Advanced Solution Center: giving stakeholders a ... - Ernst & Young

Case study
Advanced Solution Center:
giving stakeholders a voice
This article examines how the Advanced Solution Center (ASC) can drive
change at a faster pace. The ASC brings together key decision-makers
from across an organization and allows them to create and develop better
solutions to complex problems in a short time period.
The economic turbulence
we have seen in recent
years has underlined the
importance of companies
having a fast and reliable
decision-making process
which enables them to
act quickly when necessary. The ability to
respond immediately, not just regarding
processes and management tools but
also the flexibility to adapt the business
model to a rapidly changing environment
becomes paramount for short- and longterm
success. Driving major changes
or transformation projects within your
organization can be painful. However,
there are ways to likely reduce that pain.
Turbulent times offer the chance to
outperform your competitors by taking
quick, decisive action. To do this, you need
the rapid buy-in and collective support
of your management team so you can be
confident of bringing your employees along
with you.
Ernst & Young’s Advanced Solution Center
(ASC) approach follows a particular
concept, designed to increase the speed
and efficiency of decision-making, change
initiatives and transformation programs.
It offers an effective way to bring together
key decision-makers from across your
organization and allow them to create
and develop solutions jointly to complex
challenges over the course of only a few
days. Detailed preparation is vital but
experience shows using the ASC can
likely reduce the time needed for major
transformations by up to 30%. It can also
dramatically improve other factors, such as
commitment and buy-in, which play a key
role in every change-related initiative.
Authors
Christian Mertin is a Partner in the CBS
Practice, Ernst & Young, India
Frank Broetzmann is a Partner in the Advisory
Practice, Ernst & Young, Germany
Wolfgang Holzhauer is a Manager in the
Advisory Practice, Ernst & Young, Germany

Advanced Solution Center
Common objectives realized with Advanced
Solution Center Events are:
• Better solutions developed in a faster,
more collaborative way
• Stronger buy-in and commitment across
the organization
• Innovative strategies and solutions
designed with multiple stakeholders
• Effective launch of new programs across
the organization
• Seamless communication, creating
mutual understanding
• Likely reduced risk, even in large and
complex transformations
The secret to the success of ASCs lies in
the combination of proven group-based
learning techniques, leading tools, fresh
and focused facilitation, carefully designed
creative environments and professional
information design.
The concept is founded on scientific
principles which stimulate participants’
ability to create new ideas and work
together to develop innovative solutions.
Each event has a customized design, with
a diverse mix of individual, small group
and plenary exercises, which encourage
participants to think outside the box as
well as reaching mutual agreement. The
output from an ASC is a solution to which
all participants contributed and therefore
accept as their own creation. The effect
is long-lasting engagement and a
motivated team.
Over the past few years, we have further
developed our ASC concept including
virtual elements and Web 2.0 technologies,
turning customized event documentation
websites used in earlier years into powerful
transformation tools. One significant
advantage is the way we make the
transformation process more efficient by
enabling hundreds of people across the
globe to be involved in the process without
incurring travel time and expenses. For
example, we use crowd-sourcing platforms
to actively engage large audiences in
important stages of the transformation
process, such as issue identification, idea
generation or feedback collection. In this
way, the spirit and momentum created
at the initial ASC event extends and
continues to provide lasting and sustainable
transformation support long after the
event itself.
“ What most excites me is the way
we are doing this all together,
with people from all parts of the
organization. It got every single
person involved in every key aspect
of the transformation.”
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Case study 1 — Developing a
global finance strategy
A global client and industry leader, with
operations across the world, faced the
challenge of globally aligning its disparate
and bespoke finance organization. This
included harmonizing process scope,
organizational structures, target setting
processes, people development and
IT systems.
Working with a small team from the client’s
side, we developed an overarching vision
and mission statement for the finance
function, outlining the key principles of
the future operating model for finance.
The team developed three possible
scenarios. Each looked at the implications
for the finance functions with respect to
processes, organization and governance,
HR and people development, as well as IT
systems. Together this formed the input for
the Advanced Solution Center.
" It’s different
to our usual
approach, there
is much more
involvement.
This is about true
ownership."
“ It was the first time
we had the chance
to impact a strategic
discussion”
We brought together over 40 key
decision-makers from around the globe,
with representatives from all regions,
business areas including shared service
organizations and stakeholders from
outside of finance for a two day event.
After learning about the key aspects of
the three scenarios, participants worked
in small groups to develop their own
interpretations of how the future finance
operating model would function. Already
on the first day, the groups presented
their results to the plenary. By using
our specific Advanced Solution Center
techniques, it became quickly apparent
that the individual groups had designed
almost identical solution. This meant
about 80% of the new finance strategy
was agreed upon right away, including an
updated version of the finance vision and
mission statement. Before moving on to
explore further details of the strategy, a
leading academic on organizational design,
as well as two representatives from other
leading global companies, shared their
views and experiences on finance strategy.
This provided the chance to hear fresh
perspectives and enabled the group to
challenge established practices when they
met the following day.
At the end of the event, the key aspects
of the finance strategy centered around
the operating model, including processes,
organization, people and IT, was defined
and agreed upon. Documentation of the
results was completed and circulated to
the participants just two days after the
event. The results formed the basis for the
detailed strategy document agreed upon by
the 40 key finance decision-makers.
The key benefits achieved from the ASC
event included:
• Agreement of the finance strategy by all
major decision-makers and stakeholders
• Reduction in the time for alignment by
about 30%
• A strategy reflecting views and
requirements from all regions and
business areas, not just corporate
headquarters

Advanced Solution Center
“ It is astonishing what we have
achieved in just one and a half days.”
Case study 2 — Rolling
out a global markets and
organizational strategy
The client, an international leader in
the professional services industry, had
developed a new strategy for one of its
business units. The challenge was to
involve the top 500 global managers and
motivate them to engage actively in the
implementation of the strategy, thereby
achieving a strong sense of momentum
around the transformation process.
To jump start the transformation process,
we designed a series of ASC events
around the globe to involve the 500
managers in the strategy rollout. The
events took place across Asia, Europe,
North and South America in parallel,
bringing together managers from different
business areas and support functions.
Working with a core team from the client’s
leadership, we developed the key messages
that needed to be communicated and
to where input and feedback from the
participants is required. With the help
of designers, we applied multi-sensory
learning techniques by creating, for each
strategic focus area, a visual expression
of the content. This made the content
much more memorable than if it had
been presented in a written format. By
doing this, we achieved several important
aspects. Firstly, it had the effect of making
the participants feel this was something
different right from the start. They were,
more willing to contribute and to be
involved. It also enabled complex issues
to be communicated in a memorable and
concise format. This approach and the
subsequent output also provided the basis
for an internal communications toolkit
which could be re-used to consistently carry
the message forward.
All the events were structured in three
successive parts. The first part was as
described above focusing on understanding
the strategy content with a short reflection
on personal implications. The second
part was about detailing certain aspects
of the strategy, defining implementation
requirements, and providing feedback to
the central strategy team. The third part
was about developing a transformation
roadmap at a corporate level and also at a
very personal level. In the second and third
part of the events, we used techniques that
enabled all participants to contribute to all
aspects of the strategy while focusing on
the parts that were most relevant to them.
At the same time, we made sure that, at
each event, a common view on every topic
was reached among participants. We also
aligned the content across the event series,
taking key insights from one event to enrich
the discussions on the following events.
After the event series, we consolidated
the results into one detailed document
for the central strategy team. It contained
the developed content on detailing and
operationalizing the strategy as well as the
transformation road map. The documented
results formed the basis for the next stages
of the transformation process.
In total, the event series achieved a
number of fundamental objectives. All
500 participants gained a common
understanding of the new strategy,
provided valuable input for the rollout
(detailing and operationalizing) of the
strategy and its implementation, as well
as creating personal action plans for
everyone’s individual contribution to the
transformation process. It enabled the
central strategy team to refine the strategy,
taking into account a more detailed
regional and functional perspective,
as well as setting up a transformation
team and providing them with concrete
and actionable tasks to turn strategy
into reality.
The key benefits achieved from the ASC
events included:
• Complete and consistent communication
of the new strategy at a global level in a
very short timescale
• Actionable and attainable strategy,
thoroughly challenged by all regions and
all business areas, including regional
and functional specific requirements
• Great momentum for change
which enabled swift and decisive
follow-up actions based on the event
series’ outcomes
Summary
The Advance Solution Center
methodology is versatile and can be
applied to a wide range of situations.
It is particularly valuable when you
need the input and agreement of many
stakeholders and time is a crucial factor.
When it is important that you have
your whole team on board and truly
committed to a common goal, and you
need tangible and actionable outcomes,
that is when you want to use the
Advanced Solution Center.
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