How IT fits in the organization’s strategy

Andres Vivas — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 22:13:47 +0000

If you occupy a high level position in your organization then you know very well what I’m talking about. Usually the Business Strategy is defined during a day or two of out-of-the-office meetings, with a busy agenda where many topics are discussed and lot of input is requested from the participants, and then a great list of goals and objectives is created, and Mission and Vision are defined or redefined, usually with complicated and obscure terms. Does this sound familiar?

Just write it down!

Well, once the meetings are over and the emails with the 20-page document with that list of goals and objectives is circulated, you probably ask yourself: Now What?

And, if you are the CIO, or the IT Director or IT Manager, the most obvious questions are, How does my team fit in here? What do we do next?

Unless your organization is one where IT and the business are pretty much the same (Think eBay, or Amazon), you probably face the common situation where the IT staff does not have a clear understanding of what their role is in the organization’s strategy.

Even though the question should have a simple answer, this challenge is faced more often than not in today’s organizations.

It is not easy for the IT specialists to understand or accept the fact that IT is a function that exists to support the organization and to help it fulfill its goals. The main goal of my future posts is to talk more about this challenge, and to propose ways to improve this situation and overcome it, bringing real value to the organization in the long run.

(Image by mshades)

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

How IT fits in the organization’s strategy

Technorati Tags: Business Strategy, Goals, IT Strategy, Mission, Objectives, Vision

Strategic IT Planning Blog » Vision

How IT fits in the organization’s strategy