Business Centric IT Strategies Are The Way Forward

Adopting a Business-Centric IT Strategy

Is your IT strategy driven by technology or your business goals? Today, having an IT strategy primarily focused on technology puts you at risk of falling behind on your business goals while your competitors race ahead.
The problem with focusing solely on technology is that it’s far too vague. Suppose you treat technology as simply a list of exciting products you can add to your ecosystem. In that case, you lose sight of their impact – how exactly technology integrates with and supports your wider business function. You end up with statements like “automate everything” or “AI everywhere,” which sound forward-thinking but, in reality, are not actionable.

By contrast, the most effective IT strategies are created with business goals and technology in mind.

Why Business-Centric IT Strategies Are The Way Forward

Business-centric IT strategies help accelerate business growth, are easy to comprehend, and are typically less costly than their technology-centric peers. However, there are more specific reasons why a business-centric IT approach is becoming the norm for forward-thinking companies today. So let’s get into it.

IT Systems Need to Scale and Adapt with Your Business

New business opportunities arise all the time in response to market changes, customer expectations, and competitive new business models. Unfortunately, many organizations can’t take advantage of these opportunities because their IT systems stand in the way. Maybe you have heaps of custom code that would be too costly and time-consuming to change or upgrade. Or perhaps you’ve just invested in some flashy new software that is too narrow in its function and can’t be expanded to meet your new goals.

When you focus on your business goals, you instead choose flexible and scalable technology that allows you to rapidly adapt to changes in the business landscape.

A Tool-Centric Approach Cuts Key Players Out of the Conversation

IT has historically been a siloed department concerned with data storage, security, and network systems. And having a tool-centric IT approach continues this harmful trend. You risk cutting critical players out of the conversation when you only focus on cool new tools or the most popular CRM systems. Technology is an IT issue, so why involve people from the business? After all, they’re not technology experts, right?

Wrong. They might not be tech experts, but they do have a clear idea of what the business needs to achieve its goals. In a business-centric approach, business requirements and customer needs play a critical part in the decision-making process, and you’re more likely to pick the most appropriate technology.

A Business-Centric Approach Puts Customers First

More and more companies today are identifying as customer-centric, and with good reason – customer-centric businesses are 60% more profitable . And having a business-centric IT strategy is a surefire way to become a customer-centric company. How? Because when you put the needs of your business first and focus on more efficient workflows, you deliver better products and services to your customers. The technology you choose becomes intrinsically connected to your business outcomes and, as a result, customer satisfaction.

To combat the tool-centric preferences of the IT department, it’s a good idea to have your IT team become better versed in your business and customers. Encourage them to see the impact of their tools, how customers actually use products, and so on.