Many organizations struggle with agility. Despite this, a recent report sponsored by Scrum Alliance finds that 87% of the executives surveyed believe that agility holds the key to organizations becoming “champions.”

The report findings show five significant advantages for organizations willing to adopt a more agile and nimble approach to business.

SEE: IT leader’s guide to Agile development (Tech Pro Research)

1. Faster time to market

Regardless of the product or service your organization offers, the global economy is fast-paced and highly competitive, making it critical for project teams to get deliverables to the marketplace quickly.

2. Faster innovation

Many people consider technology as the primary influencer on innovation, but the reality is that people play the key role in how innovative an organization can be. It is the intellectual capital and energy that often makes the difference between companies developing exciting, useful, and innovative solutions or lagging behind the competition and plodding along.

3. Improved customer experience and product quality

The success of any business relies heavily on customer loyalty, which is a direct extension of how well a business delivers exceptional customer experience, quality products, and services. When companies are agile and responsive to customer needs, they provide a positive experience for customers thus improving customer loyalty.

4. Improved employee morale

Employees are far more productive and have a higher degree of buy-in when morale levels are high. Higher degrees of productivity directly impacts an organizations’ ability to increase the output of quality deliverables. Agile companies that take into account employees’ input and views also help deliver this.

5. Revenue growth more than 10% greater than non-agile organizations

Increase revenue means increased cash flow and greater stability for organizations. When a company maintains a solid bottom line, they are far more likely to develop a sustainable advantage over their competitors.

SEE: Leadership spotlight: How to make meetings worthwhile (Tech Pro Research)

How can organizations become more agile?

The report shares a three-step approach to help organizations become more agile and successful.

Develop leaders with an agile mindset

Senior executives must acknowledge their role in setting and maintaining their organization’s culture and mindset regarding agility. Company culture is heavily influenced by its leadership team, although this is not always recognized until problems manifest themselves.

Hire and mentor the right mix of talent

To develop a strong workforce focused on innovation, progress, and success, a process of hiring and mentoring talent who embrace agility, should become a company-wide policy and process based on the needs of individual departments.

Encourage an agile-friendly culture and hierarchy

Once an organization has in place the leadership team, the talent, policies, and processes built around an agile environment, it can maintain a sustainable culture that encourages the ingenuity necessary to drive future success.

Renata Lerch, VP of Global Marketing and Communications at the Scrum Alliance explained, “In a fast-paced, ever-changing landscape of consumer demand and technological development, it’s logical that organizations themselves must be quick to execute and, more importantly, adapt to remain competitive.”

Organizations need to have leadership support, talent, processes, and culture built around agility. Otherwise, it can impede innovation, customer experience, morale, time to market, growth, and ultimately, the success rates of all projects and strategic goals.