Turnaround & set-up for future growth

In a hands-on approach we identified key areas for improvement quickly and followed that up with immediate execution of quick wins to show first successes. Simultaneously, we developed a roadmap on structural improvements that will set up the company for further growth in the future.

The core of our approach is to realize direct business impact and enthuse the organization & stakeholders, while simultaneously making structural improvements to organizational and technical enablers. We are able to make this a success in complex multinational corporations with stakeholders across functional departments and local markets.

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1. Scan

At JDE, we started by looking at strengths & improvement opportunities across customer, technology and organization.

We found a number of immediate quick-wins that would fix basic elements of the proposition, but also planned work on structurally improving the webshop. For example: to resolve an out-of-stock issue on the short term, we calculated the safety stock increase and factory priority that were required above traditional supply chain standards. But we also outlined how a more sophisticated planning approach would improve stock availability better on the long-term.

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2A. Quick wins

A joint JDE-SparkOptimus team was setup and our team immediately implemented quick wins to turnaround results and create excitement in the organization. We successfully executed on identified quick wins by combining expertise on both operational and strategic level. Continuing on the stock availability example: we were able to immediately convince leadership of other departments to (temporarily) increase safety stock and factory priority during the peak holiday season, while creating a sophisticated forward-looking SKU-specific planning model to structurally match stock levels to consumer demand.

In order to quickly execute we created transparency on the results and a shared understanding of the underlying business drivers. To that end, we designed operational dashboards and defined operational KPI’s for each team. These were updated on a weekly or daily basis by Business Intelligence for all teams.

To improve commercial coordination & execution, and fast-track decision making we established an organizational ‘heartbeat’:

• We set up a weekly commercial meeting rhythm and prepared an update on performance, related insights and follow-up actions. The meeting brings all stakeholders up to date on the latest insights and provides fast coordination of commercial actions. The meeting included all commercial leads and internal stakeholders
• We transformed the weekly management meeting to focus on longer-term initiatives and make decisions on major cross-functional topics
• We ensured and prepared a monthly steerco with ExCo members across departments (Sales, Marketing, Supply Chain, IT, HR, Finance) to fast-track decision making across departments. Besides quickly resolving blockers, the monthly steerco also created transparency, enthused stakeholders, and improved digital understanding of key stakeholders

2B. Plan

In parallel with the execution of quick wins, we developed the plan for the coming year to turnaround the business and set it up for future growth

Lastly, we worked together with key local markets in pilots to build trust and solidify the central/local way-of-working.

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3. Roll-out

During the roll-out we were operationally involved and all plan elements were put in place. Through our understanding of digital at every level of the organization – strategically, tactically, and operationally – we were able to flexibly support JDE and provide the necessary expertise where required (e.g. due to lack of expertise and/or resources).

We were successful in rolling out the plan as described above and together with JDE overcame the added complexity that a multinational has in a digital transformation. For example, centralization of specific digital activities can be more complex as markets and departments function separately from each other. Through joint pilot initiatives – that delivered tangible results – we were able to: make responsibilities clear, build the necessary trust between markets and departments, put in place aligned rules and processes, and bring clarity to the necessary activities.

An example of a pilot that brought all elements together at JDE was the rollout of the new brand webshop in 10+ markets that accompanied a companywide new product launch. We started a joint roll-out pilot with the first & largest market and worked in close collaboration with the local team and other central departments to successfully launch the webshop there. Simultaneously, we were able to showcase the operational model, build trust and improve roles & responsibilities along the way. After a smooth operational go-live in the key market we developed an aligned roll-out playbook with the launching market. Thereby having a structured onboarding program detailing step-by-step the responsibilities of local & central, and the necessary actions by both towards the go-live. A bi-weekly meeting with each market was setup to ensure progress and coordinate commercial actions.