Ensuring Ongoing Executive Support
Today's IT executives work in a fast-paced world of ever-changing technology and ever-increasing demands from customers. Their support for systems management processes needs to be continually reinforced. One way to provide this reinforcement is to showcase the successes of your processes. In the case of availability, for example, show weekly and monthly improvements in system uptime. For tuning processes, you might show increased productivity of users. In all cases, use charts, graphs, or tables to speak and present in the language of your executives. Publications such as The Wall Street Journal or USA Today can provide excellent examples of simple but effective presentation of trends, forecasts, and performance.
Executives tend to be very goal-oriented and results-driven. Their time is valuable and limited. Use it to your best advantage in securing the ongoing support for systems management disciplines. Don't assume that approval given for a previous resource will automatically be granted in the future. Just as an IT environment changes rapidly in direction, scope, and focus, so may that of the entire enterprise. The best strategy for ensuring ongoing executive support for systems management is to stay informed about the business strategies and trends of your enterprise, and to keep your senior managers apprised of the synergistic strategies and trends in IT.