“Enterprise” is one of those words that's become ubiquitous over the past few years, especially in the area of technology. I notice that the “enterprise edition” of a software product costs more than the regular version, and I expect Starbucks to offer Enterprise-size lattes any day now. But is that all “enterprise” means large? complex? pricey? exclusive? I'm concerned that for some people “enterprise” has taken over from the now-taboo term “central” – as in “central planning” – and is used to designate staff functions or oversight processes.
Our most urgent job as leaders and doers is to save the true meaning of enterprise. Enterprise isn't just a buzzword. It's the concept that, more than any other, expresses how contemporary business works, and how tomorrow's business practices diverge from yesterday's. Once your organization is switched on to the implications of the enterprise concept, the need for standards throughout its activities becomes clear to everyone. For the insurance industry, getting “enterprise” is the vital shift of mindset required for survival.
“Enterprise” is a pretty straightforward idea, but one that challenges the status quo. Enterprise means the chain of organizations involved in a value stream. The beneficiary of the value stream is the customer, and the customer is seen as pulling the chain. The enterprise concept is demand-led, rather than supply-constrained.
I know that sounds theoretical. The concept makes for nice diagrams, and the primacy of the customer makes for good apple pie. The hard part for many to swallow, and the part that they overlook, is the implications of the chain. When we say “enterprise”, we're saying that the organization level of most importance to the business is not the company that may employ us. The organization level that matters is the entire family, or ecosystem, of organizations that collaborate to serve a customer need.
Furthermore, this constellation of partners may vary radically across product and service lines. Depending on which value chain we choose to examine, we may see an entirely different constitution of the enterprise. The ecosystem also may change over time, with partners changing depending on their ability or eagerness to service the enterprise. ACORD Standards developed in partnership with all the trading partners in the value chain is key to this emerging vision of the enterprise.
The above excerpt is from my new book to be released in 2008.
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