Zero-Based Transformation: The big reset

In brief

Business leaders are in the midst of a perfect storm, facing record inflation, cost pressures, global volatility, and labor and material shortages.
To navigate these challenges while meeting stakeholder demands and delivering growth, leaders are harnessing cost transformation.
Zero-based transformation enables companies to reimagine the business, reset the cost base and invest in new strategic priorities.

In fact, nearly three-quarters (73%) of C-suite executives surveyed by Accenture have a cost transformation initiative under way or are planning one within six months.But how can they harness the full potential of that cost transformation? By pointing their compass toward zero. Zero-based transformation looks beyond the present and doesn’t rely on the past to chart the future. Instead, it takes a holistic approach to cost transformation, starting with a clean sheet to:

Rethink cost structures and resource allocation.

Reimagine the business, reset the cost base, and free up funds.

The value of asset reallocation and freed funds? They can be used to invest in the strategic priorities that drive growth and to develop new capabilities that build resilience and agility for the future.

Going from zero to a hundred

Zero-based transformation is not a budgeting exercise. It’s about deeply understanding costs across the business and aligning to the priorities that will create value. To succeed, it must be an integral part of the organization’s design, driven by technology, integrating sustainability and empowering talent.

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Resetting for growth

Transformations of the past—and their failures—can stay in the past. Today, cost transformations themselves are transforming, starting at zero. What are the keys to success? In our experience, there are four:

Gain forensic visibility with advanced analytics.

Invest in the technologies that will help you course correct.

Start at zero to redesign for growth, resilience.

Look at costs holistically and align resources with new business priorities and capabilities.

Bring everyone along for the journey.

Align transformation messaging and priorities to engage all stakeholders.

Make the transformation count.

Embed new ways of working to ensure benefits endure.

Leaders are thinking about today’s cost transformation in terms of growth, resilience and competitiveness. As they face today’s disruption and volatility,a zero-based approach can help leaders rethink their business to move beyond cutting costs—and set a course toward a cost transformation that breathes new life into their future.Learn more about zero-based transformation’s role in funding new strategic priorities—read the full report here.