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Take a minute to think about what your company does. What key things must your company do to be successful? Consider a couple of ideas:

Create close customer relationships

Provide excellent dining experiences

Process claims efficiently and fast

Maximize inventory churn

Be known as a brilliant salesperson

Instill confidence in every report we provide to our customers

Be on-time and prepared

If you were to take a piece of paper and write down the four things that your company does or should do to be successful, you would be identifying your companys core competencies. These are the critical success factors needed to execute its business strategy; your business must be an expert in doing these four things to maintain its edge and competitive advantage.

This is a great exercise. Its a good idea for you to know what these are. There shouldnt be too many otherwise your business model might be too complex and difficult to pull off, and there shouldnt be too few lest your business model would be easy to replicate by others.

Now that youve clearly articulated your core strengths, consider the business activities that support your competencies or enable your competencies. On the same piece of paper, you could write down a few of the business processes that are related to these competencies.

Inventory issue and receipt

Process customer surveys

Prepared paperwork

Home inspection

Prepare invoices

Research financial market

Again, you shouldnt go overboard here simply identify the key processes that enable your core competencies. They should come easily to mind.

Finally, consider where technology could play a critical role in increasing the speed, accuracy, and reliability of key your business activities. How could a reduction in error rate improve a core competency? How could web-based self-services improve customer interaction> How could internal automation increase efficiency and economy of scale? Where are potential areas of confidentiality and data breach that could jeopardize a competency? How could you do, what you do, better and more accurately? How could technology help maximize your competencies?

This exercise is simple and wouldnt take more than thirty minutes of your time, but its critical in applying technology strategically. It allows you to target your technology spend towards value-added initiatives that will improve how your business plan works and will provide material benefits in its execution. It goes a step further than just purchasing a microcomputer or software asset and asks how your business activities could be transformed by innovative technical investment. And thats the real value of IT to your business.

Russell Mickler works a technology consultant in Battle Ground, WA, USA. With over thirteen years of experience, Mickler teaches for numerous colleges and universities, and earned a CISSP, MCSE, and a Masters Degree in Information Technology. His website can be found at http://www.micklerandassociates.com. He can be contacted at mickler@micklerandassociates.com

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