In managing a creative services team, identifying appropriate new trends and services to pursue is an evergreen process. While creating service lines may open new opportunities, these offerings must not distract from the core business of the creative team. In-house teams need to bear in mind service lines should provide benefit to the enterprise as a whole rather than favor a particular group.
Establishing decision criteria is the first step in conducting an ongoing portfolio analysis that determines services to emphasize, to maintain or to divest. With enterprise value as the primary focus, decision criteria must consider what moves the company's core business ahead.
Key drivers vary depending upon your company's core business. Some are obvious: supply/demand, cost to supply, value to enterprise, competition and capability. Others are less tangible: safety and risk management, marketing concerns, public relations issues and external drivers.
Recently, clients using tablets and smartphones are inquiring about eBooks. As a service line eBooks are within our skill set and have a good "wow" factor for clientele. But are they worth pursuing?
Each driver is assigned a relative weight and a score from 1 to 10. The score permits quantitative comparisons of the overall value/risk of a proposed service against previously measured portfolio analyses of existing service lines.
At Chevron, our in-house team analyzes both current and new service lines annually using the portfolio analysis technique. Is the value of a service line declining? Should it be divested or minimized? Should a minor service line be emphasized if there is an increased opportunity for growth? Portfolio analysis is an ongoing, evergreen process that shapes and drives our business forward, enabling the carefully planned adoption of new technologies and innovations.
Coauthored by Paul Naquin
As Team Lead for Chevron Utility IT Assets Communications, Paul developed and managed a broad array of processes for both the communications team and various information technology projects. Paul is also member of Mensa International.
