Why Your I.T. Strategy is Ineffective
By: Monica Gordon
Tags: Strategy, Business Strategy, Information Technology, Strategy Execution, Strategy Planning

Photo by ahmad gunnaivi on Unsplash

An I.T. strategy is more than just a plan for upgrading your technology. Yet, it lays out how your business will use I.T. for overall growth and development.

Think about it this way. Technology plays a role in every aspect of your business. From HR, Marketing, R&D, Operations, Strategy, Accounting, Customer Satisfaction/Interaction, and so on.

With all of the overlap, it’s important to have an effective I.T. strategy to see that success across the board. Without one, growth can be halted because needs are not met and visions are misaligned.

Alright, let’s dive into five reasons why your I.T. strategy may be ineffective.

I.T. and Business Leaders are Disconnected

When there is a disconnect anywhere, things don’t go as planned. And oftentimes, the leadership team and I.T. department are not on the same page.

This could be caused by communication barriers, not sharing the same vision, misunderstandings, and unrealistic expectations. For example, the way I.T. professionals talk and communicate is much different than the CEO. Your tech pros are going to communicate in a technical way, using jargon, which could be unclear to the CEO who thinks in terms of revenue, cost, and necessities.

Another example of the disconnect comes when business leaders make decisions without including I.T. Without insight from your I.T. department, setting goals and making plans could be unrealistic. Is your current technology able to support and scale what you have planned? Not sure? Your I.T. department would know. While you don’t have to include I.T. in all your strategy meetings, it’s important to regularly check-in to ensure you’re on the same page, working towards the right goals.

No Defined Strategy or Objectives

A key component of business planning is having defined goals and objectives. From there you can determine your key performance indicators (KPIs), which are quantifiable measurements to gauge performance. When KPIs are hit, you know what’s working or what led you to success. When KPIs are not met, you know what you need to adjust to meet your goals.

“What gets measured, gets done.” — PETER DRUCKER

Without knowing what objectives you needed to hit, you’ll be all over the place. Just working on the tasks you think you need to work on, want to work on, are the easiest, or that you feel most comfortable with. When in reality, those tasks don’t match up with what was expected of you. Without a defined strategy and clear objectives, there is no direction. No direction creates failure because a defined strategy outlines what you need to do or not do and without one, you don’t know what you need to do or not to do.

No I.T. Strategy in Place

Anything within your business operations that does not have a plan is likely ineffective. Without a plan or strategy in place, there is no direction. No goals being met because there are no goals. Nothing being measured because there are no KPIs to measure. No objectives being hit or missed which can help you evaluate what to do next.

No strategy means you have nothing to plan, execute, achieve, measure, and evaluate. There is no clear direction for the use of your technology. If part of the larger picture is to implement new software, does your technology allow for this? Or if you plan on adding new hires to your team, will there be money in the budget for the hardware needed for them?

No Budget for Technology

There are many areas of the business to consider when determining your budget for the year, which is why I.T. often gets thrown to the backburner. It’s deemed as less important than other areas of the budget. However, that’s not a great idea when almost half (43%) of cyberattacks are targeted towards small to medium-sized businesses. And that is the sole reason for SMBs becoming an increasing target to hackers — A lower I.T. budget means lessened security and an easier chance for hackers to be successful.

Without a sufficient budget for I.T., you can kiss your goals and objectives goodbye. Now, I’m not saying you need to allocate all your resources here, just enough to realistically meet your goals.

Take the examples from the previous section. If your plan is to deploy new software, but the hardware you currently have is not compatible, then you need to account for updated hardware in your budget. The same goes for the new hires.

You’re Not Using an MSP

Developing a successful I.T. strategy can be a lot to handle, especially if you don’t know where to begin. Luckily, partnering with a Managed Service Provider (MSP) can get you on track and stay there. From conducting third-party audits to ensure all of your partners are aligned with your goals, having a dedicated client success team on your side, to the actual strategic road mapping of your technology and processes.

Not to mention, when you partner with an MSP, they are with you every step of the way. By thoroughly understanding your I.T. infrastructure, every decision made will be well-informed rather than just an unrealistic expectation set by business leaders who are disconnected from your I.T. department.

And with the help of an MSP, aligning your technology with your business goals has never been easier. With both your technology and goals on the same page, you’ll be able to accurately plan for the future and ensure a smooth execution to reach success.