IT strategy

made simple

◗ What is an IT strategy? 3
◗ Why do you need an IT strategy? 5
◗ How do you write an IT strategy? 6
◗ step 1 Planning and preparation 7
◗ step 2 Understanding your organisation’s
IT needs 8

◗ step 3 Exploring options and making decisions 9

◗ step 4 Putting it into action 11
◗ Conclusion 12
◗ Further information 13

sayer vincent
consultants and auditors
 Acknowledgements
This guide was produced with help from the partners and staff at Sayer
Vincent, as well as support from staff and trustees of CFDG.

CFDG (Charity Finance Directors’ Group) is the professional body for

finance directors within the sector, and has nearly 1,500 members. CFDG
provides assistance to charities on a range of issues, such as accounting,
taxation, audit and other finance-related functions. CFDG’s mission is to
deliver services that are valued by members and enable those with financial
responsibility in the charity sector to develop and adopt best practice.
For more information go to www.cfdg.org.uk

sayer vincent Sayer Vincent only works with charities and not-for-profit organisations.
consultants and auditors
With five partners and over 35 professional staff we are one of the largest
teams of charity specialists. Our work focuses on making charities more
effective through improved infrastructure, reporting and governance. We
help charities with mergers, systems implementations and training.
Charities appoint us as consultants, internal auditors or external auditors.
Working with a diverse portfolio of charities, we deliver rapid insights into
your issues and problems and help you to find effective solutions to them.
For more information, go to www.sayervincent.co.uk

Published by CFDG
First published 2009
Copyright © CFDG and Sayer Vincent
All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced by any means, or transmitted,

or translated into a machine language without prior permission in
writing from the publisher. Full acknowledgement of the author and
source must be given.

CFDG and Sayer Vincent shall not be liable for loss or damage arising
out of or in connection with the use of this publication. This is a
comprehensive limitation of liability that applies to all damages of any
kind, including, (without limitation), compensatory, direct, indirect or
consequential damages, loss of data, income or profit, loss of or
damage to property and claims of third parties.
What is an IT strategy?

Confusingly, the term ‘IT’ has come to mean different things to

different people. It’s not surprising then that what people mean by an
‘IT strategy’ varies considerably. Ideally, an IT strategy should be
written in a way that can be understood by general managers, staff
and other key stakeholders in your charity, and should document
decisions in four areas:

1 The key organisational processes and information needs that your IT

systems need to support.

2 The main IT systems required to support these activities, including:

• computer equipment: servers, desktops, laptops and
communications systems
• operating system software: for servers, desktops and laptops, for
example Windows XP, Vista, Mac OS or Linux
• application software: to support the specific activities of your
charity, for example finance, HR, databases, word processing and
other office automation packages.

3 The technology standards, policies, and support arrangements that

the charity needs in order to use the IT systems effectively, for
example:
• Will you buy standard packaged software or build your own
systems?
• What levels of IT service do you need? Do any applications need to
be supported 24 hours a day, seven days a week?
• Which IT services and support will you outsource to third parties?
What resources and skills do you need in your in-house IT team?
• What are your standards for equipment and software, and what are
your policies for replacement and upgrade?
• Are there areas where you are happy to take risks with new
technology in order to gain advantage? Are there areas where it is
important that IT is kept ‘safe’?
• How will you manage IT projects, and who will manage them?

4 The projects that the charity will carry out to make all this happen.

An IT strategy should be a natural extension of your charity’s strategy,

and will focus on helping you to deliver your organisation’s strategic
objectives and departmental plans.

IT strategy made simple 3

The key elements of an IT strategy and their relationships are illustrated
below. In the end, the test of a good IT strategy is whether it helps
managers, staff and others achieve the charity’s aims more efficiently
and more effectively. Therefore, you should be prepared to adapt the
suggestions in this guide as you see fit, and above all use your
judgement to focus your attention on the areas that are of most value to
your organisation.

Organisational strategy
(strategic objectives and departmental plans)

support

Organisational
processes and deliver
information needs

enable

IT projects
IT systems
inform (software and deliver
hardware)
External trends
Current issues

ensure effectiveness

inform Standards, policies

and support deliver
arrangements

IT strategy

IT strategy made simple 4

Why do you need an IT strategy?

It is, of course, possible for an organisation to operate without a clear

IT strategy – and many do. However, the absence of a strategic
framework means that investment decisions about IT have to be made
on their own merits and usually in relation to just one part of the
organisation. In the long run, ad hoc decision-making is expensive.
Inconsistency leads to inefficiency and frustration and, before long,
IT becomes an obstacle to achieving the aims of the organisation rather
than one of the most powerful resources at its disposal.

By contrast, a clear IT strategy enables an organisation to make

appropriate, cost-effective decisions about IT.

When is the right time to produce an IT strategy?

In terms of when to think about all this, there is no particular right
or wrong time – though there are circumstances which make it
easier and more likely that the outcome will be successful.
Generally, producing an IT strategy is more straightforward if:
• your corporate strategy and priorities are already clear and
understood by the managers, staff and other stakeholders who
will need to take part;
• the stakeholders who need to be involved will have time to
focus on the IT strategy and will not be significantly distracted
by other projects or programmes of work going on at the same
time;
• the senior managers in your charity are supportive and will
actively encourage staff and colleagues to take part as
necessary.

IT strategy made simple 5

How do you write an IT strategy?

There are four main steps to producing a successful IT strategy:

Step 1 Planning and preparation

Step 2 Understanding your organisation’s IT needs

Step 3 Exploring options and making decisions

Step 4 Putting it into action

IT strategy made simple 6

step 1
Planning and preparation
The development of an IT strategy is a project in its own right and you
need to approach it that way. Here are some of the things you should
consider in planning for your IT strategy project:
• Scope Usually, you will want the IT strategy to cover all of your
charity’s activities, but if there are areas that you want to exclude for
any reason it is important to be clear about that at the outset.
• Governance As a minimum you should identify a senior manager in
the organisation who will sponsor and promote the work, and
consider setting up a steering group to help manage it.
• Resources Analysing your charity’s requirements and working out
your best options will take time (time well spent, of course!), and you
need to allocate appropriate resources to each stage of the work from
the outset.
• Communication and involvement Whatever the outcomes in terms
of technology, your IT strategy will really be about organisational
change. Think carefully about how you will keep people informed
and involved before you start.

Who needs to be involved?

At a practical level, you need to make sure that someone is
managing the development of the IT strategy and that there is the
necessary level of support from your charity’s senior management
team.

Beyond this, you should decide who you want to involve directly
because they have information or influence which will affect the
success of the strategy, and who you only need to keep informed
about progress. As well as staff, you might consider involving
trustees, volunteers, members, partner organisations and
suppliers.

Remember that, once the IT strategy has been defined, it needs to

be implemented and the inevitable organisational change is more
likely to be successful if those affected are appropriately involved
at the start. Good internal communication is therefore important at
all times and, depending on the culture of your charity, it may be
necessary to provide for a wide range of participation.

IT strategy made simple 7

 step 2
“ A complete
business strategy
includes an IT strategy.
Understanding your organisation’s IT needs
Your IT strategy should be rooted in the aims, objectives and priorities
The problem is that of the charity. The starting point here should be your charity’s
many IT strategies just organisational strategy and individual departmental plans.
concentrate on how IT
In addition, you need to think about what you do already – the
will deliver applications
or architecture. These strengths and weaknesses in current IT provision. In doing this, you’ll
strategies often do not need to consider inventories of equipment and software as well as
define how IT service and support agreements with third parties. You will want to
contributes to look at the outcomes from any previous IT reviews, and any feedback
enterprise advantage. you have from users of the IT services.
That’s the needed
missing piece.
”
Completing the IT strategy –
A review of these key sources of information should allow you to
identify where IT might be able to support new organisational
Gartner 2004 activities and requirements for information, or where improvements to
existing IT systems and services are necessary. However, you will want
to validate and prioritise the list you produce with views from
individual stakeholders. Workshops are very effective for this, although
you could also use questionnaires or 1:1 meetings.

The aim by the end of this stage is to reach agreement among

stakeholders about where IT can best support the aims and objectives
of your charity. However, depending on the individuals and groups
involved, you may be able to go further and establish:
• the measurable benefits – qualitative as well as quantifiable – which
the charity could expect to see;
• how specific individuals and groups could expect to see the benefits
realised and how the benefits could be measured;
• the risks to the organisation in introducing change and what the
possible counter-measures might be.

Why are benefits important?

A clear understanding of the specific organisational benefits that
your charity wishes to get from its IT investment can help to:
• clarify the business case for investment – benefits need to be
balanced against costs when making a decision as to whether to
proceed with any proposed IT projects;
• build buy-in to any proposed organisational change;
• inform more detailed decision-making when implementing the
strategy;
• reduce the likelihood of misunderstandings or conflicting
priorities surfacing at a later date.

IT strategy made simple 8

step 3
Exploring options and making decisions
Once you have identified and prioritised your IT needs, you can move
on to make decisions about how they will be met. There are three parts
to this, although in reality you may need to work iteratively:
• Exploring options
• Making decisions
• Prioritising investment

Exploring options
In order to make good decisions, it is important to identify and explore
a range of options before proceeding. There are many approaches to
doing this, and you will probably want to use a combination. Two
examples are raising awareness and seeking advice.

Raising awareness You can arrange for stakeholders and decision-

makers to see some practical examples of systems. Ways to achieve
this, particularly in the case of application software, include:
• visiting other organisations
• attending conferences and exhibitions
• meeting potential suppliers
• reading publications and magazines
• searching for information on the internet

Seeking advice If some of the technology options are going to be new

to your charity or where any change is likely to put key activities at
risk, you may consider getting advice. Again there are a number of
sources, including:
• internal expertise from staff, trustees and others
• colleagues at other charities who have implemented similar systems
• industry experts

Making decisions
Having done your research, the options you choose for your
organisation need to be guided by a range of criteria, including:
• the extent to which they support the needs you identified
• indicative costs
• time and effort required to implement
• technical complexity and risk
• demands on staff time and energy
• fit with organisational culture

IT strategy made simple 9

At this stage, you do not have to make final decisions about all aspects
of your IT systems, particularly in relation to application software. For
example, you might decide that you will purchase a new off-the-shelf
HR system, but leave the exact decision as to which supplier to use
until you have completed more detailed analysis of your requirements
as part of a later project. However, you need to do enough work to be
reasonably confident that suitable systems exist within your available
budget.

Prioritising investment
In step 2 you prioritised your charity’s IT needs in terms of their
significance for achieving the organisation’s goals. Your research into
options should now have given you a good understanding of how easy
or difficult it will be to meet those needs.

You should use both of these factors to decide your charity’s actual
investment priorities for IT (both money and time), in particular the
order in which you prioritise competing IT projects. You could use a
matrix like the one below to distinguish between those activities where
the benefits from IT would be ‘significant’, ‘easy to achieve’ or ‘both’.
Of course, you will generally want to prioritise work that falls into the
‘both’ category!
significant

easy to achieve

IT strategy made simple 10

 step 4
“ IT's strategic plan is
an essential tool to run
IT like a business. The
Putting it into action
You will want to share the strategy, as appropriate, internally and
strategic plan for today's perhaps externally, and so you should aim to produce a document
IT is different from the which sets out:
strategic plans that IT • the audience for the IT strategy and how you intend that the
may have developed five document should be used;
years ago. It is purpose- • a description of the information systems and technology currently in
driven and a
place in the charity;
complement to IT
• your charity’s IT needs – new organisational activities and
governance structures
and processes. The requirements for information that will rely on IT, and any areas
structure and content where improvements to existing IT are necessary;
are tailored to this • the decisions you have taken about how you will meet those needs,
purpose, avoiding the and the rationale for your chosen approach, covering IT systems,
sprawling documents technology standards, policies, and support;
that tried to cover every
• a schedule of the projects and other activities you have prioritised for
possible input and
delivering the IT strategy, with timeframes for their implementation.
aspect of IT strategy.
And today's plan must In addition to publishing the strategy as a document in its own right,
be a living plan, with
you should aim to embed it in your charity’s wider planning and
regular review and
budgeting by:
updating, thereby
providing long-term • ensuring that the IT strategy and its implications are incorporated
direction while explicitly in ongoing organisational and departmental planning;
maintaining relevancy.

Forrester Research 2006 –

” • refreshing the IT strategy at regular intervals;
• monitoring the implementation of the strategy and measuring the
Creating the Strategic Plan expected benefits.
for Today’s IT

IT strategy made simple 11

Conclusion

A clear IT strategy can bring enormous benefit. Information technology

which is appropriately matched to your charity’s needs will support and
strengthen your activities and help you achieve your aims more
efficiently and effectively.

Any charity can produce a good strategy for IT by following a simple

four-step process:
• Plan and prepare before you start
• Identify what your organisation needs from IT
• Explore the options for meeting those needs, and choose the most
appropriate
• Communicate and embed the strategy in the work of your charity.

IT strategy made simple 12

Further information

LASA ICT knowledgebase

www.ictknowledgebase.org.uk/index.php?id=home

Techsoup Technology planning

www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/techplan/index.cfm

CITRA Charity IT Resource Alliance

www.citra.org.uk

NCVO ICT Development website

www.icthub.org.uk

IT strategy made simple 13