How to Present IT Investments to Executive Leadership
Any conversation about IT investment with senior leadership needs to begin with the right mindset. Decision-makers need to see IT as a partner in delivering business objectives rather than as an unavoidable cost the organization must put up with.
In another recent CDW Tech Talk, CDW Senior Vice President and CTO Sanjay Sood said that looking at IT as a business asset can help an organization move through hard times.
“It’s about developing new concepts and new products,” Sood said. “Then, how do we make technology automate everything around that? How do we make people more intelligent and have more time on their hands, so they can actually effectively drive business outcomes forward?”
Building this mindset can start with getting stakeholders on the business side involved early in the IT planning. Bringing in leaders from the departments that stand to gain the most from a particular IT investment can help build a coalition of stakeholders that want to see a particular investment made.
When deciding which of these leaders to approach, think about the business as a whole. How does the organization generate revenue? What is needed to provide that? Which departments have the most direct impact on those operations? Answering these questions will help identify the decision-makers who should be approached.
As small businesses move through a world with more distributed workforces, it’s critical that IT be able to approach leadership effectively. IT isn’t just about technology anymore — it’s about working with executives to achieve business goals. The organizations that recognize IT as an asset are the ones that will move successfully through a digital future.
This article is part of BizTech's AgilITy blog series. Please join the discussion on Twitter by using the #SmallBizIT hashtag.