The role of the IT assessment

Often times technology organizations are out of sync with their business counterparts; in fact numerous studies have shown that the perception on IT has a different meaning according to the angle that it's viewed:
From the IT point of view, we always hear that they work really hard and are not being appreciated enough, not enough funds to invest in the right technologies, etc.
From the business point of view, the conversation is always around the fact there is a lot of money being spent, but the return on investment is not really clear.

To eliminate that perception, business goals and objectives have to be aligned with underlying technology solutions. IT real value is to provide solutions that will help the organization reach those goals and objectives. It is important for IT Managers to understand that to be effective the focus must be on business and not in technology.

There are a lot of mechanisms like IT governance or steering committees, architecture frameworks, etc. that work really well for large companies to provide that business-IT alignment, smaller companies with lesser resources can also perform the same tasks by conducting IT assessments.

Conducting an IT assessment focus on two very important issues:

• Identify business needs
  
• Determine whether or not IT in its presence state can deliver those business goals
  

By carrying out these assessments, you will have an idea of what your issues are and will be able to formulate strategies to address your critical and more strategic needs.