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The 80/20 rule – how you can gain more by doing less

Priya Ganesh
October 8, 2020

During my studies, I learned about a number of exciting theories and economic practices. However, the Pareto principle – or the 80/20 rule – and how it impacts finance departments and transformations stood out as one of the most compelling. It continues to strike a chord to this day, especially when it comes to how to foster impactful digital transformations throughout your organization.

The basics of the 80/20 principle

The basic principle of the 80/20 rule is that 80% of the outcome is dependent on 20% of the effort. To put that in business terms, 80% of a company’s profit comes from roughly 20% of their clients. In essence, knowing where to focus your energy can help you achieve the best results.

These days, organizations achieve more by working efficiently and with fewer frictions. They do this by removing fragmentations and silos, thus streamlining and reshaping their business processes. This, in turn, helps build stronger client relationships. By applying the 80/20 approach to the way they work, companies can create value by focusing on the critical aspects of their business and helping their employees concentrate their efforts where it will do the best, and then leveraging both to improve overall productivity.

And the best part about this approach is that it can be applied in small meaningful ways to generate more impactful transformations.

Creating your 80/20 game plan

In my experience of working with clients, four steps can help you narrow down how to achieve the best results and design a foolproof 80/20 transformation roadmap:

  • Define – look for small, actionable outcomes that have easily measurable results
  • Prioritize – establish which of these actions will lead to the most profitable transformation. Don’t overcomplicate things with too many priorities
  • Decide – choose a course of action to take and stick to it
  • Focus – concentrate on the outcome. It’s much easier to see the action through to completeness if you know where you are going.

Instead of thinking about the various ways in which your organization can transform, focus on the one thing you can transform now to achieve immediate and rapid results. This shift can help you create a transformation plan for more extensive activities that deliver maximum benefits, rather than build a roadmap with multiple offerings and not drive any to completion.

The 80/20 approach provides a much-needed accelerated transformation of your organization that drives early savings. In turn, these can help self-fund your future transformation opportunities.

To learn more about how Capgemini’s Digital Global Enterprise Model (D-GEM) platform helps leading global brands to transform their business operations to create leaner, more efficient ways of working and enhanced business outcomes, contact: priya.ganesh@capgemini.com

Priya Ganesh  has worked for Capgemini for the last 12 years, first as a Solutions Architect and now as a Senior Director leading the solutions and transformation practice across APAC. She enables clients in their transformation journey, leveraging Capgemini’s critical assets and collaboration across our Group.