Work ON the Enterprise First

A critical component of success is to work from the outside in and back to the outside again. What this means is to start with a future external view of your company. Develop a clear vision of what you want to achieve at some date in the future. Scan the world around you to identify future trends that become reality by that date in areas such as population, competition, economy, environmental (green) concerns, political/regulatory changes, technology, your industry, and your customers. This is looking OUTSIDE the organization to determine what you need to consider today to address these future challenges.

Then focus your attention INSIDE the organization to create strategies and actions that address those future trends and close the gap between where you are TODAY and the future vision you want to achieve. Throughout the process, always keep a clear focus on customer wants and needs and how well you are serving those. Every strategy you create should have serving the customer as the end goal, even if it's an enhancement to your internal IT system. The ultimate goal is increased productivity, which leads to increased customer service, which leads to increased satisfaction and a better bottomline.

Once you have a handle on the strategies and actions you are implementing to achieve your future vision, take another look OUTSIDE the organization. Do another external scan and this time link those trends to the products and services you are delivering to your customers. Are they still relevant? Or do they need adjustments?