While it may be conventional for organizations to develop business strategies from the top down, it might be more productive to start by identifying strategic needs from the ground up. By focusing first on what needs are unmet, it becomes clearer how to match the capabilities of IT with the company's goals, writes Forrester Research analyst Jeff Scott.

The first step when taking this approach is to bring together non-executive focus groups to identify detailed concerns and needs within the organization. "Pointed questions should be asked, not about strategy but about specific issues and challenges," Scott writes in a post at CIO magazine.

The second step is to take the output from the focus groups--which will probably amount to about 150 statements about strategic needs--and organize it into themes according to repeated ideas. "Shoot for fewer, targeted themes rather than a long, undifferentiated list," he suggests.

The third step is to transform the list of needs into business imperatives, which explain what has to be done to fill the needs. After the business imperatives are established, you can follow the same three steps to determine the capabilities that IT will require.

"Although building strategy from the ground up may lack the appeal of working with C-level executives, it can be very effective in both creating strategy, and developing interest in the strategy process. Once business executives see effective strategic planning taking place, they will be more likely to get involved," Scott writes.

For more:
- see Jeff Scott's post at CIO

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