With many businesses, big or small, technology plays a vital role in everyday operations. However, most businesses do not have an IT strategy or what we like to call an IT Roadmap, in place. They either didn’t know it existed or they are unaware of the importance of having one for their own business.
The purpose of having an IT Strategy is to offer business owners direction on how to utilize technology to support their business. An IT strategy highlights any risks and shares recommendations on how to reduce them. It also outlines your business’s technology and how it aligns with your business goals. Whether it’s making a change to your current hardware or implementing something new to mitigate risks to your business, it helps to have a plan.
Here are some of the top benefits of having an IT Strategy for your business that we believe every business should be aware of:
Identify Risk
Every business is going to carry some amount of risk but how much?
An IT strategy will help you identify areas of your current technology infrastructure that may be posing a risk to your business and is not supporting the business goals. This could mean things like old servers, faulty backups, or employee workstations that are out of date and cannot support modern applications. It is important to get an understanding of what technology in your business is posing a risk before it costs you a data breach or loss of data down the road.
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Increase Security
Along with addressing any current risks within your existing IT infrastructure, an IT strategy provides solutions to any gaps in your network security. It outlines the current state of items like physical infrastructure and end-user software and provides recommendations on how to minimize any potential threats they have to your network. Some ways to improve this may be adding a new firewall or antivirus to workstations and investing in an employee security training program. Overall, if the recommendations provided in the strategy are followed, you can expect an improvement in your IT security and minimize risks to your network.
Planning Costs
Since the IT strategy will help identify what technology is at risk and what hardware you should consider replacing to support your business, you will get an understanding of what you should be budgeting for. Important infrastructure like servers can be expensive and it is much more cost-effective to budget for them rather than spending one large surprise lump sum to replace it when it fails. Having a planned approach to the purchase of technology allows for proper budgeting. Certainly, your CFO or Finance Manager will thank you for this.
Implement Change
Change is inevitable and necessary for businesses to thrive in a world of digital transformation. An IT Strategy can provide you with a clear picture of what technology changes you need to make so you can reach your business goals. An IT strategy provides you with insight into why certain improvements should matter to your business. For example, easily accessible remote access can help companies be more agile and flexible for staff, but it can also create large security risks for a company. That is why it is important to utilize technology programs like virtual private networks (VPN) to make the remote access experience for staff obtainable while keeping your network safe. Each business is different but planning for change can provide your business with a competitive advantage. You will understand what expenses lie ahead and what improvements need to be made before you make the change.
It is Essential to Have The Right IT Strategy to Support Your Business
At Yardstick, we know having a detailed plan in place helps a business reach success, but we realize that sometimes plans can change and that is okay. Your IT strategy can be adjusted to align with new timelines or budgets for your business.
Get an IT Strategy today to gain an understanding of where your current technology is and begin planning for change. Contact us to set up your free-no-obligation discovery call!
