Information technology is used in almost every aspect of a company’s day-to-day operations. Tech is used to automate and streamline specific operations, increase the value of products and services, and improve productivity in practically every area.
The strategic and considered use of tech can also be extremely valuable for companies who want to grow faster or find important business strategies to get ahead of their competition. Tech strategy consulting can benefit any company, not just those in the IT industry.
In fact, it’s for the non-tech-focused businesses that our work as tech strategy consultants focuses on. IT may be used by companies in any industry to gain a competitive advantage in the market, make their everyday operations more efficient, ramp up their marketing effectiveness, and more. In fact, they can utilize tech to make almost any part of their business better, as long as they make the right decisions when it comes to the purchase, implementation, and use of tech. This is where Pearl Lemon Consulting’s tech strategy consulting team comes in.
What Makes For a Good Business IT Strategy?
Your tech strategy, which is part of your IT competency, is a crucial document – or set of documents – that outlines your company’s potential to produce value utilizing IT business assets and technological know-how. Your IT strategy should be written in clear language and not in technical terms, and it should be readable by any employee, stakeholder, and, in some cases, even your customers.
Meeting organizational goals, optimizing business processes, and providing maintenance, support, and the necessary staffing for IT systems are all reasons why your company requires an IT strategy and there are many more.
However, the basic goal of a formal tech strategy is straightforward. Your long-term usage and ROI goals become your foundation for short- and medium-term decisions and actions after you’ve clarified and communicated them.
Doing so alone is challenging for many businesses that are not tech-based. Many business owners and principals know that there is great tech out there for those in their industry, and they often know about some of the benefits it can offer them.
What they are often not clear about is which of the many tech options available to them is best. Or how long it will take to implement them or how it might disrupt their business in the meantime. They are unsure if their staff will respond well to being asked to use it, and how long it might take to train them to do so. They wonder what the ROI on what can be significant investments might be, and if their business is really at a stage where they need certain tech solutions at all.
Working with tech strategy consulting experts like those on the Pearl Lemon Consulting team can help answer those questions and many more and then turn the answers into solutions that can then be formulated into that all-important formal tech strategy.
How Does Tech Strategy Consulting Work?
Starting with an IT strategy evaluation, tech strategy consulting offers a wide range of services. An IT strategy consultant will examine your company’s mission, as well as its goals and current methods. This can provide a clear view of what IT tasks are being completed, as well as any holes in the present strategy.
A tech strategy consultant will also examine the company’s current IT environment, including data centers, equipment, networks, and any supporting information. An IT strategy consultant can help you assess your IT workforce and spending levels and identify areas where you could save money, or where upgrading current tech solutions will increase ROI in the longer term.
There are other important considerations the tech strategy consulting team at Pearl Lemon Consulting remains very vigilant about, especially when it comes to training and security. The way various IT solutions are used within your business is as important as which ones you choose to implement.
In terms of training, our tech strategy experts can ensure that everyone who will be making use of an element of tech knows how to use it, both in terms of its actual function and ensuring that everything is secure. We do this in the way that best suits your business, whether that is via training workshops and seminars that large numbers of staff attend or via more intimate instruction for smaller groups.
Our tech strategy consultants will even help with the wording and distribution of your formal tech strategy. One of the things we often find when working with businesses is that the documentation they have in place is far too technical, and is not the user-friendly literature needed.
For example, having a user manual available for staff that covers the use of specific software is great, a must in fact. However, if that manual is so complicated and full of tech jargon that most non-technical staff will become so confused they never bother to read it, it’s next to useless.
Why Choose Pearl Lemon Consulting?
As the use of business tech is so prevalent – from large corporate concerns to small local restaurants – there are obviously a lot of tech strategy consulting firms out there. So why choose Pearl Lemon Consulting?
The fact that we are great at what we do – and can back that assertion up with case studies and client testimonials – is the obvious answer. But there is more to it than that.
For any tech strategy consulting project to be successful, it should be focused squarely on the unique needs of an individual business, which means taking the time to discover what those are.
Some tech consulting firms are not willing to do that. They determine which tech solutions they think are best, which processes, and how staff are best trained, and rigidly stick to these decisions, giving less thought than they should to the way the recommendations will impact the unique company they are working with.
At Pearl Lemon Consulting we take extra time when it comes to that initial IT assessment, not just in reviewing existing tech and possible additions and upgrades but in listening to what business owners really want and expect from IT solutions. We also ensure we stay up to date, as what were the best choices a year ago may be nearly obsolete – yes, tech moves that fast sometimes – and an investment in them may be a bad move.
In short, the tech strategy consulting experts at Pearl Lemon Consulting don’t rest until your business has a tech strategy in place that is right for you, not anyone else. And we’ll also ensure it remains that way, with periodic tech strategy reviews and ongoing availability to ensure that any new concerns are addressed.