Slow growth due to stringent cost-cutting initiatives and cost controls have been the after-effects of a grueling global recession that hit the IT industry way back in 2007. Slashing of IT budgets as per management directives, with increased focus on efficiency and productivity, became the agenda of IT Managers and Executives for all IT related projects.
However, 2011 showed signs of recovery with economic pundits such as European Commission on Economic and Financial Affairs predicting that the European GDP could rise by about 1.75% in 2012. The U.S economy, Goldman Sachs opines, is also on a growth trajectory with an estimated GDP as high as 3.6%. It is important, therefore, that CIOs move away from their “hanging-on” mode to gaining a competitive edge, as business grows.
CIOs ought to be able to align these growth needs to improved technology platforms, to not only create long-term value for stakeholders but to also provide improved customer experiences and generate value, through enhanced business intelligence provided to the management.
If they can foresee this growth wave, they can take strategic decisions and tactical steps to prepare IT for upcoming changes by focusing on the following areas:
- Improving IT governance maturity – create a set of predictable processes for assessing and prioritizing IT investments in programs, projects etc.
- Balancing the IT portfolio demand with other IT services – sound processes to gauge which projects need to be pursued and the order in which they would be deployed.
- Embracing the changing and distributed workforce – Online collaboration tools, cloud computing, SOA frameworks help human capital across boundaries work effectively for diverse projects
- Tapping into the power of enterprise data – IT can use approaches to benefit its infrastructure, platforms, ERP, CRM, BI and other core application suites that foster the ability to share common data structures and dictionaries
- Focusing on benefits realization – tracking metrics to gauge the value proposition on IT investments.
As an IT technology company, we firmly believe in the value of outsourcing. But we also know that businesses need flexibility, lower risk, and more options when outsourcing their IT work. Suyati offers traditional as well as customized, unique models of engagement that ensures every business does extend their IT profitably when they choose us as their IT outsourcing partner.
Source:
http://www.ihrim.org/Pubonline/Wire/Feb11/FiveWays_IT_WP.pdf
http://www.ihrim.org/Pubonline/Wire/Feb11Wire.html
