All too often, companies view IT as an isolated department. IT is an ever changing world and within the past 10 years people have become more connected than ever before. Information is easily shared, processes can be streamlined and companies will stumble if they fail to realize that IT is an integrated component in an organization. Any change or addition to your IT strategy and environment will affect the entire company. Before you invest it’s important to really analyze your current environment, explore your options and then plan for change. There are obvious questions to ask when you start this process- What do we need? What do we want? What problem are you trying to fix? How will it get implemented? How much will it cost? What are the benefits? What are the risks… yadda yadda yadda. But here is a list of ten, less obvious questions that you can’t forget to ask.
- What are the problems and opportunities with your current IT environment?
- Who are the users and what are their concerns?
- Do the users’ roles, goals and behavior match the system’s design and goals? (PEBKAC, maybe?)
- How might better information or knowledge help?
- How good are the products or services rendered by the technology?
- How well do you use your available infrastructure?
- How might better technology help?
- Should you upgrade or reconfigure your current environment, or purchase something new?
- How well does your IT strategy fit within the overall goals of your organization?
- Does your IT need to change to fit in the organization or does your organization need to change to fit your IT?
Heidi Christensen , PEI
