BPI Awaken Phase - Storyline 

The purpose of the Awaken phase is to bring the leader(s) of an organization to the realization that some kind of significant change is required. The high-level activities conducted at this early stage centre around the chief executive, and may entail joint efforts involving the External Consultant and Audit partner. The activities in this phase are performed in conjunction with the customary steps of the External Consultant acquisition process.

The main output from this phase is the Case for Change, which outlines the necessity for 'doing business differently', by confronting the senior executives with a compelling 'snapshot' of the business dilemmas and emerging threats to survival and prosperity, currently facing the company. The awakening process is aimed at creating a climate of urgency and, with that, the impetus for change to occur. As required, various deliverables from subsequent phases of the BPI methodology (e.g. Business Position or Best Practice Comparisons) may be initiated up front, as tactics to 'awaken' the client.

In turn, the chief executive may engage External Consultant to awaken and mobilize more of the organization (e.g. the full senior management team) with respect to the need for change and the significance to the organization of this opportunity.

The Awaken phase ends when the chief executive (and management team) acknowledges that the organization needs to change or improve current processes, recognizes potential but significant benefits and has justified the engagement of an External Consultant to initiate the required improvements.

Note: The previous blogs were focused on positioning the activities with the various phases of a Typical BPI project. In this next series of blogs I will show the various activites with in a phase and their relationships. Below complete is a Value Chain diagram of the complete BPI cycle