Enterprise
Strategy
Getting our corporate ducks in a row

A problem identified
What IT can see from it’s unique hub-like position:
 Many critical needs in separate business verticals across the company
 Everything seems crucial and needs seem immediate
 The company has finite resources
 Project request A is not always in alignment with Project request B
 Stakes of each project are extremely high (people & time investments, opportunity cost)
No wonder there’s dissatisfaction on what IT is delivering… one major
factor is that there isn’t agreement on what we should deliver!

How we got there
“From a very early age, we are taught to break apart
problems, to fragment the world. This apparently makes the
complex tasks and subjects more manageable, but we pay
a hidden, enormous price. We can no longer see the
consequences of our actions; we lose our intrinsic sense of
connection to the larger whole.”
Peter Senge

Our harsh reality
We can’t afford for any portion of the company to
be out of alignment on how the company needs to
operate and, thereby, interact with our customers.

How to fix it
#9 of Deming’s 14 points for the transformation of management (from deming.org)
Break down barriers between departments. People in
research, design, sales, and production [etc.] must work as
a team, to foresee problems of production and in use that
may be encountered with the product or service

Let the customer lifecycle focus us
Each department represents a crucial part of the customer lifecycle.
They live it and breathe it from day to day. They are best positioned to
speak to the needs of that part of the customer lifecycle.
 Enticing new customers
 Sealing the deal
 Supporting existing customers
 Creating repeat customers

But, we’re too busy to do this!?!
 In times of stress it is MORE important to ensure you are doing the right thing
 Despite everything going on, we must congregate, discuss, and align.
 Only then will we be suitably positioned to sprint forward and begin to resolve some
of what we currently see.
 With so much needing done and so little resources to complete it, we must be
heading on the right track.
Regardless of the cost to align, the cost of not aligning overshadows it.

The end goal
An enterprise web strategy that all business verticals
have helped build and are committed to.

Something you never really hear
“Enterprise Strategy? What a
horrible idea!”

Except…
… from those incented to perform to the needs of
the individual department over the needs of the
whole

The End Goal
With an enterprise strategy in place, IT can ensure it
is focused on the true priorities of the business as a
whole, delivering a roadmap of value rather than
the disparate, short-order cook method so often
employed by IT departments.