The Virtues of an ICT Strategy
"If You Don't Know Where You're Going,
You'll Probably End Up Somewhere Else!"
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has a growing influence on the day-to-day running of workplaces everywhere and organisations of all types and sizes are beginning to see the benefit of taking a more strategic, longer-term view of ICT, and developing an ICT strategy that complements their other organisational strategies and plans.
Why do we use ICT?
It has been suggested there are only two reasons for using ICT:
- Doing things better
- Doing better things.
We can think of this at its most basic as ICT making your workforce more efficient and/or enhancing your service(s), and the best way to ensure that it does this, is to have a proper plan for how to meet your ICT needs now and in the future that is, an ICT strategy.
How important is ICT?
Increasingly if there's a function you want to perform or a service you want to deliver, there's a way in which technology can help you do it. Just a few examples include: helping people communicate more immediately and efficiently (phone systems, email, shared networks); storing, managing and retrieving information and improving reporting (eg. software for word processing databases, spreadsheets); managing money (spreadsheets and accounting software); working flexibly and from different locations (laptops, networks, mobiles); producing publicity materials (websites, design software, printers, scanners) - the list is endless, and ever-expanding.
Is a strategy really necessary?
You may be thinking, particularly if yours is a small organisation or just starting out, that a strategy isn't really necessary. "It will take a lot of time, we don't really need that yet not until we get bigger, it will cost too much, we wouldn't really know where to start." Sometimes just the word ‘strategy’ puts people off, but taking a strategic approach could range from ensuring you build ICT considerations into your other planning processes (eg. when you plan a new project, do you have a section on ICT implications in the way that you would budget implications?) to having an actual written strategy which shapes both what technology you invest in and how it is used. The latter is particularly useful as laying out important information in a written strategy can help you with decisionmaking, policymaking, ensuring your fundraising is realistic and making budgetsetting decisions.
Some of the other benefits of having a good ICT strategy are:
- It can help ensure you make the best, most efficient, use of resources;
- It can enable the organisation to meet its objectives and can support change or expansion where these are on the horizon;
- It can impress funders.
Where should we start?
There are a number of things to think about and put in place before you start developing your strategy. Three things in particular can be very useful as you start to become strategic about ICT:
- Vision - As with all planning, a vision is a good starting place. Your organisation should have an ICT vision a clear understanding of what is the point of your ICT;
- Commitment - You also need ‘buy in’ you need a commitment from the decision-makers within your organisation to recognising the importance of ICT and investing in it (an ICT strategy without cost implications is rare);
- Leadership There should be someone who takes the lead on ICT, takes responsibility for developing the vision and the strategy and making things happen.
What makes a good strategy
The ICT Hub makes a number of recommendations for developing a strategy that we think are useful. They suggest your strategy should be:
Short and simple to understand
Sometimes the longer a strategy is, the less impact it has. Avoid overloading people with information, particularly technical information, that they don't necessarily need.
Very clear about the benefits
The strategy should identify why you use ICT and the benefits and gains ICT can bring to your organisation and your clients. There should be sound justifications for deploying any aspect of new technology and it should be clear what impact the technology will have on staff, working practices and/or efficiency.
Clear about what you want to do and why
The strategy should be clearly linked to, and make sense in the context of, your organisational goals and service plans.
Without detail of the "how"
The 'how' is the ICT plan, not the strategy. Detail on how things will be done can come later if and when the strategy is approved in principle.
Clear about support from and for your staff
Technology is nothing without the people who operate or use it! You should have given careful consideration to how staff are to be involved. The best strategies consult and involve staff throughout the process of preparing the strategy. You should also be sure not to overlook training for staff who will be trained and on what (how will it be done and what will it cost).
Best built in phases
Strategies often need to develop over time, allowing time for consultation, training, developing support, embedding new practices. Its important to be realistic and not to try and do too much in a short or unrealistic timescale.
Able to support and accommodate change
This can be tricky as ICT is developing all the time, and also your own organisation's future could look different if funding, management or staffing changes affect what you do and how you do it in ways you couldn't foresee. However, one of the best ways to ensure your strategy supports and accommodates change is to build in regular reviews - it is often a good idea to review and amend the strategy annually.
Costed and timed
Though the detail of budgets often sits within a plan, your strategy needs to be very clear about both the resources needed (all the hardware, software and infrastructure resources that you think you need), the budget implications, and the timescales by which things need to happen (remembering to build in time for things like organisational approval processes, consultation and training).
Informed by ICT expertise
Any form of planning involves not just considering the options, consulting and developing plans, but an important middle step ie. where necessary, taking expert advice. Some organisations rely on an individual within the organisation, others bring in ICT consultants - but this can be costly and may not be an appropriate option for many smaller organisations.
Get Support
If you want to get more strategic about your organisation's ICT and want support to get started, our ICT Outreach Project can provide you with that expert advice you need. We offer free and independent help and advice specifically tailored to your organisation's needs.
For further information please contact VAC's ICT Outreach Project:
Mary Sakho
T: 020 7284 6573
E: Mary Sakho
To find out more about the work of the ICT Hub for the voluntary and community sector, visit www.icthub.org.uk where you can find articles on the subject of developing your ICT strategy and a range of other ICT issues besides.
Page last updated: July 1, 2008
