How well does the leadership in your company achieve their strategic ICT goals.
Why do ICT managers consistently lose sight of their strategic intent? The truth is that very people have the cogliones to tack the real problems that affect the business and the reasons are multiple. Firstly by definition they are not sexy and implementations are complex and boring. Dealing with cultural change and acceptance is if not the hardest element of project implementation and probably the most complex to understand. Secondly new initiatives, products and projects have a hype factor that fictitiously promises to address business and operational problems with some new technology – its a fallacy. By way of example, I have seen my own child’s school adopt apple technology, giving each child a laptop justifying the investment as preparing the children for a new way of learning, i.e. Web 2.0 collaboration.
What a bunch of crap. They can not connect to the internet, they have no peer connectivity and they have limited teaching regarding the social applications. My child learns more at home on the PC in spare time than in the learning time during the class and I would suspect that the othe students learn in the same way. This is a case of technology excitement replacing the rational approach to understanding that we as humans collaborate with our own communication first and then utilise other mediums to extend this. If we are to develop as balanced creatures, you can not replace these foundation steps and approaches – the same applies in business and with the utilisation of Architecture in ICT planning.
Strategic goals in ICT generally mean an implementation of some kind and for this discussion we will assume that its either a product implementation of a transitional project such as migration or transformation. If ICT is to be treated as a business asset and recieve due diligence in analysing its potential value and cost then a few foundations must be put in place to enable the understanding of what strategic initiatives are required for the business to prosper and operate efficiently.
A few of these foundations steps include:
- Understanding your current ICT environment
- Quantifying your ICT capabilities in terms the business can understand
- Managing a governance framework that regulates your ICT investment and communicates at a business level
- Incorporating the culture of the people, organisation and market into the business architecture
With a clear language and common understanding of what ICT does and can do, strategic thinking and planning can focus on achieving objectives and be prioritised. If traceability is built into the Governance Framework and enacted with regular communication then objectives can be cascaded from the board room to the mail room ensuring a common understanding of problems and solutions is encouraged.
Next.. why and when these strategies go wrong and how Enterprise Architecture can be structured as an enabling function in the business to encourage alignment.