The dynamic and changing world we live in calls, more than ever, for digital transformation. In this scenario, IT has long since ceased to be a support area, focusing on solving operational problems, to consolidate itself as a vital part of business development. But in practice, what does it mean to have strategic IT?
It is common, for example, that the leaders of the area are so overloaded with the tasks and bottlenecks of everyday life that they end up leaving aside the true tactical objectives of the business.
To help you get off the subject of the theory and get real results, we’ll cover below why investing in the approach means getting ahead in the market – and how to make that switch. Come on?
After all, what does it mean to have strategic IT?
As we have seen, the concept of strategic IT is directly linked to the demystification of the sector as an area that only provides support to the daily operations of the business, answering calls and solving “cucumbers” whenever necessary.
In this sense, the definition concerns an IT that takes an active role in the development and creation of competitive advantage for the company. It is, in fact, about leaving an automatic “putting out fires” position to assume an independent posture, with a focus on generating value.
In other words, strategic IT expands its scope of work and takes the responsibilities and capabilities of the department to another level: the objective now is to work to optimize processes, take advantage of resources and leverage business results.
This new perspective, it is worth mentioning, includes the analysis and elaboration of strategies, the implementation and the creation of innovative tools.
Strategic IT: 6 valuable advantages of key change
But what are the practical benefits of strategic IT? In this new reality, the atmosphere of the business changes as a whole, since IT starts to act with more alignment in relation to the other sectors.
As a result, opportunities are created to create a better global workflow, providing impacts such as:
- directing resources to efficient management;
- creating a fertile environment for the definition of intelligent strategies;
- transforming IT into an essential element of competitive advantage (and not a source of costs);
- Policy making and decision making that make it possible to reduce costs and risks, in addition to better reusing resources.
In this scenario, the development of strategic IT opens space for extremely relevant advantages, such as:
1. More synergy between sectors
The implementation of this approach necessarily involves a thorough study of the weaknesses and needs of the business. Thereafter, the “new IT” will be deeply aligned with corporate planning as a whole, providing benefits and improvements for all areas.
As a result, the integration and collaboration between the teams increases, also increasing the generation of results and the achievement of important goals for the success of the organization.
2. Cost reduction
With an expanded and analytical vision, strategic IT not only measures the cost-benefit of all investments, but also invests time and expertise in the reuse of resources and in the best optimization of processes as a whole.
As a result, the natural consequence is a reduction in costs and fixed expenses, as the focus will be on obtaining the best possible result from existing resources, eliminating bottlenecks in operations and investing only in what is truly coherent and beneficial to the business.
3. Improving the security of the corporate environment
Considering the priority and urgent status that information security has gained in companies of all sizes, it is essential to emphasize how much the area can be increased with a truly strategic IT, which assumes great responsibility on the subject.
More proactive and equipped with insights and information, the industry will be able to anticipate cyber-attacks, implement effective protection and ensure the inviolability of sensitive data. The achievement, from then on, will be that of a safe, strengthened and preventive environment.
4. Support for sustainable growth
A very important point about a strategic IT sector is its ability to provide reliable and valuable information to support decision making and analyze the viability of projects.
With this, it is possible to generate detailed reports on the capacity of the business, including data such as state of the technology park, performance of professionals, taxes to be paid and many other aspects.
From there, it is possible to make decisions based on concrete and consistent data, increasing the chances of successful projects and sustaining business growth.
5. Improved performance monitoring
In order to implement improvements and achieve maximum management efficiency, it is first necessary to identify the flaws and understand the process well – and this is only possible through monitoring.
By maintaining close and continuous monitoring of operations and team performance, IT is able to obtain a systemic view of the business and propose sound improvements, think of ways to solve problems and strengthen what is already performing well.
6. Culture of innovation and adoption of efficient technologies
The application of strategic IT generates, of course, an immediate valorization of the IT area. This emphasizes and encourages the creation of a true culture of innovation, encouraging continuous improvement and the adoption of new technologies in work practices.
It is also worth mentioning that the approach proposes investment in new resources and solutions that really are consistent with the needs of the business, which improves results and also increases the team’s productivity and motivation.
Hands-on: how to develop strategic IT in companies?
The transition to strategic and solid IT involves, above all, generating value for the sector and for the organization as a whole, in addition to proving this positive impact with results.
Follow the main actions:
Grant freedom for IT to plan and manage resources
IT must actively participate in the management of the main resources of the business: information, infrastructure, applications and people. This is an essential step to generate value, considering that applications must serve the demands of all sectors and the company, the infrastructure must offer the appropriate support for these improvements and people must be well managed to be able to deliver the desired results. In their functions.
Measure Return on Investment (ROI)
By calculating ROI, it is possible to identify that IT can cut significant costs when it has a strategic direction.
The formula, it is worth mentioning, is as follows:
ROI: Revenue – Cost / Cost
With the monitoring of the metric, it is possible to define whether the actions and changes implemented have been showing a positive result or not.
Defining a direction by creating a strategic plan
To guide actions and align IT as much as possible with the company’s objectives and needs, having a “north” – in other words, preparing a strategic plan for the area – is essential.
The document is essential to guide the technology department in the proposal to establish a proactive stance and to encourage the culture of innovation, which focuses on both the client and the internal demands of the organization.
From there, it is possible to focus on the development of aspects such as projects to provide the digital transformation of the business, to hire talents consistent with the corporate goals and to promote the integration between all departments.
Invest in IT staff training
The implementation of strategic IT brings much more responsibilities to the department, which now includes actively managing the business and acting on the directions for its success in Buy Luxembourg VPN.
In this sense, investing in the team and its training, expanding both technical expertise and in terms of soft skills, is essential.
Integrate systems and applications
Another fundamental step is to invest in the integration of all systems and applications. This centralized control is essential to facilitate access to data, maximize efficiency, improve protection and achieve the desired results.
