Great leaders understand the importance of setting goals, yet 60%-90% of all business strategies fail before even launching. We’re not telling you this number to discourage you. Instead, we hope to do the opposite. We want you to understand that for your business to succeed, you need an excellent strategy in place.
Unifying Information Technology (IT) with business goals can be the key to helping businesses streamline their operations, innovate and compete successfully. Below, we explore the exact steps to aligning business goals with IT strategy. This blueprint for success can help your organization thrive in any competitive environment.
Companies tend to view technology as a supportive function. While the executive team may create goals they want to achieve, they do not necessarily view technology as one of the biggest contributing factors to achieving these goals.
Why is this a problem? Let’s look at research from the PwC Innovation Benchmark Report. The study shows that 54% of companies struggle to sync their business and innovation strategies. The PwC report also claims the most innovative organizations promote innovation both inside and outside their companies, bringing in a wider ecosystem for technology, talent, ideas and insights.
Aligning your business goals with IT strategy ensures IT initiatives support overall business goals. It’s more than an optional growth strategy — it is a necessity for any organization that wants to succeed.
If you want to integrate your business goals with technology, you will need:
Explore the process of achieving business goals with the help of information technology.
The first step is to set clear, measurable business goals. This foundational step is essential because it provides a focused direction and ensures every IT initiative is purposefully designed to meet your objectives.
When defining goals, consider your overall business strategy and consider long-term and short-term needs. Pursue goals that create tangible results, such as impacting revenue, productivity, operations or customer satisfaction. You can use the SMART goal framework to create specific, actionable goals.
Without assessing the state of alignment between your IT and business goals, you risk wasting resources and time. You must audit existing IT systems, projects and processes to see how they mesh with your business goals. Encourage your IT leaders and department heads to collaboratively assess how successfully your technology currently aligns with your company’s objectives.
For example, if one of your key business goals is customer satisfaction, you can review customer relationship management (CRM) systems to determine if they are meeting customer satisfaction and engagement goals.
The natural next step is identifying the gaps. This helps pinpoint the areas where your current IT strategy does not fully support your business goals. Recognizing these gaps will allow you to make targeted improvements.
To identify areas for growth, you can:
Without a well-defined roadmap of your vision, your team can lose focus and direction, leading to delays, incomplete projects or incorrect resource allocation.
To create your roadmap, you can assign each goal a realistic start and end date, accounting for resource availability and potential obstacles. You can also break down significant goals into smaller, more manageable objectives to help your team track their progress.
Proper resource allocation avoids possible delays, reduces risks and helps guarantee implementation. To allocate resources, you’ll first need to determine the budget for each goal.
Evaluating your current IT team’s capabilities is also crucial in helping you successfully transition. Will they be able to achieve the goals you have set? Do they need training? Should you recruit new team members? Does partnering with a third-party firm make more sense?
Look for a third-party company that specializes in creating custom systems and processes. These companies can provide organizations with strategic planning, business analysis, systems engineering and overall IT support. A partnership can help ensure your organization reaches its potential.
Open communication ensures IT teams, business leaders and other relevant departments remain informed about the company vision. This can reduce misunderstanding and keep everyone focused on shared goals.
In addition to informing your team about the way forward, collaboration offers a great way to encourage accountability while empowering the IT team to develop solutions that genuinely meet business needs.
You can establish effective organization-wide communication by developing regular check-ins to review progress, address challenges or adjust priorities as needed.
It is important to understand that aligning your business goals with your IT strategy will likely not be a one-time adjustment. Depending on your industry, trends may change, technology solutions may improve or the general competitive landscape may require you to adjust your strategy. Your organization must prepare to assess and respond to changing needs.
Integrating business goals with IT strategies is a necessity in today’s technology-driven business landscape. By committing to the above approach, your organization can enhance its competitive edge while building a foundation for lasting success.
Crowned Grace International is the premier solution integration provider for public and private sector organizations within the United States, Mexico and Brazil. We provide customized solutions according to your organization’s vision, mission and strategic destination. Our C-Level management team members bring their Fortune 100, International, Military and Private Sector expertise to every project and can help you effectively align your business goals with IT strategy.
Contact us today, and let us help you build a strong foundation that gives your business the edge it needs to stand out from the competition.
Linked Sources:
