This is their purpose. They are responsible for improving the stability and performance of their business as well as reducing costs to increase profits. So what are the resources they need to drive results? That is “the million-dollar question" BIS helps Business Leaders answer.
The Challenges to Driving Business Results
Most Business and Functional Leaders do not work in “utopian settings” where they can simply execute strategies focused on priorities to deliver business improvements with competitive advantages. In addition to normal planning and management (e.g. employees, costs, performance, etc.), they must provide “SME Thought Leadership” to determine how their business will deliver to customers better than their competitors.
A lot is involved in establishing competitive advantages. What makes this challenging is the fact that "a business is not a plan"...it is a reality. It involves things that work, things that do not work as needed, and it may require new solutions to “build a better business.” Business Leaders must consider Customer needs, operations, and innovations to make business improvement decisions. The challenges to get it right are manifested in the business’ current state and require continually considering what improvements will deliver strategic value and competitive advantages.
The industry business leaders outperform competitors by being organized (e.g. strategies, operational excellence, intelligence, etc.) to continuously improve upon their responsiveness to Customers. They often leverage IT as a strategic asset to improve their operations and delivery capability to increase Customer Satisfaction. IT provides strategic value to drive objective outcomes. BIS helps Business and IT Leaders to make improvements (e.g. to organizations, add disciplines, “cloud-based solutions”, etc.) that drive business results.
“Businesses will not realize IT strategic value nor competitive advantages from IT organizations unless they choose to use them that way.” –kxd!