Document Business Goals and Capabilities for Your IT Strategy
Successful IT strategies rely on a strong business understanding.
Contributors
- Aaron Gette, Chief Information Officer at The Bay Club Company
- Chris Laping, Co-Founder & CEO of People Before Things LLC
- Cory Crosland, CEO, Croscon
- Kyle Saverance, Chief Information Officer, Coker College
- Mark T. Edmead, IT Transformation Consultant and Trainer, MTE Advisors
- Mike Palmer, Chief Information Officer, City of Victoria
- Phil Weinzimer, President, Strategere Consulting
- Joe Evers, Consulting Principal, JcEvers Consulting Corporation
- Winston Sun, Senior Manager, Business Relationship Services, OPS
- 1 anonymous contributor
- As a strategic driver, IT needs to work with the business. Yet, traditionally IT has not worked hand-in-hand with the business. IT does not know what information it needs from the business to execute on its initiatives.
- A faster time to new investment decisions mean that IT needs a repeatable and efficient process to understand what the business needs.
- CIOs must execute strategic initiatives to create an IT function that can support the business. Most CIOs fail because of low business support.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- Understanding the business context is a must for all strategic IT initiatives. At its core, each strategic IT project requires answers to a specific set of questions regarding the business.
- An effective CIO understands which part of the business context applies to which strategic IT project and, in turn, what questions to ask to uncover those insights.
Impact and Result
- Uncover what IT knows and needs to know about the business context. This is a necessary first step to begin each of Info-Tech’s strategic IT initiatives, which any CIO should complete.
- Conduct efficient and repeatable business context discovery activities to uncover business context gaps.
- Document the business context you have uncovered and streamline the process for executing on Info-Tech’s strategic CIO blueprints.
Start here – read the Executive Brief
Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should define the business context, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand how we can support you in completing key CIO strategic initiatives.
1. Identify and document the business needs of the organization
Define the business context needed to complete strategic IT initiatives.
Talk to an Analyst
Our analyst calls are focused on helping our members use the research we produce, and our experts will guide you to successful project completion.
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You can start as early as tomorrow morning. Our analysts will explain the process in your first call.
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Each call will focus on explaining the material and helping you to plan your project, interpret and analyze the results of each project step, and setting the direction for your next project step.
Book Your Workshop
Onsite workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost onsite delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Module 1: Identify the Missing Business Context (pre-work)
The Purpose
- Conduct analysis and facilitate discussions to uncover business needs for IT.
Key Benefits Achieved
- A baseline understanding of what business needs mean for IT
Activities
Outputs
Define the strategic CIO initiatives our organization will pursue.
- Business context scope
Complete the Business Context Discovery Tool.
- Completed Business Context Discovery Tool
Schedule relevant interviews.
Select relevant Info-Tech diagnostics to conduct.
- Completed Info-Tech diagnostics
Module 2: Uncover and Document the Missing Context
The Purpose
- Analyze the outputs from step 1 and uncover the business context gaps.
Key Benefits Achieved
- A thorough understanding of business needs and why IT should pursue certain initiatives
Activities
Outputs
Conduct group or one-on-one interviews to identify the missing pieces of the business context.
- Documentation of answers to business context gaps
Module 3: Uncover and Document the Missing Context
The Purpose
- Analyze the outputs from step 1 and uncover the business context gaps.
Key Benefits Achieved
- A thorough understanding of business needs and why IT should pursue certain initiatives
Activities
Outputs
Conduct group or one-on-one interviews to identify the missing pieces of the business context.
- Documentation of answers to business context gaps
Module 4: Review Business Context and Next Steps
The Purpose
- Review findings and implications for IT’s strategic initiative.
Key Benefits Achieved
- A thorough understanding of business needs and how IT’s strategic initiatives addresses those needs
Activities
Outputs
Review documented business context with IT team.
- Finalized version of the business context
Discuss next steps for strategic CIO initiative execution.
After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve. See our top member experiences for this Blueprint, and what our clients have to say.
Client
Experience
Impact
$ Saved
Days Saved
Wright County
Workshop
10/10
$63,711
10
Royal Canadian Mint
Workshop
7/10
N/A
10
Sentinel Peak Resources
Guided Implementation
9/10
$2,546
5
York Region District School Board
Guided Implementation
8/10
$10,000
10
Milwaukee Metro Sewerage District
Guided Implementation
7/10
N/A
N/A
