CIS599 Discussion

C09 07/22/2011 10:15:25 Page 88

IT leader who had just been hired and would be focused on developing a long-term IT

strategy for the company.

This chapter shows how to develop a strategy for your IT organization and avoid

getting overwhelmed with day-to-day issues. Many CIOs get caught up in tactical

issues and never take the time to establish a future strategy for the organization. The

process is not new or difficult, but many CIOs fail to devote the time to this area and

end up like Fred.

OVERVIEW

Developing an IT strategy is critical for IT leaders. Unless your organization has

developed an understanding of your future goals and objectives, you will not be

successful in leading it forward. In the same manner that you must first decide where

you want to live and build your dream house before engaging the architect and building

contractors, you need to develop a future strategy in order to successfully build your

IT organization.

This chapter is written for someone who has never developed an IT strategy in the

past or needs to revise an existing strategy to align with the company’s future direction.

We first review the methodology you can use to develop your strategy and then go

through the actual steps necessary to complete the strategy. It is important to note that

this is a collaborative process between the IT organization and its business partners. You

must actively engage them during the process and solicit their input during the

development of the strategy. The IT strategy should be considered a component of

an effective business strategy. Finally, we recommend that your strategy is a living

document that is updated on a regular basis to support the evolving nature of your

business. If you decide to enter a new market, offer new products or services, or change

your business model, the IT strategy must be revised to support the business.

IT STRATEGY METHODOLOGY

The methodology for creating your IT strategy consists of three steps, and development

of your improvement road map encompasses three critical elements, as shown in

Figure 9.1.

The first step is to understand the current state of the IT organization. Key questions

for determining current state include:

& Has the organization been successful in meeting the needs of the business? & Are the relations between the IT organization and its business partners collaborative? & Does the business feel that investments in the IT organization are providing the

desired benefits?

It is important to take an objective view of how the organization is operating today

and not assume that things are going great.

88 & Process

C o p y r i g h t 2 0 1 1 . W i l e y .

A l l r i g h t s r e s e r v e d . M a y n o t b e r e p r o d u c e d i n a n y f o r m w i t h o u t p e r m i s s i o n f r o m t h e p u b l i s h e r , e x c e p t f a i r u s e s p e r m i t t e d u n d e r U . S . o r a p p l i c a b l e c o p y r i g h t l a w .

EBSCO Publishing : eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) - printed on 5/24/2020 9:09 AM via STRAYER UNIVERSITY AN: 391434 ; Lane, Dean.; The Chief Information Officer's Body of Knowledge : People, Process, and Technology Account: strayer.main.eds-live

C09 07/22/2011 10:15:25 Page 89

Defining the future vision for the IT organization is the next step. During this step,

it is important to understand the future business strategy and how the IT organization

can enable the business to achieve its goals. Interviews with key business partners,

such as product development and sales, are required to understand their future

direction and areas that technology can assist. You should also conduct external

research on how leading companies in your industry are providing technology

solutions to support their business.

The final step is developing a road map to get you from where you are today to your

future vision. This includes taking into account how much your company is willing

to invest in the IT organization, along with realistic estimates for the time required to

achieve your future state. We recommend that you develop a six-quarter (18-month)

IT road map. Six quarters are long enough to make significant changes within the IT

organization and in your ability to deliver meaningful benefits to the business. Note that

your six-quarter road map will not be stagnant and should be updated on a quarterly

basis.

The critical elements of your strategy include people, process, and technology. By far

the most important is people:

& People means having the right team aligned with your business partners. This is

essential for your success and we recommend that you devote considerable

attention to this area. It is very often the case that you do not have an effective

team and need to make some organizational changes. You need to take a hard look

at the organization and decide if the team needs any upgrades to achieve your

future vision. These upgrades may include hiring more senior-level staff, addressing

skill-set gaps, or conducting additional training. & Process can be thought of as glue that holds together the people and technology

elements of your strategy. Frameworks such as the Information Technology

Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and Control Objectives for Information and Related

Technology (COBiT) exist with best practices for managing an IT organization. You

need to evaluate the process maturity of your organization and determine whether

People

IT assessment approach is made up of three steps:

Development of your improvement road map is structured around three

elements, which incorporate the core competencies of a

value-centric IT organization.

TechnologyProcess

31 2

Develop

Improvement

Road Map

Define

Future

Vision

Assess

Current

State

FIGURE 9.1 IT Assessment Methodology

Developing an IT Strategy & 89

EBSCOhost - printed on 5/24/2020 9:09 AM via STRAYER UNIVERSITY. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

C09 07/22/2011 10:15:25 Page 90

you need to make improvements in this area. Staff members often resist processes

and view them as bureaucracy; however, as you grow your organization, you can

no longer operate effectively without basic processes like incident, problem, and

change controls in place. & Technology is the remaining element of your strategy. Often CIOs spend an

inordinate amount of their time in this area and do not give adequate attention

to people and process. Technology is certainly important, considering the fact that

the IT organization is expected to provide automation capabilities for the company;

however too many CIOs get enamored with technology and focus primarily on this

area to the detriment of the others. Key elements of your strategy include solutions

that are flexible, cost effective, and can scale to meet future demands of the

business.

We now walk through this methodology in greater detail and describe how it can be

used to develop your IT strategy.

Step 1: Assess the Current State of Your IT Organization

When assessing the current state of your IT organization, we encourage you to take a

very objective view and expect to identify many areas of improvement. If you are an

incumbent CIO, it is very easy to think that things are going well in your organization

based on how hard you and the staff are working. You may well need to bring in a senior

consultant to assist in the assessment. Newly hired CIOs have an easier time of taking an

outsider’s view of how well things are operating and identifying areas of improvement.

Regardless of the situation, most IT organizations have areas that can be improved, and

this is the time for a careful review.

Examples of key questions that should be answered during this assessment include:

& Are current business needs being met? & Is the expected return on investments in technology being achieved? & Is the project portfolio aligned with business objectives? & Where does the technology directly touch your customers? & Does the current organizational structure create barriers or inefficiencies? & Are the skill mix and staffing levels in place sufficient? & Are third-party resources being applied effectively? & Are outsourcing opportunities identified and leveraged? & Is your spending in line with that of your peers? What are your cost drivers? & Is there an effective process for approving, managing, and overseeing projects? & What is the vendor/partner selection and management process? & How do you assess business risk and put risk mitigation programs in place? & Are standard development processes defined and adhered to? & What gaps exist in the architecture? & How are new technologies evaluated and deployed? & Will systems scale with corporate growth plans? & How are new technologies evaluated and deployed?

90 & Process

EBSCOhost - printed on 5/24/2020 9:09 AM via STRAYER UNIVERSITY. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

C09 07/22/2011 10:15:25 Page 91

We encourage you to spend a lot of time with your business partners to understand

their future strategies and discuss how technology can assist in achieving their goals.

We recommend that you interview your key business partners and ask these open-

ended questions:

& Tell me about your business and plans over the next one to two years. & Do you have any strategy documents that I can review? & How well is the IT organization serving your business today? & Do you have any suggestions on how we can improve our services?

The goal is to spend the majority of time in these meetings listening and learning

more about your partners’ current challenges and potential areas that technology can

assist. A word of caution: If you ask for feedback, be prepared to hear about things that

are not working well within IT today, and use this information to identify areas of

improvement. Communication is very important during this process. We recommend

that you summarize the results of your discussions in an e-mail to your business

partners to validate what you heard and explain what you intend to do to improve

things. The end result of this phase is to summarize your current state. Table 9.1

provides an example that you can use.

Red, yellow, and green ratings can be used to highlight areas of improvement in

simple terms that your business partners can understand. Do not use a lot of technical

TABLE 9.1 IT Assessment Summary Example

IT Element Current State Rating Corrective Actions

People Very complex IT organizational

model

Red Simplify IT organization model

and align to business partners.

Inexperienced staff responsible

for applications functions

Hire experienced IT leader who

can build a management team.

Business partners unsure whom

to contact for IT services

Clarify IT roles and business

partner engagement process.

Process No formal process to review

and prioritize IT requests

Yellow Establish executive-level

governance board.

Limited management metrics

on effectiveness of IT group

Develop small number of IT

performance metrics.

Basic IT processes, such as

change control, not in place

Adopt process framework, such

as ITIL, as overall methodology.

Technology Systems instability and staff

focused on day-to-day activities

Yellow Develop overall IT architecture

to guide future investments.

Limited business intelligence

capabilities exist today

Invest in business intelligence

for competitive advantage.

Recent security issues and

no formal risk management

program in place

Hire experienced security

leader and develop security

program.

Developing an IT Strategy & 91

EBSCOhost - printed on 5/24/2020 9:09 AM via STRAYER UNIVERSITY. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

C09 07/22/2011 10:15:26 Page 92

jargon, as this will confuse everyone and limit the effectiveness of this assessment. Based

on the results of your current-state assessment, we are ready to proceed to the next step

of defining your future state.

Step 2: Define Your Future Vision

When defining your future vision, you need to strike a balance between a bold, forward-

looking strategy for your organization and something that you can reasonably deliver in

the next two to three years. The overall vision for your organization should not really

change over time, and your strategies should be focused on major deliverables that you

plan to accomplish over the next couple of years. This is the time to reach out externally

to understand industry best practices for similar companies that you can implement

for your business. Too often CIOs are internally focused. Now is the time to reach out to

your peers, industry analysts, consultants, and vendors to understand the possibilities

that exist for your company.

Major components of your future vision should include:

& IT vision statement & Key business strategies that the IT organization will assist the company in

achieving & Major IT strategies that you plan to employ over the next couple of years to assist

business partners in achieving their business strategies

An example of an IT vision statement might be: ‘‘Company X business partners are

delighted with the services provided by the IT organization.’’ This vision will not change

over time, and staff members within the organization will strive to provide excellent

services to their business partners.

It is important to understand your company’s future business strategies in order

to identify areas in which the IT organization can provide the most value. If these

strategies are published, you can validate your understanding during interviews with

members of the management team. Otherwise, you will need to draft your under-

standing based on these conversations. Key business strategies for your organization

might include:

& Grow the business 30 percent over the coming year by introducing two new

product lines. & Improve customer satisfaction and achieve highest industry rating as measured by

independent survey. & Reduce costs by 25 percent through selective outsourcing and supply chain

management.

From an IT perspective, it is important to have IT align with these business

strategies and demonstrate how the organization is adding value and contributing

to the business goals. Note that it is possible that the company may not have well-

articulated goals; this may make it harder to demonstrate how the IT organization is

92 & Process

EBSCOhost - printed on 5/24/2020 9:09 AM via STRAYER UNIVERSITY. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

C09 07/22/2011 10:15:26 Page 93

enabling the business. In either case, your IT strategies should contribute to one or more

of these areas: increase revenue, improve customer satisfaction, reduce costs, and meet

compliance requirements.

Major IT strategies fall into two categories: internal IT and business enabling.

Internal IT strategies might include IT organizational structure, technology refresh,

governance, or process improvements. Examples of business-enabling strategies would

be specific initiatives that would assist the sales organization to grow the business, help

the product development organization develop products quicker, or cost-savings ini-

tiatives through automation of tasks that are performed manually today.

Provide management with alternative proposals, usually based on level of invest-

ment and desired time frame, to achieve the future vision. IT is competing with many

other investment priorities. You need to be realistic regarding the level of resources the

company can devote to this area. Table 9.2 shows a high-level framework that you can

provide to management to determine your investment strategy.

TABLE 9.2 IT Investment Alternatives Framework

Alternative Major Programs

Time

Frame

Estimated

Incremental

Costs Business Benefits

Aggressive

implementation

Hire third-party integrator

to accelerate IT strategy

implementation.

Reorganize IT under

experienced leader.

Establish IT governance

board to oversee

program.

12

months

$10–20 M Improve IT

performance in

shortest time frame

possible.

Will require

considerable shift in

business priorities

and IT funding.

Accelerated

implementation

Hire third party to assist

in IT program

implementation.

Continue with existing IT

leadership and reevaluate

management team.

Provide business

executives regular

updates on IT program.

18–24

months

$5–10 M Improve IT

performance with

minor shift in

business priorities

and funding.

Incremental

improvements

Leverage third parties in

selected areas.

Maintain status quo with

existing IT leader and

management.

Formalize program and

provide regular updates

on progress at lower

levels in organization.

24–36

months

$1–2 M Least costly

alternative.

No shift in existing

business priorities

or funding.

Developing an IT Strategy & 93

EBSCOhost - printed on 5/24/2020 9:09 AM via STRAYER UNIVERSITY. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

C09 07/22/2011 10:15:27 Page 94

When generating alternatives, start with your existing organization and budget,

and provide management with an estimate of how long it will take to achieve your

future vision. Your second and third alternatives can add additional resources and/or

shorten the expected time frame. This is an iterative process and a great opportunity to

spend more time with your business partners to ensure that you understand their

business requirements and how the IT organization can enable the organization to be

successful. Once you have locked down the investment envelope and desired time frame

to achieve your future vision, you are in a position to develop a more detailed

implementation road map.

Step 3: Develop Improvement Road Map

The improvement road map is how you take your future vision for the IT organization

and convert it into reality. Based on your investment envelope, you need to flesh out the

individual elements of your strategy. These strategies fall into the three elements that

we discussed previously: people, process, and technology. Each of these elements will

have three to five individual strategies that will comprise your overall IT strategy. Next

we review each of these elements in more detail.

People

As discussed previously, people are the most difficult area and the one that we

recommend you devote considerable time and attention to. Having a great IT team

that is well organized and aligned with the business is essential for success. For this

reason, consider structuring your organization like the business. For example, if you are

functionally organized with global leaders of sales, product development, and so on,

we recommend that your IT organization have teams that support these functions.

However, if you have a line-of-business structure with general managers, we recom-

mend that you have IT groups aligned with these businesses. Your goal is to make it very

easy for your business partners to do business with the IT organization, including

knowing whom to contact for assistance.

IT governance is another critical area that needs to be established in order for an

IT organization to be successful. Demands for IT requests always exceed the company’s

ability to fund this area, and a fair and consistent process needs to be established. It is

critical to establish an IT governance board, IT steering committee, or other mechanism

for business leaders to evaluate major IT initiatives and determine which ones are the

most important for the company. These groups should be cross-functional and include

senior-level staff members who can make investment decisions for the company. Critical

objectives for these groups include oversight of the major IT programs and approval of

future IT investments, and meetings should be held on a monthly or quarterly basis.

Of equal importance is the governance that is put in place beneath this executive level to

execute to the direction provided by the business leaders. Typically, this working-level

group is supported by the establishment of a program management office and accom-

panying methodologies and processes.

94 & Process

EBSCOhost - printed on 5/24/2020 9:09 AM via STRAYER UNIVERSITY. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

C09 07/22/2011 10:15:27 Page 95

Staff development and training is another area that should be included in your

overall strategy. Because the IT field changes rapidly, programs need to be put in

place to ensure that your staff members are trained on the latest developments. If

this area is overlooked, IT organizations either have to use consultants or continu-

ously hire new staff with current skills. Included in this area is the need for

individual development plans for staff members and documented succession plan-

ning for key executive and management roles. Finally, one word of caution: Beware

of a strategy that overemphasizes staffing your key positions with internal resources

only. Although such a strategy may have worked well for prior IT generations,

today’s IT world is moving far too quickly to be able to rely only on resources who

have been brought up through company ranks. An appropriate mix is suggested to

ensure that new thinking is introduced into your organization when and where

needed.

IT sourcing is another area that you need to include in your overall strategy. No

organization can be good at everything, and you need to analyze what you view as your

core competencies, areas in which you will spend the time to hire and develop skilled

staff. Examples of skills that we recommend you always keep in house would be

architecture, business analysis, vendor management, and program management.

Context skills are those that you should consider for outsourcing to third parties.

Applications maintenance, quality assurance, and help desk functions are examples of

functions that you may want to outsource. Keep in mind that each company will have

unique requirements. You need to go through core/context analysis to determine your

company’s sourcing strategy.

These are a few examples of people strategies that you should consider for your IT

strategy. Each organization is different and will have unique areas that need to be

developed. As mentioned, the people area is the hardest one to perfect. Hire the best staff

possible, and keep them closely aligned with your business partners. Do not compromise

in this area or be pressured to accept less effective staff since your success relies heavily

on having the right team in place.

Process

Process is the glue that binds the people with the technology to ensure that the overall IT

organization works effectively. Many IT organizations do not spend enough time in this

area, seeing it as slowing things down or downright boring. Process should be viewed

like brakes on a car, which are provided to allow the car to go faster, not slower. When

approaching overall IT processes, consider following a framework such as ITIL. This

framework has a catalog of standard processes, such as change management and

problem management, that should be adopted by your organization. The infrastructure

organization, in particular, needs to pay close attention to processes, and following this

framework can speed up the adoption cycle. If your team or clients are not ready for

ITIL terminology, many ITIL concepts can be adopted in advance of a full-blown ITIL

implementation. Start by setting up ITIL training for IT leadership and some of your

most forward-thinking business partners.

Developing an IT Strategy & 95

EBSCOhost - printed on 5/24/2020 9:09 AM via STRAYER UNIVERSITY. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

C09 07/22/2011 10:15:27 Page 96

Focus on a couple of processes at a time since it takes a while for the

organization to adopt them in their day-to-day operations. Typically, an internal

IT program should be established that prioritizes the processes needed and launches

focused projects in a staggered fashion to ensure optimal adoption and minimize

disruption.

IT investments are often one of the largest capital expenses in the company,

along with facilities, and processes need to be put in place to ensure that these

investments are carefully evaluated. The IT leader should partner closely with the

finance organization to ensure that business cases are developed for proposed IT

projects and return on investment (ROI) analysis has been performed. IT projects are

competing for scarce resources with other investments within the company, such as

the decision to open a new office. The business has many competing priorities and IT

projects should follow the same ROI analysis as IT investments. Too often depart-

ments that are very vocal about their needs, without adequate business justification,

get all the attention (projects); checks and balances need to be in place for these

investments.

Development of critical metrics to measure the overall effectiveness of the IT

organization is essential to demonstrate that the organization is improving over

time. Service organizations, such as IT, can be viewed as merely cost centers. Metrics

can be used to identify areas of investment along with key drivers for these expenses. For

example, the help desk may be spending an inordinate amount of time supporting a

given department with e-mail issues and may determine that some training is required.

The majority of applications development staff members may be spending time on an

end-of-life finance application while ignoring requests for a sales application that can

generate additional revenue. At the very least, you should establish a typical best

practices operations review process. Each of your direct reports should identify the top

three performance metrics that are critical to their success and present these metrics

over time with clear goals identified for each one. These metrics should be compiled

into a single report and reviewed monthly. Each missed goal should result in a

remediation plan.

Communication is another area to which many IT organizations do not devote

the necessary time and resources. Technical staff members are not always the

best communicators and can easily confuse business partners with technical jargon.

This can lead to bad relations between the organizations, and a decline in the level of

cooperation. Hiring a communications staff within IT or soliciting help from the

corporate communications organization can assist in this area. Implementing new

technology will require changes to how the business is operating, and human nature

does not always embrace change. Clear, crisp communications inside and outside of the

IT organization can help in this area and facilitate change within the organization. A

top-notch communications manager will implement a variety of mechanisms, such as

business partner and department-wide meetings and newsletters, to ensure that

expectations are clear and well managed with your business partner and internal

IT staff.

These are a few examples of processes that you should consider for your organiza-

tion. Implementation of a continuous improvement program can help to drive the

96 & Process

EBSCOhost - printed on 5/24/2020 9:09 AM via STRAYER UNIVERSITY. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

C09 07/22/2011 10:15:27 Page 97

overall process maturity within the organization. Your continuous improvement

program should identify those processes that are critical to running an effective IT

organization for your company and track progress toward achieving your ultimate

goals. Keep in mind that these programs will require time, and management focus and

discipline are necessary for them to be successful.

Technology

Technology is the final element of your strategy and an area that some IT

organizations overemphasize. Do not underestimate the ability of technology to

assist in the transformation of the business; however, first you must ensure that you

have the right people and processes in place. One of the first areas to address is an

overall technical architecture for the company. Just as an architect develops blue-

prints of a house for a builder, an IT architecture serves as the broad basis for

deployment of technology. Your architecture should encompass these areas: busi-

ness architecture, data architecture, applications architecture, and technical/

infrastructure architecture.

Business architecture covers business goals, business functions or capabilities,

and business processes and roles. This architecture is direction-setting for the

business and should drive all other architecture development. Business functions

and business processes are often mapped to the applications and data they need in

order to operate. Keep in mind that this information may not exist for your

organization, and you may need to draft your understanding of the company’s

business architecture based on interviews with business leaders. From a pragmatic

perspective, it may be easier to focus on a few key areas of the business, such as order

to cash, and identify how process simplification and automation can assist the

business achieve future goals.

Data architecture is very important. Be prepared for multiple sources of key

information, such as customers, products, and employees, and poor data quality

that must be addressed before new systems can be implemented. Identifying business

owners for data is important to ensure that you can clean up data and keep it clean

on an ongoing basis. These data owners are often referred to as data stewards, and

they play a key role in systems projects. If they do not already exist, partner with the

appropriate business leaders to develop key integrated data sources, such as customer

and vendor master files.

Applications architecture includes all the major business applications that are used

to run your business. These systems are often separated into back-office enterprise

resource planning and front-office portals and customer relationship management

(CRM) systems. Portals and CRM systems support the revenue-generating activities

of the company. This is an area to which you should try to devote more IT resources.

Investments in these systems can provide the highest ROI, and IT organizations should

attempt to place a great focus on this area.

Technical/infrastructure can be viewed as the ‘‘plumbing’’ that everything runs

on and includes the hardware, network, and voice technology. These systems need to

be scaled to support future business growth and resilient to ensure they are available

Developing an IT Strategy & 97

EBSCOhost - printed on 5/24/2020 9:09 AM via STRAYER UNIVERSITY. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

C09 07/22/2011 10:15:27 Page 98

24 hours a day. Recent trends are headed toward renting infrastructure resources via

cloud technology and paying for resources only when required. Infrastructure invest-

ments can be costly. IT organizations are encouraged to develop a balanced strategy of

investing in critical infrastructure that cannot be easily purchased as a service and

relying on third parties for the remainder.

The technology section of your IT strategy will be very company specific. Your

focus should be on identifying areas in which technology can have the highest impact

on the business and quickly delivering solutions. Technology evolves very quickly. IT

organizations need to constantly evaluate new offerings to determine if they can be of

use. Further, keep an eye on end-of-life systems and technology, and ensure that you

develop upgrade plans that will allow you to provide continuous support of these

systems.

Improvement Road Map Summary

Your IT road map should consist of a series of individual strategies that you intend to

deliver over time. Strategies that you might include for your company are:

& People: IT organization, IT governance, sourcing, staff development and training & Process: ITIL implementation, metrics and reporting, investment analysis, and

communications & Technology: Business, data, applications, and infrastructure architecture; com-

pany-specific technology initiatives such as sales force automation; technology

refresh initiatives

The template in Figure 9.2 can be used to summarize each of these individual

strategies in a consistent and easy-to-read format.

Each of your strategies will have a long-term objective, along with specific mile-

stones that you plan to accomplish in the area. For example, your IT organization

strategy may include an overall objective to be customer focused and include several

milestones, such as a reorganization and training required to meet that objective. It is

important to strike a balance between identifying all the key strategies for your

organization and focusing on a limited number of areas that you can expect to improve

over the next one to two years.

The summary of your strategy is your overall IT road map and includes the

expected time frame to deliver your strategy. Recommendations in this area include

organizing your road map by key business partners, such as sales and marketing, and

using a six-quarter time frame. Six quarters provides adequate time to deliver

programs that may take more than one year to complete and provides visibility

into the organization’s longer-term strategy. Figure 9.3 provides an IT road map

example.

Note the legend that identifies projects that are approved/proposed, along with

project that have been delayed from their original delivery date. Most IT organizations

should be able to summarize their strategy in two pages. This road map can be an

98 & Process

EBSCOhost - printed on 5/24/2020 9:09 AM via STRAYER UNIVERSITY. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

C09 07/22/2011 10:15:27 Page 99

effective vehicle for management discussions on IT programs. The IT road map should

be viewed as a living document and updated on a regular basis.

Final IT Strategy Document

The final IT strategy must be easily understood by management and must address

critical business objectives. Guidelines for developing the document include:

& Highly graphical & Management summary of one page & Overall document is 25 pages or less & Include bold recommendations on sweeping changes you plan to make in order to

transform the organization over the next two to three years

Your IT strategy should establish aggressive but achievable plans that you are

committing to deliver. The costs associated with your recommendations are going to

be significant and normally will require board approval, so you must deliver on these

commitments. You need to keep a high level of communications during this time frame

and test your recommendations during the development process to improve manage-

ment acceptance. Finally, you must ensure that the key objectives are understood by the

entire IT team and that your management’s objectives are tied to successful delivery.

Whenever you have the opportunity to address large groups of staff members, reinforce

the strategy and key priorities.

Strategy: Align IT in the most effective manner to deliver exceptional services to our business partners.

Risks:

Significant changes are necessary to operate in a cost-effective fashion.

Milestones:

Hire new IT leader Date Implement new IT organization model Date IT leadership development program Date IT-wide staff development plans Date

Objectives:

Customer-focused IT organization that provides the highest level of service to internal business partners. Deliver technology solutions to enable the business in the following areas:

Reduce costs Increase revenue Improve customer satisfaction

Cost-effective organization that operates at or below industry benchmarks

Assessment of Current Environment:

Inexperienced IT management No formal training and development program Unclear roles and responsibilities Poor relations with business parties

CIO

VP Infrastructure

VP Applications

VP Shared Services

HR/Finance Enterprise Architecture

FIGURE 9.2 IT Strategy Example: Organizational Structure

Developing an IT Strategy & 99

EBSCOhost - printed on 5/24/2020 9:09 AM via STRAYER UNIVERSITY. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

C 0 9

0 7 /2 2 /2 0 11

1 0 :1 5 :2 7

P ag e 1 0 0

Q3 09 Q4 09 Q1 10 Q2 10 Q3 10 Q4 10

Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Sales

Sales Force Automation

Online Quoting

Product Development

Collaboration—Wikis, Blogs

Showcase Company Products

Marketing

Customer Experience

Marketing Analytics

Technical Support

Network Upgrade

Data Center Move

Finance

Business Intelligence

Global Payroll

Proposed

Approved

Delayed

Legend

FIGURE 9.3 Six-Quarter Road Map Example

1 0 0

EBSCOhost - printed on 5/24/2020 9:09 AM via STRAYER UNIVERSITY. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use