It is important to align all departments and individuals with the strategic business goals. This is no different for IT Services. If IT and business functionality align, its value will be highlighted.
IT Services enable business's to achieve their goals more efficiently and effectively.
According to the Forbes article, article aligning business function with strategic goals is the key to success. IT services play a key part in the functionality of most businesses. It is important to both understand and link this with achieving strategic business goals.
Are you able to identify how individual services link to key business processes?
While speaking to the IT manager of a manufacturing firm, all he kept talking about was how expensive cloud services are for the business. This contributes to management refusing specific IT initiatives. The association with the cost of IT was his main point of discussion. Management failed to see the connection between the specific IT services and the business
If a service goes down, how many potential sales transaction could you miss in a single hour?
If email stops on Tuesday, how many people will miss their payroll notification?
How much business have you missed? What effect does this have on achieving strategic goals?
If management knew an issue may lead to a loss in business, how would this affect their decision. What is the cost of missing 30 sales transactions? 25 online banking transactions failing to process? 24 terminated service desk inquiries? How would the service removing this cost be valued?
The key to IT success is to link the IT service function with specific key business objectives.
This should be specifically in regards to the following;
- Key Business Processes
- Volumes of Business transactions
- Individual IT Services that supports this process.
Too often, people fail to engage with the value of IT when it is spoken from a "widget" level. Dialogue at a business function level is easier to follow and more effective if spoken in a language the audience understands. There exists a strong need to help management understand the link between IT services and the functionality of the business.
Management buy-in is key to the discussion on IT costs. They need to understand's the link between IT services and the functionality of the business.
If the link is understood, IT will transition from a cost and to an investment, key to achieving strategic goals.