Dysfunction
Some common scenarios that are found across organisational units in businesses:
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The “status quo” strategy: Department budget planning is for the year ahead only.
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Thinking stays “outsourced”. Thick impenetrable PowerPoint slide decks that get left in the shared folder.
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The “away-day” strategy: Strategy is confidential and is communicated on a need-to-know basis only.
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Ideas stay big: Business strategy gets revealed at the AGM but there is no organisational commitment to translate it into actionable plans.
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Silo mentality: Plans are created for an individual business unit or function, but they are not coordinated or communicated.
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Shadow IT: Technology solutions are prescribed behind closed doors.
Getting Beyond The Yearly Budget
Even if the IT functions determined a direction and position on technology and data with plans created for their deployment, there is a significant risk that this strategy and plan would be meaningless without the business context.
For the IT department then, obtaining budget for anything more than next year’s operations is very difficult. Yet despite frequent calls to action for the IT function to be more “strategic”, we recognise that given some of the above scenarios this quickly becomes a very difficult task.
Seeking Technology In the Value
Trust, Communicate, Coordinate and Translate.
For us, the solution is simple yet elusive. “Strategy” does not have to be complex and although an eye on emerging trends is important, documents soaked in buzzwords are not. Nor does it have to be a secret. A company’s strength can only be realised if exercised.
Baxter Thompson Associates can help achieve a comprehensive and integrated plan that reflects the business strategy and provides the components necessary for a technology roadmap.
Our Distinctive Approach
The Proposal: Cross Functional Facilitation for Strategic Alignment
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A series of individual executive meetings and workshops
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Clear articulation of business, functional and IT strategy
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A statement of existing strategic alignment, provided by the executive board.
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A multiyear cross-organisational roadmap proposal.
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A multiyear technology roadmap proposal.
Benefits
Build Trust
Break down communication barriers
Build a shared goal
Better Communication
Set clear expectations
Create a common shared language
Improve Strategic Alignment
Reveal the bottlenecks, conflicts and opportunities.
Achieve Results
Translate the business outcomes into technology opportunities
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