If you have a Data-driven Strategy, or any kind of strategy, it doesn’t matter if you don’t have a way to put it into action! When I was working at Wells Fargo a few years ago in Enterprise Architecture, the CEO, John Stumpf, made the point in this quote “We always say we could leave our strategic plan on an airplane, somebody could pick it up and it wouldn’t matter. It’s all about execution.“
Actually, strategy is crucial especially for your innovative and dramatic data-driven digital transformations; it defines your vision, objectives and goals among other elements. But as John Stumpf says, a vision is not worth much if you can’t execute it – this is the hard part! The reason is that executing strategies that are sophisticated and comprehensive, 1) need changes to many functions (not just one or two), 2) may challenge deeply embedded cultural behaviors, 3) put significant demands on your suppliers and partner channels, and 4) need support across virtually all staff roles across the company. What you need to do in this scenario is to execute your strategy using an effective business transformation capability. If you don’t have a strong data transformation track record in your company, you need to align with a partner with the deep talent in this area.
I’m proud to have worked with many customers during my 10 years with Informatica helping them build this competency. Informatica has demonstrated practice-leader around the world for data-driven Digital Transformation! There are 3 reasons why Informatica has this leadership. We have:
- A data-driven technology business with 25 years of experience and leadership in every Gartner Magic Quadrant we participate in,
- Vendor neutrality, working with any on-premises or cloud application or analytics provider around the word, and
- The best transformation planning accelerator in the industry!
The first two reasons are generally well understood, but it might be the 3rd point that needs explanation. It may be news to many of you that Informatica acquired the best business transformation toolset available in the industry 3 years ago. To provide a short description, the toolset includes 1) industry-specific business frameworks, 2) a teachable planning approach, 3) a multifaceted meta model to map all the relationships in a complex change, and 4) a planning database utility to capture and share all the relevant details. The combination of these four elements is unique in the industry!
You of course need a strategy to shape your drive-driven transformation, and a good place to start is Informatica’s Data Strategy Playbook. Once you have a strategy defined, then look at how to make your strategy big!
For more on the challenges and opportunities of digitization, contact my Informatica Professional Services team, and we’re excited to help you on your data-driven Digital Transformation journey.
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