Empowering it
business partners
improves innovation

With digitalization and the Industrial Internet of Things, a good business idea is not enough; companies need supporting technology that enables innovation. To stay one step ahead of the competition, Siemens Global Services IT changed its operating model, creating two organizations—one focused on IT service delivery and another on partnering with internal business customers. While the new structure would help increase proximity and relevance to the business, the business partner organization represented a sea change for technology employees. Siemens is collaborating with Accenture to help the IT business partners within the new group attain the professional skills and new mindset required to work effectively and efficiently with business colleagues to embed innovation throughout the company and create value.

Accenture is teaming with Siemens IT business partners to help them develop the interpersonal and business skills required to influence change and take end-to-end responsibility for IT projects and services. A new behavioral model and competency framework identified the key qualities to cultivate in business partners: trusted advisors, successful leaders, reliable business enablers and disruptive influencers/challengers. The team then designed a development program to train approximately 600 IT business partners globally over 24 months.

Highly qualified Accenture trainers are working closely with Siemens to tailor a blended approach of innovative methods, incorporating neuroscience research that met their needs and made the learning experience interactive, engaging and sustainable. Methods combine Social Styles© Tracom, design thinking, value proposition, storytelling, leading change, enabling powerful conversations, coaching and conflict management. Siemens added functional and technical topics to complement the big picture. Learning formats consist of self-assessments, face-to-face workshops, webinars, peer-group interaction and self-learning.

With consistent and responsive training tailored to Siemens’ needs, IT business partners are gaining a better understanding of Siemens’ business, their role, and what they can do to influence and help relevant changes that deliver results and achieve the company’s business goals. Interpersonal and professional skills are helping them to be more versatile, overcome challenges, understand the business perspective, have powerful conversations with business leaders, manage stakeholders and help shape the business strategy. In addition to supporting the business strategy and innovation, the program is helping to reinforce IT business partners’ end-to-end responsibility for IT services, focusing on efficiencies in the overall delivery model.

IT is now empowered to drive innovation working hand-in-hand with the business using new methodologies like Agile and Design Thinking to quickly prototype and test new ideas before investing in a formal project. All business partners can exchange experiences and lessons learned within their community to sustain the change. With their new skills and business-first mindset, IT business partners are helping Siemens be more innovative in an environment where fast-paced technological change is the new normal.