IT ConsultingIT Consulting

We start by reviewing the company's mission, vision, objectives, and strategy so we can derive what they imply for IT: what IT must be and do in order to support the business strategy and deliver business value. Conversely, which capabilities could IT put in place to form the basis of new business models?

We assess the current IT environment, including data centers, networks, equipment, documentation, and the organization's use of cloud computing. We also assess the health of the current application portfolio, combining online user surveys with in person interviews and rating each major business system on its importance to the organization, its real management value, and its technical quality. That gives an early read on which systems are the highest priority candidates to keep, replace, or upgrade. We also benchmark IT spending and staffing levels, the use of outsourcing and external IT service providers, and the state of IT management best practices. Finally, we look at which new IT initiatives are already planned.

This is the vision stage, picturing a future state in which IT systems, technology, people, and processes are fully aligned with business strategy. It can include art of the possible workshops, where our consultants explore the new and innovative technologies most relevant to your business and worth considering. Once that picture is drawn, we compare it with the current state and run a gap analysis.

This is the formulation stage, where we define the individual initiatives on the roadmap and weave them into a strategic narrative: the story of where you are going and how you will get there. The final deliverable is a strategic IT roadmap that sets out the desired future state, the major initiatives, and implementation priorities. It also includes summary descriptions and budget estimates for each major initiative. Strategic initiatives can include new business application systems and IT capabilities, upgrades, infrastructure improvements, IT organizational change or restructuring, process improvements, governance structures, and risk management programs.

IT recommendations have to account for interoperability with other technologies, legacy and new. Efficiency across the organization depends on how well each piece of software can consume and analyze the data produced by the others. High level hardware and networks are better sized and estimated up front, which supports a seamless integration of the proposed IT ecosystem. A solution architect helps determine how technologies can be folded into the organization with the least redundancy and minimal disruption. Technical architecture recommendations also bring cybersecurity, data protection, and disaster readiness into the picture. Even the most technologically advanced organization needs people to run it, so a workforce capability assessment is best carried out alongside the IT strategy and roadmap. That helps the company prepare human resources plans to accompany the introduction of new technology.

The business applications the organization will use to support its processes. These typically include ERP, CRM, HR and HCM, business intelligence and analytics, and a wide range of industry specific systems.

The technical architecture of hardware, operating systems, databases, end user computing platforms, communications, and facilities. It also covers the move to newer cloud platforms in place of on premises infrastructure and systems.

Decisions about how and where IT services should be delivered, and by whom: internal IT teams, or outsourced and managed service providers.

IT is about people as much as technology. Our IT strategic planning services include assessing current skills and staffing levels, identifying skill gaps, and designing the IT organization best able to carry out the roadmap. Where needed, we can also support the recruitment of new IT staff.

IT has its own internal processes, and they should follow proven best practices: IT governance, IT financial management, IT operations, IT security and risk management, application development, and innovation.