Big programs, slow returns
Many transformation programs are organized around a replacement: a new ERP, a new service platform, a new case system. They take years. Users see nothing until cutover, the scope shrinks as the budget is spent, and the processes people complain about most are often not in the first release.
Doing nothing isn’t an option either. Requests still run on email and spreadsheets, and every year the systems underneath are a little harder to change.
One process at a time
The other approach is to leave the systems of record in place and change how work moves across them, one process at a time.
- Pick a process people feel. Onboarding, service requests, a permit, a recurring approval. High volume, several systems, visible pain.
- Connect the systems it touches. Through their APIs or databases. Nothing is migrated.
- Give users one front door for it. A portal and forms, with status they can see. AI can draft the first version from a process description; your team reviews and adjusts it.
- Measure, then pick the next one. The second process reuses the connections, the sign-in, the portal and often half of the workflow. That is where the program speeds up.
Each release is small enough to ship in weeks and visible enough that people notice.
What it looks like in practice
USDA’s National Information Technology Center started with server provisioning, which took three weeks. The proof of concept took four days, and the production rollout brought provisioning down to 30 minutes. From there the center expanded the same model until more than 75% of its business and service functions ran through automated workflows. Read the USDA case study.
Fairfax County Public Schools started with a single IT catalog in front of BMC Remedy for 200+ schools and offices, and later doubled the catalog. Read the FCPS case study.
What it doesn’t replace
Kinetic doesn’t replace your ERP, HR or case systems, and it isn’t a reason to stop planning their eventual upgrades. It means those upgrades stop being the only way to improve how work gets done. When a back-end system is replaced later, the processes built on Kinetic are reconnected to the new one; see legacy modernization. Organizations that run shared services across HR, IT, finance and facilities often take this approach to global business services. The platform overview explains the three layers.