I suggest you read that article. It provides very good points.

I strongly agree with imperative #10: Review your strategic plan. It is boring. And painful. But will give you a great high-level view of what’s coming, what projects should continue and should be put on hold.
Also, imperative #8 Ensure strong governance, follows the same pattern as #10, being both un-exciting and tedious, but completing this step will provide great clarity and a high return on the time and effort invested.

I have to recognize that imperatives #4 Don’t forget risk (it is NOT about what you probably are thinking) and #5 Figure out compliance where not in my short list of things to do next year.

What about you? What do you take from these ten imperatives? Which of these will you implement first?

Post from: Strategic IT Planning Blog, by Andres Vivas.

Ten imperatives for midmarket IT strategy in 2009

Technorati Tags: IT Strategy, Processes, Tools

In the past few months, we’ve been working on making sure that every process and procedure is identified and its corresponding Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is created or updated.

Make sure that your SOPs are up to date and that there is at least an identified, trained backup for each function.

In IT organizations is very common to have a staff member or two that can do everything, and everything they do is stored in their heads. This increases risk for the organization. Make sure that your SOPs are up to date and that there is at least an identified, trained backup for each function. This includes the functions of the CIO and IT Directors.

So, are your SOPs up to date, indexed, and located in a place where they can be found by the backup personnel when needed?

Post from: Strategic IT Planning Blog, by Andres Vivas.

How well documented is your process?

Technorati Tags: Procedures, Processes

First Process Then Tools

You have heard this before. A coworker comes to you and tells you about WidgetWidgy 2.0, the latest version of this tool that lets you do pink widgets and cool doodads. You take a look at the tool and agree that it does look promising. Should you go ahead and buy it and start using it right away? Or is it better to ask a techie to look into it and see if it is viable? Maybe you and your team are too busy and you decide there is no time to dedicate to any more tools at this point?

This situation happens too often. After all, there are hundreds of new tools and updated versions that probably hold the secret to improve productivity or give you a competitive advantage. How to tackle this?

Most of today’s new applications are created with the same goal in mind: To automate a process. Making easier the daily activities that we encounter. The problem arises when somebody that does not work with you creates a tool that automates the process in the way that they think is correct, but that may or may not fit your needs.

The proposed solution to this challenge is to make sure that you focus on the process first. Make sure that you have analyzed the steps that you take to complete the task and document its workflow. Then, and only then, look for tools that fit your process. Only then you will know for sure whether the tool you need to acquire is the WidgetWidgy 2.0, or if the right one is ClicketyClik 4.2, or if you actually need a tool at all.

Remember, there is no point in automating the wrong process.

(Image by MShades)

Post from: Strategic IT Planning Blog, by Andres Vivas.

First Process, Then Tools

Technorati Tags: IT Strategy, Processes, Tools