Developing a Small Business IT Strategy

IT Strategy

Before the introduction of Information Technology, there were many organizations that have been more successful than others. These companies have had a better product or service offering, a positive customer focus, and very probably close employee involvement in its development. Today, these qualities need to be fused with a complete understanding of the value of IT to maintain or repeat this level of business success. Technology competence has  grown even more complex since the introduction and evolution of the cloud.  

Business Goals & IT Alignment

Small businesses that fail to capitalize on the strategic value of IT, often stemming from the owner’s disengagement, are those that have failed to appreciate the businesses ability to create competitive advantage. This problem is further compounded by the absence of a well communicated and clearly defined IT strategy, and the consequent failure to correctly align a company’s resources - including its IT - with the strategic objectives of the organization. The consequences of a missing IT strategy can be huge and will often result in missed opportunities to use IT to accelerate and achieve critical business performance improvements.

Get Your Business Owners Involved Early On  

A further consequence, stemming from a lack of owner and management interest in technology, is the creation of an IT department that lacks knowledge of business strategy, resulting in an inability to align IT resources with the business objectives of the organization.

For example, today digital transformation is no longer a choice; it’s a necessity to remain competitive in today’s modern workplace. Your ability to leave behind the old school approach to IT and embrace cloud-based technologies to run your operations is critical to your success and will make a lasting impact on your business. 

Any combination of technically disengaged owner and a technology focused IT department will effectively block any chance of the company leveraging IT for real business gain.

Evolving Role of IT 

Small business owners have been told by management gurus that ‘having an IT Strategy’ has joined the ever-growing list of items which demand management attention. Despite the dire warnings and the consequences of failing to respond to the challenge, owners have been given no direction on what an IT Strategy might mean, or how you go about creating one.  This blog attempts to briefly answer the question what is an IT strategy?

What is an IT Strategy?

So what exactly is IT strategy? An IT strategy is a plan to guide their organizations on all facets of technology management, including IT cost such as in-sourcing or outsourcing, IT payroll, IT hardware and software, IT vendor management and all other considerations in the IT environment. Developing and executing an IT strategy requires strong business leadership; the small business owner needs to work closely with managers, as well as, with other stakeholders within the organization.

How to Develop an IT Strategy

Many small businesses choose to formalize their Information Technology strategy in a written document or balanced scorecard strategy map. The plan and its documentation should be flexible enough to change in response to new organizational circumstances and business priorities, budgetary constraints, available skill sets and core competencies, new technologies and a growing understanding of user needs and business objectives.

I have observed many situations where the business owner was supposed to document an IT Strategy in a short period of time, in order to prepare the following year’s IT budget. Very often, they lack supporting business information in order to achieve this task. The result is a weak or no IT strategy, sometimes ignored by the user’s community, the key stakeholders.

Impacts of a Poorly Planned IT Strategy

A weak IT strategy can be costly and wasteful, especially for resource-constrained organizations that operate without an IT budget. It also implies that organizations cannot respond to changing business requirements rapidly enough. The absence of strategic thought causes organizations to be inefficiently reactive, forcing them to work in a constant state of catch-up. So how do we avoid becoming reactive, can we convert to a proactive approach to IT? Yes of course, begin by developing an IT strategy and connect the strategy to an annual IT budget.

Getting started with an IT Strategy for Business Growth 

A small business IT Strategy should answer the following questions to ensure they are following industry best practices:

  • Should we consider outsourcing our IT Strategy development and IT Support?
  • Are we doing the right things with technology to address the organization’s most important business priorities and continuously deliver value to the clients?
  • Are we making the right technology investments?
  • Do we measure what is the real value to the organization derived from that technology?
  • Is our current Information Technology agile enough; flexible to continuously support a successful organization?
  • Is our Information Technology environment properly managed, maintained, secured, able to support the clients, and is it cost effective?
  • Can our strategy support current and future business needs?
  • Is security and compliance a big part of our IT strategy?
  • Are we using the right technologies, leveraging the cloud as we should to get the best return on our investment? 

We often find that many small business owners do not feel they have the knowledge to answer these IT questions. For many small business owners who feel that their focus should not be detracted from their prime business, the benefits of IT outsourcing should definitely be explored. A professional IT outsourced company will possess the business and technology skills necessary to ensure that the full benefits of IT are realized. It is commonly believed that an IT outsourced contract only benefits costs and, in many cases, this can be the case, however, in the best examples, an outsourced IT contract can have much greater benefits for a small business including offering a guaranteed way of ensuring the full strategic benefits of IT are properly realized.

If you are feeling like your IT strategy is lacking the depth or maturity your business needs to stay secure and competitive in today's market, ANP is here to help. We have a team of IT experts to ensure you're following industry best practices, to protect you from the evolving security threats and to provide strategic guidance at every step of the way.  When you outsource your IT support to partner like ANP you get a dedicated Virtual CIO who will ensure your IT is aligned with your business goals for today and tomorrow. We will work with you to lay out a 3-year IT strategic roadmap, to solve your business challenges and help you achieve your desired business outcomes.

 

 

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