Frequently asked questions about our services

About Innovation Strategist

What is Technology Consulting?

Technology consulting is a specialized form of management consulting where an organization seeks third‑party technology expertise to help improve performance. Innovation Strategist does not have exclusivity with any brand, which gives us the freedom to recommend the best solution or combination of solutions to the end client and their own clients.

What is Innovation Consulting?

Innovation consulting is a specialized form of management consulting in which an organization seeks third‑party expertise to help discover and develop new ideas for products, services, supply chain / delivery, and/or its entire business model. Disruptive technologies such as AI agents open up entirely new business models.

What type of consultancy is Innovation Strategist?

Innovation Strategist combines the capabilities of Innovation Consulting and Technology Consulting to provide affordable IT strategic consulting to a variety of organizations.

Why choose Innovation Strategist over our competitors?

In a market saturated with companies offering technology services, Innovation Strategist stands out because of its unique focus on strategy and C‑level leadership. With unparalleled breadth and depth of experience, Innovation Strategist is unique in the sector.

Why do you talk so much about Trust? Isn’t your job technical?

The importance of building trust becomes evident for a team embarking on a strategic change or transformation journey. In its presence, team members will work together and share concerns and suggestions openly. Without it, reservations and limited collaboration will doom complex transformation projects to failure. This truth is why we have made “Build Trust First” a cornerstone of our approach for all engagements.

Business & Technology Strategy

We innovate beyond efficiency to find ways you can increase market share and drive revenue for our clients.

What is Digital Transformation?

True digital transformation isn’t installing a particular software package or automating some business processes. For Innovation Strategist, Digital Transformation is a complete reinvention of how an organization does business, taking into account the context of all recent advances in Information Technology. This vision spans from structure, staff and operations to how a company goes to market and engages customers, including how it creates and delivers value.

How does Innovation Strategist approach digital transformation?

We treat Digital Transformation as a business‑strategy planning exercise in the context of new technologies. We analyze a client’s strategy, market positioning and competitive advantages, looking for ways that unique IT capabilities can drive efficiency, distance the business from competition, and/or create new revenue streams.

What is “bottom‑up” self‑financing digital transformation?

This unique approach to digital transformation does not start with a strategic vision of a new org chart and business model but begins with a bottom‑up prioritization of automation efforts aimed at roles that currently have vacancies in the organization.

Why should CXOs care about digital transformation?

CXOs must realize their organizations can fall behind if they let anxieties get in the way of digital transformation. Executives who allow their businesses to evolve with technology will make great strides, while those who don’t will be left behind. This process is inexorable, though occurring at different speeds across industries.

Don’t many Digital Transformation initiatives fail?

Organizations risk being “immune” to innovation power if their first technology or digital transformation investments fail to deliver commercial benefits. This can happen if projects are over‑valued, or sabotaged (intentionally or inadvertently) by skeptics in leadership.

Is my organization ready to launch an AI program?

We recommend some basic considerations about an organization’s data and its commitment to AI before making significant investments: the relative integrity and accuracy of data, the level of data integration, the potential to enrich data from external sources, and the level of support for investing in initial AI use cases.

How can my organization foster innovation?

Innovation requires both collaboration and teamwork—two dynamics that are significantly different yet appropriate at different moments as teams move from ideation to execution in the decision‑making cycle. Skillful shepherding of this cultural dance between collaboration and teamwork are two key differentiators for effective leaders.

How do we get the promised benefits from our CRM?

Beyond the IT team’s responsibility to implement and configure CRM effectively to align with sales teams’ operations, leadership has a significant influence on a CRM project’s final success. Setting the ideal conditions for success involves minimizing customer churn, protecting prospects from internal poaching, rewarding collaboration and long‑term thinking, and ensuring that value is returned to the person entering data into the system through analytics.

What is the best IT strategy for a non‑tech startup?

The right IT strategy for a non‑tech startup depends on many variables—company strategy, positioning, size, growth curve, ownership structure, etc. The only thing we can say with confidence is that the right IT leader is desperately needed for all startups. With this dynamic, and due to the sheer number of strategic decisions required in a short period, we see startups as one of the most obvious use cases for a virtual CIO engagement.

We’re not a technology company; how can the IT department make an impact on revenue?

In the digital age, there are countless ways for IT to increase a company’s market share and drive revenue—whether through a competitive advantage that offers technological capabilities competitors cannot match, or by empowering the sales team with impactful insights about their existing customers.

We already have an IT manager; why would we need a contract to implement AI?

In today’s fast‑paced business environment, technology plays a critical role in driving innovation, productivity and growth. In some industries it plays the most critical role in commercial expansion. As companies continue to rely more on technology, having a competent IT manager and/or a partner supplier is essential. And for some organizations, that may be enough; but not for all.