What comes to mind when you hear a new ‘IT Strategy’ is needed? I’ll start with a few things that I don’t think answer the question. AI and automation may feature heavily in your first thought. There may be a smidge of AR / VR / XR in there, perhaps a spot of quantum computing. Adoption of low-code / no-code, cloud computing and continued deployment of microservice architecture could be on your mind. As could IoT, biotech, progressive web apps ([PWAs), blockchain beyond crypto or the real-time offerings of Edge computing. Robotics, wearable tech, neuromorphics, DevSecOps, and voice-activation might feature too. Quite the dizzying array of things that are each wonderful … but that do not form an IT Strategy.
In reality, for large and medium enterprises, all of the above may well be important, but are largely footnotes when it comes to the creation of a successful and impactful IT Strategy. And why? Because the folks in the boardroom who want to see and understand the strategy are not really interested in shiny tech. They’re interested in how technology can be used to increase revenue, save money, improve the customer experience, gain efficiencies and innovate ahead of the competition. Basically, how technology can help grow the business and create new value.
For all of the above, technology choices are the principal engineer and architect’s playground. Let them get on with it. Winding business growth and value creation into an IT Strategy goes well beyond the tech. Here’s some starting points to consider:
1. Avoid the big glossy strategy tome that will sit and gather dust once all of the presentations are done and the back-patting has died down. An IT Strategy should be engaging, in a language all can understand, focused on value outcomes that unify both business and tech needs. Short, regularly iterated and progress reviewed via metrics that matter.
2. Technology teams are a lovely but fickle bunch. Happiest when clear on the goal but then empowered to get on with it in whatever manner suits, so long as the guardrails are clear. Allow time for personal growth, be challenging but fair, managing poor performance and behaviour promptly before rot sets in. Happy team, happy business.
3. Ensuring the tech team and their business counterparts are singing from the same songsheet can be hard. Collective goals and great use of tools that enable real-time collaboration and decision-making are examples of where a connectedness between all parties involved in delivery of a tech initiative is essential to avoid cost and time drift.
4. Ways of working around the investment can be a real Achilles heel. Up-front obsession around capital allocation to IT overall, and further, to projects and products, all occur at the point of having least information i.e. at the beginning. Far better to agree simple funding principles for moving through stages of experimentation, MVP and then full-on investment. This allows for regular and open review of the value being created and of the need to pivot a plan based on learning rather than guesswork.
5. The gritty end of an IT Strategy will be in it’s efficiency. How do we procure new tech? What is an ideal mix of in-sourcing, outsourcing, augmentation? How do we best manage a challenging supplier base that means a win-win for us and them? Where is time and money being lost due to inefficient processes for just getting simple tasks done? It’s a long road, but with focus and expertise, the benefits can be game-changing.
Enough of the preaching, but I hope the point lands. Brilliant technology is not just about technology. An iterative approach to change, real depth to business relationships, an empowered team, an obessesion on valueover cost and a ruthless approach to waste must all feature alongside the glittery bells and whistles of the latest tech trends.
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