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Operational agility in practice: transitioning your operations for flexibility

date: 25 June 2020
reading time: 9 min

We adjust to your business, not the other way around. This may sound like it’s just a catchphrase, especially since we keep repeating it over and over again but, in fact, it describes precisely the way we work.

What is operational Agility in IT?

What exactly does this mean? It means that we are operationally agile. The term “operational agility” refers to a company’s capacity to quickly adapt its IT infrastructure to meet the shifting demands of an industry, a market, or an uncertain business environment. This kind of adaptability is a crucial outcome of digital transformation, comprising the reworking of systems, existing processes, and workflows.

Businesses with flexible operational procedures can respond quickly to shifts in the market and secure their employees, customers, and sensitive information.


The impact of Agile practices on daily business operations

The adoption of agile approaches has brought about significant changes in the day-to-day operations of businesses. Organizational agility has led to improved operational performance, increased adaptability, better team collaboration, a greater focus on customer demands and creating value for the client.

The agile methodology has proven to be an effective way of project management that reduces time-to-market. Through its iterative approach, agile promotes productivity and job satisfaction by creating a culture of continuous feedback, innovation and employee involvement in decision-making processes.

Agile Development Methodology
Agile Development Methodology


What are the benefits of the operational Agility framework?

The operational agility framework provides several significant benefits, such as:

  • Faster Decision-Making: It streamlines business processes and decisions with insights into dynamic workflows and data flows.

  • Flexibility and Adaptability: This framework promotes workforce adaptability without sacrificing governance structure or compliance.

  • Leveraging Existing Technologies: By integrating with existing technologies, it brings together data in a cohesive manner and provides teams with a robust set of tools to enhance their capabilities.

  • Improved Customer Satisfaction: Quick decision-making leads to better customer service and a workforce that can adjust to changing demands.

  • Real-Time Insights: The framework offers quick and useful insights into processes which help in continuous improvement of organisation product culture.

  • Enhanced Collaboration: It fosters team collaboration and speeds up the development of digital transformation in business. Digital transformation is the process of fully benefiting from the enormous digital potential in your business.

  • Market Responsiveness: It enables businesses to quickly adapt to market trends, customer centricity and business requirements of digital solutions.


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3 levels to achieve operational agility in IT organisation 


Level of organisation

  1. We aim to keep 5-10% of the team on a so-called bench
    This is a buffer that we maintain in order to ensure that we have two complete teams of specialists who are always available to start a new project within two weeks of signing a deal. Thanks to this approach, our new clients don’t have to wait long.

  2. Our network of trusted partners can quickly supply us with additional experts and broaden our teams’ competencies
    At the moment, we have 58 verified suppliers to choose from, including access to 3000+ additional companies that can provide us with the experts that we need in no time. Scaling up is not a problem, so whenever a new opportunity emerges, we are able to seize it immediately. 

  3. We are a member of a SoDA organisation and 6 other IT business bodies
    Why? Because it’s important to support one another for mutual growth. SoDA is a Software Development Association that integrates Polish IT companies so that they can cooperate and complement each other’s services whenever needed – especially when it’s beneficial for their customers. 

  4. We have 800+ people on board with an extensive range of competencies
    We have technical experts engaged in different delivery processes, a Product Design department with a number of UX/UI and Business Analysis specialists, a QA department, and engineers who excel in ML/AI, Low-code / no-code solutions, big data, cybersecurity services, and so on.

    Plus, we provide plenty of training for our teams to improve their skills. We have our own training centre called the FP Academy – with 43 skilled trainers alone, we organised 81 internal sessions, and we regularly participate in external training sessions and conferences. We’ve got our clients covered, no matter what kind of project they have in mind.


Level of cooperation 

  1. We start by listening to understand our clients’ needs
    This is a fundamental step. We have to understand our customers’ businesses and their specific needs in order to adapt accordingly.

  2. We are open to different cooperation models
    We can offer various pricing models, whichever works best for our customers. This could mean cooperating on the basis of a time and materials (T&M) pricing model, a fixed price model, or a hybrid approach based on a flexible scope. 

  3. We are open to different tools, technologies and business domains
    No matter what industry our existing or potential clients operate in and the nature of their projects, we are ready to take on the challenge, even when it is something new to us. This includes leveraging new technologies and tools, too.


Team level

  1. We maintain open mindsets
    Incorporating agile methodologies into our work process requires us to be open to change and ready for any modification that may occur at any time. We don’t fight change; we swiftly adapt to it to stay ahead.

  2. The size of the team 
    We achieve operational agility by adjusting the number of people involved in working on a project to the client’s current business needs. Additional developers of experts (e.g. Business Analysts or UX designers) can join the team when their competencies are needed for business success. The team can also be scaled down as we can easily reduce its size whenever there’s a change in a project’s requirements or market dynamics. 

  3. We have a positive attitude towards change despite being such a big organisation
    Hiring over 1000 people doesn’t limit our flexibility. This is challenging, but with over 20 years of experience, we have worked out strategic agility and procedures, allowing for flawless responses. Thanks to them, we welcome changes positively and are ready to adapt to them.


What drives operational agility?

To drive operational agility in organisations, there are several key factors that come into play. Firstly, the implementation of advanced technologies, such as AI solutions, and data analytics. These technologies enable operational agility by providing real-time insights, streamlining processes, and facilitating quicker and more informed decision-making.

Impact of Software on Agile Teams' PM Functions
Impact of Software on Agile Teams’ PM Functions


Secondly, fostering a culture that values flexibility and rapid adaptation is essential to drive operational agility. This involves training and empowering employees to embrace change and think innovatively.

Furthermore, the use of efficient communication channels and implementation of effective management practices play a crucial role in enhancing the organisation’s agility. These practices enable teams to respond to constantly changing market demands and internal challenges.


Operational Agility: industry examples

Operational agility, initially popular in software development, is now transforming various other industries:

  1. Construction: Agile in construction revolutionises project management by breaking down large projects into smaller, manageable units, allowing for more frequent reassessment and adaptation of plans. This approach significantly reduces the risk of project failure and improves the management of supply chain and subcontractor schedules.

  2. Engineering: In engineering, agile methodologies facilitate rapid prototyping and iterative development. This means engineering projects can evolve through collaboration between cross-functional teams, leading to innovative solutions and designs.

  3. Aerospace: The adoption of agile in aerospace enables teams to tackle complex engineering challenges more flexibly and adaptively, which is crucial for an industry where safety and precision are paramount. Agile practices allow for more frequent testing and validation stages.

  4. Automotive: Agile supports the rapid development of new vehicle models and technologies in the automotive industry, such as electric vehicles and autonomous driving systems.

  5. Pharmaceuticals: Agile in the pharmaceutical industry transforms the drug development process. It allows for faster and more flexible clinical trial designs, quicker responses to trial data, and more iterative approaches to research and development.


How could Future Processing help you in achieving operational agility?

Operational agility enables us to work as flawlessly as possible in today’s unstable environment.

However, our clients are always the ones that benefit from this approach. Here’s why:

  1. We provide a comprehensive end to end service
    There’s no need to look for other suppliers. Our expanding areas of expertise and almost unlimited capabilities when it comes to acquiring new talent help us offer our customers a full package of services. We adjust our services to different industries and the specific nature of our clients’ projects.

  2. We follow a set of procedures that allow for smooth cooperation.

    Embracing agility allows us to think positively about changes that may occur along the way. Sometimes, there’s no way to predict them, but we always expect that something may emerge or have significant impact on our work. The procedures we put in place allow us to know exactly what to do to adapt to new circumstances.

    Every modification is different, but there are some general guidelines to follow in the adaptation process – rules that naturally give us some leeway. Thanks to this, there’s little to no chance of catching us off-guard. This, in turn, gives our clients a feeling of security and confidence that the whole cooperation is stable and secure. Just like the success of their projects.

  3. Customers want us to be flexible  and so we are
    These are not just empty words. We have case studies and testimonials to prove it. We are always ready to accommodate our clients as long as both parties stay open and transparent. Whenever something changes, we need to know all the details to be able to react accordingly and in a timely manner. And this, of course, works both ways.

Operational agility is one of the pillars of the Future Processing Way – find out more about it or contact us if you’d like to see how it works in practice.

If you’re looking for a way to boost your business, contact Future Processing today!

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