DEVOPSdigest

In today's business climate, companies are focused on reducing operating expenses, increasing customer value, and growing profit margins. With such objectives in mind, more businesses are adopting Value Stream Management (VSM), which prioritizes these and other business objectives. In fact, according to 2024 Value Stream Management Trends, a new survey of global business and IT leaders, VSM adoption and maturity continue to improve, and adopters report significant and widespread benefits.

While many companies are in the earlier stages of VSM adoption, most survey participants (96%) confirmed they have already received a wide array of benefits from VSM. At the top of the list is advancing digital transformation initiatives, cited by 38% of respondents.

VSM Solves Digital Transformation Challenges

Indeed, one of the cornerstones of VSM is driving efficiency with improvement processes, communication, data, and more. Improved efficiency is a primary objective of digital transformation. It's clear these two initiatives go hand-in-hand. Below, we'll look at some ways VSM can help organizations address digital transformation challenges.

Participants were asked what would improve their digital transformation objectives most. The answers illustrate common challenges most organizations share, not just those pursuing digital transformation.

1. Alignment of technology: At 29%, the top response was alignment of technology. Tool sprawl is a challenge in almost every organization and impacts VSM's success as well. The survey found a lack of consistent solutions across value streams, inhibiting information flow and data sharing. Dedicated VSM solutions can help organizations improve communications, access data, and reduce silos, thereby driving the process efficiency required for highly functional value streams and superior digital transformation execution.

2. Seamless workflow throughout the product lifecycle: This was the second most cited option at 25%. From a digital transformation perspective, work must flow efficiently from concept to development to testing to delivery. Any wrinkles in that progression hamper product development and slow productivity. A prime tenet of VSM as well, achieving a seamless workflow can be accomplished by tying business strategy and development together in a single value stream to ensure everyone is on the same page.

3. Eliminating silos: Not surprisingly, eliminating silos took the third spot among respondents. Research has found 83% of companies correlate organizational silos with reduced customer value and product ROI. Siloed functions and teams automatically impede collaboration and communication, hinder the flow of data, and slow productivity. VSM solutions help identify the people and teams necessary to a specific value stream, then provides collaboration and communication tools, common data access, real-time visibility into the entire product lifecycle, and much more that eliminates silos and ensures teams see and understand how their efforts create value.

4. Access to real time insights and data: Rounding out the top four, cited by just over 20%, access to real time data is paramount to digital transformation success, as well as VSM success. A dedicated VSM solution helps consolidate data and make it accessible, usable, and connected to common goals. Real-time visibility allows for accurate prioritization and ensures allocations remain valid in the face of constantly changing demands.

These findings underscore how adopting VSM and the right solution addresses the key roadblocks to digital transformation but adds the critical focus on delivering more value to the customer

For Digital Transformation Success, VSM Offers a Value-Driven Approach

Improved digital transformation is a natural byproduct of VSM and its solutions, which are shown to eliminate silos and create alignment, seamless workflows, and real-time insights — all critical elements of digital transformation success. Companies looking to address critical business challenges and advance digital transformation initiatives would be well served to consider VSM. Not only does VSM fuel better alignment around strategic endeavors, like digital transformation, it also fosters a better understanding of the customer and the value their products deliver.