Strategic IT alignment with business goals is the key to a
successful IT operation. Easier said than done, you say? Maybe so,
but some experts say small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs)
actually do this more easily than larger enterprises due to several
factors, including the fact that smaller companies have easier
access to upper management.
Even so, there are specific steps to take to ensure that each
side is giving all it has to make the IT/business alignment a
roaring (and noticeable) success. And it's not exactly the same for
CEOs as it is for CIOs. These articles, resources and advice
columns are a must-read before you attempt to begin a prosperous
business/IT relationship.
For free advice and resources on more IT and business topics,
visit our main
SMB IT Management Guide section.
Table of contents
With
project portfolio management, city CIO saves big
bucks
IT
job rotation rare, but critical for alignment
E-discovery
must be a team effort
CM
systems: Keep your customers in the driver's seat
SMBs
stymied by uncertain economy
More
resources
[Shamus McGillicuddy, News Writer]Tom Freeman, CIO of the city of Roseville, Calif., reduced his
$10 million budget by 6.8% just by using a
project and portfolio management (PPM)
application to align his department with his city council's
strategic goals and objectives.
"Roseville is one of those cities that have its own operations
-- an electric department, planning, police, fire, transportation,"
Freeman said. "We have 16 different operating organizations. It's
somewhat difficult because it's almost like running 16 different
businesses. We were having a little bit of trouble with a silo
effect. One of our goals was to break down those silos and try to
align technology projects with the goals and objectives of the city
council. But to do that, everybody had to see the big picture of
what was going on."
"We were overburdened with projects," Freeman said. "If we had
on another major project, a PPM tool implemented in-house -- that
would have taken even more resources and we would have been
burdened with software licensing and additional equipment."
Learn more in "
With project portfolio management, city CIO saves big bucks."
Also:
[Shamus McGillicuddy, News Writer]Ten percent of the employees in CIO Joe Lacik's IT organization
were originally recruited from the business side of his
company.
Lacik says rotating workers into IT from business operations is
part of the reason why IT is so strongly aligned with the business
at Aviall Inc., a Dallas-based distributor of aerospace parts and
services with $1.3 billion in sales. Aviall was recently purchased
by The Boeing Co.
Despite the success that CIOs like Lacik have had with them, IT
job rotation programs like Aviall's remain extremely rare.
In a recent survey of 281 IT leaders, Forrester Research Inc. in
Cambridge, Mass., found that only 22% of organizations rotated
staff within their IT organizations.
"When I've interviewed people before about rotation in general,
I get a lot of responses along the lines of, 'Well we should be
doing that,' or 'We're not doing it yet,'" said Forrester analyst
Samuel Bright, author of a report based on the survey.
Learn more in "
IT job rotation rare, but critical for business alignment."
Also:
- Key to IT alignment: Know your place
(SearchCIO.com)
What kind of IT organization are you? Do you offer strategic value
or deliver on business requests? Industry expert Paul Gillin
discusses how IT organizations can successfully define themselves
in a way that best matches the needs of the business. - 25 Champion CIOs (CIO
Decisions)
These 25 leaders are shaping business strategy at their companies
with smart technology decisions. Meet our 2007 Midmarket IT award
winners.
[James M. Connolly, Contributor]IT organizations have survived Y2K, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act,
HIPAA and other compliance issues that more or less have an end in
sight once the deadlines have been met. But there's one hurdle for
CIOs at SMBs that never really ends: the emergence of rules
relating to electronic discovery, or
e-discovery, of corporate communications and
documents in court cases.
The rules relating to types of information companies must
produce when involved in lawsuits are being defined by individual
court decisions and changes to the
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) that
took effect in December. They affect companies of all sizes and
in all industries. While larger companies may tend to be prime
targets for lawsuits, SMBs are more likely to lack the IT and
legal resources to deal with e-discovery.
"The biggest thing we have to do from a small-company
perspective is to balance everything we have to do because we don't
have the luxury of a big staff," said Dan Grosz, vice president of
information systems at VIP Parts, Tires & Service in Lewiston,
Maine. "We wear multiple hats, and I don't want to add yet another
hat. I have enough to worry about without having to become a
lawyer.''
Learn more in "
E-discovery must be a team effort." Also:
[Sarah Lourie, Site Editor]BOSTON -- Let your customers drive your
content management (CM) system selection. It
will only grow your bottom line. That was the message Anthony
Wilson, director of client services at New York-based Molecular
Inc., gave to attendees at last week's
AIIM Conference
& Expo. "There's a fundamental shift in the digital
world. Content does not stand alone anymore, people are trying
to understand the relationships in the data," Wilson said.
What works for one company may not work for others, especially
SMBs. IT professionals at SMBs need to consider the context of any
recommendation they are given -- whether by a friend, colleague or
analyst. Ask detailed questions about usage and what criteria was
used to evaluate systems. Your needs and goals probably aren't an
exact match.
It's also important, Wilson warned, to look into the corporate
standards at your company. There may be some for CM systems --
you'll need to work within those standards to find a system. "This
approach reduces licensing costs and simplifies maintenance for IT
but does not always assure the right system is used for each
application," he said.
Learn more in "
CM systems: Keep your customers in the driver's seat."
Also:
[Linda Tucci, Senior News Writer]An uncertain economy and shrinking capital are hobbling SMBs and
forcing many to readjust their business strategies.
For the smallest SMBs, the tough economic climate is prompting
layoffs. Midmarket organizations plan to cut costs by optimizing
business operations and integrating their IT infrastructure.
The findings are from a study by AMI-Partners Inc., a New York
firm specializing in global IT, Internet, telecommunications and
business services strategy. The "high level" snapshot gives SMBs
insight into how other companies are attacking the problem, said
AMI analyst Spencer Richardson, author of the study. But the
barriers to growth should raise concerns beyond the SMB
community.
"Enterprise firms need to be aware of what is facing both their
clients and future competition," Richardson said.
Learn more in "
Report: SMBs worldwide stymied by uncertain economy." Also:
-
CIOs confident about budget but plan for economic slump
(SearchSMB.com)
A positive economic outlook has CIOs feeling rosy about their IT
spending next year, but economists warn shrinking corporate profit
growth could be the thorn that bursts their bubble. -
Short CIO tenures paralyze IT
Companies with unstable CIO positions are short-sheeting not only
IT, but their business objectives as well. Want long-term success?
Keep your CIO.