What they have created is a strategic planning process for IT that allows for continual update and evolution as new challenges develop. The quality management strategy document is a ‘how to’ document and lays down the correct approach and tailoring to be used on this particular project. Frequently the connection is non-existent or quite weak. For example, an initial review of the organization's existing strategic IT plan and related documents is a good first step in any IT strategy. PEST Analysis (Political, economic, social, and technological). Business Capabilities (highest level capability map). IT Strategy is a strong alignment of business and IT capabilities rather than designing IT solutions to support business requirements, Assuming  that both business and IT capabilities drive each other, Assuming that business drives IT and not the other way around, IT Strategy sets future direction for IT function in the organization, Ensuring that the IT budget is spent on value creation activities for the business, Helping to maximize the return on IT investments. Steps to Create an IT Strategic Plan: Step 1: Build … It does not contain the fine detail of exact quality checks to be used on each product. A comprehensive, strategic business plan may include company information, SWOT analysis, research, goals, resources, risks and more. A strategy statement outlines the specific strategic a… The IT strategy is the foundation upon which CIOs communicate the value of IT across the enterprise. How do you plan to achieve these objectives? -Clarify any areas of ambiguity Other skills may also be identified independently of the Enterprise Architecture program. Future plans, concerns, time period, priorities), Baseline (servers, network , middleware, technical services), Issues, challenges, opportunities related to security, security principles, controls, Security concerns are addressed during all phases of the ADM. Best practices, frameworks, management and monitoring, resource management, portfolio management, vendors management, IT service management, project management, etc. And most important of all, develop several versions of your presentation to suit the different audiences for your material. Previous post: 5 Steps to transform IT from order-taker to business partner. Download. The “strategy document” represents a challenge for IT as it must serve as both a marketing document to be shared with non-IT leaders and also as a set of practical guidelines for IT professionals. Are we doing the right things with technology to address the organization’s most important business priorities and continuously deliver value to the clients? Can IT help achieve your business imperatives? Sometimes it is too detailed and does not always match the stakeholder’s needs. How Strategic Planning relates to Enterprise Architecture? Use this template to document and track your business operations in the event of a disruption or disaster to maintain critical processes. The chances of missing any test activity are very low when there is a proper test strategy in place. This strategic plan template makes it easy for nonprofit entities to frame their plans for the next 5 years. Effective business technology strategy must be anchored in the business goals since the strategy effectively sets out the path to achieve the goals – the BT strategy template clearly presents the choices being made in technology direction for the organization and makes it easy to see how these choices will help the organization achieve the goals. The IT vision is in turn supported by three pillars: integration, improvement, and innovation. What technology trends will dominate 2021? This questionnaire may include some of the following examples of questions: With this input you may now start to consider the structure of your document. Strategy is more than simply achieving business goals. And one of the most common questions I receive from clients since publishing the Business Technology Strategic Planning Playbook is “Do you have a plan template we can use?” At last I can answer, “Yes – here it is!”. OFFERING: SME IT Strategic Plan Template. An IT Strategy should answer the following questions: Quite often the first thing we should consider when writing such a document is the targeted audience and its content. Vision and Strategic Values . It is not easy to pitch a strategy to different levels in the hierarchy within an organization, and at the appropriate level of detail. It also implies that organizations cannot respond to changing business requirements rapidly enough. To help you succeed, use this proven strategic plan template, and the information below details the 13 key sections you must include in … There will obviously be touch points between the ADM and some other best practices used by the organization. Marketing project plan template. Serge has also been into ERP and CRM domains. All of them reflect good general guidelines and structure, which can be incorporated into your own strategy design. We’ve assembled a handful of sample strategic plans. For all intents and purpose of this post, we’ve put together below a short list of common strategic objectives. A resolution strategy for each of the identified failure points. IT budget, costs structures, measurement and metrics, targets, areas needing investments, etc. -Provides an executive summary version of full Architecture Others are just examples. The Executive Board IT Strategic Plan Template includes information about the proposed plans by the board of members of the company, firm or organization. Other organizations may also have a Strategic Planning unit, again without any connection with the Enterprise Architecture team. A weak IT strategy can be costly and wasteful, especially for resource-constrained organizations that operate with minimal budget, tools, knowledge and people. Does your company have a plan for technology? Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Serge has been in charge of International Governance and Control implementing different best practices around IT Finance/Procurement, Audit/Risk management, Vendors Management (with Service Level Management) in a Bank. Several times responsible for the Enterprise Architecture team in an international bank, Serge has wide experience in the deployment and management of information systems in Private Banking and Wealth Management environments, and also in the IT architectures domains, Internet, dealing rooms, inter-banking networks, Middle and Back-office. To deliver this, the business strategy should clearly be articulated and documented taking into account some IT aspects. If you are required by leadership to create a specific strategic planning document, UO provides a great example on what to consider even if it doesn’t have a single document that represents the plan. Stay tuned for updates from the Forrester blogs. SWOT Analysis (organizational and external environment and competition). Simply fill in the attached form with your company overview, delve deeper with a SWOT analysis, and finish off by determining your strategic goals, actions, and financial plans. Finance is addressed outside the Enterprise Architecture program, KPIs, measurement and metrics, balance scorecards, IT performance measurements on SMART objectives (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, & Time bound). Success for a business or organization is a matter of good guidance and following the direction it has from the beginning. Where is IT being used across your business unit? This is the part that meets the first challenge described above, where we need different levels of detail for different stakeholders. This strategic plan must continuously evolve with the changing needs of the business – as such it must be less of a fixed investment plan for the next X years and more a set of strategic guidelines to help shape future technology decisions. Describe the objectives supported by the Master Test Plan, For Example, defining tasks and responsibilities, a vehicle for communication, a document to … In table below, you will find the relationship between some phases of the TOGAF® Architecture Development Method (ADM) and the structure of the Executive Summary document (see above). It initiates your thought processwhich helps to discover many missing requirements. Enterprise Architecture KPIs may be added to that list. A template provides structure for your business planning process as well as a communication tool that’s simple to update or modify. The template includes the following sections: Purpose of plan How much do you spend on IT capabilities? This marketing project plan template is incredibly detailed, with sections for … Serge Thorn is an experienced and passionate Enterprise Architecture/Business Transformation professional, consultant, and trainer with many years’ of experience using the TOGAF® ADM and ArchiMate®, an open modeling language for EA. Emerging technologies, business related benefits, This can be done in parallel with the Enterprise Architecture program, Summary or link to the IT Project portfolio, Direct relationship with Enterprise Architecture, Indirect relationship with Enterprise Architecture. Once the IT Strategy has been reviewed, amended and authorized (which should in reality already be approved, as it is the result of various ADM cycles and the output of Phase F: Migration planning), the multi-disciplinary program team for the implementation during Phase G: Implementation Governance, will deliver the solutions to the business. The subscription model offers new opportunities for businesses to enhance the value of their offerings as they become more embedded in the changing context of their clients’ customer journeys. CEOs and CFOs task new CIOs and old CIOs alike with developing an IT strategy. You focused almost entirely on technology (right technology, right way, right return) with no regard for the services and people. Use these examples as your references if you want to come up with an effective, functional, and relevant document. Identified strategic capabilities with an assessment of each (Green/Yellow/Red). Here’s a riddle: What is it that almost every organization believes it needs, many organizations have, and few organizations use? A strategic plan is a plan where you set out your goals for the business and a strategy for making them a reality. IT Strategy may include sub-elements such as: What are your top 5 business “pain” points? Very often, they lack much supporting documented business information in order to achieve this task. Without these, your business or organization wont have the proper reasons to function. Geopolitical trends with expected business impact. Serge has been involved in several Business Transformation/Change Management and Digitalization programs managing stakeholders and architecture teams. Download Sample Test Strategy Document: Click the below download button to download the sample Test_Strategy_Document. The strategy includes the formal vision that guide the acquisition, allocation, and management of IT resources so it can help fulfill the organizational objectives. -Ensure that descriptions used are current Despite this, or perhaps because of this, only 18% of organizations have IT teams that communicate the value of IT effectively. A strategic plan is a roadmap to grow your business. What will we gain by leveraging IT Capabilities across the business? This tool provides an outline that allows CIOs to develop a simple, yet effective IT strategic plan. Writing a Test Strategy effectively is a skill every tester should achieve in their career. Certification Programs For Teams And Individuals, BT Strategic Planning template – it’s a Microsoft PowerPoint doc, 5 Steps to transform IT from order-taker to business partner, Using The Right Metrics For The Subscription-Based Business Model, Announcing The Forrester Wave™: Insights-Driven Business Process Outsourcing, Q4 2020. For this reason, Forrester recommends creating at least two documents: First the BT strategic plan – think of this as the brand marketing brochure for IT – it clearly lays out how IT will bring value to the enterprise and how this value will be measured; second, the IT operational plan – this sets out the choices IT leaders must make in order to effectively implement the BT strategy. Different people with varying roles and responsibilites may read an IT Strategy within a company, so the document may need to serve several different purposes. A strategic architecture level should be used to deliver a first version of the document, which then could be reviewed with Segment or Capability architectures. These can be short term or long term, can be driven by revenue, cost, time, time to market, competitive advantage, risk or various other reasons. I have observed many situations where a C-level person was supposed to document an IT Strategy in a short period of time, in order to prepare the following year’s annual budget. The strategy can be implied from the organization's behaviors towards technology decisions, and may be written down in a document. Test Strategy Document is a well-described document in software testing which clearly defines the exact software testing approach and testing objectives of the software application. Before starting a business or forming an organization, one must first identify and solidify its goals and objectives. If you use the template, I’d love to see your final versions (under NDA as needed of course). University IT is the world’s leading higher education IT organization, partnering with faculty, staff, students, and alumni to advance Stanford’s unparalleled research, teaching, learning, and healthcare mission. Consider the example of a consulting team helping a large bank to develop a data strategy. Conclusion: Test strategy document gives a clear vision of what the test team will do for the whole project. A good strategy is one that is widely understood and consistently applied toward achieving the goals of the enterprise. 10 Business Strategy Examples November 23, 2020. -Define constraints Traditionally, IT strategies are updated and communicated on an annual basis, usually to meet budget cycles. You may also see strategic planning checklists. data strategy. Customize the template for your own business. A one-year cycle may  be too late. Thinking and test planning activities help a team to define the Testing scope and Test coverage. The business strategy also guides many of your organizational decisions, such as hiring new employees. IT Strategy is a documented and approved process (part of the organization’s governance framework). Do we measure what is the real value to the organization derived from that technology? Strategic Values. A list of simple strategic plan examples in PDF are available for you to download in this post. It outlines the path that is supposed to be followed over a given time frame. At the top of the pyramid is the enterprise overarching vision. Enterprise Architecture skills will have to be addressed by the Architecture Capability Framework. There are different ways of gathering these business inputs. One of the main reasons for developing an Enterprise Architecture with TOGAF® 9 is to support the business by providing the fundamental technology and process structure for an IT Strategy. © 2020 Forrester Research, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. This could also be used as an important source of information for the Strategic Planning exercise (please refer to another article for additional information:  “How Strategic Planning relates to Enterprise Architecture?“). Major market drivers and economic/market trends with expected business impacts. It creates clarity, alignment and organization-wide engagement. As a real example, TOGAF® 9 is perfect way to produce the IT Strategy document during the Phase F: Migration Planning. The ideal BT strategy is one that clearly connects technology spending with achieving the goals of the enterprise. Does your business plan include a technology plan? In developing any strategy, it is important to begin with a deep understanding of the business vision, mission, values, and goals. Enterprise Architecture is the superset that represents both Business and IT Strategy; this is reflected in Enterprise Architecture’s basic structure of strategy, business architecture and technology/information architecture. The essential elements of the business technology strategic plan include: I encourage you to download the BT Strategic Planning template – it’s a Microsoft PowerPoint doc (fee for non-clients). The first approach is a very classical one where you develop a questionnaire in business terms which asks each business unit to identify their future requirements for infrastructure growth, taking into account capacity and availability requirements. SME IT Strategic Plan Template This template is developed for small and mid-sized enterprises that do not have the resources to perform full IT governance to develop a complex IT strategy. Business Technology Strategy elements must walk the reader/listener through the strategy in logical steps beginning with business goals and ending with a flexible technology roadmap that lays out the timing of the strategy implementation. IT Strategy is iterative (it needs to be frequently be revisited). An IT Strategy is an iterative process to align IT capabilities with the business strategy and requirements: This pyramid diagram can be used to illustrate the IT strategy and vision, and how the technology and business strategies are totally aligned. It is designed for small and midsized enterprises. Is our Information Technology environment properly managed, maintained, secured, able to support the clients, and is it cost effective? IT strategic planning must be firmly rooted in the business strategic plan — period. 7. As already mentioned previously, the outline strategies will be refined and expanded with a low level of detail when addressing Segment and Capability architectures. The Strategy Tree is a variant of a decision tree, except it is less about forcing choices along a path than simply outlining a path for strategic purpose and growth. One can certainly do an IT Strategy without Enterprise Architecture, but Enterprise Architecture cannot be done without an IT Strategy; the same would apply to business strategy/business architecture. Aligned below is how IT supports the vision by becoming a premier IT organization in creating competitive advantage for the clients. Buyer demand for greater value from insights and technology such as RPA, data science, machine learning, and advanced analytics are forcing both classical BPO and omnichannel BPO vendors to retool themselves into insights-driven BPO's. The IT Strategy details the technologies, application and the data foundation needed to deliver the goals of the corporate strategy, while Enterprise Architecture is the bridge between strategy and execution by providing the organizing logic to ensure the integration and standardization of key processes that drive greater agility, higher profitability, faster time to market, lower IT costs, improved access to shared customer data and lower risk of mission-critical systems failures. Serge’s competency covers the understanding of banking activities, and industries such as Pharma/Biotech, the design of new systems, IT Strategies, IT Governance, Innovation, new technologies, Enterprise Architecture (including Business Architecture, BPM, Business Process Analysis, Six Sigma-Lean, TOGAF® 9.1, ArchiMate®), Cloud, Digitization, Strategic Planning, Service Management (ITIL V 3), Quality Management, team management, project and portfolio management (PMI/SDLC), IT Finance, organization. It helps Test managers to get the clear state of the project at any point. An Enterprise Architecture must play the important role of assessing existing IT assets, architecture standards and the desired business strategy to create a unified enterprise-wide environment – where the core hardware and software systems are standardized and integrated across the entire organization’s business processes, to greatly enhance competitive advantage and innovation. Serge does coaching, mentoring and implementing worldwide in major Business and Technology transformation initiatives at blue chip companies. The “strategy document” represents a challenge for IT as it must serve as both a marketing document to be shared with non-IT leaders and also as a … Strategic objectives are one of the fundamental building blocks of your strategic plan. A strategic plan template is an important document for every organization. -Architecture project-specific constraints, When Architecture Governance Framework is defined during the Preliminary Phase, we identify the various touch points with other existing frameworks in the organization. But companies need to have the right metrics in place to be able to support the shift of the underlying value equation. A good strategy is one that is widely understood and consistently applied toward achieving the goals of the enterprise. Start with business strategy. Can our strategy support current and future business needs? People and demographic trends with expected business impact. All rights reserved. Some companies I have encountered have an Enterprise Architecture team, and in parallel, somebody called an IT Strategist. If an emerging technology surfaces that has the potential to enhance the business, it should be investigated and communicated to the business as soon as possible. Please accept cookies or get more information. Processes and systems for […]. I know teams who write strategy do… Investments in people, process, and technology. IT principles should have already have been defined by the IT department, IT Governance is defined outside the Enterprise Architecture program. As a real example, TOGAF® 9 is perfect way to produce the IT Strategy document during the Phase F: Migration Planning. IT Governance will be considered when the Architecture Governance Framework is defined. From the start, the project champion had found it hard to get his VP to under - stand the need for and importance of a data strategy… The template is a skeleton – pick what you like and discard the rest. With space to record business function recovery priorities, recovery plans, and alternate site locations, this template allows you to plan efficiently for disruption and minimize downtime, so your business maintains optimal efficiency. In a Pharmaceutical (Chemical) company, Serge was in charge of the worldwide Enterprise Architecture program and Governance, the IT Research & Innovation, following the reorganization of the IT Department, implementing Service Management based on ITIL Best Practices and deploying new processes: Change, Configuration, Release, and Capacity/Availability Management, responsible for the Disaster Recovery Plan and for the System Management team. In table below, you will find the relationship between some phases of the TOGAF® Architecture Development Method (ADM) and the structure of the Executive Summary document (see above). As a quick refresher, remember that strategic objectives are long-term and should be aligned with your organization’s mission and vision. The documents should be hierarchical, with the ability to drill down to lower levels as more detail is required. The absence of strategic anticipation causes organizations to be inefficiently reactive, forcing them to work in a constant state of catch-up. The success of a marketing plan relies on setting clear goals–including specific metrics and outlining the steps your team will take to get there. A business strategy is a powerful tool for helping you reach your business goals, defining the strategies and tactics you need to take within your company. The answer is an IT strategy. This extracts the data you need for business driven strategy. We use cookies to enable website functionality and to tailor content to your interests. In 2012 Forrester assembled the best components from the many strategies reviewed over the years and, in conjunction with Forrester Leadership Boards CIO members, identified the key contents for an effective BT and IT strategy. Next post: Chief Digital Officer: Fad or Future? This free IT strategic plan template spells out simple yet effective procedures for aligning IT strategy with your company's strategic objectives and initiatives. This should be considered the minimum review period. Focus on the future and keep your company moving forward with JotForm’s Strategic Plan Template. The plan is valuable not only to help you plot a course of action to ensure you meet your goals, but it’s an important document to help staff, shareholders, stakeholders and potential investors to see the “big picture” for your company. Some are from our clients. Remote working, The Open Footprint™ Forum will create a common model for footprint-related data covering all types of emissions, co…. High-Level Strategic Plan Template It may look similar to this example below: The second approach is where Enterprise Architecture will play an important and even crucial role. But despite the millions of dollars, pounds, euros, and yen spent on creating IT strategy every year, few of these strategies will be put to effective use. (Registration is required.) Every governance frameworks may have its own KPIs. The result is a weak strategy, sometimes ignored by the user’s community, the key stakeholders. -Provides high-level, aspirational view of target the sponsor uses to describe how business goals are met and stakeholder concerns are addressed Human capital management and strategic workforce planning are absolute essentials for IT strategic planning as are service strategies. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Data Strategy: What Problem Does It Solve? Just as there are varying models for the document itself, there are multiple ways to approach creating an IT strategy. -Enterprise-wide constraints Vision. Management Of Information Systems | Information Technology, Introduction (this document must be business oriented), Key elements of the scope, audience, time horizon, Market conditions, competition, consumer trends, new customers, products sales, costs savings, incremental services revenues, drivers related to the IT function, Profitability, financial performance, change in strategic objectives, end of the product development life cycle, mergers and acquisitions, staffs, risks, Considering that IT is part of the Business, these drivers should also be considered in that phase, Market growth, entering new markets, addressing manufacturing capacities, IT standards, development, implementation, delivery, testing, consolidation, maturity, best practices, Standards should be documented in the SIB (Standard Information Base), Baseline (main applications: ERP, CRM, customers facing systems). It is a static document means it wont change throughout the project life cycle. These are things that you wish you had a solution for, What are your top 5 business objectives? Test execution without any plan rarely works. Are we making the right technology investments? It wont have the direction and guidance it needs to prosper. Impact on strategies for different scenarios. What is in the way of achieving your business imperatives? Business and market trends with expected business impact. Plans are selected and refined from this template. -Drives consensus on desired outcomeThe Business Scenarios is used to discover and document business requirements, identify constraints, etc. Relationship between some phases of the TOGAF® Architecture Development Method (ADM) and the structure of the Executive Summary document. Prepare a document to summarize the Point-of-Failure Analysis which should include: Known or likely Points-of-Failure throughout a system/application’s data flow where failure is possible, Identification of the intervals during which a system/application is at risk of failure, and .

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