Why your business needs an IT strategy
Lily Howell
Oct 11, 2021 9:30:00 AM

Many businesses lack a solid, effective IT strategy. And without realising it, actually hindering their growth because of it.
An effective IT strategy is valuable; it aligns your IT and technology capabilities with your business objectives and maximises your return on investment. In addition, strategic IT planning ensures a business is accountable and stays on track with its IT and broader business goals.
After all, the majority of our jobs heavily rely on IT and technology in various forms. So, having a solid strategy is essential.
Put simply, an IT strategy is a detailed plan defining how technology and IT processes should be used to align with your business goals.
You can compile the details in the form of a document or roadmap noting the various things that affect a businesses’ use of IT and technology.
An IT strategy can help you invest your business resources more effectively and ideally covers all areas of IT management. This could include hardware or software management, cost management risk management, human resource management and vendor management.
Ultimately, an IT strategy aims to guide IT and technology processes, software, hardware or infrastructure decisions.
It’s essentially a roadmap for businesses and helps you understand and get to grips with all areas of IT, which enables them to make smart, informed business decisions to drive growth.
And it should identify and explain three main things:
In a nutshell, it’s the who, what, where, why and how. And you’ll need to identify and answer all of these to create an effective and robust IT strategy.
If you don’t plan, then you won’t succeed. Businesses without goals or specific objectives in mind will not only lack direction but are destined to fail.
In fact, according to the strategic software company, Cascade; 67% of strategies fail due to poor execution. That’s over two-thirds! And it highlights the need for an effective IT strategy that’s guided by experts.
Learn how to build an effective IT strategy
Creating an IT strategy is an organisation-wide effort, and it’s well worth the investment.
Here’s why:
All good IT strategies start with a complete audit of your business and IT systems.
An IT audit is an in-depth analysis of your company’s IT policies, operations and entire infrastructure. It investigates whether the current systems are actually up to scratch, in line with industry best practices and align with your business goals. The audit should also uncover any risks associated with your IT infrastructure and provide you with the next steps to help reduce these risks.
Learn about IT audits and why they're important
An IT audit takes a high level of skill, time and investment in auditing software. So, if you have an in-house IT team but don’t have the right resources to complete your IT audit to the correct standard, you’re best off seeking outsourced help.
If you’d like to learn more about IT audits for your business, you can discuss your exact requirements with a Netitude specialist. We’re very friendly!