What is a business looking for from information Technology?

I read many articles on alignment of information technology (IT) and priorities so it made me think about what a business is looking for from IT. The answer of course is that it depends on the kind of business so I will focus here on the professional information worker business with half mobile professionals and half in office staff roles.

Here is my List of 6 High Priority Business IT Needs:

1. Most important the technology systems must be stable and up 99.999% or something close to that – Really 101 stuff here!

2. Today more than ever the systems must accommodate mobility of the work force on the road and the transition in and out of the office.

3. Employees need to have freedom to use technology – Old school restrictive strategies are just that. The lines blurred between work time and personal time so the employee needs access to business and personal technical resources.

3. Resourcefulness – IT Budgets are being cut so must do more with less!

4. Security of information

5. Information library and collaboration tools

6. Everything paperless – No paper forums to fill out.

Of course businesses also need the key aplications like office suite, email and ERP/accounting system.