In anticipation of their presentation at Building Business Capability in Vegas, Nov. 2 – 6, 2015, we asked Courtney Vos, Sr. Business Systems Analyst, Yuliya Maksimova, Business Systems Analyst Practice Lead and Dana Collins, Business Systems Analyst at Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, a few questions about pursuing business excellence. Check out their interview in relation to their BBC presentation entitled, Better, Faster, Stronger Business Analysis:  Reaping the Rewards from a Supportive CBAP® Culture.

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

A: As an organization, Wellmark has set up its technology structure and allocated resources to ensure they align with individual business units. This provides each department with full, dedicated IT support. The structure has allowed ourIT professionals to build expertise in specific business processes and priorities, leading to effective and efficient project delivery as we work toward our corporate objectives to build capabilities that enhance our customers’ experiences.

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

A: The health care industry presents constant change in terms of new technology, market players and governmental regulations. We are continuously challenged to balance the need to manage costs and follow standards and mandates, with our drive to be innovative and exceed customer needs and expectations. This requires us to be flexible and continuously expand and refine our capabilities. An example of a way we are working to meet the challenge of change is our efforts to experiment with various software development methodologies, so we are able to target to specific projects’ needs.

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

A: Our business partners and stakeholders recognize the need for agile thinking and the challenge involved in making enterprise-wide changes of this nature. We are currently piloting several projects using agile thinking. The intention is to use the lessons learned to help us determine future plans to work toward a broader agile environment.

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

A: We have learned just how valuable Wellmark’s Community of Practice initiative has been, to help us enhance our ability to deliver solutions efficiently and effectively to our stakeholders. Once established, implementing the full vision of the initiative requires ongoing effort to continue to build and grow. Currently, we are focused on providing our BSAs training on industry best practices, allowing our employees to practice what they have learned and provide one-on-one mentoring. As we continue to grow in our maturity model, we identify areas of focus and then provide additional training on topics such as process models and requirements facilitation.

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 implemented The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF) to help build out our enterprise capability model and ensure business strategy alignment. This effort included creating a new business architect role at Wellmark, to ensure we have consistent oversight of business capabilities at an enterprise level, not just a project level. This role helps provide “big picture” insight to BSAs and other project team members and stakeholders, and helps us leverage what is already built.

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

A: Take advantage of the tools and resources available to help you. Find a mentor you can trust, to learn and grow from. Familiarize yourself with the right tools to use for challenges like strengthening elicitation processes, resolving conflict and prioritizing requirements. Practice, practice, practice.

Q: Sneak preview: Please tell us a takeaway that you will provide during your talk at Building Business Capability?

A: We are excited to share fresh perspective about taking the CBAP®. We hope to arm you with inspiration and encouragement on a personal and professional level. We also want to show you how your organization can benefit from investing into a CBAP-supportive environment to improve project delivery and provide value to customers.

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Don’t miss Courtney, Yuliya and Dana and’s presentation, Better, Faster, Stronger Business Analysis:  Reaping the Rewards from a Supportive CBAP® Culture, at Building Business Capability on Friday, November 6, 2015 from 10:10 to 11:10 am. Click here to register for attendance.