Driving Business Agility through Business Transformation Organization

As leaders in digital transformation, we bear the responsibility of ensuring the success of organizational change, and this achievement must be built on the foundation of business agility. In our role as transformation agents, particularly in the Quality Engineering lifecycle of client projects, we, at QualityKiosk Technologies, have recognized the potential to not only transform internally but also to cultivate innovation that will drive the prosperity of our organization.

Establishing the Business Transformation Organization 

To realize this vision, we established the Business Transformation Organization under the leadership of our CEO, Maneesh Jhawar. This organization serves as a platform for seeding innovation and incubating transformation agents within our company. 

Nurturing an Agile mindset 

From the outset, we adopted the principles of Sprint Zero Agile discipline for our projects or squads, referred to as EPICs in Agile terminology. This agile approach laid the groundwork for the entire transformation process. 

Guiding the change 

To steer and guide this business transformation, we formed an organization with the full support of our leadership team. This organization is tasked with mentoring and overseeing the various EPICs, and it operates under the guidance of the Incubator Board. The board includes key stakeholders such as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Amit Pareek, Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), Sanjeev Chugh, Resource Management Group, Business leaders, and select individuals from different practices. We also enlisted the expertise of an external consultant to enhance our governance practices. The Incubator Board collaborates closely with the Steering Committee, led by our CEO and Chief Operating Officer, Chitra Ramaswamy. 

Categorizing Innovation Efforts 

Our EPICs are broadly categorized into two tribes:

1) Process Innovation Squads

2) Platform Innovation Squads.

Each EPIC has a clearly defined charter and a business proposal note that undergoes regular reviews. Weekly meetings and retrospectives involving Incubator Board members ensure continuous improvement and alignment. 

Uncovering the potential – one milestone at a time  

So, what have we achieved thus far? Notably, our greatest accomplishment lies within our talent pool, which now boasts more than 100 Agile-certified professionals, including Scrum practitioners. However, more significantly, we have harnessed this organization as a catalyst and a change agent for shifting our mindset and approach to delivering outcomes. As a result, three product squads have emerged, transforming our service architecture into a more platform-centric approach, ultimately resulting in greater value to our clients. 

Embracing Agile culture   

Our approach has fostered a culture of failing fast and adapting quickly. EPICs are encouraged to pivot and refine their outcomes based on feedback and the testing of prototypes developed. For example, in response to the recent surge in AI adoption, we swiftly prioritized delivering outcomes. Within a sprint (two weeks), our squads developed early, working prototypes, paving the way for further discussion and use case development.  

Leveraging collective expertise  

While each EPIC has its charter, we encourage collaboration among squads and within our business units to harness the ecosystem and continually validate our outcomes. Knowledge management plays a critical role in incubating ideas and creating new assets, and a dedicated squad facilitates integration with various internal business units, acting as both customers and providers of requirements and acceptance criteria. 

Charting the course forward 

What lies ahead? We anticipate increased convergence between the two innovation tribes and, more importantly, the widespread acceptance of agility throughout our organization. As EPIC owners begin to reap the rewards of their efforts, vertical and horizontal integration opportunities will multiply. This, we believe, will serve as the foundation for our vision of delivering Digital Quality Engineering globally through a pervasive Business Agility Culture.