Because technology underpins every aspect of how organisations operate, it has a tremendous potential to increase competitiveness—but only when it is implemented with the overall business model and strategic plan in mind. Investment in technology without alignment to the overall business goals will not achieve the benefits or returns expected.
Good Strategy is Key
Ensure technology and business strategy alignment to achieve maximum performance, efficiency and profits
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Leverage technology for competitive advantage
Boost Productivity
Provide your teams with the tools they need to complete their tasks swiftly and effectively. Use technology to improve internal communications and help employees stay organised as they manage multiple tasks at once.
You will pull ahead of the competition as your team produces higher-quality work in less time.
Automate Processes
Automating business processes will increase efficiency and productivity while reducing costs. Automation provides consistent outcomes, leading to increased customer satisfaction.
Having a detailed understanding of your processes, and identifying those with repeatable steps, can allow for the identification of automation opportunities.
Data Analytics
Leverage data analytics as a competitive advantage.
Establish key customer insights through good data governance, and data analytics solutions.
Understand your customer’s needs at a more detailed level, and use these insights to offer them the best solutions to their problems.”
Improved Customer Experience
74% of consumers are at least “somewhat likely to buy” based on experience alone.
Utilising technology to improve the customer experience can prove that your organisation is the best choice. Offer your clients the multichannel experience they want.
Protect Your Business
If you fall victim to a cyberattack, you will not be able to surpass your competition. Technology can help you protect your organisation by securing your data to keep you safe from cybercrime.
Drive Innovation
As the competitive landscape continues to evolve, success will be driven by those that innovate using technology to reimagine business models.
Digital transformation is about how to future proof your business, for better employee experiences, more efficient operations and new revenue streams.
The strategy-technology connection
Future success demands a focus on the longer term. This requires a high level of understanding, trust and co-operation between board members, senior executives, and operating management. There must be a clear vision, and an obvious but adaptable direction that is understood across all functions of the business. Supported by good corporate governance and business leadership.
Technology bears an integral relation to a company's strategic thinking by helping to define the range of its possibilities. At the same time, it provides a good portion of the means by which business strategy is achieved.
Technology strategy should be developed alongside the core business strategy, to provide a blueprint for how technology will shape and support the businesses’ strategic goals, and address the needs of key stakeholders, customers and partners. There must be clear alignment between technology decisions and investment, and the business objectives those decisions and investments will deliver or contribute to.
Technology strategy should avoid a narrow focus on the “technology revolution”. It is critical to resist the temptation to be technology-led, and directing solutions towards the latest or emerging technology just because it is leading edge. Technology decisions should always lead back to the delivery of capabilities and benefits that align to the business objectives.
The last ten years of IT have been about changing the way people work. The next ten years of IT will be about transforming your business.
Aaron Levie
Endpoint’s Technology Strategy Process
- 01
Needs analysis
We will work with you to establish key business needs and outcomes required, through assessment and understanding of; existing internal and external factors impacting business operations, future direction and strategic objectives, current capabilities, and competitive potential.
- 02
Current state assessment and gap analysis
To provide both a snapshot of the current position, and to establish those elements identified within the needs analysis activity that are currently unserved, we undertake a current state assessment and assurance exercise, and a gap analysis.
- 03
Target Operating Model
We will develop a “future-state” Target Operating Model (TOM), which is a description of how the functions providing technology services to the wider business and its customers will operate in the future to deliver the strategic goals.
- 04
Roadmap Development
We will develop a technology roadmap, outlining the key steps required to deliver the Target Operating Model (TOM) to support your business strategy. This will consist of the various tasks, projects and milestones that will result in the creation and implementation of capabilities required.
- 05
Change Governance
We can help you apply a change governance model that fits with your wider governance approach. This will provide an effective approach for establishing and overseeing priority initiatives to maximise success.
- 06
Transformation Delivery
We have extensive experience in leading and delivering complex transformation programmes, and ensuring a best-practice approach to governance, programme management, project management, and change management discplines to ensure success.
Articulate the business drivers
To help ensure alignment when developing a technology strategy, it is crucial that you articulate the business drivers in clear meaningful statements, because technology principles depend on them. This must reach the right level of detail, so detailed exploration of the business strategy is a must.
Example business drivers could be:
- Improving profitability by reducing costs
- Driving revenue by engaging new types of customers
- Focusing on core competencies by divesting adjacent areas
- Increasing revenue by improving employee productivity
Define your principles
Articulate and document the technology principles that will enable those agreed business drivers. It is important to be a specific as possible, but generally technology agnostic.
The list of business drivers and technology principles should be short and succinct. Fitting on a single page for effective communication.
Example technology principles:
- Cloud-first development
- Simple but integrated architecture
- Buy before build
Sell the strategy
Step out of your technological mindset and be aware of your audience. For example, your Board of Directors is less likely to care about how a technology will work, and more likely to be interested in the business opportunities it creates.
Focus on the problems the strategy aims to solve, and the strategic business objectives it supports and enables. What will success look like?
What new technology does is create new opportunities to do a job that customers want done.
Tim O’Reilly
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