Capabilities

Operating model design

An operating model is how a strategy becomes real: the way an organisation is configured to deliver what it has decided to do, and what that configuration costs. It is the bridge between the strategy on the page and the change programme that follows, and the piece that most often goes missing,.

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PEF Consulting Partners designs operating models tested against delivery reality, from E.ON Next’s Kraken transformation to BP’s global EV charging operation across five countries. An operating model is a set of decisions about who does what; we make them explicit and costed.

What we design

The model itself

How the organisation needs to be structured, resourced and run to deliver the strategy: process, people, data, technology and governance, designed as one coherent whole rather than five separate workstreams.

The cost of it

What the target model costs to run, made explicit, so the strategy is grounded in economic reality rather than assuming the organisation can do more with the same.

The gap

An honest picture of the distance between how the organisation works today and the target, which becomes the scope of the change that follows.

Why strategy needs an operating model

A strategy that does not specify how the organisation must change to deliver it is a statement of intent, not a plan. The operating model is where intent becomes concrete: this is how we will be structured, this is what it costs, this is what has to change. Without it, transformation programmes drift because nobody agreed the destination.

Frequently asked questions

How does this relate to a target operating model?

They are closely related. We approach operating model design from the strategy down, defining what the model must be to deliver the strategic intent. See our target operating model service for the transformation angle.

Do you help implement the model, not just design it?

Yes. Design without delivery is where operating model work usually fails. We can help deliver the change, through delivery excellence and people and change.

Related

Strategy and customer, cost to serve, or get in touch.

HOW WE WORKA controlled path from goal to benefit1UnderstandYour goals, systems and risks2ShapeThe approach and business case3MobiliseThe team and operating model4DeliverControlled, governed delivery5AssureIndependent quality and control6RealiseStabilised, savings secured

New to operating models?

Start with our plain explainer, what is an operating model, and the free target operating model template that goes with it.

Facing this challenge?

We bring senior people who have delivered exactly this at scale. Honest advice, and accountability for the outcome.

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