How can you develop an IT Strategy when the company itself doesn't have a strategic plan?

An information-technology strategy helps to fulfil a business strategy. If the organization hasn't formalized such a strategy, then IT executives can help the business managers to draw up such plans. To develop an IT strategy without a company strategic plan, you'll have to identify the de facto business objectives, priorities, and results on your own and use them to build your IT roadmap.

Company Vision, Mission, and Objectives

Creating an IT strategic plan requires a focal point, which is usually drawn from the corporate vision, mission, and objectives. If a written statement doesn't exist, an unwritten understanding almost always does. The first step for an IT strategy is to clarify this business vision, mission, and objectives.

The vision may be a simple slogan: "Service with a Smile" or "Shelter for Everyone," or a more detailed statement. Often, the means to achieve the vision is equally important, such as "increasing long-term shareholder value," or "improved services for the homeless." By looking at these objectives you can derive your specific goals for the coming year.

Business-Driven Priorities

Even if there's no strategic plan at the business level, organizational sub-units usually have:

• Growth plans (revenue, staffing, etc.);
• Action plans to meet objectives;
• Spending plans;
• Sales targets;
• Upcoming acquisitions or partnerships, and;
• Plans to lower the cost of operations.

These plans can be used to help create next year's technology plan, and are often indicators of the unstated corporate strategy. Draw them out by having your senior IT managers interview the business leaders. In addition, the IT organization has a wealth of data of its own that can help you plan for future growth, as described below.

Results-Driven Strategy

Your IT plan also should take into consideration and be based upon past accomplishments and information use:

• Current Technology Usage -- Outline your accomplishments for the previous year, highlighting technology usage by organizational unit;
• IT Resource Allocation -- Establish a resource and business impact list: To which specific business function does each resource contribute? Use data from existing technology use, such as growth in help-desk calls, disk utilization, server capacity, disaster prevention, etc., to show trends;
• Technology Architecture -- Define an overall technology architecture that shows the governance of processes as well as the applications and the infrastructure.

Contact the organizational units directly to find out what plans they have for next year and:

• Brief them on the above data;
• Ask them about areas of additional investment in technology that the unit plans to make, and areas where they need your support;
• If the business units have either financial or other production and sales objectives, ask what specific technology is required to meet these objectives, and how it will be funded;
• Use your IT resource-allocation information to suggest additional investments, and;
• Provide easy-to-fill-in templates to collect project details.

Define The Road Map

The IT strategy plan is a decision document for investment and for ongoing expenses. Once all the data has been collected, it must be collated into a master project list that includes each project's funding requirements. Prioritize according to:

• Project classification, based on such characteristics as return on investment, opportunity costs, alignment with objectives, and other variables of the business and environment;
• Performance measures, and;
• Resource management.

As some projects may span years, future resource allocation and performance measures need to be clearly defined.

It's also important that your road map isn't just about new projects, but also about managing technology. If there's a constant shift in priorities, a process that can manage these changes needs to be defined. Your Current Technology Usage, IT Resource Allocation, and Technology Architecture pieces should quickly become guiding documents for your current as well as future strategy.

Be sure to follow up quarterly with reviews that assess implementation, the projects' impact on business, and performance measures. All of these will enhance the value of your company's technology use, and help in making IT a strategic partner in business objectives.

Driving Business Value

The whole point of aligning IT with the business is to provide value by using technology in a way most profitable to the organization. Some of your work may be reactive (to market conditions and competitors' uses of technology); some may be collaborative (working with the business to define solutions to business problems); and some, at its best, will be innovative (to advance new business objectives).

Advancing Your Career

The business world loves people who think strategically. Add the ability to innovate and execute and your career will get a high-octane boost. Putting together an IT strategic plan and helping the business build (or at least think about) its strategy will enhance your value and accelerate your career. Modeling strategic planning in your department may even nudge the company toward its own, comprehensive strategic plan!