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Virtualization is the topic du jour in IT today. The technology is cool, the attributes are slick and now the stock market even is tracking it. The adoption problem that is facing virtualization strategies stems from a bottom up IT driven approach versus a top down business aligned approach. Furthermore, the technology is limiting in value unless it is implemented as a “virtual service oriented platform architecture” with a dynamic operational model. In our experience, we took a business aligned approach and created a virtual oriented utility platform that incorporates the needs of the business, the control over execution and the leverage of everything virtual. This Virtual Oriented Utility Strategy can be implemented & leveraged by following the 9 step blueprint below. What can a Virtual Oriented Utility Strategy help organizations do… - become more flexible and responsive to the dynamic needs of the business - simplify & reduce the complexity of the IT environment - get more ...

Definition: SWOT is an abbreviation for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats SWOT analysis is an important tool for auditing the overall strategic position of a business and its environment. Once key strategic issues have been identified, they feed into business objectives, particularly marketing objectives. SWOT analysis can be used in conjunction with other tools for audit and analysis, such as PEST analysis and Porter's Five-Forces analysis . It is also a very popular tool with business and marketing students because it is quick and easy to learn. The Key Distinction - Internal and External Issues Strengths and weaknesses are Internal factors. For example, a strength could be your specialist marketing expertise. A weakness could be the lack of a new product. Opportunities and threats are external factors. For example, an opportunity could be a developing distribution channel such as the Internet, or changing consumer lifestyles that potentially increa...

Overall Definition: Johnson and Scholes (Exploring Corporate Strategy) define strategy as follows: "Strategy is the direction and scope of an organisation over the long-term: which achieves advantage for the organisation through its configuration of resources within a challenging environment, to meet the needs of markets and to fulfil stakeholder expectations". In other words, strategy is about: * Where is the business trying to get to in the long-term (direction) * Which markets should a business compete in and what kind of activities are involved in such markets? (markets; scope) * How can the business perform better than the competition in those markets? (advantage)? * What resources (skills, assets, finance, relationships, technical competence, facilities) are required in order to be able to compete? (resources)? * What external, environmental factors affect the businesses' ability to compete? (environment)? * What are the values and expectations of those who have pow...