In the first part of this article, I touched upon what is Agile methodology, which industry sectors use it and some dos and don’ts for Agile.

​In this part I shall discuss top 10 frequently asked questions around Agile. By the way, these questions have been taken from my blog reader’s feedback which I regularly receive as direct messages or queries. If you too have questions, please hit the ‘Get-in-touch’ button at the bottom of this blogpost and send me your thoughts …
 
So, let’s begin with top 10 frequently asked questions on Agile business improvement methodology.

​Agile business process improvement methodology is a proven concept to transform or turnaround businesses. Its ability to unlock value has been pressure-tested in different industry sectors belonging to manufacturing as well as service-based setups. Agile is extensively beneficial to startups. A startup could be a new company or a new function or department within an existing company.

​Agile concept emphasizes team collaboration and flexible reassessment of plans based on customer feedback. Agile can be applied to all departments. Agile was first used in the software development and is popular within the IT sector. But since Agile offers fast return on investment, it is gaining popularity in other sectors as well.

​The correct answer to that question is- May be. Because, although Agile can be applied in any industry, it must not be applied blindly. Agile must be applied only after a due diligence around how it would be applied, what benefits it shall bring-in for the organization etc is done. Further, there are several Agile methodologies. One must take cognizance of this and choose the Agile methodology most suitable for your workplace.

​There are several differences. But the most striking difference is that Agile cannot/ must not be applied in the same way across the entire organization. Different sections of an organization benefit from Agile in varying ways. The benefits can be optimized or increased based on the results of blueprinting i.e. identifying the value streams and investigating how each section of the value stream can benefit from Agile, provides valuable input in Agile- based business transformation.

​Agile is not same as Scrum. Agile is a wide concept, Scrum is a type of Agile method.  Scrum is one of the many dynamic Agile methods and emphasizes team collaboration and flexible reassessment of plans for bringing about business transformation.

​Scaling-up Agile has similar challenges as scaling-up any other process improvement methodology. Simply having more teams or conducting more dry runs are not enough. Further, expenses towards Agile scale-up must be factored in the budget before embarking on Agile. My best recommendation is to never begin any process improvement campaign without first doing a cost-benefit analysis.

​There are several differences, but I shall highlight only two main differences here. Since Agile was initiated in software business, let me explain this question using software development as an example.
 
The first main difference is that- When Agile is used in product development, in this example a software, features of the software are delivered frequently, and the testing is done in parallel to development. As a result, testing time is shortened because only small features are need be tested at a time. On the contrary, in the Waterfall methodology, testing take place at the end of the development. As a result, testing time gets lengthy as the entire product must be tested.
 
The second difference is that- Waterfall methodology is a closed process where all stakeholders are not involved in the development activity. In Agile methodology, active participation of all stakeholders as well as customers is a must.
 
Although Agile is traditionally being used in software development, it can be applied for any product development be it- toys, food, chemicals, devices, cosmetics, apparel, electronics, services etc.
 
Agile is especially beneficial for product development where frequent changes in the product come up on a regular basis.

​Speed and flexibility are two key advantages of Agile methodology. This aspect improves employee engagement, collaboration between teams internal and external to the organization which then boosts output. Agile implementations increase productivity as well as ‘value creation’. In fact, Agile’s strength is in 'value creation' rather than fixing crawling productivity. Therefore, if you are looking to create value, go for Agile. If addressing productivity issues is the sole aim, then go for Lean or Kaizen.

There are multiple advantages of utilizing Agile in organizations. Versatility and speed are two of its key benefits. Further, when applied to R&D business processes, Agile accelerates product development; companies can then achieve first-mover advantage. Also, Agile maximizes value throughout the development process and significantly reduces the overall risk of a project. 

Agile must be applied after due diligence.
 
First important limitation of Agile implementation is that- Agile is rapid at small scale; but scaling up takes time. A company-wide full-scale Agile implementation takes 1 to 3 years depending upon the nature and size of business. Therefore, Agile is not for weak-hearted setups.
 
Secondly, Agile is unpredictable with regards to effort planning.  Hence, Agile project planning must be done with caution.
 
Thirdly, Agile is all about being fast- to- market with a product designed as per customer demand. Hence, the mechanism of collecting voice of customer and its interpretation must be flawless. However, combining Hoshin Kanrii with Agile helps to circumvent this issue in a big way.
 
Lastly, Agile methodology has minimal documentation. No elaborate reports etc. Usually, simple burn up and burn down charts are used for documentation purposes. Burn up and burn down charts are visual diagrams which measure a project and show its progress, schedule, status and any outstanding work. If creating and distributing bulky reports is part of an organization’s work culture, then it needs to adapt to a major change if hoping to work with Agile. This must be factored-in while designing change strategy before proceeding with Agile.

In the next part of this article, I shall discuss on how to use Agile to improve business resilience.

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​Agile is a management methodology proven to speed-up business growth. 

Agile can be used by all types of organizations be it for-profit or non-profit, large companies or startups, those involved with manufacturing, service, education, or government offices.

​However, Agile implementation is the backbone for organizations intending to go for digital transformation.
 
Further, Agile is a necessity and not an option for companies working on product/ process innovations. 

Also, companies aiming to become Smart Factory or Industry 4.0 must include Agile as an inseparable part of their business architecture.

Agile can be applied to all areas of an organization- be it Sales, Marketing, R&D, Supply Chain, Advertising, Finance, HR, IT etc.
 
Agile is versatile. It can be successfully used for product development, business process improvement as well as process design. But it has been found to be especially resourceful in product development as compared to process improvement.

Agile as per its name increases speed, that is, it brings-on rapid product development, fast change implementation, fast market launch of a new product, rapid inventory turns at a production site etc.

Agile for project management has been found to assure on-time project deliverables. Implementing Agile for project management is extensively beneficial for handling complex projects such as- Building a new facility, new business development, new product launches, manufacturing site changes etc.
 
An interesting feature of Agile is that it is not just one methodology. Rather it has multiple method components to it such as- methods that focus on practices, those which manage workflows or those which focus on full development cycle etc. There are several effective Agile methods; Scrum and Kanban being the most popular ones.

​Unlike other business process improvement methodologies and product development techniques, working with Agile in the beginning is tough. But once you gain expertise with it, Agile is easy and fun.
 
An important point to note is that the modus of Agile implementation to work conducted by big teams is vastly different from the way it is applied to work happening in small teams.
 
Also, modus of Agile applied to bigger projects is different from the ones applied to small or greenfield projects.
 
Note that there are clearly defined guidelines as to when to use and when not to use Agile. I shall cover this point in detail in subsequent parts of this article.
 
Hence, Agile method must be selected based on the need and type of the project. Agile must not be applied blindly to whole of a product development or process design campaign. Selecting right type of Agile method is critical for its success; one-size-fits-all approach can cause a disaster.
 
In today’s business environment where rate of change is fast as compared to the ones faced in the previous century, Agile supports businesses to improve its agility and meet rapidly changing customer expectations.
 
Agile facilitates businesses to stay relevant.
 
In the next part of this article, I shall touch upon top ten frequently asked questions about Agile methodology and how it can be used to increase business agility.

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Continuing on the SWOT analysis (from part 1), market research highlights few main problems with the sales and marketing processes within telecos namely-
​

1. OTT (over- the- top) players are growing quickly in comparison with traditional fixed and mobile communication services.
2. Many years of M&A (mergers and acquisition) have left telecos with disjointed systems that rely on outdated processes.
3. 77% of C-level executives from telecos state employee skill-gaps as a hindrance to driving digital transformation.
4. Decentralized customer data.
5. In-sufficient customer loyalty and appreciation for telecom products & services.
6. Sloppy customer care.
7. Lack of system updates for fully complying to GDPR and other regulations.
8. Not seeing problems from a customer’s perspective.

 
There are practical challenges to new ways of working- for example- how to reconcile the agile approach with long budget or approval cycles?

​I recommend 9 front solution for making telecos sales and marketing process improvement goal into reality:

1. Build right teams: Choosing the right core team members is crucial. They need to be advocates who exhibit energy, strong curiosity, pragmatism and entrepreneurial spirit within the teams. Moving some of the organization’s best resources into agile squads can be challenging, but it is key to ensuring ownership on subsequent levels, including education and participation in the design and execution stages.


2. Employee training & Anchor hires: The transformation towards next-generation customer engagement requires deep digital talent for a set of new roles such as data architects, marketing and digital advertising specialist. Existing staff probably won’t be able to perform all roles, so training and external recruitment will ne needed. External recruiting will require anchor hires i.e. hire one developer and his/her colleagues will follow.

​
3. Recruitment process redesign: New recruitment processes via digital networking events, dedicated recruiting days etc. to attract the right prospects. The approach of recruiting itself can also help build a brand and bring in the best people. The types of talent telecos need are attracted to forward-thinking companies, so recruiting culture matters. Having the right company representatives give the right talks at the right types of conferences at which talent can be found is one such method. Moreover, this also improves the hiring manager’s career aspirations and goals. Involving key team members in the entire hiring process is another must-do. This method can ensure that recruiters are completely on board with the goal of transformation and can effectively convey that message.  

Note: Transitions on this level almost always require some external support in the beginning. But as the capabilities become cores of the business model, those roles should be converted to internal ones in a six-to-nine months time frame to ensure the new culture is embedded and a lower cost base achieved.

​4. Multi-disciplinary teams: Traditional telecos tend to be highly siloed, often marketing and sales team working separately. This results in slow processes and low customer centricity, which is no longer sustainable. While it can take weeks and many back-and-forth handoffs to do something like put together a new discount campaign, working across functions in multidisciplinary teams can shorten the time to market for a new campaign to just days. This plus agile working methods is what accelerates digital customer engagement and can increase revenues by as much as 16%.  

To achieve this faster, targeted and dynamic approach, multidisciplinary teams need to bring together the consumer-functions and IT groups to ensure the latter isn’t left behind. Together, they should focus on ambitious, short-term minimum viable products that follow a data-driven test and learn methodology. A Design Thinking approach, Agile project management and empowered product developers to take appropriate decisions, facilitates fast-prototyping.
 
Since impact can be achieved by even a small team, the proven approach is to start with select proof-of-concept use cases, followed by a rapid rollout to wider organization.
 
The multidisciplinary teams must have end-to-end ownership mind-set. Rather than waiting for orders or permission to act or submit long change request documents, teams should be empowered to take responsibility and get their work done.


5. Strong flexible technical foundation: To succeed in digital customer engagement, the agile processes and mind-set must be complemented by a strong technical foundation that will increase execution power and channel reach, as well as enable new cases. Failure to resource effectively and invest upfront can leave teams without the tools and technology required to unlock next-generation opportunities, such as personalization at scale.

​Unlocking these use cases will require four elements to work together effectively – data, decision-making, design and distribution. Using Lean’s ’pull’ methodology will minimize the wait to build technology sophistication and digital maturity. Regardless of technology maturity, telecos can and should invest in technology enablers e.g. Google analytics, Tag Manager, Onsite AIS testing etc. to drive growth in marketing and digital sales.  


6. Overcome inflexible legacy systems: Shun duplicative layers of approval and restrictions on open-source tools. Also, traditional players lack the basic technology needed to achieve encouraging results rapidly. This includes tracking basic marketing tools and flexible IT to allow for better customer flows. Getting the technology foundation implemented quickly is critical to managing the low flexibility of legacy systems many of which are partially disjointed as a result of years of industry M&A.  


7. Corral data early: Customer data in telecos are usually found spread throughout the enterprise and have not been centralized in a single repository where they can be made available across channels. Developing a plan that priorities use cases and build a single source of customer insights for these use cases is critical. As the number of use cases expand, the data platform should continuously add more data signals as required. This will empower marketing activities and enable a consistent customer communication across digital and physical channels.  


8. Update data protection compliance to regulations: The complexity of privacy assessments and the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) require extensive analysis that can cause delays. At an early stage, companies need to identify areas that will handle personal data and assess whether these areas are affected by the GDPR or other integrity requirements. Furthermore, they need to define ways to use available data not covered by these restrictions.  


​9. Make Lean Kaizen a daily habit: Lean Kaizen is a method of improvement that involves a continuous process in order to get rid of excess waste involved in a  process. Kaizen is the foundation of lean methods of production and focuses largely on reducing, or completely eliminating waste, increasing productivity and attaining continuous improvement relating to an organization’s methods. 
 
Lean Kaizen incorporates Kaizen’s ideal of continuous improvement and focuses on making and applying small changes for a significant amount of time in order to achieve desired results. This method involves all types of employees at different levels within the company and requires complete involvement by all parties in order to allow anyone to speak up regarding problems and ways of improvement. 

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This is definitely is an exciting time for telecos because of rising opportunities to collaborate for growth. Telecos can be best partners to any government, city or local administration. Together they can not only solve connectivity problems but reduce the cost of delivering public services for example- increased security for women travelling at night, reduced stress for commuters trying to rearrange an appointment etc.

The long-permitted concept of omnichannel, in which various distribution channels are truly integrated, is finally becoming a reality; with mobile and web gotten seamlessly connected, and automation and personalization possible with advanced analytics. These factors present a chance to take customer engagement to a new level accelerating ROI.

This article (parts 1 and 2) touches upon how to improve sales and marketing efforts of telecos via Agile and Lean Kaizen.

But, firstly, let’s take a quick look at results of telecos SWOT analysis-

One of the threats that has exposed the old way of doing telecom business is from over-the-top (OTT) players such as WhatsApp, Apple’s FaceTime and Tencent’s WeChat.

Market research data indicates that the OTT players are growing quickly and could decrease customer spending on traditional fixed and mobile communication services by up to 36%, which will put a pressure on telecos market share as well as revenues.

Improved customer engagement using a strategically structured digital marketing and sales approach, regardless of their digital maturity, will bring-in a breath of fresh oxygen for these telecos; though companies that advance their digital customer engagement will experience the biggest upside.

Moreover, this digital sales and marketing process (improvement) is likely to ring-in 10 to 40% increase in ROI in the first year of implementation. So, how to make this possible?

Here are seven salient points of digital customer engagement for telecos to generate 10- 40% ROI:
​

1. Drive customer acquisition by increasing incoming traffic (via SEO) and lead conversion.
2. Transform internal processes to speed up value capture via agile marketing.
3. Drive customer value through personalized outreach and cross-sell.
4. Improve agency consolidations.
5. Manage vendor relationships.
6. Build cross-functional employee teams.
7. Build technology stack, advanced analytics, optimized targeting and personalization at scale, leveraging both internal and external data.

​To pursue such supercharged digital marketing- based customer engagement, the incumbent telecos must start out by the organization’s top leadership’s total commitment to this goal, choosing the right change management and business process improvement methodology to succeed attaining the initiative, keep the process improvement excitement brimming by appropriate employee engagement and investment into new ways of working.

Part 2 of this article series will touch upon the sales & marketing process problems (within telecos), recommended solutions, Agile and Lean Kaizen process improvement strategy to bring telecos marketing & sales up to speed and excel!

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Originally developed to address the pitfalls of traditional project management when applied to software development projects; Agile is now an approach you can adopt for process improvement projects in almost any industry. ​

Instead of putting majority of efforts into one long-range plan, Agile operates on a succession of tiny ‘sprints’ with significant measuring and re-evaluation between (and during) each sprint.
​
Agile management methodology is an excellent tool for bringing forth Breakthrough Improvement. Agile can be used to bring forth Continuous Improvement too. Moreover, Agile can be used native or can be combined with Lean or Kaizen to augment benefits achieved with Lean, Kaizen implementation.

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