Operating Model Lessons from the Fast Paced World of F1 – Reality Check

Part 3 – The Reality Check: Stability of your Technology

Checking the gaps between what you have and what you need.

Formula 1 racing, like most sports, is one where there is quite a range of finances available within teams, from those operating with the best budgets they need, down to teams that have to work out whatever they can do with much smaller budgets to get their cars out onto the testing track and ready to compete when the racing starts.

Whatever the size of their budget, they all have the best designers and engineers they can afford, because they know that the technology and development, and the ability to get the most out of that, will be the difference between putting in a good performance and getting lapped by the competition way too often.

This has real relevance for you and your business, because you may not be the Mercedes, Red Bull or Ferrari of your marketplace, but you still need to be able to get the best possible technology in place and deliver the best ROI from it.

So, with the situation we find ourselves in now, one that has stressed all areas of industry and all areas of your business, think about your ability to take the next steps to move forward successfully:

• What is the reality of your IT infrastructure and is your operating model positioned to help take the steps forward?
• Is it a leading light in your market, or is the reality more that it’s dated and wasn’t delivering what you really needed even before the Covid-19 situation?

Clarity brings reality, and it’s from this viewpoint that you’ll really start to understand what approach to take regarding the technology you need to navigate your journey, be it to reimagine, replan, restructure or just reassure.

By auditing your IT infrastructure you can make an assessment as to its suitability in terms of providing you the capability to operate effectively in the current environment and provide an agile basepoint from which to efficiently evolve.

This process in itself will be a useful learning exercise, especialy if this then becomes an ongoing standard operating procedure,  bringing into practice an approach to continually asses your technology alignment and an ability to react quickly to unforeseen pressures.

This isn’t just about the technology itself, what is at the real heart of success is your IT Operating Model. Putting focus on your operating model and the importance it plays in your success, will ensure that from this point forward, you won’t need to be second guessing whether your technology infrastructure is suitable for your needs and growth. You won’t be missing opportunities to optimise the output of tech tools, and you won’t be wasting time on making decisions about which systems to implement, who owns the budget and who has the final say. You’ll have a clear, common goal, with clear roles and responsibilities.

Success model: Developing the detail

Your plan to formulate effective growth.

With your ideal operating model in place, you’ll know how to change the reality of your technology infrastructure from being behind to being right for now and to becoming ready for the future, and when you need to act quickly to address market changes or sudden, unforeseen events, you need a proven and structured process that will guide key members of your organisation through the stages required to gain a deep understanding of exactly what you need to do, how you’re going to do it and when you need it to be done.

We’ve developed a 5 phase process to enable us to focus our industry wide expertise on helping people address this specific situation and transform their IT operating model, and thereby your technology infrastructure. With this in hand you grow in line with your strategy and be well equipped to address unforeseen and unpredictable situations.

In a short time, you can bring clarity and detail to your plan of action including roles and responsibilities, technology needs and critical milestones.

The success of this model is in the fact that the initiation has a key basis of delivering a message and understanding to all stakeholders that co-operative working during the project, and then adopting that way of working as the norm, will benefit everyone…so there’s your buy in.

Remember, the value to be delivered from this exercise far outweighs any other perceived priorities, because as Covid-19 has shown, not being able to change tack quickly is a huge risk to business survival.

Your Next Step: Time to talk.

Start conversations that will guide your success path

Every successfully journey starts with a conversation, so that is exactly what you need to do right now.

We hope this 3 part guide has given you food for thought and a direction for conversations within your own leadership team regarding where you really sit, where you need to be and what you need to do to get there.

Remembering that a conversation can deliver huge value in terms of clarity and guidance to whatever you are looking to achieve, now is the time for you to speak with internal colleagues and external experts to get insight on how to best move forward.

The best approach is a blended one – experts engaged with years of experience to facilitate conversations that make sure the right questions are asked, points of view are challenged and decisions are made at pace, so change can be initiated and delivered in the timescales you need.

Technology management, just like F1, is a game where you only deliver consistent results when all parts of their operating model are contributing equally.