Ever tried to hammer in a screw?
That sounds like an exercise in frustration. At best you’ll probably ruin the screw and at worst you might ruin whatever the screw is in (along with maybe some skinned knuckles).
When technology is not aligned with the business plan, management often feels like they have a hammer and IT only has expensive, overpriced Phillips head screws. Plans slow down and the business is not able to take advantage of opportunities in a changing market.
Management has typically implemented lean tactics to quickly respond, yet IT remains slow, ponderous, and unresponsive. In this situation, IT’s inability to implement agile tactics means it is not aligned with business practices and is in fact holding the firm back from taking advantage of the changing competitive landscape.
A Strategic Technology Plan will respect the Business Plan and provide a road map for achieving the goals outlined therein. It will also seek to align IT with the Business Plan by respecting the tone and intent of the organization to ensure it provides an environment which can adapt at the speed required by the business.
AdvantageCIO will:
- Meet with your executive leadership team to understand the challenges and opportunities faced by the organization. Where are you now, where do you wish to be next year? In three years? In five?
- Meet with senior IT leadership to understand the infrastructure and challenges faced by the technology department. A Technology Assessment may be necessary to complete this overview
- Review of annual technology budget and spend
- Review the Business Plan
- Develop and document a gap analysis between executive leadership and IT
- Develop a Strategic Technology Plan with three to five year outlook
- Specific objectives to address gap items
- Recommendations for improving IT Alignment
- Specific technologies to incorporate for meeting objectives
- IT budgeting recommendations
- Plan for addressing old and obsolete technologies
AdvantageCIO strongly recommends an annual Strategic Technology Plan refresh to ensure relevance with the Business Plan. Multi-year package discounts are available.
End the frustration of IT misalignment. Contact us today.