Transformation at Bank of America : an enterprise systems analysis

Abstract

The focus of Bank of America's change management initiatives has shifted away from acquiring and integrating new businesses, a process it calls transition, and towards internal enterprise transformation through a process the Bank calls transformation. One significant change management initiative currently underway is the California Northwest (CANW) transformation. The focus of the CANW initiative is to transfer the Bank's retail banking platform and accounts in California, Idaho, and Washington to the Model banking platform that it maintains across the rest of its enterprise. This thesis, using the California Northwest transformation as a case study, is an enterprise systems evaluation of change management practices at Bank of America. MIT Lean Advancement Initiative (LAI)'s Enterprise Strategic Analysis and Transformation (ESAT) methodology is used as a framework to evaluate the consideration of CANW stakeholders and the alignment of their needs with the CANW goals, processes, metrics, and strategic objectives. INCOSE's framework for writing quality system requirements is further applied to the California Northwest transformation goals. The result of this systems analysis is that while the set of strategic objectives is complete, additional processes, stakeholder values, and metrics need to be identified or developed. Although the set of CANW strategic objectives / goals is complete and all key objectives appear to have been included, the wording of individual goals needs to be clarified and the change management team must review each goal to ensure that it is both necessary and attainable. The second element of the research looks towards change management practices as a whole at Bank of America to identify whether BAC's transformation process is complete and effective. The study reveals that Bank of America should take a stakeholder centric view and consider the needs of all stakeholders to gain "buy-in" from all parties so as to create an "all hands on deck" environment for transformation initiatives. Other recommended actions include announcing change initiatives publically when possible, back-checking of actions by all parties, maintaining a single message, and adopting a standardization vs. transformation mindset.