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Common Mistakes to avoid in your IT Strategy Development

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Praise Iwuh

May 23, 2023

Introduction

Having discovered how crucial an effective IT strategy is for organisations to thrive in our technology-driven world, it is also necessary to identify the factors that make an IT strategy ineffective and how you can avoid them. Some of these mistakes are common, and easily overlooked, but by being aware of them, you can elevate your strategic planning process to maximise the benefits of your IT investments.

Remember, an IT strategy is a roadmap that outlines your business goals or objectives, and how you plan to meet them using IT resources. IT strategy is a vehicle for using technology to implement business strategy. It defines how a business can identify technology requirements, and allocate budgets, and personnel. Simply put, an IT strategy makes sure your business’s technological investments are in line with business priorities.

IT strategy seeks to understand your business strategy and identify how to support it using technology. It includes all aspects of technology, such as hardware, software, networks, databases, cloud servers, and cyber security, and supports a wide range of business operations, such as production, customer service, marketing, recruitment, and innovation.

Common mistakes to avoid in IT Strategy Development

When developing your IT strategy, it's important to avoid certain mistakes that can hinder its effectiveness. Here are some key pitfalls to avoid:

Non-alignment with business goals

An IT strategy that fails to reflect your organisational goals is simply a waste of effort, time, and resources. This is because the primary purpose of investing in IT should be to support and enhance your business objectives through technology. While preparing your IT strategy, carefully analyse your business objectives to decipher where and how the application of technology can be beneficial, and profitable.

Failure to audit current IT infrastructure

Amid the rush of excitement at implementing new technology, it is important to first evaluate your existing IT operations before developing your IT strategy. This helps to point out how effective your current capabilities are; its strengths, weaknesses, and gaps that need to be addressed. A thorough assessment of your existing IT infrastructure provides clarity on how you can use new technological additions to improve on operations. You can determine needs improvement or updating, or what areas need overhauling, and what is better left alone.

Ignoring emerging technologies

Technology is a rapidly and constantly evolving phenomenon. Make sure to stay updated on technological advancements that can benefit your organisation, or are related to the areas you are looking to improve on. Failure to do this, may result in outdated systems or missed opportunities which can quickly undermine the point of your IT strategy.

Insufficient Stakeholder Involvement

Developing an effective IT strategy can only be possible through the support and input of the stakeholders of your organisation. It is important to incorporate feedback and views from their perspectives, which also grants them a sense of inclusion and improves cohesion. Also when looking to align strategy to business goals, there’s no better to best collaborate with than the stakeholders.

Overlooking Security and Data protection

The global cost of cybercrime in 2023 was $8.44 trillion and is projected to rise to $23.84 trillion by 2027 (Statista). These whooping numbers emphasise how detrimental it is to plan an IT strategy while giving serious thought to cybersecurity, data privacy, and disaster recovery. Your strategy should include clear, structured plans for robust security measures, best practices, and protocols to enhance the safety of your data and protection against breaches.

Not Equipped for Change

One of the major characteristics of technology is constant evolution. Your IT strategy should be built with leeway to accommodate changing business needs and technological advancements. It is important to avoid setting up rigid, non-flexible structures that require too much effort to scale or modify. An IT strategy that allows for agility and scalability, enables your organisation to respond effectively to evolving challenges, accommodate expansion integration of new technologies and adapt to changing business needs.

Lack of Clear Objectives and Performance Metrics

An effective IT strategy requires clear objectives and performance metrics that help you assess progress and effectiveness. Without defined performance metrics, it is impossible to track progress, measure success, and make data-driven adjustments to your strategy.

It is then imperative that you set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals that align with your business objectives and help you identify if your framework works, how well it works, what areas need improvements, and what needs to be scrapped completely.

Failure to Prioritise User Experience

The end-user is the most important person in the development process, and a product that doesn’t meet their expectations has failed in its objective. User experience should be a core focus when creating your IT strategy. Overlooking the needs and preferences of your users leads to low adoption rates and decreased productivity. The best way to avoid this mistake is to involve end-users in the decision-making process, prioritise their feedback, and design solutions that are intuitive, efficient, and useful to them.

Inadequate Communication Channels

A breakdown or inefficiency in communication can undermine the implementation of an otherwise decent IT strategy plan. Develop a robust communication plan, with structured communication channels and schedules, to ensure seamless interaction and absolute understanding between all involved parties.

Conclusion

Your IT strategy plan can set a positive tone for the technological advancement and success of your organisation. Avoiding these common mistakes can greatly improve the chances of success in your IT strategy development. By aligning your IT strategy with business goals, involving stakeholders, assessing current capabilities, paying attention to cybersecurity, considering scalability and flexibility, setting performance tracking metrics, and establishing communication channels, you vastly improve your chances of developing a bulletproof IT investment plan.

We understand developing an IT Strategy might be tougher than it seems, but you have nothing to worry about. Wazobia Technologies offers IT support services that cover strategy development, team extension and augmentation, and full project outsourcing., which means we can set up and handle all your IT requirements, guiding you every step of the way. Also, our first consultation session is absolutely free! Contact us to start meeting your business goals through Information Technology.