An organization’s strategy expresses its design for the future. The process of designing the future is the strategic process, and it has two components: the busines strategy and the organizational strategy.
Business Strategy
The first component of a strategic plan is the business strategy. Just as if IT were a stand-alone business, and its internal client organizations its markets, IT’s business strategy is externally focused. In the ends/ways/means parlance of strategic planning, the business strategy defines the ends: IT’s future relationships with its outside world (i.e., it’s internal markets and clients); the products and services that are necessary to meet the needs of those clients in those markets; and the financial and other impacts that can be expected if IT is successful.
Organizational Strategy
The second component of a strategic plan is the organizational strategy. The organizational strategy is internally focused. It defines the ways and means for achieving the desired ends, as expressed in the business strategy. An IT organizational strategy defines the capabilities that will be needed to achieve those ends, and the various forms of capital that those capabilities will require (i.e., process and technology capital, human capital, financial capital, social capital, and spiritual capital).
Our Qualifications
Windward Leadership is uniquely qualified to assist you in your strategic IT planning. Having received certified training in Strategic Planning for Information Systems from the Harvard Business School, and with a proven talent for transforming IT organizations and employing technology for competitive advantage, we have developed numerous strategic plans not only for IT organizations, but also client organizations that IT serves.
