8 crucial questions for enterprise scale agility

Over the last decade, we have seen the effects of digital disruption diminishing the competitive edge of Fortune 1000 companies. To stay afloat amidst drastic market changes, companies must adapt quickly. Software development teams have used Agile to deliver software that customers want, quickly and efficiently, for years. Can companies apply Agile company-wide to gain the same benefits? What can companies learn from development teams?

1. Why is scaling agile to the enterprise and beyond software development so desirable?

Enterprise scale agile is about harnessing speed and value for competitive advantage. Everyone wants to get to market faster and deliver high-quality products that customers really want. With enterprise scale agile, you're taking agile beyond IT and development teams to optimise the entire "concept-to-cash" process within your company -- from identifying opportunities and allocating portfolio resources to shipping regularly and iterating quickly on customer feedback. Optimising for speed and value helps you respond better to market shifts or strategic changes.

The numbers speak for themselves: High-performing agile organisations cut time-to-market in half -- with better quality and 30 to 50% reduction in costs -- and can grow revenue 37% faster and generate 30% higher profits.

Enterprise scale agile is also where you see the real ROI of agility. Agile development has been around long enough now that most large companies have experimented with it. But piloting a few Scrum teams doesn't make a company agile, and scaling agile across teams of teams is where many companies fall down: they discover they lack the know-how, executive buy-in, or cultural support to make agile work at the enterprise level.