center of excellence

Definition

A specialized team or department that provides leadership, best practices, and support for a specific focus area. Often a fancy title for a regular department trying to justify its existence and budget.

Example Usage

We're establishing a Center of Excellence for digital transformation to guide our cloud migration strategy.

Origin

Emerged in the 1990s within large corporations and government agencies seeking to centralize expertise

Fun Fact

Some companies have so many Centers of Excellence that they need a Center of Excellence to coordinate all the other Centers of Excellence.

Source: Organizational development and management terminology

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