How to Create an IT Strategy: Step-by-Step Guide

Learning to create an IT Strategy is critical for the CIO and their team. To help you understand the fundamentals, we’ve assembled this simple step-by-step guide to the actual process of creating an IT Strategy Document. No matter the size of your company, these tips will help you develop an IT Strategy to align IT with business and maximize returns on IT investments.

First, let us understand what IT Strategy is and why it is essential to the IT Organization and all business functions in the enterprise.

What is IT Strategy?

IT Strategy (Information Technology Strategy or Technology Strategy or ICT Strategy or IS Strategy) is an approach to creating an information technology capability for maximum and sustainable organizational value. IT Strategy is implemented using an IT Strategic Plan, which documents specific steps, deliverables, and timelines.

IT Strategy is created using an IT Strategy Framework. IT Strategy is usually formalized and documented in an IT Strategy Document. An IT Strategy Template helps in creating an IT Strategy Document. An IT Strategy is translated into an IT Strategic Plan. An IT Roadmap visually depicts the IT Capability maturity over time. An IT Operating Model implements an IT Strategy. To coin a phrase, that is the circle of IT Strategy or IT Strategy Lifecycle, if I may.

Why Should a CIO Create an IT Strategy?

CIOs create an IT Strategy to give direction to their IT Organization. A well-thought-through IT Strategy answers two questions:

• How should information technology be used to support business goals?
• How to maximize return on IT investments?

In other words, an IT Strategy is created to align IT with business, aka Business IT Alignment or IT Alignment in the most cost-effective way possible.

How to Create IT Strategy: Step-by-step

Follow this practical, proven process to develop an IT strategy. Here are the crucial steps in developing an effective IT strategy for your business:

Step 0: Pick an Executive Sponsor

Step 1: Pick a Domain and Sponsor from that domain

Step 2: Agree on objectives and goals for the project

Step 3: Create a Steering Committee/Governance

Step 4: Assemble Your Team

Step 5: Create an IT Strategy Project Charter

Present/Approval of Steering Committee

Step 6: Pick a Methodology and Framework

Step 7: Create an IT Strategy Template

Step 8: Create a Detailed Plan

Step 9: Create a Communications Plan

Step 10: Create a List of Key Stakeholders

Present/Approval of Steering Committee

Step 11: Create an Interview Schedule & Schedule Interviews

Step 12: Review Existing Documents

Step 13: Create the IT Strategy following a Proven IT Strategy Process (Fill Up the Template and review)

Step 14: Develop an IT Roadmap

Present/Approval of Steering Committee (multiple meetings)

Step 15: Create an IT Operating Model

Present/Approval of Steering Committee

Step 16: Communicate IT Strategy to the broader audience

Creating an IT Strategy: Key Roles and Responsibilities

Creating, documenting, and communicating an IT Strategy is the entire organization’s responsibility, with the CIO taking the lead. Depending upon the organization’s governance structure, there may be a board-level IT Strategy Steering Committee to provide direction and guidance to the CIO and the IT Organization.

The key roles and responsibilities in developing an IT Strategy Are:

• Executive Sponsor: Provides overall direction to the program and helps with the cooperation of the rest of the organization.
• CIO: Takes the leadership responsibility for the program.
• Domain Sponsor: Shares responsibility for the program for the domain they lead
• Project/Program Manager: Manages the day-to-day activities of the IT Strategy Development Team.
• IT Strategy Subject Matter Expert: Provides IT Strategy guidance to the team – methodology, framework, process, best practices, etc.
• Domain Subject Matter Expert: Provides functional – business and IT – guidance to the team.
• Senior Business Analyst(s): Creates and implements the surveys and interviews. Leads meetings and handles all communications with and from the team.
• Analyst(s): Assists the Senior Business Analyst(s) with data collection and analysis, document preparation, and other tasks.

An IT Strategy Team must collaborate actively with the enterprise architecture and IT Governance teams.

Why is an IT Strategy so Difficult to Create?

Three issues affect the development of effective IT Strategy: competency, operational, and organizational dynamics.

Competency Issues with IT Strategy

Developing an IT Strategy requires comfort with abstract constructs – ideas, principles, philosophies – that are the exact opposite of the specific constructs that a technology person lives daily. Inevitably, IT Strategies veer toward particular technologies and their implementations.

IT Strategy is an approach to using technology to create business value, NOT implementing technology as in coding or systems administration. It is about technology but not of technology, i.e., developing an IT Strategy requires skills that straddle the disparate domains of business and technology. These skills are hard to find.

Operational Issues with IT Strategy

IT Strategy affects the entire business and all its constituents. Consequently, developing an IT Strategy requires collaboration between all business functions and coordination with their respective strategies. This task gets tougher with the size and complexity of the organization.

Organizational dynamics Affecting IT Strategy

IT Strategy is driven by corporate and business functions’ strategies. Of late, IT Strategy drives these strategies putting the CIO in the driver’s seat. Traditional role hierarchies in the C-Suite are being challenged as a result. Consequently, these roles – CFO, CMO, COO, etc. – provide resistance to the development and implementation of IT Strategies.

Developing an IT Strategy: Tips and Tricks

Whether you are creating an IT Strategy in response to a change in business strategy or business process reengineering, following this practical advice will help you succeed.

• Executive sponsorship is critical to the success of an IT Strategy initiative.
• Picking the proper IT Strategy Methodology and Framework depends on your organization’s core competencies and readiness to change.
• An IT Strategy Template can provide a great start to the things to consider when creating an IT Strategy.
• Communicating with key stakeholders builds their buy-in into a very contentious project that, by its very nature, can change their entire corporate existence – power structure and work.
• Involve Everybody! People like to be involved in prestigious projects and are less likely to throw roadblocks and reject recommendations if they feel part of the process. So, there are no junior employees and no VIPs regarding IT Strategy. Identify the critical influences across the organization and engage them through the process wisely!

Conclusion

Developing an IT Strategy is a CIO’s second most important responsibility because it gives direction to the IT Organization and aligns its activities with business requirements – vision, mission, goals, and objectives. This article will help you understand the process of developing a formal IT strategy document. This IT Strategy must be translated into an IT Strategic Plan and an IT Roadmap. Then implemented to create an IT Operating Model.