Build an IT Strategy for Small Enterprises
Get in front of your workload with a right-sized and business-aligned IT strategy.
- Small enterprise (SE) IT departments are so overburdened with managing the day-to-day that strategic thinking is an afterthought. 69% of SE IT departments surveyed claim their IT strategies were less than adequate.
- IT struggles to communicate its current or potential support of business goals. 41% of SE business leaders feel that their goals are unsupported by IT.
- All IT departments are limited by their capacity, but SEs feels this constraint more than their MLE counterparts. Necessary strategic initiatives are neglected if their value and risk doesn’t translate to business terms.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- Don’t build a strategy to appease executives or view it as a request for permission. You’re making the case for the enhancements to the whole organization’s capabilities through the technology you deliver and operate.
- Business stakeholders cannot translate how IT initiatives will help achieve their objectives or mitigate risk. Explain IT’s role in value creation and share the ownership of tech risk.
- SEs invariably have less capacity, talent, and tools to meet a similar demand to MLEs. Prioritization is imperative to success, as is conveying how all gaps impact the business.
Impact and Result
- Clearly communicate to business executives how IT will support the organization’s key objectives and initiatives using the Small Enterprise Executive Presentation Template.
- Use Info-Tech’s Initiative Prioritization Tool to help make project decisions in a holistic manner that allows for the selection of the most valuable initiatives to become part of the IT strategic roadmap.
- Demonstrate to business executives and the IT organization how the IT strategy was created using Info-Tech’s Small Enterprise IT Strategy Template.
About Info-Tech
Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.
We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.
What Is a Blueprint?
A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.
Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.
Need Extra Help?
Speak With An Analyst
Get the help you need in this 3-phase advisory process. You'll receive 6 touchpoints with our researchers, all included in your membership.
Guided Implementation 1: Identify the target state
- Call 1: Identify the business context status and IT implications.
- Call 2: Create components of the IT target state.
Guided Implementation 2: Assess the current state
- Call 1: Assess current IT capabilities.
- Call 2: Examine additional factors impacting IT and identify the current IT maturity.
Guided Implementation 3: Bridge the gap and create the strategy
- Call 1: Assess the gaps to the target state.
- Call 2: Refine the communication materials and plan.
Contributors
- Ken Piddington, Chief Information Officer and Executive Advisor, MRE Consulting
- Kyle Saverance, Chief Information Officer, Coker College