How do you determine that your company is an Open Organization?

If they want to survive, companies have to ask themselves a fundamental question – how can they acquire the agility of a start-up in structures with tens of thousands of employees?

 

For Albert Meige, CEO of PRESANS and Academic Director of the Leading Digital Transformation program at HEC Paris, the answer to this question is to develop a new form of company that he calls an Open Organization.

According to Albert Meige, Academic Director at HEC Paris and expert in Innovation and Digital Transformation, Open Organizations are the only sustainable business model to adopt in our current ecosystem. This new organizational form enables companies to couple the agility of a startup with the employee count of a major corporation; to evolve and progress with great flexibility.

So, what are the main characteristics of an Open Organization? And how can you determine that your company is an Open Organization? To help companies, Albert Meige and his team of experts at Presans have developed the Open Organization Gauge. This tool measures a company’s maturity level, using a five-star scale, in the five key areas that define an Open Organization.

• User-centric and functional
• Data-driven
• Platform Strategy
• On-demand talents
• Aspirational Purpose

The gauge thus confronts companies with a reality check, comparing them to industry leaders in the hopes of inspiring digital transformation.

If we apply the Open Organization Gauge to the tech-giant Tesla, we can draw the following conclusions:

• Directly selling to the customer and providing open access to mobility and energy, gives them a score of four stars in the user-centric and functional category
• Tesla models can be considered ‘computers on wheels’ and their in-house digital platform means that the brand scores five stars in the data-driven category.
• The compatibility of the Tesla app with other platforms (such as the iPhone) gives it a score of four out of five.
• The highly integrated nature of their production processes and strong resistance to externalization means that Tesla only scores two stars in the on-demand talents category.
• Tesla’s core mission of developing sustainable energy means that it scores four stars in the aspirational purpose category.

The Open Organization Gauge thus proves itself to be rigorous, effective and applicable. When it comes to keeping up with the latest digital transformations, even the big players need to be made aware of their Achilles heels in order to adapt and progress. What successful transformation looks like differs between companies. Companies must approach digital transformation from a systematic standpoint. Fortunately, the Gauge will enable them to consider both all the working pieces of a company and all their interactions. It monitors company culture, practices, vision and heritage, discerning obstacles that could hinder successful digital transformation.

 

CONCLUSION : Would you like to find out more about Open Organizations ? Download the White Paper.