A Look Into the Future

when i was a young consultant, back when we had to dodge dinosaurs, we developed many Fortune 500 business strategies by working jointly with our clients.  usually we would initially develop a business strategy, sometimes projecting out for 7 to 10 years.  then we would develop a supporting technology strategy, at least for the initial five years.  life was good.  great confidence in the client's market space and and in our ability to "predict" the future.  no i wasn't delusional, just immature.

by the time i was in mid-career, the Model T was the hot choice and we developed 5 year business and technology strategies (co-dependent, but not merged) with great confidence (or great arrogance based upon personal opinion).

my how the world has changed.  today we live in a world where every market space has many variables, often all moving at once and where problems no longer exist.  problems have a right or wrong answer, such as the answer to 2+2.  many colleges still teach this way, even some of our ivy league contributors. however, the truth is that problems with their clear precise answers no longer exist.  we now live in a world of dilemmas. dilemmas have no precise right or wrong answers, they only have gray-scale, imperfect answers where right or wrong always remains obscure.

so in a world of variables and dilemmas what do we do for business strategy.  the answer is that we don't develop precise strategies for long periods, but we clarify the vision and mission, then develop directional frameworks which contain some (and oftentimes many) decisional checkpoints. a very long strategic view today is 2 to 3 years and even that time frame cannot be employed in some market spaces.

so what happened to the information technology strategy?  well i can think of no significant business today that is not structurally dependent upon technology; even our dog groomer uses mobile technology.  without technology the business immediately dies.  so the technology strategy no longer exists as an independent entity; it exists only as a structural part of the business strategy framework.  business and technology are one, a single entity; married for life even if it is a short one.

strategies today are living entities which must be fed (reviewed and enhanced) at least every 6 months or so.  there is no rest for the business owner today.