05.04.10
Tactical or Strategic?
[Cartoon]
The man jumped from the 20th floor of a burning building. He was heard by others as he passed the 10th floor, “Doing Fine!” Of course, he did not survive the fall. This man experienced something in a matter of seconds that can take corporations years to experience. First, they leap to safety to avoid getting burned due to some circumstance in the market. Unfortunately, their leap results in such significant change they find themselves heading for a crash.
For example, Service Merchandise had for years been successful with a unique retail delivery model. In this model, Service Merchandise collected and maintained customer information that far exceeded the customer databases of other retailers. With this model, converging the store, mail-order, and internet channels was also almost easy.
When Service Merchandise felt a downturn in profits due to a slow economy, the management looked for a solution. They decided the problem was their business model. They decided to jump to the model being used by other retail stores.
Their leap is now history. They stopped being the company that everyone knew and became just like every other retail store. The company was “Doing Fine” for a while under bankruptcy protection, but the end came and the doors of Service Merchandise were closed.
Every day business organizations make tactical decisions when they should be thinking strategically. This happens often in the application of information technology where short term gains are obvious and long term pain is difficult to predict.
The larger the organization, the greater the probability is that a tactical solution will be applied. This is analogous to turning a battle ship versus turning a skiff. This is exemplified by organizations that decide to shift their current state components to a single supplier such as Microsoft, IBM or Oracle. The individuals that start these projects are often not with the organization two years later.
How management can distinguish a tactical versus a strategic decision is difficult. This is especially difficult when it comes to information technology. This is why management needs advocates that help them see the unseen so they can make better decisions.
Enterprise Architects are the advocates of management to see the unseen. The advocates can help the management to recognize the difference between tactical and strategic decisions.
Closing the Business / IT gap
