While most businesses don’t think twice about their operating model, it’s one of the keys to your success. An operating model is how your entire organisational system functions to deliver strategy: from capabilities, to ways of working, to systems, people, pay and incentives.

Internal changes to your strategy, new competitive entrants, economic pressures and lower-than expected business performance. These events often trigger an operating model review, with the question: “are we doing everything we could and should be doing, and are we doing it well?”

As operating model architects, we turn your operating model risks into an integrated action plan. We start with business strategy. We weave in people strategy and workforce design. We help you shift ways of working and work environments. We review processes and technologies. This gives your team the focus is needs, as a well designed operating model will ensure the right things get done. From here, you can lift your strategy off the page and into reality.

Getting to the heart of deal value.

Few internal teams have the combined experience in People, Capability, Culture, Operating Models and other intangible assets that are needed for today’s inorganic growth transactions.

M&A teams need to conduct a thorough assessment of capability, culture and people opportunities and risks, as they are at the heart of nearly every successful (and many failed) transactions. Many deal teams simply don’t have the expertise.

Research shows that the first eighteen months post acquisition is the most critical. Well before the ink is dry on your deal, Hyfen assesses cultural fit, ways of working, operating models and workforce strategies to give you the deal insight you need. To protect your deal from value erosion, we work with you on people-focussed integration plans. Then we shape and see through the post-deal process to ensure your teams realise sustainable value in those critical proof-point moments.

Every organisation has great people. In fact, most of our clients are really proud of the teams they’ve built. What’s less common is confidence in the workforce strategy.

Are your people working on the right things? Does your culture help or hinder? Do you have the right skills and capabilities to scale, grow and create lasting value? The most effective leadership to lead through change? Optimal ways of working?

Our clients lean on our decades of experience working on these challenges for organisations of every size and scale, helping CEOs and leaders develop and deliver the people, capability and workforce strategies that can bring your organisation’s future forward. We’ve held these very roles ourselves, so we understand the people paradox intimately: in many ways people are the most complex, necessary and value-enhancing aspect of your organisation.

What’s a business model? It's applied strategy. It’s how you plan to win in the market. Your customer focus. Your value proposition. Your channels to market, together with pricing and positioning.

Integral to your business model are the intangible assets you rely upon to differentiate what you do. Business model innovation helps you differentiate and sustain your edge. It’s practical strategic direction. It’s your blueprint.

A business model can be hard to articulate. You need to know what you are trying to achieve before you can get the most out of yours. Getting your operating model to synchronise with your business model is where many of our clients have come unstuck. We design business models that will go the distance - stretching your capability into the future while being achievable and grounded in strengths.

If you’re heading into a sale, exit, strategy review or raising funds, it pays to know what’s driving underlying long-term value in your business.

Now that intangible assets account for up to 90% of market value, understanding your intangible asset base has become an imperative for owners and founders. We find that many businesses are not sure how valuable their intangible assets are. Nor how to protect and leverage them.

Our sister company, Hyfen8, undertakes intangible asset reviews backed by data, evidence and analytics. Led by a team of data science and business experts, you can now discover your business’s latent value with the Hyfen Eight intangible asset audit.