Here's how you can incorporate feedback and evaluation into your IT strategy for success.

IT Strategy ( & it's success) itself is not a standalone goal in itself but exists for the larger purpose of business strategy and success. Tangible linkage of business outcomes to IT strategy helps drive a cohesive and constructive partnership. In my opinion, one of the ways to measure success of IT strategy is elicit business feedback on their success metrics and their feedback and view of the role IT has played in realizing the outcome. Often times the challenge some IT Orgs face is to elevate the conversation; leading IT Orgs position themselves as a progressive nimble "partner" with seat at the table in shaping and interlocking IT strategy w/ business and often times leveraging technology to help create business differentiation.

In my experience, is to put in place a strong communication loop for stakeholders, peers, IT team, business leaders to support and enhance your IT strategy. This will help to facilitate and solicit feedback -workshops , surveys and change management board for updates, refinements and importantly the success metrics and outcomes. Regular reviews of the projects and indication of the status on which will be delivered successfully and failed ones are flagged out for actions and improvement areas. It’s not easy to incorporate a smooth feedback and evaluation process for IT strategy but it will evolve over time as part of the culture and safe environment to share , critique and contribute ideas to better the IT strategy for the Business.

Incorporating feedback is essential for refining and enhancing your IT strategy. Actively solicit feedback from stakeholders, including employees, customers, and partners, to gain diverse perspectives on the strategy's effectiveness and areas for improvement. Utilize surveys, focus groups, and one-on-one interviews to gather qualitative insights, and analyze performance metrics and user satisfaction scores for quantitative data. By collecting comprehensive feedback, you can identify gaps, address concerns, and align the IT strategy more closely with organizational goals and user needs. This iterative feedback loop fosters continuous improvement, ensuring that your IT strategy remains adaptable, relevant, and successful in driving business.

Everyone and every team has opportunities for improvement. Always be willing to listen and be greatful when provided with the tough, hard to hear feedback. Feedback is a gift. As with all gifts, accept them with grace & humility.

Sound IT strategy has increasingly become core to the success of enterprises across industries. Explicitly seeking input from all stakeholder groups, paying attention to the implicit messages, and then incorporating the feedback visibly ensure alignment towards the company's north star. With the amazing possibilities of productivity improvement through data-driven transformations, demands for new customer experiences, and the need to minimize change management challenges, the IT strategy must be well understood across the board as execution becomes integral to the organizational culture. Therefore, creating a virtuous cycle of reinforcing feedback loops is the hallmark of a leader setting up the IT strategy and seeing it through execution.

To effectively incorporate feedback into your IT strategy, analyzing data is crucial. Utilize analytics tools to assess quantitative data from various sources, such as user engagement metrics, system performance, and financial indicators. Identify trends, patterns, and correlations that highlight the strategy's strengths and weaknesses. Additionally, interpret qualitative feedback from stakeholders to understand their experiences, perceptions, and suggestions for improvement. By combining quantitative analysis with qualitative insights, you can make informed decisions, prioritize initiatives, and refine your IT strategy to better align with organizational objectives and user expectations, driving success and continuous improvement.

After collecting feedback, systematically analyze data for patterns and themes. Employ tools like SWOT analysis to categorize feedback effectively. This helps understand the current state of IT services and prioritize changes based on impact and feasibility. Transform raw feedback into actionable insights to improve IT services and meet business goals.

Don't analyse yourself. Pull in team mates - also those who may not be your fan. Set rules: Stick to facts. Be bold, be humble - use "5 levels of Why"

When analyzing feedback, determine if suggestions are a Must Have, Should Have, or Nice to Have. This can be used as a contributor to prioritization, and including some Nice to Haves with each release can improve perception and make people more inclined to contribute feedback in the future. It can also just make people happy to see things they want, not just need, be taken into consideration.

Analyze data is an inmense task at an enterprise, also one with security pressure and one with a huge risk of interpretting the wrong or limited data or use data very siloed. The view must be done broadly because data driven decisons reuire a very very good governance on data - broad scope and data quality. Probably your data gathering is KEY in the whole process!! A big focus is needed.

Incorporating feedback and evaluation into your IT strategy starts with setting clear objectives. Define specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals that align with organizational priorities and stakeholder expectations. These objectives serve as benchmarks to gauge the strategy's effectiveness and guide the collection and analysis of feedback. Regularly review and adjust objectives based on insights gained from evaluations to ensure your IT strategy remains agile, responsive, and geared towards driving continuous improvement and achieving success.

Most important factor to be considered here is the alignment to the Business Objectives and Strategy. This should be done by not only reviewing the feedback but also analysing the impact of various business objectives and strategy on IT.

A distinction should be made here between strategic initiatives that have been actively requested by the business (e.g. reducing downtimes) and IT-driven initiatives (e.g. introducing new technologies). Of course, IT-driven strategic measures usually have a positive impact on the business, but active demands that have been reported to ensure business operations should be prioritized accordingly and potential conflicts of objectives should be avoided. It is important to highlight this, eventhough it seems obvious because big corporations potentially do not have an efficient communication structure due to their size and number of subsidiaries and board members.

Generate SMART objectives based on feedback to guide IT strategy. Address key issues identified during analysis and align with business goals. For instance, if feedback highlights system downtime, aim to improve uptime by a certain percentage within a set timeframe. Clear objectives provide direction and benchmarks for success.

Setting SMART objectives is crucial, but with VSOM (Vision, Strategies, Objectives, Measures), we go beyond. VSOM ensures our IT strategy aligns with our business vision and clear strategic pathways, making objectives not just targets but part of a comprehensive framework for meaningful transformation. Let’s leverage VSOM to drive impactful outcomes and align our IT initiatives with long-term success ??

An IT Strategy, by its very nature, will be transformative. Yes, small changes will be involved (often called Quick Wins) but there will be other areas that require complex business wide change, involving technical, process and behavioural changes. The benefits of these changes need to be articulated and affected teams need to be involved in helping to shape the changes so that they can contribute and feel involved. Small steps, Agile, is a good way to implement change where the change is complex (involves soft and hard system changes) as this approach provides a means to reflect on what has been achieved and adjust the next steps if required. Ongoing learning is key as is setting in place the cultural enablers for change.

Implementing changes based on feedback is pivotal for the evolution of our IT strategy. We need a comprehensive action plan detailing the steps to achieve objectives, assigning responsibilities, and setting deadlines for accountability. These changes, such as upgrading hardware or improving software, must be communicated transparently to stakeholders to demonstrate our commitment to continuous improvement.

Implementing changes in IT requires a structured yet flexible approach. My approach recommends a phased rollout of changes, where each phase is evaluated before moving to the next. This minimizes disruption and allows for iterative improvements based on real-world application. Highlight the successes early and often to build momentum and support for ongoing changes. Furthermore, involve IT staff in the creation of the action plans to ensure their expertise is utilized and they have a vested interest in the outcomes.

Implementing changes based on feedback is crucial for our IT strategy's success. We create a clear plan outlining what needs to be done to meet our goals. Everyone knows their role and when things need to happen. We might upgrade our tech, improve our software, or train our team more. It's important to tell everyone why we're making these changes and how they help us grow. Being open builds trust and shows we're always getting better.

Monitoring progress is the compass guiding IT strategy's effectiveness. By establishing clear KPIs aligned with our objectives, we gain quantifiable insights into success. Regular reviews against these benchmarks inform our path forward, enabling agile adjustments as needed. This continuous monitoring isn't just about staying on track; it's about continually refining our strategy to ensure it meets the evolving needs of our organization.

Monitoring progress towards our objectives is crucial for assessing the effectiveness of implemented changes. Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure success quantifiably. Regularly review these KPIs against objectives to gauge progress. Adjust the strategy as needed based on findings. Continuous monitoring ensures we stay on track and refine our IT strategy ongoingly.

Monitoring progress toward objectives is a critical aspect of evaluating the effectiveness of implemented changes. Setting up key performance indicators (KPIs) enables quantifiable measurement of success. Regular review of these KPIs against objectives helps gauge progress accurately. Adjusting strategies based on these insights ensures alignment with evolving needs and enhances overall effectiveness. Continuous monitoring not only keeps initiatives on track but also fosters ongoing refinement, ensuring that your IT strategy remains agile and responsive to organizational goals and market dynamics.

To monitor progress in your IT strategy: Establish KPIs: Define key performance indicators that quantify success and align with your objectives. Regular Reviews: Periodically assess these KPIs to measure progress towards your goals. Adjust Strategy: Modify your approach based on KPI outcomes to continuously refine your strategy. Continuous monitoring ensures your IT initiatives stay on track and effectively respond to the evolving needs of your organization.

DMAIC is a framework I like to apply in this field too. Defining KPIs and obtaining clear Metrics to Analyse and Improve - and once the progress is delivered, Controlling by measuring again and fact checking your committments.

Whatever the lifespan of a strategic cycle, regular rounds of feedback can offer precious insights about the ever-changing technological landscape, emerging solutions, or new issues that arise after the introduction of new components. A reliable bottom-up process that enables frequent feedback is an effective measure against the risk of early obsolescence of assets.

Iterative method and feedback loopback are key to successfully implementing any process or solution. However, there has to be a strategy involved where feedback doesn't feel like a repetitive or burdensome task. Set and attach milestones to the feedback so that people know they can directly influence the outcome of the next iteration. Pick the right time and milestone to solicit feedback. Make it count. When people see the results of their feedback and the benefit of design and implementation via thoughtful iterations, they will feel like active participants and provide feedback with that much more conviction and enthusiasm.

La retroalimentación y la evaluación deben ser procesos continuos y iterativos en la estrategia de TI. Utiliza los datos recopilados durante la supervisión del progreso para realizar ajustes y mejoras adicionales en tu enfoque. Mantén abiertas las líneas de comunicación con todas las partes interesadas y fomenta una cultura de aprendizaje y mejora continua dentro de tu equipo. La capacidad de adaptarse y evolucionar rápidamente es fundamental en un entorno tecnológico en constante cambio.

Here is the point that you realy need to close the loop, start engaging with the consumers of IT and/or the IT community itself onhow to further optimize towards the future. Almost a stiring committee guiding, coaching from the top to all key units. Demonstrate enhacing IT / getting better SLA's / optimizing processes etc etc is not fineshed but just started. Set ambitions to a broader audience, create fore example data literacy with the whole enterprise. Everybody must participate here.

The iterative process is your secret weapon for IT strategy success. It's a cycle of continuous improvement where you first define goals for this iteration, like developing a new feature. Then, you design, develop, and test a small-scale version. After analyzing results and user feedback, you refine your strategy based on what worked and what didn't. Finally, the magic happens – you repeat the cycle, implementing the improved version and testing again. This loop ensures your IT strategy constantly evolves to meet user needs and keeps you on the cutting edge of technology.

Incorporating feedback into IT strategy ensures alignment with business goals, promoting the concept of a TIMELESS enterprise. Objective feedback helps evaluate current assets, identify necessary changes, and formulate a comprehensive change strategy. Implementing revised solutions involves addressing technical and organizational aspects, with continuous measurement of impact on business objectives. This iterative process enables adaptability, fostering the longevity and sustainability of IT investments in driving enduring value for the enterprise.

In my experience, Design Thinking led digital and IT transformation, eliminates friction, helps product and technology team members walk into the shoes of their end users and various personas, finds hyper users who become the champions for the change and allows for their feedback to be incorporated early in the transformation as well as product roadmap. Their feedback also allows for prototypes to be evaluated and user stories to be prioritised as per real needs - and thus eliminating the need for familiarising them with the change later on! Adoption of the transformed platforms or products is faster and holistic as a result of an effective Design Thinking led transformation!!

Employee training to challenge the status quo is another key part of IT strategy planning. The innovation program should drive collaboration and broader engagement among the IT staff ideating on the problem statements from the business stakeholders.

Remember that AI is just an acceleration tool like any other technology - it's the strategic and tactical decisions you make based on the information and feedback received that determines success. Like any technolgy it requires management intervention and awareness which comes back to good data, customer and employee feedback, objectives, monitoring, change and process.

To incorporate feedback and evaluation into IT strategy for success, it is very important to implement regular assessments. This collective input helps to gather feedbacks from stakeholders, analyze performance metrics, and adjust strategies accordingly. This iterative approach can help organisations to align with their goals and enhances adaptability to changing needs and technologies.