Organizations with global footprints and multiple lines of business reach a point where they need to evaluate their marketing operations and support models. As tech debt increases, and issues with siloed data, managing privacy compliance, and poor customer experience reach a head, many begin to ask, “Is there a better way?” Initially, allowing individual business units to operate autonomously allowed for rapid growth and flexibility to support different go-to-market plans. Over time, costs and resource strain outweigh the benefits, and organizations begin to consolidate technology, centralize data, and realign roles and responsibilities.

Moving from regional, decentralized processes into a global framework doesn’t happen overnight.  Organizations need to invest in a large-scale change management effort to be successful. With an initiative this complex, determining where to start and how to best work through key areas is essential for setting expectations and creating key milestones. Most marketers choose to start with an audit of existing technology, integrations, and data sources.  While this is a critical primary focus, working through people and process changes is just as important.

To help ensure you are covering all bases, we have identified three factors that aid in the long-term success of developing a global process framework.

  1. Executive sponsorship. Appointing an executive sponsor is necessary to lead this type of transformation. They will be responsible for creating the vision for the change, helping to identify and remove roadblocks, and ensuring efforts are aligned with larger business goals.  Executive sponsors actively participate in the change and help champion efforts at all levels of the business. They help pave the way for technology consolidation but also help the organization embrace new ways of working.
  2. Change Management. Change starts by focusing on understanding the current state, the level of impact on individuals, and overall organizational readiness.  Insights gathered will inform the communication and training plans and the larger organizational design process by understanding where roles and processes and can streamlined or consolidated.  Be sure your early change management efforts help to:
    • Create a clear understanding of the existing organizational structure, roles, and responsibilities
    • Document key processes, technologies, and business requirements of each business unit
    • Identify stakeholders, goals, pain points, and knowledge level
    • Uncover any resource requirements or constraints
  1. Governance will become critical for long-term success. As decentralized teams come together, having defined standards and policies to manage assets, data & integrations, security, users, and privacy compliance is necessary.  Forming a Marketing Technology Governance Board with representation across key business areas is recommended.  The board will be responsible for creating the charter & operating model, the governance framework, and working with appointed resources to support change management efforts. The board will play an important role in communication, training, adoption, and oversight & reinforcement of global processes.

For a closer look at the key areas of change management our previous blog post provides additional insights. If your organization is preparing for a digital transformation initiative, or a shift to a global process framework, let us know. Relationship One is always here to help.