Three decisions: the life cycle, the sourcing, the roadmap.
A well-defined IT strategy highlights which applications you need, how they support your business processes and where each system currently stands in its life cycle. It also identifies when upgrades, replacements or new solutions are required — so you understand your digitalisation status and the challenges ahead.
As expectations around mobile usability, data analysis and automated processes continue to grow, companies need a clear framework to guide technology decisions. That framework starts with the goal of the IT strategy: why it is being developed, what information it should provide — and what is deliberately out of scope.
At Dreher Consulting the focus is practical implementation, not abstract marketing concepts. The IT strategy defines the landscape that carries your digital transformation, and it is written against the enterprise architecture it has to run on — the applications, processes and data the roadmap depends on.
Would you like to see what an IT strategy engagement looks like in your industry?
Discuss your IT strategy →A quick read before you spend a meeting on it. If most of this matches your situation, an IT strategy engagement is worth scoping — if it doesn't, we will say so.
Reference models are useful for orientation and useless for decisions. An IT strategy has to start from your applications, your processes and their life-cycle status — because that is the landscape the roadmap has to change, and the one we stay accountable for into rollout.
Three phases, seven steps. The status quo is established before anything is designed, and the rollout is planned before it is approved.
Step 1 — Status quo: IT organisation, IT service, applications, projects and budgets. Step 2 — Requirements: corporate strategy analysis, state of digitalisation, IT security and IT vision.
Output · status-quo reportStep 3 — Application strategy: application portfolio and life cycle. Step 4 — Sourcing strategy: including the cloud, hybrid and on-premise position. Step 5 — IT organisation: demand and supply, staffing and skills, IT mobility, IT governance and IT security.
Output · target pictureStep 6 — Rollout: project portfolio management, IT roadmap and IT budget. Step 7 — Ensure success: define objectives and key results, define communication, apply change management.
Output · IT roadmapThe 7-step model
| Phase | Step · what it covers | |
|---|---|---|
| Phase 01 Determine the status quo |
1Status quo | IT organisation, IT service, applications, projects and budgets. |
| 2Requirements | Corporate strategy analysis, state of digitalisation, IT security and IT vision. | |
| Phase 02 Strategy design |
3Application strategy | Application portfolio and life cycle — continue use, modernise or replace, per application. |
| 4Sourcing strategy | The cloud, hybrid and on-premise position, make-or-buy scenarios and service level agreements. | |
| 5IT organisation | Demand and supply, staffing and skills, IT mobility, IT governance and IT security. | |
| Phase 03 Strategy rollout |
6Rollout | Project portfolio management, IT roadmap and IT budget for the next 3–5 years. |
| 7Ensure success | Define objectives and key results (OKR), define communication, apply change management. | |
The seven steps sit inside the three phases above.
Every application mapped with its business purpose and where it sits in its life cycle.
More on application portfolioA defined cloud, hybrid and on-premise position, decided per application rather than per project.
More on cloud vs on-premiseDemand and supply split, skills and staffing, governance and security responsibilities.
More on IT organisationSequenced projects with owners, a budget line and the OKRs the strategy will be measured against.
More on the IT roadmapEnvironmental-technology manufacturer
ProblemA manufacturer in environmental technology with grown structures: work processes running on Excel, media breaks between departments, and no documented view of the application landscape the growth depended on.
EngagementStatus quo and requirements first, then the strategy: application portfolio, sourcing position and a sequenced roadmap with a budget line — delivered along into the processes and systems.
85%
fewer Excel-based work processes · measured
15%
faster order processing · measured
12%
lower material stocks · measured
“For 15 years we have been working with Dreher Consulting on various tasks in the context of process optimisation.”
The questions managing directors ask us before they engage. Honest answers about our services, our approach, and how we support mid-market businesses across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
Answers by:
Dr. Harald Dreher
Founder · Dreher Consulting
Since 1992 he has guided Mittelstand companies through replacing in-house-built ERP systems. He advises vendor-neutrally, taking no commission from any software vendor.
IT strategy consulting assesses your application landscape, IT organisation and sourcing position, and defines how the technology landscape should evolve to support the corporate strategy. The result is a roadmap with owners, sourcing decisions and the key results the strategy is measured against — not a target architecture diagram.
A digital strategy covers the business model, processes and technology together: what the company wants to achieve and how digitalisation carries it. An IT strategy defines the technology landscape underneath — applications, sourcing, IT organisation and infrastructure. In our projects the digital strategy comes first and the IT strategy follows from it, not the other way round.
Yes — in that order. The IT strategy places the ERP system in its application life cycle and defines the sourcing position the successor has to fit; the selection then tests systems against it. Whoever replaces first lets the new system define the IT strategy.
That depends on the number of applications and locations and how well the current landscape is documented. The status quo phase is the largest variable — an undocumented landscape takes longer to establish than to design against. The honest range for your case is set in the first conversation, after we have seen the landscape.
An independent read of where your IT landscape stands — from a firm with no software revenue behind the advice. See how we helped companies in your industry:
The full first conversation, including an initial review of your application landscape and where each system sits in its life cycle.
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