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Case Study: IT Strategic Planning Means Listening to Users
A client was facing imminent growth and fluctuation in business direction. Information technology is an important toolset, is varied, and is used at every level of the organization. The IT Manager asked me to prepare an IT strategic plan to help guide the projects and priorities of the IT department for the next 1-3 years.
The Method
• In person interviews with everyone and solicit candid feedback
regarding the IT systems and processes that are used. What
works well? What needs to be improved? Interviews also
explored workflow and information sharing, a challenge in any
company with diverse technical and scientific requirements.
• Prepare draft situational assessment and review with key
stakeholders
• Prepare recommendations for strategic 'projects' to be
addressed in order of priority to meet the greatest need first.
Obtain approval to proceed from CEO.
• Evaluate progress at year-end to determine success of projects
and revise plan for year - 2 and 3
The Result
• Interviews were quite revealing, in fact, each one revealed
some 'new' information that was not previously known.
• Strong management support for not only IT improvement
projects, but also initiatives to improve knowledge sharing and
communication (lunch-and-learn sessions, video conference
calls with remote operations).
• Improvements to business processes and IT systems were so
successful, the client embarked on the same detailed
assessment for a second year to accurately reassess changes
in priorities now that the company is operating 'differently' than
before.
Conclusion
For this company that underwent a significant transformation as a result of the strategic plan in the first year, decided to complete the same strategic planning exercise at the end of the year to assess new 'priorities'.
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