H&D, the IT service company of the new generation - fit for competition due to fractal business organization.

Fractals are the answer to the 3rd (digital) industrial revolution.

A fractal is generally defined as a fragmented geometric shape which can be split into smaller units. Each of these units is a minimized version of the whole shape; it is a self-image. By splitting up the whole shape into smaller units, complex formations can be controlled more easily.

Assisted by recent developments in the field of business structures and work organization, known as the 3rd industrial revolution, we often find decentralized team-oriented structures.

Fractals enhance the importance of the team work approach attach importance to the team-work approach. Each fractal is as a “company within a company” similar to the company as the whole and therefore it has to meet certain criteria:

• The task assignment for a fractal has to be “holistic”
• Each fractal is solely responsible for its operating results
• Each fractal is responsible for its defined business processes
• Each fractal has to be provided with all necessary abilities and tools for performance delivery

All fractals are independently acting and self-regulating units with well-defined services and objectives, operating according to the company’s demands.

The idea of fractal organization is to profit from existing knowhow and experience as a basis for a long term strategy.

The transition to a versatile and development-oriented company is the central aspect of fractal organization. Change management competence and continuing knowledge building are prerequisites and enable fast adjustment processes as well as proactive and continuous advancement.

Information technology is essential for most lines of business nowadays. The development of new high-capacity technologies at an astonishing pace forces companies to be innovative to weather market cycles. Companies from various sectors with the core business in focus, face the fact that there is a lack of IT specialists which is why IT service companies are gaining importance.

Certain features or attributes are necessary for IT service suppliers to hold ground in the market:

• Interest: There is more to customer requirements than meets the eye: IT service companies have to take customers’ complex business processes into consideration in order to fulfill the requirements.

• Dynamic: The IT sector accepts the challenge of dynamic processes and would never take technological change as a threat.

• Innovation: Welcoming innovation and the transformation into new business objectives optimizes the service and secures competiveness.

• Adaptability: IT-service companies have to adapt to the variable technological standards, changing customer relations and economic cycles. Adaptability is essential for the business.

• Learning Aptitude: Each customer project increases the competence of an IT service company. A well-organized enterprise knowledge management is therefore an absolute requirement.

• Stable Growth: IT service companies require high rates of growth to satisfy their growing market segments.

• Flexibility: Unexpected eventualities or extraordinary customer requirements are a part of everyday business. IT service specialists should be able to leverage all eventualities and expand their range of products.

• Order-oriented Management of Competence and Capacity: Too many or too few orders - service providers have to rely on the organizational skills of their project managers: the customers’ requirements have to be fulfilled either way.

• Command over Complexity: Projects are usually complex. Every single employee involved in the projects has to contribute his or her share to control over the complexity.

• Knowledge of Business Processes: A qualified knowledge of the particular customer’s business and the effectivity of the offered IT solutions determine the value of and the demand for an IT service provider.

Conclusion

Having a continuously updated overview of complex systems and fractal organizations is essential for succeeding in the modern IT services sector. Our new approaches to business processes today might be the formula for success tomorrow. H&D - as a new generation system house with fractal structures - is well prepared for the future.

Sources:
Der mathematische Hintergrund, "Benoit Mandelbrot von 1975 - Die fraktale Geometrie der Natur" (from MathePrisma): Wolken sind keine Kugeln, Berge keine Kegel, Küstenlinien keine Kreise. Die Rinde ist nicht glatt - und auch der Blitz bahnt sich seinen Weg nicht gerade...

Fraunhofer Institut System- und Innovationsforschung von 2003
Fraktale Unternehmensstrukturen meistern neue Herausforderungen Deutlich höhere Wertschöpfung / Ergebnisse einer Fraunhofer-Erhebung

Der Facility Manager (1997), Nr.6, S.9-11 Institut Fraunhofer IPA
Das Fraktale Krankenhaus - Fraktale Organisationsstrukturen tragen zu mehr Wirtschaftlichkeit und höherer Dienstleistungsqualität bei.

Prof. Dr. Horst Strunz, ExperTeam AG, Cologne, Article from ExperPraxis 2001/2002