| | February 20178CIOReviewThe Keys to Executing a Business TransformationBy Scott Spradley, CIO, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Every business transformation of the last two decades has digital roots. There's no alternative; business processes are only as good as the code and systems that support them.Complicating matters is the variety and complexity of technology that's now at our disposal. We live in a data-driven, app-powered, hyper-connected world where user experience rapidly determines winners and losers; where new markets and new competitors can appear almost overnight; and where established practices and processes are constantly challenged.Being a CIO responsible for systems in that sort of environment is challenging enough. More challenging yet is retooling everything to effect a business transformation, as we did last year with the separation of Hewlett-Packard into two companies--HP, Inc., a leading print and PC business, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), a leading enterprise technology company. Here's what we learned from the process. Reinventing an Icon, and Unleashing GrowthAt the time of the separation, HP was a 75-year-old corporation. Splitting into two operationally distinct businesses would allow for streamlining operations, eliminating calcified and unnecessary processes, and improving profits and cash flow.As soon as we completed the business aspects of the separation (e.g., dividing responsibilities, rethinking incentives and sales strategy), we began building a new IT organization at HPE to support the new company and its evolving processes. Federated infrastructure would be assimilated and divergent architectures eliminated as we sought to close gaps and automate as much as we could--our leaders wanted HPE to move fast.Our challenge was to create efficiency as quickly as possible, but it wouldn't be easy. Not only were we aiming to combine the assets of six global data centers into just two but we were also rationalizing systems designed to support more than 2,800 business applications. Duplication was a problem. In one extreme case, we set out to streamline the workloads handled by 19 distinct order management systems. More than 3,700 HP employees and 2,000 contingent workers contributed to the effort.In our most recently reported quarter, HPE increased both our operating profit margin and our free cash flow on a year-over-year basis, all while serving our customers around the globe. None of it would have been possible had we failed to first develop a comprehensive plan for digitally addressing every business process.Principles of Business Transformation: A Step-By-Step ProcessThere are two things to know about transformation planning. First, you can't plan if you don't have data. Second, you can't start implementing without first getting cultural buy-in.But you need to start with the data. Assemble a transformation team and look at everything: organizational data, cost data, people IN MY OPINIONScott Spradley
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