Why your IT provider must understand Your business goals
If you want IT to add value to your business, then your IT company has to know really clearly what your business goals are. Too often business owners just ASSUME their IT provider knows what their goals are and are putting the right things in place to help them get there. In reality, IT providers often have no idea what your objectives are and just blindly put in place whatever they think is best – from their own perspective. Wrong equipment, wrong software and wrong systems mean that your business can’t grow. You can’t service customers quickly or effectively and your staff can’t do their work properly.
When your IT provider is actively and knowledgeably planning your IT to help you achieve your goals, the right technology adds HUGE value to your company and helps you get ahead of your competition.
Here is the story of a business owner who…
Recently we started working with a local manufacturing company. When I asked the CEO what his goals were, he told me that they were planning to double in size and production within the next three years. He also told me that he intended to move to a larger location. But he had no strategic IT plan to help him achieve his goals.
When we assessed his network, it became clear that the IT that he had in place just wouldn’t enable him to grow easily. It was barely doing the job now.
The telephone system was not reliable and already it wasn’t coping with the number of calls. There were constant phone drop-outs making client liaison and delivery systems twice as difficult to manage.
Staff were complaining about internet slowness interfering with their work. They were unable to get required information up on the screen fast enough to answer queries.
There was no central place to store business files, documents or financial records. And crucially, there was no backup in place and a high risk of losing everything! Each week staff lost documents and were forced to repeat work. This is a common story. When a company or organisation reaches ten or more staff, the control over adhoc document storage and access to sensitive company information can get very messy.
On top of this, the security of sensitive company information (i.e. who has access to sensitive information and who can install programs on your network) becomes a huge issue.
Proper planning was critical. We created an IT strategy document and a roadmap to make sure that the technology lined up with the CEO’s goals for expansion. Going forward, he has a clear plan with a timeline and budget.
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