A simple google search reveals no shortage of inspirational quotes about setting priorities and goals. But the place where many organizations fall short is creating prioritized goals and then turning them into tangible results – the kind of results that can take an organization’s efforts from stalled to spectacular.
Getting tangible results from your IT plan takes effort, but with some steps for success, you’ll be able to meet your goals. In the last blog in this three-part series about your IT plan, we shared steps to create an inventory and make preliminary strides in assessment; in part 2, we will explore determining your needs, identifying your priorities, and building your recommendations.
1) Determining your needs. Here’s an unequivocal tip: security should be a top item in every part of your IT plan. From applications to email to telephony and the systems that support it all – it’s paramount to build cyber resilience. This means planning for – and mitigating – data breaches, misconfigurations, insecure interfaces, account hijacking, and other malicious activities. While integrating security, document how you’d like to transform the way you manage your business and simplify the way work gets done with modern tools that streamline business processes. Don’t forget to factor staff time and expertise to support the work. Consider the value of advanced collaboration and team interactivity for meetings and file sharing; server, network and workstation requirements; end-user support; and management tools like monitoring, measuring, tracking, and managing the performance and availability of your network resource. Include infrastructure: hardware, software; and much more.
2) Identifying your priorities. Again – don’t let security fall off the map, plus be sure to include disaster recovery. Break down the needs from above into actual tasks and indicate how crucial they are to your organization’s strategy for success.
3) Building your recommendations. Here’s where you evaluate your options and document your best path forward. Do you need to select new tools? Is migration to a new environment in your future? Will there be maintenance, and a need for strong support for any new technology? What are the costs? Are managed services in your best interest?
Don’t forget that businesses that make it their business to manage technology can be your partner; they can also be part of your project planning as you determine the best approaches and methods for your workflow – all while you stay focused on your business’s success. At Moruga, we’ve made it our business to manage all of your IT for you, offering customized professional services to exceed your short and long-term IT objectives. Connect with us today.
Be sure to check back soon for our next blog: Implementing and evaluating your IT vision.
*To ensure confidence in our recommendations, Moruga maintains both vendor and hardware neutrality so you can be confident that you are receiving truly unbiased IT assessment consultation.