Towards the end of the year, McKinsey releases its global survey on IT. In these surveys, they ask “executives across all functions, industries, and regions about their companies’ use of, expectations for, and spending on IT.” It’ll be interesting to see this year’s focus given how the big three new technology paradigms—mobility, cloud, and big data – are dominating IT mindshare.
Top of the list last year was the need for IT to continue improving both the effectiveness and efficiency of business processes, keeping a lid on costs while simultaneously serving …
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Most of us at some time another, inspired to change our ways for the better, have read at least one self-improvement book. In fact the self-improvement industry in the U.S alone tops $11 billion according to Tampa, FL based Marketdata Enterprises, Inc. We all know, whether we like to admit it or not, is that what is required with self-improvement to get results is action and that is the really hard part. Not surprising, as numerous studies attest, organizations have the same problem compounded, when it comes to executing strategies …
Analytics is a natural extension for CRM when you want to get more insight and make more informed decisions. Using business intelligence (BI) tools as part of an overall CRM solution is commonplace today. However, what about the capabilities more typically associated with performance management. I realize this is a gray area – at what point have we moved from BI to performance management – but how, for example, can strategy management applications be applied to CRM? In a couple of ways:
Alignment and collaboration (key elements in strategic performance management methodologies) are critical to ensuring better execution on cross-functional projects. When alignment is discussed, it’s in terms of how business units align around common objectives, either vertically by levels or horizontally aligning by support units like HR and IT. This is important, of course—and difficult. In fact, most companies rate this as the most challenging aspect of implementing a strategy management system (a.k.a strategy-focused organization).