The importance of a sound business strategy for SMEs

Those who own or manage small and medium-sized companies are often convinced that discussing business strategy is a luxury that only larger companies can afford. In reality, this is an error of judgment that can have disastrous effects on business development and on the ability to seize opportunities for growth and better business performance.

Any entrepreneur when creating his own company or when facing the market in search of a more advantageous competitive position, regardless of the size of his company, has – at least in broad outlines – his own strategy. He has set himself a general objective, he knows to have skills (which often coincide with what he personally knows how to do) and has defined a series of steps that will lead him to achieve the objective he set. Is all this sufficient?

The ICT Advisory Division’s consultants have the skills to analyze the company’s situation in terms of balance sheet and a complete system check-up to highlight the opportunities and “hidden” problems. The next step is to transform the output of this analysis into a clear business strategy, in written, complete and ordered form, communicable to third parties (including partners, employees, banks, suppliers). This makes possible to have a fixed reference for everyone and to eliminate any form of alibi.

A well-defined strategy allows the entrepreneur to have a clear guideline for the many operational decisions he makes during the day.  These decisions are more likely to be made in a long-term perspective, avoiding the costly zig-zag phenomenon that causes many SMEs to lose efficiency and lucidity, confuses their employees and drains energy from their main objectives.

For a strategy to be effective it needs to be clear why it creates value for customers, the company and other stakeholders. If this value creation does not work, it is the business strategy that does not work.

ICT Advisory Division is able to help the entrepreneur in communicating and sharing the strategy with those who are called to implement it and with those who will be – directly or indirectly – influenced by it. Communicating, sharing and convincing are often activities whose importance is underestimated in the implementation of strategic choices.

ICT Advisory Division helps to imagine and develop creative, solid and simple solutions, assisting the SME entrepreneur in the field in his business path. This activity is not a luxury but a necessity, as well as a moral obligation towards employees, suppliers and customers.