wairua » publications » Aligning technology to your business makes real sense

Andy Williamson, Wairua Consulting
April 2004

As technology becomes more critical to business success, it is important to put in place not only support structures but governance structures. In today's highly competitive markets, aligning technology with business goals and ensuring that investment in IT is effective makes sense even for small businesses. Leaving technology to chance is not good business practice.

New Zealand is a country of small to medium sized enterprises. SMEs employing 20 or fewer people make up around 95% of our companies. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are increasingly forming a critical backbone in the enterprise, their effectiveness and reliability a factor in business success and competitive advantage.

Governance of the ICT infrastructure is not something that should be left to chance. Take Company A, five years ago they started to invest heavily in new IT systems and transform the way they did business to take advantage of new technology. Now they are considered industry-leaders, ahead of their field. They have used IT to become more efficient, to improve their manufacturing processes and to improve communication and service for customers and suppliers. But, they are now so reliant on IT that to be without their systems for even a day would be financially crippling.

The key issue here is one of risk. Being able to measure the impact technology has on your business, the effect of it not being available and taking steps to manage, mitigate and remove problems.

A major problem facing many small to medium enterprises is that the skills within the business have failed to keep pace with the complexity in IT and communications systems. The skills that are required today to maintain even a relatively simple ICT environment are beyond many organisations internal capabilities. And rightly so, you are in business to focus on your core competencies and, most likely, ICT is not one of them.

The trend is to outsource or subcontract major components of the ICT infrastructure and its operation to a third party. Increasingly outsourcing and support is with a single third party, rather than many smaller specialists. This is a sensible trend and one that makes sense for many reasons. The contracted party is an IT expert, able to source the right people and with the experience to solve the problem. It is a cost effective strategy giving your business access to skills that you could not otherwise afford to employ.

The downside of this model is that is focussed on the operational environment. It is critically important to understand the strategic potential of ICT and how technology can be aligned with your business strategy and purpose. This takes a different set of skills. It requires people who can understand what your business is about, see how technology is being used and identify opportunities for transformation and change that are driven by the business, opportunities and technology.

We have worked with Company A to ensure that their technology direction is managed and aligned with business needs. Growth has been incremental, strategic and well signposted. Support infrastructure has not been ignored. Risks have been clearly documented and strategies developed to deal with them. Company A's success is not just about using technology effectively, it is as much about alignment, planning and strategy.

Working independently and with no vendor affiliations Wairua Consulting can develop a governance structure for your ICT operations. We develop processes and policies for decision making and to support outsourcing agreements through business-focussed service delivery criteria. We work with you and your outsource partners to identify strengths and weaknesses in the way technology aligns with your organisation and then develop a road map for future technology growth. Our expertise is in developing strategic plans that work, we view your information systems strategy as a living process, not a document sitting on a shelf untouched.

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