ICT Management > Strategy & Planning

Do You Need an Information Strategy?

By Lasa Information Systems Team

It is often recommended that because information is such a valuable resource, organisations should have an "Information Strategy". This approach has the great strength of basing the use of IT on an organisation's information needs: clearly a sound approach, which avoids the common problem of the IT tail wagging the organisational dog.

An information strategy is worth considering, especially for an organisation developing its use of the Internet. But for an organisation like an advice agency that uses information very heavily, the work involved in an information audit and the production of an information strategy is likely to be substantial. There is a danger of getting bogged down in a mass of detail.

In these circumstances it is better to set out broad guidelines and principles, then ensure that staff and managers have the skills to apply them effectively. The important thing is to ensure that the IT strategy doesn't exist in isolation: it has to be based on the needs of the agency.

This article adopts that approach. We suggest that the most important thing is to tie individual decisions on IT directly to clear goals which make sense for the organisation as a whole. The main goal of any voluntary organisation is to provide a good service. Whether it is written down or not, most have a pretty good idea what constitutes a "good service" in their particular circumstances. Ideally the general goal will be broken down into a number of more detailed objectives, which give the agency its own distinctive culture and character.

Before you can use IT effectively, you must have clear goals for the organisation.

Obviously, the clearer the agency can be about what its goals are, and the more worked out its planning process, the easier it is to judge how IT can best fit in. It may be that IT turns out not to have much of a role at all - or that it is important in some parts of the organisation, but not in others; what is important is to have a sound basis for making the decision.

The next, relatively straightforward, stage is to develop a set of policies as a framework for all decisions relating to IT. Once these have been adopted, they should guide decision-makers at any level in decisions they make, whether it is to do with budgeting, purchase, training or whatever. Similarly, policies could be adopted on other information issues, such as the way an advice agency records its client and case information, or the way it acquires the information its workers need.

Often the decisions you need to make on IT are pretty much routine: do we need to replace a worn-out printer? What sort of equipment should we get for the new worker? Who needs word processing training this quarter?

Occasionally, though, you realise that you have reached the point where more major decisions are needed. You may have identified one specific aspect of your agency that clearly needs attention. Or someone may have proposed a radical new development, with obvious wider repercussions. Should we change our main client database? Do we need individual access to e-mail for all staff? Do we need to upgrade our network?

There is then a case for stepping back and taking a more strategic view - collecting information, consulting widely on the options and implications, and writing a more detailed, long-term plan. In this case, any IT developments must obviously be related to the way information is collected, stored and used within the organisation, and you may end up developing an Information Strategy for all or part of your activities.

Another case when a thorough review might well be worthwhile is where the agency realises that it has got into a mess by buying equipment piecemeal over the years - perhaps because it never has any money for IT except when it includes a computer among the start-up costs of a new project - and needs to break out of the cycle.

Even if there is no immediate prospect of having money to spend, drawing up a clear plan should mean that when money does become available, the equipment that is bought moves the agency towards a more consistent approach. A clearly-argued plan may also help to justify any IT element included in funding bids.