Digital Strategy, IIED
The Situation
The COO of IIED needed to align stakeholders on a compelling technology strategy that both charts a clear multi-year roadmap and positions the organisation to be responsive to disruptive technological change
The Task
Engage all relevant stakeholders through surveys, one-to-one conversations, and structured workshops; review past performance and assess technology infrastructure and team, develop a cohesive, practical strategy that is signed off by senior management
The Action / Approach
In addition to deep engagement with stakeholders, I consulted industry benchmarks to contextualise the cost/benefit of the technology strategy within the wider scope of the organisational business model. Aligning strategic elements with the deep shared ideals of the organisation was particularly important to help everyone catch a shared vision and prevent siloing
The Result
“Robert worked with IIED over a period of several months to help us develop a new IT strategy and select a new provider to support its implementation. He devised and ran a series of workshops to engage with a wide staff from across the organisation, listening to their feedback about the current systems, infrastructure and service, and combined this with their aspirations into a practical strategy that was signed off by the management team. We were able to use this to prioritise services in re-tendering the IT function, and to feed into next year’s budgeting process. Feedback from colleagues about working with Robert was unanimously positive: his ability to translate tech into ‘normal speak’, empathetic communication style and shared values were welcomed by all. “Can he join us as our IT Director?” was asked multiple times, and we’d have no hesitation in working with Robert again.”
-Deborah Harris, COO, IIED
