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In its research paper ‘Five reasons why organizations fail to adopt Agile Methods’, Gartner points out a few issues that are indicative of just how deep IT is rooted in most organizations today. The consequences of this intricate bond are clear. Systems are slow, processes are ingrained and employees are rusted into fixed patterns. This is often expressed - during a phase where the need for change is an issue - in a reluctance or inability to change. However, during this phase of worldwide developments, the question is no longer if an organization wishes to change, but how an organization can change as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. Changing a slow, unwieldy organization into a responsive, innovative and open organization where systems have given up their leading role to the need for real-time information and its accessibility and applicability.
The need for change is evident. The third phase of the digital revolution has taught us that the freedom organizations - and its employees - and consumers are confronted with sets challenging requirements to an organization’s products and services. Customers expect a high level of freedom when buying products and services: They want to compare features and prices, learn from other buyers and create their own, unique products. At the same time, they want a dialogue with product and service sales people at a time that is convenient to them. Just like the customer, company employees expect seamless access to applications and systems, allowing them to make the right decision based on real-time information. Wherever they are. Whenever they want. What else would be needed other than giving employees, with their experience, knowledge and contacts, the freedom to determine how their job is done most effectively. For organizations, this new form of freedom also offers a wealth of opportunities. Drilling into new markets, developing new initiatives, initiating new processes, entering into new partnerships. The freedom of the individual creates freedom for organizations - as long as their organization and automation are designed to enable that.
The important third phase in the informatics revolution has proved pivotal to the development of our product portfolio. Adaptivitity, connectivity, speed and mobility are key words in our ASE platform and all products that we developed in that context. A platform that makes excellent use of information available from existing systems that can therefore remain intact and operational. A platform that brings change within reach of any organization, without the customary prohibitive cost, expensive implementations and man-hours measured in years. A single integrated system allowing for modeling business processes based on entities is exactly what organizations in the future will need. The CRM solutions within ASE, for example, can be fully merged with the production system, the financial system, time accounting, planning or the logistics system. Organizations must literally be able to change these processes on their own in order to be able to quickly react to changes in the economic landscape.
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Using ASE solutions, the underlying information systems supporting these processes can be converted and orchestrated into new solutions. The company needs are leading in this process, driven by market demand. The company translates and determines which variables are included in the process and which are not. Parameters of modules that are not necessary - superfluous ballast - are no longer a burden, impeding the circulation speed of information; these are simply not included in the system. The power lies in self-initiative, self-determination and self-regulation. New opportunities come and go faster and more often. That means that organizations must be able to detect crucial events in the business environment. Perhaps even more importantly, they must be able to quickly and effectively react to these signals by making them operational immediately.
Just like consumers, individuals expect a high degree of freedom when buying products and services: They want to compare features and prices, learn from other buyers and create their own, unique products. At the same time, they want a dialogue with product and service sales people at a time that is convenient to them. For example for quality improvement. They expect seamless ways to gain access to applications and systems, and the slightest delay or irritation will guide them to the next provider. Companies are no longer able to enforce or determine. Traditional arrogance does not go with impunity. The consumer is the one who determines all. This requires a high degree of flexibility and adjustment from companies. The flexible environment with flexible processes enables optimal use of the employees' years of experience and knowledge. They will have the opportunities to work at times that are convenient to them, in a location convenient to them, and their responsibilities and task concepts are considered in a broader perspective. In a flexible organization, the employees of the future will be far better able to match their responsibilities to the whole of responsibilities within the company.
Detailed insight into crucial data is necessary for organizations. It builds a competitive edge, certainly in today’s information-laden landscape. Organizations that know how to link the use of this data to their strategic goals are more intelligent. Linked to compliance purposes, corporate performance management, customer analyses or competitive analyses… they get smarter by continuously reading and analyzing information and respond to internal and external information. Managing and analyzing information has become a major corporate tool. Insight into data is a requirement, but the use of data is a different matter. Organizations can become faster and more decisive by plugging insight into data to the operational level. This connection can be made within the ASE platform, which establishes true, actionable Business Intelligence.
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