Technology Strategy - Typical Structure of A (IT) Technology Strategy

Typical Structure of A (IT) Technology Strategy

The following are typically sections of a technology strategy:

• Executive Summary - This is a summary of the IT strategy
  • High level organizational benefits
  • Project objective and scope
  • Approach and methodology of the engagement
  • Relationship to overall business strategy
  • Resource summary
    • Staffing
    • Budgets
    • Summary of key projects
• Internal Capabilities
  • IT Project Portfolio Management - An inventory of current projects being managed by the information technology department and their status. Note: It is not common to report current project status inside a future-looking strategy document. Show Return on Investment (ROI) and timeline for implementing each application.
  • An inventory of existing applications supported and the level of resources required to support them
  • Architectural directions and methods for implementation of IT solutions
  • Current IT departmental strengths and weaknesses
• External Forces
  • Summary of changes driven from outside the organization
  • Rising expectations of users
    • Example: Growth of high-quality web user interfaces driven by Ajax technology
    • Example: Availability of open-source learning management systems
  • List of new IT projects requested by the organization
• Opportunities
  • Description of new cost reduction or efficiency increase opportunities
    • Example: List of available Professional Service contractors for short term projects
  • Description of how Moore's Law (faster processors, networks or storage at lower costs) will impact the organization's ROI for technology
• Threats
  • Description of disruptive forces that could cause the organization to become less profitable or competitive
  • Analysis IT usage by competition
• IT Organization structure and Governance
  • IT organization roles and responsibilities
  • IT role description
  • IT Governance
• Milestones
  • List of monthly, quarterly or mid-year milestones and review dates to indicate if the strategy is on track
  • List milestone name, deliverables and metrics
• Relations
  • the important components of information tehno-strategy is information technology and strategic planning working together.