Our viewpoints
Consumerisation of technology: Curse or Cure?Part 1
Consumer technology is cheap, available, personalised, and highly useable. It can corrode the boundaries of an organisation’s IT, create chaos through loss of control and compromise security. Can it also be the magic ingredient that unlocks latent value, cuts costs and supports a more agile way of working?
There is emerging evidence that handled carefully consumer technology can be a cure to many of the ills that bedevil traditional IT...
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Consumerisation of technology: Curse or Cure?
Part 2
Last time we examined the emerging evidence that, handled carefully, a considered response to the consumerisation of technology can alleviate many ills that bedevil traditional IT. We discussed how organisations can create value from the consumerisation of traditional IT and now turn to some specific issues for management. A different management approach is required, and a new set of implementation lessons need to be learnt, if the response to this phenomenon is to be productive.
The main issue is not the technology itself, but that users’ experience of technology outside the workplace has transformed over the last decade. This gives rise to inevitable tensions that cannot be ignored. We provide some rules of thumb below which may be helpful.
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Heavenly designed Service Centres are no earthly good
In the scramble to save costs, claims made for ‘Shared Service Centres’ (SSCs) and ‘Utilities’ continue to entice. We’ve suggested in the past you look at these with a certain scepticism and it’s now time to explore our concerns.
We’re absolutely not denying that SSCs can produce dramatic improvements in process consistency, reduce error rates, and all at lower costs; there are many fine examples here and abroad that vendors will invite you to see.
But while you may be impressed by the destination, what you should know is that the journey can be no fun at all.
Many of the hard won lessons we’re going to lay out will seem counter-intuitive at first glance - think about what you are leaving behind, not what you are building; worry about technology, not people or process; concern yourself with migration more than destination.
Sounds odd? To find out what we are talking about, and for some thoughts on how to survive the SSC experience
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If you are not smart sourcing, what are you doing? Part 1
No company does everything themselves they all buy some services and perform others. There is nothing intrinsically peculiar about IT outsourcing; what catches imagination here is the scale of the deals, the emotions concerning off-shoring, and the spectacular failure of those deals which have turned nasty. The motivation and context for outsourcing change, as do the technical conditions which enable it. It’s also likely that the recession will make companies reconsider their position, as they become more concerned with short term cost reduction (survival being the strategic goal) and quite what the consequences of the Satyam debacle will be have yet to be seen. There are, however, no more black or white decisions when sourcing than anywhere else.
For example, don’t be taken in by people peddling the concept of “Smartsourcing” as if it were something new and distinctive (not so subtly implying if you don’t buy it you’re dumb). The fact is that there is no single approach which can guarantee success (single sourcing, multi sourcing, keeping as much as possible in house and so on). Any smart approach will mean thinking long and hard about the real options (and this market will quickly punish stupidity). There are, in our experience, a few basic rules, but they are more about helping you to read the lie of the land, rather than an idiot-proof map.
In Differentis we’ve had quite a lot of experience of outsourcing, from both sides of the table, and would like to suggest some basic pointers which may help.
This month we are going to concentrate on the objectives of outsourcing, and we’ll look at some of the ways of achieving them next month
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If you are not smart sourcing, what are you doing? Part 2
Last month (see below) we looked at IT outsourcing, and suggested a few rules to help navigate what in any event are tricky waters. We emphasised getting clear about the objectives and outcomes that were desired by entering into a long term contract.
As a significant industry, IT Outsourcing has also attracted a range of ancillary service providers – consultants, advisors, lawyers, and so on, who seek to protect and support their clients, as well as earn a crust. And Differentis is one such company. We are however sceptical about much of what is written, for two reasons. Firstly many pieces of advice appear to be based on anecdotes, which whilst potentially interesting (because “real” rather than “theoretical”) may simply be misleading. Business writers often lack a healthy scepticism, and their standards of evidence fall a long way short of science, and are therefore less than fully reliable
Secondly, the anecdotes may be misleading because they abstract from the complexity of the services and the businesses to which they are provided; so here we are not prescribing specific courses of action (buy this, make this) but suggesting ways of progressing through the process of making complex decisions.
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Smart Moves for CIO's in a Recession
CIOs have a challenging fiscal responsibility to their company. During the long business growth era, it has been to invest in business-technology innovation to support profitable expansion over a multi year horizon. Today, they must be focused on demonstrating tangible business value from IT in short order at a time when budgets are tightly constrained.
The stark choice for IT now is therefore: deliver demonstrable business value fast or have IT budgets further cut as “overhead.” This is not a new dilemma for IT but it has never been so urgent or harsh. Even in the business growth years, many executives were uneasy about the payoffs of these investments. Now, they inevitabily begin with “No – let’s wait” rather than “OK, let’s do it.”
CIOs must make it their mission to make a Return on Investment by finding the “R” without asking for the “I”, how ?
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Smart Management of IT in a Recession
Information Technology is only a small portion of corporate costs and since the last recession it is cheaper and more embedded in the business. General prescriptions like cutting 'discretionary IT spend’ across the company are now unwise. Much better to take a careful look at the IT portfolio and cut the least attractive elements than slow down and/or de-scope sound IT investments that could yield value quickly
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Keeping on the front foot, where it matters
You’re on the board of a serious company and you’re aware that among the many IT initiatives that run every year maybe three or four would have a critical business impact on the firm, for better or worse. You’ve got your best people running them, so why the niggling worry?
You may be thinking about getting your internal audit folk to give these programmes a once over. You’re aware though that they have no more experience of big complex programmes than the people you have running them. You’re also aware that by the time a problem becomes self-evident it may be too late.
If getting it right is the only option, timely objective insight could keep you on the front foot.
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Enterprise Portals – they're easy, aren’t they?
The propagation of portals continues apace. Often viewed as a panacea, portals are seen as a simple way to transform an organisation, providing much needed freedom of access, and helping to improve compliance processes.
It is possible to offer an almost instantaneous intranet, with built in functions such as collaborative working, document, content and knowledge management, straight out of the box.
The road ahead may look clear and straight but how can you be sure you’re not going to be led down a blind alley?
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Moments of truth in IT programme management - 1
The greatest risk to any programme or project is at the very start. Getting things wrong at the beginning leads to a much higher risk of failure – it’s very tough to recover from a bad start.
Big programmes are fraught with risk. The Standish group recently reviewed a series of business critical programmes and only 28% were completed on time and budget.
So what can programme managers and sponsors do to ensure they get off to a good start? It’s all about mobilisation, conditioning for success at the outset.
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Moments of truth in IT programme management - 2
It's the moment of celebration for the IT team, successful delivery of their latest project.
They’ve built a system (or configured a package) and put in place a brand new architecture. They’ve tested it all to destruction from both a functional and operational perspective.
It goes live in production with no technical issues.
But as with so many celebrations there is a morning after – the business has a headache.
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Moments of truth in IT programme management - 3
IT programmes have a reputation for write-offs, cost overruns, missed deadlines and wide gaps between the promise and the payoff. There can be many reasons such programmes don’t live up to their expectations, and they’re not always obvious.
Every programme faces moments of truth – make or break points. Recognising the moments of truth and avoiding them can avert disaster. We’ve a long list; we’ll pull out a few over the next couple of months for a closer look. This time, your IT supplier fails to deliver.
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Where’s Einstein when you need him?
Creating an IT architecture that supports the business, and adds real value, means understanding the difference between ‘breadth and depth’; accepting one person can’t know it all and ensuring you bring the right team together and organise them effectively.
Achieving the right architecture is often made out to be much more complicated than it actually is. It’s really very simple. So why do so many architects find it tough to get it right?
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MI vs BI - the 'truth repository'
Management Information (MI) is used to guide a business, answering the questions “are we on course to meet our marketing and financial objectives?”
Business Intelligence (BI), or decision support, typically addresses the more detailed, more complex issues of strategy development, market analysis and business planning. We’re increasingly seeing that using separate approaches, systems and tools, can cause major dilemmas, and expense, and critically for decision makers, the information often conflicts. It’s time to bring these disciplines together, but how best to achieve this in an already complex environment?
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IT Architecture in a disjointed world
Is designing a successful IT architecture really a black art? Why do so many firms get it wrong?
Should you be letting IT drive and what are the likely consequences if they do? Where are the barriers that impede success? What steps should you take to achieve the right answer? There are so many perspectives for a CIO to consider; business, application, infrastructure and information. Whilst you’ll never get a perfect answer you can get very close and ensure you don’t end up in a blind alley, squandering vital funds. There are big benefits to be had but where do you start?
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Management in IT - CIOs should go fishing
You're an outstanding CIO in a quality firm, running the business of IT. You have a lot of good people in your organisation. So why are you still getting it in the neck from the board? Why do they keep telling you that IT isn't delivering? Why isn't IT as good as they would expect for such a quality firm?
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Outsourcing gone wrong
We've seen horror stories where outsourcing goes wrong. It seems a sound idea in theory, but how well do organisations think it through in advance? Are they clear on motivation? Is it to reduce costs, improve their technology base, or service delivery? Some things are easier to outsource but with a thorough approach it doesn't have to end in tears.
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CIOs face major transformation
Over the last 40 years, IT and deployment have gone through several discontinuous eras. Each forced changes to the business model and IT leadership. The next era requires a dramatically different approach and total rethink.
Will businesses and IT be prepared, and able, to rise to the challenge of this major transformation? What’s changing and why?
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Will IFAs take the Wrap?
There are those in the Financial Services field believing the terms IFA and multi-tie will cease to exist in the next few years. The Wraps phenomenon in the UK Financial Services market will have huge potential for some and catastrophic consequences for others.
IT and service delivery architecture are the key to its success, or failure.
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