Strategic IT versus operational IT, how do you tell the difference?

Is your IT team strategic or just keeping the lights on? How would you know? Over the past few years I have been undertaking some research into the role of the IT team within a company. In short, is the IT teams role predominantly strategic (rare) or focused on operations (common)? Many CIO’s consider themselves ‘strategic’ when the rest of the company considers them ‘operational’ and wonder why they feel frustrated and not taken seriously by other managers. Understanding whether IT is strategic or operational in an organisation is the first step delivering better IT services.

To determine whether your IT operation is strategic or operational it is necessary to look at the ‘actual behaviour’ and position of IT in the organisation not the stated strategies or objectives.

Take the following quiz to determine the primary orientation of your IT group. Answer each question as either column A or column B, depending on which answer applies the most:

Count the number of scores for column A and column B. If you answered predominantly A scores then IT has a strategic orientation, if the answer if mostly B scores then IT is operational. The implications of this will be discussed next week as it has a huge impact on the value that the IT team can deliver to the organisation.