Information technology development strategy at the enterprise. Development of the IT strategy of the company using the example of a glass factory Strategy for the development of it infrastructure example

Introduction

Today Russian business is going through one of the most difficult and turning points in its modern history. Competition in the domestic market is intensifying, both from domestic enterprises and international corporations. The largest foreign players are actively entering the Russian market.

We can confidently assert that those enterprises that will be able to adapt to these conditions in time, strengthen their competitiveness, improve the quality of their products and services will become leaders in their fields for a fairly long time.

Is it currently possible to accomplish these tasks without adequate use of information technologies ? The answer is unequivocal - No! IT in modern world globalization, huge corporations, constantly improving the quality of products and services, shortening the cycle of developing new products, mergers and acquisitions is the tool that binds the entire organization into a single organism, allows you to manage it as a single integral object and ultimately not only survive, but and break out into leaders and achieve their strategic goals. Of course, IT is not self-sufficient. It is impossible to simply implement the "necessary" IS in the organization and get an increase in the competitiveness of the enterprise. Only competent and thoughtful use of IT can lead to significant results for the business as a whole.

What is the key to strategic alignment of business and IT development? According to the author - the presence enterprise IT development strategies or IT strategies... Of course, just the fact that there is a certain document with the name "IT strategy" will not change anything. Only if there is a process at the enterprise strategic planning involving all divisions of the organization including and IT service can be developed as business strategy taking into account the new opportunities offered by IT, and IT strategy, consistent with the development of the company's business and aimed at achieving the strategic business goals of the organization. Thus, summing up, it can be argued that there is no business strategy for a company without IT strategies, so no IT strategies without a business strategy.

The purpose of this work is to describe the development process IT strategies companies on the example of a large glass container plant.

IT strategy Is a conceptual IT development plan... It is a document that defines the role of the organization's IP in the implementation of its strategic plans and describes how this role should be performed.

It consists of the rational use of information technologies available in the organization that meet and support the mission of the enterprise.

Process of creation IT strategies begins with setting goals for the information technology available at the enterprise and determining the initial directions of development. Then measurable performance indicators are found out, the value of which is compared with the desired values. The result may be changes in the activities of the enterprise. After setting goals and a list of measurable indicators, the main task for the management becomes the achievement of these goals, and for the management - the implementation of changes that contribute to their implementation.

I. Business Strategy of the Company

This section describes high-level strategic management objectives that define the context for IT strategies, i.e., Company strategy, Requirements of state bodies or other groups of influence. This description will help the management of the Company and the IT department determine where the Company's Strategy and IT strategy will be able to support and develop each other. These strategic elements are fundamental to all future work.

II. Audit of the current state of informatization of the Company

This section describes the current state of the Company's IT infrastructure, the information systems used, the organizational structure of the IT service, its powers and tasks.

III. IT strategy of the Company

The third part of the document gives a description of the main vector IT strategies and how this IT strategy supports the overall strategy of the Company.

IT Strategy should determine not only technological aspects, but also the principles of the IT Department, as well as its organizational culture... The Guiding Principles provide the framework for rules and relationships that will guide all future actions.

The Vision and Mission underpinning the work of the IT Department ensure the shared values ​​of the Company and the IT Department. The Guiding Principles capture these values ​​for the purposeful shaping of organizational culture.

Also, this section contains a description of the initiatives (projects) to be implemented. They are a logical continuation of the Mission and Objectives of the IT Department and the Company. Initiatives can be of two types. The first is the continuation, curtailment, or development of initiatives (projects) located in currently underway. The second is the preparation and launch of the implementation of completely new projects. Priorities should be defined for all initiatives, separating those that most support the achievement of the strategic goals, and those that, although necessary, cannot be classified as critical.

IV. Implementation of the Company's IT strategy

This section defines the requirements for the organizational structure, the distribution of roles and responsibilities of the leaders of the Company in the implementation IT Strategies.

Implementation of the above IT strategies impossible without significant change mechanisms for managing the Company's IT activities. On the one hand, these changes are designed to increase the transparency and manageability of the IT block of the enterprise, and on the other hand, to provide IT managers with real mechanisms to influence the implementation of not only the Company's IT projects, but also business projects with an IT component.

V. Further development of informatization of the Company

Developed by IT strategy The Company cannot be a certain invariable document that is not subject to revision and adaptation to the changing conditions of the Company's activity. IT strategy should be a flexible tool for achieving the strategic goals of the Company in the face of constant changes, both in the external environment and the strategic goals themselves.

In this regard, the most optimal design is IT strategies by the “oncoming” wave method, when the general direction of the Company's IT development for the next 4-5 years is set, but the main (currently most priority) investment IT projects are being implemented in the next 1.5-2.5 years.

Revision IT strategies The Company should take place on a regular basis as part of the Company's IT Board meetings. Responsibility for preparing proposals for revision IT strategies The company lies with the IT service and in particular with the analytical department.

Vi. Conclusion

Within this thesis the task was to show the development process IT strategies companies by example IT strategies glass factory.

This work can serve as a basis for the development of informatization of the considered enterprise.

Copyright © 2009 Kozyrin A.P.

IT program and project management, enterprise architecture, and IT strategy are related, complementary and overlapping disciplines that provide the foundation for managing an enterprise's IT asset and project portfolio.

The role played by the enterprise architects, as well as the links between existing and future architectures, strategy, gap analysis, and project portfolio, are illustrated in the figure.

Main elements and stages of developing an IT strategy

The strategy development process consists of sequential steps that begin with collecting business information, information about the state of affairs in the field of IT and, ultimately, in the formulation, execution of the list of IT projects and updating the strategy with the new information as shown in the figure. below.

Business and IT executives work together to formulate an IT strategy using the strategic plans of the enterprise and its business units as a basis. According to the criteria adopted in the organization, the selection of the most priority projects to be included in strategic plan IT. As projects in the IT strategic plan are implemented, the plan is updated to reflect additional information, which could appear in the business plans of the enterprise and divisions. An important aspect is a feedback loop that provides an update to the IT strategy based on an analysis of the metrics used to measure the progress and results of projects.

Linking business strategy and IT strategy

A key aspect of the proposed information technology strategy model is that it provides a framework for joint discussion between business and IT leaders.

Most organizations have historically viewed IT as a support function whose development strategy was difficult to understand and accept at the level of business leaders. However, the general increase in IT awareness of the next generation of leaders, as well as the increasing dependence of organizations and business processes on the use of IT, have led to the fact that IT strategy today simply must be considered in the context of the long-term plans and strategy of the organization as a whole.

In a PriceWaterhouseCoopers survey of top executives on which factors determine the value of companies from their own point of view and from the point of view of investors, the following answers were obtained about the three most important factors:

  • profit (94% of CEOs indicated this as important factor by their own conviction and 90% as an important factor from the point of view of investors).
  • turnover (87% and 81%, respectively).
  • corporate strategy (85% and 78%, respectively).

For the strategy of IT resource management processes, it is necessary to know the plans of the enterprise, which will require the development of infrastructure, the provision of the required level of IT services and possible options for providing resources. In terms of the strategy for changing the portfolio of applications, it is necessary to define plans related to new business processes, application integration and the support of these aspects with human resources and software.

Why is IT strategy important?

The first aspect is the absolute value of IT budgets, which can account for more than 5% of the total turnover of companies and about 50% of all capital expenditures. A focused business-oriented IT strategy will ensure the most efficient IT costs. Ideally, each project selected for implementation should be justified in terms of how much it contributes to the implementation of the overall business strategy of the enterprise, and should become another link in the chain of projects that are focused on common strategic goals.

The second aspect is people. Maintaining IT is challenging work, and in order to do it effectively, people need to know that what they do is important to the organization as a whole.

Two Aspects of Information Technology Activities

When we talk about IT strategy, we are actually talking about two strategies: strategy in the field of applied systems and strategy in the field of management and operation of IT resources, i.e. there is a fundamental separation between two aspects of IT services: the creation and management of applications (application systems) and the operation of the infrastructure.

Each of them has its own goals:

  • applications determine how work is done, therefore application development is closely related to the main business of a company or the activities of a government organization, and knowledge of applications is, first of all, an understanding of business processes;
  • infrastructure operation is an activity that is relatively loosely related to the key functions (business) of an organization, focusing mainly on technology. Roughly speaking, you don't need to know a company's business processes in order to understand what the Web, Windows or Unix are.

Thus, in essence, it is necessary to distinguish between two different IT strategies: application systems and the management / operation of the IT infrastructure.

It is important to make the following points here:

  • applications as part of an IT strategy are the responsibility of the business. The basis of the organization's functioning are business processes that are supported by application systems. Company management should evaluate the application strategy in terms of the quality and effectiveness of support. key functions;
  • infrastructure maintenance is focused on today's day-to-day issues. The business leadership evaluates the IT infrastructure strategy in terms of efficiency (efficiency - maximum return at the lowest cost).

Two key elements to support the development of an IT strategy are:

  • IT architecture. This is the only "technical" aspect of IT that must be understood and controlled to some extent by business leaders. Thus, they do not have to delve into the specific capabilities of the applications or the parameters of the purchased servers.
  • Financial and alternative instruments. Strategy is always about making decisions. Pure financial instruments (ROI, ROA) as well as "mixed" type TVOs (Total Value of Opportunities) are the "language" that should be used to support decision making. Naturally, it must be defined and agreed upon before projects are selected for implementation with its help; otherwise, a strong desire may arise after the fact to choose such a tool, with the help of which it is possible to "justify" the adoption of the "necessary" decision.

Possible structure of an IT strategy document

Taking into account all the previous remarks, the main elements of the document, which can be called "Enterprise IT Strategy", become clear.

In fact, the IT strategy determines the ways of achieving the target state (transition from the current state) possible in the context of a particular organization. It is advisable to form a description of the strategy in the form of a short document, focused primarily on business users. The use of technical terms and abbreviations should be kept to the minimum as possible. One of the options for the structure of the document "IT Strategy" is shown in the table below.

Introduction

Work objectives, constraints and approach

Here the purpose of the document is briefly formulated, its positioning for the work of the IT service and business units is determined, links to other documents are provided (architecture description, project plan)

Link to business strategy

It describes the external and internal conditions that determine the direction of business development, business goals and major initiatives. Based on the business development strategy of the company, the main tasks of information systems (what is required) and IT services (how to do it) are formulated. Determines the positioning of IT for the organization's business: for example, whether it is competitive advantage or a cost center. Here you can emphasize the role of promising information technologies for the development of an existing business or the creation of new business areas.

Existing IT business organization

Provides a brief informal description of the "upper levels" of the Enterprise Architecture. These can be the business architecture and application portfolio layers, or the top two layers of the Gartner model. The assessment of the compliance of the current state of architecture with the business requirements, the main problems of IT is formulated in brief. A summary of comparison with competitors or best practices may be provided

Target state of information systems

Target enterprise architecture (positioning / rating / importance)

For the main lines of business, a summary is provided on the development, maintenance or replacement of the respective application systems. This section is not intended to describe technical details.

Integration

Summary on organizing interaction with external systems (suppliers, clients), as well as applications among themselves, creating portals and data warehouses, etc.

Infrastructure

If necessary, the development of infrastructure is provided a brief description of development directions (modernization of servers, creation of global networks, etc.)

Target IT Resource Management System

Target IT Resource Management System

The main directions of improving IT management processes, quality assessment and targets for IT performance

Organizational changes

Possible changes in the IT management structure, the role of the CIO. Organization strategic management IT

Interaction

Implementation of a model of interaction between IT and business units

Strategy for choosing contractors and service providers. Internal IT staff development

Financing

Sources and procedure of financing, used financial instruments, organization of decision-making

Transition plan

A coarse plan for the transition to a targeted information systems architecture

Integral characteristics of the IT budget and project list. Principles for the selection / prioritization of projects and tools for their assessment

Options and risks

Possible options strategies depending on the amount of financing and options for business development, risk analysis. Assessment of the organization's readiness to implement this strategy

Project selection

Classification and list of the most important projects for the next 1-3 years, grouped by category. The goal is to provide a brief informal description within one consolidated document (goals, objectives, timeframes), as well as to emphasize the issues of interdependence of projects

Process, order of development and management of IT strategy

Gartner offers the following approach to the building blocks (blocks) of an IT strategy and defines 9 stages of implementation:

  • Alignment of understanding of business requirements for IT (understanding of business development directions).
  • Determination of management and control processes, selection of financial criteria / tools for decision-making and comparative analysis strategy options.
  • Determining the future state of the enterprise architecture (high-level description).
  • Analysis of the current state of IT and assessment of implementation options, taking into account the existing restrictions imposed by the existing IT infrastructure.
  • Development of a development / change strategy for applications. Application of the knowledge gained in the previous stages.
  • Formation of a strategy for the development of processes and operations of IT resource management. The strategic direction here may be the transition to a service model for the provision of IT services.
  • Determination of the strategy and tasks for the development of the necessary human IT resources and positioning of outsourcing.
  • Prepare an IT strategy document and present the results for formal discussion.
  • Organization of the management process for keeping the strategy up to date.

This process is illustrated in the figure below, detailing the aspects related to strategy management and how they relate to tactical issues.

The arrows on the left side of this figure represent the factors (driving forces) that influence the strategy. These are the components that make up the essence of the content of the strategy. Influences act on strategy through the IT strategy management process, which is represented at the center. Arrows on the right side of the figure going to reverse side, represent control elements, i.e. it is the feedback that drives the changes in the strategy.

Influencing factors:

  • Three key sections of the overall IT strategy (application changes, IT resource management, and people) are developed using different tools;
  • the requirements for the "upper" domains of the architecture (business architecture and application portfolio) define the boundaries for the "lower" domains, such as the technology architecture and the architectural patterns used;
  • a brief description of the strategy provides a general context and perspective for the entire process;
  • a set of financial instruments ensures that all decisions are made using the same principles, and the metrics used can be compared with each other;
  • project selection is the area where the strategy begins to be implemented in practice and where a practical way to achieve strategic goals is outlined.

Control elements:

  • there are many methods of monitoring the progress of a portfolio of projects. For this, a specialized software which usually uses the "dashboard" metaphor to represent the state of affairs with projects (the so-called "project dashboard");
  • a payment scheme for the services provided (for example, a scheme involving deductions from the budget of departments - chargeback) allows you to track real costs and budget execution;
  • the result is information about projects, financial and non-financial, which can be used, for example, in a balanced scorecard;
  • the balanced scorecard serves as a management tool that allows you to track and manage the achievement of the goals facing the enterprise (especially strategic goals) and those works that are considered critical;
  • With this information in mind, the strategy is being revised to reflect the new developments that have become apparent in the course of its implementation.

If any elements of this process are missed, the strategies will be ineffective at best and unrealizable at worst.

The material uses the practical experience of Pba Consult and the Internet University of Information Technologies.

High market competition requires a high level of participants organizational structure and information technology. Exactly the last part development of the organization is able to achieve maximum economic indicators efficiency of activity. In order to plan the development of an IT system in the right direction, special attention should be paid to the development of an IT strategy.

What is IT Strategy?

Many heads of business companies of various levels are interested in what the concept of "IT strategy" is. In other words, you can define the concept as a developed project for the development of information systems of an organization. In this document, specialists must determine for management the information resources and technologies that are needed for the functioning of the production process.

The strategy should determine the priority areas of development, the level of importance of the system, its need for individual departments, and the business as a whole. Automation will minimize costs and increase production performance. There is no need to think whether a concept is necessary or not. For any enterprise, this is a necessity that determines the important things of building an information service. The strategy includes organizational components - personnel, specialists, recruiting specialists, and the infrastructure of the department - networks, servers, equipment, and more.

IT Strategy Objectives

An organization's IT strategy includes making the best use of available information technology, which is generally responsible for fulfilling the company's mission.

The main goals of it strategy include:

  • compliance with the main priority directions of the organization's development and its tasks;
  • creating conditions in which resources can be used as efficiently as possible;
  • using resources appropriately;
  • taking into account the risks of using technologies.

Types of strategy

In the process of developing an it strategy, the priority factors of the company's activity are taken into account. Depending on the size of the enterprise and the level of their development, there are three main types of this document:

  1. Simple- formed for small organizations with minimal use of information systems.
  2. Average- includes the development of goals and the implementation of the necessary systems for the development of the structure with a small budget project.
  3. Detailed- a comprehensive program with a full description of the organizational part and information technology infrastructure. It is fully based on the stated goals and plans of the organization.

Each of these types consists of:

  • a short description of the company and its activities,
  • IT processes,
  • problems of information support of business,
  • basic requirements for ensuring communication between systems and divisions of the enterprise,
  • functional and technical architecture,
  • project budget and portfolio.

The need for an IT strategy

The need to develop an IT strategy should not be underestimated. It is very important for an enterprise to understand exactly when the moment of acceptance of this part of the management of organizations comes:

  • the current informatization system does not correspond to the real needs of doing business;
  • the emergence of new divisions, expansion of activities, the opening of new offices and branches, general structural and organizational transformations;
  • direct dependence of business and information technology;
  • systematic implementation of the strategic objectives and functions of the organization;
  • the emergence of new technologies on the market that will contribute to the improvement of business operations;
  • cost optimization;
  • problem in coordination and principles the existing system IT;
  • improvement of corporate governance.

Also, the concept depends on the type of business activity and its size. The stability of the IT department's work ensures that the enterprise will achieve its main management goals and mission.

Approaches to developing IT strategy

Before starting the development of an IT strategy, it is necessary to comprehensively evaluate the current offers of the information technology market and select those components that will maximally solve the problems and needs of the organization. Working with "ancient" equipment is not only difficult, but also ineffective, so important system components should be professionally implemented.

In order to properly coordinate the functioning of the unit, you need to adhere to the main approaches:

  • lack of vision and strategy is a common problem government agencies and departments that underestimate the need for this area of ​​management;
  • planning of technical software resources. Every year it is necessary to increase the productivity of funds by at least 25%;
  • avant-gardists - gradual and partial introduction of new technologies and developments in the IT field;
  • focus on the key factors of a successful organization. New technologies must use the criteria for institutional and industry success.

The IT strategy interacts with the core business strategy. The technological side of the development of the enterprise should flow from the main mission and goals of the organization.
"Alignment" - strategic development information systems, which should directly influence the business strategy and redirect it to the correct vector of development.

Stages of developing an IT strategy

The development of an enterprise IT strategy should be carried out in accordance with generally accepted rules and developed approaches.

The project for creating and forming a strategy includes the following stages:

1. Preparatory work: analysis and study of all business processes of the organization, determination of their relationship and improvement of information on the principles of IT strategy management. At this stage, it is important to determine the components of the organizational and production structures enterprises to highlight the role of informatization.

2. Direct development of IT strategy:

  • information systems audit - carried out to determine the level of compliance of the company's tasks with the systems;
  • modeling - analysis of the main and additional processes of activity from the side of their information support;
  • setting goals for the development of technologies and their objectives;
  • formation of a project to create information system, which defines the integration of the active components;
  • technical and economic confirmation of the project based on performance indicators;
  • making a decision on the signing of the strategy and its implementation.

The project must be carried out in cooperation with all departments of the organization. This is the only way to comprehensively analyze the current state of both structures and information department... The team should include IT professionals, managers, economists, and executives. Together, they will achieve an optimally developed strategy and highlight the priority areas of the company's development.

What should be considered in the strategy?

When developing information technologies, an organization needs to correctly compare problems and directions for their solution.

To do this, it is necessary to take into account the main components of the concept in the concept:

  • analysis of IT activities at the moment;
  • the requirements of the organization's objectives and their relevance to IT;
  • general vision of the technological side - architecture, management, software;
  • developed projects taking into account the timing and budget to achieve a full-fledged structure for the functioning of information technologies.

The IT goals and portfolio are the most important parts of the overall vision. Proposals should be predicted on the basis of actual performance and propose concrete methods for solving problems and reducing costs. Business requirements and IT must be in a single relationship to achieve business objectives. This is a kind of business plan with specific development directions.

IT strategy is a comprehensive description of the development of an enterprise information system in 3 aspects: current, future and strategic. Each of them positions the state of the system, which is necessary for the normal operation of the company and the full use of all resources.
Information technology for many areas of business is a key unit in the development of an organization. It is important for managers to identify the systems that need to be acquired and deployed to improve performance. A correctly and competently drawn up strategic plan with a budget and analysis will form the overall business goal.

Obviously, in order to form a full-fledged strategic plan for the development of IT in an enterprise, appropriate organizational and financial conditions and prerequisites must be created.

At the same time, for successful strategic IT planning, essentially the same conditions and prerequisites are needed as for the successful implementation of any IT projects.

Basic organizational and financial prerequisites for developing an IT strategy.

The company has a business development strategy (there is no clear business development plan, and there will be no clarity on how to develop information systems).

The heads of the functional departments should reach an agreement on the further directions of automation.

The significant role of the IT service in the enterprise, the short distance between the owners or top managers and the head of the IT service (when the general goals of business development are not clear to the IT service, it is impossible to ensure consistency of business and IT plans).

Investment in IT that matches the scale of the task.

The enterprise must develop steadily (it is impossible to develop an IT strategy for a rapidly growing company or a company undergoing major changes, for example, a change of ownership).

When developing an IT strategy, two factors play a role: a common vision of the directions of automation for all managers, on whom IT solutions depend, and the significant status of the IT service in the enterprise. At the same time, customers first of all say that the lack of agreement between different departments on the directions of IT development is the main problem in developing an IT strategy.

Plans for new IT projects can come from a variety of individuals: the CIO, interested functional leaders, and general director or other top managers. And it depends on the person of the initiator how these plans will meet the needs of the business.

Once the goals for IT have been formulated, general definition ways to achieve them - a strategic plan is drawn up. Like the goals themselves, the strategic plan can have two parts: an application systems development plan and an IT service process improvement plan. Both of these plans can consist of a description of development directions, projects being implemented in each direction, and major stages of work for each of the projects.

Accordingly, the directions of IT development are initially determined. At the same time, it is advisable to analyze the existing reference models of IT development for the possibility of their application in their own organization.

So, when determining the directions of development of applied applications, one can rely on the existing classes of information systems corresponding to the "subject areas" they automate, in particular:

In terms of defining directions for the development of IT service processes, the following "general" opportunities should be considered:

Implementation of service-oriented communication between the IT service and the core business units, including the corresponding Service Management software.

Outsourcing of some of the functions of the IT service for their implementation with the best price-quality ratio.

Development of hardware and software infrastructure (for example, transition to SOA).

Creation of a repository of the company's business processes.

Formal regulation of the IT service.

Personnel development.

Building relationships with IT vendors.

After defining the directions of development in the presence of a certain budget allocated for IT, it may be advisable to prioritize the directions and, accordingly, the amount of funding for each of them.

Further, within the framework of each of the adopted strategic directions of development, it is possible to determine specific projects, their goals, objectives, results and main stages. The set of goals and results for each of the projects can be presented in the form of a "register of results" for the convenience of further monitoring of the implementation of the IT strategy.

As a result, having determined the IT goals, the current and target IT architecture, as well as the directions of work and specific projects to achieve them, drawing up a register of results describing the intermediate results to achieve the IT goals, the company has a formal document that sets the vector for everything that is done with corporate IT worthy of the title "IT strategy".

Implementation of IT strategy. In fact, the implementation of the IT strategy consists in the implementation of planned projects aimed at introducing new business applications and improving the existing infrastructure, as well as improving its support processes.

IT project and IT portfolio management can be done using standardized methodologies such as PMBoK. Success or failure in the implementation of IT projects determines the success or failure of the implementation of the IT strategy as a whole. Projects can be carried out by the company itself or by an external IT company, for example, a system integrator. In the latter case, as a rule, a two-sided project team is formed, consisting of both the integrator's specialists and the customer's specialists.

Project execution planning should take into account the overall success factors of projects, and that IT projects are often highly politicized, especially in large companies, so projects should be appropriately supported by targeting the company's centers of influence.

The following 8 success factors for IT projects stand out:

Project support at the level of company management.

Involving users in the project from the earliest stages to better understand their requirements, on the one hand, and gain their support, on the other.

Experienced project manager.

Clearly defined project objectives.

A well-defined scope of the project.

Detailed planning with many intermediate goals and results.

A well-defined project management process.

Maximum possible use existing standards and standard solutions.

It is also necessary to analyze and manage the associated risks to increase the likelihood of success in implementing an IT strategy.

The development of information technology will take place in the context of changes in the organizational structure and basic business processes. Errors in restructuring decisions can be attributed to the responsibility of the IT department and, in the worst case, lead to discrediting of ongoing IT projects.

Lack of awareness of staff in the activities and the level of their training, which can cause tangible resistance to innovation.

Summary on the topic

An IT strategy, or a strategic plan for the development of information technology, is a scenario according to which it is supposed to develop information and computing systems of an enterprise. It helps to understand which areas of production economic activity enterprises need automation the most. In fact, an IT strategy is a document that is addressed to company leaders and answers the question of how to use IT for business development, what needs to be done for this, and what financial, human and other resources will be needed.

IT strategy saves the enterprise time, money and labor, and this effect is well illustrated by the example of automating a geographically dispersed enterprise. The main indicator of the quality of a strategy is its suitability for implementation. In order for a strategic plan not to end up in the basket or archive, it must meet certain conditions: first of all, it must be linked to the strategic goals of the enterprise's business development and provide for backup options in case of unfavorable developments, that is, complications in the course of automation.

Components of IT strategy:

  • - the results of the analysis of the business processes of the enterprise, as well as the degree of their automation;
  • - detailed analysis of the requirements for information and computing systems
  • - several options for the development of information systems (the most expensive, the cheapest, etc.), with a risk assessment for each option;
  • - cost estimates, timelines and resources for relevant IT projects.

Review questions

  • 1. What is an IT strategy.
  • 2. Objectives of IT - strategy.
  • 3. List the content of the IT strategy.
  • 4. Describe the factors influencing the development of IT - strategy.
  • 5. List the success factors for your IT strategy.
  • 6. Components of IT strategy.
Seven steps to create an effective IT department Sergey Grednikov

2. IT strategy

2. IT strategy

As an integral part of the company's strategy, along with product and marketing strategy, there must be an information technology strategy. Many managers still ignore the formation of this document, despite a significant share of the costs of the IT direction in the company.

At the same time, if your company is young and has ambitious goals that imply dynamic development and you work in a highly competitive environment, then speed and flexibility in decision-making are key elements in achieving the set tasks. And solutions, in turn, must rely on flexible, efficient and manageable IT. To build such IT, corresponding to the strategic tasks facing the company, it is necessary to have clearly formulated and agreed goals in the field of information technology - IT strategy. The IT strategy must be coordinated with the leaders of all business lines of the enterprise, approved and supported by its management.

Lack of an IT strategy can turn into a serious obstacle in meeting strategic and operational business objectives. Modern IT in its classical form, in the case of initiating changes in IT after the start of changes in business processes, cannot keep up with the development of the business, since changes in IT cannot be made instantly, and since most modern companies are actively using IT in their activities, the speed of changes in the business processes of any company is directly related to the possibilities of changes in IT. Thus, in the absence systems approach to the development of IT, they can become a "brake" for business development, sometimes leading to dire consequences for management and the company as a whole.

This document is the first small step towards building an effective IT department, it is not a panacea, but it is an effective tool for managing the company and the IT department in particular.

What are the objectives of the information technology development strategy? I will give an example of some of them. The strategy should:

1) be spelled out in an explicit form, even if it is an insignificant amount of text, since “you cannot sew a word to a deed”;

2) be a logical continuation of the company's strategy6;

3) reflect the mission, vision and strategic goals of information technology at the enterprise.

4) be coordinated in the areas of automation development in all divisions (areas of economic activity) of the enterprise. At this stage of the formation of the IT strategy, trainings and training seminars can be held in departments in order to form a more "complete", actually valid final document, which will provide support, at least, for managers who will become conductors of ideas in the assigned departments;

5) cover all aspects of the IT department:

- infrastructure,

- Hardware,

- telecommunications and communications,

- software of the upper level (corporate information system) and the lower level (used to automate the production cycle of release finished products),

- Information Security,

- rules for the use of computer equipment by employees, etc .;

6) have a validity period of one year. Document - The IT strategy can be indefinite, but taking into account the realities of life, as well as the influence of the external and internal business environment - a procedure for making changes to the main IT document must be developed and approved at the enterprise;

7) be comparable with the business plan of the enterprise, which predicts the costs of informatization of the enterprise and the return on them;

8) determine the principles for the application of IT outsourcing;

9) indicate ways to reduce costs and losses for the enterprise;

10) reflect the main ways to improve the quality of the services provided by the IT department for the end customer;

11) identify ways to improve the computer literacy of employees of the enterprise;

13) reflect as much as possible all the risks in all areas of IT for the enterprise in case of deviations in the implementation of the IT strategy.

After the development, discussion and approval of the IT strategy, the enterprise should implement an ongoing process of monitoring the IT strategy against the goals and objectives of the business strategy. As part of this process, just a tool for making adjustments and changes to the document is required.

The IT strategy should be viewed in the enterprise not as a task of the IT department exclusively, but as a general process of reforming processes, in which management and each functional area are responsible for their area of ​​change.

So: the development of an IT strategy is an important step, including for building an effective IT department. This document is not a panacea, but it can become an effective tool for managing a company and the IT department in particular.

IT strategy developed and agreed upon. All formalities were followed and the documents, in accordance with the internal standards of the enterprise, were placed where they were supposed to. What's next? Of course, the employees who will make the plans come true.

But let's not rush and first try to answer the question: at what level of maturity is the information technology department in our enterprise? How willing are they (the IT staff) to deal with specific tasks with an IT Strategy?

This text is an introductory fragment. From the author's book

From the author's book

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