Mapping Information Techology

In my 35 years in the Information Technology (IT) profession, I have witnessed the incredible evolution of technology and have seen firsthand how it has transformed business. I’ve seen IT evolve from being viewed as a corporate backwater to being recognized as a critical driver of innovation, efficiency, and success. Yet, despite all the gains, over the years I have seen companies, both large and small, struggle with common challenges time and time again. And more often than not, these challenges are not technology problems, they are basic business issues, such as developing effective processes; communicating organizational needs and goals; and recruiting and retaining the right team of people to attain success.

With this book, my goal is to share some of the insights I’ve gained through experience in the trenches and provide a blueprint for businesses to follow to help wring maximum value from their technology investments. The blueprint is based on Seven Initiatives I have developed and put into practice at several companies, initiatives that have helped drive these organizations forward. They are grounded in the basic principle of aligning your IT strategies and investments with your overarching business strategies and goals. These initiatives, which have been tested and refined in the real world, offer guidelines that any organization can adapt to its own specific needs. Whether your organization is a global corporation, a medium-sized business, a government agency, or a non-profit, there are universal challenges that we all face as well as solutions that can be tailored to fit each unique situation.

The Seven Initiatives

Aligning IT strategies with your organization’s vision, objectives, and business strategies. Technology investments will be futile if they are not made to serve your organization’s overarching goals and vision. As a first step, we will look at ways to assess how your IT strategies measure up and outline ways to bring them into alignment with the rest of your organization’s goals and plans.
Understanding business-process management practices throughout your business, including your IT organization. Do sound business-process management principles guide your company? This chapter will offer up guidelines for developing and implementing IT projects with a disciplined, business-process approach.
Mapping Your IT Infrastructure And Applications To Support Your Business Needs. To get maximum value from your IT investments, you need to fully leverage your underlying architecture. This happens with careful analysis of your organization’s activities and business processes and an examination of the applications required to support them. This initiative will layout a framework for conducting such an analysis. It will also describe the processes required for creating a strategic roadmap to guide both your company and your IT organization.
Recruiting, developing, and retaining the right team of people. Whether the labor market is tight or flooded with talent, putting together a top-notch team is one of the biggest challenges facing IT managers. This initiative will cover such issues fostering business savvy among technology professionals, determining the best mix of skills for the people on your team, and developing effective leadership.
Providing and improving business solutions through leadership and consulting. Some major technology projects fail not because of faulty software or defective hardware. They crash and burn because the necessary relationships do not exist between IT and other parts of the business to sustain them. Technology solutions can’t be developed in a vacuum. They need to be crafted in partnership with the people who will use them. This initiative will cover ways to forge and manage the relationships needed to develop technology solutions that respond to business requirements.
Managing costs across IT. At one time or another, most IT managers have been given mandates to contain or cut spending. This initiative will cover processes you can use to effectively plan and manage your IT budget so you can keep costs in line while delivering the solutions your organization needs.
Improving the system for measuring the success of your IT investments. No matter the size or scope of your organization’s IT investments, you need to track how effective they are. What kind of return are you getting on your investments? How well is your IT strategy serving your customers, whether they are your co-workers who use technology to do their jobs, or outside parties who pay for your products and services? This initiative will offer some guidance for taking measure of your success.