• According to the Info-Tech’s Management and Governance Diagnostic, 44% of small/medium businesses have an IT strategy process they feel is ineffective. (Info-Tech, Management and Governance Diagnostic; n=23)
• Based on CEO-CIO alignment diagnostics, IT does not invest in areas that support business, and business leaders still feel that their goals are unsupported by IT. (Info-Tech, CEO-CIO Alignment Diagnostic; n=30)

IT departments that have not developed IT strategies experience misalignment between business and IT, and do not understand the value IT can provide to business.

• Too often IT leaders react to IT problems and take on business challenges much like an order taker, thereby failing to proactively participate as a business partner or innovator.
• IT’s contribution to the goals of the business are not always clear, and they are rarely recognized. IT projects do not get priority due to lack of budget or skills and get put on hold because of sudden changes to business requirements.

• Use Info-Tech’s IT strategy approach to discern the business context.
• Clearly communicate to business leaders how IT will support the organization’s key objectives and initiatives using the Strategy Presentation Template.
• Use Info-Tech’s Prioritization Tool to help make project decisions in a holistic manner that allows for the selection of the most valuable initiatives to become part of the IT strategic roadmap.

2. To what degree do business goals go unsupported by IT?

How business leaders see the role of IT

Most small business leaders see IT as nothing more than a trusted operator. Maintaining computers, the network, data backup and recovery….

How IT leaders see the role of IT

….yet when technology leaders are in full alignment with business goals, they are truly business partners. Participating in business growth and innovation especially in increasingly digitally-enabled businesses.

• According to SMB Group Report (below), only 50% of those surveyed had a strategy in place.
• The same survey shows that 58% of those with a strategy in place reported having experienced an increases in revenue in comparison to the year prior. This group was 300% more likely to experience growth than those who had no strategy in place.
• Whether they had a strategy or not, more than 80% of those surveyed stated they were accelerating their digital transformation initiatives following the 2020 pandemic.

IT strategy progress in small and medium businesses

(Source: 2021 SMB Technology Direction, n=761)

(Source: Info-Tech, IT Management & Governance Diagnostic, conducted by Info-Tech Partners on their clients (n=30))

45% of SMBs expect to increase their technology budget in 2022

65% of large enterprises expect to increase their technology budget in 2022

Drivers for this increase include technology modernization, increasing cybersecurity defense, and continuing the digital transformation journey.

Start by stating an IT vision that meets their business mission. The IT vision should define how technology enables their business.

A retrospective of IT’s performance helps recognize the current state while highlighting important strategic elements to address going forward.

Elicit the business context, identify strategic initiatives that are most important to the organization, and build an actionable plan and strategy.

Evaluate IT’s operational strategy, which will be required to successfully execute on key initiatives.

Workshop Agenda

Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com1-888-670-8889

Elicit Business Context

Establish Scope and Review IT Performance

Build Your Key Initiative Plan

Build Your Key Initiative Plan

Define Your Operational Strategy

Wrap-Up

0.1 Use industry capability map to identify business context and business goals.

0.2 Client to compile and prioritize IT success stories (optional).

1.1 Derive the IT vision statement and IT mission statement, and identify IT guiding principles.

1.2 Define the IT strategy scope.

1.3 Review diagnostic data and evaluate IT performance.

2.1 Determine goals cascade from business goals to IT goals:

• Required IT capabilities
• IT initiatives
• IT goals

3.1 Prioritize your IT initiatives.

3.2 Build your roadmap.

3.3 Develop business-focused sunshine diagram.

4.1 Identify metrics and targets per IT goal.

4.2 Identify required skills and resources capacity.

4.3 Walk through budgeting approach for 1-2 IT initiatives.

4.4 Discuss next steps and wrap-up.

5.1 Complete in-progress deliverables.

5.2 Set up review time for workshop deliverables (optional).

1. Business context and business goals

1. IT vision statement
2. IT mission statement
3. IT guiding principles and scope

1. List of IT initiatives
2. Goals cascade

1. IT roadmap
2. IT initiative one-pagers (sample)

1. IT metrics and targets
2. IT resourcing changes

1. IT strategy presentation

• Outline how technology should be contributing to business
• Get feedback how the IT function is performing and supporting business
• Turn stakeholder input data into actionable plans
• Communicate the measurable outcomes

“[The content] we use the most are the diagnostics. We've built the front-end of our engagement process with clients and are repeating annual review with certain clients around the diagnostic process” (Rick Bawcum, Founder/CEO, Cimatri)

• Assign IT strategy course to team members
• Track IT strategy course progress
• Test IT strategy understanding
• Earn IT strategy certificates

Up your IT strategy engagement game in the following measurable ways

• Save Time: Info-Tech Partners report saving 40-70% of the time when incorporating Info-Tech’s tools, templates, and repeatable methodology to an IT strategy engagement.
• Reduce Effort: Info-Tech Partners report that the laborious effort of creating customized deliverables for each client is alleviated using standardized the deliverables in this blueprint.
• Boardroom Ready: Info-Tech Partners describe that they did not have to start from scratch to build high-quality boardroom-ready deliverables, which results in saving a lot of time and focusing on result- or outcome-driven discussion with the stakeholders or management team.
• Increased Credibility: You increase your trust and credibility with your customers and prospects when you show them who is standing behind you. Leverage Info-Tech’s brand power as a research and advisory firm to bolster your customers’ confidence in you.

“For us, we typically do IT assessments and roadmap in 6 to 8 weeks. We're able to take that 6-to-8-week timeframe and are spending maybe 40% of the time that we use to spend.

Everything from beginning to end used to be an expert-driven process. But as we brought on business analysts, we've trained to do the diagnostics. Our experts still deliver the expert opinion and core of diagnostics when needed in the discussion.

What this means for me is I used to do probably 80 or 90% of the work, now I am not doing 20% of it. We're probably reducing even business analyst effort by 50 or 60%”.

Rick Bawcum CEO/Founder, Cimatri