Information is changing the supplier / customer power balance, allowing new competitors, products and services to emerge. Bringing IT strategies to life calls for a consistent management approach.
At the forefront of business change is the enhanced exploitation of information. Information is the lifeblood of organizations, enabling corporate health and performance. Exploiting information is as critical to success as managing people or finance. Information is changing the balance of power between suppliers and customers, allowing new competitors to emerge and new products and services to be launched. Spending on information technology is often the fastest rising cost in business.
It sometimes seems that external change is faster than businesses ability to respond: it seems that the goal posts are always moving. As a result, managements find themselves busier than ever as they run today's businesses. It becomes ever more important to find ways to manage the increasing complexity of the business. As managements increasingly look to IT to assist in this complex environment, methods have to be found through which business benefits can be clearly articulated, IT projects managed in a co-ordinated manner, and information technology used at last as an enabling force not as a constraining factor.
Bringing information technology strategies to life calls for a consistent management approach. KPMG Management Consulting has therefore developed 'Transition', based on its extensive experience of partnership with leading companies for the planning and implementation of strategic business change and the exploitation of information in their businesses. The approach recognizes that implementing strategies is a continuous cycle. Ensuring the attainment of the business benefits foreseen from a business strategy implies the establishment of coherent change programmers, the mobilization of appropriate staff and resources, and the development of rigorous implementation plans based around business change, not just on technical developments.
What does this mean in practice? The process is illuminated by the experience of a major trading company. In this case, an organized approach to strategic implementation converts business strategy into a clear programme of change within an organization. Such a programme must be consistent to focus effort, yet flexible enough to respond to emerging opportunities or threats. It must make complexity manageable. The start must be working with business management to develop a clear understanding of the business priorities and operational imperatives of the organization: that is, the strategic intent of the business. From this clear understanding of business direction, a set of performance measures can be established against which the organization can track itself s it moves towards its strategic goals.
This is the starting point for business design which sets out to produce a radical yet realistic plan for implementing strategic change. To manage the complexity of the change, and to ensure the achievement of the benefits desired, a limited number of coherent and integrated change programmers is needed. Realizing the benefits of major change programmers often requires a new way of managing which combines clear accountability with the ability to work across existing organizational boundaries.
Too often strategies are slow to be adopted within a business. Maybe there is a good strategy, developed by senior management. But often the organization carries on running in the same old way. Benefits may be claimed, but fail to appear in reality. Implementing a strategy can be painful since it requires a consistently high level of management attention. Clear, shared business priorities must be developed and communicated across the organization. One of the key aims is to ensure 'a living strategy' which means clearly identifying strategic intent. The framework is built on research and proven experience that identifies major issues, relationships and possible solutions available for 'rolling-out' business strategies, in particular those related to information based projects.
At the forefront of business change is the enhanced exploitation of information. Information is the lifeblood of organizations, enabling corporate health and performance. Exploiting information is as critical to success as managing people or finance. Information is changing the balance of power between suppliers and customers, allowing new competitors to emerge and new products and services to be launched. Spending on information technology is often the fastest rising cost in business.
It sometimes seems that external change is faster than businesses ability to respond: it seems that the goal posts are always moving. As a result, managements find themselves busier than ever as they run today's businesses. It becomes ever more important to find ways to manage the increasing complexity of the business. As managements increasingly look to IT to assist in this complex environment, methods have to be found through which business benefits can be clearly articulated, IT projects managed in a co-ordinated manner, and information technology used at last as an enabling force not as a constraining factor.
Bringing information technology strategies to life calls for a consistent management approach. KPMG Management Consulting has therefore developed 'Transition', based on its extensive experience of partnership with leading companies for the planning and implementation of strategic business change and the exploitation of information in their businesses. The approach recognizes that implementing strategies is a continuous cycle. Ensuring the attainment of the business benefits foreseen from a business strategy implies the establishment of coherent change programmers, the mobilization of appropriate staff and resources, and the development of rigorous implementation plans based around business change, not just on technical developments.
What does this mean in practice? The process is illuminated by the experience of a major trading company. In this case, an organized approach to strategic implementation converts business strategy into a clear programme of change within an organization. Such a programme must be consistent to focus effort, yet flexible enough to respond to emerging opportunities or threats. It must make complexity manageable. The start must be working with business management to develop a clear understanding of the business priorities and operational imperatives of the organization: that is, the strategic intent of the business. From this clear understanding of business direction, a set of performance measures can be established against which the organization can track itself s it moves towards its strategic goals.
This is the starting point for business design which sets out to produce a radical yet realistic plan for implementing strategic change. To manage the complexity of the change, and to ensure the achievement of the benefits desired, a limited number of coherent and integrated change programmers is needed. Realizing the benefits of major change programmers often requires a new way of managing which combines clear accountability with the ability to work across existing organizational boundaries.
Too often strategies are slow to be adopted within a business. Maybe there is a good strategy, developed by senior management. But often the organization carries on running in the same old way. Benefits may be claimed, but fail to appear in reality. Implementing a strategy can be painful since it requires a consistently high level of management attention. Clear, shared business priorities must be developed and communicated across the organization. One of the key aims is to ensure 'a living strategy' which means clearly identifying strategic intent. The framework is built on research and proven experience that identifies major issues, relationships and possible solutions available for 'rolling-out' business strategies, in particular those related to information based projects.
