The ongoing emergence of new technologies places many IT departments under pressure. As organizations face significant challenges, such as growing stakeholder expectations, flat or diminishing budgets, or increased globalization, they are turning to IT as a means to shape their business future.
The IT landscape has been transformed by:
- Mobile, social, and cloud computing;
- Big-data analytics;
- The Internet of Things;
- Location-based services;
- Software-defined data centers (SDDC) and software-defined networking (SDN).
These innovations, combined with emerging Open Source tools, environments, and databases, necessitate new ways of thinking about the enterprise, information systems and the new role of IT leaders. The objective of IT has long ceased to be a matter of smooth and uncomplicated delivery of technology. Nowadays, the goal of IT is to serve the organization as an enabler of operational efficiency and as a facilitator for continued growth. Below are several ways that IT leaders can initiate successful IT transformation in their organizations.
Make plans for the organization to reflect its goals and objectives
Understanding business unit objectives and translating them quickly and accurately into IT priorities is essential today. Just as critical is the ability to effectively communicate IT planning and performance data in a way that is useful to business unit management. As the information backbone of the business, the IT organization plays a critical role in helping the business gain a competitive advantage, reduce risk, and ensure growth and longevity.
IT leaders should initiate process-oriented thinking in the organization
Simply formulating processes is not sufficient. Processes must be implemented end-to-end in such a manner that other departments regard them not as an encumbrance but as a way to simplify their day-to-day operations. The IT organization must not recommend and outline processes that only have to do with IT, but detail skills and responsibilities that reach beyond IT, establishing an integrated, end-to-end incident management process, for instance.
Review current hiring initiatives
If IT is going to sustain and help shape the business, it requires staff that possess the necessary technical skills that will shape the future IT landscape. This may include mobile, cloud computing, big data and data visualization skills.
The Litcom approach
Organizational change is a direct route to strengthening an organization’s competitiveness. Litcom helps companies through the IT transformation process. We help guide organizations to make business choices that focus IT spending on specific, measurable business results and create shareholder value. We help organizations increase IT agility and flexibility, faster time-to-market for new products and services and improved clarity around IT roles and expectations. For additional information, please contact us at info@litcom.ca.