News & Articles
Maximising the value of finance functions through big data
Organisations worldwide, including finance departments, are using data to boost the efficiency of existing processes, drive operational costs down, achieve strategic excellence, and monitor and improve performance. And according to a study by the Business Application Research Centre, they are gaining benefits from big data such as better strategic decisions, improved control of operational processes, an increase in revenues and reduction in costs. Digitising transactional processes have productivity benefits…
A coatings manufacturer boosts its competitiveness with a new way of working
Key results 3.1:1 Return in project investment 20% Reduction in production cost/kg >50% Reduction in finished goods inventry turnover days About the client Our client’s business is focused on the production and sales of petrochemical products including solvents, coatings, inks, and lubricants. The company is a major global producer of acetate solvents and one of China’s major manufacturers of ink. The challenge To cope with an…
Should you be benchmarking? Probably not.
Every company wants to improve its performance. Conversations about how to do so will happen in boardrooms, especially in the last quarter of the year. However, when the word “benchmarking” starts being thrown about, this is when I want to say, “Been there, done that. Let’s come up with another idea!” Typically, companies embark on…
Removing the human barriers to digital transformation
By AMIYA SATPATHY, Partner (India) A manufacturing firm’s digital transformation programme was hitting a snag. Despite the effort and careful planning done to find the right digital solution, adoption was slow during roll out. One of the primary reasons was with the senior leadership team. Some of them were reluctant to experiment with something new, and, as a result, were…
Is your business transformation “sticky”?
I once attended a meeting where an attendee raised a biting question: “We’ve had transformation programmes before, but performance inevitably drops. Why should this project be any different?” The CEO responded, “Why is it the job of the consultants to sustain performance after they have gone? They aren’t going to be around!” The CEO got…
White paper – Business transformation: Set up for success
The marketplace is changing at an accelerated rate. Companies that succeed are the ones that transform their businesses to quickly adapt. However, with 70% of business transformations failing to deliver on their promised value, organisations need a proven method to enable them to beat the odds. In this white paper, we explore the business transformation…
A port operations group stomps out firefighting and saves $10.3million
Key results $10.3 mil Reduction in annualised labour costs 100% Achievement of proposed financial results and cost reduction 4.8:1 Return on investment About the client Our client is a company that manages the movement of cargo from ports in various parts of the world. The challenge The company was facing increasing pressure from various stakeholders….
Change Champions: Rebel with a cause
I often harp about how important it is to have leaders lead change effectively with a clear vision – a transformation programme can be broken if the wrong person is leading the charge. However, equally important are the people executing the transformation. And often, it is the “change champions” of your organisation that are the key to…
The digital tools transforming the agricultural industry
By DHRUV SAXENA, Consultant The pressure placed on global agriculture and food supply chains due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to bottlenecks in food processing and agricultural production. The implementation of measures to curb the spread of the virus led to a dramatic economic contraction affecting farmers, workers, and consumers around the world. As…
An insurance provider unlocked the full potential of its digital platform — and increased online applications by 48%
Key results 48% Increase in online applications from trained distributors 1,960 Sales personnel trained and coached 20,000 Sales personnel benefiting from Renoir’s approach About the client Our client is an insurance provider that was formed out of a partnership between two conglomerates: a global financial protection and asset management company operating in over 60 countries,…
Crisis Or No Crisis: Companies Still Need To Transform
With more of their citizens vaccinated, the United States and the United Kingdom are seeing increasing optimism over the economy, promising a time when things will get back to normal. However, in other parts of the world things remain uncertain, with many governments reimposing lockdowns. I began to wonder how organisations were handling their transformation…
The foundations of a future-ready finance function
The finance function has traditionally played a more supportive role instead of an advisory one within many organisations. Many finance functions tend to focus on their operational activities instead of giving strategic insights. As a result, finance departments risk being reduced to serving an efficiency-first support role. Compounding this is the reality that innovation hasn’t…
White Paper — Winning Finance Transformation
Finance as a function has been historically very transactional in nature, more focused on repetitive tasks that add very little value to the organisation other than creating reports. Although they are often expected to do more with less, many are still relying on outdated manual processes and tools. Managers want more insight into what is…
Is your company culture sabotaging the organisation?
I once met a CEO of a company in India that produced automotive components. He told me about a particular problem he had. The CEO had invested over US$150mil in a fully-automated plant that converted raw metal into the finished product in a matter of minutes with very little manual intervention. Yet, although the plant…
A food and beverage company grows sales by 19% with new organisation design
Over the decades, this food and beverage company grew from a small retail shop selling sweets to a company with multiple factories, retail outlets and one of the largest sales and distribution networks in India. Key results 19% Sales growth 20% Increase in retail visits and productivity 20% increase in SKU attainment The challenge Despite its long history, the company had gaps in its organisation…
Harmonising sales and production
By JAISON JOSEPH, PROJECT MANAGER Bridging the gap between supply and demand is the prime objective of any business. When mass manufacturing was at its peak, demand was generally higher than supply and customisation options were limited. Standardisation was seen as key to maximising efficiency. Henry Ford’s famous quote, “Any customer can have a car…
Transformational Leadership For A Post- Pandemic World
There’s no “best” leadership style, no “magic bullet” when it comes to leading a company. But a certain style of leadership is ideal for certain circumstances. At a time when companies are trying to think of out-of-the-box methods to navigate a post-pandemic future, when the old ways of doing business or work may no longer…
Unlocking the full value of data
Over the last few decades, several acronyms have sprung up naming essential systems for storing and processing business data, such as CRM (customer relationship management), ERP (enterprise resource planning) and MRP (material requirements planning). Companies invest a lot of time and money in these tools, as executives know that collecting data to report on what’s happening in…
The quest for post-pandemic resilience and recovery
Business resilience is the buzzword now. After 2020, is that a surprise? Most businesses don’t have to be told that they need to do things differently – many are actively searching for a way to “build back better” as the economy recovers. But how do you do that? A good way forward is to look…
Staying fresh in the food and beverage industry: Challenges and opportunities
By JAROD YAN, PROJECT LEADER and GREG THISTLETHWAITE, HEAD OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT The food and beverage industry is huge, with estimates putting it at 10% of global gross domestic product. This puts the turnover for food and beverage companies, which encompasses agriculture and animal husbandry to food processing, distribution, retailing and food services (such as restaurants), at about $5 trillion a year. Market demands are changing. Some of the more prevalent…
An agri-tech manufacturer optimises efficiency and saves $450,000
KEY RESULTS 10% Improvement in productivity 50% Increase in sales meeting effectiveness $450,000 Bottomline savings achieved Our client was a leading manufacturer of electric fence systems, livestock scales, electronic identification products and milk metering equipment for farmers in over 100 countries. The company designs, manufactures and markets products and solutions to increase efficiency and profitability in the agricultural sector. THE CHALLENGE Although the company’s retail sales team had…
MyDIGITAL can power up Malaysia’s economy, but implementing it effectively is crucial to its success
“If you build it, they will come.” That saying came to my mind when Malaysian Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin announced the Digital Economy Blueprint (MyDIGITAL) on 19 Feb. When I think about MyDIGITAL, I picture a highway being built on virgin land. After it is built, townships will form along the stretch; businesses will soon…
Taming organisational chaos: From firefighting to ‘fire prevention’
If organisations were ships, many of their captains would be unaware of the constant firefighting going on below decks to keep things running. Ships depend on numerous routines, tools, and systems to ensure that everything is running as expected so that the destination is reached safely and efficiently. The routines, tools and methods used to…
Manufatura em 2021: A Transformação é imperativa
Por RICARDO BRAUN, PROJECT LEADER Em 2021, muitos fabricantes priorizarão a transformação. A pandemia teve um sério impacto neste setor, que por sua vez afetou o mundo de forma real; um exemplo notável foi a falta de equipamentos médicos e itens essenciais durante os primeiros meses da pandemia. A produção manufatureira global caiu 11,2% no segundo…
Are your business processes under control? 5 warning signs
In our experience, when we ask our clients if they know if their business processes are performing as expected, they often answer: “We are not sure!” It is relatively easy to identify flaws in production processes because they are visible. One just needs to head to the factory floor and observe it. Business processes, on the other hand, are “hidden”. Instead of a product, information (such as a purchase requisition) travels through processes that run through…
Change or be changed – which one will you choose?
I ended my last column saying that companies need to be agile, resilient and innovative, especially in the New Normal. I’ve been reflecting on that, and I thought it would be a good idea to define them because everybody has a different idea of what they mean. These are mine: Agile Quick and spry, agile…
White Paper – Priming Business Processes for Excellence
With change accelerating and disruptions on the horizon, there is an urgent need for companies to digitise or re-digitise their business processes. However, digitising inefficient and ineffective business processes isn’t a good idea. Many companies do not know if their business processes or workflows are running as well as they should be. They lack well-designed “controls” or “tools” to ensure that these processes are performing as expected. At Renoir,…
Manufacturing in 2021: Transformation is imperative
By RICARDO BRAUN, PROJECT LEADER In 2021, many manufacturers will be prioritising transformation. The pandemic had a serious impact on this sector, which in turn affected the world in a real way; a notable example being the lack of medical equipment and essential items during the first few months of the pandemic. Global manufacturing output fell by 11.2% in the second quarter of 2020 compared…
Disengaged employees? Your internal communications could be the culprit
By DAVID RUIZ, MANAGING DIRECTOR (NORTH AMERICA OIL AND GAS) Many companies continue to pour money into their internal communications initiatives and departments with the end goal of better employee engagement. While this is something businesses should pursue, why do so many continue to miss the mark? According to Gallup, only 13% of employees rate…
Is Your Company Agile, Resilient And Innovative?
In 2020, uncertainty rippled through the world economy, causing radical shifts in the behaviours of organisations. New ways of work were implemented overnight. Business models were shredded and rebuilt. Lives were upended – mine included. Until 2020, as the CEO of a global management consultancy, my life was a hectic round of flights, meetings, hotel…
Transformation Management Office: How it benefits digital transformation
Everyone understands that it’s good for business to know how to identify correct initiatives and make them happen. And to ensure that they happen, many companies have a Project Management Office (PMO) responsible for overseeing initiatives, making sure that they are on track and delivering results as expected. Beyond a PMO, a Transformation Management Office…
Secrets to a winning digital transformation strategy
Go digital or go bust, declared a World Economic Forum (WEF) article. The article revealed that companies that emerged as winners during the COVID-19 lockdowns were the ones that: Had already successfully implemented digital transformationAdopted platform-based business modelsWere able to quickly adopt digitalisation The winners found themselves in a position to capture market share…
White paper – Powering Successful Digital Transformation
Most companies understand the importance of digital transformation (DX). However, few companies reap the benefits of DX; an alarming 70% of DX initiatives fail. Yet, the fallout from COVID-19 has made it clear that companies must digitally transform to thrive in the future or end up being left behind. But how do they increase their…
The 5 traits of agile, future-ready companies
When Richard Mahoney became Monsanto Company’s CEO and chairman in the 1980s, he didn’t like where the company was heading. “The core of Monsanto was in serious jeopardy, and it was subject to the swings in oil prices,” he wrote in the book, Tough Calls from the Corner Office. He wanted the company to be…
Top tips on getting a job as a management consultant
By GREG THISTLETHWAITE, HEAD OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT It has been said that a year working as a management consultant brings you five years of experience. There is some merit to this opinion. As a management consultant, you’ll be exposed to multiple industries and business functions within a couple of years. So, in terms of…
To win the future, train for change (agile companies do)
By FLIP DE HERDT, OPERATIONS MANAGER (MIDDLE EAST). Building change capability in your organisation is like becoming successful in running marathons. Before you take up the challenge of running a marathon, you need to train to get there. You may reach out to a coach to set up a training programme. The programme will change the way you eat, sleep and run so that you can achieve your goals of becoming a marathoner more efficiently and effectively. After a few training sessions,…
White Paper – Future-Ready, Agile Organisations: The Winning Blueprint for Change
Leaders know that they need to be prepared to respond when a big-impact event hits. They are also aware that managing change is a vital core competency for an organisation, especially during turbulent times. Change management, however, has been a challenging task for most companies. The good news is, while three-quarters of change initiatives fail…
Is your company sailing towards an iceberg of hidden losses?
By GREG THISTLETHWAITE, HEAD OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT. On a chilly Sunday on April 14, 1912, the Royal Mail Steamer Titanic hit an iceberg. It sank in three hours. There were 2,224 passengers and crew onboard. More than 1,500 died. History recorded the series of bad decisions that led to the RMS Titanic’s sinking….
Why every employee of an organisation should know its end-to-end processes
By SURESH MORYA, PROJECT LEAD and GREG THISTLETHWAITE, HEAD OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT. When it comes to motivation, many employees lack one fundamental ingredient in their jobs, say authors Martin, Goldstein and Cialdini in their book, The Small Big. They have lost track of the significance and meaningfulness of their jobs. There are huge benefits…
Get ahead of disruption with the right change partner
By RUBIELYN RAMONES, Consultant. As governments relax COVID-19 containment measures and people cautiously return to their offices, we may be lulled into thinking that life is returning to normal. But now is not the time to relax or to be passive, warns the World Economic Forum (WEF). In a recent WEF survey, risk experts identified…
Spoiler alert: Toxic workplaces aren’t just caused by ‘bad’ employees
By DEBASHIS BEHERA, Senior Consultant Peter Fleming, author of Mythology of Work: How Capitalism Persists Despite Itself, once wrote about a friend’s workplace turning toxic after draconian performance measures were imposed. Impersonal hierarchies multiplied and bullying became rife. “Fear pervaded the atmosphere of the place. And then staff started to drop like flies, getting seriously ill,” he wrote….
The 3 tactics of highly productive managers
By JAISON JOSEPH, Project Lead. Most managers put a huge amount of time into their jobs. During times of crisis, they would work around the clock if necessary. However, that’s not a sustainable strategy. Long periods of work may not lead to improved productivity. Instead, it could lead to increased levels of distraction, ill-health and, ultimately, lower productivity. The COVID-19 pandemic has complicated the lives of managers further. The pandemic has abruptly changed the way companies work, and managers now find…
The science behind corporate restructuring during disruptive times
By ANGELINE LOH, CONSULTANT. With COVID-19 impacting economies around the world, some organisations are restructuring their organisations to sustain their operations. Often, they do this in a rapid and drastic way. Many executives believe that all it takes to restructure an organisation is to put a few boxes and lines on a piece of paper….
How to make #EachForEqual more than a hashtag
International Women’s Day has become a fixture in our calendar at Renoir as it celebrates one of our core values – equal opportunity for all. Like our clients, who are operating in an increasingly globalised market, businesses must seek to reflect that diversity (be it gender, race, age, sexual orientation, etc) in its operations, if…
Our new Change Maker: Elisabeth Proust joins Renoir Consulting as Senior Advisor
Renoir Consulting, a global management consultancy specialising in sustainable change, welcomes Elisabeth Proust to its panel of Senior Advisors. The oil and gas sector is one that is constantly changing. However, like the industry itself, major themes impacting the industry also exhibits a cyclical nature with themes related to climate, ESG and the importance of…
You Don’t Own Your Brand
Lisa Hezila, Country Head of Renoir Consulting, Malaysia, and former Group Managing Director of Young & Rubicam Group/VMLY&R, shares her insights with Business Today on how brands can influence the minds of people through a stream of experiences. Firstly, we need to come to a common definition of what do we mean by “branding.” It’s all about being “mentally sticky” in…
Business Transformation in 2020: Quick tips to go beyond the buzzword
With every start of the year, many businesses, would be looking to implement their transformation plans (Did you know that “digital transformation” became one of the top management buzzwords at the turn of the decade?). Many are probably also well aware by now that the majority of transformation plans under-deliver or fail. Anyone who has…
The business world’s most underrated superhero
Read the articles on Fortune 100 companies and you’ll see common themes revolving around heroes in leadership, innovation, technology, branding, design and culture. However, to bring all of these together to deliver that meaningful product or service to people requires this “hero” behind-the-scenes: the project manager. “Projects are often viewed as being fundamentally rooted in…
The Art and Science of Cost Cutting
Organisations usually adopt cost reduction only as a short-term solution to an immediate crisis, then fall back into their old spending patterns as soon as the crisis passes. While they may be effective in the short term, such cost reduction techniques, executed in a rush and without a long-term vision, can prove counterproductive and make…
Designing meetings so that they don’t suck
Many of us see meetings as the bane of our lives as they can dominate our time at work. How many times have you heard people complaining that they’re so busy with meetings that they’re struggling to get their work done? While meetings are necessary to reach agreement on important points, to hold teams to…
To gain from employee empowerment, lose this one thing
Employee empowerment is a management technique that involves equipping teams with the tools and resources they need to take initiative, make confident decisions and solve problems without supervision. While empowerment is touted as the answer to many a corporate conundrum, the results often fall short of leadership expectations. Leaders can improve the results by focusing…
These 2 tools make every meeting more productive
If you were asked to name one thing all organisations have in common, you may well answer ‘meetings’. You could even argue that we have way too many of them. However our focus today is on making the most of the time we spend in meetings. There are two tools which, when used effectively, can…
Getting low returns from high technology?
The widespread adoption of digital technology in manufacturing is bringing about a revolution that commentators have named Industry 4.0. Robots are replacing humans and smart devices are using data to take production decisions, moving manufacturing ever closer towards 100% automation. With individual customization now possible even with large scale production runs, this revolution is promising…
Transformations may start from the top but success bubbles up from the bottom.
One of our client CEOs once told us, “We know our problems. We know the solutions too. But we’re still not able to set things right.” Though we have heard similar statements from clients before, this was the first time anyone had summed the situation up so simply and succinctly. Call it failure of execution,…
The myth of resistance to change
We were all brought up with fairy tales that had happy endings – ‘and they lived happily ever after’. In the world of consulting, a fairy-tale ending is every client’s dream. In short, they all wish for positive results that last forever. Is sustainable change an impossible pipe dream? One of those concepts that we…
Go slow, to go fast: The case for planning
Do you ever find that production grinds to a halt because supplies have run out? And have you ever experienced a slowdown while waiting for tools to arrive and for workers to get up to speed with using them? If you have ever encountered issues like these, it might be that your production planning needs…
High performance businesses and athletes have this in common
The flow of information is as critical to a business as the flow of oxygen is to an athlete. Information is what allows businesses to bridge the gap between supply and demand. However, in the era when manufacturing ruled the roost, demand was generally higher than supply and options for customisation were limited. In fact…
Renoir In Action: Tragedy of the commons is killing your business
Recently, I spoke with a potential client who was struggling to understand why they were not achieving better results from the many improvement initiatives they had launched over the past couple of years. They had conceived the initiatives to address specific problems that the company had been facing year after year. They had followed a…
The answer to effective change starts with these 5 questions
Change initiatives often meet with resistance. Many people find the idea of change unsettling, especially when it leaves them asking questions that can’t be answered until the end of the project. Knowing this, communicating effectively with everyone affected should be seen as a key aspect of managing a change project. Taking a structured approach to…
How we are putting all of our employees behind your transformation
How we are putting all of our employees behind your transformation Throughout human history people have passed their knowledge of crafts and trades on to apprentices, and family businesses have passed on their accumulated knowledge to the next generation. However, knowledge management (KM) as we now understand it really began to take off in the…
Renoir In Action: How long-tenure employees can actually short-circuit your problem solving engine
It’s a generally-accepted myth that today’s employees, especially millennials, are more apt to job hop with the aim of accelerating their way up the pay scale and seniority ladder. The evidence, however, does not support this myth, and in fact, shows the opposite trend over the last few decades. According to the US Bureau of…
Renoir In Action: Do you want the problem or the symptom to go away?
A friend of mine was recently regaling me with tales of airport queues and delays all across Europe. His own flight had been delayed, spoiling his dinner plans. The reason given – ‘Delayed due to the late arrival of the incoming aircraft’. I must admit that I had a laugh, though I could sympathise. Jokingly…