Is IT a Strategic Weapon or Survival Tool?

A business can only ever be as successful as its IT infrastructure - the backbone to every organisation. Implemented wrongly and a business leaves the door open for its competitors, which in the current economic climate is very dangerous!

However, can IT actually be your best strategic weapon? Can it be the key to transforming your organisation? The answer is of course 'yes', however to do so, IT Directors and CIOs alike need to be able to demonstrate the business-critical nature of IT to senior management, but senior management need to understand the costs to the business if the IT infrastructure isn't right, which can often prove difficult if there is a disconnect in the information flow.

However, if you can successfully show the benefits that come from 'getting it right', it can make a huge difference to business! This discussion will therefore consider how you can drive home the importance of IT within the wider business function, providing advice and guidance on creating a roadmap to IT and business alignment, including:

- The importance of adopting a profit-centre vs. cost centre approach within the IT department
- Reducing complexity and driving transparency for more effective business communication
- Understanding the importance of creating 'Board-Level Champions' to drive a strategic focus that everyone can adopt
- Aligning IT priorities so that they are serving the business priorities
- Avoiding a separate list of 'wants' to be prioritised in isolation
- Educating the IT department on making the IT business-case in a language business managers can understand
- How to engage with business managers to build IT projects that deliver key business benefits
- What are the new Frameworks to encourage IT and business alignment?