In previous issues of Smart Business,
members of MIS Group, one of the
nation’s premier software and technology service providers, discussed the
importance of developing an intentional
approach to the integration of business
and technology.
“It’s important to understand the problems faced by companies without sound
IT strategy,” says Chuck Reeves, vice president of Technical Services with MIS
Group.
Smart Business asked Reeves how a
company can make sure it has an effective
IT strategy and what happens when it
doesn’t.
What happens when companies do not give
IT strategy the attention it deserves?
A company’s approach to disaster recovery is a great example, especially among
small businesses, of what can happen
when IT strategy is not properly emphasized. Data might double in size every
year. Many businesses deal with this by
increasing storage capacity and purchasing bigger and faster tape backup systems. Because there is not any one person
in the organization who can properly categorize and prioritize all the data, the decision-making is left to the IT person, who
usually treats all data the same. Customer
data is treated like payroll data, which is
treated like end user mp3 files or internal
memos. There is no attempt to classify
data by what is mission critical. There is
little attention given to determining how
much data is acceptable to lose in the
event of a disaster, or what an acceptable
amount of downtime might be if something unforeseen happens. Seldom do
small businesses have policies for archiving or purging. These critical functions are
often overlooked, that is, until disaster
strikes.
These tasks sound pretty important. Why are
they so often overlooked?
People rarely believe disaster will truly
strike them so they only make a halfhearted effort to prepare. Preparing to
cope with the unforeseen is complicated,
time consuming and no fun. Without a
qualified IT adviser, planning is left up to
the business leader — who is probably
focused on other things, like revenue and
cash flow. The leader wants to believe
everything is OK, so when the person in
charge of the tactical execution of IT says,
‘Everything is fine,’ the leader goes along
with it. The executive in charge probably
doesn’t know how to challenge this statement and isn’t inclined to spend the time
to discover if it should be challenged, so
everyone in the company just assumes
the best.
Isn’t assuming a dangerous thing to do?
It is. If the business leader is not interested or not sure how to evaluate the
effectiveness of the IT department or its
policies, then it is all just too easily
ignored. In defense of the business leader,
it is hard to know whom to believe. There
is not just one way to handle IT effectively, and there are a lot of ways to handle it
incorrectly. Most business leaders have no
standard by which to evaluate IT, and this
is especially true for those heading up the
small business. There are some internationally accepted standards for IT controls and processes (such as CoBIT and
ITIL), but these principles are almost
never mentioned in the small business
setting.
What do you consider to be the scope of influence for IT?
I think that many business leaders don’t
think about their technology investment
as a whole; rather, they see it as several
unrelated pieces. A lot of money is spent
on computers, network equipment, printers, server software, personal software,
Web sites, telephone systems, cell phone
service, fax machines, copy machines,
Internet service, phone service, supplies,
repair, maintenance, etc. Decisions about
individual items are often made without
respect to other technology investments.
It’s not uncommon to find up to 20 vendors and multiple internal purchasers all
helping a small business spend its technology dollars. There are those who evaluate what stuff to buy, while others buy,
receive or oversee the implementation of
the purchased product. On top of that,
there are those who troubleshoot, escalate or secure the maintenance or service
for these items.
When these steps are properly condensed and organized, the organization
saves a considerable amount and can
stave off significant loss of productivity.
A lot of problems have been identified. So
what is the answer?
IT strategy is important — not just any
strategy, but one that manifests itself in
the roles of automation, empowerment,
control and transformation. Most important is the IT adviser. That is the one person who can bring it all together in a way
that makes sense for even the smaller
company. My encouragement is for all
leaders to spend time identifying a qualified individual or organization to manage
what is such a critical part of their business success.
CHUCK REEVES is vice president of Technical Services with MIS Group. Reach him at [email protected] or
(866) 467-4181.
Vice president of Technical Services
MIS Group
