Case Study

Organizational Transformation in a Corporate Center

Goals: optimize processes, reduce bureaucracy, and increase efficiency, generating financial gains and strengthening the organization’s competitive advantage

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The need to transform Corporate Centers into breakthrough units that add value to the business units is a burgeoning priority. This transformation requires agile teams focused on implementing a partnership mindset with the business. This is the only way to deliver exceptional customer experience and transform the services provided by the Corporate Center into a competitive advantage for the organization.

Global logistics partner: innovation and efficiency on a global scale

A global logistics company that focuses its operations on customs activity management, international land logistics, air and sea transport, express logistics, and contract logistics. The services provided integrate with a wide range of transport and logistics services, moving goods between more than 220 countries.

The company’s business model is based on innovative information systems that enable it to provide the latest and most efficient technology perfectly adapted to each customer’s needs and each activity sector.

All corporate services for all business units and regions are managed centrally in a Corporate Center. This includes the Human Resources, Information Technology, Purchasing and Assets, Marketing, Customer Service, Finance, Security and Legal teams.

Overcoming bureaucracy: how to make corporate processes more agile and efficient

Expanding the value proposition of the services provided by the Corporate Center required the development of processes that were simultaneously agile, effective, and efficient. As people are the most important asset of these services, it was essential to change processes based on the teams’ and leaders’ culture and behavioral transformation.

At the current state, the teams faced the following challenges:

• Lack of structured communication.
• Daily management without a clear focus on KPIs.
• Reactive approach to problems, often relying on trial and error rather than structured analysis.

In addition, the lack of standardized tasks resulted in operational inconsistencies and rework, while excessively bureaucratic processes increased lead times and limited productivity. The working environment was not optimized, with teams acting isolated and without established moments for exchanging information and solving challenges.

To meet these challenges, it was essential to reformulate the organizational culture and train team leaders to act as agents of change, promoting integration between areas and ensuring the application of structured methodologies for continuous improvement.

From diagnosis to action: a structured model for organizational transformation

The first step was to thoroughly analyze each team’s core processes and tasks to understand, quantitatively, the Overall People Efficiency of the teams. This productivity indicator allows us to identify the processes with the most opportunities by quantifying the losses in variability (caused by the different performance levels of the team members) and the losses caused by waste (resulting from the time spent on non-value-added tasks).

The main drivers of these efficiency losses were related to paper-based and very bureaucratic processes with several players involved. The lack of communication between the different teams generated long response lead times and rework. Like other corporate centers, this one is defined by its focus on managing interdependencies between departments to achieve a deliverable. For example, in the monthly closing tasks, the business units, HR, and Finance must align to ensure an integrated management approach and the use of relevant indicators.

To solve this challenge, the team leaders were empowered through a model that made them responsible for managing and improving the indicators of each team across 9 departments, 21 teams, and over 90 people. The following tools were used: team organization through metrics, workspace organization, standardization, and structured problem-solving. The improvement initiatives with the most significant impact on the results achieved were the increase in productivity of the Accounts Payable process (Finance Department) and the increase in the time dedicated to development (Information Systems Department). Both initiatives included using digital tools after rigorous analysis and re-engineering the processes. The solution supported the disruptive improvements that were made in the end-to-end processes.

From efficiency to competitive advantage: the impacts of transformation

As a result of this transformation process, €715k were obtained in the Profit and Loss Statement over the 17-month period. This resulted from the increased efficiency of processes and reduced customer debt.

In addition, the increased efficiency of the processes meant that teams could perform value-added tasks in the same opening time. This led to an increase in the portfolio of services provided to the business units and a reduction in delivery lead times.

Based on the daily analysis of performance indicators and the dedication of time to breakthrough business improvements, this cultural transformation will have a long-term impact on the commitment of the team to sustain and exceed the results achieved.

We are committed to respecting our clients’ confidentiality. While we have altered or omitted their names, the results are genuine.