Throughout history, military planners have taken to the clouds to assess the strength and deployment of enemy forces. From weather balloons and reconnaissance flights to stealth aircraft and military satellites, planners have assembled and interpreted the information they gather “from above” to formulate strategy for the battle ahead.
Now businesses are taking to the cloud for similarly successful application of strategy and execution.
Until recently, businesses devised strategy through long (and long-winded) industry presentations. You know the type of presentation: a review of financial goals, strategic initiatives and tactics, reports on the competitive landscape, and the obligatory SWOT analysis. Upon receiving the presentation, senior executives then meet at some expensive offsite retreat for discussion and debate. Once they agree on a strategy—in itself, a laborious and time-consuming effort—the resulting strategic plan often gets shoved into a binder, placed on a shelf and forgotten until a year later when someone dusts it off and the process starts all over again.
Sound familiar?
If this rings true for your organization, it may be time to ask some tough questions. How much ROI can you expect on a strategic plan that’s never implemented? How can your business find alignment if executives and staff don’t know what they’re supposed to be working on? Is it possible to budget for vital strategic initiatives without a clear sense of where you want to be?
Enter the cloud. Today, more and more businesses are employing cloud computing (the delivery of software, infrastructure and storage over the Internet) to get the information on strategy, alignment and execution they really need. They’re using multiple applications of the cloud for CRM, project collaboration, finance data and more—but most importantly, they are turning to the cloud for help with strategy, alignment and execution.
In 1794, the French army used a hot air balloon to survey the deployment of enemy forces. Armed with intelligence gathered “in the cloud,” they went on to win a major military victory at the Battle of Fleurus.
Ask us how CNC Strategy Cloud Solutions can do the same for your business with our strategy software.
