Is your business ready to hire a CIO?

IT Strategy - Is your business ready for a CIO?

What is a CIO?

If you don’t know what a CIO is, or want a refresh, check out our existing article on the role of a CIO. Since this article is aimed at businesses who are aware of what a CIO is but want to know if they need one, we won’t be covering it here.

Does my business need a CIO?

A widely held notion is that only large, multi-national corporations need the service of a CIO. This may have been true a decade or so ago, but with IT now central to the whole business it’s no longer the case.

The skills of a CIO are now useful to any size or type of business from a 50 person legal firm to a 300 person manufacturing business.

So then, if every business can have a CIO, how do you know if you need one? Here are some key indicators you can look for which show you’re ready for a CIO:

1. You lack the information to make business decisions

When there are plans to make a change in the business, a lack of data and information can plunge even a good idea into uncertainty. Lacking the knowledge for major IT-related business decisions results in project delays. And when the time does come to choose, it’s a decision made on the promises of a salesperson rather than on proven facts.

These factors often limit the scope and effectiveness of projects. Resulting in a lower value or poor performing outcome.

A CIO helps by de-risking the decision-making process. By using their knowledge of technology and the wider business, they can find a solution that has its base in hard facts and proven performance, rather than going by guesswork and hope.

The CIO also gives an amount of certainty to making IT-related business decisions. This can help drive change and adoption, giving you an edge over your competitors who may be uncertain about how to review and apply new technologies such as AI or initiatives such as process improvement and automation to their business.

2. There is friction between departments

When one system or department’s poor performance and operations restrict the ability of another department to get work done, animosity and frustration can arise. This friction is often made worse by siloed departments. This causes rifts of communication, priorities and strategy to form and makes employees feel like they are fighting against their co-workers to get work done.

By being a mediator who ties together the IT and operations sides of the business, a CIO can help reverse this friction. Producing a unified strategy and operating environment means employees will be working towards a complementary outcome. And since everyone will be working in tandem, the likelihood of bottlenecks forming is also reduced.

Finally, because the CIO is in a neutral position, not aligned to any specific department they can be an impartial judge over which department is in the most need of IT resources and systems.

By relying on the facts and listening to each case, they can determine whose requests and priorities to address first. Rather than having each department claim that they are in the most need.

3. There are regular complaints about IT system performance

When constant IT issues are occurring, employee performance will decrease. For a 40-employee firm, even five minutes of disturbance per employee per day will waste over 16 hours a week.

A CIO will listen to the complaints being made and use their knowledge to identify and address the root of the problem. Be that through their own team, a service provider or a software vendor.

This not only minimises employee’s frustrations but it also improves their efficiency. Making a difference to your bottom line.

A CIO can also help you understand where issues might arise in the future as your business grows. They have the expertise and experience to know when you’ll meet friction and pain from an IT or operational standpoint. Allowing them to smooth out the road before you get there.

4. The business is going through a period of change

When your business is experiencing change (moving premises, going through a merger or acquisition, moving to the cloud, expanding teams, e.t.c.) there can be uncertainty around the potential threats which arise and unseen opportunities which pass by. Large scale change in the business’ use of IT can also create unease from a strategic standpoint.

A CIO has the experience, skills and expertise required to get things done in this situation. And thanks to their knowledge of both IT and business, they’re able to take advantage of the opportunities and mitigate the threats which may arise during a period of change.

5. You don’t understand the benefits IT can bring / You see IT as a necessary evil

When a business sees IT as a necessary evil, it’s inevitable that they’ll commit the least money, time and effort towards it. But businesses which do this only end up handicapping themselves since IT is not only ‘a cost’. Instead it’s the main area where you can gain a competitive advantage in the modern business arena.

The ‘IT is a cost’ mindset arose in the early 2000s due to a decline in business intelligence and a lack of understanding in what IT is. Investments were being made based on trends and hype, not fact. And when people were burned by their mistakes, it leads them to think of IT as a waste of resources.

The CIO helps bring back the business focus and knowledge that so many businesses have lost. Allowing IT to once again become a performance enabler.

Through wise technology investments, addressing deficiencies and ensuring that the IT strategy aligns with the strategy of the wider business, the CIO can re-kindle faith in IT and drive it back into the heart of the business, where true business gains lie.

6. No one in the C-suite is excited about IT

When there is no interest, there is no innovation.

There needs to be someone on your board who is excited about the potential of IT. Without this momentum, you risk projects being put on the backburner or dropped altogether. Slowing your pace of innovation, or even causing stagnation.

So in a world where you either innovate or go out of business, the CIO’s interest and proven experience in technology are vital.

By staying abreast of the latest trends and opportunities a CIO can ensure you’re always getting a business advantage. And with their understanding of the business applications of IT, new technologies and systems can deliver improved business processes and productivity. Giving you a competitive edge.

How big of an investment is a CIO?

To hire an in-house CIO, you can expect to be paying a salary of ~£150,000 per year. And for a highly qualified candidate, up to £240,000 per year – almost a quarter of a million.

A CIO’s salary is likely to eclipse that of any existing senior IT employees you already have such as an IT Director or Chief Technology Officer. It may also surpass many of your other C-level executive’s salaries as well. This is because the role demands a blending of technical and business knowledge alongside at least a decade of experience in similar roles and so employees can command a premium for their employment.

If you’re unable to part with this much cash or are already concerned about cash flow, you may now be thinking that a CIO is out of reach. Fortunately, there’s a second and increasingly popular route: a CIO service.

Because a CIO service has many clients, you get to benefit from the economies of scale which allows prices to be much lower on average.

Combined with how you only pay for the time you use their consultancy, rather than a yearly salary, a CIO service will typically be far more accessible than an in-house employee; all whilst offering the same benefits.

Get more from your IT with a strategy, on-demand CIO-level Consultant: We help businesses to us IT to gain security, stability and a competitive advantage in a rapidly developing marketplace. Click here to find out more.

How to prioritise IT projects in a growing business

IT strategy - Prioritising IT projects in a growing business

In a growing business, it often feels like every IT project is the number one priority, but with limited resources available it’s simply not possible – or practical – to tackle them all at once. But when everyone is clamouring for attention, how do you decide which project comes first?

One of the problems many businesses face with project management is that projects are siloed. They exist solely within the department that initiated them, even when they impact others. This can lead to multiple projects competing for the same resources (technologies, people), as well as running on conflicting deadlines and to different goals.

The above approach does not consider the strategic impact of the project – how will it assist in achieving the overall goals and objectives of the business? Not only does this present risk to the business, but it is one of the reasons why it is so difficult to prioritise and measure value.

What is the solution?

Luckily, there are proven strategies which you can use to evaluate and prioritise, ensuring the workload is managed, risks are controlled, and deadlines are met. Below, is a six-step plan the senior management team can deploy to gain greater control over projects.

1. Understand the strategic direction of the business

Involve all key stakeholders in this detailed planning session to review and/or draw up a roadmap for the overall vision of the business. Clearly understanding the strategic aims of the business will provide valuable insights to guide decision making for projects.

2. Identify motivation

What are the factors which will drive the business to initiate a project?

  • Competitive advantage
  • Financial benefit
  • Operational efficiency
  • Improving quality
  • Reducing risk
  • Growth/business opportunities

Ensure that the business is undertaking projects for the right reasons and is thinking strategically. While competitive advantage is a motivator, you don’t simply undertake a project because ‘everyone else is doing it’. For example, “all our competitors are in the cloud, so we should move our entire environment within X period” is not a correct motivator, nor is it a strategy. It does not consider the benefits – or risks – to the business, it simply shows fear.

3. Determine the strategic value

Consider the impact and the desired project outcome. How will it assist in the achievement of overall strategic goals? What is the immediate and/or long-term impact of the project? What are the anticipated project benefits? Weigh each point to evaluate projects against each other. Just because a project will deliver great strategic value does not necessarily mean it should have top billing.

For example, you may have a project where the aim is to become compliant with a certain piece of upcoming legislation. The project itself may have little strategic value and require a lot of resources (which could have a negative immediate impact), but your organisation may be required to comply with this new legislation by a certain date to continue trading or to avoid financial/regulatory sanctions. In this case, this project would obviously need to be the top priority.

4. Identify project success factors

Most companies will have limited time, budgets and resources available, making it impossible to take on every conceived project. Therefore, it’s important to consider all factors which could impact a successful delivery such as; return on investment (ROI), budgeted funds, availability of resources, timings and any dependencies or limitations. If one project depends on the successful outcome of another then it may need to be put on hold.

5. Create a scoring system

You need a matrix will which allow you to evaluate the motivators and success factors of various projects side by side and determine an overall score for each one. For a more advanced matrix, you can also weight each of the drivers according to current business priorities. So, one driver may be more important depending on the current situation of the company. For example, if a company was in financial crisis, expense reduction would be a more important driver than growth.

6. Finalise

Once the above steps have been completed, it’s important that the senior management team sit down and review the project evaluation and the scoring system, plus any other findings, to ensure expectations are clear. This also presents an additional opportunity for final input and for the management team to confirm that they agree with the priority list for IT projects.

A guaranteed solution?

Of course, the above approach relies on alignment across the whole business, where the strategic objectives are clear and well-communicated to all stakeholders. Yet typically you will find a gap between the corporate strategic objectives and the priorities for individual departments.

Given this gap, it’s unlikely that you will be able to map every single project to the overall strategic objectives immediately, but you should aim to fully align the top ones. As you develop and improve alignment across the organisation, this entire task should gradually become easier as everyone is clear on the business’s priorities and the direction they are travelling.

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How to reduce risk by aligning business strategy and IT strategy

IT strategy - How strategy alignment reduces your business' risk

On the ‘business’ side you have the long term business strategy and plans or business requirements. On the other side lies the IT function.

This visible gap is where misalignment begins, but it’s often compounded by the negative preconceptions each side holds of the other.

What business executives think of the IT department What IT departments think of business executives
The IT department takes a long time to get anything done The business constantly changes its mind about what they want/need
The IT department takes up too much budget and doesn’t deliver results The business chooses non-optimal IT solutions without our input
IT is a ‘necessary evil’ The business doesn’t understand the purpose of IT
The IT department doesn’t understand our needs The business dictates to us without giving us any say

Why does disconnect matter?

IT is an essential component of every business operation today. It is critical to the success of the business and so a lack of alignment between business and IT strategies can deal a heavy blow to the bottom line.

All too often, IT strategy is an afterthought – something bolted onto the wider business plan. This can result in overly complex infrastructures or systems that are difficult to change – making it a struggle to maintain and enhance business operations later on.

However, and perhaps more critically, misalignment can leave the business vulnerable.

The way IT interconnects with almost every business operation naturally results in an increased risk profile. Previously when talking about IT, we simply meant hardware and networks – things for providing a means to process, backup and safely store data. Now our expectations are much greater. We demand more information, more complex analytical reporting, greater integration, and increased data storage capabilities. Then on top of that, we demand that everything is kept easily accessible and highly secure.

What problems does disconnect cause?

The evolving dependence of the business on IT means IT events – data loss, corruption, security breaches and infrastructure failures – can no longer be confined to the department in which they occurred. When one of these IT events occurs now, the whole organisation’s productivity, reputation and ability to achieve strategic goals are hampered.

Yet despite this, many business leaders still aren’t considering aligning IT risk management with strategic business initiatives. Instead, they choose to rely on a traditional approach combining a cost-based analysis of ‘what may go wrong’ with metrics based on historic KPIs.

Such an approach can be unreliable as it’s too narrow to effectively identify and manage risk. Risks that fall outside the conventional realm – like fires, floods and power failures – can be easily overlooked. Furthermore, it fails to demonstrate how risks can affect the likelihood of achieving strategic objectives because it does not establish links between them. This contravenes ISO 31000 which emphasises risk management as a strategic function to enable businesses to make risk-adjusted decisions, rather than a compliance-orientated one.

Now, this isn’t to say that the act of quantifying and qualifying factors is not useful, as it most certainly is. Instead, the key takeaway is that to effectively identify the risk of IT, the use of a broader view is required. One which goes beyond traditional standards and aligns IT use with the strategic aims of the business.

How can I counter disconnect?

Instead of only looking at the financial impact of physical and natural threats to IT service delivery, you must broaden the spectrum and consider the impact or contribution each one will have to the achievement of strategic goals.

The positives of this approach are numerous. Firstly, by aligning risk techniques to strategic business initiatives, organisations can better document key performance indicators (KPIs) and key risk indicators (KRIs). These metrics are vital to continually monitor risk, providing an early warning system for a potential risk before it occurs.

Secondly, with a greater understanding of the business’ tolerance to risk, it is easier to implement a more realistic and balanced strategy and distribute clear communication plans. This helps protect your brand and shield against potential reputational/financial damage which can arise from IT events – for example, a poorly planned cloud migration resulting in significant disruption to customers.

This approach also delivers a significant competitive advantage by helping businesses to make calculated responses to risk that others in their industry may lack the insight to make. However, this does rely on KRIs being implemented and used properly. These indicators must provide an alert of emerging risk in good time, so the business has time to react and make appropriate decisions. Thereby reducing the potential negative impact on achieving strategic goals.

Another task you will need to undertake is addressing the original cause of disconnect on an employee level by cutting out the stereotypes executives and the IT department have of one another. Ensuring that each group sees value in each other is often a task that falls onto the shoulders of the CIO who acts as a bridge between the IT and business aspects of your organisation. But the responsibility also lies with every individual to ensure that they are working towards a common goal in the business.

IT risk will always exist in some form, but by improving alignment this can be continually monitored and communicated meaningfully to stakeholders. A proactive risk approach will enable the business to operate more cost-effectively, become more agile and respond to change with more informed, measured decisions.

Get more from your IT with a strategy, on-demand CIO-level Consultant: We help businesses to us IT to gain security, stability and a competitive advantage in a rapidly developing marketplace. Click here to find out more.

How to create an effective IT strategy

how to create an IT strategy

What is a traditional IT strategy?

This is usually a structured and ordered process which produces a long-term view of the business’s technology requirements and a plan for meeting these needs. A traditional IT strategy will usually plan ahead for the next three to five years and begin by identifying what business capabilities will be required over this time period to achieve the business’s vision. This is then followed by a gap analysis to assess the difference between the business’s current maturity and the level required to realise the vision.

The focus then shifts to technology; identifying how it can be used to address the gaps highlighted by analysis, and designing the target technology architecture to support the required capabilities. An assessment will need to be carried out see if there any gaps between the current technology architecture and the target one, and then a roadmap can be created to address these gaps. The roadmap should be prioritised in terms of what technology architecture is most vital for achieving the business’s vision.

An example of a traditional IT strategy

With this approach, the IT Director and CIO may not be as involved with the initial steps, but this depends on the business’s approach to IT. Ideally, though, you want to have IT personnel involved at every stage of the strategic planning to prevent potentially disastrous misalignment.

The downside to the traditional approach is that because its focus on the long-term can actually be limiting because it does not allow the business to respond to changes in the marketplace. This is especially true if the technology roadmap is too strictly adhered to, as you run the risk of the technology strategy deviating from the business’s needs, which will naturally evolve over time.

What is an agile IT strategy?

An agile strategy is similar to a traditional strategy in the sense of the steps it follows. However, rather than planning for years ahead it focuses on the “short-term”, laying out the technology strategy for the next 6-24 months. The time period the strategy will cover depends on how stable the market the company operate in, for example, those operating in fast-changing markets may need to work on a 6-12 month horizon whereas those who are in more stable markets may select as 12-24 month planning period.

An example of an agile IT strategy

Once the planning period has been agreed upon, then the leadership team must agree on which business capabilities will take priority and identify the technology initiatives required to bridge the gap between the current and required level of each capability.

A roadmap should layout which initiatives will be delivered during the planning period, at the end of which the business can evaluate and adjust. Identifying new business priorities and the technology initiatives required to support them.

This cycle should continue until the original strategy and vision for the business are updated, at which point the strategic planning should start from the very beginning.

This approach is often preferred because it suits the fast-changing nature of the digital world and provides businesses with the flexibility to adapt to new challenges and opportunities. It may particularly suit those businesses whose strategy and technology needs change rapidly and, therefore, require a technology strategy which can flex with these changes.

Do you need to have an IT strategy?

In some circumstances, it may not make sense to have a separate IT strategy. This is usually where technology forms the basis of a new technology model or is used as the starting point to develop completely new products and/or services.

In these cases, because the business strategy will be based on technology, some argue there is no need for a separate IT strategy. The CIO and IT Director will have key roles in defining the strategy, something which does not always happen with a traditional approach.

For this approach to be successful it depends on the IT function maintaining and developing the key architecture to support the business strategy and to shape and guide technology decisions.

What is the right IT strategy for my business?

Just as IT support does not have to be 100% in-house or a 100% outsourced, these three approaches to IT strategy are not mutually exclusive. A combination of approaches may be required to best meet the needs of your business, this usually depends on the role technology plays within your organisation and the level of agility you require to remain competitive in your market.

Whichever approach you decide it is vital that IT personnel are involved with every step, as technology will certainly play an important role in building and shaping the required capabilities.

The right approach may also change over time as your priorities change, your vision develops and you find yourself facing new challenges within the marketplace.

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4 things to consider with a hybrid IT strategy

hybrid it strategy considerations

Hybrid IT, which combines elements of on-premise, cloud and colocation, can be a powerful tool. Allowing businesses to take a centralised approach towards IT and reap the various benefits that each approach offers individually, whilst simultaneously improving the user experience.

However, like any IT project, hybrid IT requires a strong and carefully considered strategy to ensure its success. Below are four key issues we recommend you review during the process

Considerations for a successful hybrid IT strategy

1. Price and ROI

Just because a solution seems like a good deal initially doesn’t mean that it will actually work out as cost-effective down the line. It’s important to look beyond the initial costs because deploying applications in the wrong environment can be a costly mistake. Identify any hidden costs and check the small print very carefully. You should be wary of any organisations that seek to tie you in as this can expose you to future price hikes.

2. Security

Once an application is live you must consider how you will ensure users can connect to it securely. Will you use a private cloud, on-premise or colocation? Some companies prefer to segment access by the type of application. For example, a private cloud is preferable for internal or business-critical systems, but customer-facing applications can reside in a public cloud.

It’s also important you understand exactly where your data is being stored and how it is accessed. Data stored in the USA may be subject to different regulations compared to data stored in the UK. You must make sure you are complying with any regulations your industry is subject to.

3. Support

Consider what support will be required, what skills you have in-house and what areas would be best outsourced. Approaches in this area can vary widely so it’s important to find a partner that has the expertise and fits your company culture.

Your outsourced IT support provider should not be seen as a threat. They are there to operate as an extension of your existing team – not a replacement. Your IT support provider is there to fill resource gaps, deliver skills that your team lacks and to take responsibility for specialists tasks that are carried out infrequently – and require highly accredited engineers – or for tasks which you don’t need to operate in-house – for example, 24×7 monitoring.

4. Integration

When deploying any applications you should consider how it will integrate with any existing applications or planned applications for the future. For example, some public clouds may not offer the level of integration you require so private cloud may be the better option.

You should also take into account your current infrastructure investments, as these can play a key role in executing future plans. Make the most of your current assets by looking at how you can upgrade or repurpose them.

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What is a hybrid IT strategy?

IT strategy - What is a hybrid IT strategy

A hybrid IT strategy is where neither 100% cloud nor 100% physical infrastructure is used. There is a mix of cloud services and in-house services being used within the IT environment. Hybrid IT strategy allows businesses to maintain a centralised approach whilst also utilising the benefits of cloud such as its’ scalability, performance and a generally reduced price.

Over the last 6 years, hybrid IT strategies have seen a growth in popularity. With recent surveys reporting that 67% have adopted a hybrid cloud. This rise can be attributed to three key forces:

  • A need to maintain control of data
  • The cost-effectiveness of cloud components (e.g. Software-as-a-Service, Storage-as-a-Service)
  • A desire to respond rapidly to changing business needs and priorities.

What are the benefits of a hybrid IT strategy?

A hybrid IT strategy allows businesses to maximise the benefits that both approaches offer: the control and easy access of an on-premise solution, with the convenience, scalability, cost and collaboration benefits of a cloud platform. It allows businesses to scale resources for each workload and choose the best application for the job. Furthermore, data can be stored where regulatory or security requirements dictate. For example, a law firm may choose to store their most sensitive data in a private cloud platform, rather than a public one.

One of the benefits of a hybrid approach is that it offers different levels of sophistication. For example, you can have deep integration between cloud and private/on-premise environments, or more simplistic, static connections designed to serve a functional need.

Another reason businesses are adopting a hybrid IT strategy is that it allows them to develop and test new applications in the cloud, before moving them back into the on-premise or private environment. This because you can rely on the cloud environment for fast, on-demand capacity, which allows new applications to be quickly prototyped and rapidly deployed.

In short…

If you’re considering a hybrid approach then we recommend you kick off with a small pilot. Once you are comfortable with the ins and outs of the hybrid model you can then roll it out further. Although the initial project may be small you should keep scalability in mind. The infrastructure you deploy should be ready for growth and capable of delivering an ROI within a defined time period.

While hybrid IT can bring many benefits to your business, success largely rests on the management put in place. There must be a single administrative console which controls both the cloud and on-premises assets. This console must also use a unified set of security, user and application policies.

Get more from your IT with a strategy, on-demand CIO-level Consultant: We help businesses to us IT to gain security, stability and a competitive advantage in a rapidly developing marketplace. Click here to find out more.

How to create an IT Strategy: A 5-step plan

5 steps to creating an it strategy

IT is a critical part of almost every department, yet many businesses are not taking full advantage of new technology or realising the full potential of their IT investments. This where an IT strategy comes in.

An IT strategy, when done right, is a powerful tool for driving growth, increasing efficiency, achieving goals and supporting staff.

Below we’ve provided an overview of the five key steps involved in creating an effective IT strategy. Whether you’re completely new to the process or an experienced IT professional, this guide is an ideal starting point.

1. Outline business goals and objectives

In order to create an effective IT strategy, you must make sure it is aligned with your overall business strategy. This is because the primary function of an IT strategy is to support your business and help you to achieve your goals.

You should begin by outlining your business needs, goals and high-level objectives. Key areas to look at will include:

  • Your sales pipeline and targets
  • Future plans regarding partnerships, mergers or acquisitions
  • Growth strategies and plans for the company
  • Any other “actions plans” departments are working towards

2. Define your scope, stakeholders and timeline

Everyone must be clear about the purpose of your IT strategy, who is responsible for delivery and to whom it applies.

As part of this process, you should meet with key people from each department. They will be able to tell you how they’re currently using technology and their future business plans. With their input, you can ensure that your strategy provides the right IT support for each business unit.

Just as you would define a timeline for achieving specific goals, your IT strategy should also have a lifespan. Most IT strategies are long-term, but you might want to review and refine your strategy more frequently. For example, you may have a five-year roadmap, which gives a high-level overview of what you are aiming to achieve, but it is reviewed annually to define key phases and projects (e.g. implementations, integrations etc.).

Technology develops at a rapid rate so it is important that your IT strategy is flexible so it can adapt not to new technologies but to new organisational circumstances, changing business priorities, budgetary constraint and available skill sets.

3. Review your existing setup

When developing an IT strategy it is important to review your current IT infrastructure. This will help you to identify current problems, see what’s working and where resources are being used, all of which can be addressed by your strategy. Some key points to consider are:

  • How are teams and departments using technology
  • What tools, software and systems do they use?

Think critically about how IT is being used, and analyse what is delivering the most value. This will enable you to plan a strategy which utilises resources you already have and ensure better allocation.

4. Create a roadmap

This may appear to be the largest, most difficult step but as long as you have been following the right resource then it should actually be relatively easy to create a roadmap which defines resource allocation and architecture.

You should start by defining the overall technology architecture, this is made up of the major software, hardware and other tools you’ll be using. Then break it down to department-specific technology which may be required to meet business goals. Finally consider how the different parts of your architecture fit together, and what processes govern their integration.

Keep all the information related to your technology architecture in a document or spreadsheet so you can easily review.

5. Establish your metrics

Measurement is an essential part of any strategy, and without it, you will be unable to identify any gaps or weaknesses. You need to make sure that the IT strategy is functional and cost-effective. In order to do this, you should identify KPIs you can use to analyse performance over time. It is important to track a range of metrics as this can help your business to be more proactive in identifying and solving issues (e.g. resolving performance issues before they impact end-users).

Some examples of metrics you may wish to track include:

  • Budget variance – Actual costs vs. budgeted costs
  • Resource cost – The average cost of a technology resource
  • Project delivery – The percentage of projects delivered “on time”. You may also want to track project satisfaction by using a set survey to solicit feedback from business partners
  • Project cost – The percentage of projects delivered within budget
  • Production incident – The number of problems in order of severity
  • SLAs met – The percentage of jobs which finish on time
  • Application availability and performance – The percentage of time an application is functioning properly, and the average time it takes to render a screen or page
  • Employee satisfaction, feedback and reviews – Constructive feedback from employees can be highly useful for increasing productivity
  • Number of help desk calls

If your leadership team is not particularly technology-savvy, then metrics are a simple and effective way to demonstrate the success of the company’s IT strategy, which will help to secure the confidence of management. Furthermore, being able to demonstrate that the IT strategy is aligned with the overall business strategy may assist in securing funding for future IT projects.

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Is IT outsourcing the right choice for growing businesses?

IT outsourcing - Is outsourced IT the right choice for growing businesses?

Growing businesses need to plan strategically to ensure they are getting the most from their resources, from budget to staff. For some having an in-house IT helpdesk won’t make sense, but as the business continues to grow then it may become clear that additional resources need to be allocated to IT management. Keeping your IT resources operating efficiently and managing infrastructure can be stressful, especially with a small – or no – internal team dedicated to doing so. This often leads to many businesses considering outsourcing their IT function to a dedicated provider.

IT outsourcing takes the work of an in-house IT department and hands it over to a third party, who has the time, skills and experience to manage it. There are many reasons why your business may look at IT outsourcing. Before making a decision they should consider these six things to make sure it’s the right solution.

1. What are your reasons for considering IT outsourcing?

First and foremost you need to look at the reasons for outsourcing your IT support. For many businesses, financial gain is the main motivator. The majority of IT support providers will offer contracts with a fixed monthly fee.

You may also feel that you don’t currently have the right expertise in-house to support your growing business and no time to recruit the right professional. Or you are concerned that staff are becoming overwhelmed with technical issues which are preventing them from focusing on core activities. Whatever your reasons, you should take an in-depth look at them and consider whether outsourcing is the best option for helping you achieve your goal and progress efficiently.

2. Who is currently responsible for IT support?

Making the move to IT outsourcing can result in one or more employees changing roles or leaving the company. This will largely depend on whether you have a dedicated resource for IT support or whether certain employees take partial responsibility for different areas alongside their core role. In either case, it can benefit your business in terms of cost-savings and employee productivity.

If you have few IT needs then it probably doesn’t make sense to have a dedicated in-house resource. You would effectively be keeping someone on retainer just in case anything goes wrong. Alternatively, if your requirements are complex then your in-house resource may feel overwhelmed balancing daily management and troubleshooting alongside projects. Bringing in a managed IT support provider offers additional support and expertise for your in-house team, either taking responsibility for the daily running of your IT environment or providing additional resources for specific projects.

3. What technical expertise do you require?

The size of your business, and it’s projected growth, may also influence what type of IT support you require. In small businesses, it is not uncommon to find that the person who has the best “computer knowledge” has become responsible for IT management, even though this may not be the role they were originally hired for. While that person may be able to assist with troubleshooting, other tasks are outside of their skill set. Plus anytime they do spend on IT takes away from their original job function. Similarly, as your business grows you may find that your IT staff don’t have the time or expertise to deal with everything.

When you outsource your IT to a company who specialises in this work you are getting access to a whole group of highly qualified and experienced technical professionals, who will be able to meet your IT requirements. It is important to remember that IT outsourcing can be flexible, from a fully managed service to provided support for specific areas. The right IT outsourcing provider will be able to assign the right people, with the right experience, qualifications and skills, to the right tasks to ensure you get the technical expertise you need.

4. How much time do you have?

In a small business, it’s critical that you are strategic with your resources to ensure you are getting the greatest return. If your top priority is business growth then you may not have the time to dedicate to recruitment. Finding the right person with the right skills can sometimes result in costly recruitment fees. Even if you already have someone in-house, you may find the demands of management, monitoring and maintenance will stretch their time thin.

Outsourcing your IT alleviates the burden on both fronts, by providing your business with access to qualified and experienced IT professionals who can provide technical support and guidance. Managed service providers have seen the majority of problems, and will ensure the right engineer is assigned to the right task.

5. What will you outsource?

You must also consider what tasks you want to outsource. While you can have a fully managed IT service, there is also the option for co-sourced IT support. This is a flexible service where a provider offers additional support to an internal IT team on an ad-hoc basis. It’s a cost-effective way to extend your own team and can help in a number of areas such as; ongoing management, IT strategy, project management or absence cover for holidays. This may be an ideal option if you want to develop an internal IT team, but need assistance to develop.

6. Where will you outsource to?

There are many companies overseas who will offer outsourced IT support at very low prices. This can seem like incredible value, but it can also raise other issues. You must consider aspects like time zones, which can be a hindrance or a help. For example, you may be able to have work completed overnight, so your business is effectively running around the clock. However, it may not be as easy to communicate with your IT Help Desk. Language barriers and cultural nuances easily create difficulties.

Like any business decision, IT outsourcing is not something you should rush into. You should carefully consider your business goals and objectives and decide which path will help you meet these. There are pros and cons to outsourcing, but finding the right provider will minimise most of the cons.

NEXT>> 13 tips for finding the right IT support provider

5 ways to organise your email inbox for greater productivity

how to clean up your email inbox

We receive around 121 emails a day, on average, so it’s a wonder how we manage to keep up the constant communication!

Email can quickly become a drain on time if not managed correctly. The average worker now spends 28% of their time managing email. This means if you work Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm, over one whole workday is dedicated to your inbox.

There are many suggestions out there on how we can better manage our inbox and email communications, but some of them aren’t that practical for the majority of people to use.

Luckily by using a few of the inbuilt tools in your inbox and some time management skills, you can organise your email inbox, read and process incoming mail more effectively and become more productive.

1. Unsubscribe, unsubscribe, unsubscribe

Set aside time to blitz your inbox and unsubscribe from any irrelevant newsletters and communications. Fear of missing out (FOMO) on the latest news can make us reluctant to hit unsubscribe but think how often you actually read those emails? There’s a chance that you open many of them to mark as “read” because they don’t deliver any real value.

Of course, if there’s a weekly newsletter you love seeing in your inbox and enjoy reading as soon as it arrives then keep on subscribing, but if you keep receiving weekly “offers” from that stationery supply company you placed an order with once, then hit unsubscribe. Don’t forget there’s nothing to stop you from re-subscribing if you find yourself missing a newsletter.

2. Make use of rules and folders

Quickly scan your emails and create a list of “big” categories. Depending on which department you are in you may have categories like Vendors, Customer Service, Receipts, Recruitment etc. If you want you can also create subfolders within each category to further divide your emails, but don’t worry about being too specific. You just want recognisable categories which make it easier to manage your inbox.

Don’t forget you can use Microsoft Outlook’s search function if you need to find a particular email, so there’s no need to create sub-folders by sender name, date, subject etc.

Organise your inbox with the Microsoft Outlook 2013 search bar

 

Another feature you might want to take advantage of is “Rules”, which automatically file messages away into their correct folders as they arrive. You can choose whether you want these messages to be displayed in the New Alert window (ideal for high priority messages) or to play a selected sound.

There’s also a whole host of Advanced Options to choose from such as mark as important, mark as read, delete or send an automatic reply so you can ensure you prioritise important communications.

3. Don’t check email so often

Checking email has become synonymous with work, but often it just distracts us from more important tasks. How often have you been in the middle of something only to be distracted by an email notification?

We immediately feel the need to check our inbox but it’s rarely urgent, and then it’s difficult to get refocused. Even if each new email only distracts you for 30 seconds, if you receive 100 emails a day that’s 50 minutes you’ve wasted on checking your inbox.

Luckily there’s an easy way to prevent emails from distracting – simply turn off your audio and visual notifications. Log into your email account and go to File > Options > Select Mail in the left-hand column > Scroll down to Message Arrival > Untick all the message alerts.

Worried about missing a specific email? You can set up a “Rule” that will override this setting. For example, you could choose to have any emails from your manager to play a selected sound.

Organise your email inbox by turning off new email alerts

If you’re getting distracted by the thought of new emails then try setting aside specific periods to check your inbox. You could check once when you first arrive at the office, once around lunchtime and once in the afternoon.

If checking three times a day doesn’t work for you then try once per hour. For example, 45 minutes of focused work and 15 minutes of email management. Chances are you’ll find it easier to focus if you have regular, allotted breaks.

4. Try to get to inbox zero every day

There’s nothing worse than logging in and finding your inbox overflowing with hundreds of messages. It can be tempting to just select all and hit delete but you never know what you might miss.

Instead of allowing emails to build up, try to set aside some time at the end of each day to review your inbox. Reply to important communications, file away emails in the relevant folders and unsubscribe to anything irrelevant as you go.

Tackling your email in a more strategic fashion should make it more manageable. Of course, you will get some emails overnight, but in the morning you’ll have significantly fewer unread ones than normal.

5. Try email archiving

Many people will recommend sorting emails into “keep” and “delete” and trashing any which are no longer relevant. Or declare “email bankruptcy”. While this suggestion would probably work for your personal inbox it can be a bit more tricky in a business situation. Emails are important records of business decisions and if your company were to become involved in legal proceedings you may be required to present all related email conversations dating back to as far as six years.

With a cloud-based email archiving solution you have long-term, ultra-secure and forensically compliant storage for your emails without clogging up your inbox. Emails are automatically archived and remain so even if deleted from your inbox. Every email will have a digital fingerprint and time stamp to ensure authenticity. You can even restore emails direct to your inbox if required.

Email is a necessary part of a business, but it doesn’t have to be a necessary evil. With a few simple tricks, you can prevent email from draining all your time and focus on your business instead. Don’t forget to encourage employees to pick up the phone, or speak to you in person, for urgent matters. Not everything needs to be done over email.

Five New Year’s resolutions every business owner should make

While most New Year’s resolutions revolve around people’s personal lives – exercise more, drink less, eat healthily – the start of a new year is also the perfect time for business owners to reflect on the year – good and bad – and focus for the year ahead to ensure business growth. Here are five New Year’s resolutions we recommend business owners to make this year. New Year's Resolutions for business growth

1. Plan ahead

In order to focus on growing your business your first step should be to put a business plan in place. If you already have one you should give it a quick review to ensure it still reflects your current business needs and goals. If you don’t have one in place then set aside time to create one. A business plan will help you to prioritise, set measurable goals and establish a pathway to achieving them.

2. Work with company data throughout the year

If you don’t review key operating metrics regularly it can be difficult to foresee any difficulties before it’s too late. Consider investing in data analytics and IT which will allow you to review all the necessary metrics and generate reports at the click of a button. Break down your overall objectives for 2017 into “milestones” (or mini goals) and use the data to track your progress and make tweaks where necessary.

3. Automate where you can

If you have a number of repetitive, time-consuming tasks look into whether you can use technology and workflows to automate these. This applies to all areas of the business and examples include new customer welcome emails, invoice processing, client management, payment reminders and service update notifications.

Automation can bring huge potential benefits to your business. Greater customer – and employee – satisfaction, increased efficiency. Dedicate yourself to investigating technology that can move you toward automation, and you’ll be on your way.

4. Get the best out of your time

As a business owner, you should regularly ask yourself how you can maximise the return from every hour you put into your business. Is your time best spent taking on elements of every area of your business – IT support, bookkeeping, design, sales, marketing? Or would it best if you focused on leading and growing the business? If you often find yourself mired in paperwork or constantly flitting between departments, then consider delegating. Look for candidates, internally and externally, who can take responsibility for key tasks. Engage with your team to understand their strengths and how they would like to develop. Then you can ensure the right responsibilities are delegated to the right people. As your staff grows in experience, your business will grow as well.

Relinquishing some of the required tasks of your business can be difficult when you feel you should be taking care of everything yourself, but don’t be afraid to outsource. It’s an absolute must if you plan to grow, and these individuals or companies will provide support so you can focus on what brings in the money.

5. Focus on the long-term, not the short-term

Stop focusing on the immediate bottom line and look at long-term success and sustainability. Short-term goals may deliver immediate rewards and satisfaction, but when you focus on the long-term you can work towards real growth in your company. You might not see immediate returns but acting with the long-term in mind means that you will make proper investments in your time, money and organisational structure. You won’t be stuck firefighting or regretting hasty decisions.

NEXT>> Strategy Planning: Why business strategy and IT strategy must be aligned