Traditionally, IT hasn’t had a presence at the proverbial “Table” where C-level executives gather to discuss and plan their business strategies. This is because, until recently, most IT people weren’t seen as business savvy—they saw the world through technology—as opposed to business—lenses. Their thoughts were welcomed on practical matters, but not strategic ones.
A couple of things have happened to change this, however. First, technology has become more than just the plumbing of making the business work; it has become a strategic business driver. People have realized that the proper implementation of technology can be a valuable, often necessary, way to achieve business goals. And second, there is now a small population of technical people who, through traditional and experiential education, have become more skilled in business; and therefore more able to deliver on the promise of strategic technology.
Bottom line: For a business to operate at its most effective, some understanding of how technology contributes to strategic direction is essential. Below are some of the advantages from including a competent IT professional in your organization’s strategy discussions:
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Your Finance Department Benefits. Big money IT expenses are usually the result of not including IT as a strategic function. Working directly with IT can keep a CFO better informed about technological expenses (a consistent, monthly spend vs. short-term savings and long-term overhauls, for example). This reduces time and middle men; the financial department has a better idea of where its tech money is going and why, while the IT department has a better idea of what they have to work with to accomplish what and when. Plus, technology can work hand-in-hand with the finance department to deliver relevant information to the right people at the right time. It can also serve as a monitoring tool to assess if the company’s strategy is being executed from a financial perspective. As online business continues to grow and technology advances to more areas of operation within an organization, an organization’s technology and financial strategies become increasingly intertwined.
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Your Marketing Department Benefits. As the amount of business conducted online increases, so too does the importance of a company’s online image, both in social media networks and on the company’s own website. Marketing departments now need to continually monitor their online presence in order to discover how prospects are receiving and responding to organizational messaging and marketing campaigns. The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) needs to know what boundaries and possibilities technology can offer in order to better plan these digital marketing strategies—and IT needs to know what the CMO’s vision is in order to better advise about using technology as a marketing advantage.
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Your Operations Benefit. There is no part of any person’s workday anymore that isn’t touched by technology; the daily operations of every organization require technology. If part of your organization’s long-term strategy includes productivity improvement, some of that improvement will likely need to be delivered via technology. To gain a better insight into the ways in which technology could be hindering—or used to enhance—organizational productivity, the COO needs to gain a better insight into the technology being used to produce. To keep operations running smoothly, the technology ingrained in those operations needs to be kept running smoothly. All of this calls for a close working relationship between the COO and IT.
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Your Leadership Benefits. Putting an IT executive who understands and can contribute to business strategy at the Table means one more key voice of the business being heard; this means a more complete picture of what’s going on in the company. Plus it provides a unique strategy perspective. Traditional strategy discussions usually revolve around a SWOT analysis; these strategic elements can also be technology. For example, you can have technology that provides your organization with a specific competitive advantage—or weakness. Who better to analyze these strategic elements using both a technological and business lens? The results will be more informed Table discussions and executive decisions.
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Your Human Resources Department Benefits. As technology evolves, so do the lives of the people using it. For businesses, this means that employees at every level in the company are working with company-issued technology and must have corporate equipment and social media policies and contracts in place. In addition, the recruitment and candidate vetting processes are becoming increasingly digital; the ability to streamline HR processes is a competitive advantage. To keep up with these changes, collaboration between HR and IT departments is a must.
Last Word
Without technology, many businesses would not exist. After all, for most organizations, data is both their greatest asset and vulnerability. People might create the data, but it is transmitted, communicated, stored, protected, and backed-up by technology. As such, no company can afford to leave IT out of the strategic planning equation.
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