How Are You Demonstrating Value in Today's IT Environment?
2
Minute Read
What steps are you taking to show the value your IT organization brings to your business? Are you growing your IT value? The more time spent sustaining technology and performing infrastructure maintenance, the less time dedicated to the development of technology that enhances business value. In a fast-paced business world, your IT team is only as valuable as you make it. Maintaining operations goes unnoticed, but implement technology that grows revenue and reduces expenses? That’s the real value. No one appreciates when things aren't going wrong; they only appreciate when you're making and saving money to contribute to the bottom line.
Remain Visible and Build Your IT Value
How do you improve your team’s quality of life and increase relevance to your customers? Keep in touch with your company's goals. Focus on issues critical to your CEO, not simply what your vendors push. Align yourself with the success of your company, and your team’s success will follow. In the IT world, your team needs to remain constantly on, constantly engaged, and constantly visible if they are to be recognized as a truly valuable asset.
Stop Spinning Your Wheels
Too often we fall into the trap of doing things without thinking. We get caught up in the routine. The only routine we should have in the rapid-fire world of IT is constant improvement. IT professionals may not be marketers, but they still need to market their skills and relevance to the business. Knowing what makes you special and valuable to the company will help promote confidence and connection with your business.
Think critically about your processes and the way they can be improved for the benefit of both your team and your company. Everything you do should be directly tied to an organizational goal, not simply doing things to maintain status quo. Don’t be afraid to challenge that status quo to ensure the success of the goal you are striving to reach. If you're just doing things for the sake of doing them, you're spinning your wheels.
Be the Bridge
Building IT value is as simple as bridging technology solutions with problems and customer needs. Take the technology your team is already intimately familiar with and connect it with business objectives. You need to understand the problems your business faces and be proactive about solutions. Challenge the status quo– take an interest in the company's success, look for out-of-the-box solutions, and eliminate mundane wheel-spinning processes that require attention but don't add value.
In the IT world, marketing your team’s IT services is as important as performing them. You need to be able to demonstrate the value added by your team to the overall success of your business goes beyond the routine processes of day-to-day work. By building IT value, you'll build your team into a necessary resource rather than just fading into the background. Your team will increase their relevance, which will increase morale, benefits, and job satisfaction. It's not too late– start building your IT value today.
