As universities face the “enrollment cliff” and shifting fiscal realities, evaluating your operating model is essential. Here are five critical success factors to keep in mind for optimizing campus shared services in 2026:

1. Culture – Shifting to a Service-Oriented Mindset
When many campus SSCs started, it was essential to create a culture focused on operating with professional efficiency. This remains mission-critical in 2026. SSC leaders play a key role in bringing to life a value proposition that resonates with faculty, students, and staff alike. Academic units will continue to sign up for shared services only if the SSC achieves a steady track record of lower administrative burden, relevant subject matter expertise, and world-class service. Processes must be re-designed to focus on the student and faculty “customer” experience.

2. Continuous Improvement (CI)
This is a massive driver of success. Campus stakeholders want responsive service and reduced “shadow IT” or administrative bloat. SSC leaders must own end-to-end processes—such as the student lifecycle or grant administration—and focus on continuous improvement. Leveraging frameworks like Lean or Six Sigma provides the ROI and employee ownership needed to drive results. A key point: Measure everything. Balanced metrics and broad communication of successful milestones will sell your value to the Board and the Provost.

3. Technology, AI, and the Cloud
In 2026, you must go “all-in” on cloud technology and AI integration. The landscape is complex—modern ERPs, student information systems (SIS), AI-driven predictive analytics, and workflow automation. You cannot afford to operate without an up-to-date technology strategy. Spreading the costs and benefits of these tools across multiple academic and business units lessens the risk and increases the odds of achieving institutional goals.

4. Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
SLAs are a necessary continuation of your improvement efforts. It is a worthwhile exercise to develop and iterate comprehensive SLAs that include in-scope services, turn-around times, quality of outputs, and clear dispute resolution. In a university setting, these must be balanced—they should provide accountability without becoming overly bureaucratic or rigid, ensuring they support the academic mission rather than hindering it.

5. Centers of Excellence (COEs)
Determining your institution’s operating model is one of the most challenging tasks. What are your core competencies? Which functions—such as HR, Finance, or Research Administration—should be shared across the entire university system versus kept within a specific college? As processes become standardized, they are prime candidates for a COE. However, high-touch areas like specialized faculty research support may require local subject matter expertise. Collaboration across the institution will provide the guidance needed to strike this balance.

Evolving your institutional operating model to optimize shared services in 2026 can pay handsome dividends. By keeping these success factors in mind, you can increase your odds of long-term sustainability.

Contact TSI at tsi@transforming.com to learn how we help institutions navigate these transformations.

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By Dan Feely, TSI President and Managing Partner

Digital transformation projects should be straightforward: select a system, implement it, and improve how the business operates. In reality, they often take longer than expected, cost more than planned, and leave leaders wondering, “Why was this so hard?”

After supporting more than 100 major ERP, CRM, and digital transformation initiatives, we’ve seen the same challenges surface again and again. And as organizations increasingly layer in analytics, automation, and AI, the cost of getting the fundamentals wrong only grows.

Specifically in this post, I’ll highlight the top 3 factors that arise that make digital transformation programs and initiatives more of a challenge than they should be.  Also, we’ve shared a few thoughts about what you can do to prevent or mitigate a less than positive situation related to the factors.

The 3 Biggest Blockers to Digital Transformation Success:

1. Lack of a Big Picture Perspective

Many organizations struggle to articulate how people, processes, and systems should work together in the future state.

As Chris Detloff, Director of Transformation at the Archdiocese of Chicago, puts it: “Transformation leaders must take a solution-based approach — people, process, and technology.”

When technology decisions lead the conversation, transformation efforts lose focus and momentum.

Here is a practical move:

• Create a high-level future-state process map before selecting tools
• Define a small set of business-critical outcomes that the transformation must achieve

As AI-enabled tools enter the picture, this clarity becomes even more important. AI should support clearly defined workflows and decisions, not introduce new complexity without purpose.

2. Unclear Process Details. How Will Work Actually Flow?

Having a vision is not enough. Organizations must understand how work is done today and how it needs to change. 

Process mapping clarifies who does what, where automation makes sense, and where inefficiencies exist. Without this foundation, advanced tools, including AI, often accelerate existing problems rather than solve them.

Practical move:

• Map current-state processes before designing future-state solutions
• Use customer or stakeholder experience to inform requirements

Applying automation to poorly understood processes rarely delivers meaningful improvement.

3. Weak Execution Discipline — The Project Doesn’t Run Itself

Transformation initiatives fail when accountability, ownership, and governance are unclear.

As Kerri S. Wagner, President & CEO of PharmChem, notes, complex implementations involve many actors, shifting priorities, and competing demands. Without disciplined project leadership, momentum stalls.

AI-driven initiatives raise the stakes even further, impacting roles, data ownership, and decision rights.

Practical move:

• Assign dedicated project leadership
• Establish clear governance and escalation paths
• Treat change management as a core workstream, not an afterthought

A Reality Check for 2026: Data and Decisions Matter More Than Tools

Most transformation failures are not software failures; they are data and decision failures.

Poor data quality, unclear ownership, and weak governance undermine even the most capable platforms. AI amplifies these weaknesses just as much as it amplifies opportunity.

Final Thought

Digital transformation succeeds when leaders treat it as a business redesign, not a software installation.

Organizations that align vision, process detail, disciplined execution, and data readiness are the ones that realize lasting value.

Want to pressure-test your organization’s readiness? Explore TSI’s free Change Readiness Survey and see where your transformation stands.

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I have to admit, as sure as that HBR article just over 34 years ago by Michael Hammer, Reengineering Work: Don’t Automate, Obliterate (FROM THE JULY–AUGUST 1990 ISSUE) sparked my interest in this area and sent a lightning bolt of perspective change through a wide variety of organizations, I was wondering if there was another article or trend that somehow I missed that no longer made being efficient relevant.

From our experience, working with some of the fastest growing companies, as well as progressive higher education institutions, looking at how to make or keep an organization focused on efficiency, quality, customer satisfaction and profitability has never been more relevant.  But, to be fair, a lot of things have changed in the past 34+ years.

From TSI’s perspective, here are the top 5 things that have happened to process improvement over the years:

1. It has evolved and now incorporates User Experience (UX), Customer Experience (CX), Transformation or another synonym. Plenty of process definition and analysis is still being done, but it’s done with a greater awareness of what the total experience is.  Further, many organizations are more holistic, looking not just at processes (or operations) but people, culture, technology, strategy, metrics and a number of other dimensions. This is one of my favorite ways that PI has evolved.
2. Tightly coupled with ERP, CRM and other major systems – years back, many organizations optimistically and naively assumed their new ERP/CRM would fix their processes automatically. “We’ll just implement the same processes that (insert Software Product/Vendor name) implemented in (insert similar company name) and we’ll be fine”. Sadly, these organizations learned this is a fallacy and implementing an ERP without looking at processes is a recipe for disaster or just wasting a lot of time and money.
3. Process Renovation – Some organizations are taking a fresh look at the processes that have been re-engineered 10-20 years ago. In some cases, as their business model has changed with acquisitions, divestitures etc. and they realized that it is time to take another hard look at how they operate.  Just because you did this in 2005, does not mean you shouldn’t do it again.
4. Nothing – believe it or not, some organizations missed that wave 34 years ago and still haven’t taken a fresh review of how they operate. Unfortunately in many industries such as retail, publishing, higher education, pharma, high technology manufacturing and many others, we have seen the peril of failing to proactively streamline processes, systems and customer experiences.
5. Lean/Continuous Improvement/Six Sigma Culture – some organizations have reaped the rewards and feel strongly that a periodic review of how they operate is one of the most differentiating characteristics in the marketplace. They strive to be “Operationally Excellent” in all aspects of their business from how they go to market, develop products/services, hire new employees, pay vendors, service customers.

Your Call to Action

In summary, after 34 years, this notion of “process re-engineering” that was set in motion by an article describing a project at Ford Motor Company is alive and thriving.  Granted, this is taking on more adaptive and holistic dimensions, but I would ask you to contemplate the following:

When is the last time you reviewed how your company is to do business with through the eyes of your customers?  When is the last time you analyzed these areas?  When is the last time you had an outsider who is committed to telling the truth, assess your organization? 

TSI (transforming.com) is a leading performance improvement, process re-engineering, technology strategy and organization change management consulting firm based in Chicago. We collaborate with our progressive growth-oriented and higher education clients to define and implement recommendations that help our clients become more efficient, cost effective, higher quality and more customer focused.  Dan Feely is the founder of TSI and can be reached at dfeely@transforming.com

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Transforming Solutions Inc. (TSI), was engaged by a Southwest University Health Science Center to create an organizational culture of continuous improvement. As background, the institution is one of the nation’s premier graduate academic medical centers, with five schools that specialize in patient-centered education, research and health care. They are part of the University system. 

Spearheaded by the Chief People Officer, the University sought to explore new ways to address problems and continuously improve through guidance and training to transform the institution into one that embraces LEAN and Agile in an employee-centric and pragmatic way. 

Starting with pockets of exposure to Agile and LEAN methodologies, the University wanted TSI to help the overall organization take this, along with other cultural attributes (such as their vision, mission and values) and transform the culture to improve quality and gain efficiencies. 

TSI’s Approach and Role

Approach

To accomplish the identified goals, TSI engaged in the following:

• In the initial phase, the University sought to develop and prioritize processes for improvement and initial process improvement implementation for critical need areas to help build a business case with proven effectiveness and value for further buyin. This work intended to implement and share best practices and training with internal LEAN coaches and key stakeholders for process improvement, establish a usable, sustainable communication plan, evaluate improvements through metrics, and estimate return on investment for the improvement initiatives.
• In the second phase, TSI was asked to develop a Continuous Improvement methodology to be shared with University staff through training with follow up coaching. This methodology was intended to be sustainable and usable for improvement initiatives across the University. 

TSI collaborated with the University Leadership Team to identify and prioritize business processes to implement a practice-based training and mentoring program to enhance LEAN and Agile understanding and development of implementation skills. TSI created a training program for continuous improvement and led a cohort of leaders through process improvement methodology using processes that were identified as critical processes including Budgets, Contract Administration, HR Hiring, and the University Leadership as a pilot. Once the pilot was complete, phase two was implemented that provided full training and mentoring to the cohort for implementation of business process improvement and other continuous improvement strategies throughout the University Health Center and coaching for growth and development for future Continuous Improvement sustainability at the University.

Role

TSI served as a methodologist, project manager, continuous improvement leader, trainer, coach, and facilitator throughout this project. TSI provided and tailored its methodology as the basis for the methodology that is currently in place. After that, TSI evaluated trainees and quality of deliverables after they were trained and did a variety of “hands on” activities to get familiar with the tools. 

Results

This project was viewed as a huge success. Based on TSI’s involvement the University achieved the following:

• Developed and used a repeatable methodology to use on areas deemed “ripe for improvement”
• Took dozens of areas through the methodology which resulted in hundreds of improvement ideas implemented
• Trained over a dozen practitioners thus improving their skillsets
• Realized tangible savings, from the improvement ideas mentioned above, that resulted in hard dollar savings of over $1 million dollars annually.

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Our Love-Hate Relationship with Technology

Technology – most of us continue to have a love-hate relationship with technology. Whether it’s simply your phone that choose to update itself and cancel an important alarm, enterprise technology that does not meet your needs or creates a clumsy user experience, the various components that we rely on rarely seem to be operating in a manner that makes our life easier. 

Regardless of whether you are playing a key role at a growth-oriented corporation or within a thriving university, there is a great chance that when it comes to technology, you may be experiencing one of the following emotions:

1. Frustrated with the Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Enterprise Systems (ERP), Finance and Accounting, Student Information Systems, Order Management Systems and others that are in place.   And on top of that, you are starting to think about your next move as you are losing confidence in vendors/solutions  ability to meet most of your organization’s needs.
2. Overwhelmed because your organization has acquired many applications over the years. Perhaps the excessive applications were the result of an acquisition. Regardless of the cause, the effect is that there are too many to work with and they do NOT work together.
3. Confused and Stuck as your organization may have implemented a new system in the last 5 years, give or take, but for some reason, your organization is NOT that efficient. You still rely heavily on spreadsheets and information resides in quite a few locations.
4. Cautiously Optimistic with Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Enterprise Systems (ERP), Finance and Accounting, Student Information Systems, Order Management Systems and others that are in the process of being implemented. You feel the process and participation has been effective and you are holding out hope that when it comes time to “go live”, you can realize the benefits that have been anticipated.
5. Excited with the new system; it is up and running and you are seeing the value already.
6. Let Down with the new system. You have “gone live” and it’s not what was promised.  The results are very disappointing.

Take Action to Take Control

As context, during any given year, Transforming Solutions is involved with a few dozen projects that surround mapping processes, defining requirements, creating use cases, assembling business requirement documents (BRDs), performing software evaluations and selections, reviewing software and services contacts, assessing complex technology portfolios and application architectures.  We have been assisting our clients in these areas for over 20 years.  It the risk of sounding boastful, we evaluate more technology in a year than most professionals do in their career.

The purpose of this blog is to share a few best practices and trends that we see (or in some cases, don’t see), in the hopes that you can take control of your situation and drive greater alignment, efficiency and quality to create a better user experience and realize the intended benefits.

Here are the Top 5 Actions that frequently get discussed but rarely get executed properly.

1. Using Process as a Differentiator – Surprisingly, we still see few organizations map out their processes and think about how they want their processes to work. I know, I know- this is basic, but few dive into the important detail and think through how the underlying technology should make that process come to life in the most efficient and effective manner possible.

There have been numerous, well-circulated white papers and case studies, yet this shortcoming persists.  Of course, this task takes time and discipline.  But as we say, “an ounce of process design is worth a pound of implementation”.  Organizations that invest in spending a handful of hours doing this activity realize a payoff in having a cleaner, more aligned process and application design.

2. Define a Business Case and Follow up the Expected Benefits – it seems that most frequently, organizations estimate costs to acquire software and implement the various products that are associated with that implementation. Based on our experience, more time is spent on the cost estimation side than the potential benefits.  The reason costs, rather than benefits, are an area of emphasis is logical – costs will be defined and included in a contract, benefits will not.  Benefits are harder to estimate, and, in many areas, they are “squishy” – hard to nail down and quantify.  There is an overall reluctance to define these, for the natural fear of senior executives wanting these benefits to be guaranteed.

From Transforming Solution’s perspective, as hard as the task of estimating benefits is, it is one that, without turning it into an incredibly time-consuming process, is essential. At least categorically, we need to define answers to these questions below.

1. 1. How do you envision the processes should become more efficient?
   2. How will quality and/or accuracy improve?
   3. How can speed or response time get better?
   4. How will the lives of prospective customers, customers, other constituents and employees improve?
   5. Will costs go down?
   6. What legacy systems can we retire?
   7. How will the new system help us scale?
   8. What other benefits (e.g., increased revenue) are fair to expect?

The primary reason for this centers on the need to have a clear “definition of success”. When we do that, after the implementation is completed and the users have overcome the natural learning curve, we can revisit these questions to assess how successful we were.

3. Establish a Partnership with the Primary Vendors – A great implementation is a function of many factors, not the least of which is the role played by the primary vendor or vendors who provide and implement the software. Many of the successful implementations we see and, at times are part of, have a fair agreement that covers expectations (at times in the form of a service level agreement) in many areas.

Here are a few questions that often get missed:

• • When will vendors and project participants be onsite?
  • How detailed are the requirements and what is the format of the BRD?
  • Is this oriented on the current or the future state of the processes and organization?
  • Who from the client will arbitrate differences in direction and requirements that naturally exist between different key stakeholders? How quickly will these issues get resolved and what latitude do you give the vendors with respect to deadlines and milestones?
  • Who is taking the lead for data conversion? What and how is this occurring?
  • How will turnover, both for the client and the vendor, be handled?

4. Leverage the process work in Design Sessions, Training and the Business Case and as part of Organizational Change Management (OCM) – Well-documented future state process work can be an important asset for months and years to come. We are seeing (and recommending) this documentation be used as an important input to design sessions and to help set the context for training sessions.  Utilizing BOTH the process work and answers to the eight questions above within training and as part of the OCM plan (addressing the “what’s in it for me”) is incredibly important to answer the natural “why should we do it this way” questions that will arise.

5. Treat the Project with the same energy and enthusiasm as a major new product, service or division launch – So often, when folks start talking about assembling a team for an effort to support a major system replacement, it parallels the impending fatigue similar to a journey around the world….on a mule…while dragging an anvil…through the desert. You get the picture.  People are NOT leaping for joy – especially those that have been through a similar project that has gone awry.

Instead, what if we treated this type of project with care and intent, like one planning the launch of an exciting new product?  We almost NEVER see this, but slowly, with some progressive organizations, we are starting to see a shift in their mindset. Taking a “launch” mindset can have a major impact on the OCM culture and mindset along with the entire project approach.

Give us Feedback, please

We would love to hear your comments.  What do you experience in this area?   What “best practices” have you seen?  Please contact us and let us know.

The post The Top 5 Actions to Start Making Your Technology Work for You appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..

By some estimates, over 20 million Americans are starting and operating new businesses. The good news is, these brave entrepreneurs can harness easy to use and economical cloud-based apps/tools like Salesforce, Workday, and NetSuite to enable important functions and activities like sales, finance and collaboration right out of the gate. For the start-ups that grow and survive, more sophisticated enterprise resource planning (ERP) software will be needed to support and control the business and better serve customers.

Some key signs that you may need to consider an ERP system include the inability to easily obtain critical information about your business from a multitude of separate applications and an increasingly difficult time producing reliable and timely financial results.

The Cloud has made it possible for companies as small as $1 million in sales to access ERP capabilities for a reasonable investment. But buyer beware, many ERP implementations still fail to deliver the needed capabilities on time and on budget.

As your business ascends the growth curve on its way to future stardom, here are 5 tips to significantly raise your odds of success when choosing and implementing an ERP system:

1. Be prepared – Define your core business processes and mission-critical business requirements before choosing a system. Understand how they will most likely change as you grow. You shouldn’t buy a new car without understanding your current and future needs and choosing ERP software should be no different.
2. Consider the Cloud and then consider it again – This advice applies to small and large companies alike. Gone are the days where you will need your own hardware, software and IT staff to maintain it all. The Cloud reduces your up-front investment, minimizes the number of support people you need to hire, and gives you the flexibility to migrate to better options much faster in the future.
3. Consider more than one Cloud application to meet your functional needs – The typical middle-market ERP implementation can include 3 or more Cloud-based applications. The good news is that  integration platforms such as Dell Boomi and Jitterbit make the integration of Cloud software easier than ever before. When sourcing project assistance, check to make sure your technology partners have recent integration experience and expertise.
4. Hire consultants to fill skill gaps and manage risk – This sounds self-serving but it’s not. I have been in more than one start-up and high growth company – there are many hats to wear and there never seems to be enough time to build systems and necessary capabilities. Furthermore, your expertise – product, R&D, raising capital, serving customers – is probably not designing, selecting and installing an ERP system. Software providers will offer their own implementation consultants or trusted integration partners to help get the job done. If you are going to spend over $100,000 for an ERP solution, consider part-time or full-time help from an independent consultant with no ties to the ERP software providers. Your ROI and peace of mind will make it a worthwhile investment. Click here to learn more about our technology assessment and strategy framework.
5. Fix your implementation fee and pay on milestones – Avoid time and materials based contracts. Back to the car shopping analogy, get at least three fixed price bids and insist on a warranty to cover major issues. As part of your fixed price contract, pay for completed work based on the quality of key deliverables and the attainment of major milestones (e.g., blueprint complete, acceptance testing done, go-live date met). Make sure the software vendor and any integration partners have skin in the game. Finally, a good consultant can help you negotiate the best price and service terms for all aspects of your ERP deal.

One thing is for sure, the technology world and ERP space will continue to rapidly evolve and change.

Following these tips will help assure your ultimate success and improve your ability to serve your customers. Contact TSI to discuss your specific needs and to learn more.

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When evaluating your business operating model, strategy and goals, here are five critical success factors to keep in mind for optimizing shared services and achieving the next level of performance.

1. Culture – when many SSCs started, it was essential to create a SSC culture focused on operating like a profit-oriented business. This remains mission critical, but despite 20+ years of experience in this arena, the concept is still elusive for some organizations. SSC leaders play key roles in articulating, selling and bringing to life the vision and SSC value proposition for customers and employees alike. Most internal business units will continue to sign-up for shared services, if (and usually ONLY if) they can achieve a steady track record of lower costs, relevant subject matter expertise, and world class service.

As part of the culture, processes must be re-designed and people continually incented to relentlessly focus on the ultimate customer, as well as their changing needs. As part of your culture and operating plan, build in competitive benchmarking and significant training to facilitate achievement of your specific, clearly-defined goals.

2. Continuous Improvement (CI) – this is a huge driver of success. It is no secret that SSC customers want lower costs and responsive service. How do you get there? Another main role of a SSC leader is to own end-to-end processes and focus on continuous improvement to deliver what customers need. Click here to visit TSI’s Process Improvement page for more information. Leveraging ISO, Six Sigma, Quick Change, and other CI frameworks will provide ample ROI, SSC employee ownership, and drive results in this area.

A key point here – measure, measure, and measure again. Balanced metrics and broad-based communication of successful performance milestones will sell your value and keep all stakeholders focused on the goals and activities that matter most.

3. Technology and the Cloud – go all in to leverage technology and the cloud. The options and possibilities are ever-evolving and complex – ERP, CRM, eCommerce, workflow, AI, mobile apps, predictive analytics, data visualization, bar coding, cloud integration, Google apps, and the list goes on… Bottom line here, you can’t afford to not have an up to date technology strategy and plan to generate top-box performance through automation, innovation, and technology utilization. Create a truly differentiating customer experience – Click here to visit TSI’s Customer Experience Training page for more information. Finally, spreading the costs and benefits across multiple business units, functions and channel partners lessens the risk and increases the odds of achieving the required benefits.

4. Service Level Agreements (SLAs) – this is a necessary continuation of CI from above. SLA’s will drive CI and customer satisfaction. It is a very worthwhile exercise to develop and iterate comprehensive SLAs – including: in-scope services, ad-hoc requests, agreed service turn-around times, quality of outputs, roles and responsibilities, metrics, cost/pricing, issue reporting and escalation, dispute resolution and other special requirements. Integrate SLAs into the culture via training, measurement, and rewards. Be careful, there is a real balancing act to assure SLAs are neither too complex nor overly simplified.

5. Local/Regional/Global Centers of Excellence (COE’s) – this is one of the more challenging elements of an organization’s operating model. It poses several questions, including – What are our core competencies? What functions and services should be shared locally, regionally, or globally? What geographies should they be located in and why? What are the risks involved? And, can certain sub-processes or activities be virtual outside of a main SSC? Naturally, as processes become standardized and routine, they are candidates for shifting to lower cost COE’s and geographies (e.g., APAC). However, for processes like Tax, a local level of subject matter expertise is required. The answers to these questions depends in large part on an organization’s geographic footprint, knowledge of a specific country’s legal, political and regulatory environments, as well as a host of many other issues. Collaboration with multiple business and channel partners can help provide guidance and direction here.

Evolving your operating model to optimize shared services and take advantage of new tools, practices and opportunities can pay handsome dividends. Keeping in mind the above critical success factors will greatly increase your odds of success. Contact TSI at tsi@transforming.com to learn more.

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By Dan Feely, TSI President and Managing Partner

Maybe you are like I am and periodically embark on some home renovation project.  And, like most projects, they take longer, cost more, while leaving you with a feeling like “this should have been easier”, when you look back at the contributing factors for the delays and cost overruns.  There are a lot of similarities with a home renovation project and a major system implementation.  But since home renovation is not my business, I don’t profess to have all the answers there.  However, when it comes to digital transformation and ERP, CRM, and other major system implementations, I have a lot more expertise to draw from.  Here we will share some knowledge and experience we’ve gained while being involved with well over 100 major digital transformation and systems implementation projects collectively.

Specifically in this post, I’ll highlight the top 3 factors that arise that make digital transformation programs and initiatives more of a challenge than they should be.  Also, we’ve shared a few thoughts about what you can do to prevent or mitigate a less than positive situation related to the factors.

3 Top Blockers that Impede Digital Transformation Efforts:

1. Lack of a “Big Picture” Perspective
2. Not Having a Handle on Critical Details – How Will the Work Flow?
3. The Project Does NOT just Happen

First, let’s draw a distinction between the two typical approaches organizations take with systems implementations:

1. Focus simply on replacing an old system with a new one (also known as “lift and shift”).  This is a bare bones approach with most of the focus being put on the technology replacement and little to no attention to transforming the business, changing processes or roles.  While this may seem like the quick, easy, and cost-effective way to improve, we believe that there is no such thing as the easy button in digital transformation. There will always be data and setup challenges (just like our renovation example above) and preparing for them may be the difference between success and failure. TSI typically does not endorse this approach, but there are circumstances when this is warranted. The infographic at right highlights the most pervasive challenges that haunt lift and shift types of projects.
2. Digital transformation using the new system as a catalyst to change how the organization operates.  This approach will do a much better job in ensuring maximum value is extracted from the technology investment and has potential to significantly improve the organization. However, there is still complexity and risks to be aware of. Due to the number of “moving parts”, organizational change risks and other factors, this article is focused on this scenario and how to mitigate those risks. 

Below are some of the top reasons (in addition to those just listed) that make it challenging for a digital transformation project and pragmatic tips to address these challenges.

1. Lack of a “Big Picture” Perspective: Don’t have an understanding of how the systems, processes and people will work in the “new environment”. 

Chris Detloff, a very experienced veteran of many ERP implementations and the Director of Transformation for the Archdiocese of Chicago, has this to say, “In today’s historic era of accelerating market and technology disruptions that impact our lives in every way, transformation leaders must take a solution-based approach to transformation to be successful. Unfortunately, many transformation initiatives fail for the following reasons:

• Leading with technology instead of a solution-based approach (people, process, and technology)
• Lacking an agile, flexible, and collaborative operating model with well-established capabilities for their organization
• Partnering with professionals who lack proven transformation experience.”

Chris has been one of the most visionary leaders that TSI has worked with, and we echo his thoughts.  One way to put this into practice is by starting with a high-level context level process map that gives some clarity with respect to the project scope (see simple example below), the technology that is needed, even if the technology will get acquired and implemented a piece at a time.

In addition to this overview map, we also need to define the key “use cases” and supporting business case that articulates the stakeholder’s expected benefits associated with the transformation effort.  This perspective needs to be kept as a central theme during the project to help maintain focus and keep the project aimed toward a finite set of specific targets.

2. Not Having a Handle on Critical Details – How Will the Work Flow?

In addition to the “big picture” perspective mentioned above, an organization needs to have a solid understanding how the key processes (and key scenarios) will work.  Have you thought about your desired customer experience and used that perspective to inform your processes and key requirements?  If not, you have a little more work today. 

To start working toward an ideal future state operating model that leverages functional technology and makes you more efficient, it is imperative to start by mapping out the current state processes. Conducting business process mapping and improvement sessions help bring clarity to a process, including who is involved, whether activities are manual or automated, and necessary action to improve efficiencies. Business process mapping is a forward-thinking action aimed to understand what is happening now in a process, why it is happening, and what is desired to happen in the future. Below is a sample template of a business process map.

3. The Project Does NOT Just Happen

Kerri S. Wagner President & CEO, PharmChem, Inc. has this to say as she and her organization recently implemented a cloud-based ERP, “System implementations are harder than they should be because there are so many actors involved. Action items can get pushed back for weeks at a time due to employee shifting and job changes, and sometimes project knowledge isn’t transferred effectively, so the scoping must begin again. It can be frustrating when the system doesn’t end up doing what it was scoped to do without several months of specialized and costly development.  These frustrations can be eased if a company assigns a dedicated project manager to oversee all the moving parts. If one is not on staff, hiring an outside consultant will ease the pain and ensure the project gets over the finish line.”

According to John Bosshart, Chief Accounting Officer at OneSpan Inc. in Chicago, “Change management and upgrading systems are more difficult than people first realize.  Not only does your team have their day jobs but also need to carry out critical analysis, testing, and new sox controls with these new systems.  These are exciting projects but can also be extremely stressful on everyone in the project.”

Use These Factors to Direct Your Success

Just like that remodeling project I mentioned earlier, even if you are not a skilled worker that is transforming a facility or building out the new space, it takes time (usually more than you’d expect) to articulate what you want, what you think you need, design the solution, oversee how the development is coming along, keep your needs in line with what you originally asked for, provide timely feedback and finally, when the time is right, move into the new space.  

New systems and digital transformation projects are no different.  Being attentive, responsive, and present during a project like this, AND doing your day job well is extremely hard to do.

While there is a myriad of hurdles, with the right focus and assistance, please know that you can get over all of these.  Your project does not need to be another statistic on the log of failed or significantly underdelivered projects. Use this information as an input to your approach.  And if you are feeling extra resourceful, check out a tool that many of our clients have found to be useful.  The tool, beyond the insights above that may help, is TSI’s Change Readiness Survey (free for your use), to help assess whether your organizational change management factors are aligned.

Take this individually or share it with your team.  Take it, compare scores, and see if your organization is ready to embark on a major change effort, such as a digital transformation or even a “lift and shift” from an old to a new system.  

What perspectives can you add to this?  We’d love to hear from you and your digital transformation experiences.

The post The Challenges of Digital Transformation appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..

Digital transformation is a popular phrase not only in business but in the world today. Pushed by customer demand, rapid advances in technology, a proliferation of data availability and value, and the covid-19 pandemic, those looking to survive and thrive in today’s world are focused on becoming more digital. We all know the benefits of digital transformation. But do we know the key elements that will help this transformation be successful and sustainable? At TSI, we value all the elements of transformation (our name is Transforming Solutions after all!) but 3 elements are key to ensuring the success of your transformation efforts.

1. Don’t Forget the Processes
2. Consider the Customer Experience
3. Ensure sustainability with OCM

Don’t Forget the Processes

Digital transformation takes on many forms and brings with it the opportunity for cost reduction, service excellence, and quality improvement. Maximizing the realization of these gains requires more than just installing a new technology and expecting to start living the high life! A failure to examine processes for opportunities to leverage the new technology will likely result in a true “lift and shift” where the organization is operating the same process, just in a new and more expensive technology. The ultimate loss here, in addition to risking the success of the transformation, is a decrease in the ROI for the new technology, effectively wasting the investment.

Well designed future state processes will strengthen the digital transformation by resolving past areas of waste, bottlenecks, and inefficiencies. Handoffs will be clean, workflows will improve speed and effectiveness, and metrics will be collected to drive continuous improvement. The outcome? A future state that maximizes ROI and is truly transformative.

Consider the Customer Experience

Great, so you’ve taken a look at your processes, resolved your pain points, and have a solid picture of how your operation will work post digital transformation. But did you look at these improvements through the lens of those that will stand to benefit or lose the most? That group being customers, both internal and external. Adoption is all but guaranteed if the users help design and understand the new technology as internal and external customers. The interface must be intuitive, easy to use, and provide maximum value to customers. Otherwise, repeat use and repeat business will struggle to grow.

Successfully considering and incorporating Customer Experience ensures all of the hard work to design and implement is fruitful. This successful design will consider and incorporate a robust set of requirements for the transformation. As a result, these provide a comprehensive picture of the need.

Ensure sustainability with OCM

With digital transformation, process improvement, and technology implementation, a failure to consider organizational change management (OCM) and the impact on company culture is very difficult to overcome in the success of the implementation. We often see organizations neglect this consideration or do a ‘light’ version of OCM. Often the outcome is increased implementation cost, lower adoption rates, delays in implementation, and damage to company culture. 

However, utilizing a strong and comprehensive OCM plan instantly improves the chances of success for the digital transformation. For our engagements, this includes a change readiness assessment, clear communication plan, messaging from top down, providing the opportunity for organizational involvement and feedback, evaluation of the ongoing success, and the agility to adjust elements for continued success.

So What Does It All Mean For Digital Transformation?

Digital transformation can mean a lot of different things. Whether it is a modern system implementation (ERP, CRM, SIS), installing a customer portal, automating your operations, boosting supply chain management with technology, or optimizing your digital footprint, there are several elements to consider for success. We’ve touched on 3 key elements here: process, customer experience, and OCM. Others include the organization’s strategic plan, selection of the ideal software partner based on requirements, and implementation management. If you’d like to discuss how any of these may impact your digital transformation, reach out to Transforming Solutions.

The post Digital Transformation: 3 Key Elements for Successful and Sustainable Implementation appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..

TSI was selected for several projects at The Archdiocese of Chicago.  First, TSI led the implementation of Blackbaud’s Luminate Online solution to satisfy their need for a contemporary online giving and e-communication management platform. Transforming Solutions was selected to manage this implementation to ensure on-time and on-budget delivery of the product.

TSI was also engaged to define and improve financial and gift receipt and reporting processes.  We leveraged our methodology that included program management, current state process mapping and analysis, future state process development, development of applicable policies, and change management. The outcome was a platform and a comprehensive set of online procedures related to online giving. This capability, in turn, helps the Archdiocese of Chicago better engage with constituents, strengthen its mission, and ultimately increase revenue.

Transforming Solutions worked closely with key stakeholders, C-level management, 3rd party vendors, and end-users to ensure a successful implementation. This included facilitating working sessions to map and review the current state of online giving-related processes, defining the ideal future state of these processes, and developing supporting documentation.  

Overall, the project successfully implemented a number of online giving forms with a seamless user experience, event registration, email functionality, and procedures over the course of 8 months. A data sync between the online giving platform and the database of record is also in place as part of the implementation, giving the Archdiocese more accurate and rapidly available data to drive strategic decisions and strengthen controls. Additionally, TSI conducted several ‘Voice of the Donor’ sessions that provided input of actual donors into the implementation of the technology.  

The implementation transformed the Archdiocesan ability to connect with donors via a digital platform.  Not only are donors able to give online but are also receiving more correspondence regarding the opportunity to engage further. While they were previously sending 5-6 messages per year, with Luminate Online the Archdiocese of Chicago was able to distribute 10 messages in just 3 months to just under a million donor contacts. This level of engagement generated excitement both outside and within the organization, building strong momentum for future phases of implementation.

Careful management of the project resulted in on time and under budget completion, a feat that had not been accomplished at the Archdiocese in recent memory. Furthermore, it was unknown at the time of completion, but the online functionality became instrumental in the management of the coronavirus crisis. Because of the success of the implementation, the Archdiocese was well-positioned to provide online giving functionality to parishes without such a solution. The result was an ability to continue to collect weekly contributions and special COVID-19 fund collections to support those in need.

Luminate Online has brought in over $9.4m across 60k transactions using 7 different online forms. 70 email blasts have been distributed, for 4.7m emails sent. Furthermore, the Archdiocese has added 210k contacts to the database, a 50% increase in contacts overall.

As the spring of 2020 saw the impact of covid-19 increase, the implementation of Luminate Online led to the recognition of the need for a mobile app-based engagement and online giving platform. Key to the success of this platform was ensuring that it would be easy to manage and provide the functionality to support the parishes’ effort to engage at a time when in-person worship was not possible. Using TSI’s vendor evaluation and selection process, Pushpay was identified as the preferred provider.

A successful pilot implementation effort was launched and completed in the fall of 2020. This tool has empowered and enabled the parish to connect and fund-raise in a way previously unavailable. Benefits included a centralized place for communication, a streamlined giving process, and improved process efficiency leveraging workflows and administrator dashboards and reporting. In just 3 and a half months of use, one parish has collected over $15,000 in online gifts alone.

This is just one illustration of how TSI not only ensures a successful technology implementation but also boosts the value of your investment.  

The post Developing and Implementing Next-Generation Processes and Technology appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..