Top 10 trends in strategy execution software for 2019

Strategy Execution is growing up, and there's never been a better time to stay on top of the game. Here are the top 10 trends dominating Strategy Execution, as i-nexus' CEO, Simon Crowther, explores.

2019 promises to be the year that Strategy Execution software emerges from the shadow of business improvement and mid-level continuous improvement projects, into a CXO demanded initiative.

There is a shift to ensuring there is a single C-Suite owner to oversee the execution of the mission-critical strategy and for these people, there is a recognition that an enterprise software solution is a “must have”.  In our fast-paced, financially unstable digital age, large enterprises must be able to operate and transform to with common rigour and responsiveness.

Where executive leadership teams have historically ‘outsourced’ some of their critical transformational outcomes to a myriad of consulting firms, there is a recognition that the expected outcome is often rarely sustained or even initially achieved.

Senior leaders are demanding a platform to ensure they can execute their own strategy, under their own team, in the digital age, at pace and with a high probability of success.  The Strategy Execution platform is the most effective way of tracking the execution of strategy (transformation, M&A, market entry, strategic programs, financial plans, etc.) in real-time with the ability to cascade strategy, ensure cross-company alignment, support bidirectional communication and the visualization of data which results in the ability to move the strategy execution needle from invisible to visible.

Here are the trends to watch in 2019 for strategy execution:

To recap:

1. The emergence of the CXO demand for a platform that enables strategic execution to be managed with the same discipline as day to day business;
2. Movement away from outsourcing of strategy execution from specialized consulting firms to an internal Strategy Execution team using a dedicated platform;
3. Corporate recognition that their mission-critical strategic execution tools and data deserve more respect than excel and share point, with today’s risks in data reliability and security;
4. The establishment of a dedicated Strategy Execution C-suite leader and dedicated team;
5. Deploying a platform for the executive team to cascade their full strategic plan with all initiatives and actionable components to the vast number of teams and individuals globally delivering their component, no matter how small;
6. Amongst these thousands of teams and individuals, there also needs to be the ability to performance manage progress in strategy deployment to a similar level of discipline to the day to day performance, through common facts and evidence.
7. The creation of the ‘Strategy Execution Digital Boardroom’ to monitor strategy execution through progress and the key outcomes in KPIs.  Real-time, scalable to all levels of the matrix organization, and viewable across multiple devices.
8. Tougher economic times demanding swift, guaranteed delivery of strategy execution through a higher volume of smaller scope deliverables explicitly aligned to each other and the greater goal;
9. With the stakes so high for a solution of this nature it is no surprise that we will see formal, standard strategy execution platform procurement process driven from the CXO and run by procurement;
10. Advancements will also be made in using predictive external analytics and AI, aligned to your enterprise solution to alert to future risk of failure

The trend amongst many global leadership teams is to demand a specialized platform that allows them to record their strategic plans, cascade these to the hundreds or thousands of people impacted worldwide and to then ensure these changes are delivered via effective performance management.  They want a general management tool, a strategy execution platform. 

We are running a series of free workshops in Europe and North America which will show you how a strategy execution technology platform will:

•   Allow an executive team to distil their full strategic plan into all its actionable, constituent components
•   Provide a mobile-first solution allowing real-time tracking and risk mitigation
•   Empower a strategy engine to cascade the actions to the thousands of people worldwide
•   Act as the strategy execution cockpit for the executive team to monitor in real-time the progress and KPI driven value delivered

Itching to learn more?

We have a wealth of resources freely available to digest, all designed to help you achieve your strategic goals. We've hand picked the below to set you on the right track:

• How to get your strategy to play ball with the catchball process: Great strategies make use of the catchball process. Here's what that means and how you can integrate it.
• The emergence of the CXO demand for a Strategy Execution platform: The expectations of senior leadership teams are evolving, and we're seeing an emerging demand for smart, nimble and insightful strategy software platforms from the CXO. 

About the author

Simon is i-nexus' CEO. His focus is to bring out the best of the talented i-nexus team as well as improve the quality of our customers' experiences.

If you'd like to talk more about your strategic challenges connect with Simon on LinkedIn.