Strategy
Your technology strategy is more than just your plan for the future. It’s an outline of how your entire business operatives from a technological perspective. Is your outline a rough draft or the final product?
It’s pretty easy to equate your technology strategy as being focused on technology. When was the last time you inverted that thinking? Don’t think about what you can do to make your technology succeed. It’s time to think about what your technology can do for you.
Governance
It’s critical to be able to track, manage, and grant access to cloud components. Think through who in your organization is responsible for such a thing. Now think if they have the organizational knowledge to carry out those tasks and provide helpful guidance. Governance is a key factor to preventing information leaks, and is a critical component in a successful technology strategy.
Financial Models
Technology spend continues to get harder and harder to track. Long gone are the days of equipment and personnel costs. With new technology, you’re required to think about everything from infrastructure costs to licenses to subscription renewals to pay-per-use cloud services. If you’re not prepared to accurately plan and track your costs, you’re setting your organization up for failure.
Security
Cloud infrastructure and services have created a whole new monster as it pertains to security and data. Almost daily there is a news story about a major data breach, where customer information and sometimes very private information is hacked. You don’t want your organization to be on the bad part of history when it comes to security and auditing. Does your team have the skills to pull off a stable and secure technology environment?
Technology strategies go beyond technology.
Our three keys to a successful technology strategy.
Where do we start?
Getting started is always the most difficult step. Here’s a quick exercise to jumpstart your technology-strategy thinking:
1. Current State
Start by evaluating your current state. Ask yourself some of the questions, write down your answers, and challenge yourself to continue down the rabbit hole of each answer until you no longer can.
- How much of your technology is “in-house”?
- How much of your technology is in the cloud?
- What is your average monthly technology spend?
- What long-term contracts do you have?
- Who is responsible for maintaining this environment?
2. Future State
Now is the time to think big. Where is your organization headed? What would you like to see change from your answers above?
Be specific in your answers. Don’t just say “move all of our systems to the cloud”, but rather “move our financial system into a cloud-based solution that we don’t have to manage”. The more detailed you can be in your response, the easier the next step will be.
3. Initiatives
You’ve done a great job so far. With the answers for your current state and future state, it’s all about bridging that gap. What must you do to make it from point A to point B? It may require additional budgeting, resource changes, or an acquisition to get where you really want to be.
For each gap you’ve identified between your future state and current step, ask yourself these questions and write down the answers:
- Who, either in our business or externally, is responsible for the current state?
- Why are you in that state? When was the last time you evaluated your options?
- To get to your destination, what financial moves need to be made? Do you need to increase or decrease your spend? Does the future state generate additional revenue? Does the future state improve net profit margin through an increase in efficiency?
We love hearing about different initiatives. If this exercise interested you, or you want some free feedback on your answers, drop us a line.
