1.1 agile Enterprise Portfolio & Release management

Globalization and the 24/7 internet economy have created a market dynamic that fosters new competition. On top of that, emerging technologies like 3D printing, The Internet of Things and Robotisation accelerate the transition from a production to a knowledge economy with a huge ICT component. These trends will result in more sectors of Industry getting within reach of new competitors. Even old-school production companies will in the near future face wipe-out by disrupted start-ups.

Recently large well established companies and business sectors already collapsed. Traditional retailers cannot survive after having run brick-and-mortar shopping business models for centuries. The taxi sector heavily struggles with concepts like Uber. European electronics companies like Philips (inventor Compact Disc) and Nokia (nr1 mobile phones) had to step out of rapidly declining markets they used to dominate. The legendary Eastman Kodak, founded in 1880, went into decline together with the photographic film market, despite having invented the core technology used in current digital cameras. Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the world’s oldest bank, got into big problems. Their obsolete inflexible Information Technology brought them near bankruptcy.

Chances are that in a small attic room some whiz kids are working on your business downfall, or the prosperous giants like Google, Apple and Amazon further extend their diversification strategy and prepare to enter your territory.

Agile from top to bottom

In a world where every second counts traditional Demand Management models do not suffice anymore. Yearly work plans are already out-of-date the moment the ink dries and the year starts. In many organisations the situation is even worse, there Demand Management is confused with Supply Management and only ICT capacity (financial and human resources) is planned in a structured way. Business needs are prioritised in a tombola where departments with the biggest mouth get the best tickets.

To adapt to the rapidly changing market environment and quickly introduce and support new or improved business models, an agile change delivery organisation is a must. Currently all big successful companies like Google, Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Spotify completely run their business change processes in an agile way. These relative new companies had the luxury of shaping their organisation from scratch around their ICT core business. Other older organisations already carry an organisational legacy or are encapsulated in rigid governing bodies (e.g. public sector). Among these types of organisations the most advanced situation perceived is the use of agile practices for low level software development. This is far from effective if not also the complete Enterprise Portfolio management is treated agile. Organisations nowadays have to be Agile from top to bottom.