IT Strategy

McKinsey Framework for IT Strategy

May 7, 2009 by Raj Sheelvant

Survey by McKinsey Quarterly as published in May 2007, suggests that most of the CIOs believe that they are successfully aligning IT strategy with the needs of the businesses they serve.  This means CIOs are collaborating with the business in ways that add significant value, rather than just reacting to the demands of the business.

I know this is an old survey, but the important item from this article is the McKinsey framework for IT Strategy (see below)

IT organizations that have mastered the art of business collaboration may be poised to move to a more advanced form of strategic planning, a level at which they can truly show the business how, where, and when to use IT as a competitive weapon according to the survey.
Survey also finds that IT strategy in most companies has not yet reached its full potential which involves exploiting innovation to drive constant improvement in the operations of a business and to give it a real advantage over competitors with new products and capabilities.

This shift to the next level of IT strategy will require changes in management and budget priorities, as well as multiyear planning, which less than two-thirds of our survey respondents acknowledge doing. To use IT as a competitive weapon, a company must look beyond the annual planning cycle and take an integrated, midrange view of technology, competitive developments, and the strategic actions required to address them.   I think these findings are critical and I think even after 2 years since survey, most of the IT department have not made significant progress in this area.

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2. The next frontier in IT Strategy: A McKinsey Survey
3. McKinsey Survey on Enterprise 2.0
4. Strategy under Uncertainty
5. Business System and Business Strategy