rationalise redesign products

This scenario illustrates how you can select a specific business challenge (in this case product rationalisation and development) and focus your efforts on achieving an aligned outcome. Typical indicators that products require rationalisation are:

• Products are not aligned with customer segments in the business strategy
• Products are not integrated to provide whole or ‘all in one’ offerings
• Customers do not understand ‘what’ to choose from a plethora of product offerings
• Minor differentiation of products which are expensive to maintain and provide service to the customer
• Duplication—virtually the same products competing for the same customers
• New products not offered to relevant customer segments
• Too many product specialists required to support the customers' needs
• Product integration and development is a process that requires effective cross-functional collaboration to capture the real potential value. Our focus will be on determining how the work fits together in a value chain for the whole organisation

The key steps of this work can look like:

We work with all the functions involved in product development and resolve potential and real conflict areas as part of the design process. We do this by defining clear authorities and accountabilities across the agreed value chain, including who can initiate work and who can accept work across the functional boundaries. We call this Task Initiating Role Relationships (TIRRs) and Task Accepting Roles (TARs). When we have done this work well it provides the blueprint for better working relationships and revenue growth.

After decision making by the CEO, or specific line manager who is accountable for the new structure and working arrangements, we assist with:

• Appointing the right people to the right roles
• Bedding down the details of the new structure
• Building performance measures for cross-functional relationships
• Including performance measures in individual performance plans
• Ensuring performance measures are embedded in performance review protocol, remuneration and reward structures

This will ensure that the new working arrangements are embedded in ‘the way we do things around here’. By doing this on a number of levels with your people, we ensure that your product integration and development structures are aligned to your business needs and that you have the continuing capability to manage any further organisation structure changes to meet your future business aspirations.

We have found this to be an excellent way to build shared values and ‘ways of doing business’ across the business. If different divisions, with their different product offerings, can see that they can leverage off one another to grow the revenue of their businesses, they will have more interest in cooperating for the greater good of the overall bank, bringing alive the organisation’s values.