How can you mitigate IT performance risks?

1 Assess your current IT performance

The first step to mitigate IT performance risks is to assess your current IT performance and identify the gaps, issues, and opportunities for improvement. You can use various tools and methods to measure and monitor your IT performance, such as key performance indicators (KPIs), service level agreements (SLAs), benchmarks, audits, surveys, and feedback. You should also consider the business objectives, user expectations, and industry standards that your IT performance should align with.

2 Implement best practices and standards

The second step to mitigate IT performance risks is to implement best practices and standards that can guide your IT performance management processes and activities. Some of the best practices and standards that you can adopt include ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library), COBIT (Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies), ISO (International Organization for Standardization), and NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology). These frameworks can help you define, design, deliver, and improve your IT services and processes in a consistent, efficient, and effective way.

3 Automate and optimize your IT processes

The third step to mitigate IT performance risks is to automate and optimize your IT processes and tasks that can be streamlined, simplified, or eliminated. Automation can help you reduce human errors, save time and resources, increase accuracy and consistency, and enhance security and compliance. Optimization can help you improve your IT performance by eliminating waste, redundancy, and complexity, and by applying lean and agile principles. You can use various tools and technologies to automate and optimize your IT processes, such as workflow automation, configuration management, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence.

4 Train and empower your IT staff

The fourth step to mitigate IT performance risks is to train and empower your IT staff to perform their roles and responsibilities effectively and efficiently. Training can help you improve your IT staff's skills, knowledge, and competencies in IT performance management, as well as in the latest tools, technologies, and trends. Empowerment can help you motivate your IT staff to take ownership, initiative, and accountability for their IT performance, as well as to collaborate, communicate, and innovate. You can use various methods to train and empower your IT staff, such as coaching, mentoring, feedback, recognition, and rewards.

5 Communicate and align with your stakeholders

The fifth step to mitigate IT performance risks is to communicate and align with your stakeholders, such as your customers, users, business partners, and senior management. Communication can help you inform, educate, and engage your stakeholders about your IT performance goals, plans, progress, and results. Alignment can help you ensure that your IT performance supports and contributes to your stakeholders' needs, expectations, and satisfaction. You can use various channels and formats to communicate and align with your stakeholders, such as reports, dashboards, meetings, and surveys.

6 Review and improve your IT performance

The sixth and final step to mitigate IT performance risks is to review and improve your IT performance on a regular basis. Reviewing can help you evaluate and measure your IT performance against your goals, standards, and benchmarks, and to identify and analyze your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Improving can help you implement corrective and preventive actions, as well as continuous improvement initiatives, to address your IT performance gaps, issues, and risks, and to enhance your IT performance quality, value, and maturity. You can use various tools and techniques to review and improve your IT performance, such as audits, reviews, metrics, feedback, and lessons learned.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?