How to Create a Well-Developed IT Strategy
Given the everchanging world of technology and innovation, I am often asked to specifically define the term IT Strategy as it relates to one’s business. My response is always the same. An IT Strategy is a strategy driven and aligned to your organization’s business strategy coupled with essential technology considerations such as security and infrastructure. Technology should be seen as the facilitator of business.
Too often organizations are moving at such a fast pace via acquisition and various projects that the IT Strategy is either undefined or becomes out of balance with the business strategy. Communication often breaks down across functional areas in these situations leading to siloed approaches, which only exacerbates the issue. This often continues as the pace never slows enough to allow for the organization to take a proverbial breath before piling more onto an already unsteady foundation, which may include spider web architecture and a myriad of customizations. After many years of this hamster wheel the organization then feels it is too costly and intimidating to step back and reassess their platform. However, that is not the case. The organization needs to break the cycle, but in a way that is palpable to executive management, cost effective and capacity planned.
Leigh Consulting has assisted many clients with developing their IT Strategy over the years. Our unique business acumen and deep technology knowledge and experience provide our clients a well-rounded perspective and methodology resulting in a tangible plan ready for execution with return on investment (ROI) and success metrics incorporated.
How does this process work?
There are three main phases to create a well-developed IT Strategy:
1. Conduct an Assessment
Our team starts by creating a blueprint of your IT ecosystem along with high-level business processes and data flows. A map is developed with each application and associated flows to understand what is happening and where.
We conduct facilitated ‘white board’ sessions with relevant stakeholders to drive a deeper understanding of business needs and technology supporting those needs.
We then review your business strategy and our focus turns to evaluating the IT ecosystem contrasted against the business strategy to develop an Assessment and Fit Gap Analysis.
2. Develop a Strategy
The Fit Gap Analysis serves as the guide to develop your strategy. Once we assess the entire IT footprint from a high-level perspective with you, we begin to determine where to simplify and streamline by eliminating duplicative processes and data and leveraging your best-in-class applications/systems for each function. If none exist to meet your needs per the assessment, then we recommend system selection exercises as part of your strategy. Your strategy will include leading providers in the space that best fit your need along with cost ranges to help determine budget needs, if any. Resource skill sets to support your footprint are also considered.
Essential technical needs are considered during this phase as well. What is needed from an infrastructure, security and pure IT perspective to keep your organization current and safe. This may include a Cloud strategy as a subset.
Our team then conducts ‘round table’ sessions with a smaller group of key stakeholders to make decisions on what is needed and the priority of those needs.
3. Develop a Roadmap
The final decisions and priorities are placed into a Roadmap to layout a timeline of initiatives to achieve the goals. A multitude of factors are considered during this exercise such as regulatory requirements, application/system timing of support thresholds (e.g., must upgrade by x date), what can be accomplished in parallel, resource capacity and tolerance/capacity for change. The final consideration is budget to refine the plan and the timeline of your strategy. We usually cast a 5-year view. However, the first 1-3 years are the most pertinent given the constant state of change in business and technology.
Developing your IT Strategy in concert with your business stakeholders draws cohesion and understanding of the common goals. What a lot of organizations find throughout these exercises is that simple becomes a driving principle. The leaner your footprint, the less points of failure, security vulnerability, processing time, etc. The following are factors to contemplate throughout the process:
Is our large volume of applications still needed given enhancements to products we already own and with the elimination of duplicative processes and data?
Do we really need to automate every process? Is that cost effective in all instances?
Does what made sense in the past drive our future?
Have we overly complicated our ecosystem?
Do we need all of these custom solutions or will off-the-shelf products now suffice?
Leigh Consulting understands that your business initiatives will not stop over the next 5-year period. However, the Roadmap becomes an essential tool throughout the years to determine how new initiatives and/or technologies fit within the roadmap to avoid creating yet another unsteady foundation. Your IT Strategy Roadmap will serve as your guide to navigate the ‘where, when and how’ for future projects.
Organizations find that the exercise is well worth the investment as it saves time, money and resources in the future to break the cycle. Until organizations look at the whole, it is hard to visualize where you have overlap and where you have gaps. It also creates communication and collaboration across the organization. Keep in mind that this exercise can be conducted at various levels to tailor it to the organization’s needs and budget. Leigh Consulting emphasizes revisiting the IT Strategy on an annual basis if not more frequently to ensure any major business initiatives and/or technical concerns are addressed to refine the plan accordingly. Your IT Strategy is a living organism and should be shaped and evolve to facilitate your business.
Contact Leigh Consulting today to learn how we can work together to create a well-developed IT Strategy customized to your organization.
Kimberly Liebert
Leigh Consulting President and CEO