Unlike innovating, sticking to operational basics is usually not in the DNA of fast-growing companies. That is why we help emergent software firms with their operational foundations and scaling organizational frameworks together.
Since the great financial crisis, the software industry has experienced a sustainable evolution of above-average growth rates. While this is a favorable situation for many software companies, it is also a challenge for fast-driven firms that lack experienced business architects and managers.
Our approach facilitates the scaling of the organizational and commercial infrastructure, embedding and catalyzing the innovative core of the firm.
Onboarding talent, integrating new hires into advanced development teams, transitioning organizational structures across critical sizes in a firm’s lifecycle, and adapting to increasing compliance and governance requirements are usually not the tasks at the heart of a management team focused on bringing creative ideas to life and inspiring customers.
Communication, hierarchical structures, leadership models, and process and system frameworks change as a firm grows from a small team to a team of one hundred or several thousand. Financing for growth alone is not the answer – that is why fast-growing firms often get stuck or disappear from the market.
We assist software firms with laying operational foundations and scaling organizational frameworks to build for growth in line with their business priorities.
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Reshaping hierarchies, skills, and role design
As software firms extend business activities, new skills will be required to accomplish new tasks and fill new roles. At the same time, available skill sets must be revisited for reallocation and re- and upskilling. It is an across-the-board exercise getting along with organizational sizing and hierarchical and managerial considerations.
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Establishing process and system frameworks.
The required level of automation and quality is changing with the scope and scale of portfolios and related delivery and sales throughput. Process maturity and performance are essential to gain and defend competitive advantages. Robust operations supported by appropriate business and operations systems are a must.
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Cultivating compliance.
Compliance and creativity are not antonyms. While small organizations tend to handle compliance within “line of sight,” expanding regulation around data, finance, and ESG, along with ever-increasing cyber security threats, require firms to put all that on top of the management agenda and people’s awareness. Failing that may cause existential harm to a firm.
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Developing a powerful marketing and sales organization.
Growth not only relies on brilliant ideas and inspiring leaders to convince the markets. In scaling firms, it calls for qualified marketing and sales organizations to propel the business. Acquiring new business through M&A demands people with knowledge of the acquired IP, which often gets lost with an acquisition.
We enable the execution of commercial strategy and growth with a commercial operations setup tailored to the software market.
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Portfolio expansion and redesign
The first successful offering is the most important one. But it is equally important to build on initial success. Portfolio management is not maintaining a set of products and services: it is the continuation and multiplication of the creative process of balancing the scale and scope within a strategically aligned portfolio. -
Monetization and profitability control
One feature of all pricing models is that software is either a stand-alone or a set of products and services, whereby embedded software acts with hardware, connectivity, and IT services. Monetization is becoming challenging for the software industry, with profitability becoming more complex. -
Segmenting and targeting markets
With advanced digital capabilities, B2B customers will gain competitive advantages, efficiency, and quality improvements. The prerequisite is that solutions are tailored to the demands of customers. Deep trends toward verticalized and specialized software are already apparent. Segmenting the structurally changing market will require new segmentation approaches and different targeting for software firms. -
Internationalization and product localization
Starting in distinct market environments, software firms are scaling across different dimensions. Regional expansion is one primary driver for growth. It involves scaling by expansion but also specialization according to regional requirements. Different cultures, languages, and user interactions are characteristics to consider for product development and sales, marketing, and services.
