An IT strategy can transform innovation and growth by future proofing your business.

In today’s increasingly digitalised and security-led marketplace, the boundaries between strategic IT planning and the overall business strategy are becoming less clear. As a result, firms are working smarter to gain a competitive advantage through harnessing their IT strategy, processes and systems.

Where IT and business meet

We are approaching business differently. We are exploring all the individual strands of our business to ensure they align with our goals, values and longer term growth plans. As we prepare for this new era, IT is becoming the necessary backbone for all businesses.

As data protection, compliance and innovation remain fundamental concerns for both SMEs and large multinational players, long-term growth plans are incorporating IT strategies to evolve existing operations, promoted products and services, and specific channels.

Business owners, marketing professionals and IT developers need to be aware of how their technology processes impact their overall strategy. They need to ensure that their governance, definitions and priorities are communicated across all infrastructure and systems implementations.

It’s important to consider what impact an IT strategy can truly have on a business. And why is it crucial to your growth and innovation?

Become a Trusted Provider

As the relationship between IT capabilities and organisational initiatives becomes stronger, planning and conducting IT activities, analysing IT solutions and providing project support all go beyond IT’s original function. Ultimately, this helps to build confidence and peace of mind.

The impact of IT must be tested and analysed to ensure it conforms with the modern technological landscape and not outdated practices. New IT functional solution designs and best practice advice help to advance the customer journey and improve the consumer experience. They also create new products and services for market demands and convey insights and preferences. Together, these help to build growth by creating an image based on delivery and trust.

Know Your Customer Needs

US research and advisory firm, Gartner (formerly CEB) revealed that almost half of IT chiefs want to be a part of strategy building, yet only 28% are actively taking part in this process. 

Customer needs are rapidly changing, and so it’s vital that business owners and individual departments know how these contribute to the bigger picture.

Augmented and virtual reality, knowledge algorithms and the Internet of Things are revolutionising the way we work and live. This innovation creates both new opportunities and challenges.

By understanding customer needs and concerns, we can focus on how IT solutions can best answer these demands. With that valuable information to hand, companies can review the way they develop, promote, sell and distribute their products and services. 

Focus on Product Management

With the terms ‘IT’ and ‘business’ becoming increasingly synonymous, businesses are shifting their operations towards a more sophisticated, strategic and mid-to-long term focus. Product management is a key area helping them to achieve this. Businesses are maximising their in-house capabilities or outsourcing their IT management. This ensures new, efficient and adaptable operating models are adopted as part of an IT strategy that charges growth.  

New practices for innovation product management can then explored to help deconstruct complex methods, ensure successful business transformation and improve the quality of processes.

Gartner defines Business Process Management as “a discipline that improves enterprise performance by driving operational excellence and business agility”.

Increasing efficiency and effectiveness raise productivity levels and help to build a more agile, smart and competitive organisation — that is positioned to grab market share and keep it.  

Understand Metrics

Companies are working hard to hone their IT processes to maximise creativity and optimise relationship management. As such, shared metrics are becoming a formidable part of daily, weekly and monthly operations.  

Collaboration and diversity are key buzzwords within the industry too. Firms require the expertise of experienced professionals to overhaul outdated systems to protect data, keep customer management profiles operational, conduct digital initiatives and obtain consumer insights.

This data provides reliable analysis and feedback on innovation efforts. It creates an open dialogue between IT and business departments, and it reveals how the business has transformed. It also indicates what further initiatives may be worth investing in.  

Provide a Process-led Service

From a strategic point of view, companies brainstorm,  innovate, prototype, test, explore results, and involve customers and employees to understand how best to build its business profile.

Implementing an IT plan into the overall business strategy indicates how the company will deliver value to its customer base. This may reduce overall costs by:

• improving productivity
• limiting administrative time by increasing process efficiency
• better positioning its products in the marketplace at a faster rate than competitors

To become and remain successful, businesses must continuously improve their processes. Failure to do so is likely to result in higher costs, lower revenues, less happy employees and decreased customer satisfaction.

IT solutions and outsource management can support these business objectives by helping to position the company as a trusted, reliable and friendly brand. This, in turn, helps it to secure new customers, retain existing business and maximise ROI.  

Get Your IT Strategy Right

Technology is constantly evolving. As a result, businesses are experiencing growing pains and seeing IT as the main innovator towards growth. An IT strategy has the potential to impact the entire organisation and its long-term goals. The new face of IT is tech-savvy, creative and pushes beyond existing boundaries to aid business goals and instil change at a strategic level.

If we recognise IT as a part of the wider business strategy and helpful supporter of a successful enterprise, we can achieve our growth plans and business innovation successfully while reducing resources and costs.

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