Driving the Context for Change
Their
Role
We connect the dots...
We see things differently...
We see signals where others see noise...
We believe in the value of equal parts ideas, insight and inspiration. We see value in old and new ways of working and remix them to solve new problems. You see problems and we see the potential to reframe and reimagine your opportunity.
Ignition helps clients looking to evolve [or being driven to evolve] by helping to identify how to start, developing a vision that considers all possibilities, along with determining the right path and partner to add value, quickly. We translate the why and what into the how.
The ability to do all three well sets KPMG apart from its competitors.
In today's world, leaders and organizations are wrestling with challenges on a scale and scope like never before.
Vision
Innovate
Lead
Analyze
We help you envision your ‘anywhere’ with unconventional speed and insight
Where others carefully navigate change and stop at uncertainty, Ignition helps you confidently
move beyond.
Vision: Define your North Star, clarify or affirm your purpose and translate both into actionable business strategy for the enterprise, function, or issue. Enhance the impact and effectiveness of teaming through a shared experience that brings your team together to set strategy; gain relevant context (through strategic intelligence); translate insights into implications for your business; and collaborate on actionable commitments.
Acceleration: Tackle those pressing endeavors that require the attention and commitment of senior leadership, stakeholder alignment, accelerated design, and mobilization across a business function, business unit, or enterprise at unconventional speed.
You will move forward with:
Focus: establish your target, maximize potential, and prioritize high-value initiatives aligned to a North Star
Value: unlock new forms of value by improving your effectiveness, efficiency, and execution
Speed: understand how to sequence change through investments, technology, people, and processes
Some or all of the services described herein may not be permissible for KPMG audit clients and their affiliates and related entities.
The information contained herein is of a general nature and is not intended to address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity. Although we endeavor to provide accurate and timely information, there can be no guarantee that such information is accurate as of the date it is received or that it will continue to be accurate in the future. No one should act upon such information without appropriate professional advice after a thorough examination of the particular situation. The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the interviewees and survey respondents and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of KPMG LLP.
© 2023 KPMG LLP, a Delaware limited liability partnership and a member firm of the KPMG global organization of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Limited, a private English company limited by guarantee. All rights reserved.The KPMG name and logo are trademarks used under license by the independent member firms of the KPMG global organization.
We help you invest like a VC, act like a startup and think like an enterprise
Innovation Advisory: We help you build and evolve your innovation culture and capabilities. We take a collaborative approach to define and create a self-sustaining model for innovation supported by an immersive, hands-on approach to design-thinking, doing, teaching, and coaching.
Business Model Innovation: Today, innovation is happening on a steep, exponential curve. To survive, companies need to navigate the complex problems that arise from high levels of disruption and uncertainty. How does your business model keep pace? We understand the signals of change, explore the possibility space, identify opportunities and develop scenarios, and simulate strategic responses (wargaming), before testing strategies through rapid experimentation.
Startup by Design: A designed approach aimed at identifying the greatest opportunities in a rapidly changing landscape and designing successful ventures to capitalize on them. We work with early-adopter clients to embed as a ‘startup’ in residence, to drive innovation from the inside-out. With clients who are playing catch-up, we can be an accelerator to kick-start large-scale transformations through phase 0 engagements.
Experiment by Design: Most prototyping capabilities focus on building a solution rapidly—the minimum viable product (MVP). Today, technical feasibility is rarely an unknown. “Can we build it?” isn’t the important question to answer. More often than not, the focus should be on the other dimensions of uncertainty—desirability, viability, or scalability. We bring a disciplined approach to experimental design, far outstripping traditional rapid prototyping. Beyond typical visual prototyping, we build and test every aspect of your business and operating model.
We help prominent leaders succeed at pivotal moments for the enterprise, whether it’s a new role, vision, mandate, scale, or team
The KPMG Ignition Executive Program is a customized experience that will help you as you move through a critical moment—such as an executive transition, transformation efforts, M&A activities, or planning for a new fiscal year. Through this program, you will have an opportunity to work with subject matter professionals and your team to define your path forward.
Visioning: Help our executives explore the future, set their forward-looking vision, and create a plan to execute that vision.
Coaching: Create space for our executives to reflect on their careers, identify areas of strength, explore barriers, and align around steps to move towards the leader they want to be.
Learning: Advise on various new functional topics and how these changes in the market may impact your industry and business.
Impacting: Explore ESG—whether that be basic learning experiences, ESG visioning, or board alignment—create a plan to move your organization forward as the need to focus on ESG increases.
We elicit a deeper understanding of the role and value data science should play in creating smart, scalable, sustainable solutions
Art of the Possible: Connect leading-edge data and analytics techniques to their relevance in critical issues explored in a wider business context.
Education: Implementation of any technology involves extensive definition of the “why” and “how”. Some leaders—typically those outside of direct technology responsibilities—need more of the “what”, especially when approaching emerging technologies, such as Advanced Analytics, Automation, Data Management, or Decision Science. We introduce and ground understanding of these technologies and how you can benefit.
Solutioning: We provide a deeper and targeted review of a curated set of technology solutions tied together by an overarching framework relevant to a particular business function or sector. This review typically incorporates a maturity assessment to surface alignment, understanding, and gaps in order to design a forward-looking vision and roadmap.
Why do people matter in the face of such overwhelming change? Because it all starts and ends with people. People will take up a new technology and help realize its potential, or not. People will determine in both their personal and professional lives whether a technology’s promise is worth the friction of the uptake and the possible tradeoffs to their lives, or not. People will leverage a new technology to drive us past scarcity and its related mindset toward growth and abundance, or not. Ultimately, it isn’t an organization that embraces change; it’s the people within the organization that change, starting with its leaders.
visit.kpmg.us/ignition
BACK TO TOP
The Human Side of Innovation
Macro forces—including demographic and consumer change, geopolitical frictions, economic uncertainty, supply chain disruptions, and rapid technological advancement—are causing increased uncertainty and risk in the business landscape. The interconnectedness of these challenges demand a new approach to leadership—one that encompasses both capacity and character. It requires leaders to demonstrate humility in recognizing the magnitude of change, to raise their uncertainty threshold to adapt to new circumstances, to apply integrative thinking to understand internal and external forces at play, and to show agility when acting on the implications.
Why
People?
When implementing innovation, leaders and organizations need to determine the right role for people. In other words, what is best done by people or simply secured or verified by them? With the proliferation of technology, where is human certification needed? On which tasks can technology take the first pass while people use that time to upskill and prepare to better handle the final 20% to 25% of the task? Where does technology fall short, adding complexity rather than removing it? Leaders must be intentional when navigating these tensions; an all-or-nothing approach risks leaving the organization terribly behind or terribly ineffective.
The Sense of Sensemaking
Such nuances have become more challenging in the always-on, ultra-networked ecosystem in which organizations now operate. The resulting data “geyser” makes it increasingly difficult to discern what truly matters and identify an effective response. The rise of artificial intelligence further complicates this issue—potentially adding more solutions and data to the geyser and creating more noise that could drown out meaningful signals.
Meanwhile, poly-crises have forced organizations to play a larger role in society, with people looking to them for leadership on political, environmental, and social topics. This shift adds context to the complexity in sensemaking and solutioning.* The goal is to deploy the right people with the right skills and then organically augment their skills with appropriate technology. The ideal result: an operation with strong signals “sensing,” which drives proactive decisions.
Empathy, Humility, and Adaptability
In recognizing people’s role in change, it is crucial for leaders to understand the messy human side of organizations and indeed innovation. Driving innovation requires collaboration across diverse opinions, backgrounds, and experiences. It needs appropriate resources and to be supported by a humble culture that rewards trying and failing in the quest for success. Leaders must have the empathy to connect with the wide-ranging group of stakeholders and nurture an ecosystem of excellence in people, information, and technology.
Adding to the complexity undergirding the human side of innovation are generational shifts related to the Why (purpose) of work, along with new options for the What, Who, Where, How, and When. KPMG Ignition's Future of Work Strategic Intelligence Perspective analyzed more than 155 sources and a primary survey of 1000+ workers. The findings reiterated that employees are seeking organizations that align with their values and offer opportunities for professional growth in an ecosystem that matches their desired experiences, rather than simply earning a paycheck. As organizations try to work out the correct structure and environment for their workforce, leaders should also prepare to engage with a broader set of vocal and demanding stakeholders. Thanks to the power of social media, these stakeholders can quickly coalesce and amplify their opinions. The potent combination of empathy, humility, and adaptability will enable business leaders to navigate these dynamics and the changing nature of leadership—not just in their organization, but also around the world.
We all must adapt to the changing landscape, navigate through interconnected challenges, and connect with varied stakeholders. KPMG Ignition helps you and your teams cultivate these qualities—building context for change toward success in an increasingly complex world. We do more than talk about a future where adaptability and agility matter. We also strive to be adaptable and agile with our clients. Our experienced professionals create practical approaches designed to help clients achieve their business ambitions while navigating the next wave of innovation. No designed program is the same. Your engagement makes it unique to your organization. Act now to stay afloat during this new wave of change. Explore potential experiences with KPMG Ignition.
Human Innovation
*Source: The Context for Change, strategic intelligence and thought leadership, KPMG Ignition (2023)
Principal,
KPMG Ignition
KPMG LLP
Brian Miske
Managing Director,
KPMG Ignition
KPMG LLP
Elisa Holland