If you don’t have a business technology strategy, you don’t have a business strategy.
Technology adoption and integration is not a single event. It is a continuous process that must be as common as air and as essential as breathing.
The success of most mid-market companies can be traced to the rigor of their planning, preparation, and execution. Successful businesses operate effective systems, and technology solutions drive those systems. That means companies desperately need business technology advisors who can craft, execute, and maintain digital strategies in alignment with organizational vision.
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is equivalent to magic.”
– Arthur C. Clarke
When things go well, technology is the hero of business success. However, executives who are inspired by peers occupying mountain peaks should be aware that those successful companies did not fall to the top of the mountain!
“I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.”
– Steve Jobs
It can appear that those at the top were simply touched by magic. The reality is that successful organizations carefully engineer their climb to the top. The wizards making magic today are technology engineers. They use their wands to orchestrate the music of systems integration, technology innovation, and directional alignment with organizational goals.
Sometimes, things don’t go as planned. Then, it can feel like all of nature and humanity is conspiring against the hopes and dreams of organizational leaders.
“We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that works.”
– Douglas Adams–author
Business technology misalignment, cybersecurity vulnerabilities, poor innovation, and lack of agility can behave like a steamroller that demolishes momentum and flattens aspirations of success.
Stewart Brand, writer.
“Once a new technology rolls over you, if you’re not part of the steamroller, you’re part of the road,”
– Stewart Brand
The Turning Point
Never before has the need for business technology leadership been so evident. Without a business technology strategy, organizational strategy is inadequate. The risk is just too great. The history of failure associated with technology missteps is abundant.
This document provides ideas and guidance to CEOs, C-suite executives, and technology leaders at all levels. This is a starting place for business and technology leaders to get and stay on a path of technology leadership excellence. One important step in that journey is getting help from qualified, capable, and experienced business technology advisors. Qualified advisors can guide the development of current IT professionals, assess the business technology needs, and develop plans and strategies to align technology initiatives with business objectives.
If an organization has a Chief Technology Officer (CTO), an external technology advisor can assist by conducting a business technology risk and readiness review using a technology framework to make sure plans are aligned with business objectives.
In the absence of a full-time CTO, a Fractional Chief Technology Officer (FCTO) may be the right place to start. This article provides guidance on selecting a FCTO or other technology advisors. It includes the roles, activities, qualifications, and tools required to successfully perform as a trusted advisor.
Included here is advice from the CEO of a technology consulting firm for developing a successful career and building the relationships that will help technology leaders flourish. In addition, a Chief Technology and Strategy Officer outlines essential tools and functionality for a Fractional Chief Technology Officer (FCTO).
“The future is still so much bigger than the past,”
– Tim Berners-Lee
This document provides hope and practical advice for organizational leaders who want guidance and real help to develop robust technological readiness to face the challenges of today and tomorrow.
This document is for those who wish to avoid being steamrolled by technology leadership gaps, lack of delivery, scalability challenges, disconnected customer experience, and inefficient technology spending. It exposes the problems, the headwinds, and the traps that capable technology advisors can help executives avoid.
These pages introduce ideas and solutions from seasoned technology professionals. They will help organizations utilize best practices for selecting, deploying, and maintaining technology. These ideas arm leaders with the power and courage to do the right things and to do things right.
Here is the message.
“Knowledge is power,”
– Francis Bacon
And
“The illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn,”
– Alvin Toffler
Let’s order up a little magic!
Of Progress and Problems
“Technology made large populations possible; large populations now make technology indispensable.”
– Joseph Krutch–writer
The indispensability of technology has sneaked up on us. It steadily, increasingly, and irrevocably became integrated into the fabric of our lives. Today, no corner of society escapes the influence of technology.
Because global reliance on technology occurred over time, it is easy to underestimate the potential opportunities, the risk of mismanagement, and the extant problems resulting from inadequate technology planning and execution.
The digital strategy for most mid-sized companies is woefully inadequate or altogether absent. According to the Association for Information Managers, fully 85% of mid-sized companies (businesses with revenue over $50 million but less than $1 billion) do NOT have a business technology strategy. Additionally, there is a deficit of leaders with the skill and experience to develop and execute business technology strategies.
Just A Bit of Historical Background
The unabridged 1956 Standard International Encyclopedia, which was the encapsulation of all human knowledge of the time, had no mention of the word computer. Certainly, mighty efforts were underway to develop devices that would accept data, perform logical and mathematical operations, and then display the results. Despite the resources dedicated to computer development, the progress was considered inconsequential by the curators of knowledge for the encyclopedia.
Among the milestones overlooked by Standard International was ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator). ENIAC had been operational for a full decade before the slight by Standard International. Completed in February of 1946, ENIAC was considered the first programmable electronic digital computer. It employed more than 17,000 vacuum tubes 70,000 resistors, 10,000 capacitors, 6,000 switches, and 1,500 relays. It reportedly required several days to “program” ENIAC to solve each problem. The city of Philadelphia reported power brown-outs when the computer, located in the basement of the Moore School on the University of Pennsylvania campus, was at full power.
Fast forward to today, new supercomputers like the Frontier and Aurora are ushering in the age of exascale computing. Tiny computers like smartphones, tablets, iPads, and mini PCs, even watches, reach every aspect of society and every corner of the globe. The technology age is a more significant megatrend than even John Naisbitt could have imagined in the early 1980s.
Computing’s impact Today and Tomorrow
Business leaders are often rapid adopters of new technology–the insatiable appetite for innovation and competitive advantage fuel technology growth. Rapid innovation has outpaced the development of top executives with the skill and experience to lead technology strategy for mid-sized companies.
Early technology enthusiasts had a vision for the potential of innovation and technology solutions. Steve Wozniak exemplifies a generation of techies that influenced the computing explosion. “Woz” points to Star Trek as a significant influence on his interest in technology and its possibilities. As a founder of Apple, he was more interested in facilitating exploration by other techies than commercializing his innovations. He was more nerd than business–more geek than he was suit.
Woz and others like him were part of a wave of technology tinkerers, innovators, and entrepreneurs. They are Very Smart. The number of our modern-day techies, geeks, and nerds continues to grow. Still, it is taking time for them to develop the technology, business, and leadership skills necessary to fill seats in the C-suite and other leadership positions. The real success of Apple didn’t happen until Steve Jobs joined forces with Woz. Steve Jobs had a gift for turning Woz’s technological brilliance into a thriving business.
The dearth of C-suite-ready technology leaders leaves top executives in a difficult spot. CEOs are often forced to operate without the capable business technology leadershp talent they need for full strategic integration and alignment of technology initiatives with organizational goals.
CEOs are often forced to abdicate their fundamental responsibility for business technology strategy to lower-level IT geeks, specialists, and other professionals. Although bright and clearly technologically savvy, these employees lack the experience and business technology skills required to make C-suite level strategic decisions. For that reason, both young technology professionals and C-suite executives need help!
“Technology is a word that describes something that doesn’t work yet.”
– Douglas Adams
Too frequently, software development projects run over budget and beyond expected time frames. Completing development projects often takes more time and money than initial proposals suggest. Even when deployed, they usually underwhelm and are often functionally unreliable.
Off-the-shelf software is often purchased and deployed with little to no vetting and without consideration for its impact on other essential software systems in the company. Misalignment and poor integration or no integration can slow productivity, limit scalability, and introduce security risks.
These problems commonly occur in the absence of qualified business technological leadership in the C-suite. These problems retard growth, increase operational costs, damage customer satisfaction, and even risk company survivability. Examples of the effects of poor business technology strategy are abundant. Target failed its responsibility and suffered security vulnerabilities and a major data breach. Blackberry, once a market leader in mobile devices, was unable to innovate, pivot, and scale. Market share plummeted, and Blackberry eventually exited the consumer mobile device market.
If you don’t have a business technology strategy, you don’t have a business strategy.
Solutions, Resources, Help, and Wise Guides
“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance,”
– Alan Watts
While the proliferation of highly qualified technology professionals is growing, particularly on the international stage, the number of genuinely qualified business technology leaders is not growing to meet the demand. Many will claim to be qualified business technology professionals but simply are not, or worse, they are charlatans masquerading. Sadly, most CEOs don’t figure this out until they are 1 to 2 years into their relationship. The combination of technical expertise, business acumen, and leadership skills at the C-suite level is challenging to find and comes with a very high price tag when employed full-time.
Among the new generation of bright and capable technology leaders is Crystal Peterson, CEO of STG. Crystal occupies the top spot at STG, a business technology consulting leader for nearly three decades. A proven business technology partner, STG contributes to the technology community by developing people, projects, and strategy.
Crystal is incredibly bright, capable, and experienced. Her career has been all about hard-core business technology problems and issues. Her problem-solving abilities make her a natural leader in the business technology space.
Crystal’s started as a hard-working front-line worker. She learned everything she could and took on the difficult challenges and problems that helped her and her company to grow. Leadership responsibilities followed.
“Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things,”
– Theordore Levitt
As STG’s chief executive, Crystal is an innovator. She demonstrates a combination of left-brain logic and right-brain creativity. She continues to reinvent, pivot, and change. That is what being a business technology consulting firm is all about.
Crystal has an undying optimism and unrelenting passion for partnering with very talented, intelligent, and highly competent people.
She is baffled when other chief executives suggest it is lonely at the top. It has never been so for Crystal. She keeps counsel with other executives and thought leaders. Her persistent effort to find, connect, and collaborate with the other top professionals enriches her life and expands her ability to serve her customers.
Crystal is guided by the proverb, “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counselors, there is safety.” She lives by the adage, “A smart man makes a mistake, learns from it, and never makes that mistake again. But a wise man finds a smart man and learns from him how to avoid the mistake altogether.”
Her humility helps ensure that Crystal is well-connected and has access to the best thinking available on various business and technology topics. C-suite executives and technology leaders would be well served to seek the best advice from technology experts and consultants. They benefit by finding other smart people, and by learning from them how to avoid the pitfalls and risks that technology exposes.
Fear of looking foolish or losing a position or their employment altogether can cause many executives responsible for business technology decisions and strategy to withdraw and hide. And for them, that IS lonely, it is also dangerous, and it is risky. Crystal reminds us of the truth that no one of us is as smart as all of us. Her advice? “Go find good partners who have done what you are trying to do, partners who can help you.” She encourages technology leaders to avoid being a barrier to growth and progress–set aside ego, set aside fear, and get connected to the help you need.
STG’s CTO Advisory Council is full of talented and vastly experienced CTOs who are willing to help, share, and contribute. You can connect with them and have a real conversation about business technology questions and issues without any cost or risk to you. They really just want to help solve technology problems and guide organizational leaders toward better solutions.
“Keep going forward because success will come,”
– Cassandra Sanford,CEO, Kelly Mitchell Group
If you ask what drives Crystal Peterson, she will tell you about the clients working with an STG Fractional CTO. After just a few months, their problems are being solved, and they have a plan for the future. They have direction. One client recently reached out just to say thank you for the peace of mind their STG Fractional CTO is providing.
“If you don’t innovate fast, disrupt your industry, disrupt yourself, you’ll be left behind,”
– John Chambers,CEO, Cisco
CEO to CEO, business technology leader to business technology leader, here is Crystal’s concluding advice, “The wisest thing you can do is to seek out people who have experienced things you face–partners who can guide you along the way.”
Here is a quick summary of essential wisdom for executives leading technology from Crystal Peterson, a successful and experienced CEO at the technology consulting firm STG.
Summary:
Learn. Study. Read. Stay current. Read things like this document. Follow the links to other educational material.
Work hard. Be persistent. Be optimistic.
Get help. Use qualified business technology advisors.
Be the help your team and others need.
“The only way to win a sustainable competitive advantage is through strategy; without a strategy, operational capabilities alone don’t work.”
– Michael Porter
Mel Tingey knows precisely how to craft an achievable business technology strategy. He is a key member of Crystal’s leadership team. He is the Chief Technology and Strategy Officer at STG. Grounded in real-world strategy and delivery experience that spans the past few decades, Mel is a pragmatic thinker who is skilled at using technology solutions and a human-honoring approach to disentangle, simplify, and fix complex business problems.
His engaging personality and gregarious nature make Mel a delight to work with. Consistent with the STG values and mission, Mel and his team of Fractional CTOs and Business Technology Advisors are committed to doing the right thing and providing real value.
What stands out in any conversation with Mel is his enthusiasm for the possibilities technology offers and the hope for significant improvement among team members when under the guidance and influence of a qualified business technology leader. The mission of Mel’s team is a combination of the Hippocratic Oath, “First, do no harm,” and the creed of a no trace left behind woodsman, “Leave the people and the organization better than when we started.”
To support that mission, Mel knows that every organization is unique–that means that every consulting engagement using his Business Technology Advisors and Fractional CTOs will also be unique. Executives engaging their technology consultants are well-served by this unique and fresh approach.
Organizational leaders should ask potential advisors about typical solutions they employ. They should check references. If past engagements always use the same software solutions, the advisor is likely a licensed partner of the company that sells those software solutions. Before the engagement, validate if the technology advisor has any partnership relationships with software or technology vendors.
Independence is a sacred guiding principle when engaging a Fractional CTO or Business Technology Advisor. In the same way that to a hammer, everything looks like a nail, every technical problem looks like a commission check to a technology advisor who has legal partnerships with software or technology vendors.
Grounded in independence and only after a thorough technology analysis can the right solution be illuminated and recommended. For that reason, Mel and his team follow a disciplined process, using high integrity, to understand their client’s unique situations. Whether working with Mel and STG or not, leaders will find great value in the five guiding principles used by every Fractional CTO or Business Technology Advisor at STG.
Starting with the foundational principle of being independent of any software or technology vendor, the following elements lay the groundwork for technological business success.
First. STG Advisors and Fractional CTOs start every engagement with a Business Technology Assessment with a Risk and Readiness Review. After in-depth research and consultation with other thought leaders in business technology, STG created a ten-dimension framework for evaluating technology risk, readiness, and various delivery measures for any organization.
Using the STG Strategic Technology Framework, a Fractional Chief Technology Officer (FCTO) can evaluate and score each dimension for levels of risk and readiness. The scores help inform the priority of the problems and the urgency for solutions. An objective process to determine the organization’s technological risk and readiness helps everyone see the picture clearly and align on the top priorities.
Second. The next step is the creation or refinement of a Business Technology Strategy and Vision Statement with a prioritized plan. This step is a collaborative effort between the Business Technology Advisor/Fractional CTO and key organizational leaders, including the chief executive, other C-suite representatives, and other selected IT professionals.
Third. A tremendous value to the organization is the review of the client’s entire technology budget and all IT contracts. This step eliminates unseen waste and recaptures capital resources that are essential to drive the technology plan forward.
Fourth. The establishment of a fully functioning executive-level Business Technology Strategy Group where all technology decisions are made. This group ensures that business technology decisions are made transparently, in the organization’s best interest, and consistent with business objectives.
Fifth. Client coaching and guidance. This includes regular and candid interaction with the CEO and other C-suite executives. Other key leaders and IT personnel may be included.
These five elements guide STG Business Technology Advisors and Fractional CTOs to deliver valuable results for every client in every engagement.
Any C-suite executive will find value in considering these principles as they wrestle with business technology challenges and opportunities.
Here is the summary:
Independence is paramount for any Business Technology Advisor or Fractional CTO.
Every engagement will be unique based on the needs and priorities of the organization.
A five-element process helps determine the unique strategy and plan of action.
Complete a Business Technology Assessment with a Risk and Readiness Review using the ten-dimension framework.
Create or refine the Business Technology Strategy and Vision Statement with a prioritized plan and roadmap.
Review the entire technology budget, including all IT contracts.
Establish a fully functioning executive-level Business Technology Strategy Group where all technology decisions are made.
Provide client coaching and guidance.
Follow the plan and priorities to effect technological strategic excellence.
Wise guides like Crystal and Mel can provide business leaders and technology professionals with what they desperately need. Their approach is grounded in a culture of inquiry and commitment to deliver. Ignoring technology advisors out of fear, embarrassment, or shame simply will not do. Isolationist behaviors allow challenges to proliferate. Collaboration with the right partners will lead to solutions and success.
Choosing a Business Technology Advisor or Fractional CTO doesn’t have to be overwhelming, but it should be done carefully. Considerations should include the independence of the potential advisor. Advisors should be armed with tools, experience, and rubrics for assessing business technology risk and readiness. The ten-dimension framework for thoroughly analyzing the business technology landscape is useful. Having access to a pool of top business technology talent is important. STGs Fractional CTOs and Business Technology Advisors collaborate on solutions and provide feedback on recommendations. Peer-reviewed strategies and plans ensure quality and completeness.
Summary
If you don’t have a business technology strategy, you don’t have a business strategy.
Creating and delivering on a true Business Technology Strategy is not a single event. It is a continuous process that must be as normal and essential as breathing air.
Technology has proliferated into every aspect of life. The proliferation has been steady and relentless over such a long period of time that it now occurs with little notice.
The magnitude and rapidity of innovation is accelerating. It is now essential to consider technology as a central element of your organizational strategy.
Business technology strategy cannot be delegated, relegated, or abdicated to lower-level IT staff and employees. It belongs and must exist in the C-suite.
Delegation, relegation, and abdication of business technology strategies have invited risk and have been the cause of public embarrassment and organizational failure.
While the number of IT professionals is growing, the number of true business leaders is still scarce. For that reason, mid-sized organizations need access to select the right Business Technology Advisors and Fractional CTOs.
Business Technology Advisors and Fractional CTOs are often influenced, owned, or controlled by software and technology vendors. Hiring them is tantamount to letting a Trojan Horse in the gates. Recommendations and decisions from non-objective sources may exacerbate complex problems. The independence of advisors is essential to the trust and reliability of recommendations and plans.
Business Technology Advisors and Fractional CTOs must be armed with tools, experience, rubrics, and resources to evaluate business technology risk and readiness. It is essential for plans and priorities to be established based on thorough risk and readiness assessments.
For STG, their researched framework of ten dimensions assists qualified business technology professionals in completing assessments with integrity. Their CTO Advisory Council elevates the quality of planning and technology implementation for all clients by submitting recommendations and plans to council members for peer review.
Technology represents remarkable opportunities. It also represents the potential for profound risk. C-suite executives are responsible for both.
Executives who ignore either the opportunities or the risks that technology offers do so at their own peril.
“If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat,”
– Sheryl Sandberg
There is help available. There is no cost to leaders to have a conversation with an STG world-class business technology leader and professional. NOT having such a conversation may be disastrous.
You should have great hope and tremendous excitement for the future. Technology will open new doors and opportunities. Remember:
“The future is still so much bigger than the past,”
– Tim Berners-Lee
And
Let’s create some magic!
Afterword
This document underscores the risks and potential rewards associated with technology deployment in an organizational setting. For good or ill, whether we are on the path of risk or reward, technological advancement is inevitable. There is no opting out of the inexorable tidal wave that is innovation.
The inevitability of technological innovation and the increasingly rapid rate at which we are introduced to change heightens the importance of capable technology leadership. The absence of experienced technology leadership in the C-suite invites risk. By contrast, leaders who are experienced with technology can help mitigate risk and protect the organization from poor decisions and damaging errors.
As valuable as risk mitigation is, it falls far short of technology’s opportunities. Simply surviving the tsunami of technological advancement misses the mark of its unlimited opportunities and transformational power.
Technology is not a burden just to be managed or a force of nature to be survived. Innovation and differentiation offer unlimited opportunities to thrive! Under the direction of a qualified, capable, and visionary Fractional CTO, technology can deliver a competitive advantage. It can transform processes, people, and performance. Technology and innovation can help business leaders achieve new heights of success and achievement that aren’t even visible today.
So, here is the invitation to C-suite leaders and executives. Get on board! Start making technology work for you. Integrate technology strategy with your business strategy. Choose a C-suite ready CTO or Fractional CTO to be an integral part of your team. The impact will be dramatic. The positive results will be immediate.
Whether or not you choose STG, you will be advantaged by having a conversation. May you thrive in the world of change that is our reality. The quality of your technology leader, coupled with the right business technology strategy will greatly influence your future success.
Throughout this document, there are links to additional educational assets and free resources to help you along your path to technology safety and strategic excellence. Links to those resources are duplicated here:
