One of the best things an IT leader can give in a meeting is a “yes, and…” “Yes, and…” means not only are you hearing what leadership is saying — you’re a step ahead. You don’t just understand what they’re asking, but you already know how to do it… and what you need to get it done. But even more than that? How you can deliver on that to drive bottom-line results. As IT moves from solely supporting operations to driving actual business strategy, savvy IT leaders should be thinking about how their division drives growth outcomes… that means aligning potential technology investments with strategic and operational business priorities. It can feel like a major effort at times to go from support to strategy, but that mindset shift helps ensure IT delivers value, drives growth, and encourages buy-in from across the organization.

IT’s Evolution from Support to Strategy

Traditionally, IT was seen as a support function focused on meat and potatoes issues like maintaining systems, ensuring security, keeping the lights on, and maybe pinging the employees with a fake phishing email from time to time to keep them sharp.

Performance was measured almost exclusively by basic data… things like uptime, network reliability, and cybersecurity. But as businesses rely more on technology to drive innovation and business growth, IT has to recalibrate into playing a more strategic role. By aligning IT initiatives with business goals, IT leaders can directly contribute to the organization’s success, rather than focusing solely on technical performance.

(…it’s also how you stop being seen as a cost center and more as a growth driver)

Okay Squad… Let’s Get in Formation

So how do we execute this recalibration from support to strategy?

The key to leveraging IT for business success lies in understanding the company’s overall strategy. You need to be communicating and collaborating directly with business executives to identify key objectives — are we trying to improve customer experience? Increase operational efficiency? Drive innovation? Boost conversions?

When you fully understand the business goals of the firm, only then can you align your projects and priorities to supercharge those initiatives. And when you’re more directly supporting these goals, you can ensure that technology investments are directly linked to measurable business outcomes.

For example… if a company’s revenue strategy focuses on enhancing customer experience, IT should build or invest in systems that improve customer engagement (like CRM platforms or personalized service tools). If operational efficiency is the goal, IT might invest in automation tools or data analytics platforms to streamline processes and decision-making.

Whatever the goal identified by leadership, IT needs to be ready to pivot and evolve to make those goals into realities. And ideally, if you’ve proven your ability to drive business growth, you’ll get invited into the room where the decisions actually happen.

Measuring IT Investments by Business Outcomes

To ensure IT investments truly deliver value, IT leaders must measure success through business outcomes. Instead of evaluating performance based on traditionally crunchy metrics like uptime or system performance, you have to instead focus on business outcomes like revenue growth, customer retention, and market share.

For example — when implementing an ecommerce platform, the project’s success should be measured by increased sales, improved conversion rates, or enhanced customer retention… not just its technical functionality.

By linking IT initiatives to business outcomes, IT leaders can demonstrate how technology contributes to the company’s bottom line and drives long-term value. Going from support to strategy doesn’t happen without the right metrics.

Consistency and Continuity are Key in the “Support to Strategy” Shift

It’s important to remember that aligning IT with business strategy is an ongoing process, not a one-time task. As business priorities evolve, so too should IT strategies. Regular communication and collaboration between IT and business leaders ensure that technology investments continue to align with shifting business needs. Whether the company is expanding into new markets or adapting to industry changes, IT has to be agile enough to support these evolving goals.

If the business focuses on scaling operations internationally, IT investments in cloud infrastructure, data analytics, and localization tools will be critical to ensuring smooth expansion.

Continuous alignment ensures that IT remains a driver of business success over the long term.

Holistically Approaching IT Investment

Modern business challenges require a company that is aligned across its various divisions, and nowhere more so than in IT. Yoking IT to bottom-line outcomes enables organizations to leverage technology investments for maximum value; by prioritizing projects that directly support business goals, IT leaders can boost growth, foster cross-departmental collaboration, and ensure technology investments drive business outcomes, not just technical performance.

This strategic approach not only improves IT’s visibility within the organization but also ensures that IT continues to deliver long-term value as the business evolves.

Next time you’re discussing long-term goals with your company’s leadership, are you ready to “Yes, and…” them?

If you need help achieving the “support to strategy” transformation yourself… give us a call — we’d love to help out.