Without execution even the most brilliant strategy is useless! A study of 200 companies in the Times noted that 80% of directors said they had the right strategies but only 14% thought they were implementing them well, linked to the finding that despite 97% of directors having a 'strategic vision', only 33% reported achieving 'significant strategic success'.[1]

Over the past few months I have been working with a senior colleague to define a new service offering which will answer this dilemma and aims to place the CIO function at the forefront of strategic business change and provide the insight and support to deliver actionable business goals. Our new ‘Strategy Realisation’ service offering aims to provide the direction and capabilities that the CIO requires in order to maximise the application of strategies across the enterprise – in effect, it’s about making your strategy stick!

Our approach is designed to answer the following questions;

Have we got a common understanding? Is there anything that people on the ground can draw from the strategy? Does it provide guidance for implementation across different business functions? Capgemini work to foster consensus up and down of how to do things differently or agreeing a compromise and remember there will always be compromises in the implementation of a strategy! Once you have consensus around the things that you are going to do, then execution is achievable.

Does the strategy have a corporative focus? Is it applicable across the relevant business areas? Do these areas have the operational capability to deliver the desired goals? We aim to provide the insight that aligns strategy with practical application, thus fostering the steps required for implementation.

Is it plausible?  Does it make sense? Are the goals that are outlined achievable? Are we targetting the correct business areas and utilising the correct tools/ methodologies for achieving our goals?

Is it complete? Are all pertinent subject areas covered ? Are there any gaps in which Capgemini’s Strategy Development team could add value ? 

The role of the IT in driving business change is expanding – it began with standardizing and delivering infrastructure and operations services. Then we moved to shared applications, now it’s about establishing IT as a leadership function and a driver for strategic business change. This gap between strategy creation and benefit realization is frequently a company’s inability to execute the strategies they define, Capgemini have the capability and expertise to help realise these goals – that’s where ‘Strategy Realisation’ fits in.