How do you develop a digital strategy in an ever changing landscape? Here is a construct which might help organise your thinking and approach when developing your own plans or reviewing existing digital activity.
One thing is for sure, strategy is a journey, often uncertain, messy and inherently incomplete but without one an organisation can often drift or sometimes make poor decisions as they have no framework to operate within. A strategy also has to be agile so as to adapt and learn to the changing environment. But a stated strategy is invaluable as it provides the organisation with a datum, a position of where they are and the actions they will take. It shouldn’t be regarded as fixed but as a tool working for the organisation and flexible enough to respond to opportunities and avoid emerging risks. Nor is strategy separate from action, without strategy there is no purposeful action and without action the strategy is dead. Strategy and action are as one.
Strategy as a whole is complex, argumentative and disparate and I don’t wish to do a disservice to the discipline of strategy making by reducing it to a mere to-do list. Strategy making requires information, debate, reflection and creativity. I felt, though, that a framework for creating digital strategy might be a useful starting point to help those on the journey or wishing to review their current strategy to frame their thinking and facilitate change.
Here is one approach which might offer some guidance. It might not be an exact match for your needs or incomplete in some way, but there is the beauty, please add or delete as you see fit to adapt it to your needs, after all your strategy is unique to your organisation. It is certainly an iterative process and may not be performed exactly in the order written but I hope this framework has some utility for you. The key to success will be the level of collaboration between departments. Digital presents a great opportunity for more parties to work together on something that will impact on the whole organisation (Marketing, Sales, IT, Operations, Finance, Customer Service, HR).
A Framework for Digital Strategy Development
Stage 1 – Foundation:
Stage 2 – Crafting Strategy
Stage 3 – Infrastructure
Stage 4 – Control and Evolution
I hope you find this of some use on your own digital journey, be great to hear if this has any value and how you adapted it for your own needs. If you would like an evaluation of your digital strategy please feel free to contact me to discuss next steps on 0777 428 3123
Bernard Page
25 years experience in marketing will help me quickly get under the skin of your marketing challenge and provide workable, commercial solutions for your organisation. I listen carefully and take the time to understand the critical issues and develop a personalised, honest response designed to drive enduring value at speed.
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