Unleashing transformation: the power of strategic partnerships

For organisations that want to achieve real change, improve operations, deliver new services and products and exceed customer expectations, transformation isn’t optional – it’s crucial.

 

Regardless of whether that transformation is in digital, service, process or productivity, the goals are almost always the same: increase efficiency, reduce costs, respond to external challenges and macroeconomic pressures and enable sustainable growth.

 

It’s a complex process that many organisations can struggle with. Which is why working with a strategic partner on your transformation programme lets you capitalise on greater capacity, capability, and expertise on offer.

 

Creating fundamental change

 

Transformation programmes are a considerable undertaking, but done successfully they can profoundly reshape an organisation’s processes, technologies and culture, resulting in a significantly better customer experience. With a clear vision, defined objectives and expert execution, you can make a real difference to your efficiency and your bottom line.

 

Controlling costs is critical for any business. By identifying areas for investment, eliminating unnecessary expenditure, negotiating better deals with suppliers, and optimising resources, savings and return on investment can be seen.

 

Investing in technological innovation can help - AI solutions, especially in natural language processing for chat, web and voice bots, virtual assistants, and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) - can automate tasks, create personalised interactions, improve operations, reduce waste, and raise productivity.

 

Navigating transformation

 

While transformation programmes can be persuasive in theory, in practice significant challenges can hold up progress.

 

Transformation costs can easily exceed their initial budgets if not managed carefully. Poor preparation, planning and personnel changes can contribute to cost overruns, unexpected change requirements and inadequate resources. Onboarding and managing multiple partners can add complexity thanks to competing objectives, agendas, processes and cultures. And even when implemented successfully, internal resistance to changes to established processes and roles can impede a transformation programme’s success and lead to low user adoption.

 

But these risks can be minimised with clear and agreed-upon programme responsibilities. Establishing clear governance structures, defining roles and responsibilities and monitoring performance help ensure successful delivery. Successful employee engagement with timely and effective communication and adequate training will create buy-in and help overcome resistance once the transformation is in place.

 

However, a measured approach must be adopted to avoid unnecessary additional work and process steps. That’s where choosing a single strategic partnership comes in: it consolidates ownership, responsibilities and risks to support effective transformation.

 

The power of strategic partnerships

 

Strategic partnerships are more than just a typical customer-supplier relationship. They require joint business planning, aligned culture and values and common goals. There are many benefits to partnering with specialist service providers to drive innovation and transformation. For example, organisations can fully leverage a strategic partner’s existing technologies, processes and resources. They can also take advantage of their economies of scale, expertise and capability, either directly or through an ecosystem of their niche partners.

 

A strategic partner actively manages specific aspects of the transformation programme’s deliverables, using a comprehensive approach and solution. This includes oversight of IT infrastructure and software development, on-demand support and optional end-to-end management through business process outsourcing.

 

Liberata is one such strategic partner. We have clients who have invested in new ERP systems, we provide support to ensure that benefits are realised during the implementation period and supplying staff expert in the new technology to run the service post-deployment. We make sure the original business case goals are met, disruption to essential services avoided and clients’ resources freed up so they can focus on other areas, while still retaining complete visibility of the overall programme.

 

Liberata: a transformational strategic partner

 

Liberata are transformation and service delivery specialists. Our transformational end-to-end solutions enable customers to run services quickly and avoid spending significant resources building or upgrading their own. For example, our Debt Assist service provides all the elements an organisation needs to recover consumer and business debt, such as customer contact, recovery specialists, data analytics services, process and performance workflows, payment channels and a consumer resolution solution.

 

We worked with two specialist organisations that provide innovative call centre functionality to transform one client’s customer services, for example. Our vendor partners’ services mean we can ensure our customers can take advantage of the functional and operational benefits and embed them within the operational teams.

 

Transformation programmes require careful planning, effective execution and the right partners – and Liberata’s Service Tech approach specialises in helping organisations navigate the complexities of transformation through strategic service partnerships. If you’d like to hear more about our tailored solutions that can help address your needs and achieve your desired outcomes, get in touch today.

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by Darren Smith, Head of Transformation, Liberata