Product Compliance - an organization growth enabler

A few weeks back, I had a discussion with a client about Product Compliance. It was a very interesting as some of them saw compliance as a necessary evil, which was complete opposite to my perspective.

Organizations today are facing a constant challenge to keep up with ever changing product regulation.  Every year, quarter brings increased global product compliance laws, which requires increased spending by companies to mitigate the high risk of being non-compliant and to keep up with constantly changing laws. 

Companies can see this as a necessary evil or as an opportunity to growth enabler. Those that see as necessary evil take a project-based approach, while forward thinking companies take a holistic approach and take a process-oriented approach.  Organization need to view product compliance as a growth enabler.

The risk of being non-compliant increases as the product progress across different product stages.

Forward looking organization follows a simple guideline:

·       Enable compliance in early product stage, putting less pressure in the downstream stage

·     Design for “Social Compliance” which includes stakeholders like NGO, people, government as will play an important role in acceptance of a product

·    Take a proactive process based approach so the products are prepared upfront for any legislative changes

·     Educate and collaborate with suppliers early in the process putting less pressure on suppliers which allows companies to get the compliance date in-time

·        Electronically manage compliance data is well designed system

Product compliance does address risk, but with vision also provides growth opportunity for organizations as it prevents expensive product recall & product delays thus increasing revenue and profit.  Compliance is a living process, and not a point in time – but an ever-evolving process to meet compliance. 

Insight - Who do we hire for a Business Transformation?

You realized that there is a need for Business Transformation in your organization. And now, you are looking for consulting services to help you sail through the long journey you are about to take. Well, you look out for choices in the market and there is a variety available to pick:

1.    Independent Consultants - bringing breadth and depth of industry experience
2.    Small Consulting firms - talking niche skills
3.    System Integrators - generally providing technical capabilities
4.    Consulting houses - helping in strategy direction

It would be really hard to classify any other variety outside the 4 types mentioned above. And you would get your needs met either by mix or going with a single choice, depending on your preference. The extended consulting provided by product/package vendors is limited in nature and hence does not make broader differentiation to this subject.  For Business Transformations programs, the subject goes beyond aspects of capabilities rather principles. “TCQIV” comes into play wherein  T is for Time, C is for Cost, Q is for Quality, I is for Impact and final one V which is for Value realized either in tangible or intangible terms.

So, looking from outsiders view on TCQIV based on what we have heard and seen with clients, in 20 years, for large transformation programs, it represents an interesting picture as shown below.

"Independent Consultant & Small Consulting companies makes client's life simple"

Well, there are soft sides to business decisions as well which influence TCQIV principles. After all, business decision makers are humans too and they look for humanitarian aspects as well to make a successful transformation journey and they could vary from organization to organization. However over the years of experience, we have seen some of them to be looked in more critically than some of others. And no matter what one says about choice of hiring, these aspects have played a significant role in the making of  the final decisions. At times, even some businesses give soft aspects a higher weightage than others purely due to the fact that business acumen and technical knowledge can be learnt however softer aspects of organization are built over a period of time and are the foundation pillars of success.

"Large Consulting firms and System Integrator's focus on selling their 'partner / framework' service to client" 
 
Moreover, the risk-taking appetite and financial stability, at times, does not favor independent and small consulting firms. However they negate it by demonstrating high ethics, integrity and innovation. And because they are more open to co-create with client, financial risk or IP based revenue sharing models generally make things easier with independent and small consulting firms. 

 SI (System Integrator) and big consulting  firms on the other hand seek revenue generation opportunities by selling their services. They are biased predominantly due to the partnerships they have which at times have averted clients moving away from co-creation opportunities with them as they result in more complex collaboration than co-creation. 
 
 

What is the right strategy to hire? 

Business transformation needs a mature decision and budget distribution across phases of the program. Experience has shown that it is best to have an ‘unbiased’ view for strategy, vision, roadmap and vendor evaluation followed by a collaborated model with an SI for execution phases. Independent consultants generally do not carry any partnership representations and hence are more unbiased as compared to others however they should bring in industry leadership in their approach. Independent consultants  and small consulting firms are more flexible and innovative and can think beyond the box and can help in defining strategies. SI and large consulting firms have partnership tags and hence they influence decisions for strategy, software evaluation and vendor selections. Their biggest strength is in execution.

Though how much one tries to make a business transformation look simpler, it is always full of perplex and complex situations which are unique to client business and hence no single entity is the right solution. Right mix of talents and partners is the direction one should take to make a business transformation journey successful.