IT strategy template with a worked example

IT strategy template

An IT strategy sets out which technology investments an organization will make over the next two to three years, in what order, and how they support its business goals. It is owned by the chief information officer and agreed with the executive team, plant or business unit leaders and the finance director.

Horizon: 3 years4 priorities · 11 outcomes

Use this template

What this iT strategy template includes

ContextThe situation, the challenges to solve, and what is deliberately left out.
Business alignmentEach business goal and what it requires from technology.
Current state assessmentThe condition of each technology area today.
Target architectureThe principles and platforms the organization is moving toward.
RoadmapThe sequence of major initiatives.
Budget and governanceHow much is spent and who decides.
Priorities and measuresThree to five priorities, each with an owner, outcomes with a baseline and target, and the initiatives behind them.

IT strategy example

A complete iT strategy for a fictional organization: precision machined components manufacturer with three plants serving aerospace, medical device and industrial customers.

Worked exampleIT strategy

Organization	Precision machined components manufacturer with three plants serving aerospace, medical device and industrial customers (700 staff)
Ambition	Run all three plants on one ERP and one shop floor system by the end of 2029, with every machine and every lot visible and no production lost to IT failures.
Horizon	3 years

Context

Where we are and what we are choosing

The company makes $165M in revenue from three plants and 210 CNC machines. Two plants share an ERP installed in 2013, carrying 380 customizations and out of vendor support since 2024. The third, acquired in 2021, still runs its own package. Only plant 1 has a manufacturing execution system, so 35% of machines report live data. IT and network outages stopped production for 46 hours last year. Month-end close takes 11 working days. Aerospace customer security audits have 14 major findings open, with a deadline of late 2028. IT spends $3.1M a year, 84% of it keeping existing systems running, with a team of 14.

Challenges

Two ERPs and three item masters mean a part has different numbers in each plant, work cannot be moved between plants without rekeying, and finance consolidates in spreadsheets.
Plant networks are flat. Machine controllers, office PCs and guest wifi share one network in two plants, which is the main finding in customer security audits and the cause of the longest outage last year.
Lot traceability depends on paper travelers in two plants. Building the full genealogy for a customer complaint takes about six hours, and medical device customers now expect it the same day.

We will focus on

Resilience and security first, because an unsupported ERP on an unsegmented network is the largest risk to revenue.
One ERP template for all three plants, implemented with standard processes and the smallest plant first.
Machine connectivity and manufacturing execution in every plant, so that OEE and lot history come from the machines and not from clipboards.

We will not

Upgrading the 2013 ERP in place. It is cheaper for two years, but it keeps the customizations and leaves plant 3 separate.
Predictive maintenance and machine learning on spindle data. The plants asked for it, but it waits until all machines are connected and two years of data exist.
A custom customer portal for order status. Customers will get scheduled reports from the new ERP until the rollout is complete.

Business alignment

Business goal	What IT must provide
Grow aerospace and medical from 48% to 60% of sales	Closed customer security findings, protected handling of controlled technical data, lot genealogy on request
Raise on-time delivery from 87% to 95%	Finite scheduling fed by live machine and work-in-process status in every plant
Lift OEE from 61% toward 70%	Automatic capture of run, idle and downtime reasons from all 210 machines
Balance load across three plants	One item master, one routing standard and one ERP so a job can move without rekeying
Close the books in five working days	One chart of accounts and inventory valuation in a single system
Absorb a fourth plant if one is acquired	A documented ERP and network template that can be deployed in under nine months

Current state assessment

Area	Condition	Main risk	Action
ERP	Two systems; main one unsupported since 2024, 380 customizations	A failure with no vendor fix; no path to integrate plant 3	Replace with one cloud-hosted ERP, plant by plant
Shop floor systems	Manufacturing execution in plant 1 only; paper travelers elsewhere	Traceability gaps on medical device lots	Extend to plants 2 and 3 and connect all machines
Plant networks	Flat in two plants; switches past end of life	One infected PC can stop machine controllers	Segment IT from OT, replace core switches
Cybersecurity	MFA on 35% of accounts; no 24-hour monitoring	Ransomware; loss of aerospace approvals	MFA everywhere, managed detection, tested recovery
Backup and recovery	Nightly backups; 4 of 16 critical systems meet the 4-hour recovery target	Multi-day outage after a storage failure	Immutable backups, quarterly recovery tests
Applications	143 applications, 40 of them spreadsheets or databases built by one person	Knowledge leaves with the author	Retire or absorb into ERP during rollout
IT team	14 staff, 11 on support and infrastructure	No capacity to lead change	Add 4 roles; move service desk overflow to a partner

Target architecture

Principles	One instance of each core system across all plants. Standard configuration before customization: a process changes to fit the ERP unless a customer or regulatory requirement says otherwise. Machine networks are separated from office networks and reachable only through controlled gateways. Every interface goes through the integration layer, not point to point.
Core platforms	A single cloud-hosted ERP for finance, planning, purchasing and inventory. One manufacturing execution system with machine data collection for the shop floor. The existing product lifecycle and quality management systems stay and are integrated. A cloud data warehouse feeds plant and executive reporting. Identity is managed in one directory with MFA for every account.
Buy or build	Buy standard software for everything a mid-size manufacturer does the same way as its peers. Build only where the plants differ from the market: machine connectivity adapters for older controllers, and quoting logic for complex machined parts. Implementation is led by a partner with internal process owners from each plant; support returns in-house 90 days after each go-live.

Roadmap

Period	Initiative	Outcome
H1 2027	Segment plant networks, MFA for all accounts, immutable backups, managed detection	Largest outage and audit risks closed before any system change
H1 2027	ERP selection and item master cleanup across three plants	One part numbering standard; vendor and partner contracted
H2 2027	ERP design; manufacturing execution rollout in plant 2	Agreed global template; 165 of 210 machines connected
H1 2028	ERP go-live in plant 3; manufacturing execution in plant 3	Template proven on the smallest plant; machines connected in all three plants
H2 2028 to Q1 2029	ERP go-live in plant 1; customer security audits re-run by Q4 2028	66% of revenue on the new ERP; audit findings closed before the deadline
Q2 to Q4 2029	ERP go-live in plant 2; legacy ERP retired; finite scheduling live	One system of record; five-day close; legacy support costs end

Budget and governance

Annual IT budget	Operating budget of $3.1M today, 1.9% of revenue, rising to $3.9M by 2029 as subscriptions replace owned servers. A separate capital program of $6.8M over three years: $4.2M for ERP, $1.6M for manufacturing execution and machine connectivity, $1.0M for networks and security.
Run versus change	Run takes 84% of the operating budget today and change 16%. The target is 65% run and 35% change by 2029, reached by retiring the legacy ERP and its servers, cutting the application count and moving routine support to a partner.
Decision forum	An IT steering committee chaired by the chief operating officer meets monthly with the finance director, the three plant managers, the quality director and the chief information officer. Any project above $100,000 needs a named business owner and a benefits case. An architecture review led by the chief information officer approves new software and any ERP customization.

Priorities and measures

Priority 1Owner: IT Infrastructure and Security Manager

Stop IT failures from stopping production

Outages cost 46 production hours last year, and the flat plant networks are the largest finding in customer audits. These risks are closed before the ERP program starts, not alongside it.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
Production hours lost to IT and network outages per yearMilestones: 30 hours by Q4 2027 · 16 hours by Q4 2028	46 hours	8 hours	Q4 2029
Critical systems restored within four hours in recovery testsMilestones: 60% by Q4 2027	25%	100%	Q4 2028
Major findings open from customer security auditsMilestones: 5 findings by Q4 2027	14 findings	0 findings	Q4 2028

Initiatives

Separate machine, office and guest networks in all three plants and replace end-of-life core switches
Enforce MFA on every account and contract 24-hour managed detection and response
Move backups to immutable storage and run a recovery test on a different critical system each quarter
Restrict controlled technical data to a segregated file environment with access logging

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Priority 2Owner: ERP Program Director

Bring three plants onto one ERP

Two ERPs and three item masters are why jobs cannot move between plants and the close takes 11 days. The main system is also unsupported, so replacement is a matter of when.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
Revenue transacted in the new ERPMilestones: 18% by Q4 2028 · 66% by Q2 2029	0%	100%	Q4 2029
Working days to close the monthMilestones: 10 days by Q4 2027 · 8 days by Q4 2028	11 days	5 days	Q4 2029
Inventory record accuracy across plantsMilestones: 93% by Q4 2027 · 95% by Q4 2028	91%	98%	Q4 2029

Initiatives

Cleanse and merge three item masters into one part numbering and routing standard before design starts
Design a global template with process owners from each plant and a hard limit of 25 extensions
Go live in plant 3 first, then plant 1, then plant 2, with a 90-day stabilization gate between each
Retire the 2013 ERP and its servers within six months of the last go-live

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Priority 3Owner: Director of Manufacturing Systems

See every machine and trace every lot

Only plant 1 knows its OEE, and lot genealogy in the other two plants is rebuilt from paper. Medical and aerospace growth depends on answering traceability requests the same day.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
CNC machines reporting live status and downtime reasonsMilestones: 78% by Q4 2027	35%	95%	Q4 2028
Time to produce full lot genealogy for a customer requestMilestones: 240 minutes by Q4 2027 · 60 minutes by Q4 2028	360 minutes	15 minutes	Q4 2029
Average OEE on connected machinesMilestones: 62% by Q4 2027 · 65% by Q4 2028	61%	68%	Q4 2029

Initiatives

Roll out the manufacturing execution system to plant 2 in 2027 and plant 3 in 2028
Fit connectivity adapters to the 40 older machines that lack a network interface
Replace paper travelers with electronic work instructions and scanned lot and operator records
Give each cell a live board showing run, idle and top three downtime reasons

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Priority 4Owner: Chief Information Officer

Free the IT budget and team for change

With 84% of spend and 11 of 14 staff tied to keeping systems running, the program cannot be delivered or sustained. The run cost has to fall as the new platforms arrive.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
IT operating budget spent on changeMilestones: 22% by Q4 2027 · 29% by Q4 2028	16%	35%	Q4 2029
Applications in the portfolioMilestones: 135 applications by Q4 2027 · 118 applications by Q4 2028	143 applications	95 applications	Q4 2029

Initiatives

Hire a business analyst per plant and an integration engineer, and move first-line support overflow to a partner
Assign an owner and a retire, keep or replace decision to each of the 143 applications
Start the monthly steering committee and require a benefits case for projects above $100,000

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Blank iT strategy template

The same structure with a prompt in every field. Copy it, or download it as a Word or Excel file.

Your planIT strategy

Organization	[Describe your organization in a few words, with its size]
Ambition	[One sentence on where you want to be at the end of the plan]
Horizon	[How long the plan runs, for example 12 months]

Context

Where we are and what we are choosing

[Where things stand today: the facts that make this strategy necessary]

Challenges

[A problem the strategy has to solve]
[A problem the strategy has to solve]

We will focus on

[Something you are choosing to concentrate on]
[Something you are choosing to concentrate on]

We will not

[Something you are deliberately leaving out]
[Something you are deliberately leaving out]

Business alignment

Business goal	What IT must provide
[Business goal]	[What IT must provide]
[Business goal]	[What IT must provide]
[Business goal]	[What IT must provide]

Current state assessment

Area	Condition	Main risk	Action
[Area]	[Condition]	[Main risk]	[Action]
[Area]	[Condition]	[Main risk]	[Action]
[Area]	[Condition]	[Main risk]	[Action]

Target architecture

Principles	[Your principles]
Core platforms	[Your core platforms]
Buy or build	[Your buy or build]

Roadmap

Period	Initiative	Outcome
[Period]	[Initiative]	[Outcome]
[Period]	[Initiative]	[Outcome]
[Period]	[Initiative]	[Outcome]

Budget and governance

Annual IT budget	[Your annual IT budget]
Run versus change	[Your run versus change]
Decision forum	[Your decision forum]

Priorities and measures

Priority 1Owner: [Role accountable for this priority]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Why this priority matters now, in one or two sentences]

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]

Initiatives

[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]

Priority 2Owner: [Role accountable for this priority]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Why this priority matters now, in one or two sentences]

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]

Initiatives

[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]

Priority 3Owner: [Role accountable for this priority]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Why this priority matters now, in one or two sentences]

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]

Initiatives

[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]

Priority 4Owner: [Role accountable for this priority]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Why this priority matters now, in one or two sentences]

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]

Initiatives

[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]

How to adapt it

01
Start the alignment table from the business plan, not from the IT wish list. If a planned project supports no business goal, drop it or find the goal it serves.
02
Rate every technology area honestly, including the team itself. Ask plant or department leaders to review the assessment, since they feel the failures first.
03
Sequence the roadmap by risk and dependency. Security and data cleanup usually come before a core system replacement, not during it.
04
State the budget as a share of revenue and split it into run and change. The split shows whether the plan is affordable without new money.
05
Name the forum that approves projects and the threshold above which a benefits case is required, so that priorities are settled outside the IT department.
06
Write down what you are deferring and why. The projects left out are the ones people will keep asking about.

How to run it

A plan only works if it is reviewed on a rhythm. This is the cadence the example assumes.

Check-in	Outcome owners update progress and confidence weekly.
Review	Priority owners review outcomes and unblock initiatives monthly.
Reset	Leadership revisits priorities and targets quarterly.

Tability keeps this cadence for you. Each priority becomes an objective, each outcome a key result with its baseline and target, and each initiative a tracked task. Owners get a check-in reminder and the plan shows what is on track.

Track this plan in Tability

Still comparing tools? See the 10 best strategy software tools.

Common mistakes

Writing a list of technology projects with no link to what the business is trying to achieve.
Planning a core system replacement on top of known security and data quality problems, which then surface in the middle of the rollout.
Assuming the current team can run operations and deliver a multi-year program with no extra capacity.
Leaving the run cost untouched, so new platforms are added and nothing is retired.

Questions, answered.

What should an IT strategy template include?

It should include the business goals and what each requires from technology, an assessment of the current state by area, the target architecture and its principles, a roadmap of major initiatives, and the budget and governance arrangements. Add measurable outcomes so that progress can be reviewed against results and not only project milestones.

How long should an IT strategy cover?

Three years is the usual horizon. That is long enough to replace a core system such as an ERP and short enough that the technology assumptions still hold. Review it every year and reset the roadmap each quarter, because business priorities and vendor plans will shift during that time.

How much should a manufacturer spend on IT?

There is no single right figure. The manufacturer in this example spends 1.9% of revenue on IT operating costs and funds capital programs such as the ERP replacement separately. The share matters less than the split: if more than 80% goes on running existing systems, there is little left to improve anything.

What is the difference between an IT strategy and an IT roadmap?

The strategy explains what technology must do for the business, the current gaps and the principles for closing them. The roadmap is one part of it: the sequence and timing of initiatives. A roadmap without the strategy behind it cannot tell you which project to cut when the budget is reduced.

Who approves an IT strategy?

The executive team approves it, usually on the recommendation of the chief information officer and the finance director. Plant or business unit leaders should agree the priorities before approval, because they supply the process owners and absorb the disruption of each rollout.

IT strategy template

Get the Word file

What this iT strategy template includes

IT strategy example

Context

Business alignment

Current state assessment

Target architecture

Roadmap

Budget and governance

Stop IT failures from stopping production

Bring three plants onto one ERP

See every machine and trace every lot

Free the IT budget and team for change

Blank iT strategy template

Context

Business alignment

Current state assessment

Target architecture

Roadmap

Budget and governance

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Name the priority in a few words]

Get the Word file

How to adapt it

How to run it

Common mistakes

Questions, answered.

What this iT strategy template includes

IT strategy example

Stop IT failures from stopping production

Bring three plants onto one ERP

See every machine and trace every lot

Free the IT budget and team for change

Blank iT strategy template

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Name the priority in a few words]

How to adapt it

How to run it

Common mistakes

Questions, answered.

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