The AdvantageCIO Process:
Review Business Plans
Effective IT leadership begins with understanding the client’s business plans. Where is the firm now, and where do they want to go? Where are they struggling with IT and where are they winning? Only by understanding goals and timelines can and effective IT strategy be conceived and executed.
Set IT Vision and Strategy
Once the business plans are understood, AdvantageCIO will develop a vision and execution strategy for leveraging IT resources to accomplish stated objectives. The vision will be focused and on target and the strategy engineered to accomplish goals within defined budget parameters.
Planning and Process
The IT strategy must be implemented according to a well defined plan with measurable milestones that are understood by all stakeholders. Sometimes multi-level plans targeted with sections targeted towards business leaders and technical implementation and support staff are required. Policy development and modification is almost certainly a part of this process as are risk assessments and modifications of disaster recovery and business continuity documentation. Audit compliance is a significant factor in this phase.
Integrate IT for Success
Many times technology exists to serve itself, not the goals of the business or for the benefit of the user base. This is a common scenario in many organizations where technical staff have implemented or attempted to implement solutions that exceed business requirements or require after purchase maintenance and support commitments that are not fully understood by leaders in advance. Another common problem occurs when requirements are not properly defined or communicated in advance of executing on a project.
Overinvestment and over complication will be avoided when IT has been integrated successfully into business process.
Cultivate IT Talent
How does today’s business leader make hiring decisions for technical talent? How do they effectively complete annual planning sessions for a position for which they have little understanding? How does one motivate a “nerd”? How does one navigate a technical resume and effectively sift through piles of candidates for the right hire?
More often than not, today’s non-technical manager is lost dealing with technical talent and making effective hiring decisions. AdvantageCIO’s staff is expert at hiring and managing IT staff and performing effective annual planning sessions that will cultivate and grow talent so they remain challenged and focused on executing at the highest level.
Make it Happen
Too many large technical implementations fail. The causes are varied: lack of executive buy in, incomplete or incorrect requirements, selecting the wrong vendor, scope creep, over complication (“gold plating” the solution), lack of effective milestones, inability to enforce milestones, under estimating the budget. Almost all of these can be tied to ineffective project management. The successful project will successfully navigate these pitfalls and drive the project through to completion by understanding the business requirements and use of well developed and thoroughly executed implementation processes.
Resources
Meet AdvantageCIO Presentation – 2022 Feb22
AdvantageCIO brochure – four page – v20190426