Companies in the region have recognized the positive impacts of enhancing the visibility of initiatives and aligning business and IT. However, challenges persist in improving time to market, as well as reducing risks and costs.
In recent years, pursuing agility has resulted in tangible business outcomes for companies in Latin America, offering a significant opportunity to expedite value creation.
The latest edition of the Agility in Latin America 2023 study by NTT DATA provides compelling data: 42% of respondents believe they have achieved a visibility impact of over 50% in initiatives, 39% in business and IT alignment, and nearly 32% in adapting to changes and enhancing customer experience. In essence, agility has played a pivotal role in boosting relevance, transparency, collaboration, and customer engagement.
However, significant challenges lie ahead in areas where impact has been limited thus far, including improving time to market, fostering greater innovation, mitigating risks, and driving cost reductions.
More Strategy and Planning
If certain trends observed among companies in the region are further developed, we will be heading in the right direction. For instance, even when considering the IT sector as the key area for agile transformation, the early involvement of the Strategy & Planning department is seen as a crucial element in driving it at an organizational level.
When this happens, agile practices can more easily permeate aspects such as decision-making, regular priority reviews, hiring, budgeting, or resource allocation through the adoption of models such as Lean Portfolio Management (LPM). Also, the agile frameworks established within companies are consolidated.
In this new phase, there is a systematic effort to enhance efficiency and productivity, all with a mindset focused on value flow. A significant insight from the study: when the transformation office directly reports to the CEO, the impact of agility is generally greater.
New Skills, New Technologies
Furthermore, there is a perceived evolution in specific roles related to agility, such as agile coach, product owner, and scrum master. This evolution aims to address challenges and involves substantial investments in skills like coaching, mentoring, and consulting, which are essential for agile leaders.
A fourth trend indicates that organizations incorporating emerging technologies in the last three years have experienced a significant increase in their agility capacity. While the focus was previously on remodeling digital channels and technological infrastructure, today, the emphasis is on artificial intelligence (AI), cloud migration, and advanced analytics.
The market is more dynamic than ever, presenting numerous opportunities. For Latin American companies, agility is not only an accelerator of growth but also the foundation for the future.