In anticipation of his presentation at Building Business Capability in Vegas, Nov. 2 – 6, 2015, we asked Michele Maritato, Business Analyst at PMProgetti Srl, a few questions about pursuing business excellence. Check out his interview in relation to his BBC presentation entitled Design Thinking and Business Innovation.

Q: How is your organization advancing the pursuit of business excellence and how does it impact your business units/departments?

A: Understanding business has always been an essential capability for improving competitive advantage. Today we live in a fast-changing world and operate in turbulent global markets, where understanding business calls for organization, methodologies, competencies, speed and a bit of creativity. In Italy, PMProgetti Srl was the first company that has adopted the IIBA guidelines for Business Analysis since 2008, and utilizes these competencies for understanding customer needs, together with an innovation mind-set, both aimed at reaching and maintaining the top positions in the business context. All of our consultants are trained on Business Analysis and today, getting the IIBA CBAP certification in PMProgetti is a must.

Q: Can you describe the challenges you face or have already overcome in establishing a more cohesive and productive company or organization?

A: The main challenges we are facing as a company are related to defining the strategy, aligning the organization and executing the strategy properly as well as measuring the results. We have identified in Business Analysis, Project Management and Leadership the essential competencies to overcome these challenges.

Q: What are your near term goals for creating a more agile organization at your business or company?

A: Since 2008 in PMProgetti, we have decided to invest in three sets of competencies: Business Analysis, to stay in sync with the market and innovate; Project Management, to be effective at executing; Soft-skills, in particular Leadership, to motivate people. And we will continue to invest in the future in this direction. So far, we have experienced outstanding results from the complementary application of these disciplines. In the short term, we are going to have all of our people in Business Analysis obtain certification.

Q: What’s the most valuable thing you’ve learned in 2015 thus far? What’s the most important goal/trend for [pick one or two: business analysts, business architects, business process managers and/or business rules managers] to keep in mind?

A: We live in world that changes very fast, and companies need to continuously develop more competencies to improve their performances. Business Analysis is essential for Innovation; companies should invest more and more on Business Analysis for Innovation. Knowledge and application of the Babok Guide guidelines for all Business Analysis roles (and also for other roles) is growing fast and will definitely continue growing in the next years.

Q: What’s the latest method/process/tool you have implemented to help your organization or business run more efficiently and effectively?

A: We have adopted some tools to help people develop leadership competencies around the Emotional Intelligence theory. We want to have great managers, and great leaders to face the challenges that are coming.

Q: If you could give your five-years-ago self insight and advice about this industry, what would you say?

A: Business Analysis is a discipline essential for many companies. I would invest more in developing Business Analysis competencies and bring as many people as possible towards IIBA certifications.

Q: Sneak preview: Please tell us a take-away that you will provide during your talk at Building Business Capability.

A: In a fast-changing world where innovation is key, uncertainty is also high. When problems are complex, innovation (real innovation) can get to unpredictable results. The Design Thinking approach has been experimented to manage these situations, and has brought companies and public institutions to introduce innovation by controlling the risk of failure.

—————————–

Don’t miss Michele’s presentation, Design Thinking and Business Innovation, at Building Business Capability on Friday, November 6, 2015 from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm. Click here to register for attendance.