Alignment Business IT, 2010-04-12

8/8/2019 Alignment Business IT, 2010-04-12

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/alignment-business-it-2010-04-12 1/11an IT Management eBook

Aligning Business

and IT in theEnterprise

®


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/alignment-business-it-2010-04-12 2/11

2 It is Time to Think Beyond IT

4 CIOs More Focused on Business than Ever

6 Mastering the Art o IT/Business Alignment

8 Leveraging the Right Resources or Alignment

Contents…

This content was adapted from Internet.com’s CIO Update Web site. Contributors: Dennis DrogsethPatty Azzarello, Jerome Oberlton, and Allen Bernard

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Aligning Business and IT in the Enterprise

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2 Aligning Business and IT in the Enterprise, an Internet.com IT Management eBook. © 2010, Internet.com, a division of QuinStreet, IncBack to Contents


More than 10 years ago, Enterprise Man-

agement Associates (EMA) consultants

assessed processes and technologies in-

volved with monitoring and managing

manuacturing oors, utilities, transportation eets, and

other “business inrastructures.” They came to the con-

clusion that great economies o scale could be achievedby consolidating these requirements. In other words, by

leveraging IT capabilities or

monitoring, instrumentation, as-

set planning, security, service

management, automation, and

analytics, businesses could gain

new levels o operational ef-

ciencies, minimize risk and more

proactively optimize to changing

market requirements. Back then,

EMA called this the “Global Cor-porate Control Center.”

At that time, in the late ‘90s,

monitoring was pretty basic

(well, even more basic than it is

today, at least), and process au-

tomation existed (when it existed

at all) in very narrow silos within

IT. Analytic capabilities were mostly rule-based event man-

agement with very little in the way o sel-learning, sel-

adaptive heuristics. And when these later appeared, these“advanced analytic” capabilities mostly didn’t work.

Attention to process and the disciplines that best practices

such as ITIL could provide were barely emerging. IT was

very much a kingdom set apart rom the business — or no,

not even that, but rather a series o eudal kingdoms each

with its own walls and each with its own opinions about

priorities and governance — when defned priorities and

governance existed at all. The Web was certainly not Web

2.0 let alone SOA, and the notion o broad integration

technologies such as CMDB, confguration management

systems (CMS), IT process automation, and advanced dis-

covery undamentally didn’t exist.

Then IT had the shock o its lie. From 2000 to 2002 thetechnology bubble imploded, leaving many technol

ogy companies adrit in a sea o

doubt and IT organizations fght

ing hard not to be outsourced

And while that fght has been

renewed in the latest economic

crisis, most IT organizations have

learned a lot since then about

governance, visibility, compli

ance, accountability, and how to

optimize better with many o theabove-mentioned technologies

Even more importantly, there is

something o a slow-burning po-

litical revolution within many IT

organizations leading to dialog

across organizational groups in a

creative, responsible, and game-

changing way that simply neve

existed beore. O course there’s still a long way to go, but

the IT landscape is undamentally shiting.

Let’s revisit the premise o EMA’s old idea o the “Globa

Corporate Control Center,” which suggests collapsing a

whole new set o “eudal kingdoms” into a more efcient

more risk-ree, more automated, and more accountable

abric o people and technologies. One thing that should

become apparent just rom reading the press is that com

panies in many industries are accelerating their quest to

fnd new and more eective ways o working.

It is Time to Think Beyond ITBy Dennis Drogseth





Some o these industries, such as healthcare, reect a

more proactive eort as electronic inormation or stor-

ing and sharing patient records, enabling collaborative

diagnostics, and automating the business side o hospi-

tals and other healthcare institutions is beginning to take

hold. Other verticals, such as manuacturing and retail, are

increasingly dependent on better systems o automation,

outreach, visibility, and control just to ensure competitive

survival. In some industries, such as utilities, the linkage

between the “business inrastructure” and the “IT inra-

structure” becomes intuitively obvious as the power grid

is essentially a “network o resources” that needs to be

better monitored and optimized.

Transportation systems can be run much better when IT

provides better capabilities or monitoring, tracking, “ser-

vice management” and “liecycle eet management.” And

even fnancial services, which have spearheaded a lot o in-

vestments in IT innovation (and may have gotten in trouble

rom too much ill-ocused automation), are acing a drastic

need to consolidate, integrate, inorm, make visible, and

support a whole host o existing and coming compliance

requirements.

Several vendor initiatives, most notably rom IBM, are tar-geting individual vertical business inrastructures in much

this same way. But this idea is much bigger than IBM. Tech-

nologies and services rom a whole host o companies and

services can and should apply. And while the equivalent o

an ITIL guidebook or doing this doesn’t yet exist, the pro-

cesses and skill sets or dialog, consensus building, defn-

ing priorities, and documenting processes across multiple

groups all still apply.

Just think: with a modest but creative investment in instru-

menting business inrastructures your chosen IT technolo

gies, and more importantly, you and your organization

may begin to show value in a whole host o new and un-

expected ways. And while new opportunities oten come

with associated headaches, the upside or you and the IT

industry as a whole is high.

The notion I’d like to put orward to CIOs and enterprise

IT executives is that just as you need to lead the charge

in supporting organizational transormation and its associ

ated technologies within IT (CMS, IT process automation

etc.), you have an opportunity to promote IT services and

technologies in a broader business context. And when, you

may ask, is it time to start to think more creatively about

extending IT resources in support o business needs?

While it may seem counter-intuitive, this may just be the

perect moment to get credibility and support or a more

innovative use o IT. The fre in the belly exists in many

businesses and organizations across many verticals to act

now. This time around, vs. 2001, you are squarely part o

the cure and not the disease.





I

n case you missed these past ew years, the job o the

CIO has been morphing rom top technical propeller

head to that o true corporate leader. Beginning with

the dot-com era and continuing through today, the job has arguably changed more rapidly than any other in

corporate America. Once just an order taker, CIOs are now

spending most o their time fg-

uring out how to leverage tech-

nology or business advantage

as opposed to just keeping the

lights on.

IBM’s latest global study o

more than 2,500 CIOs supports

this conclusion.

“Clearly the role o the CIO is

changing dramatically,” said

Pat Toole, IBM’s CIO, in a state-

ment released with the fndings.

“On the one hand they are try-

ing to standardize routine pro-

cesses and simpliy their exist-

ing IT inrastructure to reduce

costs, hence their growing interest in technologies such

as cloud computing. On the other hand, given the centralrole that today’s CIO perorms in driving new business

models, whether it’s a Smart Grid system, an Intelligent

Transport system, or a transparent ood supply chain,

it’s not surprising that the amount o time they are now

spending on driving new kinds o growth or their compa-

nies is growing considerably.”

To do this CIOs are leveraging analytics to gain a competi-

tive advantage and improve business decision-making. In

act, this is now the top priority or CIOs. More than our ou

o fve (83 percent) survey respondents identifed businessintelligence (BI) and analytics — the ability to see patterns

in vast amounts o data and extract actionable insights —

as the way they will enhance their

organizations’ competitiveness.

The study, titled The New Voice

of the CIO , represents the insights

and vision o CIOs rom 78 coun-

tries, 19 industries, and organiza

tions o every size. It reinorces

the increasingly strategic role thatCIOs are playing as visionary lead-

ers and as drivers o innovation

and fnancial growth.

Along with the increased ocus

on data analytics, the survey also

revealed that data reliability and

security have emerged as increas

ingly urgent concerns, with 71

percent o CIOs planning to make additional investments

in risk management and compliance.

Other key fndings o the survey include:

CIOs are continuing on the path to dramatically lower energy•

costs, with 76 percent undergoing or planning virtualization

projects.

Seventy-six percent o CIOs anticipate building a strongly cen•

tralized inrastructure in the next fve years.

CIOs More Focusedon Business than Ever

By Allen Bernard





Top ProjectsIn the study, CIOs also identifed the top visionary projects

that they are working on now or oresee implementingin the uture, ranging rom process improvement to tak-

ing advantage o technologies that can provide immedi-

ate and long-term fnancial impact. These include: BI and

analytics, virtualization, green IT, service oriented architec-

tures (SOA), service management, and cloud computing.

CIOs are also ocusing on mobility solutions and unifed

communications, collaboration and social networking

tools, and Web 2.0 projects to enable more eective com-

munications or employees, customers, and partners.

“You can see that they are really a combination o busi-

ness and technology so at any given point in time in the

morning they may be ocused on (technology) and in the

aternoon they may be working on a fve-year plan or the

business,” said Ban. “So, they wear many hats during the

day, they change roles on a regular basis, and whateve

comes up will be what they have to ocus on.”

More than hal o CIOs are expecting to implement completely•

standardized, low-cost business processes.

Even as they build these standardized low-cost inrastructures,•

CIOs are able to ocus 55 percent o their time on activities that

drive innovation and growth, whereas traditional IT tasks like

inrastructure and operations management now consume only

45 percent o their time.

“There really is a ground swell on how their role is evolv-

ing,” said Linda Ban, director o the CIO study program.

“It’s no longer enough or them to be considered the con-

summate IT proessional in the company. They’ve got to

understand the company, they’ve got to understand where

the company is moving and what the issues are and how

they help make that happen.”

As the role o the CIO itsel transorms so do the types o

projects they lead across their enterprises, which will allow

CIOs to ocus less time and resources on running inter-

nal inrastructure and more time helping their companies

grow revenue. CIOs are transorming their inrastructure to

ocus more on innovation and business value rather than

simply running IT.





A

s I’ve been writing about IT/business align-

ment and working with IT organizations, I see

that CIOs and enterprise IT executives all into

two camps regarding taking ownership o IT/business alignment.

“Not my job.” Some CIOs have given me pretty direct

eedback that people like me should get out o the way

and stop giving IT a bad rap.

They think that i you need to

ocus on building credibility, it

means you are, by defnition, un-

deserving o credibility. The only

thing that should matter is doing

a good job. Good work speaksor itsel.

“I need to own this.” These are

CIOs and executives who believe

that making personal, relevant

connections to their business

peers, CEO, and board is one o

the key actors in being success-

ul in the frst place.

As you consider your appetiteor reaching out to your business

counterparts here are some points to consider:

Executives with high credibility get more done. This is

not a shallow, political phenomenon independent o deliv-

ering results. It’s because people with high credibility are

more respected and trusted, which means they get more

budget, more support, and waste less time on deense

endless justifcations, and stupid questions. They can de

liver more, because they have ewer things blocking themand they attract the best people to work or them.

Good work doesn’t stand on its own – at any level, in

any unction. This is not just an IT issue. People who work

really hard and deliver great re

sults don’t always get recog

nized, discovered, or protected

It’s sad but true. In IT it’s even

more perilous because no one

else even understands what a do-

ing a good job looks like. It’s upto you to fnd a way to share what

excellent work in IT looks like in

a way that can be understood by

non-IT people.

Technology doesn’t help. Build

ing good business relationships

requires personal interaction

listening, and having a meal or a

coee with someone. Because it

is outside the realm o technol-ogy, many IT executives eel like

it is low-value activity, or they are just not comortable with

it. You don’t need to be comortable; you just need to do

it. I it’s unpleasant or you and unlikely to happen sponta

neously, schedule it.

Mastering the Art of IT/Business Alignment

By Patty Azzarello





Business frst. This is not just an IT challenge. All business

unctions have the responsibility to manage their unction

while putting the overall business frst and at the center o

the discussion. Any executive leader needs to be able to

ocus frst on what the business needs and then prioritize

what happens inside their unction to serve the business

agenda. The more you connect with your peers on a busi-

ness-frst basis (where all o you are putting the business

at the center vs. your own unction), the clearer it will be

what is important to the business, and how you should

ocus and communicate your IT plan in your interactions

with the business.

How do we make money? One thing that really helps

is i you make sure every person in your IT organization

knows how the company makes money. Explain where the

revenue comes rom, what the fxed and variable costs

are, and what the biggest levers that drive proft are. Make

sure they understand how IT spending impacts the P&L

and how choices are made about general business and IT

investments.





I

T’s alignment with the business is critical to the suc-

cess o an organization. My experience as CIO o

Mannatech, Inc., working with business executives

to achieve results or our supply chain managementproject, confrmed this to me.

Such alignment oten entails the

willingness o key leaders to col-

laborate and ocus on the ex-

ecution and delivery o key pro-

grams. In many cases, successul

collaboration means leaders

need to have extensive conver-

sations concerning what’s vital to

the business. Ideally, executivesshould give up personal agen-

das, work across departments,

and enable IT to provide the

resources that are necessary to

make those programs a success.

In addition to these actors, CIOs

and enterprise IT executives must

also hire the IT proessionals

most likely to create an atmosphere o alignment between

technology and business.

Hiring the Right IT Professional toBridge the BusinessAs I continued to use alignment as a means o driving the

success o all business programs, including supply chain

management, I recognized the importance o hiring a sea-

soned supply chain management proessional who could

work side by side with the business to develop an overal

strategy or supply chain optimization.

To meet this requirement, I selected an individual romthe talent pool o consultants who had previously worked

on supply chain eorts at Man-

natech. I was looking or an indi-

vidual who was well versed in the

supply chain discipline and could

help guide the business along

the appropriate path. In that

same proessional, I also sought

someone who understood the

specifc supply chain modules o

Mannatech’s resident EnterpriseResource Planning (ERP) system

so he or she could align the un

damental needs o the business

with the technology.

This combination o talents, in

turn, enabled the creation o a

sound strategy that IT, in connec-

tion with the business, could use

to introduce a program that would deliver huge value to

the organization.

With this proessional in place, Mannatech hired a supply

chain management executive who had a very solid back-

ground in sourcing, contract management, demand plan

ning and orecasting, warehouse management, and lo-

gistics management. This individual was a well-respected

leader who already understood the cultural dynamics o

the business.

Leveraging the Right Resourcesfor Alignment

By Jerome Oberlton





Achieving Strategic ValueHer ocus on supply chain optimization, coupled with her

desire to utilize technology to drive improvements andoverall productivity or the business, was an ideal match or

the company. She not only set her sights on collaborating

with IT but also understood the need or cross-unctional

business alignment as a means to achieve strategic value

or the business.

Our new VP o supply chain management began work im-

mediately ater accepting her new role to ensure that both

a disciplined and structured approach or execution was in

place. During this process, we developed a cohesive strat-

egy and execution plan or the supply chain optimizationproject. Both the plan and strategy were shared with key

business executives and then subsequently shared with

the CFO.

Her relationship with the CFO was important because we

wanted him to understand the impact and importance o

the supply chain optimization initiative. The VP o supply

chain management careully nurtured that relationship

and was key in advising the CFO o specifc efciency and

cost-saving opportunities that were available as a result

o this project. She outlined the business case associatedwith the need or supply chain optimization and helped

ensure the program had the appropriate level o visibility

at the senior executive level. The vice president o supply

chain management met with the CFO to discuss the pros

and cons o the eort. Not only was she able to elevate

the importance o the program with the CFO, but she also

specifcally worked with IT to champion the success o the

program.

Partnering with an individual who is well-respected among

senior leadership and is committed to a strategy o col-laboration can be very valuable to an organization. When

hiring a new team member, look or these traits to help

ensure a successul team:

Business-savvy and technical-savvy: I a candidate dem-

onstrates strength in both areas, the business will readily

accept this person as a member o the team, and credibil-

ity will be more easily achieved.

Relationship-oriented:Ideally, a candidate will understand

the importance o building a relationship with the business

as well as orming internal alliances. One must make a me-

thodical, planned eort to build lasting relationships.

Cultural awareness: Knowing the nature o the business

and demonstrating an ability to adapt to the cultural dy-

namics o an organization are extremely important.

Using Alignment to TransformWeb ResourcesJust as with the supply chain optimization eort, I re-

searched other programs that would contribute to the e-

fciency and eectiveness o the Mannatech organizationAter a number o conversations with key members o the

leadership team and much deliberation, we agreed that

the corporate Web site had become obsolete and was in

need o a redesign.

The old Web site was dated and used mostly to process or-

ders and handle the registration o new independent sales

associates. The site desperately needed an upgrade, as it

was difcult to navigate and had little consumer appeal

An upgraded site, i appropriately designed, could bette

position the Mannatech image and brand. Additionally, itcould be used to up-sell and cross-sell products while also

reducing the amount o time needed to order products

and register new independent sales associates.

Taking on this eort was no small eat. As CIO, I real

ized the need to collaborate with other key executives as

a means to help propel the eort orward. Keeping this

need in mind, I reached out to the head o marketing to

discuss the challenges with the existing Web site. The chie

marketing ofcer (CMO) agreed with the need to upgrade

the site, and we collectively began working on a strategyand plan to present to the CEO and, subsequently, the

board o directors.

In preparation or our presentation, the CMO and I spent

a great deal o time learning the challenges and rustra-

tions that associates were experiencing on the Web site

We knew i the associates’ ability to do business was ham

pered, it would ultimately aect Mannatech’s top and

bottom lines.



10 Aligning Business and IT in the Enterprise an Internet com IT Management eBook © 2010 Internet com a division of QuinStreet IncBack to Contents


The Web site redesign program underwent extensive test

ing by a subset o Mannatech associates. Based on severa

eedback sessions, the feld organization was pleased with

the new Web site redesign.

Alignment and collaboration are important or any organi

zation but can be especially valuable in bridging the gap

between the business and IT. Organizational goals and

initiatives can be successully achieved by partnering with

individuals who are well-respected and who have a proven

track record. Such a partnership will help IT better under

stand how to connect any issues with viable solutions and

ultimately achieve success.

We extensively researched the impact on productivity and

customer experiences; we conducted surveys and ana-

lyzed various Web tools in order to generate a viable solu-

tion. This collaboration gave us true insight into what was

working and what needed to be improved so that by the

time we met with the board, we were well-prepared.

During the presentation, the CMO laid out the impact that

executing this program would have on the broader market

and detailed how this program would help our company

reposition itsel. At the conclusion o the presentations,

both the CEO and the board elected to have the CMO

and I spearhead this program or the business.

Alignment Business IT, 2010-04-12

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