Experience & Leadership in IT Transformation

Experience & Leadership in IT Transformation

by | 27 Sep 2024 | Consulting, Technology

The Importance of Finding Experienced Leaders for IT Change and Transformation in the growing Age of Generative AI

In today’s fast-paced business landscape, companies are under increasing pressure to innovate and stay competitive.

The emergence of Generative AI is reshaping industries, enabling unprecedented opportunities for automation, personalisation, and insight generation. As organisations pivot to incorporate these technologies, the need for skilled leaders who can manage complex portfolios and lead large-scale IT transformation initiatives is more critical than ever. Finding an experienced professional capable of navigating these intricate changes is paramount to success.

Navigating Complex IT Portfolios in the AI Era

Managing a portfolio of IT transformation programmes is no small feat. These initiatives often involve significant investments in new technologies, changes to business processes, and the integration of cutting-edge solutions like Generative AI. Leaders who have experience with large-scale IT change know that it’s not just about implementing technology—it’s about aligning technology with business strategy. A skilled transformation leader understands the need to manage risk, balance resources, and ensure that each initiative within the portfolio delivers measurable business value.

“I’ve learned that successful programme management of large-scale transformation is not just about managing the present in front of you but anticipating the curveballs of the future.” comments Craig Ashmole, a long-term IT Programme Leader at London based Straightalking Ltd.

The ever-growing subject of Generative AI brings an added layer of complexity to this already challenging environment. Not only does it require organisations to rethink their approach to automation and decision-making, but it also demands that leaders understand how to harness its potential without falling into common pitfalls such as data bias, ethical concerns, and over-reliance on AI outputs. An experienced leader in this space needs to balance this and should guide an organisation through these challenges, ensuring that AI-driven solutions are aligned with business goals but can scale sustainably.

The Strategic Value of Experience in Change Leadership

While technical expertise is important, it’s the strategic leadership skills that truly set an exceptional programme manager apart. A seasoned leader brings the ability to see the bigger picture, drawing on years of experience to anticipate challenges, overcome resistance to change, and drive cross-functional collaboration. This is particularly crucial when managing large portfolios of IT programmes that span multiple departments and geographies, often with competing priorities. Experienced leaders have a deep understanding of both the human and technological factors involved in change, enabling them to steer the organisation through potential roadblocks and ensure long-term success.

Craig goes on to say, “Leading large programmes of IT change means seeing first-hand how crucial it is to balance delivery objectives with agile execution. The ability to predict, plan for, and then mitigate challenges before they derail a project is gained from experience not just learned in a classroom.”

Furthermore, as companies seek to transform their businesses with Generative AI, the role of the change leader becomes even more vital. It’s not enough to simply deploy AI tools; organisations need to adapt their entire culture and operating model to be more agile and responsive to rapidly evolving market demands. Programme or Portfolio leaders who have managed IT change at scale understand the importance of embedding a mindset of continuous improvement and innovation within their teams.

The Competitive Advantage of Finding the Right Leader

Ultimately, the success of an organisation’s transformation efforts in the world of Generative AI hinges on its ability to find and empower the right programme leader. Companies that invest in finding an experienced professional with a proven track record in managing large portfolios of IT change will position themselves to not only survive but thrive in this new technological era. These leaders bring the skills needed to ensure that transformation efforts are strategically aligned, well-executed, and capable of delivering lasting value.

“Whether it’s managing evolving stakeholder expectations, identifying resource constraints, or foreseeing technical integration issues, in my experience this enables me to act proactively rather than reactively”, he explains. Craig has found that, “By staying adaptable, leveraging insights or lessons learned from past transformations, and maintaining a clear strategic focus”, he is able to navigate the most complex portfolios with confidence.

In a world where technology is reshaping every aspect of business, having a seasoned leader at the helm of IT transformation efforts is a competitive advantage. Added to this as Generative AI continues to evolve, companies must ensure they have the right leadership in place to guide their journey through this era of profound change with confidence.

By Craig Ashmole, Managing Director Straightalking Ltd

Having spent the majority of my career working with and supporting the Corporate CIO Function, I now seek to provide a forum whereby CIOs or IT Directors can learn from the experience of others to address the burning need to change the way we all work post the COVID Pandemic.

Craig Ashmole

Managing Director, Straightalking Consulting

Generative AI next 5 Years

Generative AI next 5 Years

by | 25 Jul 2024 | Cloud, Consulting

Generative AI Will Bring “Transformational Benefit” in the Next 2-5 Years

Generative AI landed on Gartner’s coveted Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies for 2023

Generative AI has landed on Gartner’s coveted Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies for 2023, the firm announced Wednesday. The firm said generative AI will bring “transformational benefit” in the next two to five years. Transformational benefits are defined as those that enable “new ways of doing business across industries that will result in major shifts in industry dynamics,” Melissa Davis, a Gartner vice president analyst, told TechRepublic.

The AI subset is positioned on the firm’s “Peak of Inflated Expectations” within the Emerging Technologies Hype Cycle this year. Hype cycles follow the maturity of technologies through their lifecycle, explained Davis. All hype cycles start when a breakthrough, public demonstration, product launch or some other event generates industry interest in a technology or other type of innovation, she said.

“We call this the ‘innovation trigger,’” Davis added. “At the Peak of Inflated Expectations, a wave of ‘buzz’ builds, and the expectations for this innovation rise above the current reality of its capabilities.”

Generative AI is encompassed within the broader theme of emergent AI, a key trend in this hype cycle that is creating new opportunities for innovation, Gartner said in a press release announcing the news.

Business benefits derived from generative AI

Generative AI will have profound business impacts in areas including content discovery, creation, authenticity and regulations, as well as automation of human work and customer and employee experiences, according to Davis.

“Most technology products and services will incorporate generative AI capabilities in the next 12 months, introducing conversational ways of creating and communicating with technologies, leading to their democratization,” she said. “Generative AI will progress rapidly in industry verticals, scientific discovery and technology commercialization.”

Additional emergent AI techniques

In addition to generative AI, Gartner named six other emergent AI techniques the firm believes offer immense potential for enhancing digital customer experiences, making better business decisions and building sustainable competitive differentiation. The emergent AI techniques are: AI simulation, causal AI, federated machine learning, graph data science, neuro-symbolic AI and reinforcement learning.

The techniques were selected after being comprehensively assessed and analysed by Gartner internal and external data sources to select tech for their potential transformational benefits and their broad impact, Davis said. She broke down each of the AI techniques as follows:

  • AI simulation is the combined application of artificial intelligence and simulation technologies to jointly develop AI agents and the simulated environments in which they can be trained, tested and sometimes deployed.
  • Causal AI identifies and uses cause-and-effect relationships to go beyond correlation-based predictive models and toward AI systems that can prescribe actions more effectively and act more autonomously.
  • Federated machine learning aims to train a machine learning algorithm on multiple local datasets contained in local nodes without the explicit sharing of data samples.
  • Graph data science is a discipline in which data science techniques are applied to graph data structures to identify behavioural characteristics that can be used to build predictive and prescriptive models.
  • Neuro-symbolic AI is a form of composite artificial intelligence that combines ML methods and symbolic systems (e.g., knowledge graphs) to create more robust and trustworthy AI models.
  • Reinforcement learning is a type of ML where the learning system receives training only in terms of positive feedback (rewards) and negative feedback (punishments).

 

by Esther Shein in Artificial Intelligence - August 16, 2023

Having spent the majority of my career working with and supporting the Corporate CIO Function, I now seek to provide a forum whereby CIOs or IT Directors can learn from the experience of others to address the burning need to change the way we all work post the COVID Pandemic.

Craig Ashmole

Managing Partner, IT Consulting

Virtual Shared Services after COVID

Virtual Shared Services after COVID

by | 1 Sep 2020 | Consulting, Outsourcing

The new way of business in the Virtual Shared Services Centres post COVID-19

Social, Collaborative, Yet Virtual will be the New Shared Services model post-COVID-19

With each passing day, more countries are nearing lockdown amid fears of widespread COVID-19. While it obviously impacts business, many companies are trying their best to continue running operations to the best extent possible.

Specifically in the Shared Services and Outsourcing industry, many firms have initiated BCP and DR plans. Critical functions have been identified and plans have been made to ensure their delivery is not impacted. Employees across the globe are working remotely and collaborating using various technologies available.

This has raised interesting debates on productivity, the impact on future ways of working, the feasibility of working remotely, and security risks – among many other things.
One of the important considerations is the impact on social well-being of employees. By nature, humans like to connect and interact with fellow colleagues and work in groups with sharing and caring.

That leads me to consider how Shared Services and Offshoring / Outsourcing will change post Covid-19.

“Digitalisation and Automation”

From its onset, this situation clearly favours those Shared Services Organisations that are already “more digital”. The more digital Shared Services Centres (SSCs) will have relatively less impact due as a result of such epidemics and the learnings will drive more digitisation and automation of various functions. This will ensure that the mundane and repetitive tasks are less interrupted and the workforce can focus on more critical activities.

Shift from “people proximity” to “people collaboration”

The SSCs that are most impacted by COVID-19 have one thing in common: Their style of working is based on “people proximity”. The setup is complex and multiple cross-functional teams are working together towards delivery. Hence they rely on people working together in teams. Such SSCs will most likely build their strategy around (invest in) the adoption of increased collaboration tools like video conferencing. It is surprising that many offshoring centres and SSCs are still way behind when it comes to using such collaboration tools.

The next town hall is not going to be in a large auditorium or hotel but will happen over Skype or Zoom

The trend of moving everything to ‘online’ – trainings, meetings and even key corporate announcements – will increase. In the past, faced with an unexpected crisis the tendency has been to delay key meetings and announcements. Going forward, I would not be surprised if the next town hall happens online.

Focus on ‘relationship’ not just ‘contract’ with outsourcing vendors

SSCs will now have the opportunity to test their relationship with sourcing vendors. Is this the time to open the contract documents and revisit the clauses? Or is this the time to sensitise and empathise with each other? Remember, outsourcing vendors are also firms – just like yours.

Summary

As SSCs encourage flexibility in working locations and adopt various collaboration tools so that they continue to improve their productivity as provide services, they also need to ensure that individuals are empowered and continue to feel the social experience; in short, that they are “Virtual” yet “Social”.

Imagine an organisation that presently thrives on groups of people coming together in an office transforming itself into an organisation that still maintains the social essence through its ability to connect and interact with team members – but without the need to meet physically.

Welcome to post Covid-19 Shared Services Centres being Social, Collaborative yet Virtual!

 

Thanks to the views by Ankur Bansal from SSON
Having spent a majority of my career working with and supporting the Corporate CIO Function, I now seek to provide a forum whereby CIOs or IT Directors can learn from the experience of others to address burning Change or Transformation challenges.
Craig Ashmole

Founding Director CCServe

Homeworking In The Contact Centre

Homeworking In The Contact Centre

by | 12 Jun 2020 | Outsourcing, Technology

Homeworking In The Contact Centre Industry During COVID-19

Challenges of homeworking in the contact centre industry and why balance will be key in future flexibility

COVID-19 has even more businesses talking about and having to engage with homeworking. Some advocate that they are ‘business as usual’ whereas others are having to deal with the very real challenge of isolation and no face-to-face contact with their teams, customers and suppliers. This article looks past the current lockdown period at the questions faced by the contact centre industry around homeworking.

The root question has not been if home working is possible and effective, but why should it be utilised? The many talented and dedicated contact centre professionals will adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic, finding ways to provide great customer experiences despite unfamiliar working environments and under increased pressure; but what will they do after the lockdown passes and offices and contact centres are reopened?

According to research from the Office of National Statistics published prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, 50% of UK employees were already set to work remotely in 2020. Remote working is a subject bound to divide opinion across small to large organisations in every sector. With governments across the world asking or even enforcing, that people work from home during the current COVID-19 pandemic, debates about this practice are becoming more important.

For organisations across many industries, a work-from-home policy may seem easily deployed – workers can simply take their laptops to any location, connect to a WiFi network, and get going. However, for others, the concept of remote working instigates a multitude of worries. Take the contact centre industry. The current situation around COVID-19 means many contact centre operators have been faced with a difficult reality, and many are being pushed to make a decision. Is it better or worse for agent productivity and happiness? Does it increase customer engagement and satisfaction? Will it drive revenue or is it a drain on resources? Can employees be trusted to do a good job while working unsupervised? Will it isolate agents if they are receiving negative or abusive calls when remote from their colleagues?

Balance is key

These concerns are perfectly understandable – the contact centre has always been a very physical workplace, with call agents hooked up to a legacy phone system, answering calls on multiple lines, in-sight of employers. The key to making homeworking successful in practice for any business – particularly those operating a contact centre – is to identify exactly what is trying to be achieved with it, and how it meets with what is best for the business overall. Right now, permitting homeworking may simply be a case of survival as a business. In future, businesses must answer the purpose of homeworking. As an example, it could offer flexibility to employees and be used as an aid to work-life balance. This would not only deliver something for the reward strategy of a contact centre, but increased satisfaction and happiness at work may also lead to improved performance.

However, this must be coupled with businesses considering the potential challenges. One of the key concerns we hear around working from home in the contact centre is trust; can agents work as effectively, and at the same level of quality, without direct supervision? Many employers worry that if they cannot physically see their employees working, they aren’t working at all. Furthermore, the inability to see employees may leave employers anxious for their safety. What if an agent working from home receives a threatening or distressing message? Without a network of support from colleagues and supervisors, it could be difficult for agents to deal with complaints and negative situations. Businesses considering homeworking must have a plan to address these very real concerns.

The silver lining of cloud

One way to enable contact centres to provide the flexibility of homeworking for call agents, while keeping operations running smoothly, is embracing the latest technology available to the sector. A cloud-based contact-centre-as-a-service (CCaaS) platform gives contact centres this flexibility: it can be deployed in days and is ready-to-use wherever the agents and IT team are. Due to its browser-based nature, all an agent or supervisor needs to carry on is an internet-enabled device, such as a laptop, and a headset.

A vital component for this setup to work is continuous communication and monitoring between call agent and supervisor. Screen recording, for example, enables both supervisors to keep an eye on their agents in real-time, and agents to feel supported in their work while away from their desk. It can provide exactly the same insights to supervisors as when agents are in the contact centre itself. This ensures that supervisors know that the same excellent standards of customer experience are being delivered, even when they are not in the same location as agents. It also frees homeworking agents from the suspicion that they are not working as effectively at home as they are in the contact centre, which can be an undermining experience. The chance to demonstrate their own skill and efficiency accurately can be great for happiness and ‘engagement’. These concepts have been well linked to reducing leaver rates. Granting supervisors the ability to see agents working also enables them to provide real-time support to their team. For example, if an agent has had a disgruntled customer on the phone, supervisors may be able to step in and offer support and consolation when needed.

Technology for the modern-day workforce

Since cloud contact centres are browser-based and agents can access the system wherever they are, whenever they want, the ability to homework gives employees more flexibility and control over their working hours. This can make it easier to fit their career around busy schedules in a way that benefits both themselves and the organisation. Their working schedule can fit in more easily around family and home life as they have the opportunity to log in while the children are at school, for example. Introducing intelligent automation and smart scheduling makes flexibility profitable by ensuring that resources are optimised. Artificially intelligent Workforce Optimisation (WFO) systems run automatic checks to ensure that schedules are always kept at peak efficiency, whilst also giving agents maximum control over the hours they want to work.

Cloud-based CCaaS can also alleviate any concerns over the additional costs of training needed for agents to work at home. Quality Assurance capabilities mean that agents and employers alike can benefit from increased flexibility without losing any of the quality of work or impacting the customer experience. Analysing recordings of key interactions between call agents and customers allows trainers to identify best practice and gaps in knowledge.

It is clear that homeworking has great benefits, while also posing the potential for significant drawbacks. Flexibility and agility are key in achieving the right balance to make working from home a viable option in the contact centre. A true cloud solution is one sure-fire means of ensuring that the location of the agent does not matter and can develop alongside, and meet with a business’ and individuals’ growing demands.

The effects of COVID-19 on businesses, and society as a whole, are expected to change working practices across industries, including contact centres. Many will continue a homeworking policy even after everything has returned to normal. They would do well to have a clear strategy, harnessing the benefits of homeworking and ensuring the correct tools are in place for their agents to thrive in a new world. Although, overall, homeworking is not without its challenges, if implemented at the right pace and with the right technology, it has the power to unlock fantastic benefits for contact centres.

 

Written by Andi Janes, Chief People Officer at Content Guru

Having spent a majority of my career working with and supporting the Corporate CIO Function, I now seek to provide a forum whereby CIOs or IT Directors can learn from the experience of others to address burning Change or Transformation challenges.
Craig Ashmole

Founding Director CCServe

Hiring the old guy

Hiring the old guy

by | 22 Jan 2020 | Consulting, Technology

Do you or don’t you, hire ‘the old guy’!

Perhaps I am just getting a bit older, but the IT industry seems to be more of a game for younger people these days. Although, to be fair, Police Officers are looking younger all the time too.

“As time goes by attending the various IT related annual corporate events, all the people sitting on the stalls marketing their company values to everyone and anyone that dares to glance their way for too long, are definitely much younger and seem to even dress less formally than when I did for many years.” states Craig Ashmole, founding partner at London based Interim Consulting CCServe Ltd.

I came across a piece of material by Nick Hughes, who is a Senior Programme, Project and PMO manager and all the same thoughts and views came rushing back to me and I quote him below.

Within IT especially there does seem to be more focus on younger, fresher talent. This was brought into sharp focus recently when I met with a manager at a consulting company. They were thinking of putting me into a bank, but the manager was concerned that my extensive and long experience might be a little intimidating for that client manager.

The manager also seemed a little nervous and said that I had a lot more experience than he did himself and that he hoped he did not ask any unproductive questions. This got me to thinking. Is there a perception for younger managers that hiring an older/more experienced contractor might jeopardise their own position? Or could older contractors probably be seen as ‘not as innovative as their younger counterparts’?

Is this ageist? Possibly, but for the hiring manager it could be a very real concern. From their perspective, they are possibly new to the position and want to prove their worth. Many managers want to be seen as the go-to person, that they are irreplaceable and key to the organisations success. Hiring in someone who may not only know more than you, but also may have experience doing your exact job, could lead to the manager being seen as superfluous. The deeper concern would be “Is he going to try and take my job?”

For contractors who have experience in roles more senior than the role being looked at, there can also be concerns for the manager around the contractor jumping ship as soon as the next best, or higher paying, opportunity comes along.

This presents a dilemma for the hiring manager and an issue for the contractor.

To be clear, I am not saying this happens all the time, or even a majority of times, but it does happen. When we are honest with ourselves, we all have those feelings of doubt, so it is perfectly understandable to have these thoughts, we would not be human if we did not.

So what is the answer? Does the manager “not hire the old guy”? Does he or she only hire people younger or less experienced than themselves?

If they do, then yes, they could avoid an embarrassing situation where the person reporting to them knows more than they do. But that will only be a temporary protection for your career and, to be honest, if you are so worried about your position that you feel the need to protect yourself, you will probably find it difficult to progress anyway.

But why hire the guy (I use the term ‘guy’, but it applies to both men and women) with more experience than you and who has potentially had a more senior position?

From my perspective, and with the experience I have gained I don’t actually want that manager’s job and I don’t want to settle down into a perm role. If I am applying for a contractor position, I don’t want the politics, the employee assessments, the HR hoops that I would have to jump through when you manage a team and also having to deal with any personnel issues. I am at a point in my life where I have realised I work to live, not live to work.

What I do want is to make the manager I am hired to engage with look good. I want to use my experience and knowledge to make a success of this project. I want to pass on my knowledge of short cuts that bring the project to a successful conclusion, or the ability to see through vendor marketing hype to accept only what is really needed in the business. Or to ensure we hit budgets & deliver on time.

From a interim consulting perspective it is simple. First, we get the satisfaction of a job well done. Second, we get the opportunity to pass on well-earned knowledge and subject matter experience to those younger people. But most importantly, we leave with the hope that the manager will recognise the contribution made and engage on the next project.

After all, as a contractor, one is always looking for the next contract. I have seen some contractors make themselves indispensable to an organisation, to the point where the perception is that they can’t be let go.

Experience on projects are usually quite simple. Define the scope and lock it down, establish a change control process to manage the inevitable scope creep, establish a governance process for decision making, plan the critical path and dependencies, identify the risks, establish a RAID log to manage them, set up reporting, then execute and monitor.

Once that is done the tough bit, the really tough bit, is managing the people. Getting the sponsor to truly understand their role. Ensuring other teams, who you have a dependency on, deliver in time for your critical path. Providing clarity around the impact to the stakeholders requesting a change. All the while you are doing this, trying to be as diplomatic as you can be but understanding why you were hired in the first place.

Us old guys (men and women) have seen this before and have dealt with it successfully. So, my suggestion to those managers who worry about “hiring the old guy” is to not worry so much but be happy to benefit from paying to get a programme delivered with SME skills that can be transferred to the perm staff. Don’t get me wrong, there are younger people who may well have the ability to be able to navigate the shark infested waters of the project world, but the old guy may well have been bitten before and survived, so has the practical knowledge of what works and what doesn’t.

So, it is up to you, hiring managers. Do you want to benefit from 30+ years of experience and dodging bullets? Do you want to have that edge to making your project successful? Having that experience that you can call on when it does go wrong – and some really do go wrong! If you do then you really should be hiring the Old Guy.

 

Thanks to Nick for sharing his thoughts

Having spent a majority of my career working with and supporting the Corporate CIO Function, I now seek to provide a forum whereby CIOs or IT Directors can learn from the experience of others to address burning Change or Transformation challenges.

Craig Ashmole

Founding Director CCServe