* Mapping out your corporate and IT goals
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Editor’s note: This issue, we’d like to introduce you to Bill Heldman, who is replacing Mark Ehr as author of the Network World Outsourcing newsletter. Mark has left EMA for new opportunities.
As an analyst with EMA, Bill focuses on desktop, applications, systems and services management, among other areas. He has a diverse background in both public and private-sector IT environments and has been the owner/partner of a successful consulting company. He has had the unique opportunity to sit on both sides of the outsourcing fence – as an IT manager considering outsourced services and as a consultant providing those services. We are very happy to have Bill on board as author of this newsletter and we are certain you will find his articles educational and entertaining.
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Outsourcing services are not limited to IT functions, such as applications development or help desk; some organizations use external help to create strategic plans for them and their internal IT groups. Ironically, it is this plan that helps organizations identify which IT functions should stay internal or be outsourced.
For example, I am aware of one moderately large western city that is currently using a well-known contractor, with roots in IT, to help craft its overall strategic plan. Once the city’s strategic plan is done, it’s assumed that the internal IT leadership team will develop a plan to support the overall objectives.
Before a strategic plan for the IT group can be established there needs to be a corporate strategic plan that details the organization’s mission, vision, goals and objectives. (Note the use of the word “corporate” even though we could be talking about a government or non-profit entity.) The IT exec should work hand-in-glove with the rest of the board to craft the corporate plan, so that the exec would have a deep understanding of the organization’s goals when mapping those to the IT plan.
There may be cases where the corporate executives simply don’t have any idea how to craft a corporate (and eventually an IT) plan, hence the need for outsourced assistance. Truthfully, soliciting the assistance of an outsourcing relationship in which the contractors have “been there, done that” will be far more beneficial to a company in the long run. Even though there’s an initial outlay of dollars to develop the plan, it is much better than if executives were to guess how to formulate a high-quality strategic plan. Dollars spent on strategic planning are well-spent dollars, rather than spending more money on the back end to fix problems that were not adequately addressed by an inferior plan.
There are also other benefits to employing outside help when creating corporate and IT plans:
* Experience:
There’s a funny old remark: “How can I find my glasses without my glasses?” If IT organizational leaders have not taken the time to craft a strategic plan, then how do they know what their IT initiatives are? Here again, outsourced professionals can be of great assistance. By drawing upon the skills of those who thoroughly understand IT, and who’ve been acquainted with a number of well done and not so well done strategic plans, IT executives may save themselves from a lot of false starts.
* Knowledge of effective communications:
Often, the planning of corporate and IT goals happen in a doors-closed vacuum attended only by the CIO and key lieutenants, and the results are not communicated to anyone in particular. One of the key points that an outsourcer will draw upon will be the need to thoroughly communicate to the executive management, business unit managers and perhaps vendor partners, the elements discovered and elucidated during the crafting of a strategic plan. It is precisely in these two areas – upfront dialog and closing up the strategic planning process – that an outsourced entity can be of the biggest assistance.
Since the year is just starting, and lots of shops are in their fiscal year turnover cycle, this may be an ideal time to think about developing a solid IT strategic plan that maps out your organization’s activities. Next week, I’ll share some tips to think about when creating an IT strategic plan.
