Operational IT vs. Strategic IT

Not new terms, but worth considering for a moment.

If operational IT is managing the day-to-day (keeping things running), then strategic IT is the time you spend looking to the future, adding business value, digitally transforming and supporting business growth. The question is, how do you effectively split your resource and budget between these two types of IT? If your future state (where your company and IT model will be in 24 months’ time) is likely to be similar to your current state, it’s probable that most of your time will spent on operational IT. However, its worth considering how the following points might change in two years’ time:

• Will you have more employees?
• Will you have grown your turnover?
• Will you have more customers?
• Will you have changed your route to market?
• Will the demands of your customers have changed?
• Will the demands of your employees have changed?

Each of these can impact heavily on your future state IT requirements. For most companies (either through digital disruption, competition, customer demands, buying models, market dynamics or simply cost) the changing demands make the future state very different. So, if most companies need the future state to be different to the current state in order to survive, then are they investing enough of their time on strategic IT today? Understandably the answer is often no, as no one really knows what their needs will be way ahead of time. That’s the dilemma.

The reality is, IT leaders know their role is all about delivering business value, supporting transformation – getting to their future state through strategic IT. What IT leaders need are practical suggestions to getting there, whilst managing their budgets now.

So, if you need help freeing up time and resources – we think using a third party to deliver managed services (supporting end users and/or IT teams) can help. Working for you, to a clear SLA, it can give you the time back you need to focus on IT transformation to get to your future state.

One final thought is that, when selecting the MSP to help you with this step, consider your broader future state and select one that can help you with the subsequent steps you need to make. Find an MSP who has the vision, portfolio and people who can deliver a platform that supports your digital, agile future.