Fuel value creation with accountability, alignment, and data

The promise that new technology brings is enticing to business leaders. Efficiency, increased profits, and new opportunities rush to mind. But technology initiatives don’t always provide value—and software and technology implementation are only effective when they create measurable value for your business. 

We believe creating value starts with data and accountability. This belief has shaped our approach, and it’s why we go beyond the traditional client relationship to form true partnerships. Only this environment creates the necessary accountability to ensure technology, processes, and change management efforts are aligned toward one goal: value creation. 

But it also raises a few questions:  

• Why is value creation so difficult to come by?  
• How does our approach allow clients to see value more quickly? 
• How does program measurement affect value creation? 

Aligning the team to ensure value creation

If you’ve ever tried to get a group of people to agree on a restaurant to eat at, you understand the complexity of group dynamics. Now consider trying to unify not just groups but whole departments. Proactive change management is the key to getting people excited about your value creation initiative and building the necessary momentum to get it to the finish line. Additionally, initiatives that create value require at least three other elements:  

1. Alignment between value drivers and the ideal (achievable) future state: Alignment is crucial to ensuring that results will be measured based on the same goals and that all efforts drive toward them.  
2. Resources to do baseline work: Getting a baseline before deploying new technologies is crucial to accurate measurement. Many lack the methodologies, tools, or resources to figure out baselines. 
3. Viewing technology as the complete solution: Without the processes, policies, roles, and operating models to support your initiatives, extracting value will be left up to chance and impossible to measure. 

Clients worry that the cost of their engagement will outweigh the value created by the work—and they’re often correct. That’s why we consider value creation the most important result of every partnership.  

How our approach supports value creation

Remember: The first challenge to most initiatives is establishing a clear vision and getting buy-in from the organization. That’s where our projects begin. We first work with leadership to document the following in our value creation session:  

• Vision of the transformation: This vision includes near-term and long-term goals, allowing us to have a clear roadmap for where you want to be at every stage in your journey.  
• Value objectives: This includes the results our partner wants to achieve from the short- and long-term implementation—with clear prioritization attached to each objective.  
• Specific KPIs: These metrics are the standard that everyone in the company will use to measure success. 
• Clear ownership: Accountability is key, and we establish early on who will own the metrics to ensure the project is sustainable. 

We’re not only setting goals during the process but also tying KPIs and value drivers back to actual returns. Our experience allows us to evaluate complementary technologies, data architecture, process optimization, and operating models as we develop the roadmap—leading to a solution that meets all the needs of a technology transformation.   

Another differentiator in our approach is that we don’t look at projects with a we-know-best mindset. We strive to help clients understand how different technologies will bring meaningful value and which skills they’ll need to effectively use the technology. We don’t tell clients what they should do. Instead, by listening to their needs, we use our expertise in technology enablement and value realization to bring the perspective and needed measurement capabilities for realizing our client's expectations. 

We’re a partner who stands by you before, during, and after your technologies go live—providing support in evaluating value-creation efforts and adding accountability through periodic check-ins. Our approach supplies everything you need for a successful transformation: accountability, alignment, and data. 

There’s always room for more value 

Creating value in your organization isn’t a one-and-done process. Once you have the tools in place to accurately measure how initiatives are performing, you can start making optimizations that lead to compounding value. West Monroe helps its partners understand which data to focus on—using change management to build support for data-driven business practices and developing the skills to effectively use data insights.  

If you want to create more value in your organization while ensuring your efforts will make a measurable impact, we can help. Let’s discuss how you can use data and technology for sustainable value creation.