Create a consistent management control system to achieve your strategic goals

Governance

Manage strategic goals consistently throughout the organization.

In order to face the challenges of organizational transformation, numerous technological, organizational and process-related changes are required of companies. These result in a large number of projects and initiatives, which are often driven by individual silos within the organization, so that planning, budgeting and implementation are carried out by separate business units or regions.

However, it is essential for a successful portfolio to maintain an overview of the initiatives and their dependencies. Factors such as scalability, avoidance of redundancies, and a clear focus on resources and EBIT must be considered consistently. Therefore, companies need to establish a governance structure to force the centralized control of strategic goals. This focuses resources, shortens project runtimes and ultimately increases the ROI of the project portfolio.

Governance answers the following key questions:

Which structures, processes and tools can be used to manage digitalization initiatives holistically within the organization?
How do I steer my digital portfolio towards more strategic contribution, ROI and internal and external scaling?

Governance as a steering body is accompanied by a future-proof “Target Operating Model”. Seamless integration into the structural and process organization is then guaranteed during the implementation of digital projects. This way, digital solutions and use cases can be operated sustainably even after the project ends.

Define the governance objective and tasks

At the beginning of the project, we take the time to define the clear objectives and tasks of governance. Governance has three main tasks that are strategic, tactical and operational.

Establish decision-making bodies and roles

Then, a clear committee structure must be set up to ensure that the governance structure is implemented. This can be a virtual organization or a new department within the company..

Develop concrete control and reporting processes

And last but not least, the operational structure for governance is defined. Clear control and reporting processes are developed to ensure the sustainable implementation of the strategic goals.

Governance

In order to ensure that digitalization is managed consistently and comprehensively, we recommend placing four areas of responsibility at the center of governance:

Strategy
Operationalization, further development and synchronization of existing strategies – from corporate strategy to individual functional strategies.

Portfolio Management
Control of a company-wide project portfolio management process and its associated centralized budget.

Enablement
Integration and strategic management of labs and academies to generate and anchor initiatives within the company quickly and sustainably.

Foundation

Secure the technological foundation for transformation by orchestrating initiatives in regard to enterprise architecture, cyber security and basic technologies.

Consulting services Governance

Analyze: governance check

What is your current status in terms of digital governance with a focus on the organization, processes and tools?

Your challenges

Uncertainty about the functionality of existing governance
Unclarity about which processes and decision-making bodies are necessary for the successful implementation of governance
Stiff, non-transparent leadership and culture within the organization

UNITY solution approach

Implement a Sanity Check with a focus on committee structures, project portfolio management, roles & responsibilities, investment/budget processes etc.
Identify "White Spots"
Derive recommendations for action
Create an implementation roadmap

Your Benefits

Potentials and ROI levers for a targeted digital transformation with a clear contribution to your strategy

Design: Establishment of a governance structure

Which elements of the digital governance structure need to be developed and established?

Your challenges

Lack of competencies for implementing the strategic goals
Missing organizational anchoring of the strategic goals (e.g., sustainability or digitization goals) in the company
Rigid, intransparent and less flexible enablement processes

UNITY solution approach

Define digital governance elements using best practices and in accordance with the defined strategy
Adapt existing processes as well as organizational and committee structures
Define clear roles and responsibilities

Your benefits

Faster decisions to steer transformation and KPI-based prioritization of initiatives

Implement: Implementing new structures

How can the implementation of governance be ensured in your company for the long term?

UNITY solution approach

Establish a Digital Project Management Office
Map processes and structures in a project portfolio management tool
Obtain support during the process establishment and implementation
Validate the created structures and processes

Your benefits

Automated processes, empowered employees and consistent digitalization activities across the organization

Project stories Governance

Clear roles and responsibilities for IT and OT

Defining IT/OT Roles as a Prerequisite for Digitalization in Production

A strategic goal for Bayer AG is to maximize its innovative strength. An important driver of innovation is the increasing digitalization in production. New technologies and the automation of processes are significant enablers of Industrie 4.0. In addition to technical and process transformation, it is also essential to consider framework conditions related to the organization. Bayer realized this and set a goal to achieve IT/OT alignment in the organization. Together with UNITY, cross-functional, central and local IT/OT roles and responsibilities were defined and validated internationally at selected pilot locations. Based on each location’s current situation, individual measures were defined to successfully implement these roles. The lean, efficient and methodological approach has established itself as a global standard for the cross-divisional harmonization of IT and OT roles at Bayer. A major success factor here was the early involvement of stakeholders and in turn, the related acceptance of the approach throughout the entire company. A governance body was created in order to ensure the company-wide management of organizational and technological aspects. In the future, this should provide the necessary transparency for all of the production-related digitalization projects that are cross-divisional and cross-functional.

“An important prerequisite for digital transformation in production is the synergy between IT and OT. UNITY’s expertise and strength in implementation helped us to successfully refine IT/OT roles and responsibilities. Therefore, we have taken an important step towards closer and more efficient cooperation between IT and OT."