Fail to prepare, prepare to fail: How to ensure your strategic business change success

In an increasingly competitive market that is constantly evolving through consolidation, mergers and acquisitions, legal entities or business restructuring, it is crucial that financial institutions and market infrastructure providers going through change realise early on the benefits of remaining competitive.

While there are many opinions on how to shape the right strategy pertaining to strategic business change, not enough is said about the common causes of failure in delivering such a strategy. A delay in realising the potential benefits may have a direct impact on costs, profitability, shareholder value, and reputation.

Some of the most common causes of delay or failure are:

Weak project foundation: During the busy time of a restructuring, it can be tempting to rush or even entirely forego the initiation phase, and start making changes as soon as the strategy has been signed off. The paradox with this approach is that, without completing an initial analysis and setting a baseline, the project would not have a strong foundation that is sufficient to ensure success and this can result in longer-term delays. Clarifying the scope, defining the high-level delivery timeline, identifying the correct stakeholders and the impact on them, and outlining the key risks and mitigations will significantly increase the success of the restructuring efforts, particularly when considering the human impact of such a programme.

Unbalanced project team: Relevant to any reorganisation, not understanding the team requirements, such as; size, profile mix and skillset, would most likely lead to the change efforts facing issues and delays. Securing the right SMEs and project resources will ensure day-to-day operations are not impacted by the additional workload. Having a central PMO team to plan and manage delivery across all businesses and support functions will ensure the scope of the project is defined and delivered, and overall costs are kept under control.

Insufficient communications: Infrequent and/or no communication during a major business change initiative can have a significant impact on everyone, from those involved in the project to the wider business and even the firm's clients. Developing a comprehensive communications and engagement plan can help maintain low levels of attrition, increase the adoption of change throughout the firm and ensure the overall success of the initiative, with minimal impact on internal and external stakeholders, and no negative impact on the firm’s reputation.

Stale technology stack: Strategic business initiatives such as legal entity restructures do not usually consider reviewing the underlying technology stack, and instead deliver changes on top of an already complex and potentially fragile architecture. Analysing the existing ecosystem for opportunities to streamline and consolidate can help keep costs low through the reuse of logic and licences, removal of redundant processes, and merger of systems or migrations to lower-cost hosting solutions. The overall result can be a significant increase in the initiatives’ return on investment.

Skipping handover to BAU: Given the complexities involved in planning a legal entity or business restructure, it can be easy to overlook the importance of a comprehensive handover to BAU teams. The plan must cater for the delivery of training and documentation and there must be clear owners moving forward. Planning for handover from the beginning of the project will avoid incurring costs after its completion. It will also control erosion of the value-add by ensuring the right SMEs are kept on long enough to document changes, develop new processes and procedures, and train the BAU teams in the new ways of working, increasing operational efficiency.

At Delta Capita, we understand the challenges firms face in delivering legal entity or business restructuring initiatives.

Drawing upon our extensive experience in successfully delivering change projects for our clients, we've crafted a versatile framework designed to expedite the realisation of benefits that is executed by a team of high-performing change practitioners and industry experts in business and operations. Our capabilities allow us to seamlessly integrate with your existing teams or take charge of overseeing your complete end-to-end transformation strategy.

Delta Capita Legal Entity Restructure

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Example benefits realised for a key client: 

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If you are interested in learning more about how Delta Capita can help you, please contact us today.