Case Study Description of Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A)
In October 2015, two senior California officials: Marybel Batjer, Secretary for Government Operations, and Michael Wilkening, Undersecretary for the Health and Human Services Agency seized on an idea that had the potential to turn the state's long dysfunctional technology procurement process on its head. After years of planning, California was about to request bids for a new child welfare management system to replace a twenty-year-old technology that, as part of the country's largest child welfare program, was accessed by approximately 25,000 state and county employees, to serve millions of California's children. The request for bids called for a "waterfall" approach to software development, where all aspects of the project would follow a pre-ordained sequence and likely cost the state nearly half a billion dollars. Just weeks before the request was to be released Batjer and Wilkening met with former U.S. Chief Technology Officer Todd Park and members of a tech nonprofit, Code for America, who warned that both the waterfall approach and the large size of the project posed significant risks. First, they proposed an alternative "architecture" that would break up the "monolith" proposal into its component parts. Rather than build and replace one giant system with another, why not replace the system in parts-or in modules? Second, for each of these modules, teams of programmers and social workers could work together to build a prototype and iterate till the final product satisfied the needs of the state-in a process known as "agile" development. But could California's bureaucracy, with its stringent procurement rules pivot to a modular approach? And could Batjer and Wilkening convince state staff and county partners to experiment with agile development, a methodology never attempted in California government before? Case number 2101.0
Swot Analysis of "Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A)" written by David Eaves, Anjani Datla includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Batjer Wilkening facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, wage bills are increasing, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
increasing commodity prices, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Batjer Wilkening, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Batjer Wilkening operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Batjer Wilkening
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Global Business field.
4. Making a Global Business topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Batjer Wilkening
Strengths Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Batjer Wilkening in Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Batjer Wilkening is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Strong track record of project management
– Batjer Wilkening is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Batjer Wilkening are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
High brand equity
– Batjer Wilkening has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Batjer Wilkening to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Batjer Wilkening in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Batjer Wilkening in the sector have low bargaining power. Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Batjer Wilkening to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Batjer Wilkening is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Batjer Wilkening in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Batjer Wilkening has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Batjer Wilkening to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Batjer Wilkening to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Batjer Wilkening is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Batjer Wilkening is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Batjer Wilkening is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Weaknesses Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Batjer Wilkening is planning to shift buying processes online.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Batjer Wilkening needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, David Eaves, Anjani Datla suggests that, Batjer Wilkening is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Batjer Wilkening, firm in the HBR case study Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Batjer Wilkening supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Batjer Wilkening vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Batjer Wilkening has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Batjer Wilkening has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Batjer Wilkening even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Batjer Wilkening has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Batjer Wilkening has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A), is just above the industry average. Batjer Wilkening needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Batjer Wilkening has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Opportunities Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Batjer Wilkening to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Batjer Wilkening can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Batjer Wilkening to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Batjer Wilkening has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Batjer Wilkening to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) case study. Batjer Wilkening can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Batjer Wilkening is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Batjer Wilkening can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Batjer Wilkening can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Batjer Wilkening can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Batjer Wilkening to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Batjer Wilkening to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Batjer Wilkening in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Global Business segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Batjer Wilkening to increase its market reach. Batjer Wilkening will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Developing new processes and practices
– Batjer Wilkening can develop new processes and procedures in Global Business industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Batjer Wilkening can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Threats Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Batjer Wilkening demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Batjer Wilkening needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A), Batjer Wilkening may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Global Business .
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Batjer Wilkening.
Regulatory challenges
– Batjer Wilkening needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Global Business industry regulations.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Batjer Wilkening is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Batjer Wilkening with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Batjer Wilkening in the Global Business industry. The Global Business industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Batjer Wilkening in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Batjer Wilkening needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Batjer Wilkening can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Global Business field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Batjer Wilkening can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Batjer Wilkening needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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