The Evolution of Strategy

From a business perspective, two basic interdisciplinary approaches (sales strategy and finance) combine to create value in various contexts embodied by technology.

Best business practices often take an approach based on key performance indicators, consumer behavior, and changes in the marketplace. Companies require strategic planning and a business plan because of that.

Since the 1980s, many evolutions have occurred in business, requiring dynamism and decision-making almost instantaneously or in real-time, making top leadership increasingly dependent on technological innovations.

Therefore, companies revisited their strategies to increase market value, achieve leadership in their respective segments, reduce costs and operating expenses, and make more money.

New directions emerged, envisioning future movements and adopting new methods and concepts, mainly for finance, marketing, sales, digital legislation, information technology, and HR, among other internal areas, depending on the segment in which the companies operate. The logical alignment between Information Technology and the different departments of the companies was inevitable.

The best and most respected universities and business and technology schools in the world have developed academic disciplines and products with highly embedded technology. Companies have adopted these academic disciplines and products to gain competitive strength.

The digital transformation of companies has entered a continuous and upward spiral since the 1940s.?

Still, its most incredible apex occurred from the 1960s onwards, when the first broad computers (central processing units) appeared, widely used in vast numbers. The ability to scale in the corporate market.

In the 70s, 80s, 90s, and into the new millennium (2000s onwards), information technology has played a very relevant role, being a watershed for companies, universities, business schools, and society more broadly.?

The introduction of microcomputers, the development of local and remote networks, the growth of the internet, cell phones, smartphones, and the use of integrated systems, such as ERPs, have revolutionized the market.

New products, such as telecommunications devices (routers, switches, fiber optic cabling, etc.), cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and neural networks, have evolved significantly.

Instead, companies continually adopt such technological innovations for internal and external use.

Therefore, it is possible to manage, control, monitor, and correct the data, which goes through treatment, process, and transform into information, information in Knowledge, and information in Market Intelligence through lean and automated functional processes.

They have also been developing products with high technology integrated and automated services for the market and active customers.

For companies to prepare themselves to adopt such technological solutions, it is a critical success factor that, before that, they plan and organize themselves to minimize risks for a company's Digital Transformation effort.

The implementation of corporate governance, business architecture structuring, technical solution architecture, IT governance, digital innovation, market intelligence, data quality management, total quality program, SOX (Sabanes-Oxley), ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance), and other corporate governance initiatives.

In addition to other processes, policies, laws, regulations, and certifying institutions, a company is also directed, managed, or controlled.

This context must be part of their plans and business models. This way, IT and business became part of the corporate strategic plan. Business plans are conceived to demonstrate the viability of an undertaking.

Still, according to the game's new rules, strategic planning reveals a company's movements to establish itself and grow its business in the market. Is it a futuristic projection, and what actions will be essential to ensure its transition to higher levels?

Some issues need to be resolved in the future as companies face new challenges associated with the acceleration of digital transformation, at a breakneck pace, due to the demand and events that impact the market, which affects companies and society.

Strategic planning is arguably one of the most abstract elements leaders have to deal with.

1. Where did it come from?
2. How will it develop in the future?
3. How do you manage, monitor, control, and change route corrections to accomplish your goals?
4. What will be the business indicators' management tools?
5. How do you trust information for decision-making?
6. What are the route correction alternatives to ensure the success of the strategy?

The Marketing and Sales teams must analyze development trends in the scenario, monitor competitors' movements, and discover new business opportunities.

Military thinking can be found in a historical vision that maps the roots of strategy. From there, the focus shifted to an approach in the corporate business world.

A closer look at essential market phenomena through a general map of actions directly affecting a company so that it can make its decisions accurately and confidently.

1. When faced with the risks and opportunities of globalization and deglobalization, act proactively (disarticulating political and economic alliances between countries, losing interest in the 'world without commercial borders.')

2. Consider the latest contemporary events that have increased dramatically and impacted society, economy, and international relations, after the combination of the pandemic, war in Ukraine, sudden variations in currency conversion rates, global warming, political and environmental factors, and global recession.

3. Implement cutting-edge solutions for managing the entire sales and digital marketing cycle.

4. Conduct market intelligence studies to identify risks and take corrective and mitigation measures.

5. Exploring new sales channels and creating alliances, partnerships, and contact networks for business development

6. Deeply understand the competition's movements and assess its competitiveness, products and services, and innovation efforts.

7. Know your customers, their real needs, and objectives to offer them products with cutting-edge technology incorporated and high-quality, innovative services through an individual plan of accounts.

8. To generate alternative revenues and strengthen cash flow, develop new related businesses outside the company's original industry.

9. Discontinue products and services with low revenue and high obsolescence.

10. Renegotiate debts with creditors.

11. Carry out actions to reduce operating costs and expenses, implementing fiscal planning, cash flow management, and reduction of various liabilities and debts, in addition to implementing the best practices: finance, marketing, sales, products, total quality program, and information technology, among other areas.

12. Carrying out mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and Joint-Ventures, alliances, and partnerships with well-qualified suppliers.

13. Review existing business indicators (KPI- Key Performance Indicators) and constantly analyze reports and dashboards (panels for making decisions in real-time and correctly).

14. Attract investors to new business projects, and if possible, carry out the necessary movement for the IPO (Initial Public Offering, which is the transition process in which a company ceases to be privately held. There, they become publicly traded, making it possible to have shares traded on the stock exchange and make more money).

15. Invest in appropriate technologies for the company's business structure, keeping it lean, efficient, and effective.

16. Implement actions to substantially improve competition and cooperation through corporate values and attitudes (cultural values).

17. The fundamental implications for companies on how to prepare for the future depend on the segments in which they operate. Therefore, it is of fundamental importance that your business plan is aligned with your mission, vision, and values, and above all, with short, medium, and long-term initiatives, depending on your objectives stipulated by senior leadership.

18. It is a critical success factor for companies to be agile through lean internal administrative and business processes, automated in real time, in an IT ecosystem shaped.

Therefore, the body of employees, trained and qualified, can respond to demands quickly and feed the business indicators for the top leadership to make accurate and reliable decisions promptly.