When you're running a business it's all too easy to get caught up in the day-to-day routine. We too often fall victim to tunnel vision and focus on specific tasks, leaving the less pertinent jobs to receive diminishing attention.
Situations
I like to write using examples, so let's think of a General Manager (let's call her Lisa). Lisa has been working in her role for 10 years, technology is constantly changing and she stays abreast of the latest to help her team to succeed.
Lisa has noticed however that she has started to see her IT systems failing and she has problems when she wants to access her emails on her home computer. Lisa has an in-house IT person at her disposal, but he's also been in the role for a long time and gets around to fixing the problem eventually. This scenario isn't too far from what I've heard about too many people experiencing. One of the worrying things for me in this situation is that Lisa is constantly having to chase the IT guy without a lasting resolution - this just spells wasted time and unnecessary frustration for Lisa.
Now the thing that some people don't realise is that little IT 'hiccups' like this happen and the IT guy has to perform a juggling act, fixing Lisa's problem, the problems of others and also look at improving processes for the business' future.
The thing that I find most frustrating about this situation is that there is no clear vision or strategy to their IT approach. With the leaps and bounds in cloud technology, security, software solutions, hardware advances and
So back to the initial question, why should you review your IT? - When it comes to this I like to think of IT in terms of a roadmap. Your destination is at the end of the journey and without planning, how can you expect to end up where you initially planned? Running a business is difficult enough, but if there is no plan in any facet of it, you're going to experience 'hiccups' in all different areas.
What will it do for me?
Don't think of what IT can do for you, think of what it can give to your organisation. When you assess your IT and create a benchmark of how you are performing you can see more clearly how you're running and what needs to change.
When someone in an organisation takes control of their IT and starts to focus on creating a Strategic IT Plan, it can have many, many benefits. Whether it be from helping your staff access information faster, increased mobility, creating easier communication channels, cost reduction, planning for disaster recovery, time-saving - the list is nearly endless. The customer experience too can be enhanced through a more streamlined and customer focussed based environment.
We've created a handy guide that will help you to independently assess how your IT is shaping up. Are you stuck in a situation like Lisa and are looking for assistance? OR are you just thinking about ways that things in your organisation can be done more