“IT Strategy is the plans to, over the long term, align the IT function with the mission, strategic plans, goals, needs, business model and values of the overall organization and support fulfilling efficiently and effectively its business processes”. (Halstead-Nussloch)
IT Best Practices:
Benchmarking is a process used in management in which organizations evaluate various aspects of their processes in relation to best-practice companies’ processes. Usually this is done within a peer group defined for the purposes of comparison. (Benchmarking). Picking the best practices that have shown the best results and then adopting that to the organization. (What Is a Best Practice)
Relationship with business and/or IT strategy: Adopting this within all area of an organization including IT will lead to a world class performance.
SWOT Analysis– According to Wikipedia, “SWOT analysis is a strategic planning technique used to help an organization identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats related to business competition or project planning. It is designed for use in the preliminary stages of decision-making processes and can be used as a tool for evaluation of the strategic position of an organization”. (SWOT Analysis)
Relationship with business and/or IT strategy: If the company has a strong relations between strengths and opportunities then we can say that the company is in very good condition which in turn allows using an aggressive strategy within all departments. On the other hand, strong interactions between weaknesses and threats could be analyzed as a potential warning and advice for using a defensive strategy.
Enterprise Architect: According to CIO.com, “Enterprise architecture (EA) is the practice of analyzing, designing, planning and implementing enterprise analysis to successfully execute on business strategies(White). An enterprise architecture framework defines how to create and use an enterprise architecture” (White)
EA brings greater alignment between IT and business concerns.
Resources:
Example IT Strategic Plans and Case Studies, IT Plan Templates and IT Planning Advice
- CDFI Fund Strategic Plan- Shows how IT Strategic Plan supports the Business Strategic Plan (see, e.g., Strategic Objective 3.3 page 9)-https://www.cdfifund.gov/Documents/Final%20Strategic%20Plan%20102516.pdf
- CDFI Fund Strategic Planning Learning Module Slides-https://www.cdfifund.gov/Documents/2%20Strategic%20Planning_Training%20Deck.pdf
- CDFI Fund Strategic Planning Checklist and Timeline Excel File-https://www.cdfifund.gov/Documents/2%20Strategic%20Planning%20Checklist%20and%20Timeline.xls
- CDFI Fund Strategic Plan Template Outline Word File-https://www.cdfifund.gov/Documents/2%20Strategic%20Planning_Outline.docx
- CDFI Fund Strategic Plan Follow-Up Webinar on Renewing and Improving Plans-https://www.cdfifund.gov/Documents/(65)%20Strategic%20Planning%20Webinar.pdf
- EDUCAUSE Case Study- Strategic IT-In this October 2018 EDUCAUSE review article, John O’Brien lists the needs of the higher education business environment that will mandate changes in IT strategy on the part of colleges and universities-https://er.educause.edu/articles/2018/10/strategic-it-what-got-us-here-wont-get-us-there
- Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council’s IT Plan Body of Knowledge-https://ithandbook.ffiec.gov/it-booklets/management/i-governance/ib-it-responsibilities-and-functions/ib6-planning-it-operations-and-investment.aspx
- FDIC Strategic Plan-https://www.fdic.gov/about/strategic/itsp/fdic-information-technology-strategic-plan-2017-2020.pdf
- Georgia Technology Authority’s Enterprise IT Strategic Plan-http://gta.georgia.gov/sites/gta.georgia.gov/files/related_files/document/Georgia-Enterprise-IT-Strategic-Plan-2025.pdf