Summary
IT solutions are essential to any successful business. These days, businesses all run with reliance on IT to deal with their customer contact, client communication, marketing strategies, and sales records. IT is also used as a platform for telephony servers and websites to keep businesses online and in front of customers.
But, because IT is constantly updating and going through changes, to keep ahead of the game, it’s essential that any planned IT updates go smoothly and keep your business online and functioning as normal throughout the transition.
IT project planning isn’t just about the changes you want to make and how to get there, it’s also about keeping your business online throughout the change and considering what impacts the changes may have to your overall operation.
IT projects also come with budgeting and staffing considerations which may be a factor in your roadmap timeframes in regard to paying for development and planning training and recruitment where required. For this reason, it’s important that those planning IT projects understand the strict timelines and create iron-clad operational frameworks to consider and mitigate risks to IT, developing continuity plans to ensure that all IT solutions remain online and functioning at all times.
- To understand the need for IT changes and how they benefit businesses.
- To develop a strategic framework for the change.
- To gain buy-in from stakeholders or investors for your planned project.
- To understand the cost implications against your budget.
- To create an effective continuity plan to keep your business running throughout the change.
- To develop a roadmap for the change with accurate timescales.
- To understand the risk areas and place in mitigation methods where possible.
- To develop knowledge or key tools and techniques to help your project plan run smoothly.
- To review good change implementation plans against unsuccessful ones in similar business areas.
- To gain feedback on your change and make ongoing improvements to stay current in your field.
This course was designed for anyone who is responsible for planning and organising IT developments within a company and reviewing the current offering to stay current in your field. It would be most beneficial for:
- IT Support Specialists
- Operations Managers
- Project Planners
- Change & Control Managers
- Process Writers
- IT Directors
- Business Owners
- Sales Managers
- Marketing Managers
- Risk Assessors
- Auditors
- Developers
This course uses various adult learning styles to aid full understanding and comprehension. Participants will review multiple technology platforms, their uses, and functions to determine potential positive change for their business. They will view presentations and take part in group discussions regarding best practice for change and complete group practical activities to plan a strategic roadmap for new projects.
Their roadmaps will be reviewed throughout the group to identify potential pain points and teams will work together to create continuity plans. Finally, each group will plan a presentation of their planned change, identifying requirements and describing their budgeting and timescales for completion.
Course Content & Outline
- Journey mapping - what is your business lacking?
- Competitor evaluation.
- Aligning your business priorities with your IT roadmap.
- Optimising your IT solutions.
- Setting your objectives.
- Making good financial decisions.
- Considering development costs.
- In-house recruitment and expertise regarding IT solutions.
- Conducting a SWOT analysis.
- Creating a Gantt chart to understand your timelines.
- Validating your business case.
- LEAN methodologies and automation to cost-save.
- SMART targets to generate buy-in.
- Making changes based on data.
- Reporting and feedback to formulate your business case.
- Negotiation and timeframe management.
- Effective project governance.
- Communication platforms and what works best for your strategy.
- Developing mutually beneficial business relationships remotely.
- Checkpoints and review sessions.
- Handling failures and difficult situations.
- Business continuity planning.
- Testing phases and rollout announcements.
- Rolling back when there are problems.
- Sandbox and Beta testing.
- Reading the future market.
- What are your customers and clients likely to expect?
- Staying ahead of the game.
- Making the most of your budget.
- Investing for the future.
- Agreeing on future resources and project aims.
- Predicting market changes.
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Holistique Training draws distinction as one of the pioneers in the field of training and professional development solutions since 2008.