I was over at altitudebranding.com’s website responding to one of Amber Naslund’s brilliant blog posts, she gets 5 stars from me almost everytime she posts something. I think many of us have rants pent up deep down inside, but we’re not sure what it is or where we should put it. I can’t articulate as well as Amber, but I too share her concern and wish list if you will.

Please read her article called, Will The Business People Please Stand Up! You can read my response there too and I am including it here below as well, why, because I think my response is a good blog post too : )

OK, You got me on this one, I know what you are trying to say but lets look at who we are talking to in this environment. Forgive me if I come off ranting.

I am only going to draw from my experiences of being here online since the late 80’s when Gohper and WAIS were the tools of the day, FTP was the strongest tranfer tool ever!

It will appear like I’m tooting my own horn but really I’m not, like you, my hearts desire is that I could share my experiences from the trench building sound I.T. Strategies, showing Blog readers how a traditional ROI is calculated, and show you how to determine your businesses breakeven point, but that’s kind of boring me thinks.

Walking through an I.T. Strategic Plan, the steps you should consider working through to at least set the foundation for that plan, that’s not all that exciting either. You can find the above on my Blog, not in great detail but at least at a high-level approach.

There are literally hundreds of, if not thousands of sites on how to do a proper business plan too.

Everything you mentioned plus mine above are badly needed from a professional perspective, but my experience so far, here in Social Media circles anyway, people are not that serious about how to do those things. This is still a place to escape to after the day job, or even during the day job.

The How to build a good blog, how do I monetize it and make millions, the how do I get 10 million followers and so on seem to be the lions share of Internet users and scammers today. Even I want to learn some of those things.

My point is, right now, I would love to see what you have so brilliantly articulated but the reality is, the circle is still too small. Why? Business owners still don’t fully understand what they have in their hands when it comes to the Internet.

You & I know many of the same great people working hard to change the mindset, we want to educate and arm business owners with the right tools, metrics and perspective to succeed here. The problem is, they still don’t take this platform seriously enough, it’s still recreation.

Sorry but I had to get that off my chest. There’s more but it’s a moot point.

So what’s the answer, I think you & I and host of others must stay the course, continue to fight the battles we can win, do our best to educate the business owners if they’ll listen. This is going to take a little longer than I would like to see, but I know eventually this environment will have to be taken seriously because the shift is well under way.

It’s not that different than trying to save people from going to hell, business is changing rapdily, if you don’t change with it, your out of business.

Owen

For those of you who visit regularly you probably already noticed, but for those of you who check once and a while and or maybe once a year, I’ve made one big change and added a few more things for you to get in to.

The first big news for 2010, I made the move to Headway Themes (affiliate link) instead of Thesis, I just love it, the Visual Editor is simply amazing and allows you to make changes on the fly.

With that in mind, you will see on the Menu an item called Headway, there you will find a video that gives you a snapshot of how great the theme is. Also, I have put a link to their website (it’s my affiliate link), yes, I am more than happy to endorse and promote Headway Themes. You should too!

Many of you know I’m all about I.T. Strategic Planning, I have added a new page with a high-level view of what your I.T. Strategic Plan might look like, also, I have provided you with all the links to the posts I wrote to help you build your own I.T. Strategic Plan. I hope it works for you, and of course, I’m available to help you should you need me.

I hope you like the new look and feel of my Blog, it’s not labour intensive anymore, thanks to Headway Themes.

Take a look around, if you see something wrong and or something you would like to see on the Blog, Let me know ASAP.

Until next time.

I have been thinking about this question for some time, because there appears to be a gap between IT Departments / Leaders and the rest of the organization. IT departments tend to think in icolation when it comes to the I.T. Plan. I’m generalizing but, this is normal because IT departments believe that the rest of the organization couldn’t possibly understand the complexities of technology let alone know how to implement it. That’s no longer the truth today, everyone has stepped up and learned more and do infact understand far better what technology means and what it can do. That’s not what I want to share with you right now, lets talk about who the I.T. Plan is for.

If the CIO or the person charged with the technology needs of the organization builds an I.T. Plan without consulting all departments and subject matter experts first, should be relieved of duty. The secret to a successful I.T. Strategic Plan is to ensure you have talked with all areas of the organization. It’s a MUST! If you don’t, you have no way of knowing what they struggle with, what they would like to be able to do, and what things they would like you to fix. The subject matter experts in the organization are your greatest allies, they can help you execute incredible customer service. The organization will know you care about each person, that makes buy in much easier when change takes place in systems they use.

Your responsibility is to deliver the right solutions, the right technology and above the best customer service to your organization. It has nothing to do with technology, it’s about people and always will be. The I.T. Strategic Plan is a road map for the IT Staff, it lays out the years work, and how you will serve the organization on a daily basis.

So, who is the I.T. Strategic Plan for? Who do you think and why?