There's so much noise around - especially in business. And that means we really need to get to what matters quickly. We also need things to be right first time if at all possible - in particular when aiming to get all the parts working together. We need information and knowledge to be displayed clearly if we want it to be shared accurately. But the challenge is we all need something slightly different.

We just do.

The technology around visual and collaborative working has changed in a revolutionary way. Our ability is beyond comparison with the capabilities of even a couple of years ago. This will continue to keep us on our toes. To really exploit this new stuff we must also improve human interfaces - (the UI) bringing design clarity and quality that will guide the user quickly to what they need. (The UX)

Let's call that effective and efficient access to what matters.The UI and the UX

The way we work has changed directly as a result of the rise of these technologies. Even the things that have no technology in them. The way we share stuff with our colleagues, how we can now design and build our own stuff, our growing use of infographics, the visual symbolism we now use in brochures and on slide decks.

Everything - it's all different.

For the larger enterprise it's extremely hard to keep up. Many of them are stuck within cultures, guidelines and outdated technologies that don't even allow this new stuff. Rolling out new innovations like this and at this rate of change is impossible. It's head spinning even for the small and fleet of foot businessman. It takes a special kind of mentality to be comfortable perpetually refining how to consume these new tools.

In order to take on board all the new and creative ways in which to leverage these new tools we've adopted many of them ourselves. We are avid. We are 'super users' of these technologies - we've built our own interfaces to sit on top of some of them. It's enabled us to turn the strategic frameworks we build with clients into automated systems that can do a heck lot of different things.

For many of our applications it's all about sustaining the value of programs. Making them stay alive because teams can get quite distracted by their normal daily activity. Using the frameworks and modules that are built together we create 'platforms' that by their nature enable guidance and structure to keep everyone on track. It makes a big difference to overall performance when teams are working in tools they helped to build themselves.

At the heart of any successful work lies communication. Strategies are complex but at each level of interest they can be told simply and effectively. Complexity can be made accessible and meaningful. Simplicity is only powerful when there's the confidence that behind it there's evidence and rigour. We create tools and platforms that through their thoroughness and coherence can resolve what appear sometimes paradoxical requirements.

In today's business there's no place and increasingly little excuse for duplication. Theres no need for silo'd databases or the frustrating processes that weve defended over the years. We've enabled one place and one space for the framework outcomes.

As a result it's now all about what matters - and that's the most critical strategic information. The aim is always to motivate wider involvement. That means we have to enable efficient and rewarding access to shared materials - and at the same time the opportunity to refine, update and debate the inevitable changes to 'live' knowledge.

Motivating people who are different distances from the vision or strategy or from each other can be hard. Without it an optimal enterprise is unlikely. In its place the way work gets done is consigned to a cycle of endless meetings, the terrifying yearly conference or broadcast media such as email and texts. If we are lucky the better managers will spend time with people more regularly but it's never enough.

Using these new technologies, gaming techniques and visual tools we can create highly stimulating and social collaboration if supported by enlightened leadership.

In our world of data we use the power of visualisation in more and more varied ways. It's no longer the domain of the dry and lifeless PowerPoint deck to make the case - a less than graphic calculation. Enter the world of the interactive immersive infographic. Data comes to life creatively but more importantly the insights and meaning inside the data can be made to shout.

In the final analysis we need human beings to relate to each other. The raw material of information and knowledge that's swirling around them every day needs to be at their disposal - there when needed. Without a way of harnessing that and making it consumable by everyone in teams or across the enterprise it's hard to imagine anything really working well.

Collaboration is the new black and there are fewer reasons for it not to happen.

This story never ends. Each and every day some new tool technique or topic sends us spinning off into the next wave of evolution. You are either curious or disinterested about that. So your business will either live or die and be successful or not. We wish you well either way.

The Rest Of The Story - http://beta.myalbum.com/artofstrategy