The Operating Model Reset: Why Top Firms Are Rewiring for Strategic Agility

Strategy isn’t just about where you play — it’s about how you operate. And in 2025, top-performing firms aren’t just tweaking org charts or launching digital pilots. They’re completely rewiring their operating models to move faster, scale smarter, and adapt in real time.

It’s not transformation theatre. It’s transformation infrastructure.

Think of how Microsoft reorganised its cloud and AI orgs around customer workflows. Or how DBS Bank in Singapore restructured around journeys, not products. These aren’t rebrands, they’re structural changes that unlock speed, clarity, and execution power.

The modern operating model must be flatter, more modular, and capability-aligned. That means fewer silos, faster decision rights, and clear links between strategy and action. It’s less about cost efficiency and more about strategic agility.

AI is accelerating this need. New tools can parse data, summarise insights, and automate workflows. But unless your operating model is built to receive and act on those capabilities, you’re just running legacy structure on modern tech.

This is where transformation gets real: not flashy, but foundational.

3 Executive Takeaways:

1. Redesign for Flow, Not Control Legacy orgs optimise for oversight. Modern orgs optimise for information flow and execution speed. Who gets to decide? How fast can you mobilise cross-functional talent? Start there.
   

2. Build a Modular Org That Mirrors Your Strategy Strategy shifts, your operating model should too. That means modular, capability-centric structures that can be reassembled as markets change. Functions shouldn’t anchor your design — your differentiators should.
   

3. Use AI to Expose — and Then Eliminate — Friction GenAI and process mining won’t fix your org. But they’ll reveal where the friction lives: duplicative work, unclear accountability, value leakage. Treat that data as a design prompt, not just an operational insight.
   

TL;DR In 2025, the winners aren’t just executing strategy — they’re rewiring the very systems that let strategy move. Operating models aren’t back-office design problems anymore — they’re frontline enablers of growth, speed, and transformation.

Don’t just ask “what’s our strategy?”Ask: Can our operating model actually deliver it?