Analyzing Your Corporate Operational Infrastructure

An infrastructure of a community, city or nation is a system of objects and services that supports our daily lives and activities. It includes transportation, communication, sewage, water and electric systems, heat, garbage collection and other systems and services.

Your company also has its own operational infrastructure that supports the day-to-day operations of your business and makes it possible to achieve your strategic objectives. Corporate operational infrastructure includes the following components:

·         Corporate Stakeholders Management System (although technically clients and consumers belong more to the Key Value Generators section)

·         Corporate Processes

·         Corporate Projects

·         Corporate Tools (assets, liabilities and capital)

·         Corporate Organizational Structure

·         Corporate Knowledge Management System

·         Corporate Communications System

·         Distribution & Logistics System

·         Risk Management System  

Obviously, your corporate infrastructure must be comprehensive and – like any other system or portfolio – exhibit the maximum synergy between its components.

To maximize the performance and value of your operational infrastructure, you will definitely need a highly competent operations team headed by a highly competent and experienced Chief Operating Officer (COO). The team that will use the optimal methodology and a highly efficient corporate process for engineering and managing your operational infrastructure and maximizing its performance.

This team will begin by developing a comprehensive, well-structured, accurate and up-to-date description of your operational infrastructure (actually, more of a knowledge base), including visual diagrams (models), textual descriptions, financial and operational plans and models, etc. Obviously, this team must make sure that your actual operational infrastructure always matches the declared one.

No less obviously, your infrastructure must match your KEF, your corporate mission statement (if you have one), your corporate vision statement, your corporate strategies (especially the operational one), your strategic plans and your corporate culture.

In today’s markets companies compete not only on the basis of their UVP, brands, products, services and the like, but also on the basis on their operational efficiency (that can make a significant positive or negative contribution to aggregate value that it creates for your stakeholders). Therefore, you must make sure that your company is always competitive in this department – both overall and relative to each individual direct and indirect competitor.

In our fast-paced world, to maximize your operational performance and to keep it competitive, you must be able to very quickly adapt your operational infrastructure to changes in your corporate environment. Which requires a highly efficient corporate process for monitoring your environment and adapting your infrastructure.