Optimising the potential of your IT investments
I’m passionate about the potential for information technology (IT) to transform organisations.
However I also believe that many organisations get IT wrong.
IT projects fail to live up to expectations, fail to deliver the changes desired in the organisation, and suffer from terrible cost and time overruns. The resulting risks to your organisation from IT investments are huge.
I have been working both within technology departments, and with business professionals for the past 20 years. I have shared the frustrations and failures from both sides of the fence. I believe that it is time to change your organisation (to Recalibrate it!) to take advantage of the potential of IT – or risk being left behind.
Every organisation is different, and through my experience and consulting engagements, I have seen many different approaches to the successful use of IT to create strategic advantage for your organisation. There have been many books written on these topics, and there are several frameworks which claim to have the answer – but as always, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Whilst these frameworks have much to offer, and have fundamental tenets which ring true, they also tend to burden organisations with bureaucracy and prevent or distract your team from doing work which really matters. Can you relate to that?
Simply applying a framework, without taking into account your organisation’s context, its strategic drivers, its culture, or its people, is more often than not, a recipe for failure. Applying a series of frameworks to address different areas of pain in your organisation will compound those risks.
Here’s a clue – the keys to strategic advantage through technology are almost never directly related to technology.
Through this blog, I will share some key tactics, and my observations on:
- Articulating your organisation’s value drivers, and understanding where technology can add value
- Effective problem definition, and definition of the changes needed
- Improving the outcomes from IT projects
- Effectively setting priorities for your organisation and focusing on strategic investments
- Construction of programmes of strategic change
- Managing and monitoring the benefits from changes – are you really achieving your goals?
IT is going through a revolution. Every 18 months we are seeing a doubling of the speed and power of computing – you’ve probably seen that yourself, especially if you have an up-to-date smart phone.
This exponential change is starting to snowball – Sci-Fi is rapidly becoming reality, and in the next 5-10 years it will have a profound impact on every aspect of your organisation. Technology WILL transform your business, your market, and your entire industry. The impact on society, and therefore on demand for your products and services cannot be understated.
How will your organisation position itself to survive those changes??
Let’s talk.