Before starting the work, the first thing you need to know are the business objectives, in order to establish the strategies that will be part of a well thought-out plan. This helps the company develop and grow.
Today, all organizations, small or large, need to use technology to meet their various business purposes, so digital transformation is important. In this sense, any company must have a strategic information technology (IT) plan, which helps to fulfill daily operations and achieve institutional objectives. Therefore, it is essential to know how this planning is carried out.
Steps to develop the IT strategic plan
In order to carry out an institutional effort that seeks to maximize the use of IT for business growth and development, the institutional processes and users must be identified . The latter are those who interact with the technology to carry out their various productive activities and to be able to meet the established objectives.
In the book Scanning IT (2010), IT and multimedia professors María Jesús Marco Galindo and Josep María Marco Simó comment that the process of preparing this plan “favors dialogue with the board of directors. It has to be a process carried out with great care and with a result that is sufficiently generic to be very stable, that is, so that it does not have to be redone again as soon as a slight change occurs.”
Although there is no standardized and unique way to do IT strategic planning , there are some basic steps that serve to carry out this work. In this case, it is essential to include creative thinking and understanding of the particular business needs , in order to be able to fulfill the following phases:
1. Know the business objectives
To begin with IT strategic planning, it is necessary to know and understand each of the organization's objectives. This seeks to determine what achievements the company wants to achieve, according to its sector.
2. Analyze the current situation
The current reality of the company is examined in depth. In this way, an analysis of the organizational strategy, the efficiency of operational processes and the acceptance of IT is obtained, taking into account competitiveness.
3. Study the business model
The business environment and strategy are analyzed. This allows us to understand the operating model that is the basis for defining the IT requirements necessary to improve organizational efficiency and productivity, with the construction of the information architecture.
4. Develop the IT model
The business strategy is converted into an IT strategy, stipulating the systems architecture that integrates information and applications. The platform for the computer systems is defined and the IT operating models are designed.
5. Establish the planning model
This helps to identify future projects, establish IT implementation cpa email addresses and execution priorities, and generate investment recovery studies. It also determines the risk analysis, thereby identifying the threats to the plan.
6. Monitor execution
It ensures that the results are in line with expectations, so the defined KPIs must be evaluated frequently. This way, we know if the goals are being achieved, if quality is being met, and if the expected impact is being generated.
7. Make necessary adjustments
When an indicator indicates a problem, it is possible to take action to correct it. If the result is that the plan is not functional, it is necessary to thoroughly evaluate the entire IT strategic plan.
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IT Strategic Objectives
These are the purposes of information technology that arise to support the strategic objectives set by the company, responding to the requirements detected in the analysis of the current situation, contemplated in the strategic IT planning. In this way, with the following objectives, the goals and deadlines of IT projects can be quantified in the KPIs, and the necessary inputs can be established:
Transform defined strategies into specific, feasible and realistic projects that have adequate resources and an evaluation of their execution.
Incorporate IT into business processes and their coordination to ensure institutional integration through an updated and reliable technological platform.
Determine the implementation actions and transition plans for various technological projects, based on the approved investment.
Ensure consistency between IT strategy, operations and projects, taking into account the support that technology must provide.
Define the mechanisms that serve to review and improve plans, establishing constant communication with senior management.