Do you have a written IT Roadmap?
When was the last time you got help with your strategic planning in IT?
“What?” you say. “Strategic plans are for the sales and marketing team and the executive retreat. Our IT team is there to help us keep the lights on and maintain business-as-usual conditions. When they want to upgrade a system they put in a request for funds and we upgrade it. There’s no need for strategic planning in that.”
On an everyday basis that’s true, but if that’s the only way your company looks at your IT department, you’re missing out on big gains in output and big savings in how your company does business.
Here’s a great, real-life example of a different way of thinking about IT
We’ve recently been contracted to carry out an operational review of a very large natural resources client. They make it a point to engage a third party every 5 years to help them see the things that they have lost sight of in how they apply IT to achieving their strategic goals. The net result is a new strategic IT Roadmap that contains updated goals, deadlines and tactics for achieving them, to which the leadership team of the organisation will commit and devote the necessary resources.
They have a strong in-house IT team, but recognising the myopia that can come from being at the coalface of an organisation, they welcome the input and challenge that a fresh set of eyes can offer, to help shake loose static ways of thinking.
The IT Roadmap review covers everything from how their office staff use their software packages, where the information is stored, how they use their ERP systems, how they could be getting even more out of their current investment to what IT options they aren’t even aware of but should now consider to support the achievement of their strategic goals.
When it is written, the roadmap will be able to be summarised into a single-page infographic that breaks down the complexity of the recommendations into a simple, executive-friendly version
Their approach is to be commended. It is fundamentally different to how the majority of businesses approach their IT.
Typically, IT is seen as an enabler of business now, not a shaper of the business of the future. So the IT department is always playing catch-up to the demands of the other business departments.
An IT Roadmap, however, recognises the importance of IT in achieving the company’s goals and lays out a clear path for how the IT function will help to achieve them, integrated across all the departments.
If you haven’t asked for a fresh set of eyes on your business in forever, and you don’t have an IT Roadmap tied to your company’s goals, consider asking a company like ours for a chat. We’re confident you’ll be surprised by the value it generates.
