How a Leading Automotive OEM Achieved Technology Alignment Across Brands
In today’s fast-paced automotive industry, digital transformation is no longer optional, it’s a necessity. But when a company operates multiple brands and subsidiaries, aligning technology strategies can feel like solving a complex puzzle. Each entity has its own priorities, legacy systems, and digital roadmap, creating roadblocks to a seamless company-wide strategy.
I had the opportunity to lead a high-impact consulting project for a top automotive OEM, where I provided project management advisory for strategic technology workstreams, with a focus on infotainment systems. The mission? Drive digital transformation while ensuring that brands and subsidiaries work towards a unified strategy.
Achieving this required tackling major challenges like fragmented communication, misaligned expectations, and inefficiencies across different levels of the organization.
The Big Roadblock: Communication Breakdowns and Duplicated Efforts
One of the biggest early challenges was poor communication between key stakeholders. Each brand was making decisions in silos, leading to duplicated software development efforts, misaligned priorities, and a lack of visibility into what other teams were working on.
A pivotal moment came when a C-level executive raised concerns about two subsidiaries developing nearly identical software solutions without coordination. This was a wake-up call—highlighting the urgent need for cross-functional collaboration, clear ownership, and transparency.
How We Fixed It: Collaboration, Governance, and the PMO
To bridge these gaps, we launched structured workshops that brought together key stakeholders from all subsidiaries. These workshops focused on:
- Mapping out existing software solutions
- Aligning digital roadmaps across brands
- Defining shared goals to ensure teams were working towards a common vision
- Standardizing infotainment requirements across brands for consistency
But that wasn’t enough. To keep the transformation on track, we established a Project Management Office (PMO) for Infotainment—a dedicated team that oversaw all software initiatives, streamlined governance, and kept stakeholders engaged. The PMO was responsible for:
- Organizing infotainment requirements across brands
- Managing communication between working-level teams and C-level executives
- Running structured status reporting to ensure leadership had full visibility
- Creating KPIs to measure success and track progress
- Planning and conducting workshops to align teams
- Identifying bottlenecks and roadblocks before they escalated
- Synchronizing with other workstreams to ensure seamless integration
- Using data and statistics to accelerate development and optimize decision-making
With these systems in place, we created a structured, transparent environment where teams worked together rather than in isolation.
Finding the Right Balance: Waterfall vs. Agile in Legacy Organizations
One of the toughest challenges in digital transformation was navigating traditional Waterfall project management while introducing Agile methodologies. Large-scale system rollouts and regulatory requirements were deeply embedded in legacy processes, making agility difficult to adopt.
To find the right balance, we implemented a hybrid model:
- Strategic planning remained structured within a Waterfall framework to ensure long-term stability.
- Software development teams adopted Agile methodologies for execution, allowing for flexibility, faster iterations, and continuous feedback loops.
This approach allowed the OEM to maintain the necessary structure while embracing a more adaptive and innovative software development process.
What’s Driving Digital Transformation in the Automotive Industry?
Several key forces are accelerating digital transformation across the automotive sector:
- Competition from tech-driven automakers: Traditional OEMs must innovate quickly or risk losing market share to companies that prioritize software.
- The rise of software-defined vehicles (SDVs): The focus is shifting from hardware to software integration, making adaptability crucial.
- Increasing consumer expectations: Drivers now expect seamless, connected digital experiences inside their vehicles.
- Regulatory compliance and security: As cars become more software-driven, ensuring compliance and cybersecurity is more important than ever.
Overcoming Resistance and Siloed Decision-Making
Resistance to change was a constant challenge, especially among teams accustomed to legacy systems. Many were skeptical of Agile methodologies, fearing disruption to existing processes. To counter this, we introduced Agile principles gradually, demonstrating quick wins and clear benefits.
Another major hurdle? Siloed decision-making. Each brand had its own way of working, making cross-brand collaboration difficult. To break down these silos, we implemented regular joint planning sessions and shared KPIs, ensuring alignment at every level.
Lack of clear ownership also created inefficiencies. Without well-defined responsibilities, projects stalled. The PMO took charge, ensuring accountability at every stage and keeping initiatives moving forward.
Lessons Learned: What Made This Project a Success?
This project reinforced the power of clear communication and structured governance. Engaging stakeholders early and often prevented misalignment, and standardized reporting made it easier to track progress and make data-driven decisions.
Key takeaways include:
- Communication is everything. Poor communication leads to duplicated work and unnecessary complexity.
- Strategy needs structure. Without a strong PMO or governance model, projects can easily lose direction.
- Influence over authority is key. Trust and well-structured insights had a greater impact than formal authority.
The Final Impact: A Unified Digital Strategy with Long-Term Value
By the end of the engagement, the automotive OEM had a stronger governance structure for digital transformation. The PMO for Infotainment became a key driver in structured decision-making and alignment across brands.
The biggest wins included:
- Fewer redundancies in software development
- Stronger cross-brand collaboration and structured requirements
- Better visibility for C-level executives into ongoing tech investments
- Accelerated development through data-driven decision-making
The transformation didn’t just create short-term efficiency gains—it set the foundation for long-term digital success.
For any company navigating complex digital initiatives across multiple brands, the right mix of governance, collaboration, and communication can be the game-changer that drives innovation and long-term value.