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September 30, 2019

How does IT support your business strategy?

By SpiderGroup

Digital Transformation holds a different meaning for different businesses. For us, it means enabling businesses to move fully into the digital age, using technology to achieve your business objectives.

With more advanced technology becoming the office norm, it’s time to realise the impact it can have on your business efficiency. A strong IT infrastructure is the backbone to any strong business plan.

Start by identifying your business objectives

To start you on the path to a collaborative IT and business strategy, you first need to think about your objectives and goals. Where do you want the business to be in 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, 10 years...? Are you a market leader or do you need to stabilise yourself in the sector? Think about developing services you could be offering, or what your business is currently slow to deliver on.

Having a clear idea of your key objectives will help you identify what technologies will be necessary to get you there. For example, if your objective is to improve delivery speeds, you might need systems in place to automate some of your manual processes. If you want to improve customer retention, you may need better documentation and collaboration. If you want to grow your revenue, a way to generate and nurture leads will be important, and so on. 

Assess your current situation

Once you have your vision, you need to look at your existing technology. Understanding and assessing your current position helps you to understand what tools you already have at your disposal, and how far you need to go to meet your goals. 

• Take stock of your hardware and software
• Make note of how old your hardware is and whether it needs updating
• Identify who uses what systems, what is being used as intended and what has been hacked or bodged to try and do what your staff need it to do
• Identify what areas of the business have systems that aren't working
• Audit broken or non-functional items
• Identify security risks

Communicate at this stage with your IT personnel to gauge your IT strengths and weaknesses in comparison to your business goals. Establishing how your current IT infrastructure may be shaping, defining or holding your business vision back helps to view the two in unison.

Figure out how IT will get you where you want to go

It’s time to bridge the gap between where you are now and your business objectives.

Use the data you discovered in the previous step, alongside your defined business goals, to scope out what IT your business really needs.

• What technology will your business require to move forward?
• Do you need to remove manual processes with an ERP system?
• Do you need to improve customer service with a CRM?
• Do you need to solidify your apps and reduce overheads with Microsoft Azure ?
• Is your online server posing a current vulnerability to reaching your business plan?
• Do you need to move your files to the Cloud?
• Do you need to increase collaboration between teams with better software?
• Do you want to realise the benefits of remote working ?

The answers will depend on what you want to achieve in the near and far future. Future-proofing your business may depend on changing the way you do things now, but short term change can set you up to achieve exactly the growth and ambition you have for your business. 

Think about the wider benefits of different changes. Removing manual process with an ERP, for example, will free up employees to focus on more important activities, reducing the time cost of processes that can be automated. You can then either streamline, or redirect focus to higher value work. 

Mapping IT with business

Any change can be an intense process, so it makes sense to take some time and plan out how you intend to go about making your IT align to your business goals. Getting employees to engage with digital transformation is key to making a success of the project, so plenty of planning and communication will be vital. 

There is no sense in updating every single system at once if that means you have to change everything about how you operate all in one go. A staggered implementation might be more suitable, giving you time to bed in each change before moving on to the next. On the other hand, a sweeping change might make more sense for your business - getting expert guidance can be the best way to make sure any changes work for you. 

Map the new IT infrastructures you want to the relevant business objectives - that way you can prioritise and plan out your timescales. 

The implementation of your strategy

It’s important to stay involved with your IT team as you implement the plan. You may need to change scope as the strategy comes into fruition and the best way to understand this is to hear it first hand from your employees.

Change can often be faced with irritation but it's important to understand the difference between reluctance to change, and genuine struggle with adoption. Be on hand to support your employees.

Process and documentation will be your friends during this process. You need everything to be clear and consistent so that your new IT systems are used as intended - there's no sense in putting a lot of time and effort into a transformation project, only for it to fail because everyone is using the new systems differently. 

Keeping a rolling FAQ document will also be helpful - if you're constantly asked about the same topics, you'll know that more training and communication will be required to cover those areas. 

Communicate often and reiterate the reasons for the changes you're making - you want all of your staff to know exactly why you're doing this, and what benefits they and the business will see from it. If there are no benefits to your employees (even simply saving time or effort), you should consider whether or not the change you've identified is the right one. 

Meet the needs of your organisation

Your business strategy needs to be rooted in your business needs. Remember that IT should be an enabler and empowering tool, not a hindrance to your growth. The technology is out there, it’s just a case of research, investment and proper implementation.

SpiderGroup are IT experts and have helped many businesses carry out their IT and business strategy to achieve their goals. If you’d like some assistance with understanding how IT support can help you, get in touch with the team by calling us on 0117 933 0570 or you can fill in our contact form and we will get back to you.

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Achieving business objectives through technology standards

Developing an IT Strategy: Aligning IT Capabilities with Business Requirements

By Serge Thorn, Enterprise Architecture Consultant

I have observed many situations where a C-level person was supposed to document an IT Strategy in a short period of time, in order to prepare the following year’s annual budget. Very often, they lack much supporting documented business information in order to achieve this task. The result is a weak strategy, sometimes ignored by the user’s community, the key stakeholders.

A weak IT strategy can be costly and wasteful, especially for resource-constrained organizations that operate with minimal budget, tools, knowledge and people.  It also implies that organizations cannot respond to changing business requirements rapidly enough. The absence of strategic anticipation causes organizations to be inefficiently reactive, forcing them to work in a constant state of catch-up.

An IT Strategy should answer the following questions:

• Are we doing the right things with technology to address the organization’s most important business priorities and continuously deliver value to the clients?
• Are we making the right technology investments?
• Do we measure what is the real value to the organization derived from that technology?
• Is our current Information Technology agile enough and flexible to continuously support a successful organization?
• Is our Information Technology environment properly managed, maintained, secured, able to support the clients, and is it cost effective?
• Can our strategy support current and future business needs?

Quite often the first thing we should consider when writing such a document is the targeted audience and its content. Different people with varying roles and responsibilites may read an IT Strategy within a company, so the document may need to serve several different purposes.  It is not easy to pitch a strategy to different levels in the hierarchy within an organization, and at the appropriate level of detail. Sometimes it is too detailed and does not always match the stakeholder’s needs.

An IT Strategy is an iterative process to align IT capabilities with the business strategy and requirements:

• IT Strategy is a documented and approved process (part of the organization’s governance framework)
• IT Strategy is iterative (it needs to be frequently be revisited). Traditionally, IT strategies are updated and communicated on an annual basis, usually to meet budget cycles. This should be considered the minimum review period. If an emerging technology surfaces that has the potential to enhance the business, it should be investigated and communicated to the business as soon as possible. A one-year cycle may  be too late.
• Assuming  that both business and IT capabilities drive each other
• Assuming that business drives IT and not the other way around
• Ensuring that the IT budget is spent on value creation activities for the business
• Creating shareholder value
• Helping to maximize the return on IT investments
• Infrastructure strategy
• Application strategy
• Integration strategy
• Service strategy
• Sourcing strategy
• Innovation strategy

This pyramid diagram can be used to illustrate the IT strategy and vision, and how the technology and business strategies are totally aligned. At the top of the pyramid is the enterprise overarching vision. Aligned below is how IT supports the vision by becoming a premier IT organization in creating competitive advantage for the clients. The IT vision is in turn supported by three pillars: integration, improvement, and innovation.

To deliver this, the business strategy should clearly be articulated and documented taking into account some IT aspects. There are different ways of gathering these business inputs.

The first approach is a very classical one where you develop a questionnaire in business terms which asks each business unit to identify their future requirements for infrastructure growth, taking into account capacity and availability requirements. This extracts the data you need for business driven strategy.

This questionnaire may include some of the following examples of questions:

• What are your top 5 business “pain” points? These are things that you wish you had a solution for
• What are your top 5 business objectives? These can be short term or long term, can be driven by revenue, cost, time, time to market, competitive advantage, risk or various other reasons
• How do you plan to achieve these objectives?
• What will we gain by leveraging IT Capabilities across the business?
• What is in the way of achieving your business imperatives?
• Can IT help achieve your business imperatives?
• How much do you spend on IT capabilities?
• What is your technology ROI?
• Does your company have a plan for technology?
• Does your business plan include a technology plan?
• Where is IT being used across your business unit?

With this input you may now start to consider the structure of your document. It may look similar to this example below:

An Executive Summary includes:

• Business drivers
• Organizational drivers
• Business Goals and Objectives
• IT approaches and principles
• Business application systems
• IT infrastructure
• Security and IT Service continuity
• IT Governance
• Skills, knowledge and education
• IT Financial management
• KPIs, measurement and metrics, balance scorecards
• Technology opportunities

The second approach is where Enterprise Architecture will play an important and even crucial role. Some companies I have encountered have an Enterprise Architecture team, and in parallel, somebody called an IT Strategist. Frequently the connection is non-existent or quite weak.  Other organizations may also have a Strategic Planning unit, again without any connection with the Enterprise Architecture team.

An Enterprise Architecture must play the important role of assessing existing IT assets, architecture standards and the desired business strategy to create a unified enterprise-wide environment – where the core hardware and software systems are standardized and integrated across the entire organization’s business processes, to greatly enhance competitive advantage and innovation. The IT Strategy details the technologies, application and the data foundation needed to deliver the goals of the corporate strategy, while Enterprise Architecture is the bridge between strategy and execution by providing the organizing logic to ensure the integration and standardization of key processes that drive greater agility, higher profitability, faster time to market, lower IT costs, improved access to shared customer data and lower risk of mission-critical systems failures.

As a real example, TOGAF® 9 is perfect way to produce the IT Strategy document during the Phase F: Migration Planning.

In table below, you will find the relationship between some phases of the TOGAF® Architecture Development Method (ADM) and the structure of the Executive Summary document (see above).  A strategic architecture level should be used to deliver a first version of the document, which then could be reviewed with Segment or Capability architectures.

Relationship between some phases of the TOGAF® Architecture Development Method (ADM) and the structure of the Executive Summary document.

The next step would be the review of the IT Strategy document by the main stakeholders who would accept or reject technology opportunities. This could also be used as an important source of information for the Strategic Planning exercise (please refer to another article for additional information:  “ How Strategic Planning relates to Enterprise Architecture? “).

Once the IT Strategy has been reviewed, amended and authorized (which should in reality already be approved, as it is the result of various ADM cycles and the output of Phase F: Migration planning), the multi-disciplinary program team for the implementation during Phase G: Implementation Governance, will deliver the solutions to the business.

As already mentioned previously, the outline strategies will be refined and expanded with a low level of detail when addressing Segment and Capability architectures. This is the part that meets the first challenge described above, where we need different levels of detail for different stakeholders. The documents should be hierarchical, with the ability to drill down to lower levels as more detail is required.

One of the main reasons for developing an Enterprise Architecture with TOGAF® 9 is to support the business by providing the fundamental technology and process structure for an IT Strategy.  Enterprise Architecture is the superset that represents both Business and IT Strategy; this is reflected in Enterprise Architecture’s basic structure of strategy, business architecture and technology/information architecture. One can certainly do an IT Strategy without Enterprise Architecture, but Enterprise Architecture cannot be done without an IT Strategy; the same would apply to business strategy/business architecture.

Serge Thorn is an e xperienced and passionate Enterprise Architecture/Business Transformation professional, consultant, and trainer with many years’ of experience using the TOGAF® ADM and ArchiMate®, an open modeling language for EA.

Serge does coaching, mentoring and implementing worldwide in major Business and Technology transformation initiatives at blue chip companies. Serge has been involved in several Business Transformation/Change Management and Digitalization programs managing stakeholders and architecture teams

Serge has been in charge of International Governance and Control implementing different best practices around IT Finance/Procurement, Audit/Risk management, Vendors Management (with Service Level Management) in a Bank.

In a Pharmaceutical (Chemical) company, Serge was in charge of the worldwide Enterprise Architecture program and Governance, the IT Research & Innovation, following the reorganization of the IT Department, implementing Service Management based on ITIL Best Practices and deploying new processes: Change, Configuration, Release, and Capacity/Availability Management, responsible for the Disaster Recovery Plan and for the System Management team.

Several times responsible for the Enterprise Architecture team in an international bank, Serge has wide experience in the deployment and management of information systems in Private Banking and Wealth Management environments, and also in the IT architectures domains, Internet, dealing rooms, inter-banking networks, Middle and Back-office. Serge has also been into ERP and CRM domains.

Serge’s competency covers the understanding of banking activities, and industries such as Pharma/Biotech, the design of new systems, IT Strategies, IT Governance, Innovation, new technologies, Enterprise Architecture (including Business Architecture, BPM, Business Process Analysis, Six Sigma-Lean, TOGAF® 9.1, ArchiMate®), Cloud, Digitization, Strategic Planning, Service Management (ITIL V 3), Quality Management, team management, project and portfolio management (PMI/SDLC), IT Finance, organization.

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• Pingback: Management Of Information Systems | Information Technology

Strategy must address the IT Trinity – People, Process Technology. You focused almost entirely on technology (right technology, right way, right return) with no regard for the services and people. Human capital management and strategic workforce planning are absolute essentials for IT strategic planning as are service strategies.

Great post!

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IT Strategic Plan: A 5-Step Planning Process (With Template)

Looking for a way to execute key IT and digital initiatives faster to support business growth? Sounds like you need a strong and well-thought-out IT strategic plan.

On paper, it sounds easy to do, right— “a well-crafted IT strategy should set a clear path on how you’re planning to enhance the business’s performance with technology.”

But developing and executing one isn’t a simple task. According to Gartner’s CIO survey , only 29% of CIOs consider their organization effective at IT strategy and planning. It’s a complex, time-consuming, bang-your-head-against-wall process (if you don’t have the right approach). 

Not to worry—that's why we're here. In this article, we’ll cover the key elements of an IT strategy plan and share a practical step-by-step process with examples to help you create and execute your own. 

Oh, did we mention you get a free IT strategic plan template ?

Ready? Discover how to create an actionable and execution-ready IT strategic plan the Cascade way!

In this article, you’ll discover: 

• What Is an IT Strategic Plan?
• The Benefits of IT Strategic Planning
• Key Components of an Execution-Ready IT Strategic Plan
• The 5 Steps of a Highly Effective Strategic IT Planning Process
• IT Strategic Plan Example + Template

Take Control of Your IT Strategic Planning with Cascade 🚀

What Is An IT Strategic Plan?

An IT strategic plan is a roadmap that outlines an organization's goals and objectives for using technology to achieve its business objectives. It provides a framework for making technology-related decisions and investments that align with the organization's overall strategy .

The Benefits Of IT Strategic Planning For CIOs

In today's fast-paced and competitive environment, CIOs use IT strategic planning process to:

• Set and align IT priorities with business objectives and goals. 
• Prove the value and impact of IT within the organization to increase credibility and influence.
• Assess potential risks and vulnerabilities, and develop proactive measures to prevent financial losses and reputational damage.
• Improve communication and collaboration by breaking down silos, ensuring everyone is on the same page, and rowing in the same direction. 
• Focus on IT projects with the greatest potential for impact and ROI, maximizing the value of IT investments and ensuring efficient use of resources.
• Help organizations stay ahead of digital transformation , technology trends and adapt to changing business needs, keeping technology aligned with organizational needs.

Key Components Of An Execution-Ready IT Strategic Plan

An execution-ready IT strategic plan is more than words on paper. It’s an action plan to improve your company’s technological capabilities and deliver business value. 

If you want to inspire alignment and drive ownership for successful strategy execution, your IT strategic plan should include these elements:

🔎 Focus areas : Where should your team focus the attention and efforts? What area of IT will have the most impact on the business strategy?

📌 Goals and objectives: What do you want to achieve exactly? Your goals and objectives are the outcomes you’re aiming for. 

💰 Budget: What resources do you have to achieve your goals and objectives? Are your plans realistic?

😎 Owners: Who is in charge of projects and accountable for their success? Your IT strategic plan needs individuals or teams to ensure it is executed.

📆 Due dates: When do specific actions, initiatives, and projects need to happen? Your IT strategic plan needs timeframes and deadlines to be enforced and acted upon.

📤 Actions: What specific initiatives, deliverables, or projects need to happen within your focus areas? Your IT strategic plan should provide clear and actionable steps for teams to reach goals.

📈 Measures: How will you track progress as your teams execute? Which are the most important IT KPIs your team should track and report upon? A solid IT strategic plan will have an element of progress tracking that promotes consistency and accountability .

👉 Click here to get your free IT strategic plan template (P.S.: The template has all the key elements described above and is pre-filled with examples so you can start working on it right away.)

The 5 Steps Of A Highly Effective Strategic IT Planning Process

So, now that you know which elements you need to include in your IT strategic plan , let's explore how to get there.

Here are five steps to achieve effective IT strategic planning and execution:

1. The alignment phase: IT strategy is part of your business strategy

While IT strategic planning focuses on medium-term goals, CIOs must consider the realm beyond their IT environment (i.e., your company goals).

In the HBR survey , 77% of respondents said the disconnect between IT and business strategies is resulting in significant costs. 

This is a vital consideration for IT leaders. You must be aware of the dangers of misaligned or isolated strategic planning. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking your IT planning process is separate from other business processes or goals. 

To top it off, a study from Workday found that one-third (31%) of companies are rarely aligned on their digital finance transformation goals, with CFOs citing this as a top barrier to successful digital transformation initiatives. 

Focus less on technology talk and more on business strategy outcomes. 

Schedule a strategic planning workshop and kick it off with a recap and discussion about goals that the company is pursuing to understand how technology can help achieve those goals. 

👉Here’s how Cascade can help you:  

Use the Alignment View to get a visual overview of strategic alignment between your IT plan and business strategy. You can also use it to check how your existing IT initiatives contribute to the success of the business strategy.

2. The analysis phase: What should your IT strategy focus on

According to Gartner 's 2023 CIO and Technology Executive Survey, 95% of organizations struggle to develop a vision for digital change, often due to competing stakeholder expectations.

Sure, the squeaky wheel usually gets the most grease, but don’t use this as your base to identify strategic priorities. This approach won’t move the needle for the organization. Instead, focus on what will have the highest impact on the organization in the future and prioritize those initiatives .

As a strategic leader and changemaker, you’ve got to ask yourself: 

• How should the business approach these challenges? 
• What projects should we prioritize for maximum impact in the future? 
• If everyone’s investing in automation, cybersecurity/information security, and data centers, should we be doing the same? 
• Do we have enough resources to support our current strategy, or do we need to develop new resources? 

Researching IT priorities for your organization based on market impact is a good start, and you can do this with reports, industry research, and other data.

But, Gartner also suggests that you should also look to others within your organization to provide insights and different perspectives on priorities and challenges, for example:

• Leadership signals. 
• Stakeholders in the business who share your vision (Ideal Partners).

💡 Top tip: Your people and teams are valuable assets for identifying areas of IT investment. Bring key stakeholders into your strategic planning process to level up your strategic analysis and research.

3. The goal-setting phase: Who is responsible for what?

Next, decide how your IT strategic plan will filter into actionable projects for different teams to execute.

To drive outcomes, goals need to have owners who will manage their initiatives to completion. These initiatives also need to be aligned with your high-level planning as well as the organization’s broader strategic objectives .

Sound like a difficult balancing act? Not if you take a systematic approach. 

A simple way to get started with goal-setting in a strategy-aligned way is to use a three-column table.  

• Jot down business objectives and problems in column A.
• See how your IT strategy can support or improve them in column B.
• Assign project owners to each initiative in column C.

For example:

Column A: What are our business goals or problems? 

• Improve customer experience

Column B: How can our IT strategy support it?

• Optimize our data analytics capabilities and IT infrastructure.
• Implement new CRM software.
• Develop and deploy new digital solutions to improve customer experience.

Column C: Who is responsible for achieving this?

• Optimize our data analytics capabilities and IT infrastructure → Data Analytics Manager & Data Team.
• Implement new CRM software → Customer Support Team & IT Team.
• Develop and deploy new digital solutions to improve customer experience → Customer Experience Manager & IT Team.

Setting your IT goals this way will ensure that actions consistently align with your company’s strategic objectives. You’ll also be able to see if your strategic goals are realistic and within your budget. Plus, you'll ensure each goal has an owner rather than lacking clarity over accountability and realizing this in your next review. 

Once you’re done, go through your table and look for overlapping imperatives, opportunities to streamline execution, and how to prioritize goals. 

Additionally, share them with other key internal and external stakeholders, get feedback, and make changes based on their perspectives. 

👉Here’s how Cascade can help you:

With Cascade's Strategy Planner, you can easily set IT goals and align them with business objectives in a centralized platform. During setup, you'll be able to add a goal's owner, collaborators, due dates, and measure of success. Doing so can keep everyone on the same page and accountable for progress. 

Here’s an example of IT objectives and goals in Cascade:

4. The execution phase: How to get it right

The way you approach strategy execution can make or break the work you’ve put into your strategic planning. 

A successful and fast execution phase has two equally important parts:

• Building a clear and actionable execution plan with key elements developed in the previous steps. 
• Communicating this plan to your stakeholders. Not just to your IT department, but to everyone who will be involved or affected by the execution of your plan. 

To execute your IT strategic plan successfully, ensure that your stakeholders understand the IT strategy's goals, importance, and potential impact. Clarify IT governance, functions, and responsibilities, and establish communication channels to support transparency and cross-collaboration. 

Clarity and strong execution are critical to achieving your IT goals and delivering real value.

Here are two things you can do to get it right:

• Use visual tools: Create strategic roadmaps to communicate plans and timelines.
• Get the wheel spinning early in the process: Hold a workshop or meeting to officially kick off your execution phase. Use this opportunity to explain the strategic direction, who will be involved in the execution, and why you are doing it. 

👉Here’s how Cascade can help you: 

Simplify how you view your planning and execution: Cascade’s Timeline (Roadmap) view lets you visualize IT goals, plans, and progress in an easy-to-read Gantt-chart-style interface. Use it to plan and monitor your IT strategic plan in one place.

5. The monitoring and adaption phase: Stay on your toes

According to Gartner’s survey of 2,387 CIOs and technology executives, more than half of digital transformation initiatives take too long to execute and more than 50% take too long to realize value.  

Strategy execution isn’t a matter of set-and-forget or one-then-done. 

Plans must be acted on, projects must move forward, and expectations must be met. If you're not actively monitoring strategic initiatives, how do you know if you’ll be able to deliver the promised business value of IT? 

Progress reporting and monitoring should be a top priority for CIOs after a strategy kickoff, especially since only 18% of team members review progress on weekly basis. This means enforcing KPIs (key performance indicators), using the right tools to monitor performance, and regular check-ins with IT project owners. 

Sure,  it’s easier said than done at scale, but here are some tips to get it right:

• Use a performance management system: Use it to get an accurate picture of milestones, top performers, and address execution issues proactively.
• Be ready to adapt and optimize:  Any solid strategic plan will include long-term initiatives that can take three or five years to implement. A great one will be ready to pivot and change in the face of new technology, information, and approaches. Being flexible and open to new opportunities is essential to stay ahead in today's constantly evolving landscape.
• Stop wasting time with manual reporting: The old way of PPT presentations, Word docs, and PDF reports won’t cut it in today’s pace of business. Think about it—every second used to type, send, and read those reports could be channeled into achieving better business outcomes. 

👉Here’s how Cascade can help you: Leverage data sources from anywhere: Cascade's thousands of integrations allow you to consolidate disconnected business tools in one place, reducing context switching and helping to create a single source of truth.

Monitor progress with live dashboards: Use a powerful Dashboards feature to streamline insights into performance, monitor critical metrics, and promote data-driven decision-making.

Keep everyone in the loop: With Cascade’s Strategy Reports , you can instantly visualize data, contextualize any breakthrough or setback, and share updates with your teams in engaging ways.

Example of a report in Cascade.

📌Remember that successful IT strategies depend on:

• Proper research and planning.
• Involving different stakeholders in the strategic planning process.
• Setting realistic goals.
• Communicating the strategic plan effectively to a wider audience.
• Monitoring progress and adjusting as teams execute.

IT Strategic Plan Example + Template 

Get a headstart on your IT strategic planning with our IT Strategic Plan Template . 

What do I get?  This information technology strategic plan comes prefilled with IT KPIs, Projects, Goals, and Focus Areas to help you hit the ground running. 

What if I want to customize it? While it’s pre-filled with examples, you can easily adjust, modify, and customize input to meet your needs. 

Is it right for me? It’s perfect for CIOs, IT departments, and digital transformation leaders who need to create a strategic plan for their departments and show the ROI of IT initiatives to the leadership team. 

👉What are you waiting for? Start developing your IT Strategic Plan today. Click the link here and get your free template. 

✨ This template doesn’t match your needs? You can explore our strategy template library with over 1000 templates, including: 

• Digital Transformation Plan Template
• Technology Roadmap Plan Template 
• Digital Adoption Strategy Template

A well-thought-out IT strategic plan is critical for IT leaders who want their organization to stay relevant in a rapidly changing world.

But it’s not enough to maintain a competitive edge and grow your business. Companies with growth-focused mindsets need a platform that makes strategic execution central to how they do business.

With Cascade, you can turn your IT vision into a future-proof strategic plan your teams can work towards and deliver business results. 

Start today with a free forever plan or book a 1:1 product tour with Cascade's in-house strategy expert.

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Your toolkit for strategy success.

IT strategic planning process: create value for the business

Digital transformation, big data , artificial intelligence and other fashionable corporate phrases, such as those linked to IT, are no less a sign of the importance of technological processes in business. Even as people begin to speak about them more than is practical.

Not long ago, large C level executives from areas not directly attached to IT had little knowledge of these processes. They were, for the most part, users.

Today, some knowledge of information technology, its fundamentals, processes, and good practices, is part of the repertoire necessary for any senior level manager. It enables them to perform their tasks, in any area of the company that they commit to.

Therefore, more than ever, the strategic planning of IT processes has become critical to how well an enterprise performs.

More than just providing support, advice or assistance to other areas, the IT strategic planning process today must be seen in a much deeper way.

In addition to providing hardware and software to support other areas, technological processes increasingly become the core of the company, its raison d’être, its market disruptive innovations that make a company create and conquer new markets.

See more: Know all about the strategic planning process model

The New Role of the IT strategic planning process

Waze is an outstanding example to explain how the IT strategic planning process has taken a much more central place in business.

This collaborative application allows vehicle drivers to find the best routes (using the location and speed of users to determine less congested routes). It is the technology involved in this system that adds value to the product.

It’s different from using the IT strategic planning process to make a production line more efficient, pay employees, serve customers better, make calculations, gather information for decision making, or run a business.

The IT strategic planning process itself generates value to the end customer and, consequently, to the company. In addition to decreeing the end of the automotive GPS industry, WAZE is much more efficient. It not only indicates the correct and closest route but updates real-time information on traffic conditions by changing the route with instant messaging.

Therefore, it’s not necessary to work in technology for the IT strategic planning process to be central to a business, helping to create and conquer new markets.

Schools, hospitals, hotels, the manufacturing industry in general, and virtually all large-scale businesses, no longer see IT processes as ancillary to strategic processes in value generation.

But regardless of this renewed importance of the IT strategic planning process, its planning methodology is a consolidated procedure. We will summarize this next.

Also see: Market Acknowledged Organizational Change Management Models

The 6 stages of the IT strategic planning process

Several methodologies can help your company guide you when it comes to the IT strategic planning process.

In this post, we will use a basic template, containing the main steps of this process

1- Overview of the planning process

At this stage, the IT strategic planning process leaders must define a long-term vision and create a mission statement.

This shows where you want to go and how it relates to the strategic objectives of the organization.

2- Long-term vision of the company

An analysis of the technological and human resources that the company already has. As well as, the market trends and the future technological environment where the organization intends to achieve its planning objectives. It’s necessary to define the strategic guidelines and tangible objectives that one wants to achieve.

3- Definition of GAPs in the strategic IT process

Study the current state of all of the company’s systems, processes and technology assets. Compare them with the long-term business prospects defined in the previous steps. Identify gaps and recommend the necessary actions.

4- Schedules and budget

It’s time to build an effective plan, including the development of priorities, a “ roadmap “, budgets and the investment plan that should be contributed.

5- Implementation of the IT strategic planning process

Based on what the organization defined, it can make many decisions to achieve agreed upon objectives. This includes training, vendor and software selection, system integration, hardware procurement, and more.

6- Benchmarking

At the end of the IT strategic planning implementation process, it’s necessary to evaluate the results and compare them with the organizational objectives defined in the previous phases. This will help determine if the planning and its implementation achieved the expected success.

Check it: I TIL Change Management Process Flow

The ultimate goal of any strategic process planning is to reach the final process model more efficiently and effectively. For this, read more about process automation software .

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Business Planning and Support by IT-Systems

Cite this chapter.

• Klaus Freyburger 4  

Part of the book series: Advanced Information and Knowledge Processing ((AI&KP))

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Business planning is one of the basic tasks of corporate management. Although a detailed presentation of all different business aspects is beyond the scope of this chapter some important characteristics of business planning will be presented. The main focus will be on support by IT-systems, starting by identifying different areas like modeling and manual planning. Then different system categories used for planning purposes will be compared. Important examples are spreadsheets and OLAP based systems. Last but not least some fundamental concepts within planning systems will be discussed, like handling of hierarchies within dimensions and modeled calculations. For this purpose, some implementations will be outlined using software of SAP, Microsoft and the open source solution Palo.

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As a recent important trend the beyond budgeting initiative can be mentioned, cf. [ 1 ].

Hope, J., Fraser, R.: Beyond Budgeting. Harvard Business Review Press, Boston (2003)

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Oehler, C.: Beyond Budgeting, was steckt dahinter und was kann Software dazu beitragen? Kostenrechnungspraxis 46 (3), 151–160 (2002)

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Fischer, R.: Business Planning with SAP, SEM. Galileo Press, Fort Lee (2004)

Oehler, C.: Unterstützung von Planung, Forecasting und Budgetierung durch IT-Systeme. In: Chamoni, P., Gluchowski, P. (eds.) Analytische Informationssysteme, 3rd edn. Springer, Berlin (2006)

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Seufert, A., Lehmann, P., Freyburger, K.: Zukunftsorientierte Unternehmenssteuerung auf der Basis von Business Intelligence – Herausforderungen und Potenziale für das Controlling. Controller-Leitfaden. Weka Verlag, Zürich (2006)

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Freyburger, K.: Anwendungsszenarien. In: Haneke, U., et al. (eds.) Open Source Business Intelligence (OSBI): Möglichkeiten, Chancen und Risiken quelloffener BI-Lösungen. Carl Hanser Verlag, München (2010)

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Alaa F. Sheta

Faculty of Technology, De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester, LE1 9BH, Leicestershire, United Kingdom

Aladdin Ayesh

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Freyburger, K. (2013). Business Planning and Support by IT-Systems. In: Rausch, P., Sheta, A., Ayesh, A. (eds) Business Intelligence and Performance Management. Advanced Information and Knowledge Processing. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4866-1_8

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ITSM for high-velocity teams

It management: functions and best practices.

Modern enterprises require a technology infrastructure that aligns seamlessly with their business functions. Maintaining a working infrastructure void of vulnerabilities depends upon effectively managing these systems. Therefore, information technology (IT) management is the foundation of any successful enterprise. IT management administers and monitors a company's technology systems, including networks, hardware, and software.

Taking IT management a step further is IT Service Management (ITSM). ITSM is how IT teams manage the end-to-end delivery of IT services – including selecting and managing ITSM software features and hardware. It includes an established set of processes to manage the design, plan, and delivery of the services across the business.

This article highlights IT management's role and importance across teams. It explains the responsibilities of an IT manager and best practices that IT teams should implement when developing and maintaining a successful IT infrastructure. It also reviews what companies need to deliver high-quality services at a low cost.

What is IT management?

A company's information technology system comprises hardware, software, and network integrations. This supports business operations across different roles and functions.

IT management oversees the system, and IT service management (ITSM) encompasses how a company provides IT services. IT includes auditing, managing, and maintaining IT components. It also involves devising solutions to help information systems operate effectively and efficiently.

IT is often the keystone of designing internal infrastructure and communications across a company. IT teams have seen an influx of responsibilities as a result. Their tasks include ensuring technology works smoothly and securely while looking for opportunities to improve and innovate.

Why is IT management important?

As technology becomes ubiquitous, IT teams are transforming to meet the changing demands of companies, their employees, and the market. IT professionals today must be highly skilled and strategically focused to drive business decisions rather than simply reacting to requests. They have a seat at the leadership table and work toward improving business processes and cross-functional communication essential for business success.

You could previously classify the role of IT as a company’s help desk, mainly responsible for resetting passwords and providing network and folder access. But today’s IT teams are evolving in tandem with the technologies they implement. IT professionals now face compounding challenges from an incredibly fast-paced, dynamic industry riddled with cybercrimes and artificial intelligence (AI). Their evolved role focuses on uniting a company through a well-planned and sophisticated IT strategy containing a strategically designed software and hardware infrastructure. The role of today’s IT team transformed from supporting the business to differentiating the business.

Responsibilities of an IT manager

As IT has transformed, IT managers have experienced a shift in their core functions and capabilities.

These responsibilities include:

• IT strategic planning: IT managers select the most effective IT management software, hardware, and systems that meet the company's needs. This includes ensuring a company's internal collaboration systems remain online and scalable. Some teams use a process known as the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (or ITIL service strategy ), which is an approach to ITSM that focuses on delivering services with higher quality at a lower cost.  It also includes business continuity planning to avoid friction and complications.
• Network management : This requires establishing and maintaining a network capable of scaling and storing protected data and files. This may require monitoring usage, determining traffic trends, and creating flexibility.
• Risk assessment and mitigation: IT is responsible for assessing potential risks, deploying safeguards, and taking other precautions to avoid exposure and reduce risk, especially regarding costly cyberattacks.
• Budget management: Financial responsibilities for IT managers can include assigning expenses to operating or capital budgets, reallocating funds for innovation or improvements, and budgeting resources for data breaches or other unexpected circumstances.

Role of IT management

Effective IT management solutions keep communication, data, and transactions flowing in a company. From customer relationship challenges to database and sales platform maintenance, IT managers contribute to a company's success in the following ways:

Improved productivity: Enhanced productivity and output stem directly from platforms, processes, and people. Reducing friction across a company with service management software like Jira Service Management results in quicker and more efficient interactions. It also creates a more productive workforce.

Innovation and adaptability: IT evaluates emerging technologies and deploys innovative solutions that fit the company's business objectives and infrastructure.

Ensuring data compliance: With increasing concerns over data privacy and security, robust and secure data collection, storage, and activation are key to a company’s success. IT is frequently responsible for the storage and transmission of data, which includes setting up new technology and ensuring compliance.

Decision-making: IT can guide what internal systems can and can't support. They can also provide validated data analysis or tech specs for scaling projects.

IT management best practices

For IT managers, best practices include:

• Seeking education and learning new skills: Keep up with industry changes by reading, attending webinars, taking courses or training focused on new technologies, or earning certifications.
• Remaining curious: Look for new ways to solve old problems. Explore tech-related innovations to help bring new ideas, processes, and methods to the company. Review case studies and build a use case to present to leadership to support recommendations.
• Asking questions: You can’t expect IT professionals to know everything about a company's operations but they should be able to accurately assess a challenge and formulate a solution. Asking questions fosters collaboration and ensures end-to-end understanding of a practice or process to effectively find or create a solution.

Challenges in IT management

IT managers must learn how to work with new and emerging tools, such as AI. They must also provide necessary restrictions and employee education to preserve the safety and security of the network.

Using tools for cross-functional management can challenge IT managers to find a resolution using either existing hardware and software or building their own solution. Tools such as Jira Service Management simplify IT service management and bring everything onto one platform to optimize workflows and increase productivity.

Other challenges IT managers face include cyberattacks, rapidly evolving technology, and employee exploration with new tools such as ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Cyberattacks can be very costly for a company, both from a financial perspective and for the company's reputation. IT managers can mitigate these risks by ensuring network security and using additional measures such as two-factor authentication and other personal identity solutions.

Companies can support IT managers with certification opportunities and continuing education courses for upskilling. In addition, they can establish a Team Playbook to foster positive team interactions and provide a safe space for aligning goals and strategies.

Improve IT management with Jira Service Management

With IT becoming an even greater need across enterprises, many tools can support effective IT management. The key is finding the right ITSM solutions that fit your unique business needs.

ITSM software, such as Jira Service Management , offers the flexibility to set up and configure projects in a way that corresponds with and supports workflows. The Jira platform also enables collaboration across teams to streamline workflows. It tracks progress and connects data from other tools to increase response time for incidents, requests, and changes. In addition, no-code forms, automation, and AI eliminate manual tasks and processes to help companies move and scale more efficiently. The data and contextual information provided within the platform can lead to quicker, more effective decision-making while reducing risk.

Learn more about Jira Service Management

IT management: Frequently asked questions

What is an example of successful it management.

Team-managed projects are a great example of a feature that enables a company to manage its IT practices in a way that best fits its needs. For example, when a team implements Jira Service Management, the entire team can see the project's process, workflow, and status creating visibility and accountability. By deploying the platform’s automation and AI capabilities, some processes can bypass manual interventions and reduce the timeline for completion. In general, this type of deployment helps IT deliver exceptional experiences across the company.

ITSM project management platforms also assist with defining the strategic value of the project and clearly outlining the scope. Throughout the project, IT service management tools ensure that projects have clear and aligned objectives, follow a predetermined timeline, and allocate and manage resources accordingly.

What are some popular methodologies used in IT management?

Not every IT methodology is suitable for every business. Some popular choices include:

• Agile : This approach breaks a project into phases and emphasizes continuous collaboration and improvement. Teams follow a cycle of planning, executing, and evaluating.
• COBIT: This framework fills the gaps between business risks, management needs, and technical problems.
• ITIL : Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is a framework that provides IT teams flexibility and stability while standardizing the planning, selection, delivery, maintenance, and end-to-end life cycle of enterprise IT services.

What skills does an IT manager need to have?

IT managers must be knowledgeable about the industry, curious, willing to learn, and open to exploring new technologies and solutions. The industry's dynamic nature encourages flexibility and an open mind in the face of new technologies and new challenges. IT managers who are eager to learn, improve, and work collaboratively to improve a company from the inside out are those who will succeed.

The Atlassian Incident Management Handbook

This handbook features the real incident management processes we've created as a global company with thousands of employees and over 200,000 customers.

What is problem management? A guide

Problem Management enables IT teams to prevent incidents by identifying the root cause. Learn about the overall process, benefits, and best practices.

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9 tips for achieving IT service delivery excellence

The quest for it service excellence is never-ending. here are ways you can attain customer satisfaction without burning-out your team..

Service delivery excellence is an attribute that far too many IT leaders fail to prioritize. That’s unfortunate given how much of smooth business operations depends on the efficient delivery of IT services today.

IT service delivery enables an organization to give end users access to essential IT services by designing, developing, and deploying key technology resources, including applications and data. But is your organization doing all it can to ensure service delivery excellence? The following nine tips will help get your there.

1. Be proactive and serve with empathy

It cannot be stressed enough how important it is to be active in ensuring that all services delivered to end users are fully vetted and tested to the point where there’s no room for complaints. “Provide an IT service that focuses on user experience,” advises Edgar Padua, business value architect at digital workplace provider Nexthink.

One way to ensure smooth service delivery is to deploy tools aimed at detecting and proactively resolving issues. “Using this strategy, IT can prioritize their transformation roadmap without being stuck in the mire of reactive support processes,” which leads to support groups chasing and extinguishing fires, hampering essential business operations, Padua explains.

Follow-through is also vital, Padua says. Listen and be empathetic to the user’s situation before presenting — and enacting — the best possible solution. “In the end, all the user is concerned with is getting back to work and that their issue is resolved within a timely manner,” he observes. “An IT organization that collects sentiment and acts on actionable, constructive feedback will always have more users that are fans rather than detractors.”

2. Develop a structured service catalog and adapt

Achieving service delivery excellence is not a one-size-fits-all process. As disruptive technologies keep arriving, the path to excellence constantly shifts. “The key to providing top-tier service delivery is the integration of a skilled staff, streamlined operations and processes, and the use of innovative technologies,” says Marcus Cziomer, a senior vice president at cloud services firm Lemongrass.

Cziomer observes that the foundation for service delivery excellence lies in a well-structured service catalog. He notes that the catalog should present a clear definition of offerings as well as methods for delivery while ensuring that sales and delivery departments are consistently aligned. “With our team’s strong understanding of every service within our catalog, we can quickly adapt to client needs and optimize output for success,” Cziomer says.

3. Embrace metrics and iterate

To achieve maximum efficiency, Cziomer also suggests focusing service efforts on DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA) metrics, such as “lead time for change” and “time to restore service.” Customer-centric Net Promoter Scores are equally important, he adds.

“To dive deeper into understanding our services, I employ methods like value stream mapping to pinpoint bottlenecks or inefficiencies,” says Cziomer, who feels that proactive approaches such as these enable IT organizations to consistently elevate their service levels.

Cziomer also believes that achieving service excellence is an iterative process. “Once changes are implemented, it’s crucial to loop back, measure against the anticipated improvement, and continually review data.” By revisiting and fine-tuning methods, it becomes possible to achieve constant service progress and world-class quality, he says.

4. Standardize processes and understand LOB needs

Effective IT service delivery begins by creating and standardizing processes and documentation, says Patrick Cannon, field CTO at data center and cloud services firm US Signal. Standardization ensures a consistent end-user experience with outcomes that adhere to established security policies. “It’s also beneficial for effective training and new IT staff onboarding,” he says, adding that when IT understands the needs of each business unit, it opens the way to a more proactive service approach, reducing downtime and fostering innovation.

Cannon advises IT leaders to study and understand each department’s needs, and how they match the enterprise’s overall strategic goals. He notes that developing a services portfolio to leverage various cloud services can give IT a flexible operating model. “By separating the decision-making process from infrastructure, and aligning workloads with suitable cloud models, IT can redirect its focus toward ongoing business enhancement,” he explains.

5. Take a user-centric approach and assemble teams to fit

In addition to understanding business needs, IT service delivery excellence requires attention to user feedback with an eye toward constant improvement, says Steven Marcetic, a senior manager with Centric Consulting’s modern software delivery practice. “Adopt a user-centric approach when organizing your development/application delivery teams,” he recommends. “Establish product teams enabling independent end-to-end delivery of new features, applications, and services for all the various business streams.”

Marcetic believes that it’s important to have a well-trained team and to place the right people in strategic roles, particularly architects and product management experts. “Your leadership team should behave like a Scrum team, enabling end-to-end delivery and support.” Decisions, he advises, should focus on optimizing IT services in general and not only concentrate on locally optimized decisions.

“All of IT must know and be aligned with the organization’s goals,” Marcetic says. “This strategy places the end user — whether it’s an internal employee or an external customer — at the center of the decision-making process,” he explains. “Understanding customer needs and pain points makes IT service delivery more responsive and adaptive.”

The benefit of having a well-trained team speaks for itself, Marcetic notes. “A team that understands business needs and priorities is paramount to enabling your business,” he says.

6. Avoid ad hoc execution and document complaint resolutions

As with any business-critical activity, service delivery has to be planned in advance. “Ad hoc execution of services always leads to bad taste and attrition,” says Bhupendra Chopra, chief research officer at software engineering firm Kanerika. The completed plan should specify service delivery methods, expected results, resources allocated, and the team members responsible in the service delivery chain. “A clear standard operating procedure is a recipe for success.”

Always create and follow predefined plans, Chopra advises. Predictability and transparent, proactive updates are critical, and after addressing and resolving any complaints, follow a corrective and preventive action (CAPA) process to record the result for internal use and to share with customers. The final report should show how the correction was made and delivered should a similar issue occur at a future date.

7. Embrace continuous improvement and pursue root causes

Working toward continuous improvement leads to service excellence, claims Richard Ricks, CEO of MSP Silver Tree Consulting and Services. “IT leaders need a comprehensive plan to make their operation the best it can be.”

Ricks recommends conducting a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis. He also advises establishing defined service targets and using agile methods to ensure continuous improvements and developing an effective governance improvement plan.

Most IT organizations react quickly to customer complaints, but only address the top-level issue, Ricks says. “The underlying root cause is still open and, therefore, the issue is unresolved and will reappear,” he warns. “Until you address the root cause, you can never sustain IT service excellence.”

8. Prioritize customer satisfaction with a tested approach

The customer may not always be right, but it’s important to remember that service delivery begins and ends with a happy customer, says Craig Wilson, CEO of IT services firm Opinov8. “Focus your process, governance and, ultimately, your quality of service and delivery as the bedrock of that philosophy,” he suggests. “Have a service delivery model that’s predictable and consistent.”

Resist the temptation to simply throw resources at a problem — a dubious and expensive approach for any service provider. Instead, build rails to guide service delivery within specific situations, Wilson advises. It’s important to have a tested approach that starts each engagement in the same way with predictable results. “Once you’re confident in the approach, it’s easier to focus on the actual client requirement and not waste time double-checking data or processes,” he explains.

9. Address specific needs and adhere to a priority framework

Business stakeholders have many different needs, often requiring unique support levels. Unfortunately, many IT leaders end up spreading their attention equally across all delivery areas. Such an approach can force business needs into limited delivery priority frameworks, warns Ola Chowning, a partner with technology research advisory firm ISG. A one-size-fits all outlook often results in relatively minor issues being addressed at the same priority level as problems that impact major business objectives.

Chowning stresses the importance of ensuring that the service priority framework has been clearly outlined and that exact value levels are established in cooperation with the business stakeholders themselves. “This approach allows the business to make decisions based on outcomes rather than focusing on cost, and for IT to defend service delivery priority more effectively.”

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How to plan an IT strategy in 5 steps

Article by The Final Step on Mar 23, 2022

Taking advantage of new technology and getting the most from existing IT investments isn’t easy

Goldsmiths University classifies 46% of UK organisations as “endangered” because their failure to adopt IT to their competitive advantage makes them less likely to survive, let alone thrive.

One example of this is how we use passwords. Good technical tools are available for password management, yet our behaviour around passwords remains poor. Poor adoption of this technology  creates unnecessary risks for businesses.

Whether you’re new to the process or a seasoned IT manager, knowing just where to start when you plan an IT strategy can be difficult. That’s why we’ve put together this IT strategy template of five simple steps you can use to plan an IT strategy:

1. IT Strategy: Outline your business goals and high-level objectives

The primary function of your IT strategy planning is to   support your business needs .

In the initial stages of planning, start by outlining your business   needs ,   goals   and high-level   objectives . If you don’t have an overarching business strategy you can clarify your mission and needs by looking at your:

• Sales pipeline and targets
• Plans for any upcoming partnerships, mergers or acquisitions
• Growth plans
• Any other ‘action plans’ that your teams might be working towards

The importance of this step cannot be overstated.   The most successful organisations   align their IT planning and strategy with their business strategy   to make   both   a success. Accounting firms, for example, are   embracing new technologies   to support new business practices needs, while the   UK government   is placing innovation and scalability at the heart of its strategy to support the development of digital public services.

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2. it strategy: define your scope, stakeholders and schedule.

A   list of goals is not a strategy   so the next step is to define your scope, stakeholders and schedule.

It’s important that everyone is clear about the purpose of your business IT strategy, who is responsible for delivering it and to whom it applies. Your IT strategy shouldn’t (and can’t)   solve all your problems   at once, so even if your strategy is company-wide you need to articulate how it affects different business units and functions.

This is where defining your stakeholders becomes important.   Be consultative   and meet with key people in your business units who will be able to tell you how they’re using technology, what their plans are for next year and how IT can support them.

It’s also important to put a lifespan on your IT strategy. Most IT strategies are long-term, but you might want to review and redefine your strategy more frequently. Find some good IT strategy examples. define the key phases – implementation, integration, review, etc – and know when the strategy will activate, and when it will need to be revised.

Having a clearly defined IT strategy plan, scope, schedule and list of stakeholders will be useful in coming up with a ‘roadmap’ for implementing your strategy.

3. IT Strategy: Review your existing infrastructure

When you plan an IT strategy it’s important to remember that you’re not reinventing the wheel.

Reviewing your   existing IT infrastructure   will help you   define problems , see what’s working and where resources can best be saved by making use of what is already available. As you start thinking about your IT, ask yourself:

• How are teams and departments using technology? What tools, software or systems do they use?   Your answers should be in the information you’ve collected from various teams and units within your business.
• What’s working? What isn’t?   Think critically about how IT is being used and analyse which tools, software and systems are providing the most value.

By thinking critically about your current infrastructure you’ll be able to plan an IT strategy based on resources you already have. You’ll identify opportunities to save money and time that you would otherwise spend on implementing an entirely new infrastructure or   switching IT providers .

4. IT Strategy: Create a roadmap for resource allocation and architecture

This might seem like the most difficult step, but if you’ve been following the right process then resource allocation will be relatively easy.

Start by defining an overall   technology architecture, which is made up of the major software, hardware and other tools you’ll be using. Then consider any department-specific technology that might be required to meet business goals, like specialist financial or HR software. Lastly, think about how the parts in your architecture fit together, and what processes will govern their integration.

Keep all this information in a common spreadsheet or other documents that gives clear visibility into your architecture, how much you’re spending and who will be using it. There are IT Strategy templates to help with this step if you don’t want to build your own.

5. IT Strategy: Define your metrics

Since your IT strategy is supporting your business needs, you need to make sure that it is functional and cost effective. You can’t be losing money on something designed to advance your business!

This is why it’s important to identify some   key metrics and KPIs   that you can use to benchmark and analyse the performance of your IT strategy over time. These might include:

• Service level indicators, like the number of help desk calls
• Operational indicators, such as capacity utilisation
• Business-level indicators, like budget and customer satisfaction
• Qualitative indicators, like end-user and customer feedback

When done right, an IT strategy can be a powerful tool to drive growth and efficiency in your business, supporting your goals and your staff directly. With these five steps in our IT Strategy example, you’ll be able to plan an IT strategy that does just that.

Step Securely

Since we first wrote this article the IT environment has changed considerably, but the 5 Step approach above still holds true.

It’s crucial to add, though, one key area – Cyber Security. Data protection law requires businesses to take action on privacy and security by default and design. In other words, all technical changes should be considered from a compliance and security point of view.

Additionally, criminal activity is more frequent and sophisticated. So it’s vital to assess and mitigate your biggest risks and have a plan for when there is a problem. Security should be a separate line item in your budget and on your roadmap.

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14 Crucial Components of Business IT Strategic Planning

As they grow, many companies find it very beneficial to have their own IT department. IT planning becomes just as important as creating a financial plan or budget forecasting. Adequate IT planning takes time, but this process allows all department resources to be productively utilized. With a strong IT strategy, the company will more effectively achieve its business goals, prevent a number of internal problems, and even reduce the cost of maintaining hardware and other components. You definitely need to take care of IT planning if you want to use company funds more efficiently, increase profits, optimize resources, and improve overall productivity.

A man who does not plan long ahead will find trouble at his door. – Confucius

What Is an IT Strategic Business Plan

An IT strategic plan is a dynamic document that describes complex procedures and processes for managing a business based on existing technologies. By using such a plan, top management can make a number of decisions regarding the IT direction of the company, including setting goals and priorities. In general, the IT business planning process helps in creating an overall company strategy. It should include those IT areas in which you can contribute and gain a competitive advantage.

Waze is an excellent example of a sound IT strategy and planning . This application was created in 2006 by an Israeli developer Ehud Shabtai and reflected the map of Israel for use in GPS technology. It would seem that there were a lot of similar applications. Still, the company focused on its IT strategy, and already in 2011 released an update that showed the congestion of routes, traffic incidents on the map, rallies, and laid the most effective course for users, taking into account the traffic situation. Waze quickly gained popularity due to its convenient function, and in 2013 it was purchased by Google for $1.1 billion .  

In 2020-2021 , IT planning is more critical than ever. Given the rapid development of information technology and its impact on business, each organization must clearly understand its strategic goal and how the technical area is moving.

What a Strategic IT Plan is Not

It is imperative to understand what a strategic plan is and not confuse it with a tactical one. Otherwise, it will fail. An Information Technology strategic plan is the framework from which executives decide to meet the overall business strategy. It is a key point for business development . A tactical plan , which guides what needs to be done to achieve a goal, is still not a strategic plan.

Another remarkable nuance is that a strategic plan is not a static document. We said earlier that it is dynamic, which means that it must be revised and updated per the company’s needs. You cannot just create it once and then follow it all the time. Ideally, you should revise and modify a 5-year IT strategy plan annually.

What Components an IT Plan Should Cover

It is a mistake to think that IT plans only cover software and hardware resources. In fact, it is much wider. A strong document should contain the following aspects:

Alignment with business strategy and objectives. The IT strategy must support the business strategy, and this is what the IT plan reflects. It is worth highlighting those business strategies that require significant investments in IT infrastructure or related aspects.

Long-term initiatives. Long-term perspectives take from 3 to 5 years to reach and should also be reflected in the plan. Long-term prospects must also be consistent with the goals and direction of the company. For example, if we are talking about creating a custom application, then the company can build development from scratch or expand the current one. Another option when resources are limited is to hire a third-party company for custom software development .

Best practices. It is one of the factors influencing the success of a company in compliance with advanced technologies. The IT plan should clearly define the company’s new practices and a program for its implementation. It takes time, namely training of personnel, and requires the purchase of appropriate software or equipment, and so on. Nevertheless, this is an important point that affects the competitiveness of a business.

IT governance. This section identifies IT management issues and describes how to improve them. Good governance is directly related to how a company creates, evaluates, implements, and manages new initiatives and best practices.

IT service catalog. The company must implement a service catalog that will support the business and help it grow. These can be additional services that are not related to the central IT product but aimed at improving the organization's performance; for example, a company will decide to move towards SaaS development services . Besides, this section should also cover any problems that exist in the current IT service catalog and ways to fix them.

Ways of communication. Any business needs to have established ways of communicating with clients to demonstrate the transparency of its services. Good communication increases the level of trust in the organization. Thus, another part of the IT plan is how to inform customers about the services provided and their implementation.

IT principles, metrics, and financials. In order to see the performance, a business evaluates its indicators. This section should answer questions such as: What are the guidelines for IT? What are the key metrics that represent business performance? How does a company measure its success? Which budget model to use? By and large, this part should be interconnected with the overall financial model of the company .

Holistic design. The next component contains the design principles that must be followed in every IT project for successful delivery and an overall testing strategy.

Human capital management. Any human resource is an asset that needs to be well-managed to achieve maximum productivity. The plan should describe the strategy for managing human resources with the help of technologies, equipment, or related applications.

Enterprise risk management . Any business can face situations that negatively affect development and profit. Thus, the workable plan should contain a forecast of adverse events and specific steps to prevent them or reduce their impact to a minimum and measures to secure the company.

Cost management. The next component is the description of cost management. In general, in any company, this is an extensive section. An IT plan describes how a company can manage costs and how they depend on hardware or software.

Technology management. The next equally important part describes how the company maintains, updates, and manages technology, databases, networks, and IT security services and creates a contingency plan, manages appropriate documents, etc.

Hardware and software management. This section describes how the company will maintain and update software and hardware, specifications, licenses, configurations, etc. Quite often, this part of the plan overlaps with the previous section.

Vendor management. In the next part, you need to identify and manage the activities of third-party providers that affect the IT department. This includes complying with various kinds of agreements, as well as managing day-to-day activities.

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Why Do You Need the IT Plan

Every organization that is interested in their business growth and gaining a competitive advantage should take care of creating an IT plan. It can significantly increase productivity and achieve important business goals. Companies that do not have an IT plan or do not update their plan regularly are exposed to high risks and poor business processes. Here are some other reasons for developing an IT strategic plan:

You can avoid such unpleasant situations as data theft, negative consequences of hacker attacks, viruses. Outdated technology is what will make your company vulnerable and what could sink it. An IT plan will help you develop accurate and actionable methods to secure your business from outside interference.

Increase in productivity based on reducing the time required to respond to problems associated with internal software or hardware, IT products developed by the company, etc.

Efficient use of resources. An IT plan will help you qualitatively manage the business’s internal components, including human resources and equipment, taking into account the company’s needs. In turn, this will lead to the minimization of the costs and risks associated with incompetent management. Basically, if you want your staff and your hardware to be the best, you need an IT plan.

Receiving additional investments. Lenders, investors, and other financial institutions will be more likely to provide you with additional financing if you have a clear and well thought out strategic IT plan that matches the organization’s real-time needs. From an investment point of view, a good IT plan increases the opportunities for making a profit.

You can easily find alternative and more cost-effective hardware options on the market. Good planning helps you avoid cost overruns and find the best solution.

Always be prepared for unforeseen circumstances. Yes, a strategic plan allows you to cope with negative changes for which the company was not ready and to minimize their consequences.

A strategic plan is an opportunity to look into the future and determine the most effective ways of business development. Let's take a look at the competition between Netflix and Blockbuster video. Blockbuster had over 9,000 stores in various countries at its peak, including over 4,000 in the United States. Netflix began its activity as the world's first online DVD rental shop. But in 2007, the company looked ahead and predicted that video streaming would be the right direction for its business. And what is now? More than 139 million users worldwide purchase Netflix subscriptions, and the company generates $6.148B in revenue per quarter . In 2013, Blockbuster closed its last store. This is a prime example of how important it is to have a strategic plan focused on future trends .

The 6 Stages of the IT Strategic Planning Process

Now we know that an IT plan is an important document for business development, supporting the company’s overall expansion strategy. Now let's look at the main steps on how to develop an IT strategy plan.

1. Planning process overview

This stage shows where the company as a whole should move. Senior management defines the mission and long-term prospects of the IT direction. In the beginning, these statements should show how the plan relates to the overall business strategy.

2. Long-term vision of the company

At this stage, the assets and resources of the company are defined. This is where human capital and technical capabilities are handled. It is equally important to make a market forecast and identify future technology trends and goals that the company will achieve.

3. Identifying current problems

You should study the current state of all systems and processes in the IT direction, find bottlenecks, and understand how this affects the business. For all identified problems, an effective solution must be found.

4. Schedules and budget

This stage includes building a roadmap, budgeting, prioritization, as well as ways to obtain investment.

5. Process of strategic IT planning

Based on the data analysis and the problems identified, the company must make a number of important decisions. This includes staff training, selection of the best suppliers, equipment procurement, IT infrastructure setup, and so on.

6. Benchmarking

The company must track its progress and how it managed or failed to achieve its goals. At the last stage of the planning process, it is worth comparing the company's results with the goals from previous plans and understanding whether they were achieved. If the organization has not reached the intended purposes in the previous period, it is worth assessing if they are still relevant and developing steps to realize them.

Example from the Government of Canada Information Technology Strategic Plan 2016-2020

A Couple of Basic Nuances to Focus On

Several aspects do not seem so significant, but they should definitely be focused on during the preparation of the IT Plan. As in most areas of business, IT is a team effort, and often even the smallest companies have several dedicated professionals. Ideally, the IT department comprises various experts in software development, infrastructure customization, data protection, and so on. But not all companies can afford such a staff, so they make the mistake of dumping all responsibility on one IT specialist. Even if the company’s department is small, you need to ensure that its roles are correctly assigned, and the internal structure is efficient. At first glance, it might seem like a confusing waste of time. But the wrong structure and distribution of responsibility will lead to the most failure of the entire department. Take care of it even if you hire remote specialists.

Process management is a significant part of business development. Good governance will lead to success, while the wrong actions will lead to the bankruptcy of the organization. The same applies to IT process management. While strategic planning should take place annually, it must also cover the oversight and adjustment of internal IT processes every quarter or six months depending on the company’s size.

Final Words

If you don't have an IT plan yet, you should take care of its creation to help your company grow and reduce costs. We hope you find these tips for IT business planning useful and can apply them in practice. But not all companies consider it reasonable to build their own IT department, instead choosing to hire a professional outsourcing team that can realize the set goals. If you belong to this type of business owner, we have lucrative offers to create web or mobile products of any complexity.

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IT Infrastructure Planning: Why It’s Important for Your Business?

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A3Logics 18 Aug 2022

IT infrastructure is the backbone of any company allowing it to serve customers faster and stay operational every time. According to a recent survey by both IBM and Oxford, 70% of the organizations believe proper IT infrastructure management optimizes business productivity and sharpens their competitive advantage. So, as a business leader, it’s important you don’t consider IT infrastructure just as a support system in your business. The present COVID-19 pandemic is a great example where companies with properly managed IT infrastructure made a smooth and secure transition to the cloud for running their remote operations. It’s imperative for you to work with expert  IT consulting companies  to lay down a solid IT strategy for proper infrastructure management.

The article will help you understand the importance of IT infrastructure planning and how you can build a better technology infrastructure for your business.  Read on: 

What is IT Infrastructure Management?

Before explaining IT infrastructure management, let’s first discuss what IT infrastructure is?

IT infrastructure , in simplest terms, refers to a combination of hardware, software, and network components that are used to support the delivery of IT-enabled processes and business systems.

IT infrastructure management  deals with monitoring, controlling, and safeguarding key infrastructure elements that are critical for the delivery of key business services. These elements mainly include software applications and networking components. However, the primary focus of IT infrastructure management remains on physical components like networking hardware, data storage facilities, and so on.

Because of the high degree of complexity of IT infrastructure, it is usually broken down into three categories primarily: systems management, network management, and storage management. But the motive remains the same: reduce downtime, install robust security, and maintain business productivity.

IT Infrastructure Teams are generally responsible for managing the following IT elements in an organization: 

• Asset lifecycle
• Data Centre and storage facilities
• Network Security
• Wireless and wired network operations

System Tools & Applications

Finally, to successfully manage and run your business successfully you need the appropriate tools and applications in place. This helps to manage data efficiently and maintain smooth operations. Some key applications and tools include as per the IT experts in the business.

• Security software: Security software is essential to keeping networks protected against attacks and malware attacks, protecting data theft as well as unauthorised entry to the network. It helps reduce vulnerabilities which expose it to potentially hazardous attacks while simultaneously offering unrivaled network protection from unauthorised intrusions.
• Network monitoring software: This application monitors networks to identify potential problems or issues as soon as they emerge, helping identify them before becoming severe and quickly solving any that do arise.
• Server Management Software: Server management software helps administrators effectively oversee server assets. It automates tasks, monitors health status and more – giving administrators more time for other important duties.
• Backup and disaster recovery software: Backup and disaster recovery software allows users to back up data for use during an emergency and restore it as required if lost or corrupted; essential protection against potential data disasters.

These are only some of the essential tools and applications needed for an efficient IT infrastructure.

As part of your IT infrastructure selection, it’s crucial that you consider your specific business requirements when making choices about components for it. When answering such inquiries as, for example: “what type of business am I running,”, or “how much data must be stored” etc, once this question has been addressed you can start narrowing your choices until finally finding components suitable to your organization’s requirements.

Our team is here to assist in planning or implementing IT infrastructure, or answer any inquiries related to planning it. With experience helping businesses of all sizes plan and implement effective IT solutions, reach out today and discover more of our services!

Importance of IT Infrastructure Planning

Improving it design making.

If you are not managing your IT infrastructure on your own, chances are pretty high you don’t know about how your IT environment is performing, or what are the technology security loopholes that are slowing down your mission-critical business operations. IT leaders often remain unaware of their company’s IT vulnerabilities until disaster strikes. By managing your IT infrastructure properly, you can identify the ill-performing systems and upgrade them to mitigate future risks. It also lets you plan and strategize better for future IT emergencies like network failure, server overload, data storage issues, and so on.

Limiting Corporate Disasters

IT network failures can occur even when you’ve taken necessary precautions to avoid it. But, you can minimize such instances greatly by taking IT infrastructure management seriously. How? You can put emergency systems in place that regulate, monitor and identify vulnerabilities in your IT environment before any mishap happens. For example, you can monitor your system backups for a large amount of recently changed files to detect ransom ware. Install critical systems in your IT setting that provides regular updates about data security, backups, and network failure.

Enhancing Customer Experiences

Staying aware of your IT infrastructure all the time helps you improve customer service level and response times. Frequent breakdown and communication failure results in low customer satisfaction towards your business. Having a robust IT infrastructure ensures end users are notified in advance about the upcoming system maintenance activities to avoid inconvenience and surprises.

Bolstering Productivity

Proper IT infrastructure management also lets you run your business smoothly in events of business data loss or corruption due to outside attacks. You can recover such data in due time through backups after disaster strikes. This ensures your employee keeps working and responding to customer queries without missing a beat.

Reducing Operational Costs

When IT disasters happen, unexpected costs arrive side-by-side. Making a better prediction about upcoming disasters and planning accordingly is also possible when you manage your IT infrastructure properly. Some might argue that infrastructure management is itself a costly affair. But with managed infrastructure services, you can cut down the overall costs. You can team up with an experienced professional IT services company to map out a solid IT strategic plan for taking care of your entire infrastructure. This will avoid unnecessary downtime, data loss, and other security incidents at your business.

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How to Achieve Success in IT Infrastructure Management for Your Business

Adjusting your infrastructure internally can help you reduce the time, effort, and resources required for building a secure IT environment. By simplifying your IT processes and equipment, your team will be able to better identify the security risks and eliminate them without falling into a cyber trap. A solid IT infrastructure also enables your teams to communicate effectively about the network security risks:

Below are a few strategies you can follow to improve your IT infrastructure: 

1. Map Your IT Infrastructure with Business Objectives

For better IT infrastructure planning, it’s important that you know what your organization is trying to achieve in the first place. Having clarity about your business goals, mission and objectives allows you to map your infrastructure components or systems to wider organizational results. If you’re an IT administrator, talk to your senior leaders and see what metrics matter the most for organizational success. Here two metrics are generally usage by IT administrators:

Primary Driver:  These IT infrastructure components are directly responsible for enabling change in your business objectives

Secondary Driver:  These are the infrastructure components on which the primary factor directly relies on.

Here is an example of a better explanation: 

A website that runs on a web server directly impacts the sales revenue of a company. Here the web server relies directly on the networking and data center capabilities, so it would be the primary drier while the latter two will be considered as secondary drivers:

Business Metric: Sales Revenue

Source : Online Storefront/ Ecommerce Website

Primary Infrastructure Driver:   Website/ Server

Secondary Drivers: Network Data Center Capability

2. Involve Right Number of People

Often, companies neglect the idea of hiring an adequate number of IT personnel and system administrators, The idea is to cut down costs so they can invest in other strategic areas. But, remember if you throw IT infrastructure management off, it can harm your reputation badly. Fixing data losses or breach incidents after they happen can cost way more than establishing security measures beforehand. So, don’t compromise on your IT team size. One more factor to consider is your server size. The industry standard promotes one admin over 10 physical servers. In SMBs, the quotes are 30:1 for physical servers and 80:1 for virtual ones.

3. Build A Scalable IT Infrastructure

Your IT infrastructure should be built in a way that supports your future expansion needs. As your business grows, your network traffic and data storage capabilities should improve and accommodate the changes in terms of users and data. When planning for storage, think of two down the line at least, not what is in front of you today. This doesn’t mean you should install unnecessary capacity in your network that overrun budget. Anticipate what your business requirements would look like after five years and accordingly plan your infrastructure. Try to integrate performance and capacity monitoring systems to track your usage over time.

4. Document Everything

Over Customizing your IT infrastructure is never a good idea. Customizability may work for your existing members, but not for the ones who are recently joining your IT staff or taking over a management position. Strive for simplicity, not complexity when planning infrastructure from the ground-up. Think of it in this way if you remove yourself as a business owner, CIO, or CEO from day-to-day operations – will your IT skeleton fall apart. To make the entire process transparent, simple, and outright – document everything. Good documentation is the primary foundation of running your IT infrastructure smoothly.

5. Prefer IT Infrastructure as a Service

When you lack time and resources, you can opt for  IT Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). IaaS is one of the types of cloud computing services  where a third-party service provider hosts your business applications, hardware, servers, storage, and other IT components in a cloud environment. It helps you cut down costs related to system maintenance, backup, and updates. Lack of control over operations and data security remains the key issue here.

6. Team up with IT Infrastructure Experts

This is an extension of the above point. Managed IT Infrastructure services is always a good option when you’re not in a position to manage everything on your own. Making a choice between in-house and outsourced IT infrastructure management is difficult. You should bring in the expertise of an expert IT consulting services company when you lack specialized resources. They can help you at every step from auditing, designing to implementing IT systems architecture. An expert IT consultant set-up everything for you from a single server environment to multi-site, high-performing clusters.

With the right expert at your disposal, you can tap into valuable partnerships that guarantee the success of your IT infrastructure. For example, we at A3logics have established long-standing IT agreements with many of the popular companies across industries. We know exactly what it takes to safeguard and bullet-proof our client’s IT infrastructure against outside threats.

How Will IT Infrastructure Planning And Management Assist Your Business?

An effective IT infrastructure is key for your business as every facet relies on it. Failing to do so could cost time, money, and your reputation if left neglected. Below are the benefits that you can as per the suggestions given by the best IT consulting company:

Provide Improve services to clients

Build tools to attract higher revenue customers while engaging your target audience more deeply. Prioritize client relationship management software investments for your IT department as they will serve both purposes.

User experience matters. By designing an easy process for customers to utilize your services and simplifying support efforts when necessary.

Increase Productivity

When your technology works seamlessly together, business functions more effectively. Your infrastructure plan must include comprehensive communication technology solutions that optimize email, telephone calls and unified messaging platforms such as WhatsApp.

Your employees can now work efficiently from home just as effectively, while information can easily be shared among your team – keeping everyone on the same page and unifying your message.

Boost Agility

Your business must have the ability to rapidly respond to customer expectations and changing conditions with cost-efficient results, making business agility key in driving an innovative operation forward.

Maintaining comprehensive IT infrastructure gives your organization the agility needed to adapt quickly to changing conditions, better meet client demands and enhance client experiences. Your IT department should develop an overarching strategy for using all tools used within their purview to support business operations and identify leverage points within those tools that would give it competitive edge.

Enhances Server Efficiency.

Your business runs more efficiently and saves money when its servers use less energy, thus upgrading IT infrastructure helps achieve this objective.

Conduct an annual inventory of your server use. Make sure as much of it runs via virtualization in order to reduce costs and enhance network efficiency. By taking regular inventory of server usage you may reduce costs while increasing network efficiency.

Strengthen Networks

Optimize the potential of your network by having an IT infrastructure plan in place that includes detailed mapping. Doing this will allow you to identify redundancies within the system and make better use of company resources.

Your team will be able to complete tasks more quickly and balance workloads more equitably with ease when IT is optimized, benefitting both bottom lines and talent pools in your office. Without it, there will likely be missed opportunities!

Get in touch with out IT consultants for streamlining your IT process

Here You Go

How IT Infrastructure Relate to Business Growth

As per the best IT consultants in the business, Computing speed, cloud solutions and IT stability will become ever more crucial. This is because your company expands in terms of overall productivity, security and connectivity. It eventually leaves it more susceptible to internet security breaches than before.

Running a successful firm in today’s digital era means taking steps towards digital transformation. To keep pace with consumers, competition, and market developments you must work more efficiently while automating procedures to stay ahead of competitors.

Below are three things every company leader must understand regarding organizational infrastructure and its connection to business success.

Speed to Market

An unstable network can create chaos for companies dealing in digital products. For instance, should connectivity falter and staff start collecting orders that no longer exist, then an organization could find itself facing many angry consumers who refuse to place further orders with them.

With an efficient network system in place, your organization can achieve more. One such goal would be satisfying increased demand when there’s a spike in traffic – faster service means smoother online interactions for clients and your firm!

Accept what research shows and the experts say

New technologies and networks may seem intimidating and daunting when it comes to their implementation and adaptation, yet their data, research, and trends exist for a reason; should your company choose not to follow these, the changes could overwhelm it quickly and leave its businesses reeling behind in response.

Modern network setup requires some expenditure; however, you don’t need to go all-out right off the bat. Instead, start small. Perhaps automating some procedures is your focus or investing in infrastructure for your digital firm will suffice; whatever works – just get moving and modify as required!

Serves Employees As Well

Businesses should aim to design an intuitive workplace workflow and information system. Employees will reap more than merely an improved network connection from modern IT solutions; modern IT can also reduce stress levels and boost productivity through minimal downtime issues with work functions; automated cloud solutions or software providing repetitive functions; as well as technology bridging gaps between processes.

Future Analysis And Insights

Do not neglect planning for future growth of your business. As it expands, additional storage capacity and powerful tools may become essential – make sure your IT infrastructure can scale with you as your enterprise expands!

With these tips in mind, you can design the most efficient IT infrastructure for your business.  Once your infrastructure is established, support and continued improvements should follow… As your business evolves and changes, ongoing IT support becomes even more essential; without it you may not be able to update or add features that could benefit the growth and expansion of your site if without IT assistance local companies could not make these updates themselves. In case something goes amiss with the system itself, IT assistance can assist in quickly diagnosing and solving the problem so your website remains operational as soon as possible.

Final Thoughts

Don’t wait until a network outage or any other IT-related catastrophe to realize the importance of having a flexible IT infrastructure. A firm’s ability to innovate, expand and outshout competitors is determined by how dependable its technologies are.

An advanced network system contains tools, services, and solutions designed to assist your company with bettering business strategy and network operations. Now is the time for businesses to embrace such advancements to adapt with changing markets.

Why is IT infrastructure planning essential for any business?

IT infrastructure management and planning is essential for all businesses today. It assures an efficient and reliable foundation of the technology. Not only this, it also enables smooth operations, enhanced productivity, scalability, and data security, to meet future business needs.

What are the perks of IT infrastructure planning?

There are several benefits that come along with proper management of IT services infrastructure and planning and few of them are reduced downtime, optimized performance, enhanced cybersecurity, cost savings, and more. 

How does IT infrastructure management and planning influence business growth?

IT infrastructure management and planning plays an essential role in business growth by offering the necessary technological infrastructure advancement. This leads to support innovation, expansion, and eventually helps one get ahead in the race. It enables agility, scalability, and the ability to leverage emerging advancements to stay ahead.

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Request a demo, bss: what is a business support system and how does it work in telecommunications.

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You have probably heard conversations recently about a BSS being the most relevant tech solution for a business , and these software solutions have been gaining prominence in recent years. Business Support Systems , known as BSS , play a crucial role in the telecommunications industry and other sectors . 

In today's business world, and especially in highly competitive markets , efficiency and adaptability are critical to the success of any organization. Gaining these competitive advantages is complex and simple in equal parts, and here we will explain why.

In this article, we will explore in depth what a BSS is, how it works and integrates , its customer-focused solutions and the impact it demonstrates not only in the telecommunications area but in various industries. In addition, we will analyze the differences and similarities between OSS (Operational Support Systems) and BSS and how they collaborate to drive business performance and business resource optimization.

What is BSS?

A BSS is a set of applications that have been unified under a global platform and whose objective is the management of processes and operations that support the functioning of an enterprise , company or business. This software is used by employees and members of different areas of an organization on a day-to-day basis to drive their activity.

Initially, it is a software and concept that has been widely used in the telecom industry , although in recent years we have seen how other areas and sectors beyond telecommunications have turned to this type of platform to improve their operations and create more secure, productive and efficient organizations .

To fully understand the function of a Business Support System (BSS), it is essential to understand that while sharing much of its base structure , these BSS systems are different depending on the business and organization in which they are operating . The set of applications and processes that support the business functions of a telecommunications company or, in a broader context, of any organization are specifically designed and configured to manage aspects related to the business activity and its established dynamics , making them critical components in the delivery of services .

BSSs are a backbone aimed at providing the best possible end service to customers while enhancing the capabilities of employees and sales agents. In this way, Business Support Systems fully impact products, payments, invoicing and stock to run business operations at peak performance .

How does BSS work?

BSS software tools are widely used as essential IT systems for the proper functioning of customer-related activity, commercial work and other product functionalities in telephone companies ( large operators, MVNOs, MNOs and MVNOs ) and telecommunications businesses since before 2008. In addition, these have been extended to the partners and business partners of these companies (distributors, call-centers, ecommerce, associated stores...), working with them in a coordinated way.

BSSs operate by modules, processes or business units . Initially, these business support systems combined software and hardware to share data between different work structures. They featured automatic data exchange between systems called streaming provisioning , with arduous integration models.

Today, achieving consistent connections between different tools and processes is much easier and simpler thanks to technological advances such as RPA and AI implemented in the best BSS. Now, these current platforms give a global business vision and solve the complexity of network management for any type of organization. 

Thus, marketers, sales and other growth-critical areas can concentrate on better and easier campaigning, range building, tariff changes, hyper-segmentation by plan, etc. Without the need to impact the IT network platform to make relevant changes while using it to design a comprehensive customer management system.

Customer-focused BSS solutions

BSSs are backbone systems that include operations and services from one end to the other , supporting real-time service delivery . They all act from one interface for business use where transactions, operations, flows and processes of all kinds are triggered.

As we have been saying, not all business support systems are the same, and each supplier or developer composes the base structure from a different perspective. Furthermore, after the integration of this base system, the program is adapted and configured to the functional reality of the company .

Customer Hub

This has given rise to BSS systems such as Tecalis Customer Hub , whose holistic system perspective impacts and connects with all channels. A way of understanding a business from a multi-channel experience but where workflows and operations are designed taking into account the customer journey of each segment and market.

Creating a unified system and network of proprietary and alternative points of sale under a global platform that provides network professionals with the best tools for doing business is possible thanks to a highly competitive SaaS that can be up and running in a telecom, BFSI or utility in less than 45 days.

From the activation of new points of sale , through customer registrations and contract signings with regulatory-compliant identity verification checks, to the approval and validation of indirect channel merchandising , innovation has enabled the creation of a differentiated BSS used by leading industry players.

On the other hand, the fact that a RegTech QTSP partner is the orchestrator of this model means that each operation is traceable and obtains a qualified certificate with the safety standards set by the requirements of the most demanding regulations of each market and sector to achieve the so desired zero penalties.

Discover how to evolve by using the best BSS SaaS on the market

Functionalities of business support systems

While SaaS solutions such as Tecalis Customer Hub cover many, many more areas beyond those defined below, as a general rule BSSs, at a minimum, address the needs and provide tools related to the following business functions :

Customer and product management

A BSS starts by capturing and storing customer data . This includes personal information (which must be handled in accordance with GDPR ), contact details, identity documentation (which must be verified in accordance with KYC/AML standards and with anti-fraud controls ), contracted services, billing history and customer preferences. Accuracy and security in the management of this data are crucial to maintain customer trust and proper business operations.

Similarly, they store and manage information about their accounts, contracted products, and interaction history . This allows telecommunications companies to provide a hyper-personalized and targeted service. We will see how to add tools for a good pricing strategy (discounts) , offer and price configurators between products and other solutions.

Order Management and Service Activation

When a customer places a service order, the BSS takes care of handling it. The same is true when it comes to orders placed by the various points of sale at the head office . From receipt of the order to its activation , the system ensures that the process is smooth and efficient. This involves allocating resources, activating services and generating the corresponding invoices .

On the other hand, support systems enable companies to define and manage the services and products offered, as well as their rates and features. This facilitates the creation and customization of offers for different customer segments. They can also control the breakdown of orders, their control, possible errors and visualizations of the status of both procurement and service .

Invoicing, payments and collection

One of the most critical aspects of a BSS is billing and collection. The system generates accurate digital invoices based on service consumption and manages customer payments. It can also manage recurring billing and long-term contracts.

In terms of commissioning, this includes the settlement of amounts. In this way, the needs of customers and wholesalers are met with mediation systems and the presentation of invoices together with departments such as finance and controllers.

Customer and after-sales services

BSS systems provide customer service teams with quick access to relevant customer information, and the best ones also integrate these into companies' ecommerce customer spaces. This enables them to resolve queries, handle complaints and deliver high-quality service .

Cross-sale is an outstanding functionality of the best enterprise support systems, demonstrating a holistic view of enterprise platforms and unleashing great new business opportunities.

Optimization: Analytics, data, reporting and OSS

Business Support Systems often work with Operational Support Systems (OSS) to ensure smooth end-to-end operation. OSSs handle network management and technical resources, while BSSs focus on customer interactions and billing.

The data collected by the BSS is used for analysis and optimization of sales and commercial networks as well as for channelling demands from different markets to make network growth forecasts for telecom, banking or energy for example. Companies can identify trends, evaluate service performance and make informed decisions to improve operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Data collection and analysis are critical to making informed decisions. BSSs provide tools to analyze business performance and detect areas for improvement. Overall, a BSS plays a crucial role in managing the business operations of a telecommunications company, ensuring customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.

BSS in the telecommunications sector

Instead of covering the technological needs of the service network, BSSs help manage and streamline corporate, business and commercial operations in the telecommunications sector. It is like an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning Software) counterpart for SMEs but on a large scale and with a 100% ad-hoc approach.

These business interfaces, also known as sales front ends, monitor and facilitate the full range of business activities that have some kind of relationship with the customer and their service. 

Another software that is often confused with these are CRMs (Customer Relationship Management Platforms), since a BSS also includes all the functionalities of these sales and marketing software.

The following is a simple list of use cases that have been solved by the best BSSs in some telecoms :

Use cases solved by BSS in the telecom sector

• Auto-Activation of SIM cards . Avoiding SIM Swapping and other frauds in the telecommunications sector .
• Landline, mobile, television and internet registrations.
• Collection, validation and submission of identification documentation for acceptance by the competent authorities of each market as required by the standard.
• Supervision and management of technical and operational activities of the entire proprietary and alternative commercial network.
• Comprehensive Point of Sale (POS) management with order, revenue, stock and back-office administration.
• Subscriptions and electronic notifications (certified communication) to customers .
• Intercommunication between teams, training of sales agents and gamification of sales incentives.
• Offer configurators.

Business support systems in other industries

While Business Support Systems (BSS) are fundamental and were born in the telecommunications industry, their usefulness extends to other industries. Below, we will explore how BSSs find application in sectors such as utilities, energy, supply, banking and insurance .

Utilities: Energy and supplies

Utilities, such as electricity, gas, water and the like , use BSS for many purposes. In general, they work in the same way as in telecommunications, but they stand out:

• Manage customer billing and payments.
• Coordinate the distribution of services .
• Maintain accurate records of consumers and their consumption history.
• In the energy sector, BSSs play an important role in managing the billing of electricity and gas services and linking them to meter readings .
• Enable real-time monitoring of energy demand and generation .
• Facilitate contract management and service activation.
• Supply companies, such as food and commodity companies, use BSS to manage inventory and product orders.
• Optimize supply chains and reduce costs .

Banking and financial services

In the banking, FinTech and related sectors, BSSs are used for:

• Manage customer accounts and their financial history .
• Sign up new customers according to the most demanding requirements and activate credit cards or accounts remotely .
• Facilitate the management of loans and credit cards .
• Automate compliance and regulatory processes .
• Send certified communications to your customers.
• Offer consumers a personalized shopping experience.

Insurance, renting and similar industries

Insurance companies use BSS to:

• Manage policies and customer claims.
• Evaluate risks and establish insurance rates .
• Optimize the management of the insurance portfolio .
• Create automated scores and connect with other entities.
• Verify the identity of customers.
• Validate sensitive documentation such as payroll with KYB/OCR and pre-approve products .
• Consult the fleet of vehicles when a customer makes a rental inquiry.

In short, BSS Enterprise Support Systems are not limited to telecommunications; their versatility makes them valuable in a wide variety of industries, where they help improve operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Benefits and features of Business Support Systems

• BSS are global tools that include all the necessary tools for a business and that integrate with the company's core network and upstream IT systems without the need for complex developments.
• The best systems are proven solutions that have already been successful and rapidly deployed in highly competitive markets.
• They have multi-service convergences that allow the deployment of new services such as FTTH, TV, energy and any type of product to diversify business in the telecom, BFSI, utilities and other areas .
• They work with many different brands in unison for the same business, verticals and even partners with disparate systems with total security and confidence.
• They are multi-language and adapt to the operators as well as to the customer or employee who is using it by access levels according to their defined profile.
• They allow the creation of intelligent ecommerce portals to bring the business proposal to the online channel directly or indirectly .
• They are connected to the call centers and give the same possibilities and capabilities to do business to their employees and managers.
• They can be integrated via APIs , WebHook, WebServices or cloud operation, depending on the organization's requirements.
• Management by hierarchies to compose the service and sales network as desired.
• The BSS provider usually facilitates integration without the need to rely on third parties .
• It includes RegTech technology such as Identity Verification (KYC/AML), Digital Onboarding, Electronic Signature and Invoice, Digital Contracting, Payment Gateways, Certified Customer Notifications, PSD2/SCA connection with bank scraping to create automated scores by consumer profile...

OSS and BSS: differences, similarities and how they work together

OSS and BSS are truly complex and differentiated products whose coordination with each other allows orders to be processed in order to intertwine commercial activity with service (telecom network management, energy or banking) . It is a complex web of self-management systems that uses the resources currently available and optimizes them to the maximum in an intelligent way.

Operations Support Systems (OSS) and Business Support Systems (BSS) are fundamental components in the operations of telecommunications companies. Although they play distinct roles, they work together to ensure efficient network operation and customer satisfaction . In the following, we will examine the differences, similarities and how OSS and BSS work together.

In terms of focus , OSS (Operational Support Systems) focus on network management, equipment configuration and technical infrastructure monitoring while BSS (Business Support Systems) are customer-oriented and focus on customer management, billing and pre-, during and post-sales support.

The main objective of an OSS is to ensure that the network functions correctly, optimize performance and solve technical problems, while the BSS seeks to improve customer satisfaction, offer personalized services and efficiently manage business processes.

Although they have different approaches, OSS and BSS must work together to provide an end-to-end experience for the customer . For example, when a customer requests a new service (BSS), OSS is responsible for activating and configuring that service on the network. When a customer has a technical problem, the BSS can access data from the OSS to obtain detailed information about the configuration of their service and assist in resolving the problem.

Both systems share relevant data, such as customer information and service details. This collaboration enables smooth and accurate service delivery. In summary, although OSS and BSS have different approaches and objectives, their collaboration is essential to provide an end-to-end customer experience and ensure the efficient operation of a telecommunications, banking, finance, insurance, utilities, energy, or leasing company.

Trust, identity and automation services

KYC (Know Your Customer) Video Identity Verification, Digital Onboarding and Authentication (MFA/2FA) solutions and services enable our customers to provide their users with an agile and secure experience.

Our RPA (Robot Process Automation) software enables the creation of sustainable, scalable, productive and efficient business models through BPM (Business Process Management), allowing unlimited growth.

Advanced and Qualified Electronic Signature and Certified Communication services (Electronic Burofax) allow customer acquisition, contracting and acceptance processes that used to take days or weeks to be completed and approved in minutes or seconds.

Customer Onboarding (eKYC), Digital Signature (eSignature) services and Automated Fraud Prevention are making it possible for companies to operate online and without borders.

As an EU-certified Trust Services Provider and an established RegTech partner, we help organizations comply with the most demanding regulatory standards in their sector and region, including AML (Anti-Money Laundering), eIDAS (Electronic IDentification, Authentication and etrust Services), GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), SCA (Strong Customer Authentication) or PSD2 (Payment Services Directive) regulations thanks to Tecalis Anti-Fraud Controls and Document Verification.

How capital expenditure management can drive performance

One of the quickest and most effective ways for organizations to preserve cash is to reexamine their capital investments. The past two years have offered a fascinating look into how different sectors have weathered the COVID-19 storm: from the necessarily capital expenditure–starved airport industry to the cresting wave of public-sector investments in renewable infrastructure and anticipation of the next mining supercycle. Indeed, companies that reduce spending on capital projects can both quickly release significant cash and increase ROIC, the most important metric of financial value creation (Exhibit 1).

This strategy is even more vital in competitive markets, where ROIC is perilously close to cost of capital. In our experience, organizations that focus on actions across the whole project life cycle, the capital project portfolio, and the necessary foundational enablers can reduce project costs and timelines by up to 30 percent to increase ROIC by 2 to 4 percent. Yet managing capital projects is complex, and many organizations struggle to extract cost savings. In addition, ill-considered cuts to key projects in a portfolio may actually jeopardize future operating performance and outcomes. This dynamic reinforces the age-old challenge for executives as they carefully allocate marginal dollars toward value creation.

Companies can improve their odds of success by focusing on areas of the project life cycle— capital strategy and portfolio optimization , project development and value improvement, and project delivery and construction—while investing in foundational enablers.

Cracking the code on capital expenditure management

Despite the importance of capital expenditure management in executing business strategy, preserving cash, and maximizing ROIC, most companies struggle in this area for two primary reasons. First, capital expenditure is often not a core business; instead, organizations focus on operating performance, where they have extensive institutional knowledge. When it comes to capital projects, executives rely on a select few people with experience in capital delivery. Second, capital performance is typically a black box. Executives find it difficult to understand and predict the performance of individual projects and the capital project portfolio as a whole.

Across industries, we see companies struggle to deliver projects on time and on schedule (Exhibit 2). In fact, cost and schedule overruns compared with original estimates frequently exceed 50 percent. Notably, these occur in both the public and private sectors.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated and magnified these challenges. Governments are increasingly viewing infrastructure spending as a tool for economic stimulus, which amplifies the cyclical nature of capital expenditure deployments. At the same time, some organizations have had to make drastic cutbacks in capital projects because of difficult economic conditions. The reliance on just a few experienced people when travel restrictions necessitated a remote-operating model further increased the complexity. As a result, only a few organizations have been able to maintain a through-cycle perspective.

In addition, current inflation could put an end to the historically low interest rates that companies are enjoying for financing their projects. As the cost of capital goes up, discipline in managing large projects will become increasingly important.

Improving capital expenditure management

In our experience, the organizational drivers that impede capital expenditure management affect all stages of a project life cycle, from portfolio management to project execution and commissioning. Best-in-class capital development and delivery require companies to outperform in three main areas, supported by several foundational enablers (Exhibit 3).

Recipes for capturing value

Companies can transform the life cycle of a capital expenditure project by focusing on three areas: capital strategy and portfolio optimization, project development and value improvement, and project delivery and construction. While the savings potential applies to each area on a stand-alone basis, their impact has some overlap. In our experience, companies that deploy these best practices are able to save 15 to 30 percent of a project’s cost.

Capital strategy and portfolio optimization

The greatest opportunity to influence a project’s outcome comes at its start. Too often, organizations commit to projects without a proper understanding of business needs, incurring significant expense to deliver an outcome misaligned with the overall strategy. Indeed, a failure to adequately recognize, price, and manage the inherent risks of project delivery is a recurring issue in the industry. Organizations can address this challenge by following a systematic three-step approach:

Assess the current state of capital projects and portfolio. It’s essential to identify strengths, areas of improvement, and the value at stake. To do so, organizations must build a transparent and rigorously tested baseline and capital budget, which should provide a clear understanding of the overall capital expenditure budget for the coming years as well as accurate cost and time forecasts for an organization’s portfolio of capital projects.

Ensure capital allocation is linked to overall company strategy. This step involves reviewing sources and uses of cash and ensuring allocated capital is linked to strategy. Companies must set an enterprise-wide strategy , assess the current portfolio against the relevant market with forward-looking assessments and cash flow simulation, and review sources and uses of cash to determine the amount of capital available. Particular focus should be given to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations—by both proactively managing risks and capturing the full upside opportunity of new projects—because sustainability is becoming a real source of shareholder value (Exhibit 4). With this knowledge, organizations can identify internal and external opportunities to strengthen their portfolio based on affordability and strategic objectives.

Optimize the capital portfolio to increase company-wide ROIC. Executives should distinguish between projects that are existing or committed, planned and necessary (for legal, regulatory, or strategic requirements), and discretionary. They can do so by challenging a project’s justification, classifications, benefit estimates, and assumptions to ensure they are realistic. This analysis helps companies to define and calibrate their portfolios by prioritizing projects based on KPIs and discussing critical projects not in the portfolio. Executives can then verify that the portfolio is aligned with the business strategy, risk profile, and funding constraints.

For example, a commercial vehicle manufacturer recently undertook a rigorous review of its project portfolio. After establishing a detailed baseline covering several hundred planned projects in one data set, the manufacturer classified the projects into two categories: must-have and discretionary. It also considered strategic realignment in light of a shift to e-mobility and the implications on investments in internal-combustion-engine vehicles. Last, it scrutinized individual maintenance projects to reduce their scope. Overall, the manufacturer uncovered opportunities to decrease its capital expenditure budget by as much as 20 percent. This strict review process became part of its annual routine.

Project development and value improvement

While value-engineering exercises are common, we find that 5 to 15 percent of additional value is typically left on the table. Too often, organizations focus on technical systems and incremental improvements. Instead, executives should consider the full life cycle cost across several areas:

Sourcing the right projects with the right partners. Companies must ensure they are sourcing the right projects by aligning on prioritization criteria and identifying the sectors to play in based on their strategy. Once these selections are made, organizations can use benchmarking and advanced-analytics tools to accelerate project timelines and improve planning. Building the right consortium of contractors and partners at the outset and establishing governance and reporting can have a huge impact. Best-in-class teams secure the optimal financing, which can include public and private sources, by assessing the economic, legal, and operational implications for each option.

A critical success factor is a strong tendering office, which focuses on choosing better projects. It can increase the likelihood of winning through better partnerships and customer insights and enhance the profitability of bids with creative solutions for reducing cost and risk. Best-in-class tendering offices identify projects aligned with the company’s strategy, have a clear understanding of success factors, develop effective partnerships across the value chain, and implement a risk-adjusted approach to pricing.

Achieve the full potential of the preconstruction project value. Companies can take a range of actions to strengthen capital effectiveness. For example, they should consider the project holistically, including technical systems, management systems, and mindsets and behaviors. To ensure they create value across all stages of the project life cycle, organizations should design contract and procurement interventions early in the project. An emphasis on existing ideas and proven solutions can help companies avoid getting bogged down in developing new solutions. For instance, a minimum-technical-solution approach can be used to identify the highest-value projects by challenging technical requirements once macro-elements are confirmed.

Companies should also seek to formalize dedicated systems and processes to support decision making and combat bias. We have identified five types of biases to which organizations should pay close attention (Exhibit 5). For instance, interest biases should be addressed by increasing transparency in decision making and aligning on explicit decision criteria before assessing the project. Stability biases can also be harmful. We have seen it too many times: companies have a number of underperforming projects that just won’t die and that take up valuable and already limited available resources. Organizations should invest in quickly determining when to halt projects—and actually stop them.

Setting up a system to take action in a nonbiased way is a crucial element of best-in-class portfolio optimization. Changing the burden of proof can also help. One energy company counterbalanced the natural desire of executives to hang on to underperforming assets with a systematic process for continually upgrading the company’s portfolio. Every year, the CEO asked the corporate-planning team to identify 3 to 5 percent of the company’s assets that could be divested. The divisions could retain any assets placed in this group but only if they could demonstrate a compelling turnaround program for them. The burden of proof was on the business units to prove that an asset should be retained, rather than just assuming it should.

An effective governance system ensures that all ideas generated from project value improvements are subject to robust tracking and follow-up. Further, the adoption of innovative digital and technological solutions can enhance standardization, modularization, transparency, and efficiency. A power company recently explored options to phase out coal-powered energy using a project value improvement methodology and a minimum technical solution. The process helped to articulate options to maximize ROI and minimize greenhouse-gas emissions. An analysis of each option, using an idea bank of more than 2,000 detailed ideas, let the company find solutions to reduce investment on features with little value added, reallocate spending to more efficient technologies, and better adjust capacity configurations with business needs. Ultimately, the company reduced capital costs by 30 percent while increasing CO 2 abatement by the same amount.

Designing the right project organization. An open, collaborative, and result-focused environment enabled by stringent performance management processes is critical for success, regardless of the contractual arrangement between owners and contractors. Improving capital project practices is possible only if companies measure those practices and understand where they stand compared with their peers. The organization should be designed with a five-year capital portfolio in mind and built by developing structures for project archetypes and modeling the resources required to deliver the capital plan. A rigorous stage-gate process of formal reviews should also be implemented to verify the quality of projects moving forward. Too many projects are rushed through phases with no formal review of their deliverables, leading to a highly risky execution phase, which usually results in delays and cost overruns.

As successful organizations demonstrate, addressing organizational health in project teams is as important as performance initiatives. McKinsey research has found that the healthiest organizations generate three times higher returns than companies in the bottom quartile and more than 60 percent higher returns compared with companies in the middle two quartiles. 1 Scott Keller and Bill Schaninger, Beyond Performance 2.0: A Proven Approach to Leading Large-Scale Change , second edition, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2019.

Project delivery and construction

Since the root causes of poor performance—project complexity, data quality, execution capabilities, and incentives and mindsets—can be difficult to identify and act on, organizations can benefit from taking the following actions across project delivery and construction dimensions.

Optimize the project execution plan. Organizations should embrace principles of operations science to develop an optimized configuration for the production system, as well as set a competitive and realistic baseline for the project. This execution plan identifies the execution options that could be deployed on the project and key decisions that need to be made. Companies should also break the execution plan into its microproduction systems and visualize the complicated schedule. Approaching capital projects as systems allows companies to apply operations science across process design, capacity, inventory, and variability.

Contract, claims, and change orders management. While claims are quite common on capital projects, proactive management can keep them under control and allow owners to retain significant value. Focusing on claims avoidance when drafting terms and conditions can head off many claims before they arise. In addition, partnering with contractors creates a more collaborative environment, making them less inclined to pursue an aggressive claims strategy. To manage change orders on a project, companies should address their contract management capability, project execution change management, and project closeout negotiation support. A European chemical company planning to build greenfield infrastructure in a new Asian geography recently employed this approach. It reduced risk on the project by bringing together bottom-up, integrated planning and performance management with targeted lean-construction interventions. By doing so, the company reduced the project’s duration by a year, achieved on-time delivery, and stayed within its €1 billion budget.

Enablers of the capital transformation

These three value capture areas must be supported by a capable organization with the right tools and processes—what we call the “transformational chassis.” To establish this infrastructure, organizations should focus on several activities.

Performance management

The best organizations institute a performance management system to implement a cascading set of project review meetings focused on assessing the progress of value-creation initiatives. Building on a foundation of quality data, the right performance conversations must take place at all levels of the organization.

Companies should also be prepared to reexamine their stage-gate governance system to shift from an assurance mindset (often drowning in bureaucracy and needless reporting) to an investor mindset. Critical value-enabling activities should be defined at each stage of the project life cycle, supported by a playbook of best practices for execution and implemented by a project review board. While governance processes exist, they often involve reporting without decision making or are not focused on the right outcomes—for example, ensuring that the investment decision and thesis remain valid through a project’s life. Quite often, companies provide incentives for project managers to execute an outdated project plan rather than deliver against the organization’s needs and goals.

Creating project transparency is also critical. Companies should establish a digital nerve center—or control tower—that collects field-level data to establish a single source of truth and implement predictive analytics. Equally important, companies must address capability building to ensure that the team has a solid understanding of the baseline and embraces data-based decision making.

Companies should stand up delivery teams that integrate owner and contractor groups across disciplines and institute a consistent and effective project management rhythm that can identify risks and opportunities over a project’s duration. Once delivery teams prioritize the biggest opportunities, dedicated capacity should be allocated to solve a project’s most challenging problems. Finally, companies should build and deploy comprehensive programs that improve culture and workforce capabilities throughout the organization, including the front line.

Capital analytics

Many organizations struggle to get a clear view of how projects are performing, which limits the possibility for timely interventions, decision making, and resource planning. By digitalizing the performance management of construction projects using timely and transparent project data, companies can track value capture and leading indicators while making data available across the enterprise. Using a single source of truth can reduce delivery risk, increase responsiveness, and enable a more proactive approach to the identification of issues and the capture of opportunities. The most advanced projects build automated, real-time control towers that consolidate information across systems, engineering disciplines, project sites, contractors, and broader stakeholders. The ability to integrate data sets speeds decision making, unlocks further insights, and promotes collaborative problem solving between the company that owns the capital project and the engineering, procurement, and construction company.

Ways of working

In many cases, executives are unwilling to engage in comprehensive capital reviews because they lack a sufficient understanding of capital management processes, and project managers can be afraid to expose this lack of proficiency. Agile practices can facilitate rapid and effective decision making by bringing together cross-functional project teams. Under this approach, organizations establish daily stand-ups, weekly showcases, and fortnightly sprints to help eliminate silos and maintain a focus on top priorities. Agility must be supported by an organizational structure, well-developed team capabilities, and an investment mindset. Organizations should also build skills and establish a culture of cooperation to optimize their capital investments.

We do recognize that getting capital expenditure management right feels like a lot to do well. And although many of these tasks are somehow done by a slew of companies, pockets of organizational excellence can be undermined instantly (and sometimes existentially) by one big project that goes wrong or a strategic misfire that pushes an organization from being a leader to a laggard in the investment cycle. In some ways, capital expenditure management leaders face similar challenges to those in other functions that have already undergone major productivity improvements: often these challenges are not technical problems but instead relate to how people work together toward a common goal.

Yet we believe organizations have a significant opportunity to fundamentally improve project outcomes by rethinking traditional approaches to project delivery. Sustainable improvements can be achieved by resizing the project portfolio, optimizing the cash flows for individual projects, and improving and reducing individual project delivery risk.

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