Managing the implementation of the strategy in IT

With ever more increasing disruptive requirements and reduced time to market, IT managers are finding that traditional methods of planning and implementation are not as effective as they used to be. A number of factors are affecting the quick and effective implementation of strategies that is demanded in today's competitive environment:
1. Knowledge of the infrastructure and how it provides value is frequently overlooked when defining the strategy.
2. The implemented IT architecture rarely has the flexibility required by the organization to respond rapidly to varying market conditions and requirements.
3. IT managers usually try to adapt their infrastructure and resist disruptive measures when the situation requires it, due to cost and service-level considerations.
4. Business stakeholders have a hard time implementing changes in the organization due to resistance in their rank and file, and their dependency on IT.
5. It is difficult for businesses to find the right balance between incorporating manual procedures and implementing equivalent functionality in applications, that would minimize time to market and maximize flexibility.

In order for IT to navigate the tidal wave of requirements it must adapt to the situation at hand. This means that IT must:
1. Adapt its operations and methodologies to the varying requirements of the business strategy.
2. Implement mechanisms to plan, control and execute project activities and deliverables.
3. Manage IT professionals in such a way that it can leverage its internal resources as much as possible while taking advantage of the knowledge and expertise provided by consultants.
4. Ensure that the scope of projects are kept in line with business requirements.
5. Keep costs within planned parameters.
6. Ensure quality levels.
7. Find a balance between minimizing the impact on current operations and reducing the time to market of new business solutions.
8. Establish alliances and close relationships with suppliers that will benefit the business.
9. Mitigate risks and their impact on operations.
10. Implement and use key performance indicators to manage the operations at all times.

How Does IT Provide A Consistently Effective Service

This presentation is a complement to the previous blog entry and deals with implementing standards required by IT to maintain consistent levels of service:

How Does It Provide A Consistently Effective Service

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How does IT provide a consistently effective service? (Part II)

When implementing standards, businesses have a number of frameworks and models that can be used as references such as:

• Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL).
• Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI).
• Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK).

These reference models provide guides based on processes, tools, roles and responsibilities that can be used to define in-house standards and methodologies. These in-house standards should be defined around:

• Business objectives such as quality standards and response times.
• Business processes that require improvement and consistent levels of service.
• Metrics that will be used to measure and control the behavior of processes.

Once in-house standards and methodologies have been defined with clear objectives, processes, tools, metrics, roles and responsibilities, the business can start training and implementation. If the business so chooses it can carry out a series of tests and audits to demonstrate that it has achieved varying levels of industry accepted standards.

How does IT provide a consistently effective service? (Part I)

In previous blog entries we have seen how IT can contribute to innovation. However the day-to-day operations present challenges that require implementing solutions to solve them and contribute to creating value in the business. Among the challenges faced are:

• Frequent technical errors and failures in the infrastructure.
• Incidents that affect service levels and the perception of clients towards the business.
• Bugs and lack of compliance in quality standards of projects.

One of the ways IT can help minimize the impact of these issues is by implementing standards and methodologies that are adapted to the different areas of expertise within the organization, such as:

• Service Desk and contact centers in general.
• Maintenance and infrastructure.
• Projects and implementations.

The advantages of standardizing the operations within IT are:

• More consistent levels of service.
• Reduced number of incidents.
• Improved statistics and decision making.
• More control over operations.
• Compliance with quality levels.

Standardization contributes to the image and perception of the business from a client perspective. In this sense IT can contribute to the competitive advantage of the business while reducing costs derived from re-work and resolution of errors.

How Does IT Help The Business Innovate?

This presentation is a complement to the previous blog entry and deals with the processes  and resources required by IT to help the business innovate and transform:

How Does It Help The Business Innovate?

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How can IT help the business innovate?

Contrary to popular belief, innovation in the business is not only about technology but also about people and process. In order to innovate effectively, the organization should get certain aspects of its business in order. Finding new ways to do business is more about implementing new channels, services, products and processes than fixing core issues. Preparing the business for innovation is essential and should be part of the strategy.

I recently had the opportunity to see part of the inner workings of a large retailer that helped me identify issues and opportunities for improvement and innovation. For years I have bought costly products at this retailer and to this day I can safely say that they have no idea how I have contributed to their sales. In my latest effort to buy an elliptical exercise machine over a period of over two months, I had to visit the retailer at least ten times, make a lot of phone calls and connect to their portal countless times.

My initial order was placed through the portal. It was disappointing to see the limited functionality and information available to me as a customer. There were no alternative products recommended, no information on availability and an estimate offering delivery times between one and three weeks. After five days I got a confirmation that my order was received and then another month for the product to be ready for delivery. Meanwhile my impatience grew and after making a few futile calls to the call center I decided to start looking around. Luckily for this retailer the specific product I was looking for was out of stock at competing stores. By chance I decided to visit one of the stores belonging to this retailer and found the product I was looking for at a greatly discounted price.

The store also offered me the possibility to pay using their credit services. However, the initial order I placed through the Web made this option unavailable and the sales representative was unable to cancel it. As a client I was dealing with two internal organizations with separate sales order systems and I had to maintain contact through two channels to resolve the issue. It was clear to me that these organizations did not share unified inventory and sales order systems. As a client placing the order through the portal I was unable to take advantage of the discounts offered at the stores and deal with the issues through a single point of contact. To top it all off, after an additional two weeks I had to inform the delivery organization that I had cancelled the order.

From an IT perspective it is imperative to offer integration of processes and information. This retailer has a great opportunity to reduce cost of storage and delivery times by centralizing inventory management and offering more information and greater control over order management. Also, this retailer went through a lot of cost and effort to provide me with a store card. Yet every time I try to request information about my order I have to provide additional information related to it. This leads me to think that there is a limited vision of the client. Maybe customer relationship management is not a top priority at this mass retailer but if it wants to be competitive it will have to start to learn about its clients and their buying habits.

Once the business has its information and processes in order it can start to offer innovative services with greater ease. For example, as a client I should be able to get my order quickly and have access to all the required information without much hassle, while it is in transit. Using tags and effective inventory management, not only can better information be provided about the status of the delivery but greater control can be exerted on delivery times. Also marketing promotions can be adapted to improve rotation of targeted products.

One of the problems I was confronted with at the store was the time I had to wait to be attended. Meanwhile the sales representative was bombarded with questions about pricing, availability and characteristics of the desired products. What if the information in inventory systems is made available to prospective clients through well placed self-help information kiosks in the store or though specialized mobile applications? These kinds of solutions require implementations that build upon current infrastructure and provide quick wins to the business. For innovation to occur effectively, project implementations must be kept short and focussed. The goal is to progressively add business solutions that respond to client needs with an orientation towards experimentation. By leveraging in-house know-how and implementing projects with reduced scope, the business not only loses less investment on failed solutions but also learns more quickly about how to respond to client needs.

What Are The Challenges Facing IT? (Part II)

This second part of the presentation is an introduction to the challenges facing IT and shows how certain resources can be used to help business improve its performance.

What Are The Challenges Facing IT? (Part II)

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What are the challenges facing IT today? (Part II)

One of the main stumbling blocks of IT is the time to market of new solutions. The life-cycle of too many projects get extended to the point where they are no longer valuable to the business. In this sense IT needs to take a leading role in defining what business requirements contribute to the success of the project, and this means it needs to be an active stakeholder in the definition and implementation of the strategy.

Globalization presents its challenges in the form of legislation, culture, cost structure and local service. This means that business models, applications and infrastructure are usually difficult to re-use in their entirety abroad. Instead many multinational businesses opt to select those components they can re-use and implement other solutions to adapt their IT infrastructure and services to their local business model. Also matrix organizations are usually setup where local talent is used as much as possible while leveraging centralized services and knowledge.

One of the important functions of IT is the continuity of technology-based services such as provisioning of accounts, processing of transactions and supervision of system performance. In order for the business to operate efficiently IT must comply with agreed upon service levels which become increasingly demanding as businesses try to be more competitive. As is expected IT organizations usually have to balance costs with service level obligations and sometimes find innovative ways of resolving these issues.

IT professionals in particular have a big challenge in their hands if they view their scope of work as purely technical. I have seen a lot of frustration generated because of a lack of understanding of the current infrastructure and its constraints on the part of business stakeholders. Other elements that contribute to dissatisfaction among IT professionals is lack of definition in their roles and objectives, lack of empowerment, problems in communications and a lack of recognition. This has generated more rotation and the need for businesses to find other solutions such as outsourcing which reduce costs but in the end rarely improve revenue. I would personally like to see IT define job positions more in terms of their business and less in terms of technical specifications.

When it comes to new business requirements and organizational change, IT professionals have a hard time dealing with the complexities of their architecture and infrastructure. Usually a lot of effort goes into analyzing the impact of the changes required so as to ensure the continuity of the current service and the delivery of the required functionality. The complexity increases considerably if changes are applied almost simultaneously. The organization also has to be taken fully into account as procedures and application usage change. Also, new ways of doing business such as on-line social networks require new tools and communications protocols that potentially expose the business to additional security threats.

IT organizations have had a tendency of viewing their budgets as a life-line for their operations. However, in their search to be more competitive, businesses have found more value in financial data that can help them make better decisions. In this sense IT departments must see their company's bottom-line as their life-line and participate more in the definition and measurement of metrics as well as the selection of which projects and services to undertake. The result should be more investment when business opportunities arise, which will surely make most stakeholders in the business happier.

What Are The Challenges Facing IT (Part I)

This first part of the presentation is an introduction to the challenges facing IT and shows how certain resources can be used to help business improve its performance.

What Are The Challenges Facing IT Part I

View more presentations from Justo Stoll.

What are the challenges facing IT today? (Part I)

In the midst of the current crisis IT organizations are facing new challenges as well as some age-old problems. Now more than ever, IT managers have to take into account factors such as:

• Value creation.
• Greater need for innovation.
• Constraints in time to market.
• Globalization.
• More demanding service levels.
• Dealing with rotation, hiring and outsourcing.
• Greater complexity in architecture, infrastructure and security.
• Reduced budgets.

In the beginning value creation using IT was more universally palpable. The idea of using computer systems to automate processes and reduce the duration and cost per transaction was the selling point. However it soon became clear that the human factor plays an important role in the definition and usage of computer systems. Without our participation and management, computer systems would be meaningless and ineffective. Endless implementation projects have become outdated and outright failed due to a lack of participation of their stakeholders. A focus on people and process as well as technology is vital to effective IT management. The dot com bubble clearly demonstrated that business models based mostly on technology are doomed to failure, to the point where technology on its own has been seen progressively less as a differentiator and more as a commodity. I think that as long as IT departments see themselves as just managing requirements around technology and not as strategic business units, then the perceived value will continue to be low.

Nevertheless the potential behind well implemented systems (with business users and process as the driving factor) is still great and can be a differentiator. I think that IT organizations always have an opportunity to help their businesses thrive and be competitive by introducing innovative solutions. These usually require new IT services, new processes and a different way of thinking. IT organizations have to be flexible in introducing new functionality while at the same time maintaining current services to agreed standards. In this sense change management must be a priority and business stakeholders are key to the implementation of the strategy driving the innovation effort.