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Layer 03 of 6 — Operating Model Design

Technology & Systems.
Technology that serves the model. Not the other way around.

The most common operating model failure is technology-led design: the new system is chosen, then the operating model is built around it. CN reverses this. The operating model is designed first. The technology architecture is then defined to support it — not constrain it. This applies equally to AI and automation decisions.

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01 People 02 Process 03 Technology 04 Service Delivery 05 Performance 06 Governance
What CN does in this layer

The work inside the layer

  • —Technology strategy — what systems the organisation needs to support the target operating model
  • —Architecture design — how systems should connect and communicate
  • —System rationalisation — identifying and eliminating redundant or overlapping systems
  • —ERP and CRM implementation support — change management and process alignment for major system programmes
  • —AI strategy and adoption — where AI creates value and how to make adoption stick
  • —Automation identification — which manual processes are candidates for automation and which are not
  • —Legacy system assessment — what to retire, what to migrate, what to wrap
  • —Data integration design — how data flows between systems and where the sources of truth sit
  • —Vendor assessment and selection support — evaluating technology options against operating model requirements
  • —Technology change management — the human programme that makes system adoption hold
How we do it

The CN approach

01
Define operating model requirements before selecting technology
Every technology decision starts with the operating model question: what does this system need to do to support the way we have designed this organisation to work? Selection criteria are derived from operating model requirements, not vendor feature lists.
02
Challenge the build-vs-buy assumption
Many organisations build custom solutions for problems that off-the-shelf systems solve adequately. CN challenges this assumption — the question is whether the operating model requires something genuinely bespoke, or whether it can be adapted to use a standard solution.
03
Map the data architecture to the process design
Data does not flow cleanly between systems by default. The data architecture — where information is created, where it lives, how it moves — must be designed as part of the operating model, not retrofitted afterwards.
04
Design AI adoption as a change programme
AI tools that are not embedded in the way people actually work become shelfware. CN designs AI adoption with the same rigour as any other change: understanding the resistance, enabling the managers, designing for the corridor as well as the boardroom.
05
Assess what to retire honestly
Legacy systems that are retained alongside new systems create complexity, cost and confusion. CN supports the difficult conversations about what to decommission — including the political ones about systems that individuals or teams have emotional attachment to.
What good looks like
  • ✓Technology chosen to serve the operating model, not define it
  • ✓AI adoption embedded in ways of working, not bolted on
  • ✓System rationalisation reducing complexity genuinely
  • ✓Data architecture designed, not inherited
  • ✓Technology change managed as a people programme
Warning signs
  • ✗Operating model designed around the new ERP
  • ✗AI tools deployed without change management
  • ✗Legacy systems retained indefinitely to avoid disruption
  • ✗Data living in multiple systems with no clear source of truth
  • ✗Technology adoption measured at go-live, not month 12
Connects to
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Process & Ways of Working
Technology supports process. System configuration must reflect the designed process or the process will revert to the old way.
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Performance & Insight
Data architecture determines what MI is possible. Performance insight depends on clean, well-structured data flowing from operational systems.
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Change Management
Technology change is people change. The change programme must run alongside the system programme from day one.
Part of the full model
This layer is one of six. Changing it without the others creates integration failures.
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Working on this layer?
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