Creating and IT Strategy with Sunglasses On !

Creating an IT Strategy

For many companies, creating an IT strategy may seem like a complicated exercise and a belief that a technical person is needed to write it. Well this is not the case as in essence an IT strategy will closely align to your business strategy. The document should outline your business objectives and business drivers as to how you would like technology to achieve them.

Some good examples of key business drivers could be allowing your IT systems to flex with business growth and peaks throughout the year, value for money, achieving economies of scale or even reducing operational risk. Some other business drivers' maybe to improve customer experience or engage with customers more efficiently.

Other areas to consider when creating your IT strategy document should be resilience and disaster recovery. Your IT infrastructure is a valuable asset and you should consider backup plans should it fail. This can range from having resilient connectivity to your location or even considering moving the risk away from your location and into a hosted environment.

All businesses want to be able to increase revenue and become smarter with their customer data. This is where CRM systems may help segment the existing customer information. Once you have a more accurate profile of your customers, you are then able to fine tune your marketing effort based on the results.

Centralisation and system integration is another key business driver that can help the Operations of your business become more efficient. Integrating your Sales and Marketing system into your accounting system can reduce the workload and provide a more holistic view of your business. This is especially true when looking for an operational dashboard overview of your business.

Automation is another key area for consideration when creating your IT strategy. Automation provides increased efficiency and accuracy of data as is removes the need of an operator to perform the function.

Ensuring you are aware of the assets you currently own should be a feature of an IT strategy. Knowing where the assets are physically located, what assets they actually are and of course if they are being used efficiently should be a consideration. Many asset management based systems are available and can provide valuable information back to your business. Your company's assets can be significant and can be physical equipment, services or even people.

4little1s.com is an online nursery furniture and baby bedding retailer located at www.4little1s.com