Quantive launches the Dreams with Deadlines community

logo-tomtom.svg

logo-Sociate-Generale.svg

logo-dt.svg

logo-Adobe.svg

logo-mazda.svg

chargebee.svg

logo-Red-Hat.svg

logo-chargebee.svg

logo-ubisoft white.svg

favicon.png

ObjectivesandKeyResults(OKR)_Leader_Small-Business_Leader.svg

Users Love Us 1.svg

ObjectivesandKeyResults(OKR)_Leader_Leader.svg

ObjectivesandKeyResults(OKR)_MomentumLeader_Leader.svg

BusinessActivityMonitoring_HighPerformer_HighPerformer.svg

ObjectivesandKeyResults(OKR)_Leader_Small-Business_Americas_Leader.svg

ObjectivesandKeyResults(OKR)_Leader_Americas_Leader.svg

capterra-logo.png

G2_Logo_Red_RGB 2.png

Stars.svg

Stars.png

CollaborativeWhiteboard_EasiestToDoBusinessWith_Mid-Market_EaseOfDoingBusinessWith.svg

I'm ready to learn more about Quantive

Observability for modern finance

thumbnail_hero-sol-fintech.png

hero-sol-fintech.png

Operational excellence for financial technology

Collect

stack.svg

Inspect

phone-search.svg

Detect

focus.svg

checkbox-multiple.svg

Monitor and detect potential unlawful activity

thumbnail_trade surveillance.png

trade surveillance.png

Avoid issues in your payments infrastructure

thumbnail_payment monitoring.png

payment monitoring.png

Less questions, more answers

thumbnail_customer success.png

customer success.png

<p>OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) help finance teams move beyond the task-service mentality by setting collaborative goals. By aligning day-to-day operations to company strategy, finance OKRs optimize process to drive real results.</p><hr><p style="text-align:center;">Learn more about <a href="https://quantive.com/resources/articles/okr-meaning" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">what OKRs are </a>and how to use them</p><figure class="image image_resized" style="width:50%;"><a href="https://quantive.com/resources/articles/okr-meaning" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/gtmhub/image/upload/v1670611666/site-v5/what_are_OK_Rs_35bf212c5f.png" alt="what are OKRs.png"></a></figure><hr><p>While finance operations are about managing the company’s cash flow, expenses, and revenue, finance team OKRs are not a management methodology.&nbsp;</p><p>OKRs help finance teams solve their biggest challenges — creating focus beyond everyday tasks and connecting to strategic priorities.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Focus and alignment are the missing elements for finance teams stuck in the day-to-day cycle — OKRs for finance departments have two distinct responsibilities:</p><ol style="list-style-type:decimal;"><li>Objectives, which align to the company's strategic goals, lay the foundation for business-as-usual work</li><li>Key results continue this focus, leveraging the finance team’s high KPI and metric-aware goals to monitor progress and drive adaptation</li></ol><p>With focus and alignment at the forefront, finance team OKRs help teams improve workflows. Add in automation for key results and tasks through an OKR software platform like Quantive, and finance teams have even more time to do what they do best: optimize.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Setting a finance OKR and setting a <a href="https://quantive.com/resources/articles/sales-okrs" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">sales OKR</a> have similar predicaments — your company depends on these teams to reach all their goals.&nbsp;</p><blockquote><p>Business-as-usual finance tasks like payroll, budgeting, and collections can’t be compromised. Finance OKRs are meant to be ambitious, but not at the risk of endangering the company.</p></blockquote><p>While task-focused OKRs, like setting a budget or creating reports, are common, OKRs for the finance department shouldn’t be treated like a glorified to-do list.&nbsp;</p><blockquote><p>By ensuring alignment between objectives and the strategic goals of the company, you can do more than check off boxes.</p></blockquote><p>Finance team OKRs are commonly top-down, with leadership bridging the day-to-day operations to the organization’s overarching objectives.&nbsp;</p><p>OKRs require trust from both parties: leaders must trust team members to focus on “how” to progress the finance OKR, and individuals must trust leaders to motivate and guide them with the “why."&nbsp;</p>

<p>OKRs for finance teams can focus on business-as-usual operations or stretch initiatives to enhance team performance. A few areas of focus for finance OKRs are:</p><ul><li>Taxes and accounting OKRs</li><li>Accounts payable/receivable OKRs</li><li>Budgeting OKRs</li><li>Financial strategy OKRs</li><li>Invoicing and crediting OKRs</li><li>Inventory management OKRs</li><li>Payroll OKRs</li><li>Asset management OKRs</li><li>Revenue and profit OKRs</li></ul><p>Check out all our finance OKRs examples below.</p>

<h3>OKRs for taxes and accounting</h3><h4>Finance OKR example 1</h4><ul><li><strong>Objective</strong>: Successfully pass external audit</li><li><strong>Key result 1: </strong>Reduce number of audit findings to &lt;5</li><li><strong>Key result 2: </strong>File 100% of customer and vendor contracts in appropriate Dropbox repositories</li><li><strong>Key result 3: </strong>Reduce time of audit from 6 weeks to 4 weeks</li></ul><h4>Finance OKR example 2</h4><ul><li><strong>Objective:</strong> Prepare accounting records for the move to the new ERP system</li><li><strong>Key result 1: </strong>Identify and fix core reporting issues for the new ERP tool</li><li><strong>Key result 2: </strong>Find or development 5 reporting equivalents in the new system &nbsp;</li><li><strong>Key result 3:</strong> Analyze 10 expense types to identify cost saving opportunities&nbsp;</li></ul><hr><h3>Accounts payable/receivable OKR examples</h3><h4>Finance team OKR example 1</h4><ul><li><strong>Objective:</strong> Simplify and improve internal procedures</li><li><strong>Key result 1:</strong> &gt;85% of invoices have expense-type categorization</li><li><strong>Key result 2:</strong> Reduce late primary document reporting from 40% to 15%</li><li><strong>Key result 3:</strong> Half payment processing time from "application" to "paid" from 12h to 6h&nbsp;</li></ul><hr><h3>OKRs for budgeting</h3><h4>Finance OKR example 1</h4><ul><li>‍<strong>Objective</strong>: Improve our annual budgeting process</li><li><strong>Key result 1: </strong>Review &amp; train on 5 Department heads on new process</li><li><strong>Key result 2: </strong>Review every department's budget proposals before mid-Q3</li><li><strong>Key result 3: </strong>Get sign off for the final budget from all leads</li></ul><hr><h3>OKRs for financial strategy</h3><h4>Finance team OKR example 1</h4><ul><li><strong>Objective</strong>: Improve our financial reporting process</li><li><strong>Key result 1: </strong>5 new financial department hires</li><li><strong>Key result 2: </strong>Move 50% of books to the cloud-based version of QuickBooks</li><li><strong>Key result 3: </strong>Close 100% of our financials within 2 weeks of the end of quarter</li></ul><h4>Finance team OKR example 2</h4><ul><li><strong>Objective:</strong> Make the quarterly analysis process more efficient</li><li><strong>Key result 1:</strong> Define top 3 quarterly improvements for reporting</li><li><strong>Key result 2: </strong>Host 3 workshops on reporting with &gt;90% attendance</li><li><strong>Key result 3:</strong> Build and implement 5 reporting templates&nbsp;</li></ul><hr><h3>OKRs for invoicing and crediting</h3><h4>Finance OKR example 1</h4><ul><li><strong>Objective:</strong> Balance the team workload to better serve customers</li><li><strong>Key result 1:</strong> Increase processed transactions per team member by 20% &nbsp;</li><li><strong>Key result 2:</strong> Reduce average transaction pending time from 24 hours to 18 hours</li><li><strong>Key result 3: </strong>Conduct 4 “best practices” coaching sessions&nbsp;</li></ul><hr><h3>OKRs for inventory management</h3><h4>Finance team OKR example 1</h4><ul><li><strong>Objective:</strong> Improve warehouse inventory record management</li><li><strong>Key result 1:</strong> Reduce average inventory check time from 14h to 6h</li><li><strong>Key result 2:</strong> Automate 5 critical processes</li><li><strong>Key result 3:</strong> Reduce bookkeeping discrepancies to 3%</li></ul><hr><h3>OKRs for payroll</h3><h4>Finance OKR example 1</h4><ul><li><strong>Objective:</strong> Make payroll errors obsolete</li><li><strong>Key result 1:</strong> Reduce failed payroll error resolutions to zero</li><li><strong>Key result 2:</strong> Reduce payroll error rate to less than 0.25%</li><li><strong>Key result 3: </strong>Reduce manual payroll input processes by 25%&nbsp;</li></ul><hr><h3>OKRs for asset management</h3><h4>Finance team OKR example 1</h4><ul><li><strong>Objective:</strong> Improve expense management to increase profitability</li><li><strong>Key result 1:</strong> Identify 5 highest expense areas</li><li><strong>Key result 2: </strong>Sort out 200 payment areas with transparent expense tags</li><li><strong>Key result 3:</strong> Cut monthly expenses by 25%&nbsp;</li></ul><hr><h3>OKRs for revenue and profit</h3><h4>Finance OKR example 1</h4><ul><li><strong>Objective: </strong>Shift remote work emphasis to reduce office expenses</li><li><strong>Key result 1:</strong> Reduce office maintenance budget from $15000 to $7500</li><li><strong>Key result 2:</strong> Cut employee travel expenses from $12000 to $3000</li><li><strong>Key result 3:</strong> Secure a $7,500+ lease for renting out office space</li></ul><hr>

<p style="margin-left:0px;">Quantive is your bridge between strategy and execution. Founded on the objectives and key results (OKR) methodology, <a href="https://quantive.com/products" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">our Strategy Execution Platform</a> is where businesses plan successful strategy, focus and align teams to it, and stay on the leading edge of progress.</p><p style="margin-left:0px;">As your company looks to achieve the best possible results, you need a modern approach to <a href="https://quantive.com/products/results" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">run your business</a> and change your business. <a href="https://quantive.com/resources/articles/what-is-the-modern-operating-model" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Modern Operating Model</a> brings strategy, teams, and data together to help make decisions faster, optimize operations, and drive better business outcomes.</p><p style="margin-left:0px;">Whether you’re a large enterprise facing competitive disruption or a small business leading the innovative charge, Quantive helps get you where you want to go.</p><p style="margin-left:0px;">Ready to achieve the best possible? Start using <a href="https://quantive.com/products/results/pricing" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Quantive for free.</a></p>

How to Write Great OKRs: OKR Best Practices

OKRs for Finance Teams

<p>An operating model drives value creation and strategy execution across an organization. It represents the guiding principles of operations: how different parts of a business should work together to deliver value to&nbsp;customers and stakeholders. It also encompasses how an organization functions to meet core business objectives such as efficiency, growth, and adaptability. Organization structure, culture, processes, technology and decision-making procedures are key parts of an operating model.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>In the modern era, several factors impact&nbsp;how we think about conventional operating models:&nbsp;</p><ul><li>The lingering strategy execution gap &nbsp;</li><li>A fast-changing world across all dimensions of life &nbsp;</li><li>The fourth industrial revolution, the wealth of data and its application&nbsp;</li></ul><p>Considering these factors, an&nbsp;updated, modern operating model is needed to solve the lingering strategy execution gap and unlock the opportunities of an evolving world. In this article, we’re going to outline what the Modern Operating Model looks like. For detailed information on the context, challenges solved, and the opportunities of the Modern Operating Model, we will be releasing a second part to this article.</p>

<p>There are five core components that make up the Modern Operating Model, each with different parts within.&nbsp;</p><p><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/gtmhub/image/upload/v1669894628/site-v5/visual_mom_detailed_5ca196388d.svg" alt="Modern Operating Model diagram"></p><h4>&nbsp;1) Define the destination&nbsp;</h4><p>Your <a href="https://quantive.com/resources/articles/mission-vs-vision#mission-and-vision-statements,-defined" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mission, cultural values, vision</a>, and strategy work together to act as a north star for your organization. This sets the destination and goals that your organization needs to align towards.&nbsp;</p><h4>2) Change the business&nbsp;</h4><p>Strategic objectives, <a href="https://quantive.com/resources/articles/okr-meaning" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">OKRs</a>, and planning the work quantify and make reaching your destination a tangible proposition. They create alignment, structure, and focus to maximize efficiency, speed, and productive power toward your goals.&nbsp;</p><h4>3) Run the business &nbsp;</h4><p>Observability of KPI’s through a connected technology stack in addition to OKR reporting gives you powerful insights into what’s happening inside the business, in addition to progress toward goals. &nbsp;</p><h4>4) Do the work&nbsp;</h4><p>With the organization aligned, the plan is executed through daily work. Proper alignment through organization architecture, culture, and a clear line of sight between strategy and execution empowers your employees to do their best work.&nbsp;</p><h4>5) Assess &amp; adapt &nbsp;</h4><p>Through continuous monitoring, data-driven decisions are made to incrementally optimize, navigate threats, and seize opportunities. Strong top-down alignment liberates your organization to adapt quickly and move as one.&nbsp;</p><p>Although there’s a chronological logic to the Modern Operating Model, all components of the Modern Operating Model work together in a feedback loop and need to be engaged simultaneously as an ongoing discipline. Let’s now dive into the different components of the Modern Operating Model and their corresponding parts in more detail.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Correctly defining the destination impacts alignment. At the highest level, defining your destination is about where you want to go, why you want to go there, what needs to be done, and how you will do it. If there’s a disconnect between how your team sees the bigger picture, conflict, erosion of trust, and misaligned execution may emerge.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><h5>Defining the destination can be broken down into three core parts:&nbsp;</h5><ol><li>Mission and cultural values&nbsp;</li><li>Vision&nbsp;</li><li>Strategy&nbsp;</li></ol><h3>Mission and cultural values&nbsp;</h3><p><a href="https://quantive.com/resources/articles/mission-vs-vision" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mission</a> and cultural values play a role in alignment as everyone in your organization needs to approach their work from the same perspective. Otherwise, there will be a disconnect at the execution layer of the organization. For instance, having a common philosophy that prioritizes customer satisfaction over short term revenue will lead to different behaviors and decisions from your team.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>Mission and cultural values also affect engagement, especially in the context of a new generation of workers. Generation Z and Millennial workers aspire to work at organizations that have a greater purpose and more conscious culture. Failure to align your mission and culture with these changing attitudes means you may reduce employee engagement – another key part of effective strategy execution. As these generations value company loyalty less, you may also risk losing key personnel which leads to other execution challenges.&nbsp;</p><h3>Vision&nbsp;</h3><p>Like with mission and cultural values, your <a href="https://quantive.com/resources/articles/mission-vs-vision" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">vision</a> is important for alignment. Your whole team needs to see the future in the same way to <a href="https://quantive.com/resources/articles/okrs-for-employee-engagement" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">maximize engagement</a> and work in synchronization. Vision also has an impact on priorities and strategic focus. A clear idea of your destination means you can make better decisions about the relevant work that needs to be done, take advantage of the right opportunities, and importantly, not become side tracked along the way.&nbsp;</p><hr><p style="text-align:center;">Learn the key differences and similarities of <a href="https://quantive.com/resources/articles/mission-vs-vision" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mission vs. vision</a></p><figure class="image image_resized" style="width:50%;"><a href="https://quantive.com/resources/articles/mission-vs-vision" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/gtmhub/image/upload/v1679576222/site-v5/mission_vs_vision_4831a60599.png" alt="A green flag with hollow filling placed to the left of an outline of an eye, with the iris also outlined in green, all on a green background, to signal mission vs. vision"></a></figure><hr><h3>Strategy&nbsp;</h3><p>Your <a href="https://quantive.com/resources/articles/business-strategy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">strategy</a> is the first tangible link between defining your destination and generating the momentum to get there. Your strategy represents why, what, and how your company will navigate at the highest level and informs how you set strategic objectives and OKRs, which play key roles in the next component of the Modern Operating Model.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>The next component of the model is changing and aligning the business. Changing the business is about deciding on the initiatives and goals you want to focus on to reach your destination. Alignment is about getting the whole organization in sync and moving in the same direction.&nbsp;</p><h5>Proper organizational alignment improves strategy execution through:&nbsp;</h5><ul><li>Greater efficiency: working on the right things means less waste in the form of time and resources&nbsp;</li><li>Higher engagement: having a clear line of sight between strategic objectives and daily execution means employees can see how their work impacts the organization</li><li>Prioritization and focus: alignment means the whole team focuses on the objectives and activities that are mission critical</li></ul><p>Alignment plays an important role in organizational adaptability. If there are any big changes or shocks to the business, your organization needs to be able to move together as one unit. If parts of your organization are misaligned, they may lag behind if your destination changes which can lead to operational roadblocks. In addition, the megatrends of <a href="https://quantive.com/resources/articles/hybrid-work">remote and flexible work</a> mean getting alignment right has become more difficult due to a more distributed, asynchronous, and multi-cultural workforce.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>Alignment starts with clear top-down communication about the destination and what needs to be done to get there. This is achieved through setting strategic objectives and OKRs, in addition to careful planning of how your team will execute the work.&nbsp;</p><h3>Strategic objectives and OKRs&nbsp;&nbsp;</h3><p>The first part of aligning the business is setting and communicating strategic objectives and OKRs. In many cases, the communication of strategy can get lost as it filters through the multiple layers of the organization. This is made worse due to strategy being more abstract and high-level, with language that may not be easily understood by the execution layer of the organization.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>Strategy without objectives is meaningless — it needs to be clarified, quantified, and plotted against a timeline. This is what strategic objectives enable — they break down your strategy into tangible goals that can be easily communicated and worked toward as a team. &nbsp;</p><p>With strategic objectives set and communicated, your organization can then set OKRs (<a href="https://quantive.com/resources/articles/okr-meaning">objectives and key results</a>). These break down your strategic objectives even further by quantifying the specific outcomes different parts of the organization need to achieve. These also need to be communicated across the organization to ensure alignment. Where strategic objectives work on a yearly or multi-year timeline, tactical OKRs function on a quarterly or yearly basis. &nbsp;</p><h5>Strategic objectives and OKRs impact strategy execution by:&nbsp;</h5><ul><li>Plotting ambitious yet achievable goals to stretch the team’s capabilities while preserving morale.&nbsp;</li><li>Creating vertical alignment so everybody is working toward strategic objectives.&nbsp;</li><li>Enabling horizontal alignment so interdependencies between departments can be mapped out, increasing collaboration.&nbsp;</li><li>Boosting efficiency, engagement, prioritization, and focus through bottom-up involvement in goal setting.&nbsp;</li><li>Creating an outcome focused organization as opposed to activity which doesn’t generate results.&nbsp;</li></ul><hr><p style="text-align:center;">Learn more about <a href="/resources/articles/okrs-in-business" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the benefits of OKRs for businesses</a></p><figure class="image image_resized" style="width:50%;"><a href="/resources/articles/okrs-in-business" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/gtmhub/image/upload/v1670703147/site-v5/OK_Rs_for_business_656a5f0108.png" alt="OKRs for business.png"></a></figure><hr><h3>Planning the work&nbsp;</h3><p>With strategic objectives and OKRs set and communicated, planning the governance and execution of work is next.&nbsp;</p><h5>A few things to consider during this phase are:&nbsp;</h5><ul><li><strong>Culture design: </strong>Your operational culture must be transparent, continuously learning, and braced for constant transformation. This enables effective use of the OKR method and continuous adaptations. At the leadership level, there must be a shift from control and compliance to trust and transparency.&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Organization architecture: </strong>Your organization structure needs to be adaptable to account for asynchronous, remote, and flexible ways of working.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Policies and procedures: </strong>Decision making should be made at the edge of the network — closer to the source of data and point of execution, as opposed to centrally. In the modern era, there’s no longer time to go up and down the chain of command to make decisions. Greater communication and transparency efforts need to be pushed to eliminate information silos and shadow organizations.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Playbooks and processes: </strong>Mapping out the strategies and tactics of the work to be done.&nbsp;</li><li><strong>People: </strong>Deciding who will be doing what.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Tools: </strong>Choosing the right software tools to enable work. With the Modern Operating Model, special emphasis is placed on connecting all your data sources for better observability and assessment.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Resource allocation: </strong>Setting budgets appropriately to meet different OKRs.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Programs and initiatives: </strong>Organizing work at a high level in conjunction with strategic objectives and OKRs. &nbsp;</li><li><strong>Approaches to work: </strong>Deciding on how work will be carried out with task management, workflows, projects, sprints, etc.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li></ul><p>Effective work planning increases the efficiency of your strategy execution. Conducting work in the right manner means time and resources are saved through error reduction, in addition to faster and better work outputs.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>As work is conducted, there needs to be continuous monitoring of both data and information. In a Modern Operating Model, monitoring incorporates and goes beyond traditional management check-ins and annual and quarterly performance reviews. KPIs are gathered from all parts of the business in addition to the application of the OKR method. Working in conjunction, <a href="https://quantive.com/resources/articles/okrs-vs-kpis">OKRs and KPIs</a> create a more powerful picture of what’s happening in the business and how it affects progress toward strategic goals.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>As part of the internal monitoring aspect of The Modern Operating Model, KPIs are pulled from a connected technology stack to provide <a href="https://quantive.com/products/signals">business observability</a>. With the right tools, you can sync your KPIs to continuously update alongside your OKRs, in addition to gaining insight about potential risks and opportunities. To add to this, OKRs provide quantitative data in the form of key results and confidence assessments toward meeting objectives. They also provide qualitative information in the form of weekly OKR reviews and quarterly retrospectives.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><hr><p style="text-align:center;">Learn more about <a href="https://quantive.com/resources/articles/okr-cycle" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">OKR reviews and retrospectives</a></p><figure class="image image_resized" style="width:50%;"><a href="https://quantive.com/resources/articles/okr-cycle" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/gtmhub/image/upload/v1670611666/site-v5/The_OKR_Cycle_999afeea92.png" alt="The OKR Cycle.png"></a></figure><hr><p>External monitoring is also a necessary part of the Modern Operating Model. This involves constant surveillance of your business environment to identify changes, threats, and opportunities. This could be in the form of <a href="/resources/articles/modern-operating-model-manifesto#new-trends-impacting-the-strategy-execution-gap" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">understanding megatrends</a> such as the next wave digitization or keeping tabs on startups that could potentially disrupt your space.&nbsp;</p><p>Together, internal and external monitoring are used to compress learning feedback loops and boost business observability, which can then be used to make more accurate decisions about changes and adaptations to your strategy execution.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The next component of the model is doing the work. At the surface level, this involves the basics of completing tasks, inputs, transformations, and outputs. But under the Modern Operating Model, the essence of how the work is done is different.&nbsp;</p><h5>When applied correctly, the ideal state of work should look like this:&nbsp;</h5><ul><li>Fully engaged employees who expend discretionary effort to improve their craft and solve problems.&nbsp;</li><li>Collaboration and communication between teams to work toward common objectives.&nbsp;</li><li>Continuous learning and feedback based on regular OKR reviews and KPI observability.&nbsp;</li><li>Greater ownership and accountability of work through transparency.&nbsp;</li><li>Decisions made locally in a data-driven way.&nbsp;</li><li>Greater focus on outcomes, as opposed to tasks and activities.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>More experimentation and embracing failure.&nbsp;</li><li>Recognition and reward based on merit and adherence to company values.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li></ul><p>Although this ideal state of work doesn’t happen overnight, the components of the Modern Operating Model are designed to optimize your strategy execution over time, bringing this ideal closer to reality over time.&nbsp;</p><hr><p style="text-align:center;">Learn about the intersection between <a href="https://quantive.com/resources/articles/okr-and-agile" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">OKRs and agile methodologies</a></p><figure class="image image_resized" style="width:50%;"><a href="https://quantive.com/resources/articles/okr-and-agile" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/gtmhub/image/upload/v1670611666/site-v5/OK_Rs_and_Agile_3dd7e4cb90.png" alt="OKRs &amp; Agile.png"></a></figure><hr>

<p>With the right data and information through business monitoring, assessments can be made to adapt strategy execution to help you stay the course. The process of assessing and adapting involves looking at the data and information you have collected, extracting the insights and narrative, and turning them into knowledge which can be used for decision making.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>At the macro level, the purpose of this component is to help you navigate the threats and opportunities of a fast-changing world. This means you may need to make changes to your destination and how to get there at a strategic level. In addition to the points mentioned above, these could include navigating changing economic, political and social conditions, adapting to innovation, and ESG (environment, social, and governance) concerns.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>At the micro level, you want to assess and adjust your strategy execution for:&nbsp;</p><ul><li><strong>Overall effectiveness:</strong> Optimizing the different components of the Modern Operating Model such as how work is done.&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Progress towards OKRs:</strong> Looking at key results metrics for each objective and uncovering the reasons for possible underperformance. Deciding whether the OKRs set are still relevant in terms of achievability and being critical to current strategic objectives.&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Internal warning signs:</strong> Gaining insight and foresight, as opposed to hindsight, about operational problems through AI and KPI data. This could be technical issues such as servers going down or business challenges such as a high churn rate among a customer demographic.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Internal opportunities:</strong> Spotting patterns and trends to map out new opportunities. For instance, looking at customer support data to identify unmet or emerging customer needs.&nbsp;</li></ul><p>As adaptability is central to the Modern Operating Model, you will continuously adjust different components of your strategy execution based on the data and information you collect. You may only need to make small changes to a work tactic, for instance, or realize there is one threat or opportunity you need to focus on. But as time progresses and the business environment changes, you may need to adjust at the strategic level. Full adaptiveness of strategy execution at both the macro and micro level is the promise of the modern operating model.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Optimizing your strategy execution is relevant to every company regardless of size, stage, or industry. Working together, all components of the Modern Operating Model boost alignment, focus, adaptability, and efficiency in your strategy execution.&nbsp;</p><p>Through adopting the Modern Operating Model, you can better navigate the threats and opportunities of a fast-changing world, in addition to achieving your strategic goals faster. To learn more about the broader context, challenges solved, and opportunities of using the Modern Operating Model, we will be releasing a second part to this article.</p><hr><p>Quantive is your bridge between strategy and execution. Founded on the objectives and key results (OKR) methodology, <a href="https://quantive.com/products" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">our Strategy Execution Platform</a> is where businesses plan successful strategy, focus and align teams to it, and stay on the leading edge of progress.</p><p>As your company looks to achieve the best possible results, you need a modern approach to <a href="https://quantive.com/products/results" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">run your business</a> and change your business. <a href="https://quantive.com/resources/articles/what-is-the-modern-operating-model" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Modern Operating Model</a> brings strategy, teams, and data together to help make decisions faster, optimize operations, and drive better business outcomes.</p><p>Whether you’re a large enterprise facing competitive disruption or a small business leading the innovative charge, Quantive helps get you where you want to go.</p><p>Ready to achieve the best possible? Start using <a href="https://quantive.com/products/results/pricing" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Quantive for free</a>.</p>

What is the Modern Operating Model?

<p>Business dashboards have been a staple in almost every company, team, and industry since <a href="https://quantive.com/resources/articles/digital-transformation" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">digitalization</a> began in the 1980s.&nbsp;</p><p>They’ve given insight into what has happened in companies by using historical data to track trends and KPIs – the key word here being <strong>historical</strong>. But what happens if you don’t want history to repeat itself?</p><p>What if you want to change the course of the future through swift and immediate action?</p><blockquote><p>Dashboards are no longer capable of driving change for your business in the modern world.</p></blockquote><p>Business dashboards are becoming obsolete, and we’re here to uncover why. We believe business leaders like you are missing out on better solutions and an early competitive edge. &nbsp;</p><p>To understand why we’re advocating for a future free of dashboards (as they exist today), we’re going to explore:</p><ul><li>Why business dashboards still exist today (capabilities)</li><li>Why dashboards are becoming obsolete (risks/challenges)</li><li>What does a future without dashboards look like (solutions)</li></ul>

<p>The need for data curation has never been greater. Yet, modern businesses still rely on dated methods (business dashboards) to cater to new demands, resulting in unique challenges.</p><h3>Capabilities of business dashboards</h3><p>Historically, dashboards were optimal (and at one time revolutionary) as the pace of business was slower. You could live with occasional data pushes in bulk because that was the technological standard. The data was still manageable, and you didn’t have to worry about your competition outdoing you with real-time data because it didn’t exist.</p><blockquote><p>The business dashboard as we know it today is no longer revolutionary — it’s the bare minimum.</p></blockquote><p>While business dashboards give us a high-level overview of data, they're static in nature — what you see is what you get. Built with push signaling behavior, communication is only ever one-way, which is the first unique challenge.</p><h3>Where business dashboards go wrong</h3><p>Amid a world of uncertainty, one thing is clear — you don’t need 100% of your business data dumped on you at once, especially if it lacks context or clarity. Rather, your teams need data catered to their unique challenges — &nbsp;data that allows them to go in-depth to find true insight.</p><blockquote><p>There’s no shortage of information, but a shortage in the <i>right</i> information.</p></blockquote><p>It’s 2023, and it doesn’t take a book on business strategy to know we all, in every business and industry, are flooded with push updates.</p><p>The traditional dashboard is just another ping, alert, and/or buzz we’re probably not paying attention to. Users, aka your teams, don't care whether these notifications are important because there are simply too many to manage.</p><p>The one-way philosophy of business dashboards neglects vital details: &nbsp;</p><ul><li>Which data is relevant? (quality vs quantity) &nbsp;</li><li>How up-to-date is this data? (accuracy) &nbsp;</li><li>How does this data help us find insights? (communication) &nbsp;</li><li>How accessible is this data? (usability)</li><li>How granular does the data get? (depth)</li></ul><p>These issues are chipping away at the relevance of dashboards in our fast-paced business environment.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Your organization can be in any stage — startup or stagnating, rapid scale or pursuing profitability — but that doesn’t mean the influx of data is slowing down.</p><p>Over time, we’ve accumulated thousands of metrics to help us gauge business performance. However, traditional business intelligence (BI) dashboards have poorly supported these metrics, inhibiting informed decision-making. &nbsp;</p><p>According to a <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/press-releases/deloitte-survey-analytics-and-ai-driven-enterprises-thrive.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Deloitte</a> survey, executives are feeling this exact pressure. &nbsp;</p><blockquote><p>67% of executives said they weren’t comfortable accessing or using data from their existing resources, while 63% say although they are aware of analytics, they lack technological infrastructure and are still working in silos.</p></blockquote><p>Now let's see specific examples of how dashboards come up short in the modern business.</p><h3>Problem: Building dashboards is an ongoing, lengthy process</h3><p>Business intelligence dashboards take weeks or months to build. Your business may not have the luxury of sparing this time in data purgatory.&nbsp;</p><p>Even when the dashboard is complete, it may not hold all your data, which means more resources are needed to input what remains. Some portion of your data must be extracted, managed, cleaned up, and organized, adding days and weeks to a process that should be immediate. &nbsp;</p><p>As a result, updating traditional business dashboards may cost you just as much time as they save.</p><h3>Problem: Data collection relies on manual input</h3><p>Manual input subjects your business to risk from two perspectives:</p><ul><li>Time ROI and missed opportunities</li><li>Making decisions based on outdated data</li></ul><h4>Time</h4><p>While manually inputting data is an inconvenience, time is the double-edged sword of traditional dashboards. Not only is a time gap created with updating dashboards, but pulling data and dedicating labor to these tasks are sunk costs. &nbsp;</p><p>If your teams are so focused on churning away at data processing, who is doing the work that actually drives the business forward? Tasking away at data isn’t effective for strategy execution. &nbsp;</p><h4>Decision making</h4><p>The global pandemic taught us how taking weeks or months to make a decision can put any business at extreme risk. Human input creates dependencies and lag effects, which affects confidence in your reporting. &nbsp;</p><p>As a result of this uncertainty, we begin to understand why leaders in the Deloitte survey weren’t comfortable relying on their data to make decisions.&nbsp;</p><h3>Problem: Lack of prioritization</h3><p>No single person in your organization can possibly manage all your data at one time. Yet, this is how traditional dashboards function.</p><p>Your people care only about the data relevant to them — anything else is stealing focus away from what needs to be accomplished.</p><blockquote><p>A good dashboard provides actionable information. There needs to be a reason for it. When you see a dashboard, you should immediately know what needs to be done.</p></blockquote><p>Unfortunately, dashboards don’t provide this visibility. The best they can do is display the data available, leaving you wondering:</p><ul><li>What are the important KPIs?</li><li>Where are they located?</li><li>What change is considered normal, and what is abnormal?</li></ul><p>Therefore, the data on these dashboards is neither distinguishable nor actionable — and any additional manual filtering or analysis they require defeats the sole purpose of having them.</p><figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/gtmhub/image/upload/v1675369588/site-v5/image_221a768fbb.png" alt="comic demonstrating the irony of having too many kpis and have a kpi to show how well the data is understood"><figcaption>Comic via <a href="https://marketoonist.com/2019/11/kpi-overload.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tom Fishburne</a></figcaption></figure><h3>Problem: Lack of AI and machine learning integrations</h3><p>Manual inputs create the dilemma of catching problems or signals too late.&nbsp;</p><p>Without AI and machine learning, users will need additional time to detect anomalies and assess their relevancy based on static thresholds. &nbsp;</p><blockquote><p>We are approaching the point of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">technological singularity</a> — <i>“A hypothetical moment in time when artificial intelligence and other technologies have become so advanced that humanity undergoes a dramatic and irreversible change.”</i></p></blockquote><p>With business behavior constantly evolving, critical questions arise:</p><ul><li>Shouldn't capabilities like KPI thresholds evolve too?</li><li>How do decision makers know when and how to adjust metrics?</li><li>How do we know inputs aren’t laced with human error?</li></ul><p>A lack of intelligent automation increases the chance that minor incidents slip through the cracks. Once gone undetected, they can quickly spread, turning into larger problems with a lasting negative impact on your business.</p><h3>Problem: Data is surface level</h3><p>Decisions need to be made with as much detail and context as possible. &nbsp;</p><p>A modern business “dashboard” needs three successive capabilities:</p><ol style="list-style-type:decimal;"><li>Tell you what has occurred</li><li>Give you a deep dive into why</li><li>Uncover the driving force behind it &nbsp;</li></ol><p>A traditional dashboard, at its best, will somewhat accomplish capability #1, but lack the depth to inform you of #2 and #3. <a href="https://hbr.org/2017/01/3-ways-data-dashboards-can-mislead-you" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Harvard Business Review</a> reports, &nbsp;</p><blockquote><p>“Although they can convey snapshots of important measures, dashboards are poor at providing the nuance and context that effective data-driven decision-making demands.”</p></blockquote><p>Consequently, dashboards can’t connect and correlate unexpected changes across different metrics, i.e., anomalies. Therefore, decision makers will waste time trying to understand the whole story behind the data and risk making misinformed decisions.</p><h3>Problem: Alert fatigue</h3><p>As mentioned, traditional dashboards rely on static thresholds, which constantly need to be reset based on changing business behavior. &nbsp;</p><p>However, relying on human input to constantly update these thresholds is both impractical and inconsistent. Thus, alerts may be suddenly (and inaccurately) triggered across different KPIs, putting many operations teams into overdrive.</p><blockquote><p>They become fatigued after spending time sifting through “alert storms,” ultimately taking the sense of urgency out of the alert’s purpose.</p></blockquote><p>Without urgency, there is no focus, which ultimately harms <a href="https://quantive.com/resources/articles/strategy-execution-gap#step-1:-align-execution-to-strategy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the execution of your strategy</a>. Yet, the challenge remains of identifying which alerts are worth considering as an anomaly, false positives, repetitive, or minuscule. &nbsp;</p><p>In dealing with the challenges of your modern business, the solution should be to reduce the quantity of alerts, while maintaining their quality.&nbsp;</p>

<p>There’s only one thing we know about our future in business — there will always be more data to sort, organize, and manage. No matter how advanced your current solution is, you can’t out-dashboard bad data management.</p><blockquote><p>Rather than trying to curate dashboards into a perfect-in-the-moment, yet fragile combination of visualization and sourcing, it’s time to rethink the idea of dashboards themselves.</p></blockquote><p>As a modern business, you’re seeking ways to make your data work smarter. Why continue spending hours of your week tediously checking in on endless KPIs, trying to make sense of what the endless stream of data means?</p><p>With the surge of AI making headlines everywhere this year, any reluctance to what everyone claims is the “next big thing” is understandable. Business observability solutions provide advanced analytics, visualization tools, and predictive capabilities, all to help you identify problems and create solutions quicker.</p><p>After reading this article, though, you have an understanding of why business dashboards are becoming obsolete. Embracing business observability as a concept is the next evolution in your business operations.</p><hr><p style="text-align:center;">Check out our <a href="https://quantive.com/resources/articles/business-observability-software" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ultimate guide to business observability software</a></p><figure class="image image_resized" style="width:50%;"><a href="https://quantive.com/resources/articles/business-observability-software" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/gtmhub/image/upload/v1676645665/site-v5/Business_Observability_Software_TEMP_FILE_e21de24662.png" alt="Business Observability Software"></a></figure><hr><p>Quantive is your bridge between strategy and execution. Founded on the objectives and key results (OKR) methodology, <a href="https://quantive.com/products" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">our Strategy Execution Platform</a> is where businesses plan successful strategy, focus and align teams to it, and stay on the leading edge of progress.</p><p>As your company looks to achieve the best possible results, you need a modern approach to <a href="https://quantive.com/products/results" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">run your business</a> and change your business. <a href="https://quantive.com/resources/articles/what-is-the-modern-operating-model" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Modern Operating Model </a>brings strategy, teams, and data together to help make decisions faster, optimize operations, and drive better business outcomes.</p><p>Whether you’re a large enterprise facing competitive disruption or a small business leading the innovative charge, Quantive helps get you where you want to go.</p><p>Ready to achieve the best possible? Start using <a href="https://quantive.com/products/results/pricing" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Quantive for free.</a></p>

The Ultimate Guide to Business Observability Software