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This document is under review for possible changes. | |
Aligning IT with Organization Initiatives, Valuing IT
One of the biggest challenges IT Professionals face is continually explaining IT's organizational value.
Many decision-makers think when a really good IT project is completed, that should pretty much be the end of it. They view it almost like a refrigerator -- buy it, get it delivered, plug it in, and it just works 7 X 24 X 365 forever. IT systems, however, are not refrigerators. They are digital representations of the organization they support. As an organization grows and evolves, its systems must either adapt or become inhibitors for achieving future goals.
Since a common belief among decision-makers today is that IT is a black-hole investment, we need to help move them beyond this or face elimination. By elimination, I mean commoditization and outsourcing. This area will help give you various ideas that you can use to speak with decision-makers about the value as well as the cost of IT.
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| Despite disparate industries and locations, CEOs see much the same challenges facing them and their companies, according to a survey conducted by IBM Business Consulting Services.
The survey, which queried 456 CEOs in a variety of industries worldwide, found a majority will focus on revenue over cost-reduction. Some 80 percent of those surveyed cited revenue growth as a main objective, displacing the cost cutting characteristic of the past few years. “Revenue growth is the key.
With margins narrowed by competition, expansion is key to success, said the CEOs. “The only way to growth and profitability are new markets and new products,” said one.
www.ibm.com
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| Tips For Turning IT From Cost Center To Profit Center:
The old cost center becomes a positive cash-flow business. The internal IT group, currently cut to the bone, will be seen as adding value. Other business units will begin to view this group as a lifeline to its customers and a source of new "sales" opportunities.
www.informationweek.com
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| This editorial published on bettermanagement.com does a good job of making the case for service level management and why it is important for organizations to embrace it. 2 schools of thought are cleary forming when it comes to the role of IT. Once school sees IT as merely a commodity and the cheaper you can perform it the better off you are. The other camp sees IT as an investment and essential partner in achieving and monitoring progress on strategic business objectives. Service Level Management (SLM) is one way the partner camp can quantify the value IT is bringing to the organization.
wwwbettermanagment.com
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| This article was published to present ways to quantitatively measure the benefits of implementing an ERP system. A side benefit is that it gives us ideas of things we can measure for our own projects, as well as providing benchmarks for us to use when determining the value our systems provide. This is a great article on what to measure and sets the bar for the value of what is being measured.
www.technologyevaluation.com
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| Here's a nice, easy read article that does a good job explaining how to use the Balanced Scorecard approach in an IT organization. The Balanced Scorcard is a concept first promoted in the Harvard Business Review in the mid 1990's. It is a framework for obtaining and implementing feedback on the effectiveness of an organization in achieving its business goals.
Applying the Balanced Scorecard in the IT Organization
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| Select and prioritize projects with a business case
This article is a very brief, high-level overview of the elements of a business case. If you are starting from a white sheet of paper, check this out.
Tech Republic |
| Certain questions need to be answered before today's CIO signs off on any technology initiatives, says BMC SoftwareSoftware CIO Jay Gardner. Those questions include, "How do we deliver more revenue? How do we engage more customers? How do we broaden our market perspective? [and] How do we make our people more productive?" The metrics to measure are the things that impact the customer, the employee or the company's bottom line. A project is not successful when the technology is installed. A project is successful when the consumer, employee or shareholder gets the benefit because the technology has been installed.
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This information is available for public use.
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