How To Implement A Long Term IT Strategy For Business

Thinking About Flexible & Sustainable IT

These days, the success and consistent performance of business IT systems can be make or break for any organisation. Reliability and consistency are both key to operating an efficient business, and this means that your IT systems must support your organisational needs.

Modern businesses must be nimble, but proper planning will remove the necessity to adapt unexpectedly. Taking into account the potential for change in the future allows you to react effectively when needed.

IT Strategy & Business Planning

IT strategy should most certainly be a major part of your overall business plan. This means that all companies, both large and small, must align their IT strategy with the forecast for the whole of their business. If you plan to grow significantly in the coming months and years, it will pay dividends to plan your IT around that growth.

This will prevent your systems suffering from lack of capacity, and may save time and money in the future by avoiding the necessity for emergency disaster recovery.

Furthermore, people are always at the heart of any organisation. Ensuring that the users of your systems are happy in their day-to-day work is essential to maintaining their morale and productivity. Disassociating your IT strategy from this consideration is dangerous for your overall business plan, and potentially your long-term HR.

Busier periods may put extra pressure on your IT systems, and this should also be planned for accordingly. Whether your IT infrastructure supports customer and client orders, complaints, general CRM, or anything else, it must be able to operate effectively when capacity is under pressure. Again, this falls into the bracket of aligning your IT with your overall business strategy. If seasonality is a major consideration for your business, then it this will inform your approach to your various systems.

Investing In The Future

The financial aspect of your organisation - items such as budgeting - are undoubtedly the responsibility of the financial department, and are discussed with key members of management and ownership. The IT department must be involved in this process, as their expertise will inform the budget that should be allocated to the important IT infrastructure.

The implementation of new systems may also have an impact on multiple areas of the business. The installation of a new or upgraded CRM system may have implications for customer service, sales, and marketing. It is important to forge a relationship between the IT department and management across the organisation to understand the concerns and wishes of everybody involved - especially the end users.

IT infrastructure can prove to be a significant investment, and makes proper planning all the more important. Allocating sufficient budget to IT that is reliable and consistent can be the difference between profitable and unprofitable business.

Support

There is no doubt that at some point, your organisation will require support from experts. Planning your strategy so that these people are on hand when needed is essential. Support doesn’t necessarily mean that something has gone wrong - it may just be that your users need some help & advice every so often.

At dsp, we are Oracle Database Specialised, and we offer a number of Oracle support packages, from covering daily maintenance and management to a variable ‘pay as you go’ model.

Reliability & Sustainability

Our motto at dsp is “Up Time, All The Time.” This is indicative of our approach, and highlights our belief that any downtime in systems can have a major impact on the bottom line. Consistent and reliable IT is becoming more and more important, as workforces increasingly rely on their systems to function effectively.

Behind the front-end interface, databases must function correctly and the platform that business systems are built on must be solid, durable, and secure.

For more information about our Oracle and Microsoft services, and to learn more about how your business can be free from downtime, get in touch with dsp today