IT Strategic Planning

When you’re responsible for a senior living organization’s information technology services, you need to know you have the best tools available to provide enhanced security and a stable, useful IT infrastructure. Streamlined IT makes your organization more efficient and capable, and studies show that IT capacities and usage correlate with the quality of patient care.

You also need a trusted blueprint to help your organization reach future goals. IT strategic planning provides that blueprint and enables you to provide optimal care through advanced technology. 

Strategic IT Planning

An IT strategic plan is a core component of any organization’s strategy because it allows IT infrastructure and applications to enable and support critical long-term initiatives. 

When you work with Prelude Services, we ensure your IT infrastructure and software applications effectively support your existing business and provide a strategic plan to support long-term organizational goals. Prelude Services’ Strategic IT Planning services offer your healthcare organization the guidance and expertise it needs to optimize your technology investment. 

Components of an IT Strategic Plan

In IT strategic planning, initial priorities often include evaluating your current IT ecosystems to ensure efficiency and promote industry best practices. The strategic planning process should identify gaps in these areas and propose plans to ensure the organization can meet its technology needs. 

Prelude’s approach to building an IT strategic plan emphasizes client collaboration above all. We work closely with our clients to identify goals and capture inventories of IT assets, and we strive to gain a thorough understanding of the client’s business and growth strategies. Our methodology for creating a new strategic plan for your healthcare organization typically involves using data collection and client interviews to enhance the development of an IT strategy.

CORE COMPONENTS OF AN IT STRATEGIC PLAN

An IT strategic plan should generally include these core components:

1. ALIGNMENT WITH BUSINESS OBJECTIVES

IT infrastructure and software applications must support and enable business strategy. A proper strategic plan should identify and address current technology gaps and anticipate the organization’s future technology requirements. 

Prelude Services has unsurpassed expertise in addressing healthcare organizations’ current and future technology needs and is well equipped to ensure your technology infrastructure will help your organization achieve its goals. We listen carefully to make sure we understand your organization’s current and future business objectives and then deliver an IT strategic plan tailored to your specific requirements.

2. TECHNOLOGY ROADMAP

Because technology evolves rapidly, it constantly provides opportunities to deliver patient services better and more efficiently. Prelude Services is uniquely positioned to evaluate and deploy emerging IT solutions to provide innovative and efficient solutions. With our technology roadmaps, we can offer you services like these: 

• Reviewing emerging technologies that will enable your organization to realize strategic business objectives.
• Focusing on emerging technologies that will allow your organization to serve the needs of residents and their families.
• Prioritizing the acquisition of and upgrades to current and new technologies.
• Recommending the proper sequence for deployment, depending on available resources and organizational strategy.

3. BEST PRACTICES

Adherence to widely accepted best practices will ensure your organization remains competitive in all aspects of your business. Prelude Services has been successfully managing the technology needs of healthcare organizations for over 20 years, so we are well equipped to recommend and implement general IT and industry best practices to help you meet current needs and align with future goals.

When we work with your senior or assisted living organization on best practices, our conversations generally include the following:

• Reviewing general trends in IT and software applications to determine how your organization can apply them.
• Discussing the technology plan as it compares to those of other organizations in your industry to ensure compliance with short- and long-term industry standards.
• Determining your organization’s technology strategy — for instance, setting a primary goal such as staying on the leading edge of emerging technology.

4. IT GOVERNANCE

IT governance involves setting budgets and creating a framework of policies and procedures that determine how your organization evaluates and manages technology initiatives. Prelude Services has vast experience in helping clients adhere to their current budgets and recommending ways to optimize future IT investment. We also provide strategic governance of the IT plan, ensuring your organization attains its milestones and meets its budgetary requirements and objectives. 

Building and Implementing Your Strategic Plan

Building and implementing a strategic plan correctly is critical for setting your organization up for success. At Prelude Services, we create each IT strategic plan in close consultation with our clients, considering both the current state of your organization’s technology and your short- and long- term goals. Here are more details on this below:

1. INFORMATION COLLECTION

Prelude Services will perform extensive data collection to form a clear picture of your organization’s current technology environment. We gather information through IT assessments and discussions with the appropriate staff members, generally collecting items like these:

• IT asset inventory, including desktop, data center and network devices.
• Software inventory.
• Network diagrams.
• Existing tactical or strategic IT plans,
• IT organizational charts.
• IT governance documents 
• Current disaster recovery and business continuance plans.

We also perform stakeholder interviews to identify and understand current and future business goals and objectives.

2. PRELUDE SERVICE DELIVERABLES

Once we’ve gathered the data we need, we can provide a concrete set of deliverables to improve your strategic planning:

• Prelude Services SWOT analysis: Prelude Services will deliver a comprehensive strength, weakness, opportunity and threats (SWOT) analysis of your current IT environment. We will make specific proposals for improvement and explain the business case that drives each recommendation.
• Delivery of the strategic plan: After SWOT analysis is complete, Prelude Services will deliver the completed strategic plan to the executive-level team responsible for its review and acceptance. We will offer opportunities to review and adjust the results of the proposed strategic IT plan before making it final. 
• Plan execution: We then partner with our clients to execute the accepted strategic plan. Our experienced staff of project managers, subject matter experts and account managers will work with you on implementation, providing technical resources to ensure timely execution of tactical and strategic initiatives. 

Benefits of IT Strategic Planning With Prelude Services

Working with Prelude Services gives you the peace of mind of knowing you’ve partnered with an experienced, trustworthy leader in the field. 

Prelude’s owners founded the company more than 20 years ago in response to industry demands for IT services to help address increasing regulations, challenges in finding IT resources and underfunding of IT projects. Today, Prelude Services is an IT managed services provider, offering innovative solutions specifically tailored to senior living organizations’ needs. 

Prelude Services supports hundreds of long-term care, senior living and community service organizations by providing indispensable technology, bolstering data security and enhancing the overall quality of service. Our clients depend on us as a trusted and proven partner to manage all their information technology needs.

We have a vast range of services and capabilities available to assist your organization:

• Trained, experienced subject matter experts with the enhanced knowledge that comes from our standing as a Microsoft business partner.
• Experience with operational and strategic assessments and partnerships with organizations.
• Custom application development, data warehousing and business intelligence solutions.
• Data center hosting, cloud services, network management and disaster recovery and business continuity solutions.
• Comprehensive hardware and software support for all your IT infrastructure.
• A 24-hour, seven-day-a-week service desk to answer questions and assist you with troubleshooting.
• Cybersecurity management and vulnerability assessment based on National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and other industry standards.
• Strong expertise in change management and IT governance.

Partner With Prelude Services for Help With Your IT Strategic Planning

To set your organization on a promising path forward with robust IT strategic planning services, work with Prelude Services. 

Prelude Services is uniquely positioned to assist with IT Strategic Planning at your senior living organization. As a longtime partner for many leading organizations in the industry, we understand the unique IT challenges and opportunities senior living communities face. We have the experience, knowledge and infrastructure to help you create and execute your strategic technology plan. 

Trust Prelude Services to provide an optimal return on your technology investment now and in the future so you can focus on what you do best — providing seniors with the best long-term living and care arrangements possible!

Contact us to request more information about IT strategic planning today.