IT Strategy for competitive advantage
Why IT Strategy is important
IT Strategy allows us to intelligently apply IT solutions to gain an unfair advantage in the market.
Yes, we are experts in software development. However, our point of difference is we apply business expertise to maximise your return on investment.
Software development without an IT strategy can be a futile exercise. We see many examples of ‘agencies’ that develop pretty websites and apps but fail deliver real business value.
Delivering business value is incorporated into every aspect of our business, including our process.
Our process
Understand your business
Most successful businesses have a point of difference that their customers value.
This point of difference makes competitors irrelevant. We apply the ‘Blue Ocean’ framework in this exercise.
If there is a corporate strategy in place, then we need to understand this.
Where there is not a clear corporate strategy, we can work with your management team to help define one.
Having a clear corporate strategy that the IT strategy will align to is a key success factor.
Apply design thinking to gain an unfair advantage
We apply the principles of design thinking to propose solutions that would provide an unfair advantage to your company.
Design Thinking has the following stages:
1) Empathise: Gain an ’empathetic’ understanding to the problem.
2) Define: Create a problem statement in a ‘human centered’ way.
3) Ideation: Come up with ‘out of the box’ solutions to the problem. Forecast how the industry could be disrupted with emerging technologies.
4) Prototype: In the case of software solutions such as an app or web app, we create a low cost prototype or a wire frame.
5) Test: We test the prototype from the previous stage to ensure to validate the value proposition. This helps us to stay on track.
Develop a business case
Most people think a business case is a long, bureaucratic document that doesn’t create value.
This is not the case. Depending upon the size of the project, the business case could be a slide deck with a supporting financial forecast.
We believe that all projects, even start-up projects should have a financial forecast. The assumptions driving the forecast may need to be validated.
But at least you will know what the ‘value drivers’ of your business are. More importantly, you can model the impact of these assumptions being incorrect.
In contrast, in an established business these assumptions are more accurate.
We are extremely commercial in that each project should demonstrate either a financial return on investment or an intangible benefit that will help your organisation succeed.
This is our point of difference.
Experienced Consultant
Currently all IT Strategy consulting is performed by Gaj Varma.
With over 20 years experience as an IT executive, he will derive an IT Strategy that will drive shareholder value.
Gaj was the Group CIO for a fintech startup for nearly 14 years. He joined the business in its start-up phase that culminated in an IPO with market capitalisation of $204 million.
Prior to this, he was a management consultant at PwC.
If you would like to make a time to speak with Gaj, click this link to organise a free initial consult.