A BRIEFING NOTE WHICH ATTEMPTS TO OUTLINE BENEFITS OF SETTING UP AND INSTITUTIONALIZING CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE IN ORGANISATIONS

 This brief is based on actual work done by Hexagon Consulting, on setting up centers of excellence with a few clients.

Current Market Drivers

 "organizations must transform their business operations from being merely reactive, to being proactive  –   delivering the right product/service, at the right time, in the right place, the right way and using he right channel(s), etc.”

Customer expectations from organizations they engage with and from products & services they consume continue to be high and given the dynamic environment of rapid change & over-competitive conditions are all contributing to even higher expectations.  Engaging the customer during all phases of the customer life cycle is critical for building customer relationships. Using customer feedback, as also from other  stakeholders such as  employees & regulators are now important for improving organization’s products & processes. Spreed and use of innovative technologies, is of essence, as product life-cycles have shrunk.

These new market drivers make it important to develop an organizational  framework to continuously improve in a structured manner, & develop business operations across all organizational silos and also continuously enhance business intelligence (a key ingredient to survival & growth), apart from just managing contemporary day to day business or organisational metrics.

Centers of excellence  enable this - and are envisioned can be built in organizations including in each of its various line and support divisions, to not only generate best in class business operations metrics, but also serve as originator of ‘next practices ‘and to continuously & innovatively generate & utilize business intelligence, to further understanding of the business environment relevant to the organization and to also innovatively meet its customer’s needs and aspirations.

COEs thus become an organization’s internal delivery excellence improvement framework for each of its operating units (i.e. verticals/horizontals/support units) which serve, as models of excellence, for enabling strengthening business operations, execution of continuous improvement of delivery & operation quality of its units and provide a competitive but objective bench marking framework framework of recognition of its higher performing units.

 COE – Business & Delivery excellence Framework of an organisation of a unit therein, which has  internally set benchmarks and 5 levels of maturity covering the above mentioned  six  key business operations parameters, viz

-- industry 4.0 future trends

Operating excellence

- People practices

- Innovation index

- Stakeholder interests

- future relevant Technology adoption

- Risk mitigation  & compliance management

. The 5 typical levels of maturity which integrate specific benchmarks against each of the 6 attributes mentioned above for every COE are

 -  Beginning

-  Emerging

-  Mature

 - Proficient

- Exemplary

The COE set up will be facilitated in the organization by an internal key support/coordinating & audit/Quality function of the organization, but eventually set up in most line and support divisions of the organization – led by the respective divisional heads and managed by mid management managers or seniors – as an adjunct role to their day to day line/support  roles  to develop and strengthen their respective units and overall organization’s competency levels on various aspects defined in the COE’s charter of  excellence

Drive healthy competition on operating excellence between various internal divisions to strive for higher and higher levels of excellence

Facilitate Cross pollination of best practices  between divisions/units –i.e. learn from peer groups  within the organization(i.e. other COE’s, models of excellence)

 Help to create a culture of continuous improvement, in the organization

What is a COE ? A COE is a team or a unit within an organization that is using a framework of continuous improvement (i.e. the COE framework), which has in turn established by using “defined best practices” & later “next practices” in the delivery/development of an organization’s products/services.  The premise is that successful operations or units of organizations/companies are those that continuously deliver excellence & innovation in their chosen product lines and they need a COE framework to serve as a guide to benchmark against and over time develop into high performing centers/operating units(i.e. a COE).

 A typical COE Framework – is a 5 Tier- maturity model which is developed internally by each division/vertical/horizontal/support units - which benchmarks practices along six core operational areas mentioned above:

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Above case study & white paper has been written by Hexagon Consulting’s, Analysts and Consultants, based on the deep expertise & practical experience of its senior consultants & Partners in implementing & developing centers of excellence & innovation labs

Interested in learning more on this and in implementing COEs in your organisation. Just click here - and leave your coordinates/questions on our contact page - and we'll be glad to help.

Here's a recent video we created to give you more feel on the subject meanwhile...click on the button below to view !