It's time to raise the bar

What's the role of IT in today's enterprise?  Well, it depends... It depends on the industry sector, nature of your organization, culture and maturity of your enterprise IT.  Henderson and Venkatraman already described four IT archetypes back in the Nineties by taking four different perspectives to the role of IT and the business:

1. Strategy execution: this is the traditional perspective in which business strategy drives organizational design, and organizational design determines what IT infrastructure and processes will be needed.   Business management makes strategy, and IT management implements it. 
2. Technology potential:  business strategy is still the driver, but collaborates with IT to work out a strategy to support the business strategy and the corresponding specification of the required IS infrastructure and processes.  This is IT in a reactive role. The business drive the technology vision and IT assumes the role of architect.
3. Competitive potential: In this perspective we are looking at new technological solutions to gain competitive advantage and enable growth.The IT department is the catalyst for business change i.e IT-enabled innovation. The business are visionaries and see how they can transform the business with technology and create a competitive advantage.
4. Service level:   In the last perspective information is the core product. Business management prioritizes which IT investments and determines the IT playing field.   The role of the IT is to make the business succeed through service excellence. 

However, while the Henderson model describes who is driving the IT strategy,  it does not mention the basic building blocks of your IT strategy.  That's where you can use my RAISE model.  RAISE describes the core functions of your IT department along five dimensions:
R = Reduce costs
A = Access information anywhere
I = Improve operational efficiency and effectiveness
S = Secure data and channels
E = Enable growth

I found that this model is easy to work with as it helps organizations to cluster their technology opportunities and define priorities in each domain.  Curious how to embed this in your 2011 IT strategy?  Well come and find out during IRM UK's workshop on strategically aligning business and IT on 25 and 26 November in London.  Click here for more details on the program and prepare yourself for jumping the curve with your Enterprise IT.

For me to know, for you to find out...

Wanna know what a typical take home exam looks like?  Well.... try to decipher the following assignment for our logistics and supply chain management module:

For the organization (or a division) that you are part of:

1. (strategic) Identify different OW/OQ clusters and use the Benny Hill operations strategy methodology and the Spnuttick grid analysis to develop justified recommendations on how your organization could improve in its operations and supply chain performance.
2. (tactical en operational) Map and describe one or more of your supply chains and make actionable recommendations on how to make them greener and leaner.

Make a Word report of max. 10 pages (not including appendices, drawings, charts) with the result of these analyses and recommendations....  May the force be with us

Ceci n'est pas du common sense

Yes, the second year of the MBA started last month.  The dash before summer was quite tough: finished of with corporate finance which drove me completely wacc-ko.  All that number crunching is not for this monkey.... one ground rule in corporate finance though is... it is not about percents, it is about common sense.  Talking about sense - it has been a rough ride recently.  At work full steam, a lot of lectures and seminars, the community and master consultancy projects really kicking in....  So where does the MBA fit in?  Frankly my dear... it doesn't.  It is a serious time investment - attending the courses, preparing stuff and writing the paper afterwards.  On a monthly basis, this easily adds up to 8 days - that's is roughly the number of weekend days you get when doing the full monty i.e. 20 working days.

So where does this fit in the whole common sense scheme?  Well, it is not about common sense here, it is about drive and passion.  Learning is such a powerful catalyst - it broadens your horizon, it makes you see the other side, it helps you to engage in a conversation.  Doing the MBA at Antwerp Management School has learned me that I am only half way.  Making the journey is like being Alice in Wonderland.... you don't know where it will bring you.  Curious by nature, it is this learning experience that justifies the hard effort.  No pain, no gain... that's for sure.  And I am not alone... I see Captain Starbucks, Trump, Mr. VC, Moneypenny and boywonder struggle as well.  I see little Miss Havaianas who is raising her baby and doing the MBA at the same time.  And if I see them, I know that common sense has got nothing to do with it.  We all know that we are half way... we all know that soon we will jump the curve.... exciting times ahead of us.