Five themes for change in 2025

Looking ahead to next year, businesses will be re-assessing their investment strategies and change programmes to take account of events in 2024, including the UK and US election results.  

A new Labour government in the UK already promises more taxation and regulation, which may impact growth. A new Republican administration in the US may give a boost to certain industries, but also raises the prospect of challenges to non-US firms conducting business in America.  

These considerations may lead to programme delays, but are also likely to increase the focus on improving efficiency, reducing complexity, increasing automation – and a broader re-think of change programmes to consider which elements are still relevant.  

Programme changes

It is likely that many big change programmes will already have been slowed down or even put on hold this year in a prevailing climate of economic uncertainty.  

The playbook for managing transformation involves reviewing the change list, deciding what to stop, what to accelerate and what to re-scope, with an eye on whether what is being proposed is truly transformation or simply small change, and whether the benefits are actually deliverable. 

Businesses reviewing their programme will want to see more transparency and accountability around the change budget, which is typically the province of the governance function. While we haven’t exactly seen the death of the project management office, there has been much stripping back in this area, creating more hybrid roles for project/product managers, which means some functions fall by the wayside. 

Fundamentally, businesses should ask themselves whether they need all the elements in their programme and what the implications are of choosing to discard some of those elements.  

Efficiency measures 

It is likely that some companies will spend more money in the short term on efficiency drives, after looking at their business portfolio and company footprint, and assessing where they can accelerate change and where they need to make cutbacks. 

Many companies will adopt the mantra of “We need to do more with less”, looking to reduce any duplication of effort, leveraging economies of scale, and deploying technology such as robotic process automation to speed up routine tasks. 

The cost of change is high and businesses may choose to focus instead on improving efficiency across front, middle and back office; assessing whether the business uses multiple systems and processes, whether it has multiple teams in different locations, and then deciding which activities could be improved through outsourcing to a third party. 

Arguably, these are measures organizations should have already implemented as good business practice and to improve resilience, but have perhaps previously viewed as being “too difficult”, with too much decision-making and additional cost upfront.  

Reducing complexity 

There are many companies out there whose processes are more complex than they need to be. The most effective route to reducing that complexity is to have a well-thought-out transformation programme, that will actually deliver on its projected aims.  

However, to achieve this, it needs to be fully funded. Something we see repeatedly on multi-year programmes is that the money needed to fund the transformation is being drip-fed. The inherent problem with this approach is that businesses don’t see it through; they end up halfway through the programme with no tangible benefits, having already spend a lot of money without solving their legacy issues.  

When we’re assessing a programme, we also try to bring in people from outside the client’s business sector to challenge the status quo and ask the obvious questions about what elements of the programme could conceivably removed to reduce complexity and deliver change more quickly and cost-effectively. 

IT and cyber security 

There will be an increasing focus on IT and cyber security next year, as businesses become ever more dependent on tech. Data loss is an issue that continues to concern company boards, and the rapid growth of artificial intelligence is accelerating that risk and heightening concern.  

This points to the increasing importance of having a CISO at the table, and I would expect to see a slightly different dynamic on company boards over the next few years.  

Cyber security is one element of programmes that is unlikely to be put on hold, de-scoped or under-funded, given that reported cyber incidents are likely to be the tip of the iceberg. 

More automation 

Automation is likely to play a larger role in driving efficiency, particularly in the insurance space, for risk selection, underwriting, and claims management.  

Aside from the up-front speed and cost benefits, increased automation has the potential to deliver better risk profiles, better risk management and, ultimately, more profitable underwriting. 

The key for businesses will be to include automation in their change programme only for those areas and processes where it is actually providing value. If done right, it should mean companies can do more with less and creates opportunities for new and enhanced roles within businesses.