To Build Tech Biz Dev Anew

The business development (biz dev) function in the tech industry is essentially broken. Most tech companies have allowed biz dev to diminish into little more than a partnering function. Although potentially valuable, partnering cannot alone propel tech companies into new markets or business opportunities. Given the significant changes in the tech market, including cloud, mobile, and increased focus on business outcomes, tech companies need to redevelop the organizational capability required to evaluate strategic opportunities and threats — and the resultant strategy-to-operations process — at near real-time speed. That requires going back to the industry's biz dev roots, when biz dev played a more strategic and proactive role in tech companies, to restore planning, investment, and execution responsibilities and resources to biz dev.