Essay About Strategic Planner And Classical Strategic Planning

Planning
Planning
Strategic Planning
Introduction
Strategy is the action that allows realization of long-term vision and goals
Planning is a process that attempts to coordinate the deployment of resources over time
Planning horizon is a key differentiation between strategic, tactical, and operational planning
Role of Network Services in Strategic Planning
For some organizations, network technology will be central to the core mission
Network equipment or services company
Common carrier or ISP
Organization focusing on network-based deliver of products and services
For some organizations, network technology will be a utility service
The number of organizations for which networking is strategic is increasing
Corporate strategic planning was popularized in the 1960s
Outgrowth of Frederick Taylors Scientific Management
The goal is to find the one best strategy
Profession of strategic planner assumes that planning can be coordinated independent of content
Assumes that the thorough analysis of hard data leads to insights
The planning process is highly structured
Classical strategic planning has not been as successful as originally envisioned
It ignores the central role of vision
It is too analytical and formalized
The structured process often results in the exclusion of important players
It is based on principles of statistical forecasting that are often unreliable
It is based on “hard” data and ignores “soft” data that is difficult to quantify
strategic planning, strategic thinking, and strategy making are not synonymous
Information Technology Planning: Is it strategic?
IT is increasingly a key competitive differentiator
IT touches everyone within an organization in some fashion (i.e., everyone is a stake holder)
IT projects are often extremely complex
IT projects require dedication of immense resources
Perspective A: Strategic IT Planning is Essential
Need to link IT strategy to organizational strategy
Corporate goals are increasingly tied to IT
Inadequate consideration of IT can doom projects
Need to make rational resource allocation decisions
Lack of skilled staff requires establishment of planning priorities
Rapid technology change requires inclusive approach to planning
Need to integrate systems requires planning and coordination
Perspective B: Strategic IT Planning is largely a Waste of Time
Strategic IT planning is a resource drain and takes too much time
Strategic IT planning leads to lowest-common denominator solutions resulting from political compromise
Strategic IT planning often leads to increased centralization because efficiency is often valued highly
Strategic planning processes make it difficult to adapt to new technologies
It is impossible to involve the most important people because they are too busy doing “essential” work
Tactical Planning
Introduction
Tactical planning deals primarily with the implementation phase of the planning process
Tactical planning