Building a plane while flying it: Is it time to bring Bimodal IT back?

Recently the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Ed Husic said, “Australian businesses are innovative and are strong adopters of technologies and business processes. However, few innovate in ways that are new to the world. It is this type of innovation that will support our efforts to transform and diversify our industry and build our economic complexity.”

But how can organisations strike a balance between the need to digitally transform whilst also maintaining current operations? The answer lies in Gartner’s concept of Bimodal IT.

Businesses today face a dichotomy where they must innovate to stay relevant and competitive, while they also maintain stability and continue to deliver their core offering, never wavering from providing a premium customer experience. 

The term Bimodal IT, first coined by Gartner in 2015, is the enduring and evolving concept that was derived to combat the reality that businesses perpetually contend with, competing priorities that shape both their organisational structure as well as their technological capabilities. In simple terms, Mode One is Business As Usual (BAU) operations — the traditional, manual, and administratively intensive position, and Mode Two is characterised by highly automated IT with increased agility and experimentation. Gartner projected that by 2017, 75% of organisations would adopt this Bimodal capability. 

The Bimodal approach was embraced by many large organisations at the time and helped to form a two-pronged IT operations model that enabled both stable foundational IT systems as well as the creation of agile deployments. However, despite initial enthusiasm, Bimodal IT encountered challenges. Traditional organisations, characterised by high bureaucracy and low agility, resisted the shift, viewing it as experimental. When it wasn’t implemented in its complete form, it affirmed this view as it led to change fatigue and exacerbated teams experiencing vastly opposing priorities. 

But with businesses still grappling with the same conundrum and struggling to effectively manage the duality inherent in their operations more than five years later, perhaps it’s time to revisit the approach. Whether integrating companies working across departments or markets, or simply leading a high-performing business in today’s digital age, understanding and leveraging these modes and associated cultures is paramount for successful transformation. 

The practical implementation of this approach centres on people. As opposed to having different teams operating in these two separate modes, businesses need to combine the strengths of both modes, forming cross-functional teams with diverse capabilities. This team structure is often seen in squads, fin ops, and innovation teams, which are made up of a combination of professionals from different areas of the business, gathered together with specific objectives. The emphasis should be on agile collaboration, iteration, and a mindset that values progress over perfectionism.

To ensure these teams really thrive, it’s critical to establish strong and nurturing leadership and buy-in. Leaders should promote a shared purpose and mindset that heroes collaboration and strategic imperatives. They need to be able to clearly articulate how the team’s vision connects to the organisation’s purpose to enhance cohesion. Developing high-performing teams also involves incentivisation but it’s important to recognise that experienced professionals are motivated by more than just monetary rewards. 

To illustrate the effectiveness of the Bimodal approach consider Mode One’s operational challenges and the desire to reduce opex spending. Cross-functional teams, including operational experts, can effectively leverage Mode Two capabilities such as fin ops to shape and prioritise key operational initiatives, providing momentum and improved visibility. On the flip side, Mode Two initiatives can face obstacles from traditional processes and structures meant to safeguard the business. While essential, operational policies, security measures, and project management offices can unintentionally impede transformation efforts. By integrating Mode One expertise into transformation teams, organisations can harness the strength of operations to propel digital initiatives forward and instil confidence in future transitions.

In 2020, Gartner evolved the approach again, highlighting the need for more than two modes termed “business modularity”. This recognises organisations are made up of more interchangeable building blocks. The idea is that these blocks can be moved about and restructured as the need arises. This signifies a more adaptive response to the needs of a hybrid workforce and post-COVID business landscape. It avoids rigid operating models and centres of excellence, prioritising flexibility to address competing priorities while maximising the potential for exceptional customer service and forward-looking exploration. 

As businesses grapple to address the dual need for transformation simultaneously with operational stability, “business modularity” offers an improved way of working. It is a nuanced strategy for navigating the complex landscape of digital transformation while keeping the lights on. Those businesses that continue to rethink and reshape the way they work and respond to external factors will be the ones that prosper and thrive in the future.

Craig Howe is the founder and CEO of V2 Digital.