Business readiness function supports utility company’s migration to shared solution

Client background

The company is a multistate regional utility holding company, made up of seven separately branded utilities throughout the Midwest.

The business challenge

As part of a broad, strategic re-platforming program designed to bring seven separately operating utilities on a common set of solutions, the company required program leadership assistance to direct the preparation activities of the various business groups across the market-facing components of the value chain.

Strategy and solution

The company engaged Baker Tilly to help establish a Business Readiness function for their strategic program. Staffed by a senior Baker Tilly team, this function was responsible for developing and administering a program to prepare the company for migration to the new, shared solution set and helped to:

• Establish the charter for the function
• Liaise with the platform delivery teams for interlock/integration of activities
• Develop a detailed plan across seven discrete business teams
• Construct a governance program for the function that established weekly milestone scoring and review with the seven business leaders and the program office

In establishing the Business Readiness function, Baker Tilly developed and executed a program that focused on the following key dimensions of readiness:

• Resource management: Forecasting the impact to operational effectiveness of the new platform upon launch and the length of the stabilization period, in addition to the devotion of key personnel to the new platform design/test and data preparation. Putting in place resource acquisition and ramp-up/retirement plans to supplement for the forecasted impacts.
• Metrics: Mapping existing operating metrics and forecasted impact to performance during stabilization to manage progress to stabilization
• Business levers: Identifying key processes and programs that represent levers to minimize workload during program launch by either accelerating effort or enacting temporary holds. Managing the execution of plans to “pull” these levers.
• Change impact: Understanding the change in existing operational processes
• Communications: Identifying key stakeholder communication needs, both internal and external (commercial clients, residential consumers, energy supply partners, etc.). Managing the definition and execution of the communication plans.
• Training: Developing training programs on the procedural changes required by the new platform
• Deployment: Orchestrating business activities up to and during business cutover period
• Support: Designing, staffing and managing hypercare support structures through stabilization