Strategy consulting is the industry and practice of assisting businesses with high-level decisions that enable them to earn the highest possible profits and beat the competition. Strategy is distinct from tactical operations in that strategy addresses the question, “What do we do?”, while tactics addresses the question, “How do we do it?” A strategic question might be “What should we do to differentiate ourselves from the competition?”, while a tactical question might be, “How can we operate our warehouse the most efficiently?” Tactical questions cover many gaps and siloes throughout the organization and seek to find answers to address to the “operational how-to” that drive clarity and optimization in business process and technology decisions. Strategic questions operate at a higher level, prioritizing resources among the competing demands to maximize shareholder wealth.
Tilson provided strategic planning services to MaineToday Media, a large Portland, Maine-based communications and publishing company. By interviewing all key personnel and IT staff, researching their current IT capabilities and security needs, Tilson was able to understand the current challenges of the organization and provide valuable strategic guidance to senior management. Tilson identified deficiencies that were limiting production, potential income and future growth. Our team provided management with a well-documented strategic plan, complete with recommendations, risk levels, costs and expected level of effort. This has become a living document which continues to guide the organization and its initiatives.
Tilson was retained by the State of Maine Department of Defense Veterans Affairs Emergency Management, Maine Military Authority to review, analyze and provide recommendations for automating their existing manual business processes and legacy network. Our team interviewed, documented and provided strategic recommendations for system requirements. We furthered these strategic services by conducting a structured vendor selection to evaluate proposed Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP) system solutions and guided them to making a system selection. In addition, Tilson analyzed their current network connectivity and provided recommendations and guidance for better connecting their facilities.