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 - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing commodity prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, technology disruption, increasing energy prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
wage bills are increasing, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, 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 -
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Batjer Wilkening digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Batjer Wilkening has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Batjer Wilkening has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Batjer Wilkening has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Training and development
– Batjer Wilkening has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Batjer Wilkening has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
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 -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A), it seems that the employees of Batjer Wilkening don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Batjer Wilkening is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Batjer Wilkening needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Batjer Wilkening to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
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.
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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Batjer Wilkening has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A), it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Global Business strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Lack of clear differentiation of Batjer Wilkening products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Batjer Wilkening needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Batjer Wilkening is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Batjer Wilkening in the consumer business. Now Batjer Wilkening can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Batjer Wilkening has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Batjer Wilkening to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– Batjer Wilkening has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Global Business industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Batjer Wilkening can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Batjer Wilkening can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Batjer Wilkening can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
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 -
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.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Batjer Wilkening can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Cracking the Monolith: California's Child Welfare Services Disrupts Technology Procurement (A) .
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 .
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.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Batjer Wilkening can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
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 acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Batjer Wilkening has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Batjer Wilkening needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Global Business sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
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.
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.
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.
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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