What is IT Strategic planning, and why do we need it?

 There is an old saying that states, “How will you know when you get there if you don’t know where you are going?”  All successful organizations must clearly articulate their vision, goals, and objectives as a function of their organizational mission.  IT Strategic Planning is important to ensure the technology infrastructure and services support the mission of the business unit or organization. 

There are many threats to an organization that test its overall resiliency.  Strategic planning is an important method to look into the future to identify risks and opportunities and develop the strategic direction of the organization.

Strategic planning is a collaborative process involving organizational stakeholders and technology professionals in sessions designed to better understand the future direction of the organization and how technology can enable the organization to be successful.  Each organization is unique.  Therefore, each strategic plan is unique as well, and should be tailored specifically for an organization’s specific mission.

What goes into an IT Strategic plan?                                                                    

A comprehensive IT strategic plan generally contains the following:

·       Mission and vision statements

·       Organizational values

·       Stakeholders analysis

·       Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis

·       Identification of key goals, objectives, strategies and associated action plans

·       Identification of performance indicators

What are the components of an IT Strategic plan?

The planning process includes three distinct phases:

·         Pre-planning and discovery

·         Planning workshops

·         Plan development and presentation

The pre-planning and discovery phase assists organizations in the identification of business priorities, key initiatives and goals, the mapping of critical business processes and supporting technology systems, the collection of IT departmental performance metrics, an assessment of the organization’s current IT infrastructure, and a review of any existing IT strategic plans.

The planning workshop provides workbooks and  templates for each participant, the use of group decision making technology, and the facilitation by a seasoned professional.  The facilitator guides the participants through the planning process and documents all of the proceedings.

The plan development and presentation produces a final IT strategic plan for the organization and develops a formal presentation and review for all the stakeholders.  The final report also includes any specific observations or recommendations from the planning facilitator. This allows for stakeholder buy-in of the organizational IT strategic plan.