Strategic Management (SM)

Course Code: 22MBACC401

Module 3: Technology Strategy

 Why is Tech Strategy Development Important?
• Technology runs our world
and creates opportunities
for efficiency, growth, and • Successful organizations share the
scalability within our common trait of relying on planning
businesses. processes to ensure growth and operational
efficiency.
• Every organization needs to have a
• Without a technology
considered and well-developed technology
strategy plan, your business
plan.
can easily fall behind
competition.
 What is a Technology Strategy?

“The sheer pace and scope of developments required a degree of

technological knowledge rarely found in tandem with a keen appreciation
of the concerns of business.”
Harvard Business Review
 Understanding Technology Strategy

• Technology strategy is the creation of an overall business plan which

consists of principles, objectives, and tactics for using technology to
achieve organizational objectives.
• Development of a tech strategy may defines
– Specific technologies,
– Identify which staff members have responsibility for managing these
technologies,
– Future scalability, and
– How these technologies will align with business’s objectives.
• Technology strategy aims at outlining and specifying how technology should support
overall corporate strategy spanning 3 to 5 years into the future.
• Technology strategy planning is typically developed by the organization’s Chief
Technology Officer (CTO) in collaboration with senior managers from other
business units and the executive team.
• This collaboration is vital as organization-wide buy-in ensures the success of the
technology business strategy.
• The tech strategy framework and technology implementation impacts budget
allocations, operational procedures, responsibilities in relation to business objectives,
and day-to-day functions.
• Ensuring overall agreement within an organization is a key factor to the success of a
plan.
Types of Technology
Strategy
 Selecting the Right Technology Strategy for Your
Business
“Technology adoption and implementation timing can have a profound
impact on the success or failure of an organization.”
Payam Pourkhomami, President & CEO, OSIbeyond
• New technology implementation can benefit an organization by
disrupting traditional processes, creating efficiencies, and therefore
leading to competitive advantages.
• A technology expert will helps in forecasting technology shifts that will
potentially disrupt organizations, industries, and sectors in order to help
determine whether the organization should adopt new technology.
 Existing Technology vs. Emerging Ecosystems
A key consideration- is the technology utilizing the existing ecosystems or emerging ecosystems?
– Examples:
1. When Voice over IP (VoIP) technology was emerging in the 1990s, the adoption of the technology
made sense for most organizations, given that the new technology would use existing data networks to
transmit voice, thus cutting costs and enabling integrations with applications.
2. Similarly, when virtualization technology emerged in the 2000s, its adoption also made sense for most
organizations, given that the new technology could operate on the same on premise hardware
infrastructure, but would provide more efficiencies and consolidation, thus reducing costs.
3. By the mid 2000s, “Cloud Computing” which is on-demand delivery of resources by a cloud services
provider, started to emerge. However, for VoIP and virtualization technologies to be successful in the
“Cloud”, a new ecosystem would have to be created in order for the adoption of the new technology
to be feasible. The emerging ecosystem would have to provide satisfactory performance, which
depended on reliable internet connectivity with sufficient bandwidth to transmit data or voice across
the internet without latency. It also had to do so securely. Therefore, the adoption of Cloud Computing
technologies depended on a foundational ecosystem to be developed in order for the concept to be
adopted and therefore successful. The consideration of existing versus emerging ecosystems is critical
in determining the timing of new technology implementation.
 Implementing an Information Technology Strategy
1. Develop a Team
• Step in Technology
Strategy
Implementation
2. Define the Plan

3. Prioritize Initiative Strategically

4. Sell Strategy to an Organization

1. Develop a Team
– This team is typically led by the CIO/CTO of an organization, however organizations that do not have
internal resources in technology positions can fill this role with external cybersecurity consultants who
have technology expertise. The team must also consist of individuals from various functions across the
organization, who are passionate about technology, and will serve as advocates to the rest of the
organization.
2. Define the Plan
– The next step is to thoroughly define a technology plan to align the strategy with business objectives.
Once long-term business objectives are clearly identified, then a plan needs to be developed that exactly
defines what needs to happen over the next three years. Note that a one or two-year plan is not going to
result in a technology transformation on its own, as large-scale changes always take longer than expected.
– Once a detailed plan is drafted, the technology strategy should be aligned with the organization’s
technical architecture. The organization’s long-term technology strategy will not be realized if the
underlining IT infrastructure cannot support it. Ensure an architecture roadmap is developed because it is
critical to successfully executing the technology strategy. The architecture roadmap will provide a
technical perspective on the maturity of existing applications and hardware infrastructure. It should
consider when software and hardware might reach end of life, as this will be a factor on the timeline of
implementing new technologies.
3. Prioritize Initiative Strategically
– Next it is important to prioritize technology initiatives strategically. No matter what the size of an
organization, there are usually never enough resources and funding to meet every demand. Ad-hoc
projects will pop-up during the technology strategic planning process, and each business function within
the organization will have their own “special projects”. It is thus important to make strategic choices in
the allocation of resources to achieve planned end results and organizational objectives.

4. Sell Strategy to Organization

– The final step is to go out and sell the new technology strategy to the organization. This step requires a
comprehensive plan as to how the strategy is going to be shared with leadership, executives, and staff,
including engagement, communication, and messaging. This process will require repetition to ensure all
functions within the organization are on the same page on the overall timetable of the Technology
Strategy. Once this has been achieved, Technology Strategy is ready for execution.
 Benefits of Developing Technology Strategy and
Framework
• A technology strategy can be defined as an overall business plan that includes goals,
objectives, and tactics for using technology to achieve wider business goals.
• Technology creates opportunities for efficiency, growth, and scalability within
businesses. It is the creation of an overall business plan which consists of principles,
objectives, and tactics for using technology to achieve organizational objectives.
• Technology strategies can be either short term or long term strategies.
• Long term strategies tend to focus more on the impact technology can have on the
overall business goals.
• Short term strategies might focus more on specific technologies.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx4sFItSc48
 People, Process, Technology (PPT) Framework
• It was introduced in the Diamond Model by Harold Leavitt in 1960 & popularized in
the information security by Bruce Schneier in the 1990s.
• An increased growth of digital transformation, it is predicted that digital
transformation markets will grow to the extent of $1.5 trillion by 2027 with
innovation in artificial intelligence at the forefront of growth.
 People, Process, Technology (PPT) Framework

• The PPT framework provides a strategic approach to navigate a

transformative journey by addressing the interplay between people,
processes, and technology.
 People, Process, Technology (PPT) Framework

• The “people” aspect refers to the human resources available to the

business. These are the individuals who do the tasks described in the
process.
• A process refers to the steps or actions that combine to produce a
particular goal. In the PPT framework, the process defines the “how”
aspect. How will we achieve the desired result? How do we utilize the
people and technology to solve the business problem?
 People, Process, Technology (PPT) Framework
• Technology has revolutionized the way businesses operate. Technology
must align with an organization’s overall strategy, and it must fit into the
organization’s culture and processes.
• Organizations must prioritize the people and process aspects of the PPT
framework and consider technology as the final consideration.
People, Process, Technology (PPT) Framework
 Benefits of Developing Technology Strategy and
Framework
• Alignment with overall business objectives
• Development of long term vision
• Increased operational efficiency
• Enhanced competitiveness
• Improved risk management
 Benefits of Technology Strategies

• New technology implementation can benefit an organization by

disrupting traditional processes, creating efficiencies, and lead to
competitive advantages.
• A technology expert will help to forecast technology shifts that will
potentially disrupt organizations, industries, and sectors in order to help
determine whether the organization should adopt new technology.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A29AC2c_enc
 Examples

In 2000, the founder of Netflix, approached Blockbuster’s CEO with a

proposal for partnership, in which Netflix would run Blockbuster’s brand
online, while Blockbuster would promote Netflix in stores. Netflix went
on to dominate the online video rental industry, leading to Blockbuster’s
bankruptcy in 2010. In this case, Blockbuster failed to recognize the
emergence of new technology which would disrupt what had been
traditionally a very profitable business model.
According to a market research 52% of companies worldwide report an
increase in worker productivity, 49% better performance, and 46% better
customer experience after digital adoption.
 SUCCESSFUL CASES

1. Domino’s Pizza is one of the biggest pizza restaurant chains in the world
operating in more than 83 countries. In 2007, the stock price of Domino’s
Pizza was $32.25. This was a good rise compared to $14.70 in 2004. But in
2008, Domino’s experienced a steady decline.
• Challenge: Drop in demand and decrease in popularity. Domino’s Pizza
had to transform their service delivery and bring more value to
customers.
• Solution: Domino’s team understood that making tasteful pizzas is not
enough in the competitive environment. Technology and business had to
be brought together to produce extra value. The team knew that if you
offer customers a better service at the same price, they will choose you
over the competitors. This was the point when Domino’s turned into a
tech-savvy company. They started to integrate business technology to
improve agility. It introduced the concept of Domino’s anywhere,
customers could order through Smart TV, Facebook Messenger, Alexa. It
was possible with the help of Artificial Intelligence and Machine
Learning.
• During pandemic, Domino’s offered the so-called Carside
delivery option. It is the delivery method that enables clients to choose a
side of the car where their order will be delivered.
2. Michelin is the second largest tire manufacturer in the world founded
more than 130 years ago.
Challenge: Stay competitive in the age of smart manufacturing and
production.
Solution: Michelin decided to build an effective digital growth strategy
with three focus areas.
• Streamline and speed up business operations & invest in R&D
• Use technology to build new business strategies and models.
• We bring our
manufacturing towards the future | Michelin (youtube.com)
 Reasons for Developing Tech Strategy

Alignment Development Increased

Competitive
with Business of Long-term Operational
Advantage
Objectives Vision Efficiency
 Reasons for Developing Tech Strategy
New technology implementation can benefit an organization by disrupting traditional
processes, creating efficiencies, and therefore leading to competitive advantages.
1. Alignment with Business Objectives
– Technology is not simply there for convenience, but rather it should be directly
associated with business needs. A technology strategy ensures that the business needs
are fulfilled directly by linking objectives of the technology strategy to business needs.
2. Development of Long-term Vision
– A technology strategy ensures a long-term vision, focused on the future that looks into
the horizon to try to predict what the organization’s business needs will be based on the
market and competition. While at the same time understanding that change will take
time, and is achieved through a series of milestones, objectives, and goals.
 Reasons for Developing Tech Strategy (Cont.)
3. Increased Operational Efficiency
– When technology is aligned with business needs and implemented at the right time,
there are direct efficiencies that are gained. These efficiencies can be in the form of
increased employee output (production, performance, etc.), improved customer
communication (response, experience, etc.), and enhanced team collaboration (sharing
information, solving problems, etc.), all of which make an organization more agile.
4. Competitive Advantage
– An organization that can operate more efficiently by strategically leveraging
technology, inherently gains competitive advantage. Competitive Advantage can be in
the form of higher sales and profits (in commercial businesses), or progressing the
organization’s mission (in non-profit, advocacy and research organizations).Technology
is a fundamental part of business, it has resulted in the emergence of new business
models and changed customer experiences. In order for organizations to compete in
today’s world they must operate at the speed of business or risk becoming obsolete.
 Self-Study

Innovation – process, sustainability of

competitive advantage through
innovation
Innovation Strategy