A Business Guide to ICT Management

How you manage information technology has a direct impact on how quickly you can make decisions and carry them out.  Today, this is frequently the key to competitive advantage.  A plan for managing your IT resources in the long term will  focus your investment in training, purchasing, design, human resources and technical support. 

A good plan will turn your business into a well-oiled machine.  Without a plan you will certainly waste money and time on purchases that do not meet your needs, putting your business at risk.  More seriously, you can reduce productivity and profitability by introducing inappropriate changes to your system.

Step One: Discovering your current needs


Obviously, before you can begin to decide how you want your IT systems to develope, you need a clear picture of how things operate at present.  You may discover that your current system is adequate for your future needs (perhaps you are not exploiting its potential).

An audit of your system by an independent external source should reveal:  

    • Existing paper systems
    • Existing computerised systems
    • Hardware, software and communications infrastructure
    • Task analysis (how tasks are currently being carried out)
    • Staff Skill levels 

This information is then analysed to see if the current system is cost effective.  What your business must invest in order to improve or exploit the current system  is based on this analysis.  This clarifies the difference between what you think you need and what you actually need in order to improve productivity.

Step Two: Devising a Strategy

Having sorted out your current position, it is time to decide your future.  You will want to be confident that what  you spend now  will have a positive effect on the growth of your business.  Put another way: You will not want to cripple your business by making the wrong move.

Get professional help in establishing goals, identifying risks and obstacles. Devise an overall strategy for the effective use of ICT in your business.  This is the most important part of IT management and should be given time.  It will affect every decision you make about your IT system, your human resources and  your ability to expand the business.  Your overall plan should include:

    • Goals and objectives
    • Risk Management
    • A deadline for implementation.


Detailed planning should not start until you are satisfied you are going in the right direction.  In other words, how  your strategy will be implemented is irrelevant at this stage.

Step Three: Developing a Plan of Action

At this stage, how your strategy wil be implemented is examined.  There are three headings you need to consider together:

    • People
    • Process
    • Technology

A classic mistake is to believe that once the right technology has been chosen and installed, the system will improve.  In fact, without paying equal attention to people and process, the 'right technology' can be disastrous. 

The cost of each element must be estimated and the time required for implementation.  Maintenance, management, technical support and training are ongoing costs in a computerised system.  They must be reflected in the cost estimates.  It is particularily useful to compare these costs when choosing a particular software/hardware solution.  A system that is easier to learn, to use and to maintain is cheaper in the long run.

Now, budget becomes an issue.  Once you understand how much is needed to implement your strategy, you can decide whether or not to proceed.  You may discover that you can afford to go ahead with some elements and to post-pone others. 

Step Four: Implementing the Plan of Action

As a result of the first three stages, you have:

    • A clear idea of your starting point
    • A clear idea of where you want to go
    • A budget estimate for getting there
    • A rough schedule of tasks

Now, you are ready to find providers.  You are armed with enough  information  to communicate your needs and assess their offers. 

Before implementing any change, it is essential that everyone is prepared for the disruption it will cause.  The testing and settling-in of any change to a well-established system can take time.   This will make normal operation difficult and often, frustrating.  Morale and self-confidence can be lowered unless everyone is prepared for the challenge.

A golden rule of implementation: Install new elements one at a time and test each before going on to the next.  This reduces the complexity and limits the scope of problems as they arise.  This rule works for people, process and technology.  So, when it comes to training, for instance, new learning should take place in small chunks rather than in long courses. 

Rules of Thumb
  • Goals, plans and deadlines are guides that need to be reviewed frequently - they are not fixed in stone.
  • Make everyone in your business aware of your IT management strategy and update them when it changes.
  • Designate one member of staff as coordinator.
  • Seek independent professional advice where expertise is not available within your business (friends and family may know more than you about IT but will they provide you with the long-term commitment and research your business deserves?).
  • Keep your own checklists  when dealing with providers. 
  • Prepare to face change as a challenge rather than as a nuisance.
  • Take things one step at a time and test at each step.
  • Train your staff in the use of the system:  Your initial investment will be wasted if they do not use it.
  • Have a back-up plan: Plan what you will do when the system fails, when key staff are ill, when your provider of technical support does not respond.
  • If you have chosen a provider because you were impressed with the person you were dealing with, make sure they  will be working on the contract. 
  • Avoid closed systems that rely heavily on one manufacturer, software house or training provider: Choose flexibility and compatibility for future growth.
  • Be wary of low estimates.
  • Do not believe everything you read in computer magazines.


Issues to note

  • Audit
  • Requirements Definition
  • Planning
  • Risk Management
  • Cost Estimates
  • Deadlines
  • Budget Estimates
  • Schedule
  • Implementation
  • People/process/technology
  • Providers/suppliers
  • Training
  • Maintenance
  • Technical Support
  • Independent Advice
  • Change Management
  • Checklists
  • Testing

Questions to Answer:

  1. Are your competitors more efficient?
  2. If you could have better access to information about your business, would you be able to make better decisions more quickly?
  3. What information do you need to run your business more efficiently?
  4. Is your staff happy with the existing system?
  5. How does your staff cope with increased pressure (does your IT system help?)
  6. Do you have an eCommerce/eBusiness strategy?
  7. Do you need one?
  8. Do you feel that your IT system complicates or simplifies your business?
(c) Mullen Solutions 2009