CEO: The role of technology in executing on strategy

The CEO’s role is to orchestrate the strategy and direction of the business. This role requires strategic thinking and execution. Since processes drive strategy, people, operations and compliance, they are intrinsic to the execution of the CEO's strategy and therefore to the CEO’s success.

In an increasingly digital age, it’s only logical that CEOs rely on software to assist them and their fellow C-Suite members to manage these processes and meet their objectives. Therefore, it is crucial that CEOs have the correct tools to steer and align their business. These tools can help CEOs set goals, monitor progress, evaluate results, make informed decisions and ensure accountability – thereby accelerating overall growth.

When using technology to improve business performance, whether that means creating new products or re-imagining current processes, it is important for the CEO, alongside the CIO, to critically evaluate the organisation’s current technology landscape in relation to the CEO’s aspirations for the company.

Identifying the gaps and weaknesses that are hampering progress is the first step to achieving a flexible business-backed architecture.

• A core infrastructure comprising ageing applications will undoubtedly hamper progress, as adding features and functionality to these assets is cumbersome, costly, time- and labour-intensive. Additionally, security becomes a great concern as manufacturers cease supporting older products.
• A disconnected siloed infrastructure slows the flow of information and work across the entire company. When systems don’t communicate with each other, data is essentially trapped within the respective systems, leading to data duplication and increased risk of errors, offering dubious business insights at best.
• Processes span all functional areas within an organisation connecting employees, consumers and suppliers. If the existing technology infrastructure fails to support company-wide process automation and management, then business progress will be stymied, it will be tough to enforce controls and it will be difficult to glean meaningful insights into performance, risk, compliance and more.
• People are intrinsic to the successful execution of strategy. If the corporate systems and processes are overly complicated or difficult to use, people will resist using them, potentially leading to compliance issues and delays.

Without the correct tools in place, it is challenging for the rest of the business to execute on the CEO's strategy, while poorly supported processes can erode stakeholder trust, resulting in brand damage, high staff churn and low margins.

FlowCentric Technologies assists companies and their CEOs to create impactful business process systems that support the company’s people, systems and suppliers to deliver on strategy while lowering risk and improving efficiencies.

In addition to business analyses, system analyses and process optimisation services, the company offers turnkey business management software solutions. Solutions are built on the company’s proprietary business process management platform, FlowCentric Processware, and are frequently required to:

• Extend the functionality of incumbent ERP systems;
• Link disparate systems through process flows and integration;
• Leverage data from ageing systems in new applications; and
• Deliver powerful business solutions in ongoing support of strategy.

FlowCentric Processware provides a powerful toolset for rapid and sustainable company-wide process management, standardisation, integration and automation. Because the platform supports continuous process improvement and digitalisation initiatives, when a weakness or need is identified, the business can rapidly build and deploy a bespoke business solution to remedy the situation.This approach delivers the control and insights the CEO desires, with the speed and flexibility the business craves.

By implementing a business management system like FlowCentric Processware, a CEO puts into operation a system that is able to quickly adapt in response to challenges and opportunities, helping business leaders make the right decisions for overall company growth.

Additionally, with the FlowCentric Processware BPM toolset in place when a weakness or need is identified, the business can rapidly apply a process-driven IT solution to remedy the situation.

With well-managed processes, the CEO can be confident that the business is working efficiently and avoiding unnecessary risk.

For turnkey business management systems that will help drive strategy, talk2us@flowcentric.com.