The Strategy, Business Architecture, and Operations & Optimization (SBO™) services industry encompasses consultants, consulting firms and in-house practitioners who put business school theory into practice and apply specialized tools to improving today’s dynamic, constantly changing organizations of all sizes--from entrepreneurial startups to global conglomerates--in virtually every industry: corporate, academic and government.

SBO™ industry professionals are generally categorized into one of the following disciplines:

• Strategy: Deciding the organization’s direction
• Business Architecture: Determining the organization’s design
• Operations & Optimization: Driving the organization’s profitability

These correspond to the three segments of Corporate Management:

SBO™ disciplines were once the exclusive domain of business schools like Northwestern, Harvard, Wharton and the

• The Internet has provided greater access to current, relevant data.

• Advances in computer technology have spawned many new tools capable of evaluating organizations and formulating recommendations for possible solutions in ways that were not possible in the past.

• Highly sophisticated management tools have been developed, providing greater ability to successfully and collaboratively manage capabilities at a much greater degree of complexity.

• Organizations once thought too small for traditional management consulting firms to service profitably have emerged as viable candidates for SBO™ services.

• The demand for highly developed expertise has resulted in increased specialization within the SBO™ industry. As a consequence, the individual disciplines have, of necessity, become more sophisticated.

• Competition within the industry has increased and become more fractured, as individuals with varying levels of expertise and competence present themselves as experts and vie for potential engagements and positions.

• Due to rapidly changing business environments and the new connectivity of the digital economy, issues that were traditionally worked around - culture, efficiency, coordination, etc. - now must, and can, be worked through.

To meet the needs of the rapidly changing global economy and the organizations that will successfully make the transition and thrive in the future, the SBO™ is coalescing into a coherent industry offering a high level of professionalism, sophisticated tools, and effective support organizations led by luminaries from the same educational and management consulting firms that have traditionally supported SBO™ disciplines.

Existing professional support organizations are forming alliances to identify gaps and eliminate overlaps, and redefining their roles in the industry.

Practitioners are cataloguing their skills and experience and universities and professional associations are developing comprehensive educational programs to certify professionals so that clients can identify competent practitioners and be confident in their abilities.