| Community Leadership/IT
Planning
Frequently Asked
Questions
Why are community leadership and IT planning
important?
The
importance of community leadership cannot be overstated.
The most successful IT efforts in communities--both in Nebraska
and across the U.S.--have been locally driven.
In fact, whether or not a community has a core group of
committed, connected individuals is the single most important
predictor of its success.
Information
Age development doesn't require community leaders who know all of the
answers. It does require community leaders, however, who
have the passion and commitment to find the answers.
By building relationships within the community, community
leaders can effectively utilize existing local resources. By contacting appropriate resources
on the state, regional or national level, the community can also
benefit. Quite
often, effective local community leaders are also active in
professional organizations and participate in policy development at
the state or federal level.
Information
Age development requires a long-term commitment from community leaders
to build both the intellectual and telecommunications infrastructure
necessary for Information Age development. Through
strategic IT planning, communities can develop a community vision,
identify and prioritize their IT development needs, and develop a plan
to address the needs identified. (Back
to FAQ Index)
What
is the relationship between information technology development and
traditional community development efforts?
Information
Age development is complementary to traditional community and economic
development. Housing, schools, health care, recreational
opportunities, main street businesses, utilities, and access to road
and air transportation are still necessary.
In fact, quality of life issues may be even more important to
IT development than traditional economic development. In order
to recruit and retain IT businesses and workers, communities need to
offer a high quality of life.
IT
development is simply a retooling of community and economic
development processes. Whereas
traditional economic development efforts focused on recruiting
manufacturing businesses, information technology development focuses
on helping existing businesses utilize information technology to grow
their businesses, developing a skilled workforce, creating new
information technology businesses, and recruiting IT businesses and
workers.
(Back to FAQ Index)
What does the
strategic information technology planning process involve?
Strategic
planning can help a community establish a common vision, set goals,
and implement a plan to achieve its goals.
Strategic IT planning can be done as part of a larger community
and economic development planning process or it can be done
separately. If done
as a separate process, efforts should be made to coordinate with
existing community and economic development initiatives.
The
strategic IT planning process consists of seven steps:
- Forming
a community IT committee
- Developing
and communicating a community vision
- Conducting
a community IT assessment
- Setting
goals
- Developing
an action an
- Implementing
a plan
- Evaluating
progress
- Celebrating
successes
(Back
to FAQ Index)
If you would like to suggest a question
relating to community leadership and strategic planning, please e-mail abyers@notes.state.ne.us
08/28/2001
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