IT strategy and operating model

Developing an IT strategy has traditionally been a cyclical process, perhaps in response to technology changes or a new business requirement. But the digital revolution has made new challenges a constant.

IT strategy consulting that can drive change in the digital revolution

Across many sectors, IT is fast moving from supporting the business to being the business. IT has not only moved from a passive support function to an enabler of growth in recent years; it is now becoming the powerhouse of growth. The IT strategy increasingly sits at the heart of the business strategy and the role of the CIO is fundamentally changing. 

That’s increasing the pressure on IT, driving new ways of thinking and the development of strategy. We recognise that while many of the traditional drivers for IT strategy remain critically important, the digital revolution has added further dimensions:

• An annual or multi-year cycle no longer works; you need a dynamic and responsive approach to IT strategy development. 
• Customer interfaces are becoming ever more digitised, throwing IT into the forefront of business operations and making ease of engagement a key differentiator to your service
• Consumers are generating data at an astronomical rate, from which businesses can derive insight that was previously unavailable, and so enable customisation of their products and services
• Technology is being used in different ways, to develop new products and services rather than just support business operations.

IT strategy consulting: ensuring the IT function is an enabler

The IT function can only truly unlock growth and commercial benefit if fully integrated with the rest of the business and has the capability and capacity to respond quickly. As well as closer business partnering, we have seen significant shifts towards “bi-modal” ways of working, with an agile-orientation for innovation and a more traditional efficiency-focus for mature / legacy; the merger of development and operations (DevOps) and to product centric teams away from functional IT. Using our combination of industry knowledge, technology (including digital) expertise and transformational change know-how, we can help you to develop the right strategy for your business to ensure that it’s implementable, and can deliver long-lasting results.

A three-tiered IT strategy

These new challenges do not make the customary demands on IT disappear; they are added on top. Traditionally, an IT strategy might focus on maintaining infrastructure and developing core systems but it’s now necessary to look through a third lens to enable the digital agenda. 

We recommend a three-tiered IT strategy to be successful in this new world, requiring different capabilities and proximity to the customer:

• Keep the lights on: efficiently deliver a reliable, resilient and flexible infrastructure and application estate. This element of the strategy will need to focus on delivering as low as feasible an IT cost, while meeting the right SLAs for the business
• Developing the traditional business: progress new solutions to improve the traditional core business e.g. CRM, ERP systems. This element of the strategy will focus on traditional margin improvement IT projects, centred on a robust business case and benefits realisation
• Enabling the digital agenda: be responsive and flexible to accommodate the current and future digital demands and needs from the business, which may result in new digital products and services. The pace of change makes this hard to plan, so the strategy must focus on building an agile IT function capable of rapidly responding to new business demands, in collaboration with the business. 

Critical success factors include:

• Strengthening partner relationships with the business
• Changing the role of the CIO - from being an internal supplier of technical knowledge to an outward-facing leadership role.

How Berkeley’s IT consulting services can help

We help CIOs, their senior teams and executives to develop, design and implement their IT strategies to generate the best outcomes for their business.

Our people bring a combination of industry knowledge, functional understanding, technology expertise (including digital) and the transformation know-how to make long-lasting change stick. 

With our ‘low volume, high value’ model, we won’t overwhelm you with large teams or take months to produce results. Typically, only using one or two highly experienced and high calibre people, we can help you develop your IT strategy in a matter of weeks. 

Above all, we offer sound judgement, thorough analysis, and the right approach to stakeholder engagement. We help clients make a confident call on what’s right for them.