Head of Corporate Strategy Guide:
Internal Consulting & Corporate Strategy

Navigating the technology landscape for corporate strategy requires a discerning eye. The market is flooded with generic project management tools that claim to handle strategy, but few address the specific needs of internal consulting. Here is a neutral assessment of the current tooling landscape.

1. Strategy Execution Management (SEM) Platforms vs. Point Solutions

• SEM Platforms: These are dedicated environments designed to link objectives (OKRs) with initiatives and KPIs. They are best for organizations where the primary pain point is alignment and visibility.

• Pros: Single source of truth, good for reporting to the Board.

• Cons: Can feel like 'admin work' if not integrated with daily workflows.

• Point Solutions (Project Management/BI): Tools like Jira, Asana, or Tableau.

• Pros: Teams already use them; low barrier to entry.

• Cons: They track activity, not strategy. You can have 100% project completion in Jira and still miss your strategic goal because the projects weren't the right ones.

2. Knowledge Graphs & Institutional Memory

This is the emerging frontier for internal consulting. These tools ingest documents, emails, and data to create a searchable map of organizational knowledge.

• Evaluation Criteria: Look for 'entity extraction' capabilities (can it recognize that 'Project Apollo' and 'The Q3 Initiative' are the same thing?).

• Build vs. Buy: Buy. Building a semantic search engine is complex. Vendors now offer secure, enterprise-ready graphs that sit on top of SharePoint/Google Drive.

3. Build vs. Buy Considerations

• Buy: When the workflow is standard (e.g., OKR tracking, KPI dashboards). The maintenance cost of custom software for standard processes is rarely justifiable.

• Build: When your competitive advantage lies in a proprietary data model or unique forecasting algorithm. For example, a specialized pricing model for a niche commodity market might require a custom build.

4. Integration Checklist

When selecting tools, the Head of Corporate Strategy must ask:

• Bi-directional Sync: Does this tool pull data from our ERP, or does it require manual entry? (Reject anything requiring manual entry).

• Security/Compliance: Can it handle region-specific data residency requirements (GDPR in EU vs. various APAC standards)?

• AI Readiness: Is the data structure clean enough to be fed into a future AI model?

Common Selection Mistakes

• Over-indexing on Features: Buying a tool with 100 features when you only have the organizational maturity for 10. Start simple.

• Ignoring the 'Last Mile': Buying a strategy tool that doesn't integrate with the tools the frontline uses. If the strategy lives in a silo, it dies in a silo.

FAQs

How long does it take to see ROI from modernizing our internal strategy function?

Typically, you can expect efficiency gains within 3-4 months. By digitizing institutional memory, you can reduce the 'discovery phase' of new engagements by 30-40% almost immediately. However, the deeper ROI—measured by 'strategic value realized' (i.e., successful execution of growth initiatives)—usually becomes visible at the 9-12 month mark as the 'Strategy Stack' integration matures and operational teams begin executing against clearer, data-backed mandates.

Do I need to hire data scientists to build a knowledge graph?

Generally, no. In 2025, the trend is toward 'buying' enterprise-ready platforms rather than building custom solutions. Modern Strategy Execution Management (SEM) and Knowledge Management tools come with built-in NLP and entity extraction capabilities. Your team needs a 'Strategy Ops' lead who understands data governance and taxonomy, but you likely do not need a team of data scientists to build the infrastructure from scratch.

How do we handle data privacy and confidentiality with GenAI tools?

This is a critical concern, especially given the sensitive nature of corporate strategy. The best practice is to use 'private instances' of LLMs that are walled off from the public internet. Your data should never train the public model. Ensure your vendor provides SOC2 compliance and specific guarantees that your proprietary strategy data remains isolated. In Europe and APAC, ensure strictly local data residency compliance.

Should internal consulting teams charge business units for their services?

This depends on your organizational culture, but a 'shadow P&L' is often recommended. Even if no actual money changes hands, tracking 'billable hours' and 'project value' helps demonstrate the ROI of the internal function compared to external vendors. It also forces business units to be disciplined about their requests, reducing low-value 'busy work' assignments.

How does the regulatory environment in the EU affect our strategy execution compared to the US?

In the EU, strategy execution is often inextricably linked to ESG and labor regulations. Unlike the US, where you might optimize purely for speed or financial return, EU regulations (like CSRD) require a 'double materiality' assessment. You must account for the impact of your strategy on the world, not just the market's impact on you. This often extends timelines but results in more sustainable, resilient implementation.

What is the biggest mistake Heads of Strategy make when implementing new frameworks?

The biggest mistake is treating strategy transformation as an IT project rather than a culture change. Buying a platform does not fix a broken process. If you implement a new tracking tool but don't change the incentives or the meeting cadence (the 'operating rhythm'), the tool will become 'shelfware.' You must redesign the *conversations* first, then apply the tools to support those conversations.