Successful IT Strategic Plans: Build the bridge that aligns your organization
to support an Enterprise IT Strategic Plan
By Elizabeth Rockowitz
Regional Manager
Beacon Partners, Inc

Successful IT Strategic Plans Build the bridge that aligns your organization to support an Enterprise IT Strategic Plan The road to a successful IT Strategic Plan requires a bridge that integrates technologies to the organization’s strategies, allowing for a coordination of efforts and organizational focus that closes the gap between business vision and technology use.

We’ll define strategy as what an organization must do to get from where it is today to where it wants to be in the future. Good strategy is putting in place a plan that positions the organization to successfully meet its future needs “just in time.” Developing a qualified IT Strategic Plan allows an organization to manage tomorrow by enabling technology today.

A recent HIMSS Analytics Poll reported that 3,112 hospitals indicated they have an IT strategic plan. Within that group 48% of the hospitals indicated inclusion of a computerized patient record in their plans, and 42% indicated their plans addressing decreasing medical errors. These are examples of how technology can be an enabler for strategies that enhance patient care and safety.

When an IT organization develops its IT Strategic Plan, five key components should be internalized in its alignment. These components include:

• Assessment
• Vision
• Planning
• Governance
• Implementation

These components are the foundation of an enterprise-aligned IT Strategic Plan. Obtaining information and reaching consensus on these topics positions CIOs effectively and provides them credibility and support from other “C” level executives.

Let’s now examine the touch points of these components imperative to a successful IT Strategic Plan.

Assessment
Where are you today? An “as-is analysis” describes the current state, or Assessment, of your organization. Elements should include, but not limit to, hardware, software, technology, infrastructure, physical space, management and regulatory needs, IT support model, business continuance capabilities and disaster recovery plans, IT effectiveness, cost of IT, and benefits to clinical and business operations.

Gather data and perform the assessment for each key element that describes the organization’s current state. The result should be a document that can be shared with key members of your organization to assist in finalizing the IT Strategic Plan.

Vision
The next critical stage is defining your Vision. Collaborate with senior leaders; review and identify the primary goals, which can include geographic expansions, patient safety, new services, medical advances, research, financial, response to competition, patient satisfaction and where your organization needs to be five years from now. This will result in a blueprint of the desired future state. Remember to consider business drivers and what could be holding your organization back from reaching its next level of excellence.

An important stage in vision definition is gap analysis. Where you are today and where do you need to go to achieve the enterprise vision? Identifying gaps on the IT side that require resolution to match the business vision is intrinsic to the IT Strategic Plan pre-planning phase. Looking at the gaps in the applications offered to the organization, or the technology offered, or even the management of IT is vital to understanding the next steps.

IT is imperative to understand IT’s impact on the vision. For example, what will be required for patient communication if patients are expected to access an Internet portal to pre-register or make appointments? What is the impact of the vision that patients preregister online for efficient point-of-care processes? Understanding the impact to the patient is vital to ensuring that the vision is aligned with enterprise goals. Primary understanding must include the percentage of patients with Internet access. What is an alternative workflow if a patient is unable to have online access? Examining the impact of the vision is necessary to the development and reality of an enterprise-aligned IT strategic plan.

Planning
As Dwight D. Eisenhower once stated, “Plans are nothing; planning is everything.” Planning is the phase where the rubber meets the road. We have all read several articles on the benefits of good planning. In fact, many of the articles describe disasters to multi-million dollar projects when detail planning is not complete. Planning should not only include a list of projects, but also the processes that require re-engineering in conjunction with the IT deployment. Implementing technology without addressing how it changes the organization’s workflow will manifest itself by becoming a barrier, preventing true alignment between IT and the organization’s true vision.

The planning process should span three to five years of the enterprise vision. The plan, however, requires at least annual updates. The outcome is a “living document.” Remember to also include a list of projects necessary for continued support of the existing technology for the organization. This will allow for placeholders to support today’s organization and the requirements for current support upgrades and technology refreshes while planning for the future.

Next, develop the actual plan. State the strategic goals aligned with business goals. State the objectives for each goal. These need to be detailed and measurable. Define tactical objectives. How are we getting there? Include financials, resource requirements and timeframes for the next 12 to 18 months. Define critical success factors for each objective; this will create a measurement for success post-implementation. Finally, address any required changes to reporting relationships and resources to ensure effectiveness with the increased use of technology.

Beware of the following traps in developing your enterprise-aligned IT Strategic Plan.

• Lack of communication to the organization of the plan.
• Out-of-date organizational strategies.
• Unknown impact of the plan to the organization and consumers.
• No plan B, lack of alternative planning.
• Unrealistic timelines.
• Failure to adjust to a changing environment.
• Lack of understanding for organizational culture or budgets.

Governance
Even with the perfect plan and strategy, Governance is vital to a successfully accepted plan. Deming once stated, “Culture eats strategy for lunch!” Many of us exposed to healthcare and the challenges of cultural organizational change agree with Deming.

Engage your organization’s CXOs, practice and hospital administrators, medical staff, nay-sayers and IT- passionate stakeholders in the governance of proposed IT plans. A formal committee is best, as they will be the owners of the enterprise plan. The role of this group is to address priorities, budgets, decision-making authority, critical success factors and implementation strategies. Additionally the governing body should develop guiding principles to assist in addressing conflicts, dilemmas and challenges. An example of such a dilemma is “best of breed” versus standardization in choosing the best tool for a unique line of service.

Implementation
The implementation phase requires cultivation of sponsorship for the proposed plan. Communicating to stakeholders on how the plan aligns IT to the business and clinical strategy is crucial. From the executive suite to the end user, there must be a connection of the workflow to why the technology is being implemented. Sharing timelines with anyone who wants to listen will assist in aligning expectations and provide “spin” control. It is also important to promote appropriate project management practices to ensure successful change control and implementation.

Finally we must all remember: manage the people, the process and the technologies - and prepare for success.

About the Author
Elizabeth Rockowitz is a regional manager for healthcare management consulting firm Beacon Partners, Inc. and can be reached by email.