Preparing for Fast-Paced IT Change
The fast pace of IT Change means that an increasing number of organisations are considering how they can future-proof their IT, to stay ahead of emerging technologies while making investments that stand the test of time. Those who fail to prepare risk being left behind.
In this blog, we will look at what steps organisations can take to prepare for fast-paced technology shifts including the strategic planning, practical actions, investment approaches and best practice to get your IT change and infrastructure ready.
Why future proofing IT Change matters
In a nutshell, “future proofing” your IT infrastructure means having the right systems, processes and investments in place so that you can respond to change when it happens. In this way, you can avoid reactive or short-term sticky plaster solutions, enabling the organisation to adapt without frequent disruptions.
While competitors can move quickly with cloud-first solutions, automated workflows and AI, getting stuck in outdated systems can significantly hold your organisation back. This often shows up as higher maintenance costs, increased security risk, and slower delivery of new products and services.
Future proofing IT Change matters because…
- It allows you to scale as the market evolves.
- It reduces the risk and cost of new IT changes.
- It can respond quickly to new business or market requirements.
- Economic shifts and political challenges can occur at any time!
The role of IT Strategy in a world of digital disruption
The IT strategy sets the foundation for future proofing. The strategy ensures there are clear and consistent links between technology selections and longer-term business goals. It’s important to note that not all IT strategies are built the same. You must ensure that the strategy provides a tailored roadmap for IT changes that are appropriate to your organisation’s context. For example, for organisations that are considerably behind the change curve, a larger scale transformation may be necessary to keep customers satisfied or to keep up with competitors. However, for others, smaller incremental improvements can also be sufficient if you have more frequently engaged in IT changes in the past. Regardless of an organisation’s context, future proofing IT change is not a ‘one and done’ activity, it is something that must be continually reviewed and acted upon to keep up with the pace of change.
Without an appropriate strategy or plans in place, business leaders and C-suite level execs can often make ad hoc decisions that solve the immediate problem at hand, inadvertently creating more challenges later down the line.
Ensuring Lasting IT Investments
Making the right IT investment decisions is critical for Business and IT execs to get more bang for their buck on IT spend, both in innovation and business value. Poor investment choices can lead to systems which provide unintended duplications in functionality across the IT landscape, support costs with an eye watering annual % increase and technology which holds teams back in getting their everyday work done quickly and accurately.
For CIOs, keeping IT ahead of new technologies means investing in solutions that provide flexibility and maintain organisation resiliency and sustainability. This requires a clear understanding of what technology can realistically deliver, rather than being drawn to the latest trend or “shiny” solution that may not necessarily be the right choice for the business. Technologies that look promising in the short term can quickly become a source of frustration, forcing teams to rely on workarounds just to keep things usable as needs evolve.
Practical steps to prepare for IT Change
Now that we’ve covered the strategic thinking and investment choices behind future-proofing IT, let’s take a look at the ways in which we can put these approaches into practice.
Firstly, it’s useful to understand the IT landscape of the organisation. For many organisations, this may include a number of legacy platforms, heavily customised integrations, uncleansed data sets and complex vendor contracts. It’s important to take the time to unpick and understand the historical decisions made by predecessors and how well this supports future changes. This enables leaders to make more informed decisions about future implementations.
Another key step is not underestimating the importance of skills development. Building a future-proofed organisation is easier when teams have the right skills, learning and lived experience to support IT change, without having to go back to the drawing board when it comes to putting new ways of working in place. In some cases, this may mean working closely with recruitment teams to find specialist roles with the right skillset. However, in the majority of cases, upskilling existing teams is both effective and sustainable when individuals are given dedicated L&D time.
Clear ownership and collaboration between IT and business teams is critical to prepare for fast paced technology shifts and IT Change. A lack of accountability and decision-making can create a source of confusion and delays. Defined owners should be agreed and communicated out, to ensure that decisions are made only once.
Changes rarely happen in isolation, a close working relationship between relevant teams across the organisation is beneficial to avoid misaligned teams. This is important to create a shared understanding of ownership, delivery timelines and constrains, to avoid unintended disruptions.
Future-proofing IT infrastructure
When it comes to new system implementations, more organisations are starting to favour IT standardisation over customisation. Of course, in some cases it may be absolutely necessary to implement customisations in some shape or form due to business-critical factors such as regulatory compliance. However, ‘out of the box’ standard solutions are becoming more popular as they come with better consistency, less costly changes and clear training documentation and guidance to support teams in maintaining IT infrastructure and reducing the need for specialist knowledge.
Security risks must also be considered as part of best practice considerations. Outdated systems leave the organisation vulnerable to threats. An IT landscape that is up to date, regularly monitored and reviewed is in a stronger position to support any future IT changes without creating new vulnerabilities.
Last but not least, data quality should be treated as a non-negotiable in getting your organisation prepared. It may not be the most glamorous part of preparation efforts, but it forms the foundation of a resilient IT landscape. The old saying stands strong, “rubbish in, rubbish out”! Systems that hold reliable and consistent data are essential to inform decision-making and improved reporting. Clear data standards and governance are key to ensure the infrastructure supports both the current IT landscape and any future implementations to keep the organisation on the pulse of technology shifts.
IT Change and technology shifts is as much about the people as it is about the tech itself. We truly believe this at Nine Feet Tall and we think you should too! Let’s chat so we can explain this more.
