It Strategy – When Do We Need One?

By Author: jhon tony
Total Articles: 329
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In the world today, it is understood that to gain or maintain competitive advantage you have to ensure that your business is optimised, focusing the majority of energies on the actions that will make a difference. It is important not to underestimate the role that technology plays in new ways of doing business, and certainly not something that any business leader or any organisation should ignore.
It is a simple foot race - the better you invest to ensure your company and its operations are panning out smoothly, the better reward you are going to get. If you are going to reap the benefits of the infrastructure and policies that your predecessors implemented while under-investing in new or more optimised technologies, do not be surprised to find that your perpetual operational effectiveness leads to decreasing profits, while you notice that competitors that you did not consider a threat are gaining and will be real competition soon. Quite simply you will have stood still in a growing, changing marketplace.
This is where an IT strategy is critical – firstly you need one. It is the backbone of how the IT function ...
... can underpin, compliment, drive and even protect your business to reach your company goals. If you have a 5 year business plan, you need a 5 year IT strategy. Secondly, the plan needs to evolve and be flexible. There has to be an appreciation that new technologies will make themselves accessible during the period of the plan, either in the form of cutting edge ideas, technologies that now fall under the ‘tried and tested’ banner or simply that a technology costs less and is now commercially viable.
If you are not an expert in all areas of IT to know where the market is going with regards to analytics, collaboration, mobile and BYOD, cloud, Big Data, Social media and security; if you are not sure how these technologies are going to affect your company and your market; if you haven’t thought how you are going to introduce and implement these within your company then simply take advice. You wouldn’t plan your finances without a financial advisor, even though you know what a savings plan is, so don’t do the same with your company’s IT future.
This is why it is key to have an experienced knowledgeable business technology consultant partner on board that works with you to take advantage of the latest technologies and methodologies available and to plan for innovation within your IT strategy. A good consultant will provide independent IT services to you which will be personalised for your firm, meaning that through their IT professional services, they understand your business drivers and goals, and devise strategy that will utilise technology to create a competitive advantage for your company.
The IT Middle East and the IT Dubai scene is changing rapidly with businesses confidence growing and companies becoming more aggressive for market gain over the last year. If you are one of those still stagnating in your market share, it’s time to rise to the challenge and act.
In the Middle East there are only a few organisations which can help you with both the IT professional services and the IT services delivery of any project to offer end to end expertise. Check the history of any lead consultant you engage with – if they have a strong history across many technologies they will be able to provide an understanding of how each technology area interacts with each other and affects the company, and be wary of any ‘SI’ that talks about your next project or BoM without understanding how this fits into your mid- and long-term planning – they are only interested in today’s order and not your legacy.
Find more information relating to IT services delivery, and IT middle east here.