WEEK4 Doctor Steven Reynolds

FIVE STEPS TO AN EFFECTIVE STRATEGIC PLAN
By
Tai Cleveland
Class CS832
Doctor Steven Reynolds
Resubmit Week 4 assignment















TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page 1
Table of Contents 2
Five Steps to an Effective Strategic Plan 3-6
Reference List 7



















Strategic planning processes are made to establish which forms of support an organization requires to meet its future needs. Indeed, most technologists convey doubt about anyone's capacity to exactly estimate which types of technology will be required ahead of the next two or three years. The impetus for strategic technology planning include aligning technology with other institutional priorities, disseminating knowledge about technology needs and constraints, building alliances with key decision-makers, lobbying for (and obtaining) financial and other resources, addressing existing technology needs, and keeping an eye on the leading edge (M. Ringle, et al., 1998).
Aligning technology with other institutional priorities
When strategic plans fail, organizations point fingers on the failure to tie technology to institutional mission and priorities, failure to get the right people on board, excessive focus on technical detail, or lack of suitable leadership (Ringle, et al., 1998).
In fact there are five steps in having an effective strategic plan. First of all, start with the organization’s planning vision. However, reading an organization’s strategic plans is not sufficient enough for strategizing. Having business authorities partaking in the planning process guarantees that security is headed towards the right course. Also, it helps a business get some knowledgeable and financial backing for their program. In reality, businesses have tight budgets and constraints on what they can and cannot do. An organization needs to goad these business folks that a security improvement is really in the best interest of the business, and that they are accepting to pay for it.
By viewing at the enhancements an organization wants to make over the next couple of years, they may be able to get business leaders to make a long-term investment to a particular project. If a certain department does not have budget to fund the project during the next year, a business organization possibly might be able to drag the group for the following year (S. Scalet, 2005).
Secondly, an organization should often do a risk assessment. As soon as an organization realizes what its priorities are, then they can determine which security risks might hinder the business in meeting important targets. Business authorities have to be coordinated in the planning process. Though sometimes it takes a security expert to truly secure and evaluate a risk assessment.
This security know-how can come in handy especially in the external affairs associated with a security department's strategic planning. In fact, those companies that long to be successful in the global marketplace have to be more cunning about handling all types of risks ranging from computer crashes, military coups to epidemics
The third step to an effective strategic plan is setting measurable goals for a team in the organization, to keep all the important plans sorted out and grounded. Once the management has done its research, it is time to begin combining the business risks and goals. Plus, an organization needs its strategy by merging the risks and company goals.
The company’s objectives should be priority and they can be simple as any as an organization would like it to. Some simple objectives are to improve security, decrease costs, and apply security to ascertain competitive advantage.
The strategy is merely the approach that an organization shall accomplish pertaining to those missions over the coming years. The further the plan goes, the less detailed it becomes. In addition, an organization may opt to divide a less-detailed strategy with the board of directors and have a more specific plan that they move within the security department. The ploy is looking beyond one’s business tactics for the next year and detailing out the important goals for the coming years.
However, there are things to make a business strategy work. One is that an organization has to ensure that every penny they are spending links with one of their objectives. In fact, it all boils down to a budget and a set of priorities and detailing the program that an organization is going to carry out in a given year (Scalet, 2005).
The other thing is that an organization has to find their IT metrics that can measure how well they meet their objectives over time. Yet, business leaders do not usually intimidate as easily as they used to.
The fourth step is recognizing that there is no correct time frame. There is always an argument about how far should a strategic plan look and executed. Actually, it depends that at least two years may be the outer limits of clear vision, especially during the preliminary phase of getting out of response mode.
There are certain factors why a business should not delve too much on time frames. An organization really cannot plan for everything since regulations can change legal requirements quickly, potential threats can emerge, and key vendors could be obtained.
To cope with these situations, an organization should set as much of a plan as possible for the next two years which contain specific goals and ways to achieve them. A business should also keep in mind the two-to-four-year time frame. Beyond that, though, it is wise to have the most high-level goals in mind.
Lastly, an organization should stay flexible at all costs. Actually, what's more important than how far out a company’s plan reaches is how flexible it can be in running it.
It can be difficult to make those preliminary steps to get a plan really off the ground, when an organization is attempting to keep on top of everything. But over time, the strategic planning process will get easier. Once the management gets it going, the plan only has to be rationalized, not formulated. It is all a part of the job.
And the more an organization shifts into a strategic mode, the more it buys itself time to concentrate on what is really necessary like building business value. In fact, there is often going to be some response, but by doing more planning up front, the management is going to set aside time to assist the business and do some of the things that they want to do.
Without strategic planning, an organization is on the hazy side of lurching from one challenge to another without a specific goal. Getting burdened by lengthy, complicated, and confused technology planning is one of the more costly and likely self-defeating practice an organization can undertake. It is tremendously easy to lose sight of the most significant objectives and become entangled in useless arguments about certain vendors, micro-standards, and platforms. However, there is an alternative. It is simply to make optimal use of time, energy, and resources for better understanding of the important differences between long-term strategic technology planning and short-term operational technology planning. It is essential to focus on process rather than document, and to devise mechanisms that enable funding, staffing, and other assets to be readily allocated and re-allocated, as circumstances require (Scalet, 2005).
REFERENCES
Allison, M. J. & Kaye, J. (2005). Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations: A
Practical Guide and Workbook. John Wiley and Sons.
Retrieved August 22, 2009, from
http://books.google.com/books?id=0qSKfnIVLYC&pg=PA1&dq=startegic+planning#v=onepage&q=&f=false.

Bryson, J. M. & Alston, F. K. (2005). Creating and Implementing Your Strategic Plan.
John Wiley and Sons. Retrieved August 22, 2009, from
http://books.google.com/books?id=wJA1jzIAwb0C&dq=what+is+strategic+planning%3F&printsec=frontcover&source=in&hl=en&ei=qEKRSs3sH4yTkQW66dm7Cg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=13#v=onepage&q=&f=false.

Goodstein, L. D., Nolan, T. M. & Pfeiffer, J. W. (1993). Applied Strategic Planning: A
Comprehensive Guide. McGraw-Hill Professional.
Retrieved August 22, 2009, from
http://books.google.com/books?id=pYaqjHZHYNUC&pg=PA1&dq=startegic+planning#v=onepage&q=&f=false.
Ringle, M. & Updegrove, D. (1998). Is Strategic Planning for Technology an Oxymoron? Cause and Effect Journal. Retrieved August 22, 2009, from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/html/cem/cem98/cem9814.html.
Scalet, S. D. (2005, July 01). Five Steps to an Effective Strategic Plan. CSO
Retrieved August 22, 2009, from
http://www.csoonline.com/article/220459/Five_Steps_to_an_Effective_Strategic_Plan?page=1.