Do you have a grasp on your company’s IT environment? Optimizing your IT and business processes and policies is an increasing necessity in our digital world, especially with the rise in cybersecurity attacks. Focusing on ways to improve your security and monitoring, access and change management, and system development lifecycle can help minimize risk and maximize opportunities for growth.
Here are a few ways to get started:
1. Take inventory of your IT environment.
Simply having documentation over your IT environment can put you on the road to success. If you do not have a solid inventory of your systems and interfaces, start there. Then look at your current policies and procedures to identify easy improvement opportunities. Understanding your IT environment on a deeper level will enable you to reduce costs through optimization, make better decisions related to emerging technologies and trends, and foster a culture of security. This is critical to long-term business growth and success.
2. Align your policies and procedures with current standards and requirements.
Make sure your existing IT policies and procedures meet the current standards and requirements. It’s important to frequently monitor these key areas against best practices and compliance/regulatory standards to identify any gaps and adjust accordingly. Note that GDPR and CCPA are common PII data compliance standards that many companies need to comply with or aspire to comply with, and SOX and AICPA accounting standards heavily influence IT best practices for private companies.
3. Get comfortable with change.
System functionality, best practices, and compliance and regulatory requirements change frequently which means your policies, procedures and key systems should evolve frequently too. Monitoring and updating your IT environment on a normal cadence will allow you to adapt to changing requirements and keep your systems and policies up to date.
4. Optimize your efforts.
Business and IT goals work together to help your company grow. Start by identifying your key business goals for the next six months through five years and overlay an IT roadmap including what changes and advances IT will be making in line with those goals. Then assess areas for improvement.
Consider these high-level examples to demonstrate how IT and business goals can work together:
- Are you looking to grow your pipeline but spend a lot of hours doing manual work? Shift those FTE hours to growth activities instead of data entry. You may need a CRM.
- Are you expecting your company to grow and have no plans to upgrade or change your legacy ERP? You may have a gap where your new growth can become frustrating to staff if they don’t have the right tools to run your business. Consider a new ERP.
5. Take the next step.
Next steps vary wildly across organizations, but whatever you do, don’t go it alone. Some tasks might be manageable in house, but we recommend reaching out to a trusted advisor for assistance. There are a lot of great options from consultants to managed service providers for any of your needs.
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The possibilities to optimize IT in accordance with compliance standards and your company’s growth goals are vast. Whether you need a single solution or ongoing support, we can help. We’ll get you on the road to success by helping you plan for the future. Let’s connect!
