What a Business IT Strategy Is and How to Develop One

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The world of IT moves quickly, with new applications, updates and solutions being developed all the time. That is particularly true when it comes to IT in business, where each change in the IT landscape can have a significant effect on a company’s efficiency, competitiveness and profitability.

Taking a reactive approach and making things up as you go along is likely to prove not only expensive but ultimately pointless. Only by adopting a holistic and forward-thinking strategy are you likely to be successful in using your IT effectively.

This month, the team at Pickl is looking at what a business IT strategy is, how one can help your business and how to go about developing one.

What is a business IT strategy?

Put simply, a business IT strategy involves aligning your IT needs with your business goals.

By determining your vision for the business as a whole, you can then work out how IT can best help achieve those goals, as well as making sure you have the personnel, budget and expertise to see it through.

A good IT strategy should cover all aspects of IT within the business, including hardware and software, human resources, risk management and cost management.

The benefits of a business IT strategy

Economic: a well-planned IT strategy is likely to be far more cost-effective in the long term than one that involves throwing money at fixing short-term issues
Efficient: a coordinated, company-wide process will enable collaboration, eliminate duplication and reduce downtime
Secure: IT security is essential for any business, and an IT strategy can ensure all stakeholders are fully aware of the processes and procedures that can protect this
Data management: effective management of the data you create and collect each day can help you use it to its maximum potential
Competitive: it’s essential if you want to stay ahead of – or, if they’re being as proactive as you, keep pace with – the competition

How to develop a business IT strategy

Set out business objectives for each department in the company – by understanding your future plans, you’ll be able to better understand what IT infrastructure is needed to get you there
Work with key stakeholders across the business to determine existing IT needs, future plans and how IT can help meet those goals
Review existing IT to determine what is working and what isn’t – you don’t need to necessarily go back to square one, you may well find that much of your existing IT infrastructure is actually sufficient for what you’re planning
Once you have determined your IT requirements, create a detailed ‘roadmap’ for getting there, including timescales and budget
Set your KPIs – once the strategy is agreed, you’ll need to keep a close eye on how the plan proceeds so that you can make sure that it’s working and that you’re sticking to those timescales and budgets

Engaging expert outside help to develop a business IT strategy can be hugely beneficial and will help you focus on the right goals. That’s partly because you’ll be buying into their expertise in the field, but also because a fresh pair of eyes, unencumbered by previous expectations or prejudices, can often help you see better where improvements can be made.

Here at Pickl, we’re experienced at working with businesses in a wide number of sectors to help them develop a workable, effective and realistic IT strategy that can achieve all the goals we’ve been talking about.

Get in touch with us now to find out more.