Bringing IT closer to business strategy

Dominic Riordan

The upsurge in mobile solutions and distributed workforces all combine to make the importance of IT strategy progressively more important to many organisations. In fact, IT has moved beyond being an enabler to becoming a transformative partner to business.

Simply put, unless the IT strategy is focused on understanding and aligning to the business, customers and strategy, and delivering benefits against that business strategy, organisations will become less and less able to compete. While this sounds simple, the reality of defining an effective IT strategy is more complex as it requires a change in mindset more than anything else.

Channels of operating are changing

Today, businesses are recognising that the traditional channels of operating are changing and the enablers are different. As a result, they are asking more of IT than IT was previously ready to deliver. IT functions that move away from the mindset of 'doing more with less' to the premise of 'doing what's key and meaningful' are more likely to succeed. In fact, IT can no longer be viewed as a cost centre - rather it needs to be viewed as a transformation partner where IT should be proactively seeking to support business in its strategic drivers.

While the process may be complex, the start is simple: it begins with understanding your business' strategic drivers and what they mean to the IT organisation. Only once you understand the long-term vision and drivers for the business, can you begin the process of developing a meaningful IT strategy and operating model. With an understanding of IT's current positioning in relation to the overall strategic drivers of your business, you can start to identify the gaps and opportunities for improvement, and, of course, the risks and issues that exist. Additionally, this also allows you to assess business' expectations of IT and the extent to which IT is meeting them. As this dependency increases, the need for a clearly defined IT operating model becomes more critical.

We have learnt that the definition of an aligned and integrated IT strategy often requires an outside view. All too often, business owners and IT managers are too involved in the micro-environments of their roles to grasp fully the complexities and intricacies associated with a forward-thinking IT strategy and operating model. In order to develop an effective strategy, operating model and, in some cases, the organisational structures required to support them, a bird's-eye view of the business and the IT function is critical.

Maximum value

A truly collaborative IT function should work with business functions so that they are both investing in the right technology where there is a need for new capabilities, and leveraging existing technology in the most effective way, ensuring that it delivers maximum value to the business. Throughout this process, IT should look to provide governance support, focused on bringing new capabilities into the IT organisation.

Some organisations are certainly getting this right and reaping the benefits, while others are struggling to let go of the status quo - and while they understand what's meaningful from a business perspective they are reluctant to let IT be the transformative tool it can be. The sooner they realise that IT is, in fact, a key component that can bring the business together and drive seamless business integration, the sooner they will realise that business transformation is achievable and innovation and growth is possible.