1. Technical LeadershipThe Way Up or the Way DownDr. Philip E. BurianChair, Business & ManagementCTU @ Sioux FallsCollege professorsomeone who talks inother peoples sleep

2. Outline1 Technical Leader Lens Ops Strategy Framework2 Ops Strategy Assessment Summary 3. Three Envelopes Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper - Robert Frost 4. The Technical Leader LensEach decision must consider these key areas as well as the impact to the organizationTechnical Business BlueprintCost Optimization Revenue Generating Financial Impact Solid SolutionsPartnershipOperationalPeople Sense of UrgencyFocus Solid Support Alignment DR/BC Proactive 5. Technical AspectTechnology needs to be a business driven decision and not a technology decisionUpSolutions that enhance and support the revenuestreamStrategic blueprint or roadmapCareful vendor and consultant useDownSolutions that are riddled with problemsProcess change centered around technologyHard to use capabilities 6. Business AspectTechnology cannot be the center of the business modeland process change Up Business, product, organization, customer, and process understanding Expense and capital cost optimization Technology that improves competitive advantage Down No idea of NPV, ROI, Break-even, and CBA Lack of partnership/relationships Not involved in Capital Planning process Outsourcing based on financial decision only 7. Operational AspectTechnology needs to be easy to use and have highavailability Up High availability and up-time Solid and integrated support organization Disaster recovery and business continuity Down No sense of urgency to operational outages and issues Service interruption and revenue generating impacts No change/release management 8. People AspectTechnology needs to provide real capabilities that areused to drive and leverage competitive advantageUpStaff is customer/client focusedOrganization aligned to support the businessCommunity involvement and activitiesProactive and self-startingDownThe No organizationDownward directed initiativesStaff selection 9. Operations Strategy FrameworkOperations Strategy is the integration and optimization of operational functions and processes with market and customer requirements This element focuses on the key items that Discriminatorsseparate you from your Competitive competitors CostAnalysis FlexibilityQualitySpeedPerformanceThis element focuseson having a solid andclear business vision Resources Business Direction TechnicalBusiness ProcessesVisionFacilitiesObjectives PeopleStrategies Operational People TechnologyOrganization This element focuses on the resources that Customerare required to support Offerings the product and/orNeedsservice offerings ProductsThis element focusesand/or Operationalon the specific products Servicesand/or services that are offeredMetricsto customers (Burian, 2008) 10. Operations Strategy Assessment The Operations Strategy Assessment can be used as an effective decision-making tool that assists in determining the integration and connectivity throughout the entire organizationStrategic InformationCompetitive Customer Market AnalysisRequirements DiscriminatorsProducts & ServicesPerformance & MetricsNew ExistingModifiedEnterprise Core Costs FlexibilityReal CapabilitiesSpeedQualityR&D Technology People/SkillsFacilities Organization ProcessesSupport Functions Systems HRFinancialLegalProcurement Inventory QualityVendor Vision, Objectives & Strategies (Burian, 2008) 11. Business Direction A clear vision, objectives and strategies serve as the foundation and blueprint forthe entire organization. Without these critical elements the organization does nothave an objective or target state A vision is not a mission statement and it does have an end-point, its a vision Objectives are the goals the organization wants to achieve Strategies are how the organization will achieve those goals. These may need tochange as markets and customers needs change All of the strategic information, products and services, real capabilities andsupport functions should be aligned to support the vision, objectives andstrategies of the organization Clear business direction must be cascaded down throughout the entireorganization in order for people, process and technology to be aligned to supportthe effective and efficient delivery of products and services to the customer 12. Support Functions Technology, human resources, legal, procurement, quality and vendor products andservices are leveraged to support the real capabilities of the organization These are every bit as critical as the real capabilities and must be optimized tosupport the effective and efficient delivery of products and services Supply-chain systems are a vital component of the support function that must bealigned to the operation strategy objectives and vision Human Resources (people) must understand and support the organizations vision,objectives, and strategy communication becomes the key to the involvement ofpeople in the strategy process Many inefficient and ineffective operations can be hidden in these functional areasand as a result increase overall costs and directly impact the delivery of products andservices. 13. Real Capabilities Facilities, people, technology, organization, and even coreprocesses are used to support the delivery of products and services Real capabilities are the true production and delivery assets andtools of the organization Having the correct balance of resources and people with propertraining and skills that leverage technology and efficient processesare extremely important to remain as an effective and efficientorganization The use of performance and metrics are critical in order todetermine both economies of scale and scope 14. Product Offerings Offerings are the products and services an organization markets to customers and consumers Based on strategic information and analysis, an organization must assess whether a new,existing, or modified product or service will fill the need of the customer Products and services need to be targeted and sometimes tailored to meet customer needs They can also be bundled or unbundled to provide greater or enhanced value to the market Can be categorized as new, existing or modified New products should be strategically planned and forecasted only when existing products andservices cannot adequately fill requirements in the market A longer range planning cycle should be considered when developing new products andservices to allow greater development, testing, and introduction time before the product orservice is ready to market 15. Strategic Information Performing a thorough competitive analysis and analyzing customerrequirements can provide the market discriminators an organization needs to becompetitive in the market This competitive analysis must be reviewed and updated on a consistent basis inorder to observe changes in a competitors behavior, actions and productofferings Customers should be even more frequently sampled to determine changes inneeds and purchasing trends Performance and metrics should be applied to all strategic information that isgathered. This will help an organization compare itself to its competitors. 16. Discriminators There are a number of key items that separate or distinguish an organizationfrom its competitors Cost, flexibility, quality, and speed are the minimum criteria thatdetermine/drive competitive advantage Discriminators must be carefully analyzed to determine how anorganizations competition will respond to market and customer reactionand stimulus Analysis of strategic information is a continuous process and not a one-timeevent The information must be inserted back into the framework and assessed 17. Performance & Metrics Performance and metrics should be used to include costs, flexibility, speed, quality tomeasure organizational effectiveness both internally and externally These metrics can help compare the organization against strategic information aboutcompetitors, customer expectations, and how the products and services compare tosimilar ones in the market Internal metrics can also determine how effective and efficient an organizations realcapabilities and support functions are performing with respect to the market and theproduct and service it is delivering More importantly, the proper use of metrics can highlight imbalances and unproductiveoperations and processes throughout the organization. 18. SummaryYou can make the best buggy whip more efficiently than anyone and not realize its 2012 Technical Leader Lens Four Critical Aspects Operations Strategy Framework Operation Strategy Assessment