did you know Merkava is a government software house under the Data, Innovation and Digital Division in the Accountant General Division of the Ministry of Finance.
Merkava is responsible for the development, maintenance and implementation of horizontal digital applications for the effective management of government resources and assets at headquarters and all government ministries (human resources, payroll, financial, procurement, support, debt management, state assets, etc.). The unit’s services and products provide a technological solution with business value for tens of thousands of users – for the business divisions at headquarters, government ministries, suppliers, citizens, associations and supported entities.
As a technological unit of great importance and horizontal influence that is constantly engaged in the pursuit of excellence while implementing continuous improvement processes – the unit began working to improve methodologies and work processes, with the aim of making the products, the delivery processes, the focus and the business value it provides its customers more accurate. The senior management in the Accountant General’s Division and the unit manager together with the digital system that accompanied the process from the beginning (Accountant General – Yali Rotenberg, Avitar Peretz – Senior Deputy Accountant General and Director of the Data, Innovation and Digital Division and Merkava Unit Manager – Israel Mor Chai, Asher Dolev VP of Strategy and Building the strength in the national digital array) chose the experts of Strauss Strategy to build a multidimensional strategic plan that will focus on the technological aspects and the current operating model in order to bring the unit to a strategic leap forward and to become a product and customer oriented organization based on product development methodologies in modern, agile and innovative approaches through analysis Multidimensional methods of the existing architecture, technology, practices and work methods, while taking an honest and up-to-date look at the business needs of its various clients.
The Merkava unit, which advocates the adoption of a customer needs-oriented approach, has chosen to invest many resources in improving its own efficiency and effectiveness, from the initiation phase of new projects to the launch in production. In order to achieve this goal, the managers of the unit are required to ask the right questions, to challenge accepted assumptions, to adopt lean and dynamic working methods with the aim of accurately estimating the business value of the various customers. The joint process with Strauss Strategy’s team of experts included the use of work methods accepted in the world of entrepreneurship, tools that allow to produce holistic strategic thinking about the venture/project, from the organizational and product perspective.
What was received at the end of the process? Merkava Unit has reached significant insights about each of the projects under its management. It refined the very definition of who its customers are, the types of products and services they expect to receive from it, what is the most effective method to produce innovation and digital acceleration. In addition, the managers of the unit received practical tools that enable the unit to become a product management-oriented unit with innovative work methods, focused on distinct business value, an approach that will accompany the unit in every existing and new service under its management.
We would like to thank Heli Rotenberg, Accountant General, Avitar Peretz, VP of Innovation, Digital and Data at the Accountant General, Israel Mor Chai, Merkava Director, and Asher Dolev, VP of Strategy and Power Building in the National Digital System, for their partnership and trust at such a critical stage of the organization and the true desire to make a significant change Looking at the value to government offices and citizens.
