Brief on ISTE Standard 2: Visionary Planner
Kristen West
Coastal Carolina University
EDIT 760
February 8, 2025
Introduction
The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standard 3.2 – Visionary Planner emphasizes the role of leadership in developing a strategic vision for integrating technology to transform learning and organizational practices. In an era where technology is at the core of business operations, organizations must be proactive in shaping their digital landscape. Visionary leadership, as defined by Karwan et al. (2020), involves “creating, articulating, interpreting, and communicating a vision that anticipates and responds to future changes.” This proactive leadership style is crucial in guiding organizations through technological transformations.
Effective visionary planning is strongly influenced by leadership effectiveness, which plays a critical role in shaping organizational strategy and knowledge-sharing behavior. Leadership effectiveness has been found to have a direct positive effect on firm strategies and performance (Cakir & Adiguzel, 2020). According to Cakir and Adiguzel (2020), “leader effectiveness has the ability to create a vision of the future of the organization, ensure that the members of the organization focus on this vision, and show their commitment to the organization” (p. 3). This underscores the importance of leadership in digital transformation and organizational adaptation.
This paper examines how COMPANY A, Inc. addresses Standard 3.2, focusing on logistics, data collection and analysis through survey questions (See Appendix A for full survey and responses) to determine the effectiveness of its strategic planning initiatives. By analyzing employee surveys, interviews, and organizational documents, this study identifies both strengths and opportunities for improvement in COMPANY A’s approach to visionary planning with technology. According to Karwan et al. (2020), visionary leaders not only foresee changes but also inspire stakeholders to align their efforts toward a shared strategic goal, ensuring that organizations remain competitive and adaptive in an evolving market.
Logistics of Visionary Planning at COMPANY A
At COMPANY A, visionary planning follows a structured, ongoing process that involves multiple phases, including the identification of business needs, strategic planning, execution, and continuous evaluation. Visionary planning at COMPANY A is not an isolated event but a continuous cycle where improvements and technological advancements are implemented progressively. According to Stefanie Chautin, Senior Manager of Business Technology, having a Business Technology Team allows the organization to focus on incorporating technology in a way that aligns closely with its overarching goals. These strategic planning initiatives occur through quarterly meetings, annual portfolio reviews, and continuous feedback loops with stakeholders. These cycles help ensure that technological advancements remain aligned with corporate priorities and serve the company’s long-term objectives rather than being short-term fixes.
The implementation of Microsoft Dynamics across various departments, including sales and warranty, serves as a key example of COMPANY A’s commitment to digital transformation. The company has adopted a phased approach to implementation, allowing it to test and refine technology before rolling it out on a larger scale. The process follows an agile methodology that enables flexibility and adaptation based on user feedback. Ben Gogel, Manager of Business Technology, explains that the company does not begin with a technology-first approach but instead prioritizes understanding the problem that needs to be solved. This aligns with research suggesting that visionary leaders “do not impose technology but rather leverage it as a strategic partner in achieving organizational success” (Karwan et al., 2020).
Data Collection: Surveys, Interviews, and Strategic Documents
To evaluate the effectiveness of visionary planning, COMPANY A collects data through a combination of employee surveys, interviews with key personnel, and internal strategic documents. These sources provide a comprehensive view of how technology is implemented, received, and adjusted within the company. Employee surveys allow the company to measure employee satisfaction and ease of use with technology, while leadership interviews offer insight into the decision-making processes behind technological implementations. Additionally, strategic planning documents help assess whether technology initiatives align with corporate objectives and future goals.
One of the key findings from data collection is the discrepancy between leadership’s perception of visionary planning and the experience of frontline employees. While upper management emphasizes the structured nature of planning and implementation, some employees feel disconnected from the decision-making process. Randy Frontera, a Senior Sales and Marketing Representative, voiced concerns that technology solutions were developed without sufficient input from sales personnel. He expressed frustration, stating that the tools in place seemed to have been implemented by individuals who lacked direct sales experience. This sentiment highlights the need for broader engagement across all levels of the organization during the early stages of planning. Research supports this notion, indicating that “successful visionary leadership requires inclusive decision-making and participation from all stakeholders” (Karwan et al., 2020).
Another major finding relates to the scalability and sustainability of technology initiatives. COMPANY A leverages Microsoft’s suite of tools, including Microsoft Dynamics, PowerBI, and PowerPlatform, to create a cohesive digital infrastructure. These platforms provide long-term scalability, allowing COMPANY A to adapt to changing business needs. However, as Stefanie Chautin emphasized, despite the benefits of these tools, wider adoption remains a challenge. Many employees struggle with adapting to new systems, and without adequate training and engagement, the full potential of these tools may not be realized. Cakir and Adiguzel (2020) highlight that “leaders must ensure that technological transitions are supported by training and clear communication to maximize adoption and efficiency” (p. 5).
Analysis: Interpreting the Data
The data collected from surveys, interviews, and strategic documents reveal both strengths and areas for improvement in COMPANY A’s visionary planning process. A key strength lies in the company’s structured and data-driven approach, which ensures that technology investments align with business needs. By leveraging agile methodologies, COMPANY A maintains flexibility in execution, allowing for iterative improvements based on real-world user feedback. Additionally, the organization’s reliance on analytics to measure performance ensures that technology initiatives provide measurable business value.
However, challenges remain in fostering greater employee involvement in technology planning. The findings suggest that frontline employees often feel excluded from decision-making, leading to frustration and lower engagement with newly implemented tools. This disconnect between leadership and employees indicates a need for more transparent communication and inclusive planning practices. Employees on the ground have valuable insights that can help refine technology implementations to better serve daily workflows. As Karwan et al. (2020) emphasize, “effective visionary leadership requires a two-way dialogue between leadership and employees to foster trust and engagement.”
Additionally, while feedback mechanisms exist, the slow pace of implementing suggested changes reduces their perceived effectiveness. Employees who provide feedback expect to see tangible results from their contributions. If changes take too long to materialize, employees may become disengaged from the process, viewing their input as irrelevant or ineffective. Improving the speed at which feedback-driven changes are made can increase employee trust in the planning process and drive higher levels of engagement.
Conclusion
COMPANY A, Inc. has demonstrated a structured and data-driven approach to visionary planning, ensuring that technology initiatives align with business needs through strategic planning, iterative development, and analytics-driven decision-making. However, gaps in employee involvement and communication present opportunities for improvement. By strengthening employee engagement in the planning process, ensuring more rapid implementation of feedback, and improving communication between corporate leadership and frontline staff, COMPANY A can enhance its approach to visionary planning in alignment with ISTE Standard 3.2.
Future research should explore how employee-driven innovation can be better integrated into the corporate technology vision to maximize adoption and efficiency. In addition, more focus should be placed on ensuring that training programs are comprehensive and accessible, allowing employees at all levels to fully understand and utilize the digital tools at their disposal. Visionary planning is an evolving process, and continuous improvement in collaboration, responsiveness, and training will be key to COMPANY A’s long-term success in leveraging technology for business growth.
References
Cakir, F. S., & Adiguzel, Z. (2020). Analysis of leader effectiveness in organization and knowledge sharing behavior on employees and organization. SAGE Open, 10(1), 1-17.
Karwan, D. H., Hariri, H., & Ridwan, R. (2020). Principal visionary leadership in public junior high schools in Lampung, Indonesia. Jurnal Pendidikan Progresif, 10(1), 1-10.
APPENDIX A
Questions:
1. Leadership Team (e.g., Executives, Directors, Department Heads)
• Strategic Vision
o How does COMPANY A, Inc. develop its vision for incorporating technology into long-term organizational goals?
o What role does digital innovation play in strategic planning for the company?
o How do you ensure that the technology vision aligns with corporate values and objectives?
• Resource Allocation
o How are resources allocated for implementing visionary technology plans?
o What mechanisms are in place to prioritize investments in innovative tools or processes?
• Evaluation
o How do you measure the success of visionary planning initiatives related to technology?
o Are there any KPIs or metrics used to track progress?
________________________________________
2. Technology Team (IT, Digital Transformation Leads)
• Technology Infrastructure
o What tools or platforms have been adopted to support the organization’s vision for technological growth?
o How do you assess the scalability and sustainability of these tools?
• Implementation
o How do you ensure that visionary plans are actionable and that the appropriate technology is implemented effectively?
o Are there project management methodologies or frameworks used for implementation?
• Feedback Loops
o What processes are in place to collect feedback on implemented technologies from users?
o How is feedback incorporated into future visionary plans?
________________________________________
3. Training and Development Team (L&D, Sales Training, Onboarding Teams)
• Training and Professional Development
o What training initiatives exist to help employees adapt to and embrace new technologies?
o How are training needs identified in line with visionary planning goals?
• Employee Engagement
o How do you encourage employees to contribute ideas to the company’s technology vision?
o Are there formal programs to involve employees in pilot testing new tools or approaches?
________________________________________
4. End Users (Employees in Sales, Operations, Construction Teams, etc.)
• Technology Use in Day-to-Day Operations
o How do current technologies support your role within the company?
o Are there any inefficiencies or pain points with the current tools or systems?
• Involvement in Planning
o Have you been consulted or surveyed during the development of new technology initiatives?
o Do you feel the technology vision aligns with the practical needs of your department?
• Feedback and Adoption
o Are you provided opportunities to give feedback on new tools or workflows?
o How easy or difficult is it to adopt new technologies introduced by the company?
________________________________________
5. Data and Analytics Team
• Data-Driven Decisions
o How does data inform the company’s visionary planning efforts?
o What types of data are most valuable for evaluating the success of technology initiatives?
• Metrics and Outcomes
o Are there data points that indicate whether the organization is meeting its visionary planning objectives?
o How is data shared across departments to ensure alignment with the vision?
________________________________________
6. External Stakeholders (Vendors, Partners, Clients)
• Collaboration and Integration
o How does COMPANY A, Inc. collaborate with external stakeholders to align technology initiatives with industry trends?
o Are external stakeholders involved in discussions about technology adoption or implementation?
• Satisfaction and Impact
o From your perspective, how effectively does COMPANY A’s technology vision address client or partner needs?
o Are there opportunities for improvement or innovation in COMPANY A’s approach?
Employee: Ben Gogel
Position: Corporate Level – MANAGER, BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY – ITD Information Technology Department
2. Technology Team (IT, Digital Transformation Leads)
• Technology Infrastructure
o What tools or platforms have been adopted to support the organization’s vision for technological growth?
COMPANY A uses a host of tools and platforms ranging from in-house developed technologies to a wide range of other platforms, including a strong partnership with Microsoft and their suite of tools. A recent example of a platform that COMPANY A has adopted would be Microsoft Dynamics, which we have implemented in our Sales department and are currently implementing in our Warranty and Customer Care departments.
o How do you assess the scalability and sustainability of these tools?
There are several methods used to understand and assess the scalability and sustainability of the tools we use. Two examples would be how we frequently assess the speed and efficiency of the technologies we use, and how we frequently reach out to those that are using the technology to understand what their user experience has been.
• Implementation
o How do you ensure that visionary plans are actionable and that the appropriate technology is implemented effectively?
We approach our initiatives by first understanding what problem or business need we are trying to address and understand what our ideal state might look like when we feel we’ve addressed those needs. Once we understand the problem and the root cause of that problem, then we begin our analysis to determine if the best solution is achievable through a change in our business process or potentially can be addressed through the use of existing or new technologies. We typically do not start with technology as a solution – but rather we try to understand what problem we are trying to solve first, and technology might be a “partner” in solving that problem. We do not try to force the solution to be technology if it doesn’t fit the objective we are trying to achieve.
o Are there project management methodologies or frameworks used for implementation?
Across our IT footprint at COMPANY A, there are several methodologies that are employed in order to bring value to our business partners in operations. Some methods require a traditional, transactional approach, such as our COMPANY A IT Help Desk, which intakes a support ticket, triages it, and deploys a solution. Other initiatives require a much broader scale methodology to be implemented, such as iterations of agile methodologies and hybrid approaches that can adapt to changing requirements with some fluidity. An example of COMPANY A implementing an agile approach is the method in which we are designing and developing Microsoft Dynamics for the Post Settlement Experience currently.
• Feedback Loops
o What processes are in place to collect feedback on implemented technologies from users?
In my experience with COMPANY A IT, we are continuously collecting feedback
on implemented technologies from users. We do this in a variety of ways – but in my experience, we have employed the following techniques.
Survey our employees, frequency depends on the initiative
Survey our customers throughout their customer journey
Meet with employees and leadership stakeholders and understand their needs through interviewing them, and this is done daily/weekly in the projects I’ve been involved with
Build features in our products based on the feedback of the users, then enhance and iterate off of their feedback to improve those features – daily/weekly customer interviews.
Support boards that intake and triage employee concerns with existing technologies and can be used to understand our employees pain points.
o How is feedback incorporated into future visionary plans?
Feedback is documented in a variety of ways and grouped in a manner that fits the feedback into categories/buckets that align with one another. One way that we determine what feedback to act on is that once we feel we have identified an area in which we could solve a problem or deliver value to the business, and we have data that supports that feedback (whenever possible), then we take the next step and begin to assess the validity of our future vision and plans. One way that we approach this effort is to perform a strategic value assessment. In this method, we list several areas where we feel we could improve the efficiency or effectiveness of a segment of our business, and rank each area in terms of the value that solving that problem or addressing that business need would bring. Then we couple that with determining the level of effort that the project would take – both from a development standpoint and a change enablement standpoint. Assigning value to several projects across subsets of “Improving Business Results,” Increasing Operational Effectiveness,” and “Enhanced Risk Management” categories gives us a general picture of which projects would bring the most value vs. the effort that they would take to complete.
5. Data and Analytics Team
• Data-Driven Decisions
o How does data inform the company’s visionary planning efforts?
Data informs COMPANY As visionary planning by providing insights into market trends, customer preferences, capacity planning, resource management, and operational efficiencies.
A small example of a data-driven decision that would help a more global vision of where we would like to go from a customer experience perspective would be the approach we took to understanding what our customers needs were from an information standpoint post-settlement. Our Customer Care team used to intake information requests and label them as “Information Request – General Inquiry.” Through our analysis we found that 75% of information requests were being closed out that way – and so we had very little insight into what questions our customers were asking.
Through our analysis we determined that it would be valuable to change our method of documenting information requests and started labeling them based on the product or feature of the house that the customer needed information about (Plumbing, Electrical, Landscaping, HVAC Thermostats, etc). This allowed us to see exactly what types of categories customers called in about most frequently. This allowed us to build methods for customers to better self-serve when they had questions like this (QR Codes & NHO Packets that we currently use). From a visionary planning perspective – we have long talked about the value that a customer portal might bring to our customers – but without understanding what information our customers would be most interested in learning about – we would not be in as good a position as we are today to bring true value to our customers through the technology of a customer portal.
o What types of data are most valuable for evaluating the success of technology initiatives?
The most important types of data that COMPANY A uses includes sales data, customer feedback, employee feedback, and operational performance metrics.
• Metrics and Outcomes
o Are there data points that indicate whether the organization is meeting its visionary planning objectives?
There are plenty of data points across COMPANY A that indicate whether we are meeting our short term and long term strategies and planning objectives. The most widely used data points include financial performance metrics, project completion times, and customer satisfaction data. Some examples of this include our Sales Funnel, our Days Under Construction tracking, Start Schedules, Costing data for slippage, and several other tools across our Sales, Mortgage, Settlement, Homebuilding, Building Products, Human Resources, Land, and Warranty departments.
o How is data shared across departments to ensure alignment with the vision?
Data is shared across several disciplines within COMPANY A with the use of universal company wide metrics that are communicated on a regular basis. The tools that are used to share this information are wide ranging, but the majority of our reporting is shared through tools such as Excel DART reporting, PowerBI, and other similar methods.
6. External Stakeholders (Vendors, Partners, Clients)
• Collaboration and Integration
o How does COMPANY A, Inc. collaborate with external stakeholders to align technology initiatives with industry trends?
COMPANY A has partnerships with several technology driven companies and our collaboration with those stakeholders depends on what goals we are trying to achieve. We are heavily involved in our relationship with Microsoft and the technology suite that comes with them, and we frequently collaborate with them on what technologies they can offer that can meet our needs. We also partner with several other external stakeholders that we partner with to develop new websites, new tools, and maintain our current tools in our technology portfolio. We also attend numerous classes, workshops, and feature deployment meetings that keep us up to speed on what technology can do for us now and in the future.
o Are external stakeholders involved in discussions about technology adoption or implementation?
When necessary we garner feedback from external stakeholders when it comes to technology adioption or implementation – but we also heavily rely on our strong internal roster of Business Technology employees when it comes to our internal approach to change enablement and technology adoption.
• Satisfaction and Impact
o From your perspective, how effectively does COMPANY A’s technology vision address client or partner needs?
I believe that COMPANY AT is effective at addressing the needs of our internal partners in operations and I believe that we are becoming stronger as a business technology team in our approach and vision from a short term and long term strategic point of view. I am currently managing the Post Settlement Experience as a product – and from my perspective, our entire approach is based on user feedback and user needs, aligning that with what behaviors we want to effect or change, and layering that with how impactful a given technology enhancement would be to our end users (employees). The effort to determine what approach to take started several years before Microsoft Dynamics came into the picture though – with discussions about the customer experience, the employee experience, and the “art of the possible,” which consisted of several weeks of discussion and feedback on what the ideal state might look like for a warranty manager or a customer care associate.
o Are there opportunities for improvement or innovation in COMPANY A’s approach?
Absolutely, there are always opportunities for improvement and innovation. With how rapidly new technologies and capabilities are becoming readily available – we are heavily invested in seizing the opportunity to leverage new technologies such as AI. I would say that overall COMPANY A is extremely new to the fundamental principles of the agile methodologies as a way to work, design, and develop new technologies, but I am very impressed with how far we’ve come in such a short amount of time.
Additional Data Collection
• Document Review
o Can you provide access to strategic planning documents related to technology?
I cannot share those types of documents outside of COMPANY A.
o Are there records of past or current technology adoption initiatives?
Dynamics for Sales and the PSE Platform (Microsoft Dynamics for Warranty) are two adoption initiatives that we’ve been through recently.
o Are there surveys or reports that highlight employee or stakeholder feedback on technology use?
A recent survey was conducted for Phase I of our rollout of the PSE Platform for the warranty team. It is a good example of one way we were able to capture a lot of feedback from a very engaged group of users. I included a summary of that survey feedback.
I have also included a video I put together that we use as a change enablement tool before Warranty employees begin training – it’s another great example of all of the time and energy we put into garnering feedback from our users and understanding what is working and what their pain points are. It shows positive feedback that we received from a group of pilot users we worked with before we went live with onboarding full divisions in the new technology.
Warranty Hub – Introduction.mp4
Microsoft Forms
Employee: Stefanie Chautin
Position: Corporate Level – SR. MANAGER, BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY – ITD Information Technology Department
Leadership Team (e.g., Executives, Directors, Department Heads)
• Strategic Vision
o How does COMPANY A, Inc. develop its vision for incorporating technology into long-term organizational goals?
As an organization, having a Business Technology Team allows us to focus on incorporation of technology that is coupled closely with our organizational goals. The BTT teams are aligned with our different values streams across the company (e.g., sales, marketing, homebuilding, mortgage, etc.) so that we can closely align with the business and understand the needs and goals and then work toward leveraging technology appropriately and for the most value driven items.
o What role does digital innovation play in strategic planning for the company?
Digital innovation is key as we plan strategically for the company. We don’t always need to be cutting edge, but thinking about the future and building the technology to support the strategic plan is of utmost importance.
o How do you ensure that the technology vision aligns with corporate values and objectives?
This is an ongoing process and includes long term planning, mid-range planning, and current portfolio review. It is important to stay focused on the value that technology brings and to make sure it aligns with the values and objectives. As a company, it is important to be open to making change and re-aligning when necessary.
• Resource Allocation
o How are resources allocated for implementing visionary technology plans?
This needs to be intentional and planned. We often focus only on the current work and what is immediate, but to be most successful it is important to put in place key roles to look long-term without competing demands.
o What mechanisms are in place to prioritize investments in innovative tools or processes?
At COMPANY A, our technology team has regular portfolio reviews where we review our current projects, upcoming projects, and future projects. We discuss the value of each item, the impact on the company, and the resources needed across the organization. This helps for planning and prioritization.
• Evaluation
o How do you measure the success of visionary planning initiatives related to technology?
For all of our portfolio projects, we clearly identify our desired key results and spend time at the end of the project to track our value realization. This allows us to see the benefits and measure success.
o Are there any KPIs or metrics used to track progress?
For each of our business areas we have some key KPIs/metrics. For example, conversion for sales, spend for warranty, etc. These are used as part of our evaluation for particular projects and tracked throughout the year.
2. Technology Team (IT, Digital Transformation Leads)
• Technology Infrastructure
o What tools or platforms have been adopted to support the organization’s vision for technological growth?
We have always been a Microsoft shop but our decision to begin focusing on leveraging Microsoft Dynamics has been a key platform to support our vision for technical growth.
o How do you assess the scalability and sustainability of these tools?
We have been very intentional as we have added on to the Microsoft platform. If it is a module for Sales or Service, we focus on the key results desired and add functionality/capabilities that are seen as most valuable. We also have added PowerBI and PowerPlatform as a more global strategic move so that we can extend our capabilities across the company.
• Implementation
o How do you ensure that visionary plans are actionable and that the appropriate technology is implemented effectively?
Having the alignment between the business and IT serves to help us plan properly and implement effectively.
o Are there project management methodologies or frameworks used for implementation?
We leverage agile type methodologies for most of our projects to allow us to deliver a minimal viable product (MVP) quickly and continually deliver functionality. This has allowed us to bring more technology to the company faster with the flexibility to make changes as throughout implementation and beyond.
• Feedback Loops
o What processes are in place to collect feedback on implemented technologies from users?
We often leverage super user groups to help with implementation and also to help provide feedback and best practices from their teams. Some other ways we collect feedback is through surveys, office hours, and meetings with some of the divisional leaders.
o How is feedback incorporated into future visionary plans?
Feedback is key. There is so much we can learn – from what is needed, how to train, how to communicate changes, etc. There is always things to learn and improve on as you think long term.
3. Training and Development Team (L&D, Sales Training, Onboarding Teams)
• Training and Professional Development
o What training initiatives exist to help employees adapt to and embrace new technologies?
We leverage many different modes of training to help our employees. From initial videos to tell folks about a change, leveraging our learning management system (LMS) for online training, webinars, in-person training, office hours, SharePoint sites. We have found that we have a lot of different types of learners and we need to meet folks where they are, so providing different ways to learn is of utmost importance.
o How are training needs identified in line with visionary planning goals?
We have found that training needs and methods for our teams are usually role specific and as we look at long-term plans, we need to take into account the different needs and the time needed by each group.
• Employee Engagement
o How do you encourage employees to contribute ideas to the company’s technology vision?
We have found that the user groups (e.g. super users) are often the best way to get specific ideas for what is needed as we move forward. However, our teams are very open to hearing from any user and thoughts on how we can improve and move forward while embracing technology.
o Are there formal programs to involve employees in pilot testing new tools or approaches?
For many of our projects, we leverage employees for conference room pilots or proof of concepts and/or pilots. We have many employees who like to jump right in and we love to give them that opportunity.
Employee: Annie Emison
Position: Middle Management – Division Manager – RHN Hampton Roads North
1. Leadership Team (e.g., Executives, Directors, Department Heads)
• Strategic Vision
o How does COMPANY A, Inc. develop its vision for incorporating technology into long-term organizational goals? Not sure if I’m the best person to answer this, but I would say our marketing and corporate technology teams are always working with each department to identify needs and gaps in our systems that can be solved or bridged through use or development of new technology. Typically, a need seems to be identified on the large scale across the company, and then the benefits of solving the problem; are weighed out–if they are found to be a positive impact for us, a business technology team will work to develop the solution and test it out to integrate across the company in pursuit of the organization’s goals. A good example of this is the recent roll out of Dynamics for our warranty team: organizational goal long term=exceptional CX; streamlining our warranty team’s communication for customers, the history of the house, etc. helps in pursuit of that goal for customers to more quickly and easily enjoy their homes after move in, even if an issue has arisen–thus, the testing and roll out companywide of the Dynamics platform for warranty.
o What role does digital innovation play in strategic planning for the company?
Digital innovation is less a focus in our planning than simply identifying problems that impact our operation from a financial standpoint, retention standpoint, or growth standpoint and then finding the best way to solve them. When an area is identified that’s holding us back to achieving the best possible results, digital innovation is one potential strategy that is considered, among others.
o How do you ensure that the technology vision aligns with corporate values and objectives? New technology and digital innovation is only pursued if the value can be proven to provide a benefit toward our goals and objectives. All technology and new programs are also designed/considered with the customers and employee experience first to align with those values.
• Resource Allocation
o How are resources allocated for implementing visionary technology plans? From my understanding, the business technology team studies each possible new program/solution that they have the potential to work on and choose those that have the greatest impact to our financial, growth, and efficiency results as a company.
o What mechanisms are in place to prioritize investments in innovative tools or processes? New projects, products, technology, etc. that are to be piloted need to have approvals from high level leadership before resources can be allocated.
• Evaluation
o How do you measure the success of visionary planning initiatives related to technology? I am not aware of any specifics, though I’m sure they exist per project.
o Are there any KPIs or metrics used to track progress? I am not aware of any specifics, though I’m sure they exist per project.
5. Data and Analytics Team (You may not have the answers to this section; however, if you have any insight it is appreciated. I sent these questions to a couple of others within the company as well.)
• Data-Driven Decisions
o How does data inform the company’s visionary planning efforts? We are always looking at data to make decisions for our strategic planning. Divisions locally look at factors in their market that impact planning and growth, and corporate leadership looks at macro factors influencing homebuilding, mortgage origination, etc. to help guide the plans we make to execute our growth vision.
o What types of data are most valuable for evaluating the success of technology initiatives? Economic data regarding employment, inflation, housing availability, new permits/starts, materials and labor costs or changes in availability,
• Metrics and Outcomes
o Are there data points that indicate whether the organization is meeting its visionary planning objectives? Yes, we track growth metrics every year as well as several years out to assess how well we are doing with our growth plans/where we may have fallen short and need to adjust.
o How is data shared across departments to ensure alignment with the vision? Most data is shared through email reporting or in large-scale cross departmental company meetings.
6. External Stakeholders (Vendors, Partners, Clients)
• Collaboration and Integration
o How does COMPANY A, Inc. collaborate with external stakeholders to align technology initiatives with industry trends? We do roundtable discussions and follow up calls with customers as well as vendors (sub contractors) to get feedback, alignment, etc. This helps us identify gaps in our processes or programs that we can work on to improve.
o Are external stakeholders involved in discussions about technology adoption or implementation? Not typically when it comes to specifics that are being tested or piloted.
• Satisfaction and Impact
o From your perspective, how effectively does COMPANY A’s technology vision address client or partner needs? I believe our business technology team does a great job once a need is identified and agreed upon to be a focus. I think there are more opportunities for us to grow and innovate to help meet our customer's needs and expectations faster than we are currently able to do.
o Are there opportunities for improvement or innovation in COMPANY A’s approach?
Would be great to be able to work more quickly on trying new processes or programs, but this would require a much larger team and more resources given the size and scope of our organization.
Employee: Randy Frontera
Position: Frontline, Lower Level Employe – Senior Sales & Marketing Representative
4. End Users (Employees in Sales, Operations, Construction Teams, etc.)
• Technology Use in Day-to-Day Operations
o How do current technologies support your role within the company?
Tech use in day to day- I feel like our technology was put in place largely by people that were never in sales and without sales input.
o Are there any inefficiencies or pain points with the current tools or systems?
I feel that dynamics is cumbersome and not as intuitive as it should be. It makes our job harder.
• Involvement in Planning
o Have you been consulted or surveyed during the development of new technology
initiatives?
Involvement in planning- not at all and not at all.
o Do you feel the technology vision aligns with the practical needs of your
department?
• Feedback and Adoption
o Are you provided opportunities to give feedback on new tools or workflows?
o How easy or difficult is it to adopt new technologies introduced by the company?
Feedback- I have not been asked for feedback. It’s not terribly difficult to adopt new tech. It’s just bothersome.