As the end of the year comes to a close, there’s no better time than now to strategize the perfect IT plan for your business. Whether it’s new technologies you want to focus on in the new year or better practices centered around tech, entering 2017 with an actionable plan is the prep work you need to feasibly see changes in the future.
And while there are many ways to go about creating the perfect IT plan for 2017, ZBRELLA has outlined three of the most basic cornerstones to getting started so you know where to focus your time, attention, and money.
- Understand Your Company’s Vision Mission
Most people believe the key to a successful IT plan is jumping head first into the numbers and tech. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. Before anything else happens, you need to know and understand what your company’s vision mission is. To identify and develop a vision mission, ask yourself these questions:
- What does my company value?
- Where do I see my company in the future/where do I want it to go?
- What do I want my company to accomplish in 2017?
- What are some of the long term goals I envision for my company?
Understanding the answers to these questions will create a stronger company vision mission and therefore dictate what is important to the company. By understanding what is important to the company, you will also begin to understand the tools and technology that will become essential to shaping your company in the future, because a good IT plan should always align with a business’ vision mission.
- Identify All of Your IT Priorities for the Coming Year
Once a solid vision mission is determined, identifying a company’s IT priorities should become easier, because knowing the strategy behind the business is what guides where technology’s goals should be and helps weed out what you need versus what you don’t. For example, if a company wants to become more cutting edge and technologically savvy in the future, that will dictate the necessities of the IT plan and therefore the priorities for the coming year. Questions to keep in mind when identifying IT priorities unique to your needs are:
- Will this tech help achieve where I want my company to go?
- Will this tech position my company as a leader in the areas I would like to strengthen?
- Does this tech deliver value to my company’s vision mission?
In addition to asking yourself important questions, you should also have a general working knowledge of the types of technology that will most likely become relevant to you in the coming year. Technologies to be aware of:
- Cloud Strategy
- Security/Disaster Recovery
- Mobile Tools
- Business and Information Workflow
- Automation
- Robotics
- Research and Development
- Project Management
- Develop “Laser Focus”
Take the list of all your IT priorities and narrow them down to just three initiatives for your company. If this sounds redundant, it’s not. Understanding a comprehensive scope of work for your company is key to understanding where you want to continue to steer your company throughout the entire year, but focusing on the three most important priorities will help set attainable technology initiatives and get you to where you want to go faster.
In other words, don’t forget about all the other priorities you previously set, but do divide and conquer so you don’t become overwhelmed by a barrage of new things. Also keep in mind that with all new things, especially technology, there will always be a learning curve. Making time for your company to adjust to that learning curve is a lot easier by compartmentalizing it to just three new technologies.
No company has the money or resources to do everything all at once. Focus on the top three that are the most realistic, important, and essential to positively contributing to your company vision mission and you will see the most value for your business.
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