Leadership teams regularly review financial results, people, customers, and business priorities. But when do they discuss whether their technology is keeping up?
In my first article Your Business Has a Plan for Growth. Does Your Technology?, I shared three questions business leaders can ask as they plan for growth. The first question was covered in this article: Can Today’s Way of Working Support Your Growth Plan? Creating that plan is a start. Leadership also needs to revisit it as priorities change and the business learns what is working.
This is the second question in my series about planning technology around business growth:
Does technology have a regular place in leadership’s business reviews?
For many growing businesses, technology comes up when something breaks, a contract is due, or someone requests new software. A regular review gives leaders a chance to look ahead and ask:
Someone needs to own the overall picture. That doesn’t mean doing every technical task. Just as a finance leader brings financial information and decisions to the leadership team, a technology leader or designated owner can bring together input from employees, internal IT, and outside providers. They can keep the Technology Plan current and help leaders see how individual decisions affect the entire business.
A growing company may not need a full-time CIO. It does need clarity about who is responsible for connecting technology decisions to business goals and bringing those decisions forward at the right time.
Try adding technology to an existing monthly or quarterly leadership review. Use the Technology Plan to discuss progress, risks, and the next decisions. That gives the plan a place in how the business is run, rather than leaving it on a shelf.
Who brings the full picture of technology to your leadership team today?
In my next article I’ll look at the third question: Does leadership have consistent reporting to measure progress against our business goals?