How can IT management level up the importance of the longer-term IT strategy in a world where everything is being measured on short-term benefits?

The company needs to know its business environment to enable it to gain insight into its present processes, anticipate and manage change for the future, design appropriate strategies that will create business value for customers, and improve profitability in current and new markets 

Since i am a brand manager for more than 6 brands and more were coming on ! i find e branding is so important but it will never replace retail market still it is modern and new concept... surely to grow more with time espcailly in the middle east !

I think e branding works best for products and brands that dont need a lot personal fitting like my project ( Hi - tech wallets ) whereas cloths is another matter !

The surest way to have Long-term IT Strategy have the focus it needs is to have it integrated into the Organization's Long-term Business Strategy. This essentially implies that the IT department needs to prove to the Business to not only be the Backbone for Business Strategy implementation, but also be a Competitive Edge, which is very much the case in a number of Industries today.

Short-term gains need to 'bolster' IT Strategy, as you have pointed out, but any deviation from the Long-term IT Strategy needs to be looked at in terms of Business Priorities. If the Business accepts the impact on Long-term Business Strategy, then it is, after all, the Business' call.

To sum it up, whenever anyone is asked to focus on Short-term operational gains to the detriment of Long-term IT Strategy, they should look at it from the Business Strategy lens, and point out what the impact will be, of the same.

@Mohammed,

While your answer is what we know should be and I agree with that (except for the fact that I tend to believe that short-term tactical steps should be achieved "to bolster" longer-term IT strategy -- but does not, per se, mean that the IT strategy itself is being carried out by way of tactical steps alone).

However, we can obviously observe in the real world that IT, as a department inside an ogranization, are being forced to focus more on short-term gains to the point of putting longer-term goals on the back burner. In essence, businesses are forcing "IT strategy" as they see it as a subordinate support (therefore more on the operational role) to business strategies rather than the the "ideal concept" of Businsess-IT  strategy alignment and integration.

longer term IT strategy must be implemented through short term tactical steps. If the short term tactical steps are based on the longer term organization's strategy and the performance measures for these short term tactical stpes are defined before hand and continuously monitred, the longer term IT strategy may be successfully implemented.

the long term startegy should have in it short term milestones (like in any project)

these have to be identified as teh short twerm goals and communicated as such.

If you have done that and if you stay in the cmpany in the same position for the time needed for the long term startegy to  be implenmented then you can profit from both goals, longa and short term.