STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

Strategic management services from functionalIT focus on helping organizations determine their optimum path forward and then organizing to make effective use of existing resources to ensure all objectives are met. By incorporating professional program/project management and organizational development expertise, functionalIT can craft a successful transition from concept to completion. By tailoring a process to suit the needs of each organization and working closely with the client, functionalIT experts facilitate the planning and execution of each process element.

The basic process elements include:

• Establish Vision for the Future.
  During this step, we help you examine the external drivers that impact the organization, including economic, regulatory, political, technological, sociological, market and competition. We also examine any potential threats and opportunities stemming from projected changes in these factors. In this context, the external environment also includes higher-level elements within a parent organization.
• Define the Gap between Vision and Reality.
  This step focuses on an objective analysis of the organization's strengths and weaknesses with respect to being able to cope with projected changes in the environment. Inherent in this step is an assessment of the types and levels of technical and management expertise, plans, processes, tools and external relationships necessary to close the gap(s).
• Develop Strategies to Close the Gap(s).
  Strategies focus on opportunities presented by the environment while leveraging organizational strengths, strengthening or mitigating organizational weaknesses, and mitigating threats presented by the environment.
• Develop Tactical Plan(s).
  Several possible tactical solutions may be applied to a single strategy. This step identifies possible tactical solutions and prioritizes them in accordance with criteria that mirror the culture of the organization, difficulty of implementation, and resource availability. At the end of the tactical planning process, the organization will have one or more tactical plans linked to strategies and consistent with the culture of the organization, resource needs (e.g., expertise, plans, and processes) and availability. During this phase, a benefit management plan to measure, integrate and transition organization benefits developed from the tactical plans will also be created.
• Execute/monitor/control tactical plan(s) - measure/integrate/transition organizational benefits.
  functionalIT highly recommends that structured program and project management approaches, utilizing industry best practices, form the basis for executing, monitoring and controlling tactical plans as well as ensuring organizational benefits are delivered and transitioned as planned.