Create Strategic Guidelines - IT Strategy ABC's (3/5)

Today's discussion involves how one will use IT to enact one's business goals. In short, once we know what we have and why its important, we now decide how to enhance the value of what we have or decide if we need something more. This concept is best explained by way of example.

In my current organization, our sales department has a mission-critical task of deciding which of our products best fits a given customer based on the customer's needs, regulatory constraints, and a myriad possible software configurations available to each of our products. To say the least, it is a daunting task. To make matters worse, currently the whole process is performed manually! Egad!

So, we know what we have: an enterprise system running SQL Server and each employee with a client machine. Good start. Is what we have enough to support the business once we automate the product fitness process? The IT infrastructure is in-place and operational. Good. IT has competent software developers. Good again.

It looks like we have what we need to get started. Why not just build something and put it into production? Gotcha! What's wrong with that picture? There is no thought to strategic impact.

Far too often, I've witnessed businesses take this approach. With the pace of competition and innovation, I can't say that I blame them. But it's extremely short-sighted. Unfortunately, people are terrible prognosticators. We tend to think that if IT can solve our immediate concern, then all is good. Just make the problem go away. This leads to what is known in industry as "throw-away apps". All that creative talent and money wasted on short-term gains. No wonder so many enterprise systems are a slap-dash menagerie of disposal solutions that somehow never get disposed.

The trick to ridding yourself of this patchwork solution is to have a "champion" that can envision the partnering role of IT in the enterprise, cut through the daily noise of competing for resources, and drive a long-range plan to fruition. In larger organizations, this role is filled by the Chief Information Officer. But small businesses don't have the luxury of hiring a dedicated champion. So, what can you do?

Be your own champion.

If you've read my blog this far, chances are you are ready to be that champion. Now comes the hard part. You have to know your business stategy before you can incorporate an IT strategy.

And since it appears that I merely scratched the surface on this topic while consuming a large portion of your time, I'll continue the thread in my next post. Stayed tuned.

Build strategic focus for IT use - IT Strategy ABC's (2 of 5)

Welcome to part 2 of IT Strategy ABC's. Today's focus is on strategic focus. The more I read about IT planning and design, the more chagrined I become at hearing the same thing from many different authors - small businesses are not paying attention!

It appears that we, as IT professionals, have failed to adequately communicate how important information technology strategy is to ALL businesses. I have struggled for weeks trying to determine what exactly will get small businesses to stand up and take notice without coming across as the harbinger of doom. I know I hate it when someone tries to scare me into buying something...or else.

However, the reality of not having an IT strategy "is what is and that's all that it is" (to paraphrase Popeye). If you don't have a strategy that includes IT as an integral actor in that plan, your business will be eclipsed by any competitor that does include IT.

Below, I've added links to a couple of articles about using tech in your business and why you need it.
Small Business - Tech Tools Bring Big Success for Small Businesses
Does Your E-Business Support Your Business Goals? - WomenEntrepreneur.com

Now that you thoroughly understand the absolute necessity of an IT strategy (ok, sarcasm doesn't translate well) , let's get down to business.

After I've completed a tech audit (as noted in installment 1), it's time to learn how to make tech a value-added actor in your business. And believe me, the size of your business matters not when developing an IT strategy. All that will matter is:

• what business problem(s) do you need resolved, and
• which technologies are available to solve that problem.

That's it! Of course, making those determinations is where the real work lies. But, we now know more than when we started. At this point, I've identified:

1. your business goals
2. the problems that hinder you from achieving your business goals
3. and what technology you currently employ in your business.

Now comes the brain work. The next step is to determine if your existing technology works as intended, that is, it solves the business problem for which it was purchased. If not, I need to learn whether there's something better to replace it that will provide more value than what you have now. Even if it does adequately do the job now, I will still identify possible candidates to replace that product / system because, by its very nature, technology is disposable and has a limited shelf-life.

To complete this phase, I will document what I believe are the best candidates for upgrading or replacing. These candidates will be the systems that are:

1. mission-critical
2. affect the widest range of systems
3. can achieve the quickest return on investment (ROI).

In the next installment, we'll take what we learned and start crafting the core of the IT strategy, the strategic guidelines.

5-step IT Strategy ABC's (1 of 5)

In my next series of blog, I want to offer an introduction to the 5-step process I use to define and document a client's information technology strategy. Those five steps are:

1. Assess existing technology (technology audit)
2. Build strategic focus for IT use (How does IT support the business?)
3. Create Strategic Guidelines: How do we use IT? What are the basic principles?
4. Develop Architectures: What do the conceptual building plans look like?
5. Engage Initiative and Projects: How do we implement the strategy?

Let me clarify something right away, though. When I say information technology or IT, I am specifically referring to the electronic forms associated with computers and the Internet. Storing paper library index cards using the Dewey Decimal system is an IT strategy, just not an electronic one.

One of the biggest challenges I encounter with non-tech savvy small business clients is their misunderstanding of the importance of:

1. IT's growing influence on their business, and
2. leveraging IT to grow their business.

More often than not, they simply don't see the need to transition to anything else. For those people who have transitioned to a more digital environment (like folks who read blogs, for instance), it surprises us when we encounter another business person who doesn't use IT the way we do.

My business is all about transitioning these types of businesses to help them compete successfully in the 21st-century global marketplace.

In part 1 of the series, I'll outline the "A" of my IT Strategy ABC's - Assess existing technology. Otherwise known as a technology audit.

In any audit, you first want to find out what you have to work with. The same holds true for a technology audit. For some people, "audit" is bad word used only when referring to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. Don't let it trip you up. Use inventory instead.

So, I want to know exactly what information technology you have AND, this is key, how you are presently using it in your organization - if at all. Having and using are not necessarily interchangeable. Just as using and using effectively can be different.

Once I learn the what and the how, then I can ask the tough questions: Why do you use this system? Does it still add value to your business? What's worth keeping, what's not? Answers to all of these questions will be documented so that I can identify areas of the business that might benefit the most from advances in technology.

Additionally, while I'm auditing the IT, I'm also learning how you operate your business. Any offered solution must fit within the context of your daily operations or two things will happen: 1) it'll fail, or 2) you'll ignore it and go back to what you were doing. In both cases, I've failed to do my job.

That concludes Part I of my IT Strategy ABC's: Assess existing Technology. Tune in next time when I'll discuss Part II: Build strategic focus for IT use (How does IT support the business?)

Why IT strategy matters

If my hunch is correct, most small businesses don't see the "forest for the trees" when it comes to understanding the role of information technology and its impact on their business. I don't want to imply that small business owners are incapable of strategic thinking. Quite the contrary, because we don't have the resources available to us as larger corporations do, we have to be quite ingenious in how we gain and maintain our competitive edge. We have to think of the big picture.

That's why today I want to focus on an opinion piece from ComputerWorld Why enterprise strategy matters for IT.

In it, the author points to an article in Harvard Business Review that sums up my whole thought on the matter:

Collis and Rukstad went on to explain why strategy matters. They pointed out that companies in the same industry can — and frequently do — have very similar missions (why they exist) and visions (what they want to be). A good strategy, they argue, can fundamentally differentiate a company from its competitors, and they list three key ingredients that make differentiation possible: an endpoint (a specific objective, complete with time frame), a domain (the landscape upon which the enterprise will operate) and an advantage (why and how you will achieve that endpoint vis-a-vis the competition).

From what I am learning about operating a small business, differentiation is the crux of our whole existence. If we don't stand out from the crowd, we become an "also-ran".

So, if you don't have an IT strategy, get one!

I wholeheartedly believe that in a 21st-century economy, Information Technology is your business. You may produce hand-crafted widgets using techniques handed down from generation to generation. But if you don't have an IT strategy to automate your workflow, generate leads, increase your productivity, and reduce costs, you cannot possibly compete in your domain. Why? Because your competition surely is doing all those things and more.

I hope this blog stimulates your thought processes around adopting IT strategy. I invite comments and critiques from everyone. Please help me engage you in a dialog. Together, we both become better business persons.

What does a CIO really do?

For the millions of small businesses in the U.S., an Information Technology (IT) strategy could possibly be the shot in the arm they need to increase credibility, generate sales, create brand awareness, or develop their product or service. However, it's been my experience that too many get caught in what I call "fire-fighting" mode. It's that mode where the business is moving eternally from one IT crisis to the next never really getting the upper-hand on any of it.

Business owners are so busy trying to run their shops that it seems that they can never get enough distance between themselves and the problems that hinder their growth; they're mired in the details. Without that perspective, it's nearly impossible to plan an IT strategy.

You may ask, "Who cares about IT strategy? I'm just one store." You should care. Technology is everywhere and it's not going away. As John Jantsch says in his great book, Duct Tape Marketing, "Heed this warning: Embrace the Internet or prepare to become obsolete!" He was talking directly to us -- small business owners. I believe this statement whole-heartedly.

OK. Let's assume for a moment that John's insight is true. What can a business owner do? More than likely, you don't have the time to add IT strategy to your to-do list. And here I am basically telling you have to. You need a CIO. But what small business can afford to hire one? And what ROI can you expect if you did hire one?

In my first installment of CIO-to-go, I want to lay the foundation of how I think a CIO adds value to his or her organization. In this brief blog, What does a CIO really do? - FierceCIO, the author touches on a critical point. The CIO's role is evolving to encompass more of a strategic role within the modern organization than ever before.

Strategy is the key term here. Strategy, in the business sense, is the plan that brings your business goals to fruition. The exact hierarchy as I understand it is this: Vision (CEO)> Strategy (c-level managers) > Goals (mid-level managers) > Objectives (supervisors) > Tasks (workers). As you can see, it mirrors closely the structure of most modern organization charts.

A good CIO brings two things with her to the organization: tech-savvy and business expertise. In a 2007 survey of 558 CIO's by CIO magazine, "More than 82 percent of respondents said that aligning IT and business was their number-one activity." That's an awful lot of business alignment going on. If these companies are focusing so intently on aligning IT with the business, do you think it might be a good idea that you do to?

In this blog, I want to bring a level of awareness to small business owners (and whoever else is interested) of how important it is that you consider the impact of technology on your business. Along the way, I want to share my experiences with IT integration, answer questions about it that you may have, and hopefully engage in a dialog that will let us grow our businesses and better serve our clients. Because, after all, isn't that what business is about?