Technology Strategy

No one else provides truly independent, well-informed technology strategy advice. Companies often spend vast sums of money, to disappointing results, based largely on technology-driven solutions. We bring broad technology expertise, a unique understanding of complexity, and a neutral voice to optimize your technology investments.

A technology perfect storm

The world is changing so fast, yet it takes so long to get $#*! done. Companies are struggling to cope with and capitalize on the rate of technological change. At the same time, your technology is struggling to keep up with the rate of change in your business. Technology can be one of the greatest enablers or hindrances of your business success, yet most large technology projects fail to deliver expected results.

Against this context, executives are seeking clarity on critical strategic questions:

  • Do I replace multiple, cumbersome ERP systems with an even larger ERP system?
  • What should I move to the Cloud? And what type of Cloud (IaaS, SaaS, PaaS, FaaS)?
  • How can my business get the most value out of ML, AI, and Data Lakes?
  • How will IoT, 5G networking, and Industry 4.0 affect my business?
  • Should I shun or embrace customization?
  • Do I buy or build? How should I think about COTS tools versus COTS solutions?
  • Can APIs and ESB help my systems talk to each other?

CONTACT US FOR A PRIMER ON TECH TRENDS

Navigating technology in a complex world

Technology is particularly prone to hidden complexity costs and unintended consequences. Technology itself has become a source of complexity and solutions are often too cumbersome, inflexible, and costly. At the same time, the complexity of the business makes it challenging to understand how and where to best employ technology. Failing to understand and address this complexity leads to one-size-fits-all thinking, instead of evolving technology decision-making processes. Too much focus is given to technology selection alone, resulting in:

  • Abdication of too much influence to technology vendors and service providers
  • Routine underestimation of true technology lifecycle costs
  • Implementation of inadequate UX for the range of end-users
  • Cumbersome, brittle solutions that make even simple changes difficult
  • Significant year-over-year growth in technology sustainment costs
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What’s missing in most technology strategies?

You need a strategic framework for making technology decisions that incorporates all aspects of your information technology lifecycle. Companies often over focus on the technology selection decision alone, and overlook strategies for implementation, operations, adoption, sustainment, and obsolescence.

When employing new technology, it is easy to lose sight of the imperative to gain competitive advantage through careful redesign of differentiated business processes. This cannot be done in a vacuum. It requires an awareness of what technology can offer and the realities in the business.

You need a practical understanding of what is likely to go wrong with a technology transformation and an effective strategy for managing risk. The same issues tend to crop up: for example, digital transformations often suffer from a lack of clear leadership, undisciplined governance, poor change management, and an inability to manage the complexity of technology implementations.

Of course, technology vendors and services providers are more than happy to help you with this for “free,” but why is that? The real cost to companies is a myriad of challenges, including lack of agility and competitiveness, vendor lock-in, and greater cybersecurity risks—not to mention the actual dollars tied to spiraling license costs and being held hostage by vendors.

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We are on your side

WP&C is the leading independent advisor to large enterprises, private equity firms, and governmental organizations on technology strategy—for example, we are currently the independent strategic advisor to senior leaders of the U.S. Army on the Army’s ERP and business technology transformation. We are neither a technology vendor nor a technology services provider. We don’t have a dog in the fight and can fully align ourselves with your interests. We bring broad technology expertise, a unique understanding of complexity, and a neutral voice to optimize your technology investments.

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Outsourcing vs. Automation:
Which is right for your company?

Outsourcing and automation share common goals—cost reduction, error reduction, and capacity increase. But when executed without sufficient preparation, both approaches can fail. The addition of hidden business and process complexity can erode or even negate benefits. To determine which approach is right for your organization, the first step is to assess four factors to surface risks and identify complexities.

READ THE ARTICLE

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Introduction to robotic process automation (RPA)

Dean Hamilton, WP&C Chief Technology Officer and Partner, provides an introduction to RPA and shares key takeaways from his three decades of experience as a founder, technologist, and C-suite level executive in the latest episode of Business Infrastructure Podcast.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

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Getting started on process automation

Process automation can unlock capacity and yield significant ROI, but done poorly, it complicates processes and introduces points of failure. WP&C's unique approach integrates process design, organizational design, and technology application to ensure value creation. 

DOWNLOAD THE GUIDE

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CASE STUDY

Enabling ERP modernization for the US Army

WP&C supported the modernization of one of the most complex enterprise business system environments in the world—a US military organization with an ad hoc collection of nearly 600 businesses that relied on outdated technologies and platforms. WP&C provided an independent, holistic evaluation of the current IT enterprise architecture and advised senior executives on the creation of a strategy for modernizing both its IT systems and IT architecture to support the future mission of the enterprise.

Read the Case Study

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New!

Growth in the Age of ComplexitySM

In our latest book, learn how to navigate the Sirens of Growth® and build true scale in today’s new era of competition.

Download Chapter 1
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