This is the Business Strategy and Tech series talk at iSpace Accra. This is the First in the series

1. Strategy Technology and SME’s
Why am I here ?
Commercial Solutions Manager
Edel IT Consulting
BarCamp Africa UK Founder
Start-up Weekend Accra Coach/Judge
How to Implement Effective
Strategy to become
Competitive
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@MissEDCofie
EthelCofie.com
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2. Why Strategy
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3. Why Strategy
Koko
First in the
Market
Different
delivery model
Met a need and
space in the
market
Now , Several New Entrant into the space
How does Koko King
stay relevant and
Number 1
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4. Why Strategy
Without a clear business strategy: How will you know
where you business is going ? How do you know what
you need to do to get there
Video
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5. Why Strategy
Amazon’s Strategy
1.Premium products @ non-premium prices.
2.Make money when people use our devices not when they
buy our devices.
3.Deep Integration Hardware, OS, key apps, cloud and
services
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6. What Businesses Want ?
• Increase profitability.
• Gain more market share.
• Increase approval ratings, or boost
customer satisfaction.
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7. Exercise :Lets Pick a business to model a
strategy For ?
Declining Sales
Lowered market Share
Secure Product
Infusion of Capital given
Good software Asset
base
Chillax
Any from the audience ?
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Winner of Start-up
weekend Accra
Good Publicity
$1500 Funds
Looking for potential
Investors
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8. Strategy Questions (The Now)
Really. why did
they buy? no spin
we create compelling
marketing materials
and have hard-driving
sales people that get
customers buying
product or are we
solving a deep-seated
customer need?
What problem
you are solving
for today’s
users of your
product
Are you
winning
(Marketing vs.
Compelling
What are you
customer
Segments
Who uses your
products
Are you
operationally
efficient
1.Why are they
buying from us?
2.What are their
alternatives?
3.What do
customers hate
about us
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What are you profit
margins
Strength
Against
Competition
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9. Strategy Questions (What do you do with GoogleAnalytics
I hate to be the bearer of bad news……but your website
may not be as pretty or user-friendly as you think. How
you think users interact with your website can be very
different from reality.
What is the bounce rate ?
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10. Strategy Questions (how are your customers behaving on
your Platform)
Number of logins per
day, week or month
,
Length of
visit, actions taken on
the site or app
and anything else
specific to the
product
.
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11. Strategy Questions (Where do you want to go )
•
•
•
•
•
•
Where do you think your customers’ needs will evolve to based on your
world view of changes in the marketplace in the next 2-3 years (i.e. changes
in computing devices, regulations, end user adoption of technologies such as
wearable computers, watching online video, whatever)
Financially
Customer Delight
What features do you need to stay abreast
Improving UX
Challenge your assumptions
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12. Challenge your Assumptions
Henry Ford challenged the assumption that
automobiles were expensive, hand-built carriages for
the wealthy.
Anita Roddick challenged the assumption that
cosmetics had to be in expensive bottles. Her
retail chain, the Body Shop, sold products in
plastic containers.
IKEA challenged assumptions by
allowing customers to collect their
furniture from the warehouse.
The low-cost airlines like Southwest and
Easyjet challenged the assumptions that you
needed to issue tickets, allocate seats and
sell through travel agents.
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13. Challenge your Assumptions, don’t go for the most
obvious decision/solution
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14. Reframe the Problem
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15. How to perform a strategic planning exercise
Lets look at our strategy again….
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16. Strategic Execution
Prioritize Strategy
3-5 yrs
1……
2….
3…..
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What are you doing this
What are you doing this
Year to Meet the Strategy Quarter/week to Meet the
Strategy
1……
1……
2….
2….
3…..
3…..
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17. How to be Strategic to offer better Solutions for
Client
• Review past board decks, or other company strategy
material -These are all great clues to the higher-level vision
and the evolution.
• How is the company measuring progress against the goals?
Is it revenue, number of customers, volume of
transactions, etc.? How are these measurements done
• In order to meet the company goals it is important to
understand how the product has been built and what plans
exist for advancing it in the future.
• Understand the market and competition. If there is a
competitive analysis somewhere then you can start by
reviewing the research that has already been done.
• How are customers treated?
• Understand the pain points
• Read Budget and World Bank Report
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18. Take Away Material
The 2 Page Strategy Sheet
The Harvard Paper on Executing
Strategy(
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