INTELLIGENT GOVERNMENT vividly the power and influence of a strong IT function and why IT maturity really matters.
Being so subjective, any“ textbook” definition of IT maturity can only exist in general terms, but one fundamental principle must be upheld – it is the business’ s definition that counts. For business executives, IT maturity is the IT function’ s ability to support current business operations, growth objectives and transformation programs – within the time, cost and quality constraints set by the business. When further qualifying what IT maturity means to the organization, it is common to hear any number of descriptive adjectives: responsive, engaged, proactive, streamlined, stable, agile, aligned, integrated, accountable, efficient, effective, predictable, anticipatory.
The only true measure of IT maturity is what the business says it is. The challenge here is that few business executives can articulate precisely what a mature IT organization would look like to them. They are willing to articulate what a mature IT organization doesn’ t look like, usually referring to a number of painful anecdotes where the IT department has failed to deliver for the business. So it is the job of IT to help the business reach a consensus on what good looks like before formulating a roadmap to achieving this level of proficiency.
Attribute # 1: Outward looking perspective Disconnected IT organizations waste precious resources and fail to lead technology strategy An obsessive and myopic focus on technology dilutes IT productivity and prevents a focus on what is truly important to the business. Over the years, business technology requirements have become more complex and diverse and IT departments have done their best under sometimes severe budget constraints to service these growing and changing needs.
The result is a stratified IT ecosystem, built from a patchwork of legacy systems that compete for the attention of IT support people. This infrastructure“ spaghetti” lacks architecture, stability, flexibility and robustness. Consequently,
“ THERE IS A GROWING GAP BETWEEN THE NEEDS AND EXPECTATIONS OF THE DIGITAL BUSINESS AND THE CAPABILITY OF ITS IT DEPARTMENT. THIS GAP IS BEING FILLED BY SHADOW IT TEAMS AND BY VENDORS DEALING DIRECTLY WITH BUSINESS FUNCTIONS AND HENCE BYPASSING THE CIO.”
Disrupt IT: A new model for IT in the digital age, Ian Cox, Axin Publishing
the high failure rate keeps IT experts tied up with the infrastructure layer. In essence, IT people are too busy handling the dayto-day maintenance to“ zoom out” and see the business context of what they do.
Without an outward looking perspective, IT people simply don’ t know if what they are doing right now is relevant to the business. Unaware of the business context, time and money is inevitably wasted on projects and procurements that don’ t support a business need( when there are plenty of legitimate business demands competing for attention). For everything that the IT department invests in, there is an opportunity cost. For each project that gets done, there will be many more projects that remain undone.
Without grounding IT activity planning in the real world, assumptions take the place of facts and skew priorities. Outward-looking IT organizations actively identify and challenge these assumptions with observations and data in order to test the collective mindset of IT, and bring both thinking and activity into line with the realities of the business context.
High performing IT organizations know the importance of the business context as a guide for IT activity: they are acutely aware of the“ why”. They look outside the walls of the IT department, pro-actively explore business scenarios, track business processes from end to end to achieve a global view, internalize a range of business perspectives, and join the dots between IT activity and business value. Research from Accenture shows that 50 % of high performing IT organizations explore business scenarios as part of their IT planning process.
How do you achieve an outward perspective?
• Think from the outside-in: start with the end customer or end user perspective and work inward to create solutions that are relevant.
• Continually ask“ What is the business context here?” and“ Who benefits from this?” If the context isn’ t clear, or there is no clear benefit to end users or end customers, explore the connection with business stakeholders before investing time and budget.
• Strip wasteful projects from the IT project portfolio and non-relevant actions from IT people’ s work queues.
• Repeat until the habit of validating planned IT activity against business value becomes culturally engrained.
The result is a reduction in waste – a leaner IT project portfolio and more business-focused work queues for individual IT experts. This in turn provides the slack required to develop deeper knowledge of the business, end users, end customers, the market and competitors that IT needs. Armed with a greater understanding of the business ecosystem, IT people are empowered to spot, propose and act on opportunities that will improve performance. The outward perspective and knowledge of the business context is critical to IT’ s evolution from reactive support organization to proactive solutions initiator.
* The full whitepaper can be downloaded for free at: http:// www. axiossystems. com / resources www. intelligentcio. com INTELLIGENTCIO
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