| Core Concept |
| A critical evaluation of the technical fitness of an organisation, department or system. Often the prelude to an investment decision. |
| investigation |
| Data collection from interviews, internal reports, product reviews, industry surveys, analyst reports, company accounts, |
| environment |
| Hardware, software and networks. Investigate its history and plans for orderly change amidst the flux. Are there the right tools to execute the product and service strategies? |
| awareness |
| Of emerging technologies, competitors, potential threats |
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| improvement |
| Budgets for product, staff development. History and success of past roll-outs. |
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| infrastructure |
| Good corporate IT? Organisation has well-defined boundaries of responsibilty? |
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| uniqueness |
| Differences to competitors - which trade-offs have been made (e.g. pick 2 of Good/Fast/Cheap). What IP rights are held? |
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| R&D |
| Is there research capability for incremental improvements or breakthroughs?
What is development capability, quality of builds and response to bugs? |
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| operations |
| Are operations efficient? Any scope for savings? |
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| personnel |
| Quality of engineers and management. Who are the key people and how commited are they? |
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| evaluation |
| Evaluators must be objective. Will candidly report their finding and produce an assessment of benefits and risks. |
| direction |
| Where is technology now, where is it going? |
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| benefit-risk |
| Anticipated pay-offs versus the manageable risks.
A continuum of low/low to high/high. |
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