What’s top of mind for IT pros?... · Navigating the stages of transformation There is no one-size-fits-all approach to IT transformation, and an organization’s desired future-state

CREATED BY MICROSOFT 365 IT PRO AUDIENCE MARKETING AUGUST 2018

The phrase “IT transformation” often suggests an enterprise system overhaul, massive financial

investments, and business interruption compounded by organizational change. IT professionals

can feel overwhelmed and sometimes even panicked when faced with this prospect. Amid today’s

digital revolution, technology continues to rapidly evolve, while the demand to innovate is

increasingly becoming a requirement to stay competitive. How can organizations transform and

adapt to this changing dynamic? We have outlined a maturity model spanning eight domains that

will help IT pros partner with business leaders to transform how companies think about IT.

Today’s businesses are inundated with data from ever-increasing sources, along with myriads of

tools and technologies to deal with that data. IT organizations are realizing the need to change

the way they work to take advantage of this influx of data and technological advancements.

Beyond improvement and change, true transformation is growth and adaptation. It is a

fundamental shift in how we think about the role of IT, from a siloed service provider to a

strategic partner embedded across all organizational functions to drive the evolution of people,

processes, and technologies.

The IT transformation journey

What is driving this IT transformation journey? Rapidly

evolving technology provides new opportunities to engage

with internal and external stakeholders for increased

visibility, collaboration, and focus on driving business

objectives. Keeping pace with a shifting technology

landscape, competitive pressure, and demands from customers and employees requires

adopting and integrating new tools to transform the way a company operates. Adding to these

change factors is a shift in how people work, driven by workforce demographics, evolving social

norms, and new technologies that enable more connected, productive workplaces.

Over the last decade, IT has shifted from a reactive, support and maintenance-driven function

within an organization to an integral partner, innovator, and enabler of business strategy. “In the

digital economy, technology is central to the products and services organizations sell, and

organizations’ ability to invest in new technology initiatives drives competitive differentiation. IT

transformation—the use of modernized datacenter technologies, automation of IT processes,

and transformation of organizational relationships—plays a role in increasing the ability of

organizations to capitalize on technology in the digital economy.”2

“Transformation isn’t about

improving. It’s about rethinking.”

~ Malcolm Gladwell1

Although technology has enabled smarter, faster work, it has also added new layers of

complexity for IT. The proliferation of devices means more endpoints to support, more identities

to secure, and more data to manage between the cloud and on-premises. As a result, the IT

workforce is experiencing drastic changes in the way they work, the skills they need, their

organizational structure, and how they partner with the business.

As organizations digitize and modernize their business, partnering with IT can help maximize

customer experience, increase return on investment, and stay on top of evolving technologies.

This strategic partnership depends on IT leadership building cutting-edge operating and

delivery models for their people, processes, and technologies that enable this shift.

Organizations that are successful in this transformation are becoming more agile and flexible,

and fostering a culture of innovation to remain relevant and competitive.

What’s top of mind for IT pros?

In early 2018, Microsoft conducted a survey of its IT Pro Tech Community to determine the top

priorities facing IT pros today as they consider the implications of IT transformation both for

their organizations and the market. One key area of exploration in the survey was the changing

technology landscape, and how IT leaders were shaping their teams, technologies, and

strategies to meet challenges head on. In addition to protecting against threats and introducing

or embracing new technology, responses highlighted other key components for successful

transformation, such as enabling change through proactive training, cultivating an innovation

mindset, and aligning IT initiatives to business objectives.

Introducing the IT Maturity Assessment

Balancing these many top of mind concerns with the needs of the organization, desires of

customers, and demands of the market can present a big challenge to IT leaders. Defining a

desired future state for the organization, and navigating the path to reach that state, is even

more complicated without a clear view of current IT maturity.

Based on our qualitative and quantitative conversations with IT pros regarding these

complexities, we have developed a research-based, data-driven IT Maturity Assessment. This

assessment outlines a maturity model to help IT pros evaluate their organization’s IT capabilities

and determine where they are in their transformation journey. The goal is to encourage a

conversation between IT and the business, so that together they can define a transformation

path that aligns to the organization’s overall strategy.

Navigating the stages of transformation

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to IT transformation, and an organization’s desired future-

state maturity is highly dependent on its vision, strategic operating model, capacity, size, and

industry. To guide this assessment, we’ve identified core indicators that can be used to

determine four graduating levels of maturity across various areas of focus. At a high level, these

maturity levels can be characterized as follows:

Indicators in this assessment model are aligned to one of three dimensions, which are

complementary and key for organizational transformation: People, Process, and Technology.

People: People indicators focus on having an organizational structure that supports IT

transformation—the right people, with the right skills, in the right jobs to accomplish key,

strategic work. This starts with the IT and business executive leadership vision and investment in

IT transformation as a business, customer, and people imperative.

Process: Process indicators define and standardize work. Organizations at the highest maturity

level have dynamic, fully-automated processes which continuously improve and rapidly adapt to

market and company evolutions.

Technology: Technology indicators revolve around the technologies used to enable, protect,

control, and support the people and processes in achieving strategic business objectives.

IT transformation in 8 domains

The variety of factors that impact IT transformation can certainly be overwhelming. Through

discussions with IT pros and research on industry trends and models, eight domains have

emerged that are core to transformation. These domains make up the maturity model:

• Security and Compliance

• Cloud Computing

• Modern Workplace

• Innovation

• Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• IT Workforce

• Alignment with the Business

• Change Enablement and Readiness

These eight domains work together to enable successful IT transformation and make up the

core of the IT Maturity Assessment. The output of each organization’s assessment will be

unique, as it’s normal to see varying levels of maturity across different domains. The remainder

of this paper will define what each domain is, and dive deep into the people, process, and

technology indicators that can help assess maturity and create a path to the desired future state.

Globally, IT and business decision makers

consistently rank security and compliance as top of

mind. Focusing on security and compliance is

essential to maintaining traction in today’s digital

economy. Growth in innovation, cloud, and AI is

resulting in massive amounts of customer data

being shared, collected, and analyzed—putting

security and compliance at the forefront of both IT

and business strategy. Most CIOs say that technology trends—specifically cybersecurity and AI—

will soon significantly change how they do their jobs.4

An organization’s capacity to foresee, articulate, and mitigate risk is inextricably linked to its

ability to keep up with technology trends, maintain its competitive advantage, and ultimately,

find success in a changing market. With a strong security and compliance focus, processes and

technologies can govern business in ways that enable an organization to move faster, take

bolder steps, and deliver greater value to customers. Maintaining a strong security and

compliance presence is a critical point of intersection between IT and lines of business—creating

a foundation of partnership and collaboration that can extend to other aspects of the

organization.

Over half (54%) of cybersecurity professionals anticipate successful cyberattacks on their

organization in the next twelve months.5 Security and compliance is clearly a pressing concern,

leaving many organizations wondering how to most effectively thwart attacks. In a recent

Microsoft Tech Community survey of nearly 1,500 IT pros, 62% said that formal cybersecurity

policies, procedures, and guidelines are critically important for an organization to stay current

and adapt to the changing technology landscape. They similarly pointed to threat intelligence

management and cybersecurity awareness among all personnel as key areas of focus.3 With

these factors in mind, how can organizations think about IT transformation through the lens of

security and compliance? Let’s start with the core component of any organization: its people.

Diving deep into Security and Compliance maturity

People

With technology at the forefront of today’s business transformations, it is vital that a team of

trusted security and compliance experts be embedded within an organization. Companies with a

high maturity level in this domain have established C-suite representation. This often includes a

Chief Security Officer, Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Data Protection Officer, or a security team

with advisory responsibilities. Of course, given the size of an organization and its specific needs,

84% of IT pros rank cybersecurity as

most important to shaping their teams,

technologies, and strategies to meet

challenges head on and adapt to the

changing technology landscape.3

these roles may be combined or represented differently. In the earlier maturity levels, security-

focused roles are represented but may not operate under a common charter or have a

dedicated practice. At the lowest maturity level, security and compliance are only a partial

responsibility. With half (51%) of survey respondents stating that conflicting priorities with

business leadership are a barrier to IT’s ability to innovate, giving IT leaders a seat at the table

can help an organization break down these barriers and transform effectively.3

Process

Through an organization’s evolution, its security and compliance processes move from disparate

and siloed to manual, and finally to automated. The processes around identifying, escalating,

and resolving threats become more complex and layered as an organization’s maturity evolves,

and discovery around cloud usage enables improved management of risk. Classification

taxonomy also evolves toward automation.

Technology

As security threats rapidly become more advanced, it is important that organizations stay up-to-

date in implementing adequate authorization, encryption, protection, backup, and disaster

recovery technologies. This involves thinking about security through the lens of identity and

access management, information protection, threat protection, and security management.

Cloud computing is the delivery of computing

services—servers, storage, databases, networking,

software, analytics, and more—primarily via the

internet, with infrastructure managed by cloud

service providers. How widespread is cloud

computing? In 2009, the public cloud computing

market was $58.6 billion USD, and it is projected

to reach $302.5 billion USD by 2021.7

The leap to cloud computing transforms the way companies work, granting them operational

agility and business advantages. When an organization transitions to cloud technology,

resources are freed up for more value-added activities like application development or other

strategic business priorities. The organization becomes more flexible, able to quickly integrate

new technologies and respond to evolving business, employee, and customer demands. Cloud

technology provides a secure, easily-accessible operational foundation, and cloud services can

quickly scale in either direction to handle varying volumes of data and user demand.

“The cloud brings the promise of agility

and creates the right conditions for a new

dialogue between business and IT for a

stronger relationship determined by the

performance of the organization.”

~ Philippe Roques, Capgemini6

Diving deep into Cloud Computing maturity

People

The transition to the cloud can mean a big mental and behavioral shift across the organization.

People who have built their careers around managing and maintaining servers may have

concerns not only about the technical aspects of transitioning to the cloud, but the impact to

their future employment. It’s important for an organization to understand these concerns and

accurately communicate cloud computing strategies and benefits to increase user adoption,

reduce dips in productivity, and retain key talent. Performing a detailed skill and role analysis

based on the difference between on-premises and cloud computing—and providing growth

strategies and training opportunities to staff—will support a successful transformation.

Process

IT departments often face the challenge of business teams independently purchasing their own

cloud-based solutions based on the appeal and ease of use for the business. IT is often unaware

of this “shadow IT”, and therefore is unable to support it or provide adequate security and

compliance oversight. As organizations progress through the levels of maturity, centralized IT

governance and technical and operational structures are put in place to effectively manage

cloud-based solutions. At the highest maturity level, IT and business leaders collaboratively build

plans to deploy cloud-based technologies that are aligned to business objectives and focused

on optimizing savings and achieving benefits.

Cloud computing also enables a software engineering model that unifies software development

and operation into a single function. DevOps is defined as a set of practices intended to reduce

the time between committing a change to a system and the change being placed into normal

production, while ensuring high quality.8 The DevOps model enables shorter software

development cycles, increased deployment frequency, and more dependable releases in close

alignment with business objectives. For organizations that develop their own software solutions,

DevOps (or a similar approach) also serves as an indicator of IT transformation maturity.

Technology

Companies with significant investments and resources devoted to traditional on-premises server

and desktop configurations may have a more challenging path to cloud computing maturity.

This path starts with conducting proof of concept activities to test cloud implementation on

representative workloads. Next, non-critical workloads are moved to the cloud, requiring

integrated identities between cloud and on-premises configurations. When at the highest level

of maturity, most of an organization’s applications are cloud-native, and mission-critical

workloads are in the cloud. Note that each organization is unique and has different needs that

determine their fit for cloud, on-premises, or hybrid solutions. For example, highly complex

organizations may need intelligent and targeted workloads that are dependent on physicality or

geographic location.

Organizations today face a continually changing set of

employee expectations, a widening skills gap, more

diverse and globally distributed teams, and an

increasingly complex threat environment. These

pressures require a responsive, modern workplace to

meet both business needs and the way people work. By

2020, the mobile workforce is expected to comprise

roughly three-quarters of U.S. workers,10 with the need

to seamlessly and securely support an increasing

number of devices for collaborative, real-time work.

Fostering an anytime, anywhere culture, a modern workplace approach promotes an experience

on par with working at a physical location.11 The goal of the modern workplace is to “create an

environment in which employees can enjoy secure, highly reliable platforms for exchanging

ideas, having conversations, and collaborating to do their best work.”12 This seamless way of

working leverages technology to empower creative teamwork across multiple devices, teams,

and locations—securely. It unbinds employees from their desks and offers a new level of

flexibility for remote, global employees.

How can an organization drive success in this domain? According to IT pros we surveyed, it is

most important to encourage a culture of digital collaboration (including virtual meetings, video

conferencing, and messaging). Over 80% of IT pros also ranked the following as either important

or critically important:

• Enacting policies that allow for mobile and flexible work arrangements.

• Reducing application sprawl and simplifying IT.

• Investing in infrastructure to support mobile and flexible work arrangements.

• Enabling processes that encourage mobile and flexible work arrangements.

• Deploying technology solutions that provide a consumer-like experience for employees.3

Diving deep into Modern Workplace maturity

People

Adopting a modern workplace focuses less on specific resource development or allocation and

instead encompasses a holistic representation of people based on company culture. To

successfully create an organizational environment that supports a modern workplace, leadership

must empower employees and set a positive example. To attract top talent, employees must not

only be supported, but also recognized for freely collaborating and innovating. At lower

“The way we work is changing.

Technological advancements, an

increasingly varied workforce, and

new employee demands are

triggering fundamental shifts in the

working world. And IT leaders are

poised to lead the way.”

~ Fuze9

maturity levels, employees feel less empowered and are confined by traditional work cultures,

which tend to be hierarchical and siloed.

Process

In organizations with the highest levels of

modern workplace maturity, the volume

and type of work assigned to employees

encourages creativity, critical thinking, and

innovation. In less mature organizations,

routine tasks play a more central role and

prevent employees from using their critical thinking and creative skills. With increasingly

efficient processes and advances in AI, many routine tasks can become automated, freeing up

space for employees to focus on tasks that tap into their creative capabilities.

Technology

Technology is one of the key enablers of the modern workplace as it allows people to

seamlessly and securely work from anywhere. Having a secure, cloud-based IT structure and

suite of collaboration tools is essential to creating productivity with flexibility. “Freeing

employees to work the way they want—and share ideas freely—fosters ingenuity and spurs

better ideas for getting ahead in a fierce market.”13

At least 84% of top CIOs have responsibility for

areas of the business outside of traditional IT;15 the

most common of these are innovation and

transformation. Most CIOs report that assisting in

business innovation and developing new products

and services are core expectations that the business

places on them.16

Innovation is the mindset and process of implementing new ideas to create value for an

organization. This can take the form of enhancing or creating a new service, system, or process,

or discontinuing inefficient or out-of-date ones. Innovation manifests in the application of better

solutions that meet new requirements, unarticulated needs, or existing market demands. IT

innovation specifically involves using technology in creative ways to build a more efficient

organization and improve alignment between technology initiatives and business goals.

“In 2015, TalkTalk’s management realized that

its traditional work culture was becoming a

barrier to outthinking the competition.”13

“The enterprise that does not innovate

ages and declines. And in an era of

rapid change such as the present, the

decline will be fast.”

~ Peter Drucker14

Diving deep into Innovation maturity

People

Innovation is a mindset, making people the most important dimension. Successful innovation

requires creating the right environment and giving people the time, resources, skills, and

motivation to engage in innovative thinking. Organizations that do not value or encourage

innovation do not train or hire people with these skills, and often operate under the belief that

innovation detracts from the work that needs to be done. As organizations begin to mature in

this domain, they may experiment with ways to increase and encourage innovative thinking. IT

functions with increasing maturity have innovation built into their structure through idea labs or

teams, providing the ability to create new solutions. Once fully mature, the innovation mindset is

enterprise-wide, with cross-functional innovation teams that inform the company’s strategy.

Process

How an organization spends its money is a good litmus test for its values. IT teams that do not

place value on innovation do not allocate any budget to or have any processes for innovation

activities. As the critical nature of innovation is realized, processes are developed, and budget is

earmarked for smaller proof of concept projects. In fully mature organizations, about half of the

IT budget is spent on new projects or initiatives, and the business regards IT as an innovation

leader that not only supports, but contributes to, business strategy and success.

Technology

The two main components of technology that influence innovation are project management

tools and mechanisms to capture new ideas. Organizations at the earliest maturity level are

using traditional, manual spreadsheets for basic project tracking and ideas are captured

informally, if at all. Once they begin to mature, projects are managed via shared spreadsheets in

a central location and there is a mechanism for capturing and tracking innovative ideas. As

organizations mature further, they utilize shared cross-team project management tools and

mechanisms to capture not only employee ideas, but also the voice of the customer. Once fully

mature, project management tools feed into portfolios to provide IT and business leaders a

cross-functional, enterprise view to drive decision making, while innovative ideas are captured

enterprise-wide and evaluated for collaboration opportunities.

Artificial intelligence encompasses a range of

technology applications and systems, often

designed for specific tasks, that learn over time as

they are exposed to data. For example, an AI-

powered application may recommend a new

product or service based on a user’s previous

buying behavior or may be able to recognize

images based on samples. Common AI

implementations today include bots that respond

to user queries, or robotic process automation that triggers actions as steps in a workflow or

process are completed. Other examples include speech recognition, natural language

processing, biometrics, machine learning, and connected devices and things.

Rather than replacing people, the goal of AI is to amplify human ingenuity. When designed with

people at the center, AI can extend your capabilities, free up your teams for more creative and

strategic endeavors, and help your organization achieve more. According to a recent survey of

companies currently implementing it, “AI is already transforming how organizations do business,

manage customer relationships, and stimulate the ideas and creativity that fuel groundbreaking

innovation.”18 How is this transformation happening? AI technologies are demonstrating across

industries that they can increase accuracy and efficiency and enable humans to focus on the

aspects of their roles that add the most value.

Business leaders specifically believe that AI is going to be fundamental in the future, with 72% in

a recent survey terming it a “business advantage.”18 AI is considered to be the most important

general purpose technology of our era and has the potential to boost labor productivity up to

“Just as electricity transformed almost

everything 100 years ago, today I

actually have a hard time thinking of

an industry that I don’t think AI will

transform in the next several years.”

~ Andrew Ng17

40% by 2035.20 These advantages are due not only to its direct impact on efficiency, but also its

ability to surface data and inspire complementary innovations. Leaders in AI treat data as an

asset and proactively and consistently use intelligent predictions and insights from data to

inform decision making and planning. Indeed, the Economist asserts that “the world’s most

valuable resource is data, and that data is to this century what oil was to the last one: a driver of

growth and change. It is the fuel of the digital future.”21

Diving deep into AI maturity

People

In the age of AI, people play a crucial role in governing, controlling, and validating machine

process and output. Organizations that have dedicated AI leadership spearheading and

monitoring all AI initiatives are considered fully mature in this domain, a subset of these having

AI-specific C-suite representation. According to Harvard Business Review, “Over the next decade,

AI won’t replace managers, but managers who use AI will replace those who don’t.”22

Process

Nearly one third (29%) of IT pros say that for an

organization to be a leader in IT transformation,

they not only need to adopt AI but also need to

have a proactive implementation strategy.3

Organizations that are more mature in this space

have leveraged AI to automate processes and tasks

and developed guidelines for implementation.

Those that are fully mature have also prioritized

governance, risk assessment, and monitoring into

their AI implementation strategy and are socializing

data “recipes” throughout the organization.

Technology

Advancement in the technology dimension of AI is predominantly centered around the ways

that AI is being used to improve the business, versus the type or number of specific

technologies being leveraged. For instance, an organization that has a strong AI presence may

not have a business need for robotic process automation or biometrics but can still be

considered fully mature. The key indicator here is whether leaders are adequately allocating

funds, creating a strategy, and implementing AI solutions that convert data into insights,

allowing the organization to pivot its primary AI focus to customer impact.

As technology changes and IT becomes a strategic

business partner, IT roles and structure need to

continuously adapt. New technologies demand new

skills and behaviors which may be hard to find,

develop, and ultimately retain—especially in

cybersecurity, where the Center for Cyber Safety and

Education has predicted that there will be 1.8 million

unfilled positions by 2022.24

Transformation comes with an increased emphasis on creating an agile, flexible IT workforce

that can adjust and up-skill, as well as increased reliance on workforce augmentation (such as

with robotics or vendors). Additionally, as IT becomes increasingly integrated into the business,

building a strong working alliance with business counterparts and customers is key to

maintaining a relevant skillset that adapts to changing needs.

What is a data recipe?

Step-by-step instructions that serve as a

method for discovering, visualizing, and

using data. Recipes can be helpful in

defining specific, repeatable queries for

gaining insights from various datasets.

"We've had to have a DNA change in

IT, so we've brought in people who are

as brilliant at communicating as they

are at technology.”

~ Sarah Flannigan, National Trust CIO23

The IT workforce—the individuals, the IT function, and the organizational structure—all need to

evolve and adapt to address continual technology transformations as IT and the business align.

IT is transitioning from “hugging servers to hugging people”25 and that is a big switch!

Diving deep into IT Workforce maturity

People

From high-level operational models and organizational structure to job descriptions and hiring

practices, the IT workforce is evolving as both technology and business integration advance. At

the earliest maturity level, organizations maintain traditional IT roles and structure and there is

minimal or no interaction with or alignment to the business. As organizations begin to mature,

there are new modern roles, skills, and structures employed, and most staff members

understand and actively support the business. At full maturity, structure and roles are not only

current, but also dynamic to easily realign to changing processes and technologies.

Process

The process dimension focuses on training existing IT staff and hiring for skills and roles that are

new or missing. Once fully mature, this includes hiring new employees with different mindsets,

learning agility, experiences, and perspectives to drive new technologies and innovations.

Technology

Many traditional IT tasks are routine and resource intensive. As an organization works its way

through the maturity levels, they begin to leverage automated workforce technologies like bots

to augment key repeatable tasks or processes. Eventually, the use of AI, cognitive technologies,

and robotics augments the human IT workforce. Those operating at the highest maturity levels

have executive leaders across the organization reimagining operational and organizational

models where humans and machines can collaborate across multiple lines of business.

As discussed in previous domains, technology

evolution is driving the need for IT departments

to serve as strategic partners integral to the

success of the organization and aligned to all

aspects of the business. For successful IT

transformation, 91% of IT pros say that it is

important or critically important to align IT

initiatives with business strategy.3 Business

alignment encompasses all other aspects of the organization outside of IT, including marketing,

“Information technology and business are

becoming inextricably interwoven. I don't

think anybody can talk meaningfully about

one without the talking about the other.”

~ Bill Gates26

sales, human resources, finance, operations, and more. The companies that successfully

transform know how to seamlessly integrate technology into everything they do—from who

they hire, to the processes and specific tools they implement. In today’s digital economy, every

company is a technology company.

Diving deep into Alignment with the Business maturity

People

Regardless of industry, it is critical that an organization has technology-focused leadership

invested in driving the strategic direction of the business. The CIO or IT leadership must have a

deep understanding of the different lines of business and be able to identify how IT solutions

can be deployed—while simultaneously representing the needs of IT and building, developing,

and nurturing relationships with stakeholders across the organization. Ultimately, the maturity of

the people dimension comes down to resources. The more that a company is willing to invest in

dedicated staff to support cross-functional alignment, the better it will be able to partner to

implement change.

Process

An organization’s ability to view itself holistically cascades into how it operates, enabling

processes that execute a shared vision between IT and the business. At the earliest stages of

maturity, with IT still viewed as an inhibitor, business processes are often halted and inefficient.

As IT evolves to a maintenance-driven model, it is supporting the business more effectively, but

not until it is more mature does it start to integrate its processes into those of the business. At

the highest maturity level, IT processes are efficient and effective, aligned to the business, and

drivers of business value.

Technology

Within the technology dimension, alignment is accomplished through IT understanding of the

different lines of business and their needs. Through partnership and seamless integration of

people and process, IT can leverage new technologies that complement and support the needs

and goals of the business in an optimized way.

Staying agile as an organization can involve rapid, complex, and highly interdependent cross-

functional changes. Change enablement and readiness activities accelerate positive business

outcomes and return on investment by promoting wider, faster adoption of new technologies,

processes, and organizational structures. These efforts can also significantly increase project

success rates by providing individuals and teams with the preparation, support, and skills they

need to quickly adapt to organizational shifts.

Change enablement and readiness is a way of

evaluating an organization’s ability to efficiently

and effectively transition from a current state to a

desired new future state. It is an organization’s

ability to align people, processes, culture, and

strategy to bring about the behavioral changes

needed for transformation. For IT teams

specifically, Andy Rowsell-Jones, VP and

Distinguished Analyst at Gartner, recommends, “CIOs need to identify the cultural behaviors that

currently exist and what the future state vision is. In doing so, they must recognize existing

cultural strengths and position cultural change as 'the next chapter,' rather than a massive

overhaul, to respect employees' contributions and invite them to come along on the journey."28

Diving deep into Change Enablement and Readiness maturity

People

One of the leading criteria for successful change efforts in organizations is leadership support.

Changes that affect groups of any size benefit from employees seeing their leadership actively

engaged in the effort. The bigger the change and the more people it impacts, the greater the

need for leadership support. Maturity levels in this indicator range from having no identified

executive sponsorship involvement to having both IT and business sponsors who provide visible

and vocal support, championing the change and removing barriers. At the highest maturity

level, a dedicated change management staff ensures that executive teams are involved in all

significant projects, and leadership consistently reinforces right behaviors and highlights

successes to motivate employees to want to change.

Process

The use of traditional and emerging change management strategies (or lack thereof) is the focus

of this process dimension. For organizations at the earliest maturity level, there is little or no

effort made to prepare impacted employees when changes occur. At the next level, there is

some effort to alert people to the change and provide information around what is most critical

for them to know. As maturity increases, projects have specific change-related components, and

project heads and business leadership have training and experience in implementing effective

change projects. Once fully mature, an organization has the culture, processes, and

infrastructure in place that enable change to happen effectively and continuously.

Technology

Key tools for effective change are communications and training. The technologies used for these

can range from print and online resources to hosting multi-day, in-person training sessions with

“Your success in life isn’t based on your

ability to simply change. It is based on

your ability to change faster than your

competition, customers, and business.”

~ Mark Sanborn27

hands-on, scenario-based intensives. Additionally, transformation may require targeted

recruiting to support the processes and technologies needed for a sustainable model, mindset,

and way of working.

Conclusion

Responding to the changes and challenges of

today’s evolving business environment takes

continual effort to balance progress and find

stability across people, process, and technology.

The eight identified domains of IT maturity will

doubtless continue to evolve as well, as

technology innovations arise that reshape how

people work and how processes are automated to support strategic thinking. Building a solid

foundation for an agile and responsive IT organization involves making strides in all eight areas,

which complement each other to bring about real transformation. As you consider your

approach and investment in each of these domains, be sure to look at each one through the

lenses of people, process, and technology to get a full view of the challenges and opportunities

facing your organization.

Engineering IT transformation

To be successful in transforming, IT and business leaders need to collectively design a plan that

rethinks how the organization approaches IT. This means looking at everything from attracting,

developing, and retaining the right people to creating an environment that promotes

innovation, agility, and scalability across policies, processes, and technologies.

Assessing an organization’s current state is the first step in designing a transformation program.

This maturity model and assessment is designed as a way for organizations to evaluate where

they are on the spectrum of IT transformation maturity. The output of an organization’s

assessment should be used as a guide for conversations between IT and business leaders to

determine where they want to go.

As noted previously, there’s no “one-size-fits-all” approach to IT transformation; each

organization’s unique goals and attributes should factor into its growth plan. Assessing the

value of the characteristics outlined for each domain against the current and desired direction of

the organization can help you confidently determine the components of an effectively tailored

transformation program.

Add your voice to a transformative community

Going through any significant change can feel overwhelming, especially if you feel alone in

making the IT transformation journey. Remember that we’re all going through this transition

together and all continuing to evolve in response to the innovations of the marketplace and

technology landscape that we live in and contribute to. We encourage you to take the time to

engage in dialog with others in the Microsoft Tech Community—the best practices and key

learnings from one organization can benefit countless others and provide motivation and

inspiration to continue along the path. We want to hear your voices and learn from you,

particularly as we invest in and develop tools to help aid in IT transformation. Stay connected

and share your feedback through the IT Transformation community here, and stay tuned for

more updates, learning paths, and insights as we collect and share stories of transformation.

References

1 “INBOUND14: Key Quotes from the Keynotes.” Malcolm Gladwell (September 2014)

2 “How IT Transformation Maturity Drives IT Agility, Innovation, and Improved Business Outcomes.” The Enterprise

Strategy Group (April 2017)

3 “Drivers of Successful IT Org Transformation and Usage of the Microsoft Tech Community” Survey, Microsoft Tech

Community (May 2018)

4 “Mastering the New Business Executive Job of the CIO: Insights From the 2018 Gartner CIO Agenda Report.”

Gartner, Inc. (2017)

5 “Cybersecurity Trends 2017 Spotlight Report.” Alert Logic (2017)

6 “The cloud coup d’état and its impact on the IT organization.” Philippe Roques, Capgemini (May 2018)

7 “Cloud Computing: Statistics and Facts.” Statista (April 2017)

8 “DevOps: A Software Architect’s Perspective.” Len Bass, Ingo Weber, and Liming Zhu; Carnegie Mellon University,

Software Engineering Institute (May 2015)

9 “Breaking Barriers 2020: How CIOs are Shaping the Future of Work” Fuze, Bitpipe (January 2017)

10 “Keeping Pace with a Mobile Workforce (Infographic)” HR Magazine (March 2017)

11 “Creating a Modern Workplace Environment: The Unified Workspace.” Cisco and GovLoop (February 2013)

12 “Building a modern, responsive workplace at Microsoft.” Microsoft IT Showcase (September 2017)

13 “What happens when a digital company tries to digitally transform?” MS Reporter (January 2018)

14 “Innovation and Entrepreneurship” Peter Drucker, Routledge (2014)

15 “Mastering the New Business Executive Job of the CIO: Insights From the 2018 Gartner CIO Agenda Report.”

Gartner, Inc. (2017)

16 “Navigating legacy: Charting the course to business value.” Deloitte Insights (2016)

17 “Andrew Ng; Why AI Is the New Electricity.” Andrew Ng, Stanford Business (March 2017)

18 “Turning AI into concrete value: the successful implementers’ toolkit.” Capgemini Consulting (September 2017)

19 “Amplifying management: The augmented c-suite.” PwC (April 2017)

20 “Artificial Intelligence is the Future of Growth.” Accenture (September 2017)

21 “Data is giving rise to a new economy.” The Economist (May 2017)

22 “The Business of Artificial Intelligence.” Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, Harvard Business Review (July 2017)

23 “National Trust CIO Sarah Flannigan is leading its biggest ever transformation” Information Age (April 2016)

24 “Global cybersecurity workforce shortage to reach 1.8 million as threats loom larger and stakes rise higher.” Center

for Cyber Safety and Education (June 2017)

25 “CIOs: Stop hugging your servers, start hugging the business people.” ZDNet (August 2014)

26 “Business at the Speed of Thought: Succeeding in the Digital Economy.” Bill Gates, Penguin UK (2000)

27 “Quotes to Inspire Extraordinary Leadership & Remarkable Performance.” Mark Sanborn

28 “Gartner: The Changing Role of the CIO.” APMdigest (October 2017)