How to Develop an Effective IT Strategy for Your Business

Editor's Note: Take a look at our featured best practice, IT Strategy (30-slide PowerPoint presentation). The key drivers of Information Technology (IT) or Management Information Systems (MIS) value are an organization's IT mindset and its ability to execute. Today’s best practices show that IT value can be maximized when enterprise IT investments are aligned with business goals and IT execution is [read more]

* * * *

The demand for information technology services is increasing in almost all industries, as businesses continue to digitize processes and streamline their operations. In response to this trend, many businesses are implementing new IT strategies and IT departments. However, many small businesses struggle to develop an effective strategy for their needs. With an IT department, small businesses can protect their data from cyber threats, reduce maintenance costs by replacing old devices with cloud-based software and appliances, and increase efficiency by automating repetitive tasks. An IT strategy helps you achieve these benefits and more. Here’s what you need to know about developing an IT strategy for your business.

What Is an IT Strategy?

An IT strategy is a road map that shows how you will meet the challenges of managing technology in your business. It is a plan that organizes your choices and activities around the challenges of using technology effectively. An IT strategy is not a one-time event. Rather, it’s an ongoing process of analyzing challenges and then making the necessary investments in people, processes, and technologies to overcome them. Good example of an IT strategy should be more than just a document that lists the types of computers and software that you need. It should be a document that helps you make informed decisions about your business’s technology needs. It should also be a document that can guide your staff as they make decisions about how to best use technology to support your business.

Why Is an IT Strategy Important?

An IT strategy can help you reduce costs, protect your data and improve productivity. In short, it will help you get more out of your technology. For example, an effective IT strategy will allow you to centralize management of your computers and software so that one person can oversee everything. An IT strategy can also help you accurately forecast your technology costs, which will help you avoid overspending on hardware and software. Finally, an IT strategy can help you protect your data from cyber threats, which is especially important in today’s digital world. Without an IT strategy, you risk wasting money because you are using technology inefficiently, or you may not be able to keep your data safe from cyber criminals.

When Should You Develop an IT Strategy?

A new business should create an IT strategy as part of its business plan. A growing business that has outgrown its current technology should also create an IT strategy. Most businesses need some type of IT strategy, regardless of their size. If you are new to technology and don’t know where to start, it may be best to hire an IT consultant to develop the IT strategy for you. Or, you may want to hire an IT consultant to help you create the IT strategy for your growing business. If you already have an IT strategy, you should periodically review your strategy and make changes as needed. Depending on how quickly your business is growing, you may need to review your strategy every year or every few years.

Create a Risk Assessment

As you create your risk assessment, you will identify threats to your business and prioritize them based on the likelihood that they will occur and the impact that they will have on your business. You can use the risk assessment to prioritize your IT strategy by identifying the most important issues to address. Once you decide what to address, you can use your risk assessment to create an IT roadmap that includes the steps that you will take to fix the identified issues. For example, if malware is a threat to your business, you can use the risk assessment to decide whether to invest in antivirus software, a malware scanner, or both. Or, you may decide that investing in a cloud-based security solution is best, which will protect all of your computers and devices.

Build a Technology Roadmap

A technology roadmap is a document that will help you choose the best strategies for meeting your business’s current and future technology needs. As you create your technology roadmap, you will want to consider the following issues: – Ease of use. How easy is it to install, set up, and use each technology? – Support. What type of support is available if something goes wrong? – Cost. How much does each technology cost? – Readiness. When will each technology be ready to be used in your company? – Risk. What is the risk associated with using each technology? – Scalability. Can you easily add more computers or devices as your business grows? – Security. How secure is each technology?

Create a Skills Assessment

A skills assessment will help you identify the gaps in your employees’ skills and allow you to create a plan to address those gaps. You can use a skills assessment to evaluate your current employees’ skills and to create a strategy for hiring people with the right skills for the job. You can also use a skills assessment to evaluate the skills of potential employees before you hire them. In either case, you should use a skills assessment to create a plan that will help you close the gaps in your employees’ skills.

Develop a Business Asset Inventory

A business asset inventory is a list of all the equipment, software, and data assets in your company. It will help you understand your current technology landscape and determine where you could improve. For example, an asset inventory can help you determine which computers and software in your company need to be replaced or updated. It can also help you identify any pieces of critical business software that need to be upgraded. You can create an asset inventory by reviewing the computers and software in your organization. You can use spreadsheets and data sheets to document what you find. You can also use software, such as inventory management software, to help you create an accurate and detailed asset inventory.

Develop an Implementation Plan

Once you have created a risk assessment, a technology roadmap, and an asset inventory, you can create an implementation plan. An implementation plan will tell you exactly what you need to do to implement each strategy in your technology roadmap. An implementation plan is a critical part of your IT strategy. It will help you manage your technology projects and keep your technology spending under control. For example, let’s say that you have identified the need to upgrade your computers and software. You have created a technology roadmap that includes purchasing new computers and replacing your software with cloud-based software. And, you have created an implementation plan that details the steps you will take to make these changes.

Do You Want to Implement Business Best Practices?

You can download in-depth presentations on MIS and 100s of management topics from the FlevyPro Library. FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives.

For even more best practices available on Flevy, have a look at our top 100 lists:

• Top 100 in Strategy & Transformation
• Top 100 in Digital Transformation
• Top 100 in Operational Excellence
• Top 100 in Organization & Change
• Top 100 Management Consulting Frameworks

These best practices are of the same as those leveraged by top-tier management consulting firms, like McKinsey, BCG, Bain, and Accenture. Improve the growth and efficiency of your organization by utilizing these best practice frameworks, templates, and tools. Most were developed by seasoned executives and consultants with over 20+ years of experience.