Do you have an I.T. strategy to complement your business plan? This is where a lot of companies drop the ball!

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When did you last update your I.T. strategy? If you don't have one or you haven't given it much thought over the last few years, now is definitely the time to get on with it. If you use any technology in your business, whether that's something in as simple as a cash register or a full blown network for five locations, a proper I.T. strategy will be your best friend. It's the foundation to growing your business, and it can mean the difference between surviving a time of uncertainty and thriving through I.T..

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Okay, so there's a big chance that I'm biased, but I cannot stress enough how important a well thought out I.T. strategy is for any successful business. The I.T. strategy should work alongside your business plan, detailing the ways that your technology will accelerate progress towards your goals and objectives. It should take into account both long and short term targets and leave room for change where necessary. If nothing else, the Pandemic has taught us just how quickly we might need to adapt and why it's called an I.T. strategy.

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It's not actually about your technology. Sure, you'll have plans for the technology and devices that you use and those that you aspire to use in future, but in reality, the strategy is about your business and how your technology can help you to achieve all of the things that you like to in the easiest way possible. A great starting point is to take a look at your current I.T. infrastructure. What works well, what would you like to improve? And as your business grows, your technology will grow with you. Or we need to look at new software networks or even new phone systems. Speak to the people that are working in your business. What do they think works really well, and what would they change if they could other parts of your infrastructure that actually hinder what you're doing? Could you save time if you switched over to different software, or if one app could communicate with another one? When you're working with an I.T. support partner, they will be able to help you identify the right hardware and software.

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They will make recommendations based on the way that you work and the way you want to work. They should even be able to spot potential issues that you haven't noticed and suggest a simpler way of doing things. A technology roadmap as part of your strategy will help you to budget better and know what's going to be new and when it will stop those surprise costs and random invoices you didn't budget for. And it can seem a little complicated to do this by yourself, but if you're working with an I.T. support partner, this is definitely something they should be getting involved into now more than ever. Every spend needs to be justified. Every investment needs to work hard for your business, and you want real value for money from everything that you do. Create a range of metrics to help you track how well your infrastructure is actually working for you. It's nice that your team like a way a certain system works, but if you're not getting a return for your investment, then it's not working as well as you might think.

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Your I.T. partner should also get involved with regular strategic reviews. Now it's up to you how often you do these, but we'd recommend at least every six months you should look at what's going well and what's taking longer than you like it to. A few simple adjustments may be all it needs to get you back on track towards hitting your goals. And this is why, if you've been listening to Techcess for a little while now, I keep talking about an I.T. support partner. Not an I.T. support company, not an I.T. support provider. A partner. Imagine an office building has a cleaner who comes in every evening and cleans up the mess that people make. That's how lots of I.T. support companies work. They just clean up the mess. But we actually prefer to work as the facilities manager.

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You see, a facilities manager is constantly thinking and planning. They schedule what maintenance the building needs. They look at what they can proactively do to stop the building falling into any level of disrepair. Yes, there's still an element of managing the cleaners and making sure they've done their job, but they're Proactive enough to stop most of the problems from happening in the first place. That's what an I.T. support partner does. We take that Proactive approach. We do as much as we can in the background to stop things from going wrong in the first place.

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Now, of course, things will still go wrong. Unfortunately, that's inevitable when it comes to fast moving technology and data. That's when the cleanup work happens and things get fixed. All of that Proactive work means that we need to clean up a lot less than an I.T. support company that doesn't work proactively. What my team and I like to do for our clients is to create ongoing, fluid technology roadmaps. That's quite a fancy thing to say, but it basically means that you and I both know exactly what is going to be happening within your business over the next two to three years and what technological investments that you need to make to help make that process easier, more efficient, and ultimately help your business to achieve the things it wants to achieve and to make sure that there are no nasty surprises that it's all planned.

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And with regular strategic reviews that help us all move in the right direction. Our roadmap also allows us to see what can be delayed. For example, if there's a problem, what investments are critical, and if you're ahead of things financially in your business, what can be brought forward? In a large part, it's our partnership that allows this in depth planning to take place. We get to know your business as if it's our own. We are constantly working with you on your business and learning more about you and your team. This commitment makes it so easy for us to help you because we know just as well as you do where your business is going. Now. Several weeks ago on Techcess I talked about the 2022 I.T. Services Buyers Guide that we were working on and just finalising and I'm delighted to see that that guide has now been finished and is now live and available for you to download on our website.

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And what I've just covered off in today's episode is chapter two talking about I.T. strategy There's so much more information, guidance and advice for any business out there that is even thinking about changing their I.T. provider. And if you'd like to get a copy of the I.T. services Buyer's guide for 2022 you don't have to provide any information. It's a free download. It's not behind any payroll. You don't have to sign up, you don't have to give us your email address or anything. You just simply have to go to m3networks.co.uk/buyersguide that's just all one word as you would see it and you'll be able to click the link and just download the PDF.

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Like I said, it's full of so much useful information that will help make your life a lot easier when it comes to choosing a new I.T. support partner for your business. If you have any questions about anything that you've heard in today's episode or if you just like to book a quick call with myself to discuss any I.T. frustrations that you're having within your business, you can head over to m3networks.co.uk/meetmark where you'll be able to pick a 15 minutes slot and book an appointment in my calendar and we can have a chat so that's all I have for you today. I hope you have a great weekend business. See you next time.