Operational Strategy & Transformation

A good Operational Strategy is core to sustained business success. Its primary function is to provide a plan as to how the organisation will support the overarching company Business Strategy objectives through its infrastructure and production capability whilst reducing cost and improving business growth.

Secondly, it is to drive added value to the company’s products and services through continual product and processes development.

A good strategy will have no more than 5 high-level objectives, each with a detailed resource and delivery plan. Any more objectives than this can cause confusion or delays due to lack of resources. To achieve maximum benefit all objectives should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound).

Operational Strategy will look at:

Where and how products will be produced – including in-house or externally

Capacity and resource planning (buildings and people)

Innovation and use of new technology within the company

Product differentiation through operational processes

Best practice is to break the strategy down into short, medium and long-term goals – which should form part of a coordinated plan – delivering incremental benefits to maximise any return on investment.

For smaller companies such as SMEs, the Operations department might only be a few people, but for larger organisations it could involve many departments located across multiple locations. Regardless of company size, a well thought out strategy that is well communicated to all employees and explains clearly what is expected, by when and how it will be implemented is key to success.

Key to successful strategy delivery is to ensure any resulting business change needed is planned and communicated well.  Most companies do not have the either the skills or resources to do this effectively, so calling in outside expertise is paramount to delivering on the strategy.