Category: Tech Strategy

Talking about Technology Strategy, the tech exec’s goal is to address business needs through the future state of the technology platform. Envisioning and documenting models in the tech strategy are vital for gaining stakeholder consensus.

In step seven, our key architects gather for planning sessions to establish cohesive vision for the future. We analyze identified gaps in the current environment and determine the necessary steps to address them. This ensures a comprehensive approach to shaping the desired state.

7. Envision Target State and Assess Gaps

With the IT mandate established and the existing environment thoroughly analyzed, we are ready define the strategic goals of our technology strategy and envision the future state of our IT platform. To achieve this, we will continue adopting an Enterprise Architecture modeling approach that enables us to depict a promising future scenario.

The envisioned future should encompass the following key elements:

1. Strategic goals – good if you can arrange them into strategic themes or focus areas.
   
   
2. Architecture models – conceptually depicting the future state in different areas such business alignment, data needs, and technology platforms.
   
   
3. Specific technologies/ solutions recommended for adoption to address the businesses’ strategic issues (aligned with business goals).

Understanding the tech landscape and envisioning the target model allows us to perform a gap analysis. This analysis guides strategic initiatives for a technology roadmap.

In our discussion on Technology Strategy, we emphasized the significance of a concrete plan as a foundation for tech execs managing IT operations. This critical document outlines initiatives to achieve business objectives.

In this post, we’ll cover steps five and six: analyzing the current environment to understand existing elements and identifying strategic issues and outcomes for the Business team’s objectives.

5. Analyze Current IT Environment

Developing a technology strategy involves analyzing the current environment, assessing support for business needs, and understanding the influence of previous decisions on the present state.

• what debt do we have.
  
  
• can we untwine some things in order to improve and lower cost.
  
  
• what gaps do we have; and,
  
  
• how do we determine what’s needed in order to move forward?

The captured analytical data is combined with input acquired through various means:

1. Interviews with business leaders
   
   
2. Reviewing exiting documents (processes, policies, standards, organization structures, budgets, etc.,)

An IT architect could develop an Enterprise Architecture to facilitate informed technology decisions in the future.

6. Identify Strategic Issues and Outcomes

After analyzing the tech landscape, we must define and document strategic issues and outcomes. These issues should be discussed and refined with stakeholder leadership to prepare for the benchmarking exercise.

In our technology strategy discussion, it’s crucial for technology executives to stay updated on strategy management and its application to different initiatives. Governance plays a critical role. Having a governance strategy is key to the overall technology strategy.

8. Develop Governance – to facilitate and enforce strategy execution

This could be an evolved version of the previous governance mentioned in Step 1 – Develop Charter. Establishing a strong governance structure ensures effective execution, communication, monitoring, and review of the plan once it is implemented. Governance usually includes the following:

1. Appointing one person who will be the owner and in charge of the plan.
   
   
2. Identifying people who will take care of the strategy plan; the core Program team.
   
   
3. Identifying those who will participate and facilitate its execution within IT and Business; the virtual team.
   
   
4. Appointing one or more stakeholders to steer and monitor, the executive steering committee.
   
   
5. Determining the rhythm of collaboration amongst stakeholders via meetings, committees, workshops, reviews.
   
   
6. Defining controls via standards, policies, and processes (such as change management).

Strong governance, physically tangible and empowered by top leadership with clear authorities, is vital for effectiveness.

We’ve been talking about technology strategy. Every tech exec running an IT shop needs to have one. And every technology exec needs to understand what it takes to build and manage one. In this post we’ll cover steps three and four of our strategy build process.

3. Develop IT Mandate: Vision, Mission, and Objectives

We have established our IT vision, mission, and objectives. Now, let’s align and enhance our vision with the business and other IT leaders’ strategies, if applicable. In this step, we will review the strategies of the organizations we support and align our direction accordingly. This enables us to refine our high-level technology goals and objectives. Our aim is to solidify the IT mandate, reflecting our purpose and governing our activities. Involving key leaders in this vision review is crucial for gaining consensus. Agreement at each step is vital for a successful tech strategy.

4. Define Critical Success Factors (rules of engagement)

How do we measure the success of our technology strategy? We define critical success factors that translate into high-level requirements for top management, such as budget. Specific details of success factors will be determined in subsequent steps like governance and implementation roadmap. This step establishes the initial baseline for successful planning. Typically, three to five CSFs are defined to set the stage.

To emphasize, again, if you don’t have a plan (or strategy) you are going to have a very difficult time managing business expectations. The Technology Strategy is a key document for any technology executive and should be the cornerstone for how you manage your organization.

We’ve talked about IT Strategy in prior posts. The second step in our process: aligning with business leaders. Technology executives must ensure that their strategy aligns with the direction of the business. IT exists to support business success by establishing effective systems that address its needs.

2. Capture the Business Context: vision, mission, values, and strategic goals.

A key success factor for the technology strategy build process is mirroring and aligning with the business. In this step, we must capture a clear understanding of the business environment. This can be achieved by reviewing the business strategy, which should the following elements:

1. Vision of the organization.
   
   
2. Mission and purpose.
   
   
3. Values that govern the activities of Business.
   
   
4. Strategic Goals: arranged in focus areas or themes.
   
   
5. Strategic Initiatives: detailed programs and projects that are planned in priority order to achieve its vision, mission, and goals.

These components of the Business’s plan will aid in the creation of an IT counterpart to the vision and mission. They will also provide insight into the impact of the business strategy on the IT organization through analysis of strategic goals and initiatives.

If these elements of the businesses’ plan are missing, it’s a great chance for you to connect with key leaders. Discuss your perspective on business and IT collaboration to strengthen relationships.