We conceptualize, build, and manage digital products through experience design, data engineering, and advanced analytics for over 130 leading companies. Our solutions leverage industry-leading platforms to help our clients be competitive, agile, and disruptive while moving with velocity through change and opportunity.
With headquarters in Pune, India, our 10,000+ associates work across 33 locations, including San Jose, Seattle, Princeton, Cape Town, London, Singapore, and Mexico City.
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please contact: velocity@zensar.com | www.zensar.com
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Define long-term focus and the range for shifts and changes
01
Understand that leaders are not process managers
02
Bury traditional practices
and a guaranteed-to-
succeed mindset
03
Curb knee jerk
competitive
impulses
04
Experiment with new ideas without compromising
on the vision
05
Demonstrate trust in team capabilities, back them fully
06
Incentivize outcomes and reward intelligent failures
07
Challenge core impulses and assumptions regularly
08
Invest in
deep digital transformations
09
Embrace the power of engineering on the cloud
10
A round-up of how to move the needle and make enterprise velocity a profitable proposition
The future of velocity
97%
of survey respondents agree that it’s time to start thinking in terms of velocity
52%
Velocity is a key business imperative
36%
Velocity is mission
critical and should be rapidly accelerated
18%
Unsure of how to use velocity to build a business case
38%
Will take time to structure investments
in terms of velocity
25%
Organization needs to embody velocity for investment considerations
20%
See little dfference
between the two and
are unwilling to change approach
How to build a business case for velocity
Companies are hesitant to invest in velocity despite recognizing it as a positive business driver. Some people said they would invest in velocity if the organization embodies velocity. Others did not know how to build a business case using velocity. Our survey revealed that leaders are too focused on the immediate versus the new and the next. Managers prioritized maintaining business continuity and meeting emerging customer needs over debating and planning risk-return trade-offs or experimenting with new ideas. This reflects the attitude that people generally associated velocity with - getting tasks done, increasing competitiveness, and optimizing efficiencies rather than focusing on the right direction, reducing waste, and understanding customers. For velocity to become more functional, fundamental values and company vision should act as a sieve that distills strategies, outlines tasks, and creates short-term goals.
What best describes the relationship between technology and velocity?
Technology is the most critical factor in achieving velocity
Process, Culture and people are at more important than technology in achieving business velocity
Process, culture and people are at least as important as technology in achieving velocity
45%
12%
43%
The role of technology in enabling velocity
Use technology to build cohesion between customers, business strategy, and tactics
Forty-seven percent of the respondents said that technology is the most critical factor in achieving business velocity. A commitment to transformation through the right digital capabilities wields velocity, no doubt but our survey shows that people, processes, and culture are at least as important. Technology can be used to enable intelligence that drive customer satisfaction and operational efficiencies. For instance, AI can suggest the highest-quality leads for sales staff to pursue, but the suggestion itself cannot deliver success – a high-caliber team must be in place. When asked what describes the relationship between velocity and technology, 55% of the respondents favored a more holistic approach - one that considers people, processes, and culture as an essential part of the equation.
Which areas of business does velocity benefit the most?
What do you associate velocity most strongly with?
Which of the following statements best represents velocity in business?
28%
It ensures digital transformation through the right capability
29%
It allows implementing sweeping changes in a short period of time
It reduces implementation time of projects & plans
18%
18%
It optimizes team performance and delivers financial results
It helps scale agility
7%
5. Reduce wastage
6. Fail fast culture
4. Customer alignment
3. Digital adoption
2. Increasing competitivness
1. Getting tasks done
41%
Being in step with customer needs
46%
Driving operational resilience
50%
Empowering employees to deliver greater value
52%
Transforming organizational responsiveness
58%
Accelerating innovation
Optimizing business efficiencies
63%
Hyper-focused on bottom lines and business continuity, companies floundered and favored age-old tropes when approaching velocity practically. Our survey revealed that people associated velocity with getting tasks done, implementing sweeping changes, and optimizing business efficiencies versus being in step with customer needs, driving operational resilience, and scaling agility. In a hyper-aggressive environment, with coping mechanisms pushed to the brink,
people start reacting to competition instead of responding to customer need. We believe that unless there is a rapid and meaningful course correction, companies stand to battle missed targets, misalignments, poor employee morale, and cost erosions. Stock markets respond to expectations, so organizations must proactively outline their long-term growth plan and articulate performance measures that will fulfill these goals to engage with shareholders.
Engaging with velocity
Conceptual understanding cannot drive business advantage
Identifying velocity
Hone focus on business impact, not big-bang transformations
In our survey, 97% of the respondents agreed with the statement, “It is time to stop thinking in terms of speed and start thinking in terms of velocity.” Almost every organization surveyed agreed that velocity in business is a positive driver. Fifty-two percent of the respondents said they are already ahead of the curve in identifying velocity as a key business imperative. However, it’s easy to chime in with the idea of velocity in an armchair conversation because velocity is intuitive – everyone understands its importance – doing the right thing in the right way. But conceptual thinking doesn’t reap business benefits. With a strong focus on short-term performance, survival instinct kicks into high gear, overpowering the purest of thinkers.
of the respondents said they are ahead of the curve in identifying velocity as key imperative
52%
of the respondents (leaders) said projects failed when teams were not aligned in a direction
71%
of the respondents agreed that velocity in business is a positive driver
99%
of the respondents said it’s time to stop thinking in terms of speed and start thinking in terms of velocity
97%
Demystifying velocity
Allow small changes and micro-shifts without deviating from the long-term vision
Hold a long-term vision without succumbing to reactionary pressures
belie business resilience. The possibility of sudden change is at the heart of velocity; the trick is to know where to allow small-scale changes and how to alter smart micro-shifts so that nothing deviates from the foundational vision. For this scenario to become tangible and yield results, access to the right tools and technology architecture is indispensable; this is where velocity is rooted, ready to be strategically harnessed.
We tend to believe that planning for every conceivable contingency can shield us from unforeseen circumstances but it is simply not possible to outrun every crash, calamity, and competition. Instead, if we invest time in honing a long-term vision, it stands to serve as a north star, uniquely positioned to provide direction and clarity when things get chaotic or confusing. In the absence of this foundation, organizations tend to react to market favorability. These reactionary outbursts
Tactical shifts
Bigger shifts = more uncertainity,
higher disruption, higher waste
Long-term strategic vision altered
Market favourability
Long-term strategic vision remains intact
Strategic micro-shifts
informedaby data insights,
and high digital maturity
Reacting with speed
v/s
Responding with velocity
Smart strategic shift range
Market favourability
Big tactcal shifts
Baseline
Strategy
Modified Strategy
How to move fast without breaking things
About the survey
In today’s business landscape, speed alone does not guarantee success. For speed to be effective, you need to move in the right direction. The difference between speed and velocity is not eminently obvious. Both invoke notions of quickness and agility; the difference lies in layering it with intent and purpose. We instituted the enterprise velocity survey to gain insight on how our peers, our clients and our customers perceive velocity as a key business imperative, highlight ways in which technology can propel its adoption, and talk about the potential impact it has in fostering long-term growth.
Senior level executives, exclusively directors and above
Industries, including BFSI, Manufacturing and Technology
Geographies, including UK, USA, Canada and South Africa
309
6+
7+
Download the report
Download the report-in-brief
How to move fast without breaking things
Enterprise Velocity
Explore
The future of velocity
Enabling velocity with technology
Engaging with velocity
Identifying velocity
Demystifying velocity
Read the press release
The survey is set across industries geographies and covers senior executives and their points of view on enterprise velocity
Hear the report
10 minute read
Market favourability
Get clear on the long-term growth plan and the values that stand to inform your action. It could be derived from your employees, your customers, an innovation, something more tangible, or a combination of things, and communicate this north star to every team. Motivation acts as fuel so reinforce conversations about vision and values often. Allow possibilities of micro-shifts and small-scale changes, informed by data. This will dignify the long-term vision and pave an adaptable path to success
Twenty-six percent of the respondents (team leaders) said that they spend majority of their time building and managing organizational capabilities, rather than communicating long-term strategic vision, identifying key areas of innovation, implementing innovation led processes and monitoring outputs. This approach needs to change. In a velocity driven organization, leaders outline and underline the what and the why and leave the how for the team to figure out. Set a sequence to priorities and build organizational capabilities to deliver those.
Twenty-six percent of the respondents said they planned every detail and had a contingency plan in place while practicing agility rituals. An agile organization focuses on outcomes and impact. In this environment, people focus on the right goals; they feel empowered, trusted, and supported. Hence, they perform efficiently. It has nothing to do with detailed planning or a guaranteed-to-succeed mindset. Teams reported that they create learning experiences via outputs, use self-assessment tools, and understand project potential, which means people practice some established agility rituals but not effectively enough. This is possibly a holdover from worn-out traditional practices and legacy issues.
Invest time to understand customer journeys, apply design-thinking principles rigorously, and prototype effective experiences. Remember, if the tendency is to always look over your shoulder, solutions will also be limited to the imagination of competitors. At a basic level, be aware of market dynamics and erudite about how these factors can influence your unique response.
Restraining from knee-jerk instincts is closely tied to experimenting with new ideas. With a mission to encourage creative brainstorming, companies must encourage people to dedicate time and try new things or plan week-long hackathons. Will all ideas make the grade? It doesn’t matter because it will still enforce learning via doing and spotlight the process instead of a product.
Agile teams are self-motivated, self-governed, and self-regulated. Define the mission, the broad strategy, and the short-term milestones. Self-autonomy is primal to agility. Sometimes companies can contextualize long-term vision and still try to micro-manage short-term goals, leading to high alignment with the vision but low autonomy overall. Over time, this leads to less than desirable results. Turning over control is key.
Human beings respond to stimuli, and most large companies reward only success. Culture changes require patience, but the investment builds strong alignment with the company vision and maximizes enterprise focus. A fail-fast environment leads to rapid learning. The approach to risk and failure needs to change fast and change dramatically. The key is to institute activities that take the taboo and stigma out of failure and risk-taking.
Digital transformation is foundational to velocity. But technology is an enabling tool for people to become more responsive, intelligent, and fluid. Mindset transformation will always trump technology transformation. No matter how strong a heritage, there comes a time when old must give way to new. But if people lack the right mindset to change, and current organizational practices are flawed, digital transformation will only magnify the flaws.
A velocity-driven enterprise is always prepared for potential impact. The goal is to achieve favorable quality under dynamic conditions and varying workload intensity. Traditional technologies are not sophisticated enough to react to buying behavior in real-time and so companies are unable to adjust to sudden spikes. Velocity requires businesses to build better architecture, invest in deep digital transformations, and embrace the power of engineering – all contained within a proactive, people-oriented, automation-first, and agile-at-scale approach.
Cloud is no longer just a lever that delivers technology needs with cost reduction benefits rather it is the foundation for innovation. The scalability cloud offers drives business agility and innovation and makes it an essential enabler for future transformations. Admittedly, cloud adoption is complex and time-consuming for legacy firms, but it tangibly shifts stifling status quos, empowers employees, and modernizes possibilities. Alongside an engineering mindset, which includes the DevOps philosophy, this becomes a game-changer for companies to become more modular, agile, and fast-paced.
Demystifying velocity
Identifying velocity
Engaging with velocity
Enabling velocity with technology
The future of velocity
