|
Why You Should Integrate
Your IT Plan With A Business Strategy
Technology is increasingly considered by
nonprofits as something that must be planned, managed and
included as an integral part of the organization’s
strategic vision. An IT plan helps create a collaborative
relationship between IT management and the organization’s
business decision makers. The result is a blueprint for
technology investments designed to support business goals and
drive benefits for the organization.
Creating an IT plan must be more than just a
technology exercise. A business-based approach to developing an
IT plan takes into account governance needs, legal and
regulatory compliance, functional process and control
requirements, and industry trends.
According to Paul Klein, a senior manager for
Grant Thornton LLP’s Not-for-Profit Business Advisory
practice, well-written IT plans answer the following question:
How do technology projects support our organizational strategy?
This leads to an overall direction for IT
initiatives. An IT plan also establishes a technology planning
horizon that helps manage the rate of investment based on a
budget and the organization’s ability to absorb
change.
Start with defining projects on a timeline to
create a bird’s-eye view of what happens when. This
highlights dependencies between projects and gives a sense of
when your end-users can expect results. Then analyze information
flows and calculate the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for
technology. This helps to assess the total budget required to
support the plan.
A resource plan will lay out the people and
timing needed to support IT operations and projects over the
planning horizon so that management can understand
interdependencies and constraints.
Finally, keep the IT plan updated. The plan
that sits on a shelf loses relevance exponentially over
time.
Developing an IT plan can be a challenging
process, but it is incredibly useful. Aligning technology with
strategic plans helps propel organizations toward their
strategic objectives.
| 
Tell-a-friend!
