Design Strategy for MobileFirst; loosely defined, strategy is a plan to achieve a goal. More granularly, design strategy offers insight on how to bridge the gap between corporate policies and tactics. Strategy is how we differentiate ourselves in the marketplace.
- Michael Porter (Harvard University, authority on competitive strategy) identifies three principles that underly business strategy
- Creating a unique and valuable market position – IBM MobileFirst enterprise mobility solutions deliver apps, infrastructure and ways to engage that are fundamentally designed for mobile users. That means all interactions can be personalized based on data, processed securely across touchpoints and delivered in an elegant user experience.
- Choosing “what not to do” – What are we leaving off the table (or perhaps, what do we have no influence over)?
- Aligning initiatives to support the chosen strategy – Illustrate alignment to the Fall plan.
Alignment with existing or new initiatives will rely on the outcome of Fall plan – which is still unresolved at this point. We can make some base assumptions on our intended strategy and like any good business plan it is a living document and intended to be updated as more information comes to light.
Team
Liz H., Cameron C. Black H., Brandon H., Allison H., Patrick C., Hyun S.
Strategy can also be defined as “a system of finding, formulating, and developing a doctrine that will ensure long-term success if followed faithfully.” 1
Essentially, what business should we be “in” and how can we compete?
If we follow this thread further along to a specific design strategy, some things we should consider are:
- Where are our successes that we can build upon?
- What are our key value propositions (what differentiates our products from our competitors)?
- What are existing problems and challenges?
- What are the key unmet customer needs?
- What are some emerging trends in our space we can capitalize on?
To form our design strategy, we should think of the strategic management of the business and plan our major business goals based upon our available resources, where should we focus our actions to move MobileFirst forward towards these goals? What are our goals?
- Ease of discovery
- How can we promote the adoption of our service offerings to the public?
- Example applications and/or showcase of best-of-breed apps on our platform.
- Industry recognition; as well as peer-reviewed recommendations.
- Close the gap between ourselves and others within the industry.
Speed to use
- How can we create a guided experience for our customer?
- More contextually relevant supporting documentation.
- Ability to connect with active developers (i.e. stack overflow, etc.)
- What is the minimum amount of data we need to collect in order to allow customers access to try our services?
Simple purchasing
- What is the minimum amount of data we require to purchase our services?
- For all of the above items, how can we translate the insights from our analytics into actionable solutions?
- How can we align our strategy with the marketing initiatives of our partners within IBM?
Competition is about “Who is the most profitable”? Profitability is defined by 5 competitive forces:
- Buyers
- Suppliers
- Substitute Products/Services
- New Entrants
- Existing Rivals
These five forces define every competitor in the industry and shape our future.
1. Dr. Vladimir Kvint, President of the International Academy of Emerging Markets, and an Adjunct Professor (since 2005) at La Salle University’s School of Business