Organizations that are able to successfully execute growth strategies increase their profitability by 77 percent. However, most initiatives fail to gain traction and provide long-term success. That’s because thriving requires more than just developing an excellent IT strategy—it’s about following through on it.
For IT leaders, the focus needs to be developing an IT strategy that delivers long-term strategic value. Let’s explore four essential questions to ask yourself from the Val IT framework to evaluate the health of your strategy and help you support your company’s goals.
1. Are we doing the right things?
Your IT strategy must be aligned with your corporate vision, business principles, and objectives. Is your plan getting you closer to achieving your goals? Your strategy should provide optimal value—and it should do so without breaking the bank or exposing your organization to greater risk.
2. Are we doing things the right way?
Not only should you be doing the right things, but you need to be doing them the right way. It’s common for departments to lack visibility into each other’s processes; however, you must have visibility to ensure they are all aligned with initiatives. To thrive, all disparate systems and key stakeholders must be consolidated and work collaboratively.
3. Are we getting things done?
Now it’s time to ensure you have the resources required to accomplish your objectives. Which tasks will be outsourced, and which will be handled internally? Don’t forget to also develop key delivery and change management processes to ensure the widespread adoption of best practices.
4. Are we seeing desired benefits?
Last but not least, you must have a system for identifying expected benefits and maintaining accountability for realizing them. Harvest relevant metrics and keep the intent of your IT strategy in your mind at all times.
This is just one element for building an IT strategy that helps you accomplish your goals and thrive for years to come.
Download the CIO’s Guide to Thriving for more advice, tips, and strategies CIOs and IT leaders can use right now to enable IT to deliver better results that directly improve the financial health and stability of your organization.