“Interim management specialising in digitalisation: a guarantee of success for digital transformation”

Agile Interim Management©, as utilised by EPUNTO I.M. in its executive management processes, together with its extensive experience in the field of digitalisation, has proved to be essential in digital transformation processes.

6 May 2022

All firms offering interim management services have specialists in different areas. These are interim managers or managers in transition with extensive experience in a specific sector and in particular management roles. Faced with the global challenge of digitalisation, some interim management firms have an advantage over others as they have been incorporating digital technologies into their processes for years, both in the selection of executives and in their interim management services. This is the case with EPUNTO Interim Management®, which, as well as being a pioneer in digital management, draws on LIQUID Smart Technologies®, part of the same business group (Global Manager Spain). This is an organisation specialising in digitalisation services for businesses and public bodies, with four areas of expertise: data economics; organisation and processes; flexible systems integration; and Industry 4.0. A strong team of executives and technical specialists spread across several countries forms the professional backbone of LIQUID S.T. for EPUNTO I.M.

Recently, Emilio del Prado, Managing Partner of EPUNTO Interim Management® and a specialist in digital transformation processes, stated in an interview:

“Digitalisation is 10 per cent technology, 40 per cent data and 50 per cent philosophy and methodology. It has been demonstrated that conventional management is less effective than transitional management, designed to introduce new philosophies and working methods – something that digital disruption demands.”

Agile Interim Management©

One of the key distinguishing features of interim management is that interim managers possess extensive experience in specific professional disciplines. In the case of executive management applied to digitalisation processes, however, this is not always the case, as Digital Enabling Technologies (DETs) are still relatively new. In this case, executives typically have between 15 and 20 years’ experience in delivering digital projects, combined with solid training and the use of methodologies such as those derived from the Agile philosophy. From this fusion of experience and digital skills emerged the new model created by EPUNTO Interim Management® for this type of service: ‘Agile Interim Management’. This executive management model involves leading a combination of Scrum teams, managed by interim managers in the roles of both Scrum Master and Product Owner. The Agile philosophy, which has proven to be an extremely effective tool, originated in the US in the 1990s as a response to traditional management and leadership methods, in the face of the technological challenges that began to emerge with great force during those years. This management model gained a firm foothold in the market as an essential part of the Third Industrial Revolution (TRI), proposed by the sociologist and economist Jeremy Rifkin at the European Parliament in 2006 as a potential global solution to the energy and economic crisis. The essence of the Agile philosophy lies in flexibility in working methods, and interim management embodies this flexibility at a management level; for this reason, both EPUNTO Interim Management® and its spin-off, LIQUID Smart Technologies®, incorporate it into their executive management services.

Interim Management and the Next Generation EU Funds

We are facing the historic challenge of implementing projects linked to the “Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan” and the Next Generation EU Funds, which have allocated €140,000 MM to Spain. Interim management firms are an extraordinarily valuable tool for managing the projects to which this funding will be allocated. Of the three pillars on which this funding is based – Ecological Transformation and the Green Deal, Reindustrialisation and Digital Transformation – it is in the latter area that EPUNTO Interim Management® holds a clear leadership position, owing to its high level of specialisation in the implementation of projects linked to the technological and digital sectors.

There is little point in having funds to carry out the digital transformation of businesses if there is insufficient capacity to implement the projects that will make this possible. In this regard, interim management firms and their transitional management services become strategic partners, both for public administrations responsible for managing European funds and for businesses seeking to capitalise on this unique – and likely once-in-a-lifetime – opportunity.

Digital transformation on an international scale

EPUNTO Interim Management®’s membership of the international alliance Globalise – The Global Interim Management Group enables the company to carry out projects linked to digital transformation processes in any country in the world. It is important to bear in mind that the technology industry is global in nature, connections are transnational, and the teams formed through LIQUID Smart Technologies® are spread across the globe.