A brilliant idea doesn’t necessarily mean success and money.
It would be great if a simple inspiration were enough to carry out ambitious business projects.
Many companies invest in new projects, as we began to do only 3 years ago, starting from a blank sheet, all to be filled.
There are always many opportunities, perspectives, but also risks and uncertainty of the real development of a project, and we have worked hard to provide firm basis to BionIT Labs® and the development of the Adam’s Hand® device.
Today, however, we can say that our idea has taken a beautiful shape and not only thanks to luck, but through an effective and competitive business organization.
Let’s get organized!
The definition of a corporate structure is not easy for several reasons.
First of all, the starting economic availability of a startup or company. At least in the initial phase, the organization includes the founders of the company only, who hold the roles necessary for starting the project. So I use the resources I know I can support.
The initial structure will therefore be very simple, but it will aim to become increasingly complex, proportionally to the growth of the company.
Another reason why it is difficult to immediately frame a company organization is certainly linked to the difficulty of identify the starting roles, or better, to understand who is useful for doing what and which figures we consider essential for the growth of the company and the projects undertaken.
For example, we can realize that we need a commercial expert dedicated to each geographic area in which we have a market, or we believe that a link group between R&D and commercial area is necessary over time.
These are just some of the elements to consider once sitting around a table trying to give shape to an idea.
Company organizational chart: definition and types
In order to do so, it remains essential to set objectives and purposes to be pursued, just as the company’s core business and the market in which it wants to be launched must be clear.
If we know where to go it is easier to trace the route, but if we navigate on sight we will certainly lose all reference points and we will never reach the destination.
Once the key objectives of the company have been defined, a real organizational chart must be immediately put on paper, which describes the links between the team members and graphically explains their interaction. There are 3 types of organizational chart:
- functional
- divisional
- matrix
The functional organizational chart has an intermediate level between the top and the operating groups, which acts as a filter and coordinates the activities of a specific area.
A divisional organizational chart provides for a company partition according to customer processes and types. For each division, for example, there will be a purchasing, marketing and production manager.
The matrix organizational chart provides a mix of the two, which refers to the functions on the one hand and the divisions on the other.
The importance of the organizational chart and its functions
The leaner an organizational chart, the faster the processes, and the clearer is to the team members with whom to interact, who to request feedback and to have a distinct idea of their role.
The health of a company comes from continuous monitoring and a possible revision of the organizational chart. In fact, a thriving company constantly reviews its processes and its organization, also increasing the number of employees if necessary, and reducing the workload of the team, allowing the job placement of new units.
The organizational chart is also a way of recognizing the person’s skills and of assigning them the role closest to their inclinations and studies.
Also for this reason our company philosophy starts from the assumption that each employee must carry out a job in line with his / her own skills and interests. Only if an employee or a collaborator do what they love and they feel valued, they can contribute actively to the growth of the company!
The company organization must therefore reflect its mission and vision, becoming clear and consistent towards the outside, through the achievement of set goals, and towards the inside, guaranteeing employees professionality and clarity in its processes.
The new organizational chart of BionIT Labs®
As Thomas Mann said: “Order and simplification are the first steps toward the mastery of a subject”.
Following this line and fostering a continuous improvement mentality, we decided to come up with a new organizational chart.
The new structure allows a separate management of departments, easing some pressure off key roles like the CEO, CTO, CSO and so on.
This can be considered as the natural evolution of a startup into a company, setting the pillars that will hold an easily foreseeable future growth.
It is far easier to coordinate a department’s work by the Head of the specific sector, rather than having somebody who is holding a management position, jump back and forth between technical matters and executive issues.
The above considerations led, in the end, to the new organizational chart which now counts:
- 1 Administrator (CEO – Chief Executive Officer);
- 6 Management Roles: CTO (Chief Technical Officer), CRO (Chief Regulatory Officer), Project Manager, Legal Affair & HR Director, CSO (Chief Sales Officer), CFO (Chief Financial Officer), which directly report to the CEO;
- 7 Departments: Production, Mechanical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Software Development, Product Design, Sales & Marketing, Finance & Control, every one of them with a Department’s Supervisor.
The Mechanical Engineering, Electronic Engineering and Software Development departments are part of the R&D macro-department, which together with the Production department is managed by CTO and CRO.
This group then interfaces with the commercial department, managed by the CSO, through the Product Design sector, which deals with market trends’ analysis, technical requests from customers, the coordination of the study and development of intellectual property, making all this information in technical requirements as inputs to the R&D department.
Plans for the future of BionIT Labs®
In spite of the general regression, caused by the well-known COVID restrictions, our team has continued to grow and it is now stronger.
The new company set up has, indeed, unlocked so much energy that, once released and properly funneled, will give BionIT Labs® new horizons to look at.
Oriented, since the very beginning, toward an international development, our team is now ready to embrace a further expansion, unavoidable to express the full potential of a team whose goal is to “turn disabilities into new possibilities”.
