ISG collaborates with a leading finance company to assess and decide how its technology team will work in the future, including review of its job-capability framework and updates to match global standards.
Opportunity
One of Australia’s leading finance, insurance and banking corporations engaged ISG to support its organizational design work, as well as to develop and implement its sourcing strategy. As part of the operating model efforts, ISG was asked to help assess required roles going forward and how they would support how the technology team works in the future.
ISG recommended use of the global Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA). We introduced an operating model expert who highlighted how SFIA and ISG expertise could underpin and accelerate the people, roles and skills aspects of the changes and bring the company up to global standards. SFIA would be applied as a benchmark to define the company’s technology and transformation team’s skills and competencies.
As the new model progressed, the company’s people and culture team also reached out for assistance to enable the firm to get more momentum and use SFIA to uplift its ongoing job-capability framework. The team wanted to refresh the framework of its tech career pathways overview to engage, develop and retain needed capabilities.
ISG recommended use of the global Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA). We introduced an operating model expert who highlighted how SFIA and ISG expertise could underpin and accelerate the people, roles and skills aspects of the changes and bring the company up to global standards. SFIA would be applied as a benchmark to define the company’s technology and transformation team’s skills and competencies.
As the new model progressed, the company’s people and culture team also reached out for assistance to enable the firm to get more momentum and use SFIA to uplift its ongoing job-capability framework. The team wanted to refresh the framework of its tech career pathways overview to engage, develop and retain needed capabilities.
Imagining IT Differently
ISG’s initial work in 2021 included a combined operating model, use of SFIA capability to develop a robust organizational design, and associated role and skills recommendations. Our follow-up work in 2023 covered the capability framework update with the people and culture team.
ISG used a collaborative approach with stakeholders, including workshops and interviews across 10 disciplines, such as DevOps, service management, infrastructure, security and delivery. The team:
- Reviewed the existing framework;
- Defined skills and competencies required by the company;
- Aligned with industry best practices and current thinking in terms of skills, behaviors and knowledge (what SFIA brings forward);
- Held validation sessions to confirm the skills-mapping related back to learning roles defined in the capability framework; and
- Provided language for a new benchmark to identify and maintain the skills currency and support professional and career development conversations in the future.
Future Made Possible
- The company’s operating model included a more robust, best-practice-aligned approach to role and skills assessment work required to support the company’s transformational journey and the embedding of sourcing strategy.
- A collaborative approach was employed, educating and co-creating with stakeholders.
- The ISG team worked with the company’s people and culture team to support uplift of the capability framework, making it consistent in style and format, fit for purpose, and up to date for the organization, industry and global SFIA version 8 standards.
- The capability framework features a new benchmark for acquisition and maintenance of skills and work on professional development planning.
- ISG and the company co-created a new framework template that supports leaders, teams and individuals in role identification, skills development and uplift, and professional and career progression.
- It also sets the foundation for ongoing capability work, education and updates.
