14

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Business Analysts Pty Ltd (BAPL) started in 2004 not long after the profession of Business Analysis was formed in Toronto. We never thought we would achieve 14th fastest growing company in Australia doing what we love – helping organisations improve, innovate and achieve digital transformation! CRN Fast50

We have provided world-leading expertise in business analysis to help organisations realise optimal efficiencies and to breakthrough barriers preventing advanced, sustainable growth. Organisations lose millions of dollars every year in technology investments that don’t deliver the desired business outcomes.

Too often, technology solutions are misaligned with the actual requirements needed. Working on projects for private and ASX-listed companies & major Government departments ranging in scope from $10,000 to $1 billion and invariably deliver quantifiable and significant cost savings to the organisation as a result of our involvement.

Most of the projects that BAPL has consulted on have been self-funding, particularly where opportunities to improve efficiencies have been leveraged through new technology.

Thanks to all our customers who have trusted us, we love improving your business!

15. Integrated management systems – Myth or Fiction?

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“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts;” Aristotle

There is a lot of talk around at the moment about integrated management systems. This might be driven by the recent changes in ISO9001, but many of us have seen this term bandied around for decades and are a bit cynical.

The idea behind an integrated management system is to take the core quality, environment, safety and other systems and run them in an integrated fashion. This means that you no longer have disconnected and confusing policies and procedures. In there place is a single consistent environment that meets the organisation’s obligations but without the triplicate overhead.

The standards people understand this opportunity and have been making good progress towards it over the years, with ISO9001 the latest example. In some organisations the quality, environment and safety people sit in the same team, but for the most part they are running three separate systems.

There is a way to create a truly integrated management system, but it uses tools and techniques that are often unfamiliar to the teams that currently manage quality, safety and environment.

The first step on this path means realising that management systems are not just an overlay of policies and procedures, they are in fact modifications to current business processes. If you look at the processes on a page for a business (see my blog on value streams), you can find the core processes affected, such as risk management and incident management.

Using the standards to define process scope, businesses discover that the same processes are exercised in multiple systems. In most current implementations the processes are different for each system (for example the incident management for safety may be different to that for environment and different for that for product quality).

All the relevant current state processes have to be discovered and mapped – failure to do this will lead to a replacement system that does not meet the requirements of the business. Then comes the tricky part of consolidating the existing processes into a lesser number of integrated processes. Here the business analysts, standards specialists and operational managers must work together to create something that is efficient and effective while stripping out unnecessary complexity.

This improved process environment must be rolled out to staff and the processes themselves must be managed and continually improved.

BAPL has the skills to make this sort of project work. We understand business processes, how to discover them, how to document them and how to improve them. When process is put at the heart of an integrated management system, the whole can truly be more than the sum of its parts.

Business Process Driven Requirements

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I use to be a swim coach so often I would tell my squad “no use being the fastest ocean swimmer if you don’t look up to see where you are heading”.

In your organisation are there systems purchased because someone liked the glossy brochure or the vendor said the software was good? Duplicate data, re-entered information into several software systems? Customers frustrated because nobody can give them update information on their order? These are symptoms of business processes and software systems failing to execute successfully.

Organisations exist to provide products or services, which are delivered to customers through business processes, that are decomposed into requirements. Software systems should be built using business requirements, however often software is not and heads in the wrong direction, businesses struggle with systems that are more hindrance than help. Business Analysts Pty Ltd (BAPL) has developed a technique called “business process driven requirements” to vastly improve the software lifecycle, both traditional and agile.

Using “business process driven requirements” we have successfully delivered software systems that are align to the organisation’s needs to deliver products or services to customers.

Recently BAPL used this technique for a customer that had several staff members unexpectedly leave the organisation, who used a core database. Nobody left in the organisation knew exactly how the software worked, no processes were documented and the system was end of life & needed to be replaced. We modelled the business processes, improved the efficiency of the business processes, used “business process driven requirements” so the new software database could be aligned to what the staff would do on a daily basis.

So if you want your software systems to work, you need to look where you are heading and use “business process driven requirements”. Otherwise you could be spending lots of money on wasted software. It is time to talk to us at BAPL.

Use value streams to improve your business

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“If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road;” CS Lewis

If you look around your own business, do you see departments overwhelmed with business as usual? Are there pet projects swallowing the capital budget, with minimal strategic impact? Endless reorganisations with little rationale? Software  purchased because someone liked the glossy brochure and the vendor said it was good? These are symptoms of strategies that fail in their execution more than in their design.

Business Analysts Pty Ltd (BAPL) has developed up a way to escape the strategy to operation mud bath. It involves taking a process based approach to strategy and driving outcomes through identifying the business value stream.

Take for example a company that wants to improve its customer satisfaction. BAPL would start by modelling all the business processes into a unique map for that company (“processes on a page”). We would then work with managers to understand which are the processes that really drive customer satisfaction.

These might for example include the call centre processes, the product delivery processes and the billing process. If managers don’t have a good understanding of the drivers, then we may need to do some targeted research. The sum of all these processes is what we term the ‘business value stream” for customer satisfaction.

We take the business value stream processes and prioritise them. This considers both their impact on the target (improved customer satisfaction) and the improvement opportunity for that process.  The output is a list of processes that need improving to deliver on strategy. BAPL can help you improve your processes, with pricing based on the number of processes.

The exciting aspect is when you run this analysis across the whole company. You will see the various value streams represented in the processes on a page. If you look for overlaps, you might find common processes that can deliver significant strategic benefit from improvement. Conversely you might find effort being put into processes that have little impact on the value streams, and hence the strategy.

So if you want your strategy to head in the right direction, talk to us at BAPL.

Is IT destroying the art of business?

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“Genius and virtue are to be more often found clothed in grey than in peacock bright.” Van Wyck Brooks

People who are successful in business tend to get promoted; they become valuable to their employees because they understand how to make money in their industry. You may know someone for whom business success comes naturally, seemingly without rigour or process. They may be masters in the art of business.

Unfortunately for those managers comfortable in their role, the business world is changing. It is not enough to know the art of business; you also need to understand how to leverage information technology.

The most disruptive force paradoxically comes from business analysts. If the business analysis is done well, it lays bare all the inefficiencies and errors in existing processes. From that you can build a new business environment based on really good IT that provides, efficiency, effectiveness and transparency.

Managers who embrace this opportunity will continue to rise; those that don’t will not only hobble their own careers, they will probably do real harm to the business they are trying to grow.

How good are you at the art of business?

Are you thinking about purchasing Cloud Software SaaS (Software as a Service)?

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“There was a time when every household, town, farm or village had its own water well. Today, shared public utilities give us access to clean water by simply turning on the tap; cloud computing works in a similar fashion. Just like water from the tap in your kitchen, cloud computing services can be turned on or off quickly as needed. Like at the water company, there is a team of dedicated professionals making sure the service provided is safe, secure and available on a 24/7 basis. When the tap isn’t on, not only are you saving water, but you aren’t paying for resources you don’t currently need.” Vivek Kundra

The great thing about cloud software is it has given organisations the ability to move to software which can be accessed anywhere at anytime and there is an ability to scale up & scale down when necessary.

However, if you are thinking about purchasing Cloud Software SaaS (Software as a Service) make sure you consider the following:

  • is it financially viable, how much do the licenses cost and what are the ongoing costs?
  • think about the necessary end to end business processes not just the cloud software package in isolation, as the end-to-end business processes will identify the data integration required for efficient customer workflow.
  • does the software perform your business processes? What happens if the vendor changes the software once you have purchased it, can you modify your business practices or are you constrained by external requirements?
  • if you have to configure or customise the software will the vendor maintain this or will this become an expensive exercise once they have locked you in?
  • privacy, security, licensing, SLA’s, incident management, single sign-on, identity management, data migration etc.
  • can the vendor do what they say they can do? What is the support capability, can they demonstrate a mature software development and testing processes, are they financially viable etc. What is your back out plan if things don’t work?
  • do you have trade secrets in your business processes that you don’t want the vendor giving to your competitors?

If you can clearly answer these questions before you purchase cloud software you are likely to enjoy the potential benefits of digital revolution. Engaging a reputable business analysis service can also assist you identify the pitfalls before they hit your bottom line.

Use technology to get ahead

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If you are managing a complex business, the goalposts have changed a lot in the last 10 years. Disruption is everywhere, the pace of change is increasing and today’s technology has eaten yesterday’s technology for lunch. You are probably thinking that if you don’t get on the bandwagon you’ll be another one of the casualties.

As a business leader you probably have a fair feel for the problems and opportunities in your area. Ask one of the young whizz kids around the office and they will be sure to mention some online software that will fix the world. A quick check on the web site and it looks like exactly what you need. At a few dollars a month, the case becomes compelling. You’ll get your business unit humming and be on your way to that next promotion.

If it doesn’t work out that way, it may not be the concept that was floored, just the execution.

You can get immense value from low cost cloud software. If you want to raise your chances of success, then you just need to do it right:

  • Make a plan for what you are going to achieve and hold yourself accountable to it
  • Identify all the costs and risks, and make sure they are managed
  • Figure out how the business works now, how it will work with the new software and use the difference to detail what needs to be done. Make sure the software meets all requirements
  • If you bring in specialists, make sure they are working on day 1 – analysts start analysing, project managers manage cost, time and scope and developers start coding. If they can’t start, you have the wrong speciality
  • Transition from a project environment to business as usual as quickly as you can and close the project down

Of course business leaders may not have the time or expertise to do all this. Expert organisations like Business Analysts are your best bet to get that promotion.

Super Powers for your PMO

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Often I hear Portfolio, Program, Project Managers and Business Sponsors asking how can projects be delivered faster.

The answer is simple! But requires planning, thought, hard work and good business analysis.

Organisations exist to provide products and/or services, which are delivered to customers through business processes, that are decomposed into requirements. By using a Business Capability Framework fuelled by a value chain & business process groups, a PMO can easily scope and prioritise projects.

But that will take forever!

If you let analysis paralysis take over, it will “take forever” and people will loose interest quickly. Using agile techniques allows you to cover breadth not depth initially and the detail can be incrementally built delivery of a program.

We have developed these frameworks quickly and iteratively so it looks like project scoping is running faster than a speeding locomotive.

If you see a project spinning it’s wheels it most likely due to poor business analysis with scope and the answer is simple, use expert business analysis.

Business analyst – The profession for the 21st century

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Technology is a great enabler, and information technology in particular has had a huge impact on our working lives. We are able to pull together rich information sources that should lead to better decisions. We eliminate challenges from geography through high quality communications; and we automate repetitive functions.

This technological revolution has also led to wholesale destruction of jobs. There aren’t any more toll booth collectors in the country now that tolling tags are used everywhere. In their place are a much smaller number of skilled staff maintaining the detectors and running the toll collection software.

So far the destruction of jobs has been smaller than the creation. There has been a net increase in employment, with roles in information technology exploding. But that might be all about to change.

The Economist recently ran a special on how technology will impact the job market in the 21st century. Their predictions are that technology will eliminate swathes of white collar mid-range jobs. These could include accountants, radiologists, airplane pilots and taxi drivers to name a few.

So what do we think will happen to business analysts?

My premise is that the technology that creates all these changes will be excellent in isolation, but hugely complex to integrate. The 3D printers, autonomous cars and financial analysis software will be high quality products (eventually), but the complex organizations of the 21stcentury will want to use them in highly integrated ways to deliver complex products and services. Plugging them together will illuminate their underlying complexity, often to disastrous effect.

Quality business analysis will be needed to deliver value from this technology. Businesses need to change and change is always difficult. Business analysts discover how a business currently delivers value, then envision how to increase value from technology. This leads to requirements and a plan for change.

If this is done well, the organisation embraces the technology. Unfortunately I see many cases where technology projects destroy value rather than create it (Gartner stated that 20 – 25% of ERP projects fail outright and a further 50-60% are perceived to have failed). The more complex the technology, the broader its scope, the higher the risk of value destruction.

The successful companies will invest in quality business analysis on top of the cost of the technology. Their differentiator will be in getting the organisation to pull together their people to run seamless processes using the technology. This reduces costs, increases revenue and leads to satisfied customers.

To me the future for business analysts looks bright. Do you agree?

Everyone performs business analysis why does my organisation need a Business Analyst?

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Everyone performs business analysis in his or her life!

All board members, C-Level executives, senior executives, and managers perform business analysis to manage an organisation. All individuals perform business analysis, if you buy or rent a house you analyse your requirements; how many bedrooms, how many bathrooms, how many car spaces, how much can I afford, what is my preferred location etc.

Organisations exist to provide products and/or services, which are delivered to customers through business processes, that are decomposed into requirements. A Business Analyst has the skill, techniques, experiences and competencies to help organisations improve delivery of products and/or services to customers.

A Business Analyst is highly skilled in performing business process and requirements analysis to assist board members, C-Level executives, senior executives, and managers to make informed decisions. A Business Analyst often can see the “wood from the trees”, they should be agnostic to decisions and organisational politics only concentrating on good business analysis, ensuring that ideas are linked to delivery.

Until recently the role Business Analyst (BA) was loosely defined and the activity, tasks & techniques used varied from organisation to organisation. However, with the release of the BABOK® in 2006 by the IIBA® the BA role has been defined within six knowledge areas providing an international standard for this beneficial role.

John Simpson in his article Why on Earth Would You Promote a Business Analyst talks about a Chief Business Analyst “By championing the development of thousands of well-written requirements and collaboratively managing them throughout your innovation process, your staff of business analysts significantly impact the performance of your company every day.  And, that makes them a strategic asset.”

To help your organisation compete and lead in the digital age, think about using a service from an expert Business Analysts company to keep your strategy linked to execution.