The concept of agility applied to the company has its origins in companies dedicated to software development. Through this post we review what agility is, aswell as its practical application to the company and to productive sectors that go beyond the technology sector.

Issues such as origin, the relationship of the Agile concept with people and the three dimensions surrounding agility are essential to understanding the process, as well as agile goals.

 

Significado de la Agilidad empresarial

It is important to be clear about the concept of agility. In the semantic sense that accompanies the word agile we find concepts such as lightness, dynamism, change or fluidity. All these words refer to a quality closely linked to agility: adaptation,something fundamental when we consider what agility is.

Adapting is certainly the key when we talk about what agility is, being able to work according to changing situations, so it is very important to expose that the Agile concept it’s not a traditional methodology, since the methodologies are based on more or less rigid work structures, but it is rather a cross-cutting idea, present in all aspects of a business, whose purpose is to achieve the continuous adaptation of the company to the circumstances around it.

 

Origen de la agilidad empresarial y su relación con la Transformación Digital

Business agility was born with software companies earlier this century. These brands move in a market that transforms minute by minute, so they should be able to adapt over and over again. The three basic ideas that are established to make the adaptation process continuous and effective are:

  1. Rápida respuesta ante el cambio
  2. Aporte de valor añadido continuo
  3. Trabajo en equipo

Based on these three principles we can not only adapt, if we maintain a proactive attitude we must be able to bring about these changes, introducing pioneering services based on processes based on agility.

On the other hand, the practice of Lean Manufacturing developed by japan’s Toyota also has a decisive impact on the company’s Agile vision. Its four principles are as follows:

  1. Tareas necesarias en el momento en el que se requieren
  2. Eliminación de desperdicios
  3. Facilitar el flujo en todas las áreas de la empresa
  4. Detener y analizar el proceso si se detectan errores

In both cases the objective is obvious, it is about developing processes capable of adapting to everything that may affect the company itself including customers, competition, suppliers, changes in the sector, etc.