Are you an IT leader of your organization? What resolutions have you made this year for a better, more productive, and innovative year?

As we begin the new year, many of us create resolutions to improve our personal lives, our physical health, and our finances. As a CIO, it is important to live by similar standards in order to ensure the health of the IT organization from a financial, business relationship, and operational perspective. IT is the backbone of every organization and by following these simple resolutions this year you can help ensure that your organization has sustainable healthy habits for the future.

1. GET HEALTHY:

This is one of the most common personal resolutions. Everything from eating right, exercising, and monitoring your overall health are required to maintain a healthy lifestyle. As an IT leader, it is critical to do the same for your organization. In the new year, check the health of your IT organization by looking at performance measurements, customer satisfaction scores, SLA's, supplier performance, and resource utilization. Create a measurement baseline and continually assess throughout the year to analyze your organization's progress.

2. VOLUNTEER:

Time is valuable. Volunteering time to help the greater good is one of the best resolutions we can make. In IT, we suggest volunteering time to reduce the disparity that lies between different departments in your organization. One major focus for CIO's should be how to get development and operation teams on the same page for the greater good of the business. Invest the time to create collaboration across these two teams, further your understanding of both business and operational requirements (time, support, etc.), and involve your operations teams earlier in the development lifecycle. "Volunteering" for the greater good within your business will enable your organization to bridge communication gaps while implementing a cultural shift in 2014.

3. SAVE MONEY:

The way we save money in our personal lives can be emulated in our professional lives. Do a cost analysis, create a budget, and ultimately remove excess spending. In IT this requires, evaluating software utilization, resources, and projects. Where is some of the excess spending that can be removed? Often times software has been on the shelf unused for years, resources have been mismanaged, and projects remain unfinished. Take the opportunity to realize where your organization has pitfalls and develop a roadmap to use resources more effectively and reduce cost.

4. GO ON VACATION:

Sticking to our resolutions of getting healthy, volunteering, and saving money will allow you to take a vacation (often something we all struggle with - when we are on vacation, many of us still check our smartphones constantly, or hop on bridge lines because of an outage or emergency). The same goes for IT - once you analyze your health and spending, you are able to get out of firefighting mode so that you can take a break. The majority of IT organizations spend 70% to 80% of their time keeping the lights on, which leaves no time for rest. Help your organization make the strategic shift and establish itself as a valued business partner and enabler.

Don't stand by idle...take a hard look at your organization and get healthy, volunteer for the greater good, save money for your organization, and finally take a break, because don't you need one.

About the author:

Jason Rosenfeldis the Service Management Practice Lead at Cask, LLC and has 15+ years of hands-on Service Management, Service Delivery and Consulting experience building Service Management programs, roadmaps, services, portfolios and processes for Higher Ed, Financial, Federal, Defense, Tech, and Entertainment customers. He is a certified ITIL Expert, TIPA Assessor, Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Flawless Consultant, and holds ISO/IEC 20K and 27K certifications.Jasonis the former President of the ITSMF USA San Diego LIG, was a finalist foritSMFUSA 2012 Member of the Year and is a regular speaker atitSMFevents.