Creating a Business IT Strategy

Technology can drive your business forward – but only if there’s a clear plan behind it. It’s not about chasing the latest tools or cloud platforms. It’s about making sure every part of your IT setup is working towards a bigger picture.

That’s the job of a solid IT strategy. It ties your tech to your business goals. This helps your team work smarter,  preparing them for everything from cyber threats to rapid growth to sudden market changes.

In this article, we’ll break down what an IT strategy actually is. We’ll learn what makes one effective and how to craft one that supports real business outcomes. Let’s start by defining IT strategy.

What is an IT Strategy?

An IT strategy is a plan outlining how your business intends to align IT with achieving the goals you have set. Unique to your business, it will guide your decisions on technology and how it’s utilised.

Everything from data management to cybersecurity and hardware procurement to cloud adoption should be covered, ensuring everyone has an understanding of how technology will assist your business in getting where it needs to go.

Your IT strategy will be the plan that helps you maximise your technology investments. It’s not something you purchase off the shelf – it will be custom-made to your business ambitions, vision and objectives. IT strategies do contain key core elements, which we’ll go over now.

The Key Elements of a Strong IT Strategy

Let’s break down what we feel a successful IT strategy will incorporate.

Business Goals Alignment

Your IT plan should start with your business goals. What do you want to achieve in the next 12 months? The next five years? Your IT needs to support the outcomes you’re chasing.

Infrastructure Planning

Your IT infrastructure is the foundation a modern business is built on. It incorporates your network, servers, internet connections, hardware and cloud – all the tech tools that support your operations and your team. Getting it right means efficient and secure work days. Getting it wrong, and you’ll be putting out fires constantly.

Your IT strategy will focus on optimising and maintaining your IT infrastructure, making sure it meets your current needs and can adapt to your future requirements.

Cybersecurity and Risk Management

It doesn’t matter the size of your business – enterprises and SMBs are all targets for hackers and other cyber criminals. Cybersecurity, backups and disaster recovery must be all integral to your IT strategy. This helps you minimise risk, protect your client data (and reputation), maintain uptime and stay compliant with industry rules and regulations.

Application and Software Management

The apps and software you have in place could be the difference between a productive day and one where nothing gets done. From accounting systems to collaboration tools and CRMs, everything should be integrating nicely and supporting your business functions adequately. Try and avoid too much duplication or manual work.

Budgeting and ROI

No strategy is complete without a look at the tech budget. Your IT spend should be aligned with your business goals and expected returns. It’s not about cutting corners, but about spending wisely and getting value.

An IT strategy helps you plan your technology investments in advance, avoid surprise costs, and see where your money is going.

People and Skills

Your team and their grasp of the tools they use needs to be taken into account. What in-house skills you have got, what areas do you need training in and is there any need to bring in external IT support? This could be in the form of a managed IT services provider or IT consultant like Smile IT.

Steps to Create Your IT Strategy

If you’re embarking on setting up your IT strategy, following tried and tested steps will help guide your journey. These are the ones we recommend at Smile IT, and remember you can always contact us for assistance at any time.

Current IT Assessment

Start with a thorough assessment of your existing systems, infrastructure, and processes. Are there any obvious gaps? What’s working well for you and what could be shelved?

Set your Business Goals

Get some clarity on what your business wants to achieve. Are you in high-growth mode? Is it efficiency you’re after? Maybe innovation sits at the core of your future. Your strategy should be created with these goals in mind.

Define your Future IT State

Think about what your tech environment needs to look like if your goals are to be met. Do you need a more secure network? Better communication and collaboration? Improved cybersecurity? You’re starting to really think about your technology and how it supports your business.

Get Your Priorities Right

What changes to your technology will have the most impact now? What can be put off for a while? Not everything needs to be done right away. Base your strategic changes on impact and urgency, and take care of the most pressing issues.

Build an IT Roadmap

An IT roadmap is a practical guide that your business can follow in implementing your IT strategy. You can set up milestones across a monthly timeline that include budgets, resource requirements and actions. It’s a super handy way of monitoring the progress of your IT strategy.

Create Accountability

Accountability is essential for strategy implementation – somebody has to be responsible for the different steps in getting your tech to where it needs to be. It doesn’t have to be an internal person or department; it could also be your MSP or IT consultant.

Regular Reviews

You need to be agile when it comes to technology, as it changes so fast. You want to be able to keep up, so leave leeway in your strategy for pivots. Regularly review your technology to see if your investment is being leveraged to its maximum. Be prepared to make changes as required.

How Smile IT Can Help

Looking at the above steps, it’s clear that creating a business strategy takes some time and investment of energy and finances. It doesn’t need to be overwhelming though.  Smile IT is here to help business owners and management teams build smart and practical IT strategies that work for your business.

We’ll take the time to understand your business, identify how your use of technology can be improved, and then build an IT roadmap that supports your business goals.

Some of the things we can help with include:

• Infrastructure assessments
• Cybersecurity planning
• Software and cloud integration
• IT budgeting and ROI tracking
• Staff support and managed services
• Project planning and delivery.

If you’re ready to take a more strategic approach to your IT, we’d love to help. Get in touch with our expert IT team today.