More often than not, transformation initiatives have resulted in disappointment when promised benefits are not realized. The crux of the problem is the failure of those involved to recognize process as a foundation block for any transformation. If this key point is overlooked up front, the prospects of Benefit Realization quickly dim, smothered in an avalanche of missteps, misguided intentions and “sunk cost” investments in technology.

1. R E E N G I N E E R I N G
Harnessingthepowerof
ProcessinTransformation
More often than not, transformation initiatives have resulted in disappointment
when promised benefits are not realized. The crux of the problem is the failure of
those involved to recognize process as a foundation block for any transformation.
If this key point is overlooked up front, the prospects of Benefit Realization quickly
dim, smothered in an avalanche of missteps, misguided intentions and “sunk cost”
investments in technology.
The history of corporate management suggests that no one
gets fired for hiring a strategic consulting team armed with
all the possible models, frameworks and tools to realize
the benefits of successful transformation. However, there
have been ample examples of ruined businesses and careers
for not successfully implementing a very feasible dream of
“Transformation”. Research1
continues to demonstrate that the
top 5 reasons for failure are:
• Not having a shared Vision
• Process Design is done after Technology has already been
selected or, worse, already initiated work
• Not being able to use Data and convert it into Insights
• Silo mentality of different departments or business lines
• Not engaging employees or including them in change
This whitepaper creates the case for a looking at business
transformation approaches with a new lens, and to relook at
the way pillars of transformation are brought together.
Shattereddreams,unrealizedpotential
The numbers are powerful: 93% of ERP implementations take
longer than anticipated, 59% of implementations cost more
than budgeted and only 21% of the initiatives attained 50%
or more of their projected benefits5
. Most of the large scale
transformation initiatives fail to meet their stated goals of
budget, time or ROI due to a multitude of reasons. “We did not
have the right project team for the implementation“; “The tool
lacked the capability”; “Our business model is unique” are just
some of the reasons commonly cited. But if one digs deeper
a pattern emerges: Research indicates the leading factor for
project failure is the lack of adequate investment in managing
the people side of transformation2
. When coupled with an
inadequate and outdated process design, filled with exceptions
and shortcuts, it creates a perfect storm. Transformation
initiatives at this point enter the metaphorical “valley of death”,
which really means business performance falls (B), project
timelines get extended and projects overrun budgets (A).
(Illustration 1)
Aamir Masood
Assistant Vice President ,
Reengineering
Vaibhav Bisen
Assistant Vice President,
Reengineering

2. To avoid these pitfalls, the project team must look beyond just IT
transformation to “Transformation.” The team needs to look at
a process design that maximizes the benefits that can be accrued
by the new IT system. It needs to build a feed-forward and
feed-back mechanism to develop a virtuous circle of interplay
between the IT system and the underlying business processes.
Finally, the project team needs to consider a third element: The
humans who use and operate these IT systems. The need is
not only to track project cost and timelines but also establish a
“realization” governance to track the benefits accrued by the
transformation initiative. The need, hence, is for a holistic view of
transformation which includes the business processes over which
the IT system is going to be deployed, the people who are going
to use the IT system to get the job done and the IT tool itself. deploying an IT tool, the amount of change to the underlying
business process is dependent on the culture prevalent
within an organization. This brings us to the second critical
ingredient… CHANGE MANAGEMENT.
Managing the people side of change: Organizations are
a sum total of the individual brilliance (or lack thereof) of the
people within that organization. Hence while transformation
leaders are allocating resources to the technical solution of the IT
tool and/or to improving the process capability of the underlying
business processes, they have to balance out the third corner
of the triangle. They have to invest in ensuring that the people
who will be impacted by this transformation are willing partners
to this change and not forced to accept it. While transformation
projects with minimal or low investment in change management
only managed to meet their stated objectives 17% of the times
this number jumps to over 85% for projects where this corner of
the triangle is adequately invested in2
.
Early in the planning phase, transformation leaders must
account for the change appetite and change fatigue of their
organization. By adopting a formal change methodology
transformation leaders have reaped dividends in the order of X.
The transformation team must launch a two-pronged approach
to managing change: Organizational change management and
individual change management. The organizational approach
is to look at the macro factors within the organization,
organizational culture, other competing change initiatives and
change fatigue to name but a few. The individual efforts are
focused more on making clear ‘what’s in it for me’ for the
individuals impacted by the change. The change team has to
work on a multi-pronged strategy relying on 6 critical factors –
leadership engagement, communication, training & coaching,
tools & techniques, active engagement and finally HR actions.
Technical solution and implementation plan: The third
corner (and often times the most invested in) is the technical
solution and the actual IT tool. The transformation teams do
spend considerable resources evaluating the IT tool. The critical
factor at this stage is to make the choice not on the basis
Ingredientsofasuccessfulrecipe
There are three ingredients to creating the perfect
transformation dish: the technical strength of the IT tool, the
process capability of the underlying business process and,
finally, the cultural and people readiness of an organization to
embark on the transformation journey.
Enhancing the process capability: The first step to any
transformation initiative has to be an understanding of the
current state, AS-IS understanding. Often, such understanding
is limited by the lack of a transformation leadership vision and
instead includes only a technical assessment of the current IT
landscape. The need is to go beyond the technical to look at
the fundamental business process itself. At this point successful
transformation leaders also ensure that a baseline of data is
created and that the process capability is documented and a
governance structure is established for benefits tracking. The
next logical step to be taken at this point is to improve the
process capability. Various improvement methodologies can be
used. Chief among these methodologies are typically Lean and
Six-Sigma. Benchmarking studies, as well as linkages to (and
impact of changes on) upstream and down-stream processes
must be taken into account. While it is important, critical and
necessary to look at process capability and improve it before
Process Before IT
TIME
P
E
R
F
O
R
M
A
N
C
E
“Go Live” Minimize A
Minimize B
Maximize C
Maximize D
A
B
C
D
IT Tool/Technical
Solution
Enhancing
the Process
cabability
Managing People
Side of Change
Illustration 1

3. of the features of one option or the other alone, but more
importantly, on what best works with the underlying business
process. One would not want to drive a fully-loaded Ferrari on
an off-road trip.
At this stage, the feed-forward and feedback loop set-up during
the process assessment or blue-printing exercise plays a pivotal
role. While the process assessment provides indicators and
constraints to look out for while making the tool evaluation,
the options and features of the tool itself spur the process
teams to redo the design, tweaking the blueprint to maximize
the effectiveness of the tool on offer. This approach, coupled
with a robust implementation plan maximizes ROI and ensures
transformation initiatives meet the time, budget and benefit goals.
Bringingpragmatismtotransformationdreams!
1. Go slow to go fast: (Requirement gathering and process
blue printing) One of the biggest lessons we have learnt
RFP bids. The successful programs have tested suppliers
by conducting outcome based proof of concepts before
committing for a long term engagement. It is equally
important to set the working principle among all stakeholders
that technology will enable benefit realization, but cannot
realize business benefits on its own.
3. Simplify and synchronize: (Integrated implementation)
Another learning which we have experienced is when
DesignTheFuture
StateProcessFirst…
‘Many have faltered by
putting the cart before
the horse’
Implement
theintegrated
solution-Process+
Technology.
“Eat the Elephant bite by
bite but know at all times
that you need to eat the
whole”
Evaluatewhich
Technologycanbest
enabletheprocess
Technology is just an
enabler, shy away from
“silver bullet” solutions
while partnering with our
clients for implementing
transformation is the
importance of sequencing
decision and prioritizing
end to end process design
before any Technology decision or work is initiated. It not
only mitigates the risk of “automating broken processes” but
also ensures “minimum disruption to service delivery during
implementation”. A rigorous, deliverable-based Business
Process Design phase early in the transformation substantially
fast tracks the Technology design and delivery and increases
potential to reap ROI benefits.
2. Consider technology an enabler, not a panacea:
(Technology evaluation and vendor selection) The shift from
business requirements to
Business Implementation
is crucial and sufficient
evaluation of Technology
and Implementation
partner (internal or
external) is crucial for
success. One of the two biggest mistakes we have seen
organization making is to select partners based on RFI/
organizations let the
functional teams run their
individual work-streams.
For example, a major
ERP program having an
IT stream, HR stream,
Process stream as separate
projects rather than having
one project with 3 delivery
streams. Having such silo work-streams – wherein each
function ends up focusing on providing “deliverables” rather
than achieving common business outcomes – not only creates
duplication of effort but also erodes team’s effectiveness
4. Sweat the investment: (Stabilization and continuous
improvement) Failing to track the benefits during stabilization
and not investing effort in enabling continuous improvement
surely leads to substantial reduction in ROI. It also limits
the potential of an organization to embark on any future
Requirement
Gathering
and
Process Blue
Printing
Technology
Evaluation
and
Vendor Selection
Integrated
implementation
Business Process Transformation Framework
Project Management and Change Management
Stabilization
and
Continuous
Improvement
Benefits Realization
and
Governance
1 2 3 4 5
6

4. transformation because
of change management
challenges. Any sequel of
a transformation project
must be preceded with an
exercise which satisfactorily
proves to the CFO and
COO that the process has
a mistake of overemphasizing the planning phase of the
transformation by putting their best resources in the planning
team, recruiting strategic and management consultants
for creating multiyear strategy and plans. Our experience
suggests that organizations do not place similar importance
and focus during the execution phase of the project. Then
they realize only towards the end that they are not able to
meet the goals they have set out for themselves. A granular,
tactical delivery approach with an equal emphasis on project
management and change management needs to compliment
the top-down strategic planning approach.
Conclusion
The totality of available data overwhelmingly proves that
transformations that are not backed by proper, upfront
process design are bound for disaster. Yes, the IT tool itself
and the implementation solution are critical elements of any
transformation. But the key ingredients every project team
needs for a successful transformation are process oriented.
A focus on process design maximizes the benefits of the IT
transformation (big or small). Likewise, a delivery plan must aim
to deliver value in small measurable terms rather than focusing
on “silver bullet” implementations. Finally, one must remain
mindful of the ever critical role of Change Management and
how important it is to ensure people are “part” of the change,
and not merely “subject” it.
..Anddon’tmiss
theContinuous
Improvement
Enablement
Milk the Cow (Investment)
till it is time to buy another
(Transformation 2.0)
reached it capability using the existing technology.
5. Benefits are the reason “WHY” we do the
transformation: (Benefits realization & governance) But,
our experience suggests that most of the organization
spends relatively very less time in estimating, reviewing
and tracking the “benefits” as compared to planning for
“Time” and “Cost.” A quick look at meeting schedule of
a Transformation program leaders or project managers will
provide a glimpse of how little time is spent on benefit
tracking in comparison to time spent on managing time
and cost. Successful transformation program spends equal
amount of time in estimating and tracking benefits as it does
for Time and Cost. Transformation team needs to be enabled
with a robust reporting framework which not only tracks
status of the gap between estimated versus actual benefits
but also links the underlying driver metrics with savings.
6. Planning is good, but execution is king: (Project
management & change management) Organizations make
“SuccessfulTransformationProgramsensuresfollowingquestionsarediscussed,
decidedandcommunicatedatthehighestlevelintheorganization”
• How will we ensure that performance drop during & after implementation is minimum & ROI is maximum?
• Are we putting the CART before HORSE during design phase?
• Is our IT Architect accompanied with Process Architect in planning session?
• Are we ensuring people have been on-boarded towards ONE common goal?

5. References:
1. Trends in Business Transformation Survey of European Executives - The Economist Intelligence Unit
2. “Best Practices in Change management” Prosci Benchmarking report 2013.
3. Change Agent Team, Mckinsey Quarterly
4. MIT- Study 2011 “Digital Transformation Review”
5. “July 2008, McKinsey Global Survey Results Organizational Transformation”
Bibliography
• “The Heart of Change” John P. Kotter and Dan S. Cohen – HBR.
• “Transformation Trends 2012 – Capgemini Consulting”
• Hammer, M., (1990). “Reengineering Work: Don’t Automate, Obliterate”, Harvard Business Review, July/August, pp. 104–112
• Michael Hammer, James A. Champy: (1993) Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution, Harper Business
Books, New York, 1993, ISBN 0-06-662112-7
Acknowledgement
• Illustration 1: S Bala - SVP Genpact Reengineering & Nitin Jain - VP Genpact Reengineering.
About Genpact
Genpact Limited (NYSE: G) is a global leader in transforming and running business
processes and operations. We help clients become more competitive by making their
enterprises more intelligent: more adaptive, innovative, globally effective and connected.
Genpact stands for Generating Impact for hundreds of clients including over 100 of the
Fortune Global 500. We offer an unbiased combination of smarter processes, analytics
and technology through our 60,000+ employees in 24 countries, with key management
based in New York City. Behind Genpact’s passion for process and operational excellence
is the Lean and Six Sigma heritage of a former General Electric division that has served
GE businesses for 15+ years.
For more information, visit www.genpact.com. Follow Genpact on Twitter, Facebook
and LinkedIn.
© 2013 Copyright Genpact. All Rights Reserved.
About the Authors:
Aamir Masood and Vaibhav Bisen are
Assistant Vice Presidents for global
reengineering services at Genpact. In their
role, they are responsible for leading business
transformation and process reengineering
initiatives to deliver business impact to
Genpact’s clients in Manufacturing & Services
(Americas region) and Banking, Financial
Services & Insurance Industry vertical (Africa
region) respectively.
To contact the authors, please write to:
aamir.masood@genpact.com or
vaibhav.bisen@genpact.com