Generative AI: Market Primer

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  • Parent Category Name: Data Management
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  • Much of the organization remains in the dark for understanding what Gen AI is, complicated by ambiguous branding from vendors claiming to provide Gen AI solutions.
  • Searching the market for a Gen AI platform is nearly impossible, owing to the sheer number of vendors.
  • The evaluative criteria for selecting a Gen AI platform are unclear.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

  • You cannot rush Gen AI selection and implementation. Organizations with (1) FTEs devoted to making Gen AI work (including developers and business intelligence analysts), (2) trustworthy and regularly updated data, and (3) AI governance are just now reaching PoC testing.
  • Gen AI is not a software category – it is an umbrella concept. Gen AI platforms will be built on different foundational models, be trained in different ways, and provide varying modalities. Do not expect Gen AI platforms to be compared against the same parameters in a vendor quadrant.
  • Bad data is the tip of the iceberg for Gen AI risks. While Gen AI success will be heavily reliant on the quality of data it is fine-tuned on, there are independent risks organizations must prepare for, from Gen AI hallucinations and output reliability to infrastructure feasibility and handling high-volume events.
  • Prepare for ongoing instability in the Gen AI market. If your organization is unsure about where to start with Gen AI, the secure route is to examine what your enterprise providers are offering. Use this as a learning platform to confidently navigate which specialized Gen AI provider will be viable for meeting your use cases.

Impact and Result

  • Consensus on Gen AI scope and key Gen AI capabilities
  • Identification of your readiness to leverage Gen AI applications
  • Agreement on Gen AI evaluative criteria
  • Knowledge of vendor viability

Generative AI: Market Primer Research & Tools

Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

1. Generative AI: Market Primer – Contextualize the marketspace and prepare for generative AI selection.

Use Info-Tech’s best practices for setting out a selection roadmap and evaluative criteria for narrowing down vendors – both enterprise and specialized providers.

  • Generative AI: Market Primer Storyboard
  • Data Governance Policy
  • AI Governance Storyboard
  • AI Architecture Assessment and Project Planning Tool
  • AI Architecture Assessment and Project Planning Tool – Sample
  • AI Architecture Templates
[infographic]

Further reading

Generative AI: Market Primer

Cut through Gen AI buzzwords to achieve market clarity.

Analyst Perspective

The generative AI (Gen AI) marketspace is complex, nascent, and unstable.

Organizations need to get clear on what Gen AI is, its infrastructural components, and the governance required for successful platform selection.

Thomas Randall

The urge to be fast-moving to leverage the potential benefits of Gen AI is understandable. There are plenty of opportunities for Gen AI to enrich an organization’s use cases – from commercial to R&D to entertainment. However, there are requisites an organization needs to get right before Gen AI can be effectively applied. Part of this is ensuring data and AI governance is well established and mature within the organization. The other part is contextualizing Gen AI to know what components of this market the organization needs to invest in.

Owing to its popularity surge, OpenAI’s ChatGPT has become near synonymous with Gen AI. However, Gen AI is an umbrella concept that encompasses a variety of infrastructural architecture. Organizations need to ask themselves probing questions if they are looking to work with OpenAI: Does ChatGPT rest on the right foundational model for us? Does ChatGPT offer the right modalities to support our organization’s use cases? How much fine-tuning and prompt engineering will we need to perform? Do we require investment in on-premises infrastructure to support significant data processing and high-volume events? And do we require FTEs to enable all this infrastructure?

Use this market primer to quickly get up to speed on the elements your organization might need to make the most of Gen AI.

Thomas Randall

Advisory Director, Info-Tech Research Group

Executive Summary

Your Challenge

  • Much of the organization remains in the dark for understanding what Gen AI is, complicated by ambiguous branding from vendors claiming to provide Gen AI solutions.
  • Searching the market for a Gen AI platform is near impossible, owing to the sheer number of vendors.
  • The evaluative criteria for selecting a Gen AI platform is unclear.

Common Obstacles

  • Data governance is immature within the organization. There is no source of truth or regularly updated organizational process assets.
  • AI functionality is not well understood within the organization; there is little AI governance for monitoring and controlling its use.
  • The extent of effort and resources required to make Gen AI a success remains murky.

Info-Tech's Solution

This market primer for Gen AI will help you:

  1. Contextualize the Gen AI market: Learn what components of Gen AI an organization should consider to make Gen AI a success.
  2. Prepare for Gen AI selection: Use Info-Tech’s best practices for setting out a selection roadmap and evaluative criteria for narrowing down vendors – both enterprise and specialized providers.

“We are entering the era of generative AI.
This is a unique time in our history where the benefits of AI are easily accessible and becoming pervasive with co-pilots emerging in the major business tools we use today. The disruptive capabilities that can potentially drive dramatic benefits also introduces risks that need to be planned for.”

Bill Wong, Principal Research Director – Data and BI, Info-Tech Research Group

Who benefits from this project?

This research is designed for:

  • Senior IT, developers, data staff, and project managers who:
    • Have received a mandate from their executives to begin researching the Gen AI market.
    • Need to quickly get up to speed on the state of the Gen AI market, given no deep prior knowledge of the space.
    • Require an overview of the different components to Gen AI to contextualize how vendor comparisons and selections can be made.
    • Want to gain an understanding of key trends, risks, and evaluative criteria to consider in their selection process.

This research will help you:

  • Articulate the potential business value of Gen AI to your organization.
  • Establish which high-value use cases could be enriched by Gen AI functionality.
  • Assess vendor viability for enterprise and specialized software providers in the Gen AI marketspace.
  • Collect information on the prerequisites for implementing Gen AI functionality.
  • Develop relevant evaluative criteria to assist differentiating between shortlisted contenders.

This research will also assist:

  • Executives, business analysts, and procurement teams who are stakeholders in:
    • Contextualizing the landscape for learning opportunities.
    • Gathering and documenting requirements.
    • Building deliverables for software selection projects.
    • Managing vendors, especially managing the relationships with incumbent enterprise software providers.

This research will help you:

  • Identify examples of how Gen AI applications could be leveraged for your organization’s core use cases.
  • Verify the extent of Gen AI functionality an incumbent enterprise provider has.
  • Validate accuracy of Gen AI language and architecture referenced in project deliverables.

Insight Summary

You cannot speedrun Gen AI selection and implementation.

Organizations with (1) FTEs devoted to making Gen AI work (including developers and business intelligence analysts), (2) trustworthy and regularly updated data, and (3) AI governance are just now reaching PoC testing.

Gen AI is not a software category – it is an umbrella concept.

Gen AI platforms will be built on different foundational models, be trained in different ways, and provide varying modalities. Do not expect to compare Gen AI platforms to the same parameters in a vendor quadrant.

Bad data is the tip of the iceberg for Gen AI risks.

While Gen AI success will be heavily reliant on the quality of data it is fine-tuned on, there are independent risks organizations must prepare for: from Gen AI hallucinations and output reliability to infrastructure feasibility to handle high-volume events.

Gen AI use may require changes to sales incentives.

If you plan to use Gen AI in a commercial setting, review your sales team’s KPIs. They are rewarded for sales velocity; if they are the human-in-the-loop to check for hallucinations, you must change incentives to ensure quality management.

Prepare for ongoing instability in the Gen AI market.

If your organization is unsure about where to start with Gen AI, the secure route is to examine what your enterprise providers are offering. Use this as a learning platform to confidently navigate which specialized Gen AI provider will be viable for meeting your use cases.

Brace for a potential return of on-premises infrastructure to power Gen AI.

The market trend has been for organizations to move to cloud-based products. Yet, for Gen AI, effective data processing and fine-tuning may call for organizations to invest in on-premises infrastructure (such as more GPUs) to enable their Gen AI to function effectively.

Info-Tech’s methodology for understanding the Gen AI marketspace

Phase Steps

1. Contextualize the Gen AI marketplace

  1. Define Gen AI and its components.
  2. Explore Gen AI trends.
  3. Begin deriving Gen AI initiatives that align with business capabilities.

2. Prepare for and understand Gen AI platform offerings

  1. Review Gen AI selection best practices and requisites for effective procurement.
  2. Determine evaluative criteria for Gen AI solutions.
  3. Explore Gen AI offerings with enterprise and specialized providers.
Phase Outcomes
  1. Achieve consensus on Gen AI scope and key Gen AI capabilities.
  2. Identify your readiness to leverage Gen AI applications.
  3. Hand off to Build Your Generative AI Roadmap to complete pre-requisites for selection.
  1. Determine whether deeper data and AI governance is required; if so, hand off to Create an Architecture for AI.
  2. Gain consensus on Gen AI evaluative criteria.
  3. Understand vendor viability.

Guided Implementation

Phase 1

Phase 2

  • Call #1: Discover if Gen AI is right for your organization. Understand what a Gen AI platform is and discover the art of the possible.
  • Call #2: To take advantage of Gen AI, perform a business capabilities analysis to begin deriving Gen AI initiatives.
  • Call #3: Explore whether Gen AI initiatives can be achieved either with incumbent enterprise players or via procurement of specialized solutions.
  • Call #4: Evaluate vendors and perform final due diligence.

A Guided Implementation (GI) is a series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization.

The Gen AI market evaluation process should be broken into segments:

  1. Gen AI market education with this primer
  2. Structured approach to selection
  3. Evaluation and final due diligence

Info-Tech offers various levels of support to best suit your needs

DIY Toolkit

"Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful"

Guided Implementation

"Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track."

Workshop

"We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place."

Consulting

"Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project."

Diagnostics and consistent frameworks are used throughout all four options.

Software selection engagement

Five advisory calls over a five-week period to accelerate your selection process

  • Receive expert analyst guidance over five weeks (on average) to select and negotiate software.
  • Save money, align stakeholders, speed up the process, and make better decisions.
  • Use a repeatable, formal methodology to improve your application selection process.
  • Get better, faster results guaranteed, included in membership.
Software selection process timeline. Week 1: Awareness - 1 hour call, Week 2: Education & Discovery - 1 hour call, Week 3: Evaluation - 1 hour call, Week 4: Selection - 1 hour call, Week 5: Negotiation & Configuration - 1 hour call.

Click here to book your selection engagement.

Software selection workshops

40 hours of advisory assistance delivered online.

Select better software, faster.

  • 40 hours of expert analyst guidance
  • Project and stakeholder management assistance
  • Save money, align stakeholders, speed up the process, and make better decisions
  • Better, faster results guaranteed; 25K standard engagement fee
Software selection process timeline. Week 1: Awareness - 5 hours of Assistance, Week 2: Education & Discovery - 10 hours of assistance, Week 3: Evaluation - 10 hours of assistance, Week 4: Selection - 10 hours of assistance, Week 5: Negotiation & Configuration - 10 hours of assistance.

Click here to book your workshop engagement.

Ensure Cloud Security in IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS Environments

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  • Parent Category Name: Secure Cloud & Network Architecture
  • Parent Category Link: /secure-cloud-network-architecture
  • Security remains a large impediment to realizing cloud benefits. Numerous concerns still exist around the ability for data privacy, confidentiality, and integrity to be maintained in a cloud environment.
  • Even if adoption is agreed upon, it becomes hard to evaluate vendors that have strong security offerings and even harder to utilize security controls that are internally deployed in the cloud environment.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

  • The cloud can be secure despite unique security threats.
  • Securing a cloud environment is a balancing act of who is responsible for meeting specific security requirements.
  • Most security challenges and concerns can be minimized through our structured process (CAGI) of selecting a trusted cloud security provider (CSP) partner.

Impact and Result

  • The business is adopting a cloud environment and it must be secured, which includes:
    • Ensuring business data cannot be leaked or stolen.
    • Maintaining privacy of data and other information.
    • Securing the network connection points.
  • Determine your balancing act between yourself and your CSP; through contractual and configuration requirements, determine what security requirements your CSP can meet and cover the rest through internal deployment.
  • This blueprint and associated tools are scalable for all types of organizations within various industry sectors.

Ensure Cloud Security in IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS Environments Research & Tools

Start here – read the Executive Brief

Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should prioritize security in the cloud, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the ways we can support you in completing this project.

Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

1. Determine your cloud risk profile

Determine your organization’s rationale for cloud adoption and what that means for your security obligations.

  • Ensure Cloud Security in IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS Environments – Phase 1: Determine Your Cloud Risk Profile
  • Secure Cloud Usage Policy

2. Identify your cloud security requirements

Use the Cloud Security CAGI Tool to perform four unique assessments that will be used to identify secure cloud vendors.

  • Ensure Cloud Security in IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS Environments – Phase 2: Identify Your Cloud Security Requirements
  • Cloud Security CAGI Tool

3. Evaluate vendors from a security perspective

Learn how to assess and communicate with cloud vendors with security in mind.

  • Ensure Cloud Security in IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS Environments – Phase 3: Evaluate Vendors From a Security Perspective
  • IaaS and PaaS Service Level Agreement Template
  • SaaS Service Level Agreement Template
  • Cloud Security Communication Deck

4. Implement your secure cloud program

Turn your security requirements into specific tasks and develop your implementation roadmap.

  • Ensure Cloud Security in IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS Environments – Phase 4: Implement Your Secure Cloud Program
  • Cloud Security Roadmap Tool

5. Build a cloud security governance program

Build the organizational structure of your cloud security governance program.

  • Ensure Cloud Security in IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS Environments – Phase 5: Build a Cloud Security Governance Program
  • Cloud Security Governance Program Template
[infographic]

Grow Your Own PPM Solution

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  • Parent Category Name: Portfolio Management
  • Parent Category Link: /portfolio-management
  • As portfolio manager, you’re responsible for supporting the intake of new project requests, providing visibility into the portfolio of in-flight projects, and helping to facilitate the right approval and prioritization decisions.
  • You need a project portfolio management (PPM) tool that promotes the maintenance and flow of good data to help you succeed in these tasks. However, while throwing expensive technology at bad process rarely works, many organizations take this approach to solve their PPM problems.
  • Commercial PPM solutions are powerful and compelling, but they are also expensive, complex, and hard to use. When a solution is not properly adopted, the data can be unreliable and inconsistent, defeating the point of purchasing a tool in the first place.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

  • Your choice of PPM solution must be in tune with your organizational PPM maturity to ensure that you are prepared to sustain the tool use without having the corresponding PPM processes collapse under its own weight.
  • A spreadsheet-based homegrown PPM solution can provide key capabilities of an optimized PPM solution with a high level of sophistication and complexity without the prohibitive capital and labor costs demanded by commercial PPM solution.
  • Focus on your PPM decision makers that will consume the reports and insights by investigating their specific reporting needs.

Impact and Result

  • Think outside the commercial box. Develop an affordable, adoptable, and effective PPM solution using widely available tools based on Info-Tech’s ready-to-deploy templates.
  • Make your solution sustainable. When it comes to portfolio management, high level is better. A tool that is accurate and maintainable will provide more value than one that strives for precise data yet is ultimately unmaintainable.
  • Report success. A PPM tool needs to foster portfolio visibility in order to engage and inform the executive layer and support effective decision making.

Grow Your Own PPM Solution Research & Tools

Start here – read the Executive Brief

Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should grow your own PPM solution, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

1. Right-size your PPM solution

Scope an affordable, adoptable, and effective PPM solution with Info-Tech's Portfolio Manager 2017 workbook.

  • Grow Your Own PPM Solution – Phase 1: Right-Size Your PPM Solution
  • Portfolio Manager 2017 Cost-in-Use Estimation Tool
  • None

2. Get to know Portfolio Manager 2017

Learn how to use Info-Tech's Portfolio Manager 2017 workbook and create powerful reports.

  • Grow Your Own PPM Solution – Phase 2: Meet Portfolio Manager 2017
  • Portfolio Manager 2017
  • Portfolio Manager 2017 (with Actuals)
  • None
  • None
  • None

3. Implement your homegrown PPM solution

Plan and implement an affordable, adoptable, and effective PPM solution with Info-Tech's Portfolio Manager 2017 workbook.

  • Grow Your Own PPM Solution – Phase 3: Implement Your PPM Solution
  • Portfolio Manager 2017 Operating Manual
  • Stakeholder Engagement Workbook
  • Portfolio Manager Debut Presentation for Portfolio Owners
  • Portfolio Manager Debut Presentation for Data Suppliers

4. Outgrow your own PPM solution

Develop an exit strategy from your home-grown solution to a commercial PPM toolset. In this video, we show a rapid transition from the Excel dataset shown on this page to a commercial solution from Meisterplan. Christoph Hirnle of Meisterplan is interviewed starting at 9 minutes.

  • None
[infographic]

Workshop: Grow Your Own PPM Solution

Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

1 Scope a Homegrown PPM Solution for Your Organization

The Purpose

Assess the current state of project portfolio management capability at your organization. The activities in this module will inform the next modules by exploring your organization’s current strengths and weaknesses and identifying areas that require improvement.

Set up the workbook to generate a fully functional project portfolio workbook that will give you a high-level view into your portfolio.

Key Benefits Achieved

A high-level review of your current project portfolio capability is used to decide whether a homegrown PPM solution is an appropriate choice

Cost-benefit analysis is done to build a business case for supporting this choice

Activities

1.1 Review existing PPM strategy and processes.

1.2 Perform a cost-benefit analysis.

Outputs

Confirmation of homegrown PPM solution as the right choice

Expected benefits for the PPM solution

2 Get to Know Portfolio Manager 2017

The Purpose

Define a list of requirements for your PPM solution that meets the needs of all stakeholders.

Key Benefits Achieved

A fully customized PPM solution in your chosen platform

Activities

2.1 Introduction to Info-Tech's Portfolio Manager 2017: inputs, outputs, and the data model.

2.2 Gather requirements for enhancements and customizations.

Outputs

Trained project/resource managers on the homegrown solution

A wish list of enhancements and customizations

3 Implement Your Homegrown PPM Solution

The Purpose

Determine an action plan regarding next steps for implementation.

Implement your homegrown PPM solution. The activities outlined in this step will help to promote adoption of the tool throughout your organization.

Key Benefits Achieved

A set of processes to integrate the new homegrown PPM solution into existing PPM activities

Plans for piloting the new processes, process improvement, and stakeholder communication

Activities

3.1 Plan to integrate your new solution into your PPM processes.

3.2 Plan to pilot the new processes.

3.3 Manage stakeholder communications.

Outputs

Portfolio Manager 2017 operating manual, which documents how Portfolio Manager 2017 is used to augment the PPM processes

Plan for a pilot run and post-pilot evaluation for a wider rollout

Communication plan for impacted PPM stakeholders

Automate Testing to Get More Done

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  • Parent Category Name: Testing, Deployment & QA
  • Parent Category Link: /testing-deployment-and-qa
  • Today’s rapidly changing software products and operational processes create mounting pressure on software delivery teams to release new features and changes quickly while meeting high and demanding quality standards.
  • Most organizations see automated testing as a solution to meet this demand alongside their continuous delivery pipeline. However, they often lack the critical foundations, skills, and practices that are imperative for success.
  • The technology is available to enable automated testing for many scenarios and systems, but industry noise and an expansive tooling marketplace create confusion for those interested in adopting this technology.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

  • Good automated testing improves development throughput. No matter how quickly you put changes into production, end users will not accept them if they do not meet quality standards. Escaped defects, refactoring, and technical debt can significantly hinder your team’s ability to deliver software on time and on budget. In fact, 65% of organizations saw a reduction of test cycle time and 62% saw reductions in test costs with automated testing (Sogeti, World Quality Report 2020–21).
  • Start automation with unit and functional tests. Automated testing has a sharp learning curve, due to either the technical skills to implement and operate it or the test cases you are asked to automate. Unit tests and functional tests are ideal starting points in your automation journey because of the available tools and knowledge in the industry, the contained nature of the tests you are asked to execute, and the repeated use of the artifacts in more complicated tests (such as performance and integration tests). After all, you want to make sure the application works before stressing it.
  • Automated testing is a cross-functional practice, not a silo. A core component of successful software delivery throughput is recognizing and addressing defects, bugs, and other system issues early and throughout the software development lifecycle (SDLC). This involves having all software delivery roles collaborate on and participate in automated test case design, configure and orchestrate testing tools with other delivery tools, and proactively prepare the necessary test data and environments for test types.

Impact and Result

  • Bring the right people to the table. Automated testing involves significant people, process and technology changes across multiple software delivery roles. These roles will help guide how automated testing will compliment and enhance their responsibilities.
  • Build a foundation. Review your current circumstances to understand the challenges blocking automated testing. Establish a strong base of good practices to support the gradually adoption of automated testing across all test types.
  • Start with one application. Verify and validate the automated testing practices used in one application and their fit for other applications and systems. Develop a reference guide to assist new teams.

Automate Testing to Get More Done Research & Tools

Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

1. Start here – read the Executive Brief

Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should automate testing, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

2. Adopt good automated testing practices

Develop and implement practices that mature your automated testing capabilities.

  • Automated Testing Quick Reference Template

Infographic

Workshop: Automate Testing to Get More Done

Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

1 Adopt Good Automated Testing Practices

The Purpose

Understand the goals of and your vision for your automated testing practice.

Develop your automated testing foundational practices.

Adopt good practices for each test type.

Key Benefits Achieved

Level set automated testing expectations and objectives.

Learn the key practices needed to mature and streamline your automated testing across all test types.

Activities

1.1 Build a foundation.

1.2 Automate your test types.

Outputs

Automated testing vision, expectations, and metrics

Current state of your automated testing practice

Ownership of the implementation and execution of automated testing foundations

List of practices to introduce automation to for each test type

Develop a Plan to Pilot Enterprise Service Management

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  • Parent Category Name: Service Management
  • Parent Category Link: /service-management
  • Many business groups in the organization are siloed and have disjointed services that lead to a less than ideal customer experience.
  • Service management is too often process-driven and is implemented without a holistic view of customer value.
  • Businesses get caught up in the legacy of their old systems and find it difficult to move with the evolving market.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

  • Customer experience is the new battleground. Parity between products is creating the need to differentiate via customer experience.
  • Don’t forget your employees! Enterprise service management (ESM) is also about delivering exceptional experiences to your employees so they can deliver exceptional services to your customers.
  • ESM is not driven by tools and processes. Rather, ESM is about pushing exceptional services to customers by pulling from organizational capabilities.

Impact and Result

  • Understand ESM concepts and how they can improve customer service.
  • Use Info-Tech’s advice and tools to perform an assessment of your organization’s state for ESM, identify the gaps, and create an action plan to move towards an ESM pilot.
  • Increase business and customer satisfaction by delivering services more efficiently.

Develop a Plan to Pilot Enterprise Service Management Research & Tools

Start here – read the Executive Brief

Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should move towards ESM, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

1. Understand ESM and get buy-in

Understand the concepts of ESM, determine the scope of the ESM program, and get buy-in.

  • Develop a Plan to Pilot Enterprise Service Management – Phase 1: Understand ESM and Get Buy-in
  • Enterprise Service Management Executive Buy-in Presentation Template
  • Enterprise Service Management General Communications Presentation Template

2. Assess the current state for ESM

Determine the current state for ESM and identify the gaps.

  • Develop a Plan to Pilot Enterprise Service Management – Phase 2: Assess the Current State for ESM
  • Enterprise Service Management Assessment Tool
  • Enterprise Service Management Assessment Tool Action Plan Guide
  • Enterprise Service Management Action Plan Tool

3. Identify ESM pilot and finalize action plan

Create customer journey maps, identify an ESM pilot, and finalize the action plan for the pilot.

  • Develop a Plan to Pilot Enterprise Service Management – Phase 3: Identify ESM Pilot and Finalize Action Plan
  • Enterprise Service Management Customer Journey Map Template
[infographic]

Workshop: Develop a Plan to Pilot Enterprise Service Management

Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

1 Understand ESM and Get Buy-In

The Purpose

Understand what ESM is and how it can improve customer service.

Determine the scope of your ESM initiative and identify who the stakeholders are for this program.

Key Benefits Achieved

Understanding of ESM concepts.

Understanding of the scope and stakeholders for your ESM initiative.

Plan for getting buy-in for the ESM program.

Activities

1.1 Understand the concepts and benefits of ESM.

1.2 Determine the scope of your ESM program.

1.3 Identify your stakeholders.

1.4 Develop an executive buy-in presentation.

1.5 Develop a general communications presentation.

Outputs

Executive buy-in presentation

General communications presentation

2 Assess the Current State for ESM

The Purpose

Assess your current state with respect to culture, governance, skills, and tools.

Identify your strengths and weaknesses from the ESM assessment scores.

Key Benefits Achieved

Understanding of your organization’s current enablers and constraints for ESM.

Determination and analysis of data needed to identify strengths or weaknesses in culture, governance, skills, and tools.

Activities

2.1 Understand your organization’s mission and vision.

2.2 Assess your organization’s culture, governance, skills, and tools.

2.3 Identify the gaps and determine the necessary foundational action items.

Outputs

ESM assessment score

Foundational action items

3 Define Services and Create Custom Journey Maps

The Purpose

Define and choose the top services at the organization.

Create customer journey maps for the chosen services.

Key Benefits Achieved

List of prioritized services.

Customer journey maps for the prioritized services.

Activities

3.1 Make a list of your services.

3.2 Prioritize your services.

3.3 Build customer journey maps.

Outputs

List of services

Customer journey maps

Tech Trend Update: If Contact Tracing Then Distributed Trust

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  • Parent Category Name: DR and Business Continuity
  • Parent Category Link: /business-continuity

With COVID-19's rapid spread through populations, governments are looking for technology tools that can augment the efforts of manual contact tracing processes. How the system is designed is crucial to a positive outcome.

  • CIOs must understand how distributed trust principles achieve embedded privacy and help encourage user adoption.
  • CEOs must consider how society's waning trust in institutions affects the way they engage their customers.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

Mobile contact tracing apps that use a decentralized design approach will be the most likely to be adopted by a wide swath of the population.

Impact and Result

There are some key considerations to realize from the way different governments are approaching contact tracing:

  1. If centralized, then seek to ensure privacy protections.
  2. If decentralized, then seek to enable collaboration.
  3. In either case, put in place data governance to create trust.

Tech Trend Update: If Contact Tracing Then Distributed Trust Research & Tools

Learn why distributed trust is becoming critical to technology systems design

Understand the differences between mobile app architectures available to developers and how to achieve success in implementation based on your goals.

Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

  • Tech Trend Update: If Contact Tracing Then Distributed Trust Storyboard
[infographic]

Prepare for Post-Quantum Cryptography

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  • Fault-tolerant quantum computers, capable of breaking existing encryption algorithms and cryptographic systems, are widely expected to be available sooner than originally projected.
  • Data considered secure today may already be at risk due to the threat of harvest-now-decrypt-later schemes.
  • Many current security controls will be completely useless, including today's strongest encryption techniques.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

The advent of quantum computing is closer than you think: some nations have already demonstrated capability with the potential to break current asymmetric-key encryption. Traditional encryption methods will no longer provide sufficient protection. You need to act now to begin your transformation to quantum-resistant encryption.

Impact and Result

  • Developing quantum-resistant cryptography capabilities is crucial to maintaining data security and integrity for critical applications.
  • Organizations need to act now to begin their transformation to quantum-resistant encryption.
  • Data security (especially for sensitive data) should be an organization’s top priority. Organizations with particularly critical information need to be on top of this quantum movement.

Prepare for Post-Quantum Cryptography Research & Tools

Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

1. Prepare for Post-Quantum Cryptography Storyboard – Research to help organizations to prepare and implement quantum-resistance cryptography solutions.

Developing quantum-resistant cryptography capabilities is crucial to maintaining data security and integrity for critical applications. Organizations need to act now to begin their transformation to quantum-resistant encryption.

  • Prepare for Post-Quantum Cryptography Storyboard
[infographic]

Further reading

Prepare for Post-Quantum Cryptography

It is closer than you think, and you need to act now.

Analyst Perspective

It is closer than you think, and you need to act now.

The quantum realm presents itself as a peculiar and captivating domain, shedding light on enigmas within our world while pushing the boundaries of computational capabilities. The widespread availability of quantum computers is expected to occur sooner than anticipated. This emerging technology holds the potential to tackle valuable problems that even the most powerful classical supercomputers will never be able to solve. Quantum computers possess the ability to operate millions of times faster than their current counterparts.

As we venture further into the era of quantum mechanics, organizations relying on encryption must contemplate a future where these methods no longer suffice as effective safeguards. The astounding speed and power of quantum machines have the potential to render many existing security measures utterly ineffective, including the most robust encryption techniques used today. To illustrate, a task that currently takes ten years to crack through a brute force attack could be accomplished by a quantum computer in under five minutes.

Amid this transition into a quantum future, the utmost priority for organizations remains data security, particularly safeguarding sensitive information. Organizations must proactively prepare for the development of countermeasures and essential resilience measures to attain a state of being "quantum safe."

This is a picture of Alan Tang

Alan Tang
Principal Research Director, Security and Privacy
Info-Tech Research Group

Executive Summary

Your Challenge

  • Anticipated advancements in fault-tolerant quantum computers, surpassing existing encryption algorithms and cryptographic systems, are expected to materialize sooner than previously projected. The timeframe for their availability is diminishing daily.
  • Data that is presently deemed secure faces potential vulnerability due to the emergence of harvest-now-decrypt-later strategies.
  • Numerous contemporary security controls, including the most robust encryption techniques, have become obsolete and offer little efficacy.

Common Obstacles

  • The complexity involved makes it challenging for organizations to incorporate quantum-resistant cryptography into their current IT infrastructure.
  • The endeavor of transitioning to quantum-resilient cryptography demands significant effort and time, with the specific requirements varying for each organization.
  • A lack of comprehensive understanding regarding the cryptographic technologies employed in existing IT systems poses difficulties in identifying and prioritizing systems for upgrading to post-quantum cryptography.

Info-Tech's Approach

  • The development of quantum-resistant cryptography capabilities is essential for safeguarding the security and integrity of critical applications.
  • Organizations must proactively initiate their transition toward quantum-resistant encryption to ensure data protection.
  • Ensuring the security of corporate data assets should be of utmost importance for organizations, with special emphasis on those possessing highly critical information in light of the advancements in quantum technology.

Info-Tech Insight

The advent of quantum computing (QC) is closer than you think: some nations have demonstrated capability with the potential to break current asymmetric-key encryption. Traditional encryption methods will no longer be sufficient as a means of protection. You need to act now to begin your transformation to quantum-resistant encryption.

Evolvement of QC theory and technologies

1900-1975

1976-1997

1998-2018

2019-Now

  1. 1900: Max Planck – The energy of a particle is proportional to its frequency: E = hv, where h is a relational constant.
  2. 1926: Erwin Schrödinger – Since electrons can affect each other's states, their energies change in both time and space. The total energy of a particle is expressed as a probability function.
  1. 1976: Physicist Roman Stanisław Ingarden publishes the paper "Quantum Information Theory."
  2. 1980: Paul Benioff describes the first quantum mechanical model of a computer.
  3. 1994: Peter Shor publishes Shor's algorithm.
  1. 1998: A working 2-qubit NMR quantum computer is used to solve Deutsch's problem by Jonathan A. Jones and Michele Mosca at Oxford University.
  2. 2003: DARPA Quantum Network becomes fully operational.
  3. 2011: D-Wave claims to have developed the first commercially available quantum computer, D-Wave One.
  4. 2018: the National Quantum Initiative Act was signed into law by President Donald Trump.
  1. 2019: A paper by Google's quantum computer research team was briefly available, claiming the project has reached quantum supremacy.
  2. 2020: Chinese researchers claim to have achieved quantum supremacy, using a photonic peak 76-qubit system known as Jiuzhang.
  3. 2021: Chinese researchers reported that they have built the world's largest integrated quantum communication network.
  4. 2022: The Quantinuum System Model H1-2 doubled its performance claiming to be the first commercial quantum computer to pass quantum volume 4096.

Info-Tech Insight

The advent of QC will significantly change our perception of computing and have a crucial impact on the way we protect our digital economy using encryption. The technology's applicability is no longer a theory but a reality to be understood, strategized about, and planned for.

Fundamental physical principles and business use cases

Unlike conventional computers that rely on bits, quantum computers use quantum bits or qubits. QC technology surpasses the limitations of current processing powers. By leveraging the properties of superposition, interference, and entanglement, quantum computers have the capacity to simultaneously process millions of operations, thereby surpassing the capabilities of today's most advanced supercomputers.

A 2021 Hyperion Research survey of over 400 key decision makers in North America, Europe, South Korea, and Japan showed nearly 70% of companies have some form of in-house QC program.

Three fundamental QC physical principles

  1. Superposition
  2. Interference
  3. Entanglement

This is an image of two headings, Optimization; and Simulation. there are five points under each heading, with an arrow above pointing left to right, labeled Qbit Count.

Info-Tech Insight

Organizations need to reap the substantial benefits of QC's power, while simultaneously shielding against the same technologies when used by cyber adversaries.

Percentage of Surveyed Companies That Have QC Programs

  • 31% Have some form of in-house QC program
  • 69% Have no QC program

Early adopters and business value

QC early adopters see the promise of QC for a wide range of computational workloads, including machine learning applications, finance-oriented optimization, and logistics/supply chain management.

This is an image of the Early Adopters, and the business value drivers.

Info-Tech Insight

Experienced attackers are likely to be the early adopters of quantum-enabled cryptographic solutions, harnessing the power of QC to exploit vulnerabilities in today's encryption methods. The risks are particularly high for industries that rely on critical infrastructure.

The need of quantum-safe solution is immediate

Critical components of classical cryptography will be at risk, potentially leading to the exposure of confidential and sensitive information to the general public. Business, technology, and security leaders are confronted with an immediate imperative to formulate a quantum-safe strategy and establish a roadmap without delay.

Case Study – Google, 2019

In 2019, Google claimed that "Our Sycamore processor takes about 200 seconds to sample one instance of a quantum circuit a million times—our benchmarks currently indicate that the equivalent task for a state-of-the-art classical supercomputer would take approximately 10,000 years."
Source: Nature, 2019

Why You Should Start Preparation Now

  • The complexity with integrating QC technology into existing IT infrastructure.
  • The effort to upgrade to quantum-resilient cryptography will be significant.
  • The amount of time remaining will decrease every day.

Case Study – Development in China, 2020

On December 3, 2020, a team of Chinese researchers claim to have achieved quantum supremacy, using a photonic peak 76-qubit system (43 average) known as Jiuzhang, which performed calculations at 100 trillion times the speed of classical supercomputers.
Source: science.org, 2020

Info-Tech Insight

The emergence of QC brings forth cybersecurity threats. It is an opportunity to regroup, reassess, and revamp our approaches to cybersecurity.

Security threats posed by QC

Quantum computers have reached a level of advancement where even highly intricate calculations, such as factoring large numbers into their primes, which serve as the foundation for RSA encryption and other algorithms, can be solved within minutes.

Threat to data confidentiality

QC could lead to unauthorized decryption of confidential data in the future. Data confidentiality breaches also impact improperly disposed encrypted storage media.

Threat to authentication protocols and digital governance

A recovered private key, which is derived from a public key, can be used through remote control to fraudulently authenticate a critical system.

Threat to data integrity

Cybercriminals can use QC technology to recover private keys and manipulate digital documents and their digital signatures.

Example:

Consider RSA-2048, a widely used public-key cryptosystem that facilitates secure data transmission. In a 2021 survey, a majority of leading authorities believed that RSA-2048 could be cracked by quantum computers within a mere 24 hours.
Source: Quantum-Readiness Working Group, 2022

Info-Tech Insight

The development of quantum-safe cryptography capabilities is of utmost importance in ensuring the security and integrity of critical applications' data.

US Quantum Computing Cybersecurity Preparedness Act

The US Congress considers cryptography essential for the national security of the US and the functioning of the US economy. The Quantum Computing Cybersecurity Preparedness Act was introduced on April 18, 2022, and became a public law (No: 117-260) on December 21, 2022.

Purpose

The purpose of this Act is to encourage the migration of Federal Government information technology systems to quantum-resistant cryptography, and for other purposes.

Scope and Exemption

  • Scope: Systems of government agencies.
  • Exemption: This Act shall not apply to any national security system.

Main Obligations

Responsibilities

Requirements
Inventory Establishment Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of OMB, shall issue guidance on the migration of information technology to post-quantum cryptography.
Agency Reports "Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, and on an ongoing basis thereafter, the head of each agency shall provide to the Director of OMB, the Director of CISA, and the National Cyber Director— (1) the inventory described in subsection (a)(1); and (2) any other information required to be reported under subsection (a)(1)(C)."
Migration and Assessment "Not later than 1 year after the date on which the Director of NIST has issued post-quantum cryptography standards, the Director of OMB shall issue guidance requiring each agency to— (1) prioritize information technology described under subsection (a)(2)(A) for migration to post-quantum cryptography; and (2) develop a plan to migrate information technology of the agency to post-quantum cryptography consistent with the prioritization under paragraph (1)."

"It is the sense of Congress that (1) a strategy for the migration of information technology of the Federal Government to post-quantum cryptography is needed; and (2) the government wide and industry-wide approach to post- quantum cryptography should prioritize developing applications, hardware intellectual property, and software that can be easily updated to support cryptographic agility." – Quantum Computing Cybersecurity Preparedness Act

The development of post-quantum encryption

Since 2016, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been actively engaged in the development of post-quantum encryption standards. The objective is to identify and establish standardized cryptographic algorithms that can withstand attacks from quantum computers.

NIST QC Initiative Key Milestones

Date Development
Dec. 20, 2016 Round 1 call for proposals: Announcing request for nominations for public-key post-quantum cryptographic algorithms
Nov. 30, 2017 Deadline for submissions – 82 submissions received
Dec. 21, 2017 Round 1 algorithms announced (69 submissions accepted as "complete and proper")
Jan. 30, 2019 Second round candidates announced (26 algorithms)

July 22, 2020

Third round candidates announced (7 finalists and 8 alternates)

July 5, 2022

Announcement of candidates to be standardized and fourth round candidates
2022/2024 (Plan) Draft standards available

Four Selected Candidates to be Standardized

CRYSTALS – Kyber

CRYSTALS – Dilithium

FALCON

SPHINCS+

NIST recommends two primary algorithms to be implemented for most use cases: CRYSTALS-KYBER (key-establishment) and CRYSTALS-Dilithium (digital signatures). In addition, the signature schemes FALCON and SPHINCS+ will also be standardized.

Info-Tech Insight

There is no need to wait for formal NIST PQC standards selection to begin your post-quantum mitigation project. It is advisable to undertake the necessary steps and allocate resources in phases that can be accomplished prior to the finalization of the standards.

Prepare for post-quantum cryptography

The advent of QC is closer than you think: some nations have demonstrated capability with the potential to break current asymmetric-key encryption. Traditional encryption methods will no longer be sufficient as a means of protection. You need to act now to begin your transformation to quantum-resistant encryption.

This is an infographic showing the three steps: Threat is Imminent; Risks are Profound; and Take Acton Now.

Insight summary

Overarching Insight

The advent of QC is closer than you think as some nations have demonstrated capability with the potential to break current asymmetric-key encryption. Traditional encryption methods will no longer be sufficient as a means of protection. You need to act now to begin your transformation to quantum-resistant encryption.

Business Impact Is High

The advent of QC will significantly change our perception of computing and have a crucial impact on the way we protect our digital economy using encryption. The technology's applicability is no longer a theory but a reality to be understood, strategized about, and planned for.

It's a Collaborative Effort

Embedding quantum resistance into systems during the process of modernization requires collaboration beyond the scope of a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) alone. It is a strategic endeavor shaped by leaders throughout the organization, as well as external partners. This comprehensive approach involves the collective input and collaboration of stakeholders from various areas of expertise within and outside the organization.

Leverage Industry Standards

There is no need to wait for formal NIST PQC standards selection to begin your post-quantum mitigation project. It is advisable to undertake the necessary steps and allocate resources in phases that can be accomplished prior to the finalization of the standards.

Take a Holistic Approach

The advent of QC poses threats to cybersecurity. It's a time to regroup, reassess, and revamp.

Blueprint benefits

IT Benefits

Business Benefits

  • This blueprint will help organizations to discover and then prioritize the systems to be upgraded to post-quantum cryptography.
  • This blueprint will enable organizations to integrate quantum-resistant cryptography into existing IT infrastructure.
  • Developing quantum-resistant cryptography capabilities is crucial to maintaining data security and integrity for critical applications.
  • This blueprint will help organizations to save effort and time needed upgrade to quantum-resilient cryptography.
  • Organizations will reap the substantial benefits of QC's power, while simultaneously shielding against the same technologies when used by cyber adversaries.
  • Avoid reputation and brand image by preventing data breach and leakage.
  • This blueprint will empower organizations to protect corporate data assets in the post-quantum era.
  • Be compliant with various security and privacy laws and regulations.

Info-Tech Project Value

Time, value, and resources saved to obtain buy-in from senior leadership team using our research material:

1 FTEs*10 days*$100,000/year = $6,000

Time, value, and resources saved to implement quantum-resistant cryptography using our research guidance:

2 FTEs* 30 days*$100,000/year = $24,000

Estimated cost and time savings from this blueprint:

$6,000 + $24,000 =$30,000

Get prepared for a post-quantum world

The advent of sufficiently powerful quantum computers poses a risk of compromising or weakening traditional forms of asymmetric and symmetric cryptography. To safeguard data security and integrity for critical applications, it is imperative to undertake substantial efforts in migrating an organization's cryptographic systems to post-quantum encryption. The development of quantum-safe cryptography capabilities is crucial in this regard.

Phase 1 - Prepare

  • Obtain buy-in from leadership team.
  • Educate your workforce about the upcoming transition.
  • Create defined projects to reduce risks and improve crypto-agility.

Phase 2 - Discover

  • Determine the extent of your exposed data, systems, and applications.
  • Establish an inventory of classical cryptographic use cases.

Phase 3 - Assess

  • Assess the security and data protection risks posed by QC.
  • Assess the readiness of transforming existing classical cryptography to quantum-resilience solutions.

Phase 4 - Prioritize

  • Prioritize transformation plan based on criteria such as business impact, near-term technical feasibility, and effort, etc.
  • Establish a roadmap.

Phase 5 - Mitigate

  • Implement post-quantum mitigations.
  • Decommissioning old technology that will become unsupported upon publication of the new standard.
  • Validating and testing products that incorporate the new standard.

Phase 1 – Prepare: Protect data assets in the post-quantum era

The rise of sufficiently powerful quantum computers has the potential to compromise or weaken conventional asymmetric and symmetric cryptography methods. In anticipation of a quantum-safe future, it is essential to prioritize crypto-agility. Consequently, organizations should undertake specific tasks both presently and in the future to adequately prepare for forthcoming quantum threats and the accompanying transformations.

Quantum-resistance preparations must address two different needs:

Reinforce digital transformation initiatives

To thrive in the digital landscape, organizations must strengthen their digital transformation initiatives by embracing emerging technologies and novel business practices. The transition to quantum-safe encryption presents a unique opportunity for transformation, allowing the integration of these capabilities to evolve business transactions and relationships in innovative ways.

Protect data assets in the post-quantum era

Organizations should prioritize supporting remediation efforts aimed at ensuring the quantum safety of existing data assets and services. The implementation of crypto-agility enables organizations to respond promptly to cryptographic vulnerabilities and adapt to future changes in cryptographic standards. This proactive approach is crucial, as the need for quantum-safe measures existed even before the complexities posed by QC emerged.

Preparation for the post-quantum world has been recommended by the US government and other national bodies since 2016.

In 2016, NIST, the National Security Agency (NSA), and Central Security Service stated in their Commercial National Security Algorithm Suite and QC FAQ: "NSA believes the time is now right [to start preparing for the post-quantum world] — consistent with advances in quantum computing."
Source: Cloud Security Alliance, 2021

Phase 1 – Prepare: Key tasks

Preparing for quantum-resistant cryptography goes beyond simply acquiring knowledge and conducting experiments in QC. It is vital for senior management to receive comprehensive guidance on the challenges, risks, and potential mitigations associated with the post-quantum landscape. Quantum and post-quantum education should be tailored to individuals based on their specific roles and the impact of post-quantum mitigations on their responsibilities. This customized approach ensures that individuals are equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills relevant to their respective roles.

Leadership Buy-In

  • Get senior management commitment to post-quantum project.
  • Determine the extent of exposed data, systems, and applications.
  • Identify near-term, achievable cryptographic maturity goals, creating defined projects to reduce risks and improve crypto-agility.

Roles and Responsibilities

  • The ownership should be clearly defined regarding the quantum-resistant cryptography program.
  • This should be a cross-functional team within which members represent various business units.

Awareness and Education

  • Senior management needs to understand the strategic threat to the organization and needs to adequately address the cybersecurity risk in a timely fashion.
  • Educate your workforce about the upcoming transition. All training and education should seek to achieve awareness of the following items with the appropriate stakeholders.

Info-Tech Insight

Embedding quantum resistance into systems during the process of modernization requires collaboration beyond the scope of a CISO alone. It is a strategic endeavor shaped by leaders throughout the organization, as well as external partners. This comprehensive approach involves the collective input and collaboration of stakeholders from various areas of expertise within and outside the organization.

Phase 2 – Discover: Establish a data protection inventory

During the discovery phase, it is crucial to locate and identify any critical data and devices that may require post-quantum protection. This step enables organizations to understand the algorithms in use and their specific locations. By conducting this thorough assessment, organizations gain valuable insights into their existing infrastructure and cryptographic systems, facilitating the implementation of appropriate post-quantum security measures.

Inventory Core Components

  1. Description of devices and/or data
  2. Location of all sensitive data and devices
  3. Criticality of the data
  4. How long the data or devices need to be protected
  5. Effective cryptography in use and cryptographic type
  6. Data protection systems currently in place
  7. Current key size and maximum key size
  8. Vendor support timeline
  9. Post-quantum protection readiness

Key Things to Consider

  • The accuracy and thoroughness of the discovery phase are critical factors that contribute to the success of a post-quantum project.
  • It is advisable to conduct this discovery phase comprehensively across all aspects, not solely limited to public-key algorithms.
  • Performing a data protection inventory can be a time-consuming and challenging phase of the project. Breaking it down into smaller subtasks can help facilitate the process.
  • Identifying all information can be particularly challenging since data is typically scattered throughout an organization. One approach to begin this identification process is by determining the inputs and outputs of data for each department and team within the organization.
  • To ensure accountability and effectiveness, it is recommended to assign a designated individual as the ultimate owner of the data protection inventory task. This person should have the necessary responsibilities and authority to successfully accomplish the task.

Phase 3 – Assess: The workflow

Quantum risk assessment entails evaluating the potential consequences of QC on existing security measures and devising strategies to mitigate these risks. This process involves analyzing the susceptibility of current systems to attacks by quantum computers and identifying robust security measures that can withstand QC threats.

Risk Assessment Workflow

This is an image of the Risk Assessment Workflow

By identifying the security gaps that will arise with the advent of QC, organizations can gain insight into the substantial vulnerabilities that core business operations will face when QC becomes a prevalent reality. This proactive understanding enables organizations to prepare and implement appropriate measures to address these vulnerabilities in a timely manner.

Phase 4 – Prioritize: Balance business value, security risks, and effort

Organizations need to prioritize the mitigation initiatives based on various factors such as business value, level of security risk, and the effort needed to implement the mitigation controls. In the diagram below, the size of the circle reflects the degree of effort. The bigger the size, the more effort is needed.

This is an image of a chart where the X axis represents Security Risk level, and the Y axis is Business Value.

QC Adopters Anticipated Annual Budgets

This is an image of a bar graph showing the Anticipated Annual Budgets for QC Adopters.
Source: Hyperion Research, 2022

Hyperion's survey found that the range of expected budget varies widely.

  • The most selected option, albeit by only 38% of respondents, was US$5 million to US$15 million.
  • About one-third of respondents foresaw annual budgets that exceeded US$15 million, and one-fifth expected budgets to exceed US$25 million.

Build your risk mitigation roadmap

2 hours

  1. Review the quantum-resistance initiatives generated in Phase 3 – Assessment.
  2. With input from all stakeholders, prioritize the initiatives based on business value, security risks, and effort using the 2x2 grid.
  3. Review the position of all initiatives and adjust accordingly considering other factors such as dependency, etc.
  4. Place prioritized initiatives to a wave chart.
  5. Assign ownership and target timeline for each initiative.

This is an image the Security Risk Vs. Business value graph, above an image showing Initiatives Numbered 1-7, divided into Wave 1; Wave 2; and Wave 3.

Input

  • Data protection inventory created in phase 2
  • Risk assessment produced in phase 3
  • Business unit leaders' and champions' understanding (high-level) of challenges posed by QC

Output

  • Prioritization of quantum-resistance initiatives

Materials

  • Whiteboard/flip charts
  • Sticky notes
  • Pen/whiteboard markers

Participants

  • Quantum-resistance program owner
  • Senior leadership team
  • Business unit heads
  • Chief security officer
  • Chief privacy officer
  • Chief information officer
  • Representatives from legal, risk, and governance

Phase 5 – Mitigate: Implement quantum-resistant encryption solutions

To safeguard against cybersecurity risks and threats posed by powerful quantum computers, organizations need to adopt a robust defense-in-depth approach. This entails implementing a combination of well-defined policies, effective technical defenses, and comprehensive education initiatives. Organizations may need to consider implementing new cryptographic algorithms or upgrading existing protocols to incorporate post-quantum encryption methods. The selection and deployment of these measures should be cost-justified and tailored to meet the specific needs and risk profiles of each organization.

Governance

Implement solid governance mechanisms to promote visibility and to help ensure consistency

  • Update policies and documents
  • Update existing acceptable cryptography standards
  • Update security and privacy audit programs

Industry Standards

  • Stay up to date with newly approved standards
  • Leverage industry standards (i.e. NIST's post-quantum cryptography) and test the new quantum-safe cryptographic algorithms

Technical Mitigations

Each type of quantum threat can be mitigated using one or more known defenses.

  • Physical isolation
  • Replacing quantum-susceptible cryptography with quantum-resistant cryptography
  • Using QKD
  • Using quantum random number generators
  • Increasing symmetric key sizes
  • Using hybrid solutions
  • Using quantum-enabled defenses

Vendor Management

  • Work with key vendors on a common approach to quantum-safe governance
  • Assess vendors for possible inclusion in your organization's roadmap
  • Create acquisition policies regarding quantum-safe cryptography

Research Contributors and Experts

This is a picture of Adib Ghubril

Adib Ghubril
Executive Advisor, Executive Services
Info-Tech Research Group

This is a picture of Erik Avakian

Erik Avakian
Technical Counselor
Info-Tech Research Group

This is a picture of Alaisdar Graham

Alaisdar Graham
Executive Counselor
Info-Tech Research Group

This is a picture of Carlos Rivera

Carlos Rivera
Principal Research Advisor
Info-Tech Research Group

This is a picture of Hendra Hendrawan

Hendra Hendrawan
Technical Counselor
Info-Tech Research Group

This is a picture of Fritz Jean-Louis

Fritz Jean-Louis
Principal Cybersecurity Advisor
Info-Tech Research Group

Bibliography

117th Congress (2021-2022). H.R.7535 - Quantum Computing Cybersecurity Preparedness Act. congress.gov, 21 Dec 2022.
Arute, Frank, et al. Quantum supremacy using a programmable superconducting processor. Nature, 23 Oct 2019.
Bernhardt, Chris. Quantum Computing for Everyone. The MIT Press, 2019.
Bob Sorensen. Quantum Computing Early Adopters: Strong Prospects For Future QC Use Case Impact. Hyperion Research, Nov 2022.
Candelon, François, et al. The U.S., China, and Europe are ramping up a quantum computing arms race. Here's what they'll need to do to win. Fortune, 2 Sept 2022.
Curioni, Alessandro. How quantum-safe cryptography will ensure a secure computing future. World Economic Forum, 6 July 2022.
Davis, Mel. Toxic Substance Exposure Requires Record Retention for 30 Years. Alert presented by CalChamber, 18 Feb 2022.
Eddins, Andrew, et al. Doubling the size of quantum simulators by entanglement forging. arXiv, 22 April 2021.
Gambetta, Jay. Expanding the IBM Quantum roadmap to anticipate the future of quantum-centric supercomputing. IBM Research Blog, 10 May 2022.
Golden, Deborah, et al. Solutions for navigating uncertainty and achieving resilience in the quantum era. Deloitte, 2023.
Grimes, Roger, et al. Practical Preparations for the Post-Quantum World. Cloud Security Alliance, 19 Oct 2021.
Harishankar, Ray, et al. Security in the quantum computing era. IBM Institute for Business Value, 2023.
Hayat, Zia. Digital trust: How to unleash the trillion-dollar opportunity for our global economy. World Economic Forum, 17 Aug 2022.
Mateen, Abdul. What is post-quantum cryptography? Educative, 2023.
Moody, Dustin. Let's Get Ready to Rumble—The NIST PQC 'Competition.' NIST, 11 Oct 2022.
Mosca, Michele, Dr. and Dr. Marco Piani. 2021 Quantum Threat Timeline Report. Global Risk Institute, 24 Jan 2022.
Muppidi, Sridhar and Walid Rjaibi. Transitioning to Quantum-Safe Encryption. Security Intelligence, 8 Dec 2022.
Payraudeau, Jean-Stéphane, et al. Digital acceleration: Top technologies driving growth in a time of crisis. IBM Institute for Business Value, Nov 2020.
Quantum-Readiness Working Group (QRWG). Canadian National Quantum-Readiness- Best Practices and Guidelines. Canadian Forum for Digital Infrastructure Resilience (CFDIR), 17 June 2022.
Rotman, David. We're not prepared for the end of Moore's Law. MIT Technology Review, 24 Feb 2020.
Saidi, Susan. Calculating a computing revolution. Roland Berger, 2018.
Shorter., Ted. Why Companies Must Act Now To Prepare For Post-Quantum Cryptography. Forbes.com, 11 Feb 2022.
Sieger, Lucy, et al. The Quantum Decade, Third edition. IBM, 2022.
Sorensen, Bob. Broad Interest in Quantum Computing as a Driver of Commercial Success. Hyperion Research, 17 Nov 2021.
Wise, Jason. How Much Data is Created Every Day in 2022? Earthweb, 22 Sept 2022.
Wright, Lawrence. The Plague Year. The New Yorker, 28 Dec 2020.
Yan, Bao, et al. Factoring integers with sublinear resources on a superconducting quantum processor. arXiv, 23 Dec 2022.
Zhong, Han-Sen, et al. Quantum computational advantage using photons. science.org, 3 Dec 2020.

Define Requirements for Outsourcing the Service Desk

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  • Parent Category Name: Service Desk
  • Parent Category Link: /service-desk
  • In organizations where technical support is viewed as non-strategic, many see outsourcing as a cost-effective way to provide this support. However, outsourced projects often fall short of their goals in terms of cost savings and the quality of support. 
  • Significant administrative work and up-front costs are required to outsource the service desk, and poor planning often results in project failure and a decrease of end-user satisfaction.
  • A complete turnover of the service desk can result in lost knowledge and control over processes, and organizations without an exit strategy can struggle to bring their service desk back in house and return the confidence of end users.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

  • Outsourcing is easy. Realizing the expected cost, quality, and focus benefits is hard. Successful outsourcing without being directly involved in service desk management is almost impossible.
  • You don’t need to standardize before you outsource, but you still need to conduct your due diligence. If you outsource without thinking about how you want the future to work, you will likely be unsatisfied with the result.
  • If cost is your only driver for outsourcing, understand that it comes at a cost. Customer service quality will likely be less, and your outsourcer may not add on frills such as Continual Improvement. Be careful that your specialists don’t end up spending more time working on incidents and service requests.

Impact and Result

  • First decide if outsourcing is the correct step; there may be more preliminary work to do beforehand.
  • Assess requirements and make necessary adjustments before developing an outsource RFP.
  • Clearly define the project and produce an RFP to provide to vendors.
  • Plan for long-term success, not short-term gain.
  • Prepare to retain some of the higher-level service desk work.

Define Requirements for Outsourcing the Service Desk Research & Tools

Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

1. Define Requirements for Outsourcing the Service Desk Deck – A step-by-step document to walk you through building a strategy for efficient service desk outsourcing.

This storyboard will help you craft a project charter, create an RFP, and outline strategies to build a long-term relationship with the vendor.

  • Define Requirements for Outsourcing the Service Desk – Storyboard
  • Service Desk Outsourcing Requirements Database Library

2. Service Desk Outsourcing Project Charter Template and Requirements Library – Best-of-breed templates to help you determine processes and build a strategy to outsource them.

These templates will help you determine your service desk requirements and document your proposed service desk outsourcing strategy.

  • Service Desk Outsourcing Project Charter Template

3. Service Desk Outsourcing RFP Template – A structured document to help you outline expectations and communicate requirements to managed service providers.

This template will allow you to create a detailed RFP for your outsourcing agreement, document the statement of work, provide service overview, record exit conditions, and document licensing model and estimated pricing.

  • Service Desk Outsourcing RFP Template

4. Service Desk Outsourcing Reference Interview Template and Scoring Tool – Materials to help you conduct efficient briefings and select the best vendor to fulfill your service desk requirements.

Use the Reference Interview Template to outline a list of questions for interviewing current/previous customers of your candidate vendors. These interviews will help you with unbiased vendor scoring. The RFP Vendor Scoring Tool will help you facilitate vendor briefings with your list of questions and score candidate vendors efficiently through quantifying evaluations.

  • Service Desk Outsourcing Reference Interview Template
  • Service Desk Outsourcing RFP Scoring Tool

Infographic

Further reading

Define Requirements for Outsourcing the Service Desk

Prepare your RFP for long-term success, not short-term gains

Define Requirements for Outsourcing the Service Desk

Prepare your RFP for long-term success, not short-term gains

EXECUTIVE BRIEF

Analyst Perspective

Outsource services with your eyes wide open.

Cost reduction has traditionally been an incentive for outsourcing the service desk. This is especially the case for organizations that don't have minimal processes in place and those that need resources and skills to fill gaps.

Although cost reduction is usually the main reason to outsource the service desk, in most cases service desk outsourcing increases the cost in a short run. But without a proper model, you will only outsource your problems rather than solving them. A successful outsourcing strategy follows a comprehensive plan that defines objectives, assigns accountabilities, and sets expectations for service delivery prior to vendor outreach.

For outsourcing the service desk, you should plan ahead, work as a group, define requirements, prepare a strong RFP, and contemplate tension metrics to ensure continual improvement. As you build a project charter to outline your strategy for outsourcing your IT services, ensure you focus on better customer service instead of cost optimization. Ensure that the outsourcer can support your demands, considering your long-term achievement.

Think about outsourcing like a marriage deed. Take into account building a good relationship before beginning the contract, ensure to include expectations in the agreement, and make it possible to exit the agreement if expectations are not satisfied or service improvement is not achieved.

This is a picture of Mahmoud Ramin, PhD, Senior Research Analyst, Infrastructure and Operations, Info-Tech Research Group

Mahmoud Ramin, PhD
Senior Research Analyst
Infrastructure and Operations
Info-Tech Research Group

Executive Summary

Your Challenge

In organizations where technical support is viewed as non-strategic, many see outsourcing as a cost-effective way to provide this support. However, outsourcing projects often fall short of their goals in terms of cost savings and quality of support.

Common Obstacles

Significant administrative work and up-front costs are required to outsource the service desk, and poor planning often results in project failure and the decrease of end-user satisfaction.

A complete turnover of the service desk can result in lost knowledge and control over processes, and organizations without an exit strategy can struggle to bring their service desk back in house and reestablish the confidence of end users.

Info-Tech's Approach

  • First decide if outsourcing is the correct step; there may be more preliminary work to do beforehand.
  • Assess requirements and make necessary adjustments before developing an outsource RFP.
  • Clearly define the project and produce an RFP to provide to vendors.
  • Plan for long-term success, not short-term gains.
  • Prepare to retain some of the higher-level service desk work.

Info-Tech Insight

Outsourcing is easy. Realizing all of the expected cost, quality, and focus benefits is hard. Successful outsourcing without being directly involved in service desk management is almost impossible.

Your challenge

This research is designed to help organizations that need to:

  • Outsource the service desk or portions of service management to improve service delivery.
  • Improve and repatriate existing outsourcing outcomes by becoming more engaged in the management of the function. Regular reviews of performance metrics, staffing, escalation, knowledge base content, and customer satisfaction are critical.
  • Understand the impact that outsourcing would have on the service desk.
  • Understand the potential benefits that outsourcing can bring to the organization.

This image contains a donut chart with the following information: Salaries and Benefits - 68.50%; Technology - 9.30%; Office Space and Facilities Expense - 14.90%; Travel, Training, and Office Supplies - 7.30%

Source: HDI 2017

About 68.5% of the service desk fund is allocated to agent salaries, while only 9.3% of the service desk fund is spent on technology. The high ratio of salaries and expenses over other expense drives organizations to outsource their service desk without taking other considerations into account.

Info-Tech Insight

The outsourcing contract must preserve your control, possession, and ownership of the intellectual property involved in the service desk operation. From the beginning of the process, repatriation should be viewed as a possibility and preserved as a capability.

Your challenge

This research helps organizations who would like to achieve these goals:

  • Determine objectives and requirements to outsource the service desk.
  • Develop a project charter and build an outsourcing strategy to efficiently define processes to reduce risk of failure.
  • Build an outsourcing RFP and conduct interviews to identify the best candidate for service delivery.
  • Build a long-term relationship with an outsourcing vendor, making sure the vendor is able to satisfy all requirements.
  • Include a continual improvement plan in the outsourcing strategy and contain the option upon service delivery dissatisfaction.

New hires require between 10 and 80 hours of training (Forward Bpo Inc., 2019).

A benchmark study by Zendesk from 45,000 companies reveals that timely resolution of issues and 24/7 service are the biggest factors in customer service experience.

This image contains a bar graph with the following data: Timely issue resolution; 24/7 support; Friendly agent; Desired contact method; Not to repeat info; Proactive support; Self-serve; Call back; Rewards & freebies

These factors push many businesses to consider service desk outsourcing to vendors that have capabilities to fulfill such requirements.

Common obstacles

These barriers make this challenge difficult to address for many organizations:

  • In most cases, organizations must perform significant administrative work before they can make a move. Those that fail to properly prepare impede a smooth transition, the success of the vendor, and the ability to repatriate.
  • Successful outsourcing comes from the recognition that an organization is experiencing complete turnover of its service desk staff. These organizations engage the vendor to transition knowledge and process to ensure continuity of quality.
  • IT realizes the most profound hidden costs of outsourcing when the rate of ticket escalation increases, diminishing the capacity of senior technical staff for strategic project work.

Many organizations may not get the value they expect from outsourcing in their first year.

Common Reasons:

  • Overall lack of due diligence in the outsourcing process
  • Unsuitable or unclear service transition plan
  • Poor service provider selection and management

Poor transition planning results in delayed benefits and a poor relationship with your outsourcing service provider. A poor relationship with your service provider results in poor communication and knowledge transfer.

Key components of a successful plan:

  1. Determine goals and identify requirements before developing an RFP.
  2. Finalize your outsourcing project charter and get ready for vendor evaluation.
  3. Assess and select the most appropriate provider; manage the transition and vendor relationship.

Outsource the service desk properly, and you could see a wide range of benefits

Service Desk Outsourcing: Ability to scale up/down; Reduce fixed costs; Refocus IT efforts on core activities; Access to up-to-date technology; Adhere to  ITSM best practices; Increased process optimization; Focus IT efforts on advanced expertise; Reframe to shift-left;

Info-Tech Insight

In your service desk outsourcing strategy, rethink downsizing first-level IT service staff. This can be an opportunity to reassign resources to more valuable roles, such as asset management, development or project backlog. Your current service desk staff are most likely familiar with the current technology, processes, and regulations within IT. Consider the ways to better use your existing resources before reducing headcount.

Info-Tech's Approach

Determine Goals

Conduct activities in the blueprint to pinpoint your current challenges with the service desk and find out objectives to outsource customer service.

Define Requirements

You need to be clear about the processes that will be outsourced. Considering your objectives, we'll help you discover the processes to outsource, to help you achieve your goals.

Develop RFP

Your expectations should be documented in a formal proposal to help vendors provide solid information about how they will satisfy your requirements and what their plan is.

Build Long-Term Relationship

Make sure to plan for continual improvement by setting expectations, tracking the services with proper metrics, and using efficient communication with the provider. Think about the rainy day and include exit conditions for ending the relationship if needed.

Info-Tech's methodology

1. Define the Goal

2. Design an Outsourcing Strategy

3. Develop an RFP and Make a Long-Term Relationship

Phase Steps

1.1 Identify goals and objectives

1.2 Assess outsourcing feasibility

2.1 Identify project stakeholders

2.2 Outline potential risks and constraints

3.1 Prepare service overview and responsibility matrix

3.2 Define approach to vendor relationship management

3.3 Manage the outsource relationship

Phase Outcomes

Service Desk Outsourcing Vision and Goals

Service Desk Processes to Outsource

Outsourcing Roles and Responsibilities

Outsourcing Risks and Constraints

Service Desk Outsourcing Project Charter

Service Desk Outsourcing RFP

Continual Improvement Plan

Exit Strategy

This is an image of the strategy which you will use to build your requirements for outsourcing the service desk.  it includes: 1. Define the Goal; 2. Design an Outsourcing Strategy; 3. Develop RFP and long-term relationship.

Insight summary

Focus on value

Outsourcing is easy. Realizing all of the expected cost, quality, and focus benefits is hard. Successful outsourcing without being directly involved in service desk management is almost impossible.

Define outsourcing requirements

You don't need to standardize before you outsource, but you still need to conduct your due diligence. If you outsource without thinking about how you want the future to work, you will likely be unsatisfied with the result.

Don't focus on cost

If cost is your only driver for outsourcing, understand that there will be other challenges. Customer service quality will likely be less, and your outsourcer may not add on frills such as Continual Improvement. Be careful that your specialists don't end up spending more time working on incidents and service requests.

Emphasize on customer service

A bad outsourcer relationship will result in low business satisfaction with IT overall. The service desk is the face of IT, and if users are dissatisfied with the service desk, then they are much likelier to be dissatisfied with IT overall.

Vendors are not magicians

They have standards in place to help them succeed. Determine ITSM best practices, define your requirements, and adjust process workflows accordingly. Your staff and end users will have a much easier transition once outsourcing proceeds.

Plan ahead to guarantee success

Identify outsourcing goals, plan for service and system integrations, document standard incidents and requests, and track tension metrics to make sure the vendor does the work efficiently. Aim for building a long-term relationship but contemplate potential exit strategy.

Blueprint deliverables

Each step of this blueprint is accompanied by supporting deliverables to help you accomplish your goals:

This is a screenshot from the Service Desk Outsourcing Requirements Database Library

Service Desk Outsourcing Requirements Database Library

Use this library to guide you through processes to outsource

This is a screenshot from the Service Desk Outsourcing RFP Template

Service Desk Outsourcing RFP Template

Use this template to craft a proposal for outsourcing your service desk

This is a screenshot from the Service Desk Outsourcing Reference Interview Template

Service Desk Outsourcing Reference Interview Template

Use this template to verify vendor claims on service delivery with pervious or current customers

This is a screenshot from the Service Desk Outsourcing Vendor Proposal Scoring Tool

Service Desk Outsourcing Vendor Proposal Scoring Tool

Use this tool to evaluate RFP submissions

Key deliverable:

This is a screenshot from the key deliverable, Service Desk Outsourcing Project Charter

Service Desk Outsourcing Project Charter

Document your project scope and outsourcing strategy in this template to organize the project for efficient resource and requirement allocation

Blueprint benefits

IT Benefits

Business Benefits

  • Determine current challenges with the service desk and identify services to outsource.
  • Make the project charter for an efficient outsourcing strategy that will lead to higher satisfaction from IT.
  • Select the best outsource vendor that will satisfy most of the identified requirements.
  • Reduce the risk of project failure with efficient planning.
  • Understand potential feasibility of service desk outsourcing and its possible impact on business satisfaction.
  • Improve end-user satisfaction through a better service delivery.
  • Conduct more efficient resource allocation with outsourcing customer service.
  • Develop a long-term relationship between the enterprise and vendor through a continual improvement plan.

Info-Tech offers various levels of support to best suit your needs

DIY Toolkit

"Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful."

Guided Implementation

"Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track."

Workshop

"We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place."

Consulting

"Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project."

Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options

Guided Implementation

What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

Phase 1Phase 2Phase 3

Call #1: Scope your specific challenges and objectives

Call #3: Identify project stakeholders, and potential risks and constraints

Call #5: Create a detailed RFP

Call #6: Identify strategy risks.

Call #2: Assess outsourcing feasibility and processes to outsourceCall #4: Create a list of metrics to ensure efficient reporting

Call #7: Prepare for vendor briefing and scoring each vendor

Call #8: Build a communication plan

A Guided Implementation (GI) is series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization.

A typical GI is between 8 to 10 calls over the course of 4 to 6 months.

Phase 1

Define the goal

Define the goal

Design an outsourcing strategy

Develop an RFP and make a long-term relationship

1.1 Identify goals and objectives

1.2 Assess outsourcing feasibility

2.1 Identify project stakeholders

2.2 Outline potential risks and constraints

3.1 Prepare a service overview and responsibility matrix

3.2 Define your approach to vendor relationship management

3.3 Manage the outsource relationship

This phase will walk you through the following activities:

  • Analysis outsourcing objectives
  • Assess outsourcing feasibility
  • Identify services and processes to outsource

This phase involves the following participants:

  • Service Desk Team
  • IT Leadership

Define requirements for outsourcing service desk support

Step 1.1

Identify goals and objectives

Activities

1.1.1 Find out why you want to outsource your service desk

1.1.2 Document the benefits of outsourcing your service desk

1.1.3 Identify your outsourcing vision and goals

1.1.4 Prioritize service desk outsourcing goals to help structure your mission statement

1.1.5 Craft a mission statement that demonstrates your decision to reach your outsourcing objectives

Define the goal

This step requires the following inputs:

  • List of strengths and weaknesses of the service desk
  • Challenges with the service desk

This step involves the following participants:

  • CIO
  • IT Leadership
  • Service Desk Manager
  • IT Managers

Outcomes of this step

  • Service desk outsourcing vision and goals
  • Benefits of outsourcing the service desk
  • Mission statement

What is your rationale to outsource the service desk?

Potential benefits of outsourcing the service desk:

  • Bring in the expertise and knowledge to manage tickets according to best-practice guidelines
  • Reduce the timeline to response and resolution
  • Improve IT productivity
  • Enhance IT services and improve performance
  • Augment relationship between IT and business through service-level improvement
  • Free up the internal team and focus IT on complex projects and higher priority tasks
  • Speed up service desk optimization
  • Improve end-user satisfaction through efficient IT services
  • Reduce impact of incidents through effective incident management
  • Increase service consistency via turnover reduction
  • Expand coverage hour and access points
  • Expand languages to service different geographical areas

1.1.1 Find out why you want to outsource your service desk

1 hour

Service desk is the face of IT. Service desk improvement increases IT efficiency, lowers operation costs, and enhances business satisfaction.

Common challenges that result in deciding to outsource the service desk are:

Participants: IT Director, Service Desk Manager, Service Desk Team

ChallengeExample
Lack of tier 1 supportStartup does not have a dedicated service desk to handle incidents and provide services to end users.
Inefficient ticket handlingMTTR is very high and end users are frustrated with their issues not getting solved quickly. Even if they call service desk, they are put on hold for a long time. Due to these inefficiencies, their daily work is greatly impacted.
Restricted service hoursCompany headquartered in Texas does not have resources to provide 24/7 IT service. When users in the East Asia branch have a laptop issue, they must wait until the next day to get response from IT. This has diminished their satisfaction.
Restricted languagesCompany X is headquartered in New York. An end user not fluent in English from Madrid calls in for support. It takes five minutes for the agent to understand the issue and log a ticket.
Ticket backlogIT is in firefighting mode, very busy with taking care of critical incidents and requests from upper management. Almost no one is committed to the SLA because of their limited availability.

Brainstorm your challenges with the service desk. Why have you decided to outsource your service desk? Use the above table as a sample.

1.1.2 Document benefits of outsourcing your service desk

1 hour

  1. Review the challenges with your current service desk identified in activity 1.1.1.
  2. Discuss possible ways to tackle these challenges. Be specific and determine ways to resolve these issues if you were to do it internally.
  3. Determine potential benefits of outsourcing the service desk to IT, business, and end users.
  4. For each benefit, describe dependencies. For instance, to reduce the number of direct calls (benefit), users should have access to service desk as a single point of contact (dependency).
  5. Document this activity in the Service Desk Outsourcing Project Charter Template.

Download the Project Charter Template

Input

  • List of challenges with the current service desk from activity 1.1.1

Output

  • Benefits of outsourcing the service desk

Materials

  • Whiteboard/flip charts
  • Markers
  • Sticky notes
  • Laptops

Participants

  • IT Director/CIO
  • Service Desk Manager
  • Service Desk Team
  • IT Managers

Why should you not consider cost reduction as a primary incentive to outsourcing the service desk?

Assume that some of the costs will not go away with outsourcing

When you outsource, the vendor's staff tend to gradually become less effective as:

  • They are managed by metrics to reduce costs by escalating sooner, reducing talk time, and proposing questionable solutions.
  • Turnover results in new employees that get insufficient training.

You must actively manage the vendor to identify and resolve these issues. Many organizations find that service desk management takes more time after they outsource.

You need to keep spending on service desk management, and you may not get away from technology infrastructure spending.

Info-Tech Insight

In their first year, almost 42% of Info-Tech's clients do not get the real value of outsourcing services as expected. This iss primarily because of misalignment of organizational goals with outcomes of the outsourced services.

Consider the hidden costs of outsourcing

Expected Costs

Unexpected Costs

Example

Transition CostsSeverance and staff retention
  • Cost to adapt to vendor standards
  • Training cost of vendor staff
  • Lost productivity
  • Format for requirements
  • Training report developers to work with vendor systems
FeesPrice of the engagement
  • Extra fees for additional services
  • Extra charges for uploading data to cloud storage
  • Portal access
Management CostsTime directing account
  • Time directly managing vendor staff
  • Checking deliverables for errors
  • Disputing penalty amounts
Rework CostsDowntime, defect rate, etc. (quality metrics measured in SLAs)
  • Time spent adapting deliverables for unanticipated requirements
  • Time spent assuring the quality and usefulness of deliverables
  • Completing quality assurance and updating knowledgebase articles
  • Adapting reporting for presentation to stakeholders

Determine strategies to avoid each hidden cost

Costs related to transitioning into the engagementAdapting to standards and training costs

Adapting to standards: Define the process improvements you will need to work with each potential vendor.

Training costs for vendor staff: Reduce training costs by keeping the same vendor staff on all of your projects.

Fee-related costs

Fees for additional services (that you thought were included)

Carefully review each proposed statement of work to identify and reduce extra fees. Understand why extra fees occur in the SLA, the contract, and the proposed statement of work, and take steps to protect yourself and the vendor.

Management-related costs

Direct management of vendor staff and dispute resolution

Direct management of vendor staff: Avoid excessive management costs by defining a two-tier management structure on both sides of the engagement.

Time spent resolving disputes: Avoid prolonged resolution costs by defining terms of divorce for the engagement up front.

Rework costs

Unanticipated requirements and integration with existing systems

Unanticipated requirements: Use a two-stage process to define requirements, starting with business people and then with review by technical staff.

Integration with existing systems: Obtain a commitment from vendors that deliverables will conform to standards at points of integration with your systems.

Your outsourcing strategy should address the reasons you decided to outsource

A clear vision of strategic objectives prior to entering an outsourcing agreement will allow you to clearly communicate these objectives to the Managed Service Provider (MSP) and use them as a contracted basis for the relationship.

  • Define the business' overall approach to outsourcing along with the priorities, rules, and principles that will drive the outsourcing strategy and every subsequent outsourcing decision and activity.
  • Define specific business, service, and technical goals for the outsourcing project and relevant measures of success.

"People often don't have a clear direction around what they're trying to accomplish. The strategic goals should be documented. Is this a cost-savings exercise? Is it because you're deficient in one area? Is it because you don't have the tools or expertise to run the service desk yourself? Figure out what problem you're trying to solve by outsourcing, then build your strategy around that.
– Jeremy Gagne, Application Support Delivery Manager, Allegis Group

Most organizations are driven to consider outsourcing their service desk hoping to improve the following:

  • Ability to scale (train people and acquire skills)
  • Focus on core competencies
  • Decrease capital costs
  • Access latest technology without large investment
  • Resolve labor force constraints
  • Gain access to special expertise without paying a full salary
  • Save money overall

Info-Tech Insight

Use your goals and objectives as a management tool. Clearly outline your desired project outcomes to both your in-house team and the vendor during implementation and monitoring. It will allow a common ground to unite both parties as the project progresses.

Mitigate pitfalls that lay in the way of desired outcomes of outsourcing

Desired outcomePitfalls to overcome
IT can focus on core competencies and strategic initiatives rather than break-fix tasks.Escalation to second- and third-level support usually increases when the first level has been outsourced. Outsourcers will have less experience with your typical incidents and will give up on trying to solve some issues more quickly than your internal level-one staff.
Low outsourcing costs compared to the costs needed to employ internal employees in the same role. Due to lack of incentive to decrease ticket volume, costs are likely to increase. As a result, organizations often find themselves paying more overall for an outsourced service desk than if they had a few dedicated IT service desk employees in-house.
Improved employee morale as a result of being able to focus on more interesting tasks.Management often expects existing employee morale to increase as a result of shifting their focus to core and strategic tasks, but the fear of diminished job security often spreads to the remaining non-level-one employees.

1.1.3 Identify outsourcing vision and goals

Identify the goals and objectives of outsourcing to inform your strategy.

Participants: IT Director, Service Desk Manager, Service Desk Team

1-2 hours

  1. Meet with key business stakeholders and the service desk staff who were involved in the decision to outsource.
  2. As a group, review the results from activity 1.1.1 (challenges with current service desk operations) and identify the goals and objectives of the outsourcing initiative.
  3. Determine the key performance indicator (KPI) for each goal.
  4. Identify the impacted stakeholder/s for each goal.
  5. Discuss checkpoint schedule for each goal to make sure the list stays updated.

Use the sample table as a starting point:

  1. Document your table in the Service Desk Outsourcing Project Charter Template.
IDGoal DescriptionKPIImpacted StakeholdersCheckpoint Schedule
1Provide capacity to take calls outside of current service desk work hours
  • Decreased in time to response
  • Decreased time to resolve
  • IT Entire organization
  • Every month
2Take calls in different languages
  • Improved service delivery in different geographical regions
  • Improved end-user satisfaction
  • End users
  • Every month
3Provide field support at remote sites with no IT presence without having to fly out an employee
  • 40% faster incident resolution and request fulfillment
  • Entire organization
  • Every month
4Improve ease of management by vendor helping with managing and optimizing service desk tasks
  • Improved service management efficiency
  • Entire organization
  • Every 3 months

Download the Project Charter Template

Evaluate organizational demographics to assess outsourcing rationale

The size, complexity, and maturity of your organization are good indicators of service desk direction with regards to outsourcing.

Organization Size

  • As more devices, applications, systems, and users are added to the mix, vendor costs will increase but their ability to meet business needs will decrease.
  • Small organizations are often either rejected by vendors for being too small or locked into a contract that is overkill for their actual needs (and budget).

Complexity

  • Highly customized environments and organizations with specialized applications or stringent regulatory requirements are very difficult to outsource for a reasonable cost and acceptable quality.
  • In these cases, the vendor is required to train skilled support or ends up escalating more tickets back to second- and third-level support.

Requirements

  • Organizations looking to outsource must have defined outsourcing requirements before looking at vendors.
  • Without a requirement assessment, the vendor won't have guidelines to follow and you won't be able to measure their adherence.

Info-Tech Insight

Although less adherence to service desk best practices can be one of the main incentives to outsourcing the service desk, IT should have minimal processes in place to be able to set expectations with targeting vendors.

1.1.4 Prioritize service desk outsourcing goals to help structure mission statement

0.5-1 hour

The evaluation process for outsourcing the service desk should be done very carefully. Project leaders should make sure they won't panic internal resources and impact their performance through the transition period.

If the outsourcing process is rushed, it will result in poor evaluation, inefficient decision making, and project failure.

  1. Refer to results in activity 1.1.3. Discuss the service desk outsourcing goals once again.
  2. Brainstorm the most important objectives. Use sticky notes to prioritize the items from the most important to the least important.
  3. Edit the order accordingly.

Input

  • Project goals from activity 1.1.3

Output

  • Prioritized list of outsourcing goals

Materials

  • Whiteboard/flip charts
  • Markers
  • Sticky notes
  • Laptops

Participants

  • IT Director/CIO
  • Service Desk Manager
  • Service Desk Team
  • IT Managers

Download the Project Charter Template

1.1.5 Craft a mission statement that demonstrates your decision to reach outsourcing objectives

Participants: IT Director, Service Desk Manager

0.5-1 hour

The IT mission statement specifies the function's purpose or reason for being. The mission should guide each day's activities and decisions. The mission statement should use simple and concise terminology and speak loudly and clearly, generating enthusiasm for the organization.

Strong IT mission statements:

  • Articulate the IT function's purpose and reason for existence
  • Describe what the IT function does to achieve its vision
  • Define the customers of the IT function
  • Can be described as:
    • Compelling
    • Easy to grasp
    • Sharply focused
    • Inspirational
    • Memorable
    • Concise

Sample mission statements:

  • To help fulfill organizational goals, IT has decided to empower business stakeholders with outsourcing the service desk.
  • To support efficient IT service provision, better collaboration, and effective communication, [Company Name] has decided to outsource the service desk.
  • [Company Name] plans to outsource the service desk so it can identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies with current service desk processes and enable [Company Name] to innovate and support business growth.
  • Considering the goals and benefits determined in the previous activities, outline a mission statement.
  • Document your outsourcing mission statement in the "Project Overview" section of the Project Charter Template.

Download the Project Charter Template

Step 1.2

Assess outsourcing feasibility

Activities

1.2.1 Create a baseline of customer experience

1.2.2 Identify service desk processes to outsource

1.2.3 Design an outsourcing decision matrix for service desk processes and services

1.2.4 Discuss if you need to outsource only service desk or if additional services would benefit from outsourcing too

Define the goal

This step requires the following inputs:

  • List of service desk tasks and responsibilities

This step involves the following participants:

  • CIO
  • IT Leadership
  • Service Desk Manager
  • Infrastructure Manager

Outcomes of this step

  • End-user satisfaction with the service desk
  • List of processes and services to outsource

1.2.1 Create a baseline of customer experience

Solicit targeted department feedback on IT's core service capabilities, communications, and business enablement from end users. Use this feedback to assess end-user satisfaction with each service, broken down by department and seniority level.

  1. Complete an end-user satisfaction survey to define the current state of your IT services, including service desk (timeliness and effectiveness). With Info-Tech's end-user satisfaction program, an analyst will help you set up the diagnostic and will go through the report with you.
  2. Evaluate survey results.
  3. Communicate survey results with team leads and discuss the satisfaction rates and comments of the end users.
  4. Schedule to launch another survey one year after outsourcing the service desk.
  5. Your results will be compared to the following year's results to analyze the overall success/failure of your outsourcing project.

A decrease of business and end-user satisfaction is a big drive to outsourcing the service desk. Conduct a customer service survey to discover your end-user experience prior to and after outsourcing the service desk.

Don't get caught believing common misconceptions: outsourcing doesn't mean sending away all the work

First-time outsourcers often assume they are transferring most of the operations over to the vendor, but this is often not the case.

  1. Management of performance, SLAs, and customer satisfaction remain the responsibility of your organization.
  2. Service desk outsource vendors provide first-line response. This includes answering the phones, troubleshooting simple problems, and redirecting requests that are more complex.
  3. The vendor is often able to provide specialized support for standard applications (and for customized applications if you'll pay for it). However, the desktop support still needs someone onsite, and that service is very expensive to outsource.
  4. Tickets that are focused on custom applications and require specialized or advanced support are escalated back to your organization's second- and third-level support teams.

Switching to a vendor won't necessarily improve your service desk maturity

You should have minimal requirements before moving.

Whether managing in-house or outsourcing, it is your job to ensure core issues have been clarified, processes defined, and standards maintained. If your processes are ad-hoc or non-existent right now, outsourcing won't fix them.

You must have the following in place before looking to outsource:

  • Defined reporting needs and plans
  • Formalized skill-set requirements
  • Problem management and escalation guidelines
  • Ticket templates and classification rules
  • Workflow details
  • Knowledge base standards

Info-Tech Insight

If you expect your problems to disappear with outsourcing, they might just get worse.

Define long-term requirements

Anticipate growth throughout the lifecycle of your outsourcing contract and build that into the RFP

  • Most outsourcing agreements typically last three to five years. In that time, you risk outgrowing your service provider by neglecting to define your long-term service desk requirements.
  • Outgrowing your vendor before your contract ends can be expensive due to high switching costs. Managing multiple vendors can also be problematic.
  • It is crucial to define your service desk requirements before developing a request for proposal to make sure the service you select can meet your organization's needs.
  • Make sure that the business is involved in this planning stage, as the goals of IT need to scale with the growth strategy of the business. You may select a vendor with no additional capacity despite the fact that your organization has a major expansion planned to begin two years from now. Assessing future requirements also allows you to culture match with the vendor. If your outlooks and practices are similar, the match will likely click.

Info-Tech Insight

Don't select a vendor for what your company is today – select a vendor for what your company will be years from now. Define your future service desk requirements in addition to your current requirements and leave room for growth and development.

You can't outsource everything

Manage the things that stay in-house well or suffer the consequences.

"You can't outsource management; you can only outsource supervision." Barry Cousins, Practice Lead, Info-Tech Research Group

What can be the vendor in charge of?

What stays in-house?

  • Call and email answering
  • Ongoing daily ticket creation and tracking
  • Tier 1 support
  • Internal escalation to Level 2 support
  • External escalation to specialized Level 2 and Level 3 support
  • Knowledge base article creation
  • Service desk-related hardware acquisition and maintenance
  • Service desk software acquisition and maintenance
  • Security and access management
  • Disaster recovery
  • Staff acquisition
  • Facilities
  • The role of the Service Desk Manager
  • Skills and training standards
  • Document standardization
  • Knowledge base quality assurance and documentation standardization
  • Self-service maintenance, promotion, and ownership
  • Short and long-term tracking of vendor performance

Info-Tech Insight

The need for a Service Desk Manager does not go away when you outsource. In fact, the need becomes even stronger and never diminishes.

Assess current service desk processes before outsourcing

Process standards with areas such as documentation, workflow, and ticket escalation should be in place before the decision to outsource has been made.

Every effective service desk has a clear definition of the services that they are performing for the end user. You can't provide a service without knowing what the services are.

MSPs typically have their own set of standards and processes in play. If your service desk is not at a similar level of maturity, outsourcing will not be pleasant.

Make sure that your metrics are reported consistently and that they tell a story.

"Establish baseline before outsourcing. Those organizations that don't have enough service desk maturity before outsourcing should work with the outsourcer to establish the baseline."
– Yev Khobrenkov, Enterprise Consultant, Solvera Solutions

Info-Tech Insight

Outsourcing vendors are not service desk builders; they're service desk refiners. Switching to a vendor won't improve your maturity; you must have a certain degree of process maturity and standardization before moving.

Case Study

INDUSTRY: Cleaning Supplies

SOURCE: PicNet

Challenge

  • Reckitt Benckiser of Australia determined that its core service desk needed to be outsourced.
  • It would retain its higher level service desk staff to work on strategic projects.
  • The MSP needed to fulfill key requirements outlined by Reckitt Benckiser.

Solution

  • Reckitt Benckiser recognized that its rapidly evolving IT needs required a service desk that could fulfill the following tasks:
  • Free up internal IT staff.
  • Provide in-depth understanding of business apps.
  • Offer efficient, cost-effective support onsite.
  • Focus on continual service improvement (CSI).

Results

  • An RFP was developed to support the outsourcing strategy.
  • With the project structure outlined and the requirements of the vendor for the business identified, Reckitt Benckiser could now focus on selecting a vendor that met its needs.

1.2.1 Identify service desk processes to outsource

2-3 hours

Review your prioritized project goals from activity 1.1.4.

Brainstorm requirements and use cases for each goal and describe each use case. For example: To improve service desk timeliness, IT should improve incident management, to resolve incidents according to the defined SLA and based on ticket priority levels.

Discuss if you're outsourcing just incident management or both incident management and request fulfillment. If both, determine what level of service requests will be outsourced? Will you ask the vendor to provide a service catalog? Will you outsource self-serve and automation?

Document your findings in the service desk outsourcing requirements database library.

Input

  • Outsourcing project goals from activity 1.1.4

Output

  • List of processes to outsource

Materials

  • Sticky notes
  • Markers
  • Whiteboard/flip charts
  • Laptops

Participants

  • IT Director/CIO
  • Service Desk Manager
  • Service Desk Team

Download the Requirements Database Library

1.2.2 Design an outsourcing decision matrix for service desk processes and services

Participants: IT Director, Service Desk Manager, Infrastructure manager

2-3 hours

Most successful service desk outsourcing engagements have a primary goal of freeing up their internal resources to work on complex tasks and projects. The key outsourcing success factor is to find out internal services and processes that are standardized or should be standardized, and then determine if they can be outsourced.

  1. Review the list of identified service desk processes from activity 1.2.1.
  2. Discuss the maturity level of each process (low, medium, high) and document under the maturity column of the Outsource the Service Desk Requirements Database Library.
  3. Use the following decision matrix for each process. Discuss which tasks are important to strategic objectives, which ones provide competitive advantage, and which ones require specialized in-house knowledge.
  4. Identify processes that receive high vendor's performance advantage. For instance, access to talent, lower cost at scale, and access to technology.
  5. In your outsourcing assessment, consider a narrow scope of engagement and a broad view of what is important to business outcome.
  6. Based on your findings, determine the priority of each process to be outsourced. Document results in the service desk outsourcing requirements database library, and section 4.1 of the service desk outsourcing project charter.
  • Important to strategic objectives
  • Provides competitive advantage
  • Specialized in-house knowledge required

This is an image of a quadrant analysis, where the X axis is labeled Vendor's Performance Advantage, and the Y axis is labeled Importance to Business Outcomes.

  • Talent/access to skills
  • Economies of scale/lower cost at scale
  • Access to technology

Download the Requirements Database Library

Download the Project Charter Template

Maintain staff and training: you need to know who is being hired, how, and why

Define documentation rules to retain knowledge

  • Establish a standard knowledge article template and list of required information.
  • Train staff on the requirements of knowledge base creation and management. Help them understand the value of the time spent recording their work.
  • It is your responsibility to assure the quality of each knowledge article. Outline accountabilities for internal staff and track for performance evaluations.

For information on better knowledge management, refer to Info-Tech's blueprint Optimize the Service Desk With a Shift-Left Strategy.

Expect to manage stringent skills and training standards

  • Plan on being more formal about a Service Manager position and spending more time than you allocated previously.
  • Complete a thorough assessment of the skills you need to keep the service desk running smoothly.
  • Don't forget to account for any customized or proprietary systems. How will you train vendor staff to accommodate your needs? What does their turnaround look like: would it be more likely that you acquire a dependable employee in-house?
  • Staffing requirements need to be actively monitored to ensure the outsourcer doesn't have degradation of quality or hiring standards. Don't assume that things run well – complete regular checks and ask for access to audit results.
  • Are the systems and data being accessed by the vendor highly sensitive or subject to regulatory requirements? If so, it is your job to ensure that vendor staff are being screened appropriately.

Does your service desk need to integrate to other IT services?

A common challenge when outsourcing multiple services to more than one vendor is a lack of collaboration and communication between vendors.

  • Leverage SIAM capabilities to integrate service desk tasks to other IT services, if needed.
  • "Service Integration and Management (SIAM) is a management methodology that can be applied in an environment that includes services sourced from a number of service providers" (Scopism Limited, 2020).
  • SIAM supports cross-functional integrations. Organizations that look for a single provider will be less likely to get maximum benefits from SIAM.

There are three layers of entities in SIAM:

  • Customer Organization: The customer who receives services, who defines the relationship with service providers.
  • Service Integrator: End-to-end service governance and integration is done at this layer, making sure all service providers are committed to their services.
  • Service Provider: Responsible party for service delivery according to contract. It can be combination of internal provider, managed by internal agreements, and external provider, managed by SLAs between providers and customer organization.

Use SIAM to obtain better results from multiple service providers

In the SIAM model, the customer organization keeps strategic, governance, and business activities, while integrating other services (either internally or externally).

This is an image of the SIAM model

SIAM Layers. Source: SIAM Foundation BoK

Utilize SIAM to obtain better results from multiple service providers

SIAM reduces service duplication and improves service delivery via managing internal and external service providers.

To utilize the SIAM model, determine the following components:

  • Service providers
  • Service consumers
  • Service outcomes
  • Service obstacles and boundaries
  • Service dependencies
  • Technical requirements and interactions for each service
  • Service data and information including service levels

To learn more about adopting SIAM, visit Scopism.

1.2.3 Discuss if you need to outsource only service desk or if additional services would benefit from outsourcing too

1-2 hours

  • Discuss principles and goals of SIAM and how integrating other services can apply within your processes.
  • Review the list of service desk processes and tasks to be outsourced from activities 1.2.1 and 1.2.2.
  • Brainstorm a list of other services that are outsourced/need to be outsourced.
  • Determine providers of each service (both internal and external). Document the other services to be integrated in the project charter template and requirements database library.

Input

  • SIAM objectives
  • List of service desk processes to outsource

Output

  • List of other services to outsource and integrate in the project

Materials

  • Sticky notes
  • Markers
  • Whiteboard/flip charts
  • Laptops

Participants

  • IT Director/CIO
  • Service Desk Manager
  • Service Desk Team

Download the Requirements Database Library

Download the Project Charter Template

Establish requirements for problem management in the outsourcing plan

Your MSP should not just fulfill SLAs – they should be a proactive source of value.

Problem management is a group effort. Make sure your internal team is assisted with sufficient and efficient data by the outsourcer to conduct a better problem management.

Clearly state your organization's expectations for enabling problem management. MSPs may not necessarily need, and cannot do, problem management; however, they should provide metrics to help you discover trends, define recurring issues, and enable root cause analysis.

For more information on problem management, refer to Info-Tech's blueprint Improve Incident and Problem Management.

PROBLEM MANAGEMENT

INCIDENT MANAGEMENT

INTAKE: Ticket data from incident management is needed for incident matching to identify problems. Critical Incidents are also a main input to problem management.

EVENT MANAGEMENT

INTAKE: SMEs and operations teams monitoring system health events can identify indicators of potential future issues before they become incidents.

APPLICATION, INFRASTRUCTURE, and SECURITY TEAMS

ACTION: Problem tickets require investigation from relevant SMEs across different IT teams to identify potential solutions or workarounds.

CHANGE MANAGEMENT

OUTPUT: Problem resolution may need to go through Change Management for proper authorization and risk management.

Outline problem management protocols to gain value from your service provider

  • For example, with a deep dive into ticket trend analysis, your MSP should be able to tell you that you've had a large number of tickets on a particular issue in the past month, allowing you to look into means to resolve the issue and prevent it from reoccurring.
  • A proactive MSP should be able to help your service levels improve over time. This should be built into the KPIs and metrics you ask for from the outsourcer.

Sample Scenario

Your MSP tracks ticket volume by platform.

There are 100 network tickets/month, 200 systems tickets/month, and 5,000 end-user tickets/month.

Tracking these numbers is a good start, but the real value is in the analysis. Why are there 5,000 end-user tickets? What are the trends?

Your MSP should be providing a monthly root-cause analysis to help improve service quality.

Outcomes:

  1. Meeting basic SLAs tells a small part of the story. The MSP is performing well in a functional sense, but this doesn't shed any insight on what kind of knowledge or value is being added.
  2. The MSP should provide routine updates on ticket trends and other insights gained through data analysis.
  3. A commitment to continual improvement will provide your organization with value throughout the duration of the outsourcing agreement.

Phase 2

Design an Outsourcing Strategy

Define the goal

Design an outsourcing strategy

Develop an RFP and make a long-term relationship

1.1 Identify goals and objectives

1.2 Assess outsourcing feasibility

2.1 Identify project stakeholders

2.2 Outline potential risks and constraints

3.1 Prepare a service overview and responsibility matrix

3.2 Define your approach to vendor relationship management

3.3 Manage the outsource relationship

This phase will walk you through the following activities:

  • Identify roles and responsibilities
  • Determine potential risks of outsourcing the service desk
  • Build a list of metrics

This phase involves the following participants:

  • Service Desk Team
  • IT Leadership

Define requirements for outsourcing service desk support

Step 2.1

Identify project stakeholders

Activity

2.1.1 Identify internal outsourcing roles and responsibilities

Design an Outsourcing Strategy

This step requires the following inputs:

  • List of service desk roles
  • Service desk outsourcing goals

This step involves the following participants:

  • IT Managers
  • Project Team
  • Service Desk Manager

Outcome of this step

  • Outsourcing roles and responsibilities

Design an outsourcing strategy to capture the vision of your service desk

An outsourcing strategy is crucial to the proper accomplishment of an outsourcing project. By taking the time to think through your strategy beforehand, you will have a clear idea of your desired outcomes. This will make your RFP of higher quality and will result in a much easier negotiation process.

Most MSPs are prepared to offer a standard proposal to clients who do not know what they want. These are agreements that are doomed to fail. A clearly defined set of goals (discussed in Phase 1), risks, and KPIs and metrics (covered in this phase) makes the agreement more beneficial for both parties in the long run.

  1. Identify goals and objectives
  2. Determine mission statement
  3. Define roles and responsibilities
  4. Identify risks and constraints
  5. Define KPIs and metrics
  6. Complete outsourcing strategy

A successful outsourcing initiative depends on rigorous preparation

Outsourcing is a garbage in, garbage out initiative. You need to give your service provider the information they need to provide an effective product.

  • Data quality is critical to your outsourcing initiative's success.
  • Your vendor will be much better equipped to help you and to better price its services if it has a thorough understanding of your IT environment.
  • This means more than just building a catalog of your hardware and software. You will need to make available documented policies and processes so you and your vendor can understand where they fit in.
  • Failure to completely document your environment can lead to a much longer time to value as your provider will have to spend much more time (and thus much more money) getting their service up and running.

"You should fill the gap before outsourcing. You should make sure how to measure tickets, how to categorize, and what the cost of outsourcing will be. Then you'll be able to outsource the execution of the service. Start your own processes and then outsource their execution."
– Kris Krishan, Head of IT and business systems, Waymo

Case Study

Digital media company built an outsourcing strategy to improve customer satisfaction

INDUSTRY: Digital Media

SOURCE: Auxis

Challenge

A Canadian multi-business company with over 13,000 employees would like to maintain a growing volume of digital content with their endpoint management.

The client operated a tiered model service desk. Tier 1 was outsourced, and tier 2 tasks were done internally, for more complex tasks and projects.

As a result of poor planning and defining goals, the company had issues with:

  • Low-quality ticket handling
  • High volume of tickets escalated to tier 2, restraining them from working on complex tickets
  • High turn over and a challenge with talent retention
  • Insufficient documentation to train external tier 1 team
  • Long resolution time and low end-user satisfaction

Solution

The company structured a strategy for outsourcing service desk and defined their expectations and requirements.

They engaged with another outsourcer that would fulfill their requirements as planned.

With the help of the outsourcer's consulting team, the client was able to define the gaps in their existing processes and system to:

  • Implement a better ticketing system that could follow best-practices guidelines
  • Restructure the team so they would be able to handle processes efficiently

Results

The proactive planning led to:

  • Significant improvement in first call resolution (82%).
  • MTTR improvement freed tier 2 to focus on business strategic objectives and allowed them to work on higher-value activities.
  • With a better strategy around outsourcing planning, the company saved 20% of cost compared to the previous outsourcer.
  • As a result of this partnership, the company is providing a 24/7 structure in multiple languages, which is aligned with the company's growth.
  • Due to having a clear strategy built for the project, the client now has better visibility into metrics that support long-term continual improvement plans.

Define roles and responsibilities for the outsourcing transition to form the base of your outsourcing strategy

There is no "I" in outsource; make sure the whole team is involved

Outsourcing is a complete top-to-bottom process that involves multiple levels of engagement:

  • Management must make high-level decisions about staffing and negotiate contract details with the vendor.
  • Service desk employees must execute on the documentation and standardization of processes in an effort to increase maturity.
  • Roles and responsibilities need to be clearly defined to ensure that all aspects of the transition are completed on time.
  • Implement a full-scale effort that involves all relevant staff. The most common mistake is to have the project design follow the same top-down pattern as the decision-making process.

Info-Tech Insight

The service desk doesn't operate in isolation. The service desk interfaces with many other parts of the organization (such as finance, purchasing, field support, etc.), so it's important to ensure you engage stakeholders from other departments as well. If you only engage the service desk staff in your discussions around outsourcing strategy and RFP development, you may miss requirements that will come up when it's too late.

2.1.1 Identify internal outsourcing roles and responsibilities

2 hours

  1. The sample RACI chart in section 5 of the Project Charter Template outlines which positions are responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed for each major task within the outsourcing project.
  2. Responsible, is the group that is responsible for the execution and oversight of activities for the project. Accountable is the owner of the task/process, who is accountable for the results and outcomes. Consulted is the subject matter expert (SME) who is actively involved in the task/process and consulted on decisions. Informed is not actively involved with the task/process and is updated about decisions around the task/process.
  3. Make sure that you assign only one person as accountable per process. There can be multiple people responsible for each task. Consulted and Informed are optional for each task.
  4. Complete the RACI chart with recommended participants, and document in your service desk outsourcing project charter, under section 5.

Input

  • RACI template
  • Org chart

Output

  • List of roles and responsibilities for outsource project

Materials

  • Whiteboard/flip charts
  • Markers
  • Laptops

Participants

  • IT Director/CIO
  • Service Desk Manager
  • Service Desk Team

Download the Project Charter Template

Step 2.2

Outline potential risks and constraints

Activities

2.2.1 Identify potential risks and constraints that may impact achievement of objectives

2.2.2 Arrange groups of tension metrics to balance your reporting

Design an Outsourcing Strategy

This step will walk you through the following activities:

  • Outsourcing objectives
  • Potential risks

This step involves the following participants:

  • IT Managers
  • Project Team
  • Service Desk Manager

Outcomes of this step

  • Mitigation strategy for each risk
  • Service desk metrics

Know your constraints to reduce surprises during project implementation

No service desk is perfect; know your limits and plan accordingly

Define your constraints to outsourcing the service desk.

Consider all types of constraints and opportunities, including:

  • Business forces
  • Economic cycles
  • Disruptive tech
  • Regulation and compliance issues
  • Internal organizational issues

Within the scope of a scouring decision, define your needs and objectives, measure those as much as possible, and compare them with the "as-is" situation.

Start determining what alternative approaches/scenarios the organization could use to fill the gaps. Start a comparison of scenarios against drivers, goals, and risks.

Constraints

Goals and objectives

  • Budget
  • Maturity
  • Compliance
  • Regulations
  • Outsourcing Strategy

Plan ahead for potential risks that may impede your strategy

Risk assessment must go hand-in-hand with goal and objective planning

Risk is inherent with any outsourcing project. Common outsourcing risks include:

  • Lack of commitment to the customer's goals from the vendor.
  • The distraction of managing the relationship with the vendor.
  • A perceived loss of control and a feeling of over-dependence on your vendor.
  • Managers may feel they have less influence on the development of strategy.
  • Retained staff may feel they have become less skilled in their specialist field.
  • Unanticipated expenses that were assumed to be offered by the vendor.
  • Savings only result from high capital investment in new projects on the part of the customer.

Analyze the risks associated with a specific scenario. This analysis should identify and understand the most common sourcing and vendor risks using a risk-reward analysis for selected scenarios. Use tools and guidelines to assess and manage vendor risk and tailor risk evaluation criteria to the types of vendors and products.

Info-Tech Insight

Plan for the worst to prevent it from happening. Evaluating risk should cover a wide variety of scenarios including the worst possible cases. This type of thinking will be crucial when developing your exit strategy in a later exercise.

2.2.1 Identify potential risks and constraints that may impact achievement of objectives

1-3 hours

  1. Brainstorm any potential risks that may arise through the outsourcing project. Describe each risk and categorize both its probability of occurring and impact on the organization as high (H), medium (M), or low (L), using the table below:
Risk Description

Probability(H/M/L)

Impact(H/M/L)Planned Mitigation
Lack of documentationMMUse cloud-based solution to share documents.
Knowledge transferLMDetailed knowledge-sharing agreement in place in the RFP.
Processes not followedLHClear outline and definition of current processes.
  1. Identify any constraints for your outsourcing strategy that may restrict, limit, or place certain conditions on the outsourcing project.
    • This may include budget restrictions or staffing limitations.
    • Identifying constraints will help you be prepared for risks and will lessen their impact.
  2. Document risks and constraints in section 6 of the Service Desk Outsourcing Project Charter Template.

Input

  • RACI template
  • Org chart

Output

  • List of roles and responsibilities for outsource project

Materials

  • Whiteboard/flip charts
  • Markers

Participants

  • IT Director/CIO
  • Service Desk Manager
  • Service Desk Team

Download the Project Charter Template

Define service tiers and roles to develop clear vendor SLAs

Management of performance, SLAs, and customer satisfaction remain the responsibility of your organization.

Define the tiers and/or services that will be the responsibility of the MSP, as well as escalations and workflows across tiers. A sample outsourced structure is displayed here:

External Vendor

Tickets beyond the scope of the service desk staff need to be escalated back to the vendor responsible for the affected system.

Tier 3

Tickets that are focused on custom applications and require specialized or advanced support are escalated back to your organization's second- and third-level support teams.

Tier 2

The vendor is often able to provide specialized support for standard applications. However, the desktop support still needs someone onsite as that service is very expensive to outsource.

Tier 1

Service desk outsource vendors provide first-line response. This includes answering the phones, troubleshooting simple problems, and redirecting requests that are more complex.

Info-Tech Insight

If you outsource everything, you'll be at the mercy of consultancy or professional services shops later on. You won't have anyone in-house to help you deploy anything; you're at the mercy of a consultant to come in and tell you what to do and how much to spend. Keep your highly skilled people in-house to offset what you'd have to pay for consultancy. If you need to repatriate your service desk later on, you will need skills in-house to do so.

Don't become obsessed with managing by short-term metrics – look at the big picture

"Good" metric results may simply indicate proficient reactive fixing; long-term thinking involves implementing proactive, balanced solutions.

KPIs demonstrate that you are running an effective service desk because:

  • You close an average of 300 tickets per week
  • Your first call resolution is above 90%
  • Your talk time is less than five minutes
  • Surveys reveal clients are satisfied

While these results may appear great on the surface, metrics don't tell the whole story.

The effort from any support team seeks to balance three elements:

FCR: Time; Resources; Quality

First-Contact Resolution (FCR) Rate

Percentage of tickets resolved during first contact with user (e.g. before they hang up or within an hour of submitting ticket). Could be measured as first-contact, first-tier, or first-day resolution.

End-User Satisfaction

Perceived value of the service desk measured by a robust annual satisfaction survey of end users and/or transactional satisfaction surveys sent with a percentage of tickets.

Ticket Volume and Cost Per Ticket

Monthly operating expenses divided by average ticket volume per month. Report ticket volume by department or ticket category, and look at trends for context.

Average Time to Resolve (incidents) or Fulfill (service requests)

Time elapsed from when a ticket is "open" to "resolved." Distinguish between ticket resolution vs. closure, and measure time for incidents and service requests separately.

Focus on tension metrics to achieve long-term success

Tension metrics help create a balance by preventing teams from focusing on a single element.

For example, an MSP built incentives around ticket volume for their staff, but not the quality of tickets. As a result, the MSP staff rushed through tickets and gamed the system while service quality suffered.

Use metrics to establish baselines and benchmarking data:

  • If you know when spikes in ticket volumes occur, you can prepare to resource more appropriately for these time periods
  • Create KB articles to tackle recurring issues and assist tier 1 technicians and end users.
    • Employ a root cause analysis to eliminate recurring tickets.

"We had an average talk time of 15 minutes per call and I wanted to ensure they could handle those calls in 15 minutes. But the behavior was opposite, [the vendor] would wrap up the call, transfer prematurely, or tell the client they'd call them back. Service levels drive behavior so make sure they are aligned with your strategic goals with no unintended consequences."
– IT Services Manager, Banking

Info-Tech Insight

Make sure your metrics work cooperatively. Metrics should be chosen that cause tension on one another. It's not enough to rely on a fast service desk that doesn't have a high end-user satisfaction rate or runs at too high a cost; there needs to be balance.

2.2.2 Arrange groups of tension metrics to balance your reporting

1-3 hours

  1. Define KPIs and metrics that will be critical to service desk success.
  2. Distribute sticky notes of different colors to participants around the table.
  3. Select a space to place the sticky notes – a table, whiteboard, flip chart, etc. – and divide it into three zones.
  4. Refer to your defined list of goals and KPIs from activity 1.1.3 and discuss metrics to fulfill each KPI. Note that each goal (critical success factor, CSF) may have more than one KPI. For instance:
    1. Goal 1: Increase end-user satisfaction; KPI 1: Improve average transactional survey score. KPI 2: Improve annual relationship survey score.
    2. Goal 2: Improve service delivery; KPI 1: Reduce time to resolve incidents. KPI 2: Reduce time to fulfill service requests.
  5. Recall that tension metrics must form a balance between:
    1. Time
    2. Resources
    3. Quality
  6. Record the results in section 7 of the Service Desk Outsourcing Project Charter Template.

Input

  • Service desk outsourcing goals
  • Service desk outsourcing KPIs

Output

  • List of service desk metrics

Materials

  • Whiteboard/flip charts
  • Sticky notes
  • Markers
  • Laptops

Participants

  • Project Team
  • Service Desk Manager

Download the Project Charter Template

Phase 3

Develop an RFP and make a long-term relationship

Define the goal

Design an outsourcing strategy

Develop an RFP and make a long-term relationship

1.1 Identify goals and objectives

1.2 Assess outsourcing feasibility

2.1 Identify project stakeholders

2.2 Outline potential risks and constraints

3.1 Prepare a service overview and responsibility matrix

3.2 Define your approach to vendor relationship management

3.3 Manage the outsource relationship

This phase will walk you through the following activities:

  • Build your outsourcing RFP
  • Set expectations with candidate vendors
  • Score and select your vendor
  • Manage your relationship with the vendor

This phase involves the following participants:

  • CIO
  • Service Desk Manager
  • IT Managers
  • Project Managers

Define requirements for outsourcing service desk support

Step 3.1

Prepare a service overview and responsibility matrix

Activities

3.1.1 Evaluate your technology, people, and process requirements

3.1.2 Outline which party will be responsible for which service desk processes

This step requires the following inputs:

  • Service desk processes and requirements

This step involves the following participants:

  • CIO
  • Service Desk Manager
  • IT Managers
  • Project Managers

Outcomes of this step

  • Knowledge management and technology requirements
  • Self-service requirements

Develop an RFP and make a long-term relationship

Create a detailed RFP to ensure your candidate vendor will fulfill all your requirements

At its core, your RFP should detail the outcomes of your outsourcing strategy and communicate your needs to the vendor.

The RFP must cover business needs and the more detailed service desk functions required. Many enterprises only consider the functionality they need, while ignoring operational and selection requirements.

Negotiate a supply agreement with the preferred outsourcer for delivery of the required services. Ensure your RFP covers:

  1. Service specification
  2. Service levels
  3. Roles and responsibilities
  4. Transition period and acceptance
  5. Prices, payment, and duration
  6. Agreement administration
  7. Outsourcing issues

In addition to defining your standard requirements, don't forget to take into consideration the following factors when developing your RFP:

  • Employee onboarding and hardware imaging for new users
  • Applications you need current and future support for
  • Reporting requirements
  • Self-service options
  • Remote support needs and locations

Although it may be tempting, don't throw everything over the wall at your vendor in the RFP. Evaluate your service desk functions in terms of quality, cost effectiveness, and the value provided from the vendor. Organizations should only outsource functions that the vendor can operate better, faster, or cheaper.

Info-Tech Insight

Involve the right stakeholders in developing your RFP, not just service desk. If only service desk is involved in RFP discussion, the connection between tier 1 and specialists will be broken, as some processes are not considered from IT's point of view.

Identify ITSM solution requirements

Your vendor probably uses a different tool to manage their processes; make sure its capabilities align with the vision of your service desk.

Your service desk and outsourcing strategy were both designed with your current ITSM solution in mind. Before you hand the reins to an MSP, it is crucial that you outline how your current ITSM solution is being used in terms of functionality.

Find out if it's better to have the MSP use their own ITSM tools or your ITSM solution.

Benefits of operating within your own ITSM while outsourcing the service desk:

Disadvantages of using your own ITSM while outsourcing the service desk:

  • If you provide the service catalog, it's easier to control your ITSM tool yourself.
  • Using your own ITSM and giving access to the outsourcer will allow you to build your dashboard and access your operational metrics rather than relying on the MSP to provide you with metrics.
  • Usage of the current tool may be extended across multiple departments, so it may be in the best interest of your business to have the vendor adopt usage of the current tool.
  • While many ITSM solutions have similar functions, innate differences do exist between them. Outsourcers mostly want to operate in their own ticketing solution. As other departments besides IT may be using the service management tool, you will need to have the same tool across the organization. This makes purchasing the new ITSM license very expensive, unless you operate in the same ITSM as the outsourcer.
  • You need your vendor to be able to use the system you have in order to meet your requirements, which will limit your options in the market.
  • If the outsourcer is using your ITSM, you should provide training to them.

Info-Tech Insight

Defining your tool requirements can be a great opportunity to get the tool functionality you always wanted. Many MSPs offer enterprise-level ITSM tools and highly mature processes that may tempt you to operate within their ITSM environment. However, first define your goals for such a move, as well as pros and cons of operating in their service management tool to weigh if its benefits overweigh its downfalls.

Case Study

Lone Star College learned that it's important to select a vendor whose tool will work with your service desk

INDUSTRY: Education

SOURCE: ServiceNow

Challenge

Lone Star College has an end-user base of over 100,000 staff and students.

The college has six campuses across the state of Texas, and each campus was using its own service desk and ITSM solution.

Initially, the decision was to implement a single ITSM solution, but organizational complexity prevented that initiative from succeeding.

A decision was made to outsource and consolidate the service desks of each of the campuses to provide more uniform service to end users.

Solution

Lone Star College selected a vendor that implemented FrontRange.

Unfortunately, the tool was not the right fit for Lone Star's service and reporting needs.

After some discussion, the outsourcing vendor made the switch to ServiceNow.

Some time later, a hybrid outsourced model was implemented, with Lone Star and the vendor combining to provide 24/7 support.

Results

The consolidated, standardized approach used by Lone Star College and its vendor has created numerous benefits:

  • Standardized reporting
  • High end-user satisfaction
  • All SLAs are being met
  • Improved ticket resolution times
  • Automated change management.

Lone Star outsourced in order to consolidate its service desks quickly, but the tools didn't quite match.

It's important to choose a tool that works well with your vendor's, otherwise the same standardization issues can persist.

Design your RFP to help you understand what the vendor's standard offerings are and what it is capable of delivering

Your RFP should be worded in a way that helps you understand what your vendor's standard offerings are because that's what they're most capable of delivering. Rather than laying out all your requirements in a high level of detail, carefully craft your questions in a probing way. Then, understand what your current baseline is, what your target requirements are, and assess the gap.

Design the RFP so that responses can easily be compared against one another.

It is common to receive responses that are very different – RFPs don't provide a response framework. Comparing vastly different responses can be like comparing apples to oranges. Not only are they immensely time consuming to score, their scores also don't end up accurately reflecting the provider's capabilities or suitability as a vendor.

If your RFP is causing a ten minute printer backlog, you're doing something wrong.

Your RFP should not be hundreds of pages long. If it is, there is too much detail.

Providing too much detail can box your responses in and be overly limiting on your responses. It can deter potentially suitable provider candidates from sending a proposal.

Request
For
Proposal

"From bitter experience, if you're too descriptive, you box yourself in. If you're not descriptive enough, you'll be inundated with questions or end up with too few bidders. We needed to find the best way to get the message across without putting too much detail around it."
– Procurement Manager, Utilities

Info-Tech's Service Desk Outsourcing RFP Template contains nine sections

  1. Statement of work
    • Purpose, coverage, and participation ààInsert the purpose and goals of outsourcing your service desk, using steps 1.1 findings in this blueprint as reference.
  2. General information
    • Information about the document, enterprise, and schedule of events ààInsert the timeline you developed for the RFP issue and award process in this section.
  3. Proposal preparation instructions
    • The vendor's understanding of the RFP, good faith statement, points of contact, proposal submission, method of award, selection and notification.
  4. Service overview
    • Information about organizational perspective, service desk responsibility matrix, vendor requirements, and service level agreements (SLAs).
  5. Scope of work, specifications and requirements
    • Technical and functional requirements à Insert the requirements gathered in Phase 1 in this section of the RFP. Remember to include both current and future requirements.
  6. Exit conditions
    • Overview of exit strategy and transition process.
  7. Vendor qualifications and references
  8. Account management and estimated pricing
  9. Vendor certification
This is a screenshot of the Service Desk Outsourcing RFP Template.

The main point of focus in this document is defining your requirements (discussed in Phase 1) and developing proposal preparation instructions.

The rest of the RFP consists mostly of standard legal language. Review the rest of the RFP template and adapt the language to suit your organization's standards. Check with your legal departments to make sure the RFP adheres to company policies.

3.1.1 Evaluate your technology, people, and process requirements

1-2 hours

  1. Review the outsourcing goals you identified in Phase 1 (activity 1.1.3).
  2. For each goal, divide the defined requirements from your requirements database library (activity 1.2.1) into three areas:
    1. People Requirements
    2. Process Requirements
    3. Technical Requirements
  3. Group your requirements based on characteristics (e.g. recovery capabilities, engagement methodology, personnel, etc.).
  4. Validate these requirements with the relevant stakeholders.
  5. Document your results in section 4 of the Service Desk Outsourcing RFP Template.

Input

  • Identified key requirements

Output

  • Refined requirements to input into the RFP

Materials

  • Whiteboard/flip charts
  • Markers
  • Laptops

Participants

  • IT Director/CIO
  • Service Desk Manager
  • IT Managers

Download the Service Desk Outsourcing RFP Template

Assess knowledge management and technology requirements to enable the outsourcer with higher quality work

Retain ownership of the knowledgebase to foster long-term growth of organizational intelligence

With end users becoming more and more tech savvy, organizational intelligence is becoming an increasingly important aspect of IT support. Modern employees are able and willing to troubleshoot on their own before calling into the service desk. The knowledgebase and FAQs largely facilitate self-serve trouble shooting, both of which are not core concerns for the outsource vendor.

Why would the vendor help you empower end users and decrease ticket volume when it will lead to less revenue in the future? Ticket avoidance is not simply about saving money by removing support. It's about the end-user community developing organizational intelligence so that it doesn't need as much technical support.

Organizational intelligence occurs when shared knowledge and insight is used to make faster, better decisions.

When you outsource, the flow of technical insight to your end-user community slows down or stops altogether unless you proactively drive it. Retain ownership of the knowledgebase and ensure that the content is:

  1. Validated to ensure it accurately describes the best solution.
  2. Actionable to ensure it prescribes repeatable, verifiable steps.
  3. Contextual to ensure the reader knows when NOT to apply the knowledge.
  4. Maintained to ensure the solution remains current.
  5. Applied, since knowledge is a cost with no benefit unless you apply it and turn it into organizational intelligence.

Info-Tech Insight

Include knowledge management process in your ticket handling workflows to make sure knowledge is transferred to the MSP and end users. For more information on knowledge management, refer to Info-Tech's Standardize the Service Desk and Optimize the Service Desk With a Shift-Left Strategy blueprints.

Assess self-service requirements in your outsourcing plan

When outsourcing the service desk, determine who will take ownership of the self-service portal.

Nowadays, outsourcers provide innovative services such as self-serve options. However, bear in mind that the quality of such services is a differentiating factor. A well-maintained portal makes it easy to:

  • Report incidents efficiently via use-case-based forms
  • Place requests via a business-oriented service catalog
  • Automate request processes
  • Give visibility on ticket status
  • Access knowledgebase articles
  • Provide status on critical systems
  • Look for services by both clicking service lists and searching them
  • Provide 24/7 service via interactive communication with live agent and AI-powered machine
  • Streamline business process in multiple departments rather than only IT

In the outsourcing process, determine your expectations from your vendor on self-serve options and discuss how they will fulfill these requirements. Similar to other processes, work internally to define a list of services your organization is providing that you can pass over to the outsourcer to convert to a service catalog.

Use Info-Tech's Sample Enterprise Services document to start determining your business's services.

Assess admin rights in your outsourcing plan to give access to the outsourcer while you keep ownership

Provide accessibility to account management to improve self-service, which enables:

  • Group owners to be named who can add or remove people from their operating units
  • Users to update attributes such as photos, address, phone number
  • Synchronization with HRIS (Human Resource Information Systems) to enable two-way communication on attribute updates
  • Password reset self-service

Ensure the vendor has access rights to execute regular clean up to help:

  • Find stale and inactive user and computer accounts (inactive, expired, stale, never logged in)
  • Bulk move and disable capabilities
  • Find empty groups and remove
  • Find and assess NTFS permissions
  • Automated tasks to search and remediate

Give admin rights to outsourcer to enable reporting and auditing capabilities, such as:

  • Change tracking and notifications
  • Password reset attempts, account unlocks, permission and account changes
  • Anomaly detection and remediation
  • Privilege abuse, such as password sharing

Info-Tech Insight

Provide your MSP with access rights to enable the service desk to have account management without giving too much authentication. This way you'll enable moving tickets to the outsourcer while you keep ownership and supervision.

3.1.2 Outline which party will be responsible for which service desk processes

1-2 hours

This activity is an expansion to the outcomes of activity 1.2.1, where you determined the outsourcing requirements and the party to deliver each requirement.

  1. Add your identified tasks from the requirements database library to the service desk responsibility matrix (section 4.2 of the Service Desk Outsourcing RFP Template).
  2. Break each task down into more details. For instance, incident management may include tier 1, tier 2/3, KB creation and update, reporting, and auditing.
  3. Refer to section 4.1 of your Project Charter to review the responsible party for each use case.
  4. Considering the use cases, assess whether your organization, the MSP, or both parties will be responsible for the task.
  5. Document the results in section 4.2 of the RFP.

Input

  • Identified key requirements

Output

  • Responsible party to deliver each task

Materials

  • Whiteboard/flip charts
  • Markers
  • Laptops

Participants

  • IT Director/CIO
  • Service Desk Manager
  • IT Managers

Download the Service Desk Outsourcing RFP Template

Step 3.2

Define your approach to vendor relationship management

Activities

3.2.1 Define your SLA requirements

3.2.2 Score each vendor to mitigate the risk of failure

3.2.3 Score RFP responses

3.2.4 Get referrals, conduct reference interviews and evaluate responses for each vendor

Develop an RFP and make a long-term relationship

This step requires the following inputs:

  • Service desk outsourcing RFP
  • List of service desk outsourcing requirements

This step involves the following participants:

  • CIO
  • Service Desk Manager
  • IT Managers
  • Project Managers

Outcomes of this step

  • Service desk SLA
  • RFP scores

Don't rush to judgment; apply due diligence when selecting your vendor

The most common mistake in vendor evaluation is moving too quickly. The process leading to an RFP evaluation can be exhausting, and many organizations simply want to be done with the whole process and begin outsourcing.

The most common mistake in vendor evaluation is moving too quickly. The process leading to an RFP evaluation can be exhausting, and many organizations simply want to be done with the whole process and begin outsourcing.

  1. Call around to get referrals for each vendor
  2. Create a shortlist
  3. Review SLAs and contract terms
  4. Select your vendor

Recognize warning signs in the MSP's proposal to ensure a successful negotiation

Vendors often include certain conditions in their proposals that masquerade as appealing but may spell disaster. Watch for these red flags:

  1. Discounted Price
    • Vendors know the market value of their competitors' services. Price is not what sets them apart; it's the type of services offered as well as the culture present.
    • A noticeably low price is often indicative of a desperate organization that is not focused on quality managed services.
  2. No Pushback
    • Vendors should work to customize their proposal to suit both their capabilities and your needs. No pushback means they are not invested in your project as deeply as they should be.
    • You should be prepared for and welcome negotiations; they're a sign that both sides are reaching a mutually beneficial agreement.
  3. Continual SLA Improvement
    • Continual improvement is a good quality that your vendor should have, but it needs to have some strategic direction.
    • Throwing continual SLA improvement into the deal may seem great, but make sure that you'll benefit from the value-added service. Otherwise, you'll be paying for services that you don't actually need.

Clearly define core vendor qualities before looking at any options

Vendor sales and marketing people know just what to say to sway you: don't talk to them until you know what you're looking for.

Geography

Do you prefer global or local data centers? Do you need multiple locations for redundancy in case of disaster? Will language barriers be a concern?

Contract Length

Ensure you can terminate a poor arrangement by having shorter terms with optional renewals. It's better to renew and renegotiate if one side is losing in the deal in order to keep things fair. Don't assume that proposed long-term cost savings will provide a satisfactory service.

Target Market

Vendors are aiming at different business segments, from startups to large enterprises. Some will accept existing virtual machines, and others enforce compliance to appeal to government and health agencies.

SLA

A robust SLA strengthens a vendor's reliability and accountability. Agencies with special needs should have room in negotiations for customization. Providers should also account for regular SLA reviews and updates. Vendors should be tracking call volume and making projections that should translate directly to SLAs.

Support

Even if you don't need a vendor with 24/7 availability, vendors who cannot support this timing should be eliminated. You may want to upgrade later and will want to avoid the hassle of switching.

Maturity

Vendors must have the willingness and ability to improve processes and efficiencies over time. Maintaining the status-quo isn't acceptable in the constantly evolving IT world.

Cost

Consider which model makes the most sense: will you go with per call or per user pricing? Which model will generate vendor motivation to continually improve and meet your long-term goals? Watch out for variable pricing models.

Define your SLA requirements so your MSP can create a solution that fits

SLAs ensure accountability from the service provider and determine service price

SLAs define the performance of the service desk and clarify what the provider and customer can expect in their outsourcing relationship.

  • Service categories
  • The acceptable range of end-user satisfaction
  • The scope of what functions of the service desk are being measured (availability, time to resolve, time to respond, etc.)
  • Credits and penalties for achieving or missing targets
  • Frequency of measurement/reporting
  • Provisions and penalties for ending the contractual relationship early
  • Management and communication structure
  • Escalation protocol for incidents relating to tiers 2 or 3

Each MSP's RFP response will help you understand their basic SLA terms and enhanced service offerings. You need to understand the MSP's basic SLA terms to make sure they are adequate enough for your requirements. A well-negotiated SLA will balance the requirements of the customer and limit the liability of the provider in a win/win scenario.

For more information on defining service level requirements, refer to Info-Tech's blueprint Reduce Risk With Rock-Solid Service-Level Agreements.

3.2.1 Define your SLA requirements

2-3 hours

  • As a team, review your current service desk SLA for the following items:
    • Response time
    • Resolution time
    • Escalation time
    • End-user satisfaction
    • Service availability
  • Use the sample table as a starting point to determine your current incident management SLA:
  • Determine your SLA expectations from the outsourcer.
  • Document your SLA expectations in section 4.4 of the RFP template.

Participants: IT Managers, Service Desk Manager, Project Team

Response
PriorityResponse SLOResolution SLOEscalation Time
T1
Severity 1CriticalWithin 10 minutes4 hours to resolveImmediate
Severity 2HighWithin 1 business hour8 business hours to resolve20 minutes
Severity 3MediumWithin 4 business hours24 business hours to resolveAfter 20 minutes without progress
Severity 4LowSame day (8 hours)72 business hours to resolve After 1 hour without progress
SLO ResponseTime it takes for service desk to respond to service request or incident. Target response is 80% of SLO
SLO ResolutionTime it takes to resolve incident and return business services to normal. Target resolution is 80% of SLO

Download the Service Desk Outsourcing RFP Template

Get a detailed plan from your selected vendor before signing a contract

Build a standard process to evaluate candidate vendors

Use section 5 of Info-Tech's Service Desk Outsourcing RFP Template for commonly used questions and requirements for outsourcing the service desk. Ask the right questions to secure an agreement that meets your needs. If you are already in a contract with an MSP, tale the opportunity of contract renewal to improve the contract and service.

This is a screenshot of the Service Desk Outsourcing RFP Template.

Download the Service Desk Outsourcing RFP Template

Add your finalized assessment questions into Info-Tech's Service Desk Outsourcing RFP Scoring Tool to aggregate responses in one repository for comparison. Since the vendors are asked to respond in a standard format, it is easier to bring together all the responses to create a complete view of your options.

This is an image of the Service Desk Vendor Proposal Scoring Tool

Download the Service Desk Vendor Proposal Scoring Tool

3.2.2 Score each vendor to mitigate the risk of failure

1-2 hours

Include the right requirements for your organization and analyze candidate vendors on their capability to satisfy them.

  1. Use section 5 of the RFP template to convert your determined requirements into questions to address in vendor briefings.
  2. Review the questions in the context of near- and long-term service desk outsourcing needs. In the template, we have separated requirements into 7 categories:
    • Vendor Requirements (VR)
    • Vendor Qualifications/Engagement/Administration Capabilities (VQ)
    • Service Operations (SO)
    • Service Support (SS)
    • Service Level Agreement (SLA)
    • Transition Processes (TP)
    • Account Management (AM)
  3. Define the priority for each question:
    • Required
    • Desired
    • Optional
  4. Leave the compliance and comments to when you brief with vendors.

Input

  • Technical and functional requirements

Output

  • Priority level for each requirement
  • Completed list of requirement questions

Materials

  • Whiteboard/flip charts
  • Markers
  • Laptops

Participants

  • IT Director/CIO
  • Service Desk Manager
  • IT Managers

Download the Service Desk Outsourcing RFP Template

3.2.3 Score RFP responses

2-3 hours

  1. Enter the requirements questions into the RFP Scoring Tool and use it during vendor briefings.
  2. Copy the Required and Desired priority requirements from the previous activity into the RFP Questions column.
  3. Evaluate each RFP response against the RFP criteria based on the scoring scale.
  4. The Results section in the tool shows the vendor ranking based on their overall scores.
  5. Compare potential outsourcing partners considering scores on individual requirements categories and based on overall scores.

Input

  • Completed list of requirement questions
  • Priority level for each requirement

Output

  • List of top vendors for outsourcing the service desk

Materials

  • Service Desk Vendor Proposal Scoring Tool

Participants

  • Service Desk Manager
  • IT Managers
  • Project Managers
  • IT Director/CIO

Download the Service Desk Vendor Proposal Scoring Tool

3.2.3 Get referrals, conduct reference interviews, and evaluate responses for each vendor

  1. Outline a list of questions to conduct reference interviews with past/present clients of your candidate vendors.
  2. Use the reference interview template as a starting point. As a group review the questions and edit them to a list that will fulfill your requirements.
  3. Ask your candidate vendors to provide you with a list of three to five clients that have/had used their services. Make sure that vendors enforce the interview will be kept anonymous and names and results won't be disclosed.
  4. Ask vendors to book a 20-30 minute call with you and their client.
  5. Document your interview comments in your updated reference interview template.
  6. Update the RFP scoring tool accordingly.

Input

  • List of top vendors for outsourcing the service desk

Output

  • Updated list of top vendors for outsourcing the service desk

Materials

  • Service Desk Outsourcing Reference Interview Template
  • Service Desk Vendor Proposal Scoring Tool

Participants

  • Service Desk Manager
  • IT Managers
  • Project Managers

Download the Service Desk Vendor Proposal Scoring Tool

Compare pricing models of outsourcing services

It's a common sales tactic to use a low price as an easy solution. Carefully evaluate the vendors on your short-list and ensure that SLAs, culture, and price all match to your organization.

Research different pricing models and accurately assess which model fits your organization. Consider the following pricing models:

Pay per technician

In this model, a flat rate is allocated to agents tackling your service desk tickets. This is a good option for building long-term relationship with outsourcer's agents and efficient knowledge transfer to the external team; however, it's not ideal for small organizations that deal with few tickets. This is potentially an expensive model for small teams.

Pay per ticket

This model considers the number of tickets handled by the outsourcer. This model is ideal if you only want to pay for your requirement. Although the internal team needs to have a close monitoring strategy to make sure the outsourcer's efficiency in ticket resolution.

Pay per call

This is based on outbound and inbound calls. This model is proper for call centers and can be less expensive than the other models; however, tracking is not easy, as you should ensure service desk calls result in efficient resolution rather than unnecessary follow-up.

Pay per time (minutes or hours)

The time spent on tickets is considered in this model. With this model, you pay for the work done by agents, so that it may be a good and relatively cheap option. As quicker resolution SLA is usually set by the organization, customer satisfaction may drop, as agents will be driven to faster resolution, not necessarily quality of work.

Pay per user

This model is based on number of all users, or number of users for particular applications. In this model, correlation between number of users and number of tickets should be taken into account. This is an ideal model if you want to deal with impact of staffing changes on service price. Although you should first track metrics such as mean time to resolve and average number of tickets so you can prevent unnecessary payment based on number of users when most users are not submitting tickets.

Step 3.3

Manage the outsource relationship

Activities

3.3.1 Analyze your outsourced service desk for continual improvement

3.3.2 Make a case to either rehabilitate your outsourcing agreement or exit

3.3.3 Develop an exit strategy in case you need to end your contract early

Develop an RFP and make a long-term relationship

This step requires the following inputs:

  • Service desk SLA
  • List of impacted stakeholder groups
  • List of impacts and benefits of the outsourced service desk

This step involves the following participants:

  • CIO
  • Service Desk Manager
  • IT Managers
  • Project Managers

Outcomes of this step

  • Communication plan
  • Vendor management strategy

Ensure formality of your vendor management practice

A service desk outsourcing project is an ongoing initiative. Build a relationship plan to make sure the outsourcer complies with the agreement.

This is an iamge of the cycle of relationship management and pre-contract management.

Monitor Vendor Performance

Key Activity:

Measure performance levels with an agreed upon standard scorecard.

Manage Vendor Risk

Key Activity:

Periodical assessment of the vendors to ensure they are meeting compliance standards.

Manage Vendor Contracts and Relationships

Key Activity:
Manage the contracts and renewal dates, the level of demand for the services/products provided, and the costs accrued.

COMPLETE Identify and Evaluate Vendors

Key Activity:
Develop a plan with procurement and key internal stakeholders to define clear, consistent, and stable requirements.

COMPLETE Select a Vendor

Key Activity:
Develop a consistent and effective process for selecting the most appropriate vendor.

Manage Vendor Contracts and Relationships

Key Activity:
Contracts are consistently negotiated to ensure the vendor and the client have a documented and consistent understanding of mutual expectations.

Expect the vendor to manage processes according to your standards

You need this level of visibility into the service desk process, whether in-house or outsourced

Each of these steps requires documentation – either through standard operating procedures, SLAs, logs, or workflow diagrams.

  • Define key operating procedures and workflows
  • Record, classify, and prioritize tickets
  • Verify, approve, and fulfill tickets
  • Investigate, diagnose, and allocate tickets
  • Resolve, recover, and close tickets
  • Track and report

"Make sure what they've presented to you is exactly what's happening."
– Service Desk Manager, Financial Services

Manage the vendor relationship through regular communication

Regular contact with your MSP provides opportunities to address issues that emerge

Designate a relationship manager to act as a liaison at the business to be a conduit between the business and the MSP.

  • The relationship manager will take feedback from the MSP and relate it back to you to bridge the technical and business gap between the two.

Who should be involved

  • Routine review meetings should involve the MSP and your relationship manager.
  • Technical knowledge may be needed to address specific issues, but business knowledge and relationship management skills are absolutely required.
  • Other stakeholders and people who are deeply invested in the vendor relationship should be invited or at least asked to contribute questions and concerns.

What is involved

  • Full review of the service desk statistics, escalations, staffing changes, process changes, and drivers of extra billing or cost.
  • Updates to key documentation for the issues listed above and changes to the knowledgebase.
  • Significant drivers of customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction.
  • Changes that have/are being proposed that can impact any of the above.

Communicate changes to end users to avoid push back and get buy-in

Top-down processes for outsourcing will leave end users in the dark

  • Your service desk staff has been involved in the outsourcing process the entire time, but end users are affected all the same.
  • The service desk is the face of IT. A radical shift in service processes and points of contact can be detrimental to not only the service desk, but all of IT.
  • Communicating the changes early to end users will both help them cope with the change and help the MSP achieve better results.
    • An internal communication plan should be rolled out in order to inform and educate end users about the changes associated with outsourcing the service desk.
  • Your relationship manager should be tasked with communicating the changes to end users. The focus should be on addressing questions or concerns about the transition while highlighting the value gained through outsourcing to an MSP.
  • Service quality is a two-way street; the end user needs to be informed of proper protocols and points of contact so that the service desk technicians can fulfill their duties to the best of their ability.

"When my company decided to outsource, I performed the same role but for a different company. There was a huge disruption to the business flow and a lack of communication to manage the change. The transition took weeks before any end users figured out what the new processes were for submitting a ticket and who to ask for help, and from a personal side, it became difficult to maintain relationships with colleagues."
– IT Specialist for a financial institution

Info-Tech Insight

Educate the enterprise on expectations and processes that are handled by the MSP. Identify stakeholder groups affected by the outsourced processes then build a communication plan on what's been changed, what the benefits are, and how they will be impacted. Determine a timeline for communicating these initiatives and how these announcements will be made. Use InfoTech's Sample Communication Plan as a starting point.

Build a continual improvement plan to make sure your MSP is efficiently delivering services according to expectations

Ensure that your quality assurance program is repeatable and applicable to the outsourced services

  1. Design a QA scorecard that can help you assess steps the outsourcer agents should follow. Keep the questionnaire high level but specific to your environment. The scorecard should include questions that follow the steps to take considering your intake channels. For instance, if end users can reach the service desk via phone, chat, and email, build your QA around assessing customer service for call, chat, and ticket quality.
  2. Build a training program for agents: Develop an internal monitoring plan to relay detailed feedback to your MSP. Assess performance and utilize KBs as training materials for coaching agents on challenging transactions.
  3. Everything that goes to your service desk has to be documented; there will be no organic transfer of knowledge and experience.
  4. You need to let your MSP know how their efforts are impacting the performance of your organization. Measure your internal performance against the external performance of your service desk.
  5. Constant internal check-ins ensure that your MSP is meeting the SLAs outlined in the RFP.
  6. Routine reporting of metrics and ticket trends allow you to enact problem management. Otherwise, you risk your MSP operating your service desk with no internal feedback from its owner.
  7. Use metrics to determine the service desk functionality.

Consider the success story of your outsourced service desk

Build a feedback program for your outsourced services. Utilize transactional surveys to discover and tell outsourcing success to the impacted stakeholders.

Ensure you apply steps for providing feedback to make sure processes are handled as expected. Service desk is the face of IT. Customer satisfaction on ticket transactions reflects satisfaction with IT and the organization.

Build customer satisfaction surveys and conduct them for every transaction to get a better sense of outsourced service desk functionality. Collaborate with the vendor to make sure you build a proper strategy.

  • Build a right list of questions. Multiple and lengthy questions may lead to survey taking fatigue. Make sure you ask the right questions and give an option to the customer to comment any additional notes.
  • Give the option to users to rate the transaction. Make the whole process very seamless and doable in a few seconds.
  • Ensure to follow-up on negative feedback. This will help you find gaps in services and provide training to improve customer service.

3.3.1 Analyze your outsourced service desk for continual improvement

1 hour

  1. In this project, you determined the KPIs based on your service desk objectives (activity 2.2.2).
  2. Refer to your list of metrics in section 7 of the Service Desk Outsourcing Project Charter.
  3. Think about what story you want to tell and determine what factors will help move the narrative.
  4. Discuss how often you would like to track these metrics. Determine the audience for each metric.
  5. Provide the list to the MSP to create reports with auto-distribution.

Input

  • Determined CSFs and KPIs

Output

  • List of metrics to track, including frequency to report and audience to report to

Materials

  • Service Desk Outsourcing Project Charter

Participants

  • Service Desk Manager
  • IT Managers
  • Project Managers

Download the Project Charter Template

Reward the MSP for performance instead of "punishing" them for service failure

Turn your vendor into a true partner by including an "earn back" condition in the contract

MSPs often offer clients credit requests (service credits) for their service failures, which are applied to the previous month's monthly recurring charge. They are applied to the last month's MRC (monthly reoccurring charges) at the end of term and then the vendor pays out the residual.

However, while common, service credits are not always perceived to be a strong incentive for the provider to continually focus on improvement of mean-time-to-respond/mean-time-to-resolve.

  • Engage the vendor as a true partner within a relationship only based upon Service Credits.
  • Suggest the vendor include a minor change to the non-performance processes within the final agreement: the vendor implements an "earn back" condition in the agreement.
  • Where a bank of service credits exists because of non-performance, if the provider exceeds the SLA performance metrics for a number of consecutive months (two is common), then an amount of any prior credits received by client is returned to the provider as an earn back for improved performance.
  • This can be a useful mechanism to drive improved performance.

Measure the outsourced service desk ROI constantly to drive efficient decisions for continual improvement or an exit plan

Efficient outsourced service desk causes positive impacts on business satisfaction. To address the true value of the services outsourced, you should evaluate the return on investment (ROI) in these areas: Emotional ROI, Time ROI, Financial ROI

Emotional ROI

Service desk's main purpose should be to provide topnotch services to end users. Build a customer experience program and leverage transactional surveys and relationship surveys to constantly analyze customer feedback on service quality.

Ask yourself:

  • How have the outsourced services improved customer satisfaction?
  • How has the service desk impacted the business brand?
  • Have these services improved agents' job satisfaction?
  • What is the NPS score of the service desk?
  • What should we do to reduce the detractor rate and improve satisfaction leveraging the outsourced service desk?

Time ROI

Besides customer satisfaction, SLA commitment is a big factor to consider when conducting ROI analysis.

Ask these questions:

  • Have we had improvement in FCR?
  • What are the mean time to resolve incidents and mean time to fulfill requests?
  • Is the cost incurred to outsourced services worth improvement in such metrics?

Financial ROI

As already mentioned in Phase 1, the main motivation for outsourcing the service desk should not be around cost reduction, but to improve performance. Regardless, it's still important to understand the financial implications of your decision.

To evaluate the financial impact of your outsourced service desk, ask these questions:

  • How much have the outsourced services impacted our business financially?
  • How much are we paying compared to when it was done internally?
  • Considering the emotional, time, and effort factors, is it worth bringing the services in house or changing the vendor?

3.3.2 Make a case to either rehabilitate your outsourcing agreement or exit

3-4 hours

  1. Refer to the results of activity 2.2.2. for the list of metrics and the metrics dashboard over the past quarter.
  2. Consider emotional and time ROI, assess end-user satisfaction and SLA, and run a report comparison with the baseline that you built prior to outsourcing the service desk.
  3. Estimate the organization's IT operating expenses over the next five years if you stay with the vendor.
  4. Estimate the organization's IT operating expenses over the next five years if you switch the vendor.
  5. Estimate the organization's IT operating expenses over the next five years if you repatriate the service desk.
  6. Estimate the non-recurring costs associated with the move, such as the penalty for early contract termination, data center moving costs, and cost of potential business downtime during the move. Sum them to determine the investment.
  7. Calculate the return on investment. Discuss and decide whether the organization should consider rehabilitating the vendor agreement or ending the partnership.

Input

  • Outsourced service desk metrics
  • Operating expenses

Output

  • Return on investment

Materials

  • List of metrics
  • Laptop
  • Markers
  • Flip chart/whiteboard

Participants

  • IT Director/CIO
  • Service Desk Manager
  • IT Managers

For more information on conducting this activity, refer to InfoTech's blueprint Terminate the IT Infrastructure Outsourcing Relationship

Define exit conditions to complete your contract with your MSP

The end of outsourcing is difficult. Your organization needs to maintain continuity of service during the transition. Your MSP needs to ensure that its resources can be effectively transitioned to the next deployment with minimal downtime. It is crucial to define your exit conditions so that both sides can prepare accordingly.

  • Your exit conditions must be clearly laid out in the contract. Create a list of service desk functions and metrics that are important to your organization's success. If your MSP is not meeting those needs or performance levels, you should terminate your services.
  • Most organizations accomplish this through a clear definition of hard and measurable KPIs and metrics that must be achieved and what will happen in the case these metrics are not being regularly met. If your vendor doesn't meet these requirements as defined in your contract, you then have a valid reason and the ability to leave the agreement.

Examples of exit conditions:

  • Your MSP did not meet their SLAs on priority 1 or 2 tickets two times within a month.
  • If they didn't meet the SLA twice in that 30 days, you could terminate the contract penalty-free.

Info-Tech Insight

If things start going south with your MSP, negotiate a "get well plan." Outline your problems to the MSP and have them come back to you with a list of how they're going to fix these problems to get well before you move forward with the contract.

Try to rehabilitate before you repatriate

Switching service providers or ending the contract can be expensive and may not solve your problems. Try to rehabilitate your vendor relationship before immediately ending it.

You may consider terminating your outsourcing agreement if you are dissatisfied with the current agreement or there has been a change in circumstances (either the vendor has changed, or your organization has changed).

Before doing so, consider the challenges:

  1. It can be very expensive to switch providers or end a contract.
  2. Switching vendors can be a large project involving transfer of knowledge, documentation, and data.
  3. It can be difficult to maintain service desk availability, functionality, and reliability during the transition.

Diagnose the cause of the problem before assuming it's the MSP's fault. The issue may lie with poorly defined requirements and processes, lack of communication, poor vendor management, or inappropriate SLAs. Re-assess your strategy and re-negotiate your contract if necessary.

Info-Tech Insight

There are many reasons why outsourcing relationships fail, but it's not always the vendor's fault.

Clients often think their MSP isn't doing a great job, but a lot of the time the reason comes back to the client. They may not have provided sufficient documentation on processes, were not communicating well, didn't have a regular point of contact, and weren't doing regular service reviews. Before exiting the relationship, evaluate why it's not working and try to fix things first.

Don't stop with an exit strategy, you also need to develop a transition plan

Plan out your transition timeline, taking into account current contract terms and key steps required. Be prepared to handle tickets immediately upon giving notice.

  • Review your outsourcing contract with legal counsel to identify areas of concern for lock-in or breech.
  • Complete a cost/benefit analysis.
  • Bring intellectual property (including ticket data, knowledge base articles, and reports) back in-house (if you'd like to repatriate the service desk) or transfer to the next service desk vendor (if you're outsourcing to another MSP).
  • Review and update service desk standard processes (escalation, service levels, ticket templates, etc.).
  • Procure service desk software, licenses, and necessary hardware as needed.
  • Train the staff (internal for repatriating the service desk, or external for the prospective MSP).
  • Communicate the transition plan and be prepared to start responding to tickets immediately.

Info-Tech Insight

Develop a transition plan about six months before the contract notice date. Be proactive by constantly tracking the MSP, running ROI analyses and training staff before moving the services to the internal team or the next MSP. This will help you manage the transition smoothly and handle intake channels so that upon potential exit, users won't be disrupted.

3.3.3 Develop an exit strategy in case you need to end your contract early

3-4 hours

Create a plan to be prepared in case you need to end your contract with the MSP early.

Your exit strategy should encompass both the conditions under which you would need to end your contract with the MSP and the next steps you will take to transition your services.

  1. Define the exit conditions you plan to negotiate into your contract with the MSP:
    • Identify the performance levels you will require your MSP to meet.
    • Identify the actions you expect the MSP to take if they fail to meet these performance levels.
    • Identify the conditions under which you would leave the contract early.
  2. Develop a strategy for transitioning services in the event you need to leave your contract with the MSP:
    • Will you hand the responsibility to a new MSP or repatriate the service desk back in-house?
    • How will you maintain services through the transition?
  3. Document your exit strategy in section 6 of the Service Desk Outsourcing RFP Template.

Input

  • Outsourced service desk metrics
  • Operating expenses

Output

  • Return on investment

Materials

  • List of metrics
  • Laptop
  • Markers
  • Flip chart/whiteboard

Participants

  • IT Director/CIO
  • Service Desk Manager
  • IT Managers

Download the Service Desk Outsourcing RFP Template

Summary of Accomplishment

Problem Solved

You have now re-envisioned your service desk by building a solid strategy for outsourcing it to a vendor. You first analyzed your challenges with the current service desk and evaluated the benefits of outsourcing services. Then you went through requirements assessment to find out which processes should be outsourced. Thereafter, you developed an RFP to communicate your proposal and evaluate the best candidates.

You have also developed a continual improvement plan to ensure the outsourcer provides services according to your expectations. Through this plan, you're making sure to build a good relationship through incentivizing the vendor for accomplishments rather than punishing for service failures. However, you've also contemplated an exit plan in the RFP for potential consistent service failures.

Ideally, this blueprint has helped you go beyond requirements identification and served as a means to change your mindset and strategy for outsourcing the service desk efficiently to gain long-term benefits.

if you would like additional support, have our analysts guide you through other phases as part of an Info-Tech Workshop

Contact your account representative for more information

workshops@infotech.com

1-888-670-8889

Additional Support

If you would like additional support, have our analysts guide you through other phases as part of an Info-Tech Workshop

To accelerate this project, engage your IT team in an Info-Tech workshop with an Info-Tech analyst team.

Info-Tech analysts will join you and your team at your location or welcome you to Info-Tech's historic Toronto office to participate in an innovative onsite workshop.

This is a picture of Info-Tech analyst Mahmoud Ramin

Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889

The following are sample activities that will be conducted by Info-Tech analysts with your team:

This is a screenshot of activity 1.2.1 found in this blueprint

Identify Processes to Outsource
Identify service desk tasks that will provide the most value upon outsourcing.

This is a screenshot of activity 3.2.2 found in this blueprint

Score Candidate Vendors
Evaluate vendors on their capabilities for satisfying your service desk requirements.

Related Info-Tech Research

Standardize the Service Desk

  • Improve customer service by driving consistency in your support approach and meeting SLAs.

Outsource IT Infrastructure to Improve System Availability, Reliability, and Recovery

  • There are very few IT infrastructure components you should be housing internally – outsource everything else.

Terminate the IT Infrastructure Outsourcing Relationship

  • There must be 50 ways to leave your vendor.

Research Contributors and Experts

Yev Khovrenkov; Enterprise Consultant, Solvera Solutions

Kamil Salagan; I&O Manager, Bartek Ingredients

Satish Mekerira; VP of IT, Coherus BioSciences

Kris Krishan; Head of IT and Business Systems, Waymo

Kris Arthur; Infra & Security Director, SEKO Logistics

Valance Howden; Principal Research Advisor, Info-Tech Research Group

Sandi Conrad; Principal Research Director, Info-Tech Research Group

Graham Price; Senior Director of Executive Services, Info-Tech Research Group

Barry Cousins; Practice Lead, Info-Tech Research Group

Mark Tauschek; VP of I&O Research, Info-Tech Research Group

Darin Stahl; Principal Research Advisor, Info-Tech Research Group

Scott Yong; Principal Research Advisor, Info-Tech Research Group

A special thank-you to five anonymous contributors

Bibliography

Allnutt, Charles. "The Ultimate List of Outsourcing Statistics." MicroSourcing, 2022. Accessed July 2022.
"Considerations for outsourcing the service desk. A guide to improving your service desk and service delivery performance through outsourcing." Giva. Accessed May 2022.
Hurley, Allison. "Service Desk Outsourcing | Statistics, Challenges, & Benefits." Forward BPO Inc., 2019. Accessed June 2022.
Mtsweni, Patricia, et al. "The impact of outsourcing information technology services on business operations." South African Journal of Information Management, 2021, Accessed May 2022.
"Offshore, Onshore or Hybrid–Choosing the Best IT Outsourcing Model." Calance, 2021. Accessed June 2022. Web.
"Service Integration and Management (SIAM) Foundation Body of Knowledge." Scopism, 2020. Accessed May 2022.
Shultz, Aaron. "IT Help Desk Outsourcing Pricing Models Comparison." Global Help Desk Services. Accessed June 2022. Web.
Shultz, Aaron. "4 Steps to Accurately Measure the ROI of Outsourced Help Desk Services" Global Help Desk Services, Accessed June 2022. Web.
Sunberg, John. "Great Expectations: What to Look for from Outsourced Service Providers Today." HDI. Accessed June 2022. Web.
Walters, Grover. "Pivotal Decisions in outsourcing." Muma Case Review, 2019. Accessed May 2022.
Wetherell, Steve. "Outsourced IT Support Services: 10 Steps to Better QA" Global Held Desk Services. Accessed May 2022. Web.

Accelerate Digital Transformation With a Digital Factory

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  • Parent Category Name: Innovation
  • Parent Category Link: /innovation
  • Organizational challenges are hampering digital transformation (DX) initiatives.
  • The organization’s existing digital factory is failing to deliver value.
  • Designing a successful digital factory is a difficult process.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

To remain competitive, enterprises must deliver products and services like a startup or a digital native enterprise. This requires enterprises to:

  • Understand how digital native enterprises are designed.
  • Understand the foundations of good design: purpose, organizational support, and leadership.
  • Understand the design of the operating model: structure and organization, management practices, culture, environment, teams, technology platforms, and meaningful metrics and KPIs.

Impact and Result

Organizations that implement this project will draw benefits in the following aspects:

  • Gain awareness and understanding of various aspects that hamper DX.
  • Set the right foundations by having clarity of purpose, alignment on organizational support, and the right leadership in place.
  • Design an optimal operating model by setting up the right organizational structures, management practices, lean and optimal governance, agile teams, and an environment that promotes productivity and wellbeing.
  • Finally, set the right measures and KPIs.

Accelerate Digital Transformation With a Digital Factory Research & Tools

Start here – read the Executive Brief

Read our concise Executive Brief to understand the importance of a well-designed digital factory.

Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

1. Build the case

Collect data and stats that will help build a narrative for digital factory.

  • Digital Factory Playbook

2. Lay the foundation

Discuss purpose, mission, organizational support, and leadership.

3. Design the operating model

Discuss organizational structure, management, culture, teams, environment, technology, and KPIs.

[infographic]

Workshop: Accelerate Digital Transformation With a Digital Factory

Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

1 Build the case

The Purpose

Understand and gather data and stats for factors impacting digital transformation.

Develop a narrative for the digital factory.

Key Benefits Achieved

Identification of key pain points and data collected

Narrative to support the digital factory

Activities

1.1 Understand the importance and urgency of digital transformation (DX).

1.2 Collect data and stats on the progress of DX initiatives.

1.3 Identify the factors that hamper DX and tie them to data/stats.

1.4 Build the narrative for the digital factory (DF) using the data/stats.

Outputs

Identification of factors that hamper DX

Data and stats on progress of DX

Narrative for the digital factory

2 Lay the foundation

The Purpose

Discuss the factors that impact the success of establishing a digital factory.

Key Benefits Achieved

A solid understanding and awareness that successful digital factories have clarity of purpose, organizational support, and sound leadership.

Activities

2.1 Discuss

2.2 Discuss what organizational support the digital factory will require and align and commit to it.

2.3 Discuss reference models to understand the dynamics and the strategic investment.

2.4 Discuss leadership for the digital age.

Outputs

DF purpose and mission statements

Alignment and commitment on organizational support

Understanding of competitive dynamics and investment spread

Develop the profile of a digital leader

3 Design the operating model (part 1)

The Purpose

Understand the fundamentals of the operating model.

Understand the gaps and formulate the strategies.

Key Benefits Achieved

Design of structure and organization

Design of culture aligned with organizational goals

Management practices aligned with the goals of the digital factory

Activities

3.1 Discuss structure and organization and associated organizational pathologies, with focus on hierarchy and silos, size and complexity, and project-centered mindset.

3.2 Discuss the importance of culture and its impact on productivity and what shifts will be required.

3.3 Discuss management for the digital factory, with focus on governance, rewards and compensation, and talent management.

Outputs

Organizational design in the context of identified pathologies

Cultural design for the DF

Management practices and governance for the digital factory

Roles/responsibilities for governance

4 Design the operating model (part 2)

The Purpose

Understand the fundamentals of the operating model.

Understand the gaps and formulate the strategies.

Key Benefits Achieved

Discuss agile teams and the roles for DF

Environment design that supports productivity

Understanding of existing and new platforms

Activities

4.1 Discuss teams and various roles for the DF.

4.2 Discuss the impact of the environment on productivity and satisfaction and discuss design factors.

4.3 Discuss technology and tools, focusing on existing and future platforms, platform components, and organization.

4.4 Discuss design of meaningful metrics and KPIs.

Outputs

Roles for DF teams

Environment design factors

Platforms and technology components

Meaningful metrics and KPIs

Evolve Your Business Through Innovation

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  • Parent Category Name: Innovation
  • Parent Category Link: /innovation
  • Innovation teams are tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that their organizations are in the best position to succeed while the world is in a period of turmoil, chaos, and uncertainty.
  • CIOs have been expected to help the organization transition to remote work and collaboration instantaneously.
  • CEOs are under pressure to redesign, and in some cases reinvent, their business model to cope with and compete in a new normal.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

It is easy to get swept up during a crisis and cling to past notions of normal. Unfortunately, there is no controlling the fact that things have changed fundamentally, and it is now incumbent upon you to help your organization adapt and evolve. Treat this as an opportunity because that is precisely what this is.

Impact and Result

There are some lessons we can learn from innovators who have succeeded through past crises and from those who are succeeding now.

There are a number of tactics an innovation team can employ to help their business evolve during this time:

  1. Double down on digital transformation (DX)
  2. Establish a foresight capability
  3. Become a platform for good

Evolve Your Business Through Innovation Research & Tools

Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

1. Evolve your business through innovation

Download our guide to learn what you can do to evolve your business and innovate your way through uncertainty.

  • Evolve Your Business Through Innovation Storyboard
[infographic]

Demystify Oracle Licensing and Optimize Spend

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  • Parent Category Name: Licensing
  • Parent Category Link: /licensing
  • License keys are not needed with optional features accessible upon install. Conducting quarterly checks of the Oracle environment is critical because if products or features are installed, even if they are not actively in use, it constitutes use by Oracle and requires a license.
  • Ambiguous license models and definitions abound: terminology and licensing rules can be vague, making it difficult to purchase licensing even with the best of intentions to keep compliant.
  • Oracle has aggressively started to force new Oracle License and Service Agreements (OLSA) on customers that slightly modify language and remove pre-existing allowances to tilt the contract terms in Oracle's favor.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

  • Focus on needs first. Conduct a thorough requirements assessment and document the results. Well-documented license needs will be your core asset in navigating Oracle licensing and negotiating your agreement.
  • Communicate effectively. Be aware that Oracle will reach out to employees at your organization at various levels. Having your executives on the same page will help send a strong message.
  • Manage the relationship. If Oracle is managing you, there is a high probability you are over paying or providing information that may result in an audit.

Impact and Result

  • Conducting business with Oracle is not typical compared to other vendors. To emerge successfully from a commercial transaction with Oracle, customers must learn the "Oracle way" of conducting business, which includes a best-in-class sales structure, highly unique contracts and license use policies, and a hyper-aggressive compliance function.
  • Map out the process of how to negotiate from a position of strength, examining terms and conditions, discount percentages, and agreement pitfalls.
  • Develop a strategy that leverages and utilizes an experienced Oracle DBA to gather accurate information, and then optimizes it to mitigate and meet the top challenges.

Demystify Oracle Licensing and Optimize Spend Research & Tools

Start here – read the Executive Brief

Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you need to understand and document your Oracle licensing strategy, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

1. Establish licensing requirements

Begin your proactive Oracle licensing journey by understanding which information to gather and assessing the current state and gaps.

  • Demystify Oracle Licensing and Optimize Spend – Phase 1: Establish Licensing Requirements
  • Oracle Licensing Purchase Reference Guide
  • Oracle Database Inventory Tool
  • Effective Licensing Position Tool
  • RASCI Chart

2. Evaluate licensing options

Review current licensing models and determine which licensing models will most appropriately fit your environment.

  • Demystify Oracle Licensing and Optimize Spend – Phase 2: Evaluate Licensing Options

3. Evaluate agreement options

Review Oracle’s contract types and assess which best fit the organization’s licensing needs.

  • Demystify Oracle Licensing and Optimize Spend – Phase 3: Evaluate Agreement Options
  • Oracle TCO Calculator

4. Purchase and manage licenses

Conduct negotiations, purchase licensing, and finalize a licensing management strategy.

  • Demystify Oracle Licensing and Optimize Spend – Phase 4: Purchase and Manage Licenses
  • Oracle Terms & Conditions Evaluation Tool
  • Controlled Vendor Communications Letter
  • Vendor Communication Management Plan
[infographic]

Workshop: Demystify Oracle Licensing and Optimize Spend

Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

1 Establish Licensing Requirements

The Purpose

Assess current state and align goals; review business feedback

Interview key stakeholders to define business objectives and drivers

Key Benefits Achieved

Have a baseline for requirements

Assess the current state

Determine licensing position

Examine cloud options

Activities

1.1 Gather software licensing data

1.2 Conduct a software inventory

1.3 Perform manual checks

1.4 Reconcile licenses

1.5 Create your Oracle licensing team

1.6 Meet with stakeholders to discuss the licensing position, cloud offerings, and budget allocation

Outputs

Copy of your Oracle License Statement

Software inventory report from software asset management (SAM) tool

Oracle Database Inventory Tool

RASCI Chart

Oracle Licensing Effective License Position (ELP) Template

Oracle Licensing Purchase Reference Guide

2 Evaluate Licensing Options

The Purpose

Review licensing options

Review licensing rules

Key Benefits Achieved

Understand how licensing works

Determine if you need software assurance

Discuss licensing rules, application to current environment.

Examine cloud licensing

Understand the importance of documenting changes

Meet with desktop product owners to determine product strategies

Activities

2.1 Review full, limited, restricted, and AST use licenses

2.2 Calculate license costs

2.3 Determine which database platform to use

2.4 Evaluate moving to the cloud

2.5 Examine disaster recovery strategies

2.6 Understand purchasing support

2.7 Meet with stakeholders to discuss the licensing position, cloud offerings, and budget allocation

Outputs

Oracle TCO Calculator

Oracle Licensing Purchase Reference Guide

3 Evaluate Agreement Options

The Purpose

Review contract option types

Review vendors

Key Benefits Achieved

Understand why a type of contract is best for you

Determine if ULA or term agreement is best

The benefits of other types and when you should change

Activities

3.1 Prepare to sign or renew your ULA

3.2 Decide on an agreement type that nets the maximum benefit

Outputs

Type of contract to be used

Oracle TCO Calculator

Oracle Licensing Purchase Reference Guide

4 Purchase and Manage Licenses

The Purpose

Finalize the contract

Prepare negotiation points

Discuss license management

Evaluate and develop a roadmap for future licensing

Key Benefits Achieved

Negotiation strategies

Licensing management

Introduction of SAM

Leverage the work done on Oracle licensing to get started on SAM

Activities

4.1 Control the flow of communication terms and conditions

4.2 Use Info-Tech’s readiness assessment in preparation for the audit

4.3 Assign the right people to manage the environment

4.4 Meet with stakeholders to discuss the licensing position, cloud offerings, and budget allocation

Outputs

Controlled Vendor Communications Letter

Vendor Communication Management Plan

Oracle Terms & Conditions Evaluation Tool

RASCI Chart

Oracle Licensing Purchase Reference Guide

Take Control of Cloud Costs on Microsoft Azure

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  • Parent Category Name: Cloud Strategy
  • Parent Category Link: /cloud-strategy
  • Traditional IT budgeting and procurement processes don't work for public cloud services.
  • The self-service nature of the cloud means that often the people provisioning cloud resources aren't accountable for the cost of those resources.
  • Without centralized control or oversight, organizations can quickly end up with massive Azure bills that exceed their IT salary cost.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

  • Most engineers care more about speed of feature delivery and reliability of the system than they do about cost.
  • Often there are no consequences for overarchitecting or overspending on Azure.
  • Many organizations lack sufficient visibility into their Azure spend, making it impossible to establish accountability and controls.

Impact and Result

  • Define roles and responsibilities.
  • Establish visibility.
  • Develop processes, procedures, and policies.

Take Control of Cloud Costs on Microsoft Azure Research & Tools

Start here – read the Executive Brief

Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should take control of cloud costs, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

1. Build a cost accountability framework

Assess your current state, define your cost allocation model, and define roles and responsibilities.

  • Cloud Cost Management Worksheet
  • Cloud Cost Management Capability Assessment
  • Cloud Cost Management Policy
  • Cloud Cost Glossary of Terms

2. Establish visibility

Define dashboards and reports, and document account structure and tagging requirements.

  • Service Cost Cheat Sheet for Azure

3. Define processes and procedures

Establish governance for tagging and cost control, define process for right-sizing, and define process for purchasing commitment discounts.

  • Right-Sizing Workflow (Visio)
  • Right-Sizing Workflow (PDF)
  • Commitment Purchasing Workflow (Visio)
  • Commitment Purchasing Workflow (PDF)

4. Build an implementation plan

Document process interactions, establish program KPIs, and build implementation roadmap and communication plan.

  • Cloud Cost Management Task List
[infographic]

Workshop: Take Control of Cloud Costs on Microsoft Azure

Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

1 Build a Cost Accountability Framework

The Purpose

Establish clear lines of accountability and document roles & responsibilities to effectively manage cloud costs.

Key Benefits Achieved

Understanding of key areas to focus on to improve cloud cost management capabilities.

Activities

1.1 Assess current state

1.2 Determine cloud cost model

1.3 Define roles & responsibilities

Outputs

Cloud cost management capability assessment

Cloud cost model

Roles & responsibilities

2 Establish Visibility

The Purpose

Establish visibility into cloud costs and drivers of those costs.

Key Benefits Achieved

Better understanding of what is driving costs and how to keep them in check.

Activities

2.1 Develop architectural patterns

2.2 Define dashboards and reports

2.3 Define account structure

2.4 Document tagging requirements

Outputs

Architectural patterns; service cost cheat sheet

Dashboards and reports

Account structure

Tagging scheme

3 Define Processes & Procedures

The Purpose

Develop processes, procedures, and policies to control cloud costs.

Key Benefits Achieved

Improved capability of reducing costs.

Documented processes & procedures for continuous improvement.

Activities

3.1 Establish governance for tagging

3.2 Establish governance for costs

3.3 Define right-sizing process

3.4 Define purchasing process

3.5 Define notification and alerts

Outputs

Tagging policy

Cost control policy

Right-sizing process

Commitment purchasing process

Notifications and alerts

4 Build an Implementation Plan

The Purpose

Document next steps to implement & improve cloud cost management program.

Key Benefits Achieved

Concrete roadmap to stand up and/or improve the cloud cost management program.

Activities

4.1 Document process interaction changes

4.2 Define cloud cost program KPIs

4.3 Build implementation roadmap

4.4 Build communication plan

Outputs

Changes to process interactions

Cloud cost program KPIs

Implementation roadmap

Communication plan

Adapt Your Customer Experience Strategy to Successfully Weather COVID-19

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  • Parent Category Name: Customer Relationship Management
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  • COVID-19 is an unprecedented global pandemic. It’s creating significant challenges across every sector.
  • Collapse of financial markets and a steep decline in consumer confidence has most firms nervous about revenue shortfalls and cash burn rates.
  • The economic impact of COVID-19 is freezing IT budgets and sharply changing IT priorities.
  • The human impact of COVID-19 is likely to lead to staffing shortfalls and knowledge gaps.
  • COVID-19 may be in play for up to two years.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

The challenges posed by the virus are compounded by the fact that consumer expectations for strong service delivery remain high:

  • Customers still expect timely, on-demand service from the businesses they engage with.
  • There is uncertainty about how to maintain strong, revenue-driving experiences when faced with the operational challenges posed by the virus.
  • COVID-19 is changing how organizations prioritize spending priorities within their CXM strategies.

Impact and Result

  • Info-Tech recommends rapidly updating your strategy for customer experience management to ensure it can rise to the occasion.
  • Start by assessing the risk COVID-19 poses to your CXM approach and how it’ll impact marketing, sales, and customer service functions.
  • Implement actionable measures to blunt the threat of COVID-19 while protecting revenue, maintaining consistent product and service delivery, and improving the integrity of your brand. We’ll dive into five proven techniques in this brief!

Adapt Your Customer Experience Strategy to Successfully Weather COVID-19 Research & Tools

Start here

Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should examine the impact of COVID-19 on customer experience strategy, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

  • Adapt Your Customer Experience Strategy to Successfully Weather COVID-19 Storyboard

1. Assess the impact of COVID-19 on your CXM strategy

Create a consolidated, updated view of your current customer experience management strategy and identify which elements can be capitalized on to dampen the impact of COVID-19 and which elements are vulnerabilities that the pandemic may threaten to exacerbate.

2. Blunt the damage of COVID-19 with new CXM tactics

Create a roadmap of business and technology initiatives through the lens of customer experience management that can be used to help your organization protect its revenue, maintain customer engagement, and enhance its brand integrity.

[infographic]

Set Meaningful Employee Performance Measures

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  • Parent Category Name: Manage & Coach
  • Parent Category Link: /manage-coach
  • Despite the importance of performance measures, most organizations struggle with choosing appropriate metrics and standards of performance for their employees.
  • Performance measures are often misaligned with the larger strategy, gamed by employees, or too narrow to provide an accurate picture of employee achievements.
  • Additionally, many organizations track too many metrics, resulting in a bureaucratic nightmare with little payoff.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

  • Focus on what matters by aligning your departmental goals with the enterprise's mission and business goals. Break down departmental goals into specific goals for each employee group.
  • Employee engagement, which results in better performance, is directly correlated with employees’ understanding what is expected of them on the job and with their performance reviews reflecting their actual contributions.
  • Shed unnecessary metrics in favor of a lean, holistic approach to performance measurement. Include quantitative, qualitative, and behavioral dimensions in each goal and set appropriate measures for each dimension to meet simple targets. This encourages well-rounded behaviors and discourages rogue behavior.
  • Get rid of the stick-and-carrot approach to management. Use performance measurement to inspire and engage employees, not punish them.

Impact and Result

  • Learn about and leverage the McLean & Company framework and process to effective employee performance measurement setting.
  • Plan effective communications and successfully manage departmental employee performance measurement by accurately recording goals, measures, and requirements.
  • Find your way through the maze of employee performance management with confidence.

Set Meaningful Employee Performance Measures Research & Tools

Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

1. Set Meaningful Employee Performance Measures Storyboard – This deck provides a comprehensive framework for setting, communicating, and reviewing employee performance measures that will drive business results

This research will help you choose an appropriate measurement framework, set effective measures. and communicate and review your performance measures. Use Info-Tech's process to set meaningful measures that will inspire employees and drive performance.

  • Set Meaningful Employee Performance Measures Storyboard

2. Employee Performance Measures Goals Cascade – A tool to assist you in turning your organizational goals into meaningful individual employee performance measures.

This tool will help you set departmental goals based on organizational mission and business goals and choose appropriate measures and weightings for each goal. Use this template to plan a comprehensive employee measurement system.

  • Employee Performance Measures Goals Cascade

3. Employee Performance Measures Template – A template for planning and tracking your departmental goals, employee performance measures, and reporting requirements.

This tool will help you set departmental goals based on your organizational mission and business goals, choose appropriate measures and weightings for each goal, and visualize you progress toward set goals. Use this template to plan and implement a comprehensive employee measurement system from setting goals to communicating results.

  • Employee Performance Measures Template

4. Feedback and Coaching Guide for Managers – A tool to guide you on how to coach your team members.

Feedback and coaching will improve performance, increase employee engagement, and build stronger employee manager relationships. Giving feedback is an essential part of a manger's job and if done timely can help employees to correct their behavior before it becomes a bigger problem.

  • Feedback and Coaching Guide for Managers

Infographic

Workshop: Set Meaningful Employee Performance Measures

Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

1 Source and Set Goals

The Purpose

Ensure that individual goals are informed by business ones.

Key Benefits Achieved

Individuals understand how their goals contribute to organizational ones.

Activities

1.1 Understand how your department contributes to larger organizational goals.

1.2 Determine the timelines you need to measure employees against.

1.3 Set Business aligned department, team, and individual goals.

Outputs

Business-aligned department and team goals

Business-aligned individual goals

2 Design Measures

The Purpose

Create holistic performance measures.

Key Benefits Achieved

Holistic performance measures are created.

Activities

2.1 Choose your employee measurement framework: generic or individual.

2.2 Define appropriate employee measures for preestablished goals.

2.3 Determine employee measurement weightings to drive essential behaviors.

Outputs

Determined measurement framework

Define employee measures.

Determined weightings

3 Communicate to Implement and Review

The Purpose

Learn how to communicate measures to stakeholders and review measures.

Key Benefits Achieved

Learn how to communicate to stakeholders and coach employees through blockers.

Activities

3.1 Learn how to communicate selected performance measures to stakeholders.

3.2 How to coach employees though blockers.

3.3 Reviewing and updating measures.

Outputs

Effective communication with stakeholders

Coaching and feedback

When to update

4 Manager Training

The Purpose

Train managers in relevant areas.

Key Benefits Achieved

Training delivered to managers.

Activities

4.1 Deliver Build a Better Manager training to managers.

4.2

Outputs

Manager training delivered

Further reading

Set Meaningful Employee Performance Measures

Set holistic measures to inspire employee performance.

EXECUTIVE BRIEF

Set employees up for success by implementing performance measures that inspire great performance, not irrelevant reporting.

Executive Summary

Your Challenge

In today’s competitive environment, managers must assess and inspire employee performance in order to assess the achievement of business goals.

Despite the importance of performance measures, many leaders struggle with choosing appropriate metrics.

Performance measures are often misaligned with the larger strategy, gamed by employees, or are too narrow to provide an accurate picture of employee achievements.

Common Obstacles

Managers who invest time in creating more effective performance measures will be rewarded with increased employee engagement and better employee performance.

Too little time setting holistic employee measures often results in unintended behaviors and gaming of the system.

Conversely, too much time setting employee measures will result in overreporting and underperforming employees.

Info-Tech’s Approach

Info-Tech helps managers translate organizational goals to employee measures. Communicating these to employees and other stakeholders will help managers keep better track of workforce productivity, maintain alignment with the organization’s business strategy, and improve overall results.

Info-Tech Insight

Performance measures are not about punishing bad performance, but inspiring higher performance to achieve business goals.

Meaningful performance measures drive employee engagement...

Clearly defined performance measures linked to specific goals bolster engagement by showing employees the importance of their contributions.

Significant components of employee engagement are tied to employee performance measures.

A diagram of employee engagement survey and their implications.

Which, in turn, drives business success.

Improved employee engagement is proven to improve employee performance. Setting meaningful measures can impact your bottom line.

Impact of Engagement on Performance

A diagram that shows Percent of Positive Responses Among Engaged vs. Disengaged
Source: McLean & Company Employee Engagement Survey Jan 2020-Jan 2023; N=5,185 IT Employees; were either Engaged or Disengaged (Almost Engaged and Indifferent were not included)

Engaged employees don’t just work harder, they deliver higher quality service and products.

Engaged employees are significantly more likely to agree that they regularly accomplish more than what’s expected of them, choose to work extra hours to improve results, and take pride in the work they do.

Without this sense of pride and ownership over the quality-of-service IT provides, IT departments are at serious risk of not being able to deliver quality service, on-time and on-budget.

Create meaningful performance measures to drive employee engagement by helping employees understand how they contribute to the organization.

Unfortunately, many employee measures are meaningless and fail to drive high-quality performance.

Too many ineffective performance measures create more work for the manager rather than inspire employee performance. Determine if your measures are worth tracking – or if they are lacking.

Meaningful performance measures are:

Ineffective performance measures are:

Clearly linked to organizational mission, values, and objectives.

Based on a holistic understanding of employee performance.

Relevant to organizational decision-making.

Accepted by employees and managers.

Easily understood by employees and managers.

Valid: relevant to the role and goals and within an employee’s control.

Reliable: consistently applied to assess different employees doing the same job.

Difficult to track, update, and communicate.

Easily gamed by managers or employees.

Narrowly focused on targets rather than the quality of work.

The cause of unintended outcomes or incentive for the wrong behaviors.

Overly complex or elaborate.

Easily manipulated due to reliance on simple calculations.

Negotiable without taking into account business needs, leading to lower performance standards.

Adopt a holistic approach to create meaningful performance measurement

A diagram that shows a holistic approach to create meaningful performance measurement, including inputs, organizational costs, department goals, team goals, individual goals, and output.

Info-Tech’s methodology to set the stage for more effective employee measures

1. Source and Set Goals

Phase Steps
1.1 Create business-aligned department and team goals
1.2 Create business-aligned individual goals

Phase Outcomes
Understand how your department contributes to larger organizational goals.
Determine the timelines you need to measure employees against.
Set business-aligned department, team, and individual goals.

2. Design Measures

Phase Steps
1.1 Choose measurement framework
1.2 Define employee measures
1.3 Determine weightings

Phase Outcomes
Choose your employee measurement framework: generic or individual.
Define appropriate employee measures for preestablished goals.
Determine employee measurement weightings to drive essential behaviors.
Ensure employee measures are communicated to the right stakeholders.

3. Communicate to Implement and Review

Phase Steps
1.1 Communicate to stakeholders
1.2 Coaching and feedback
1.3 When to update

Phase Outcomes
Communicate selected performance measure to stakeholders.
Learn how to coach employees though blockers.
Understand how to review and when to update measures.

Info-Tech offers various levels of support to best suit your needs

DIY Toolkit
"Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful."

Guided Implementation
"Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track."

Workshop
"We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place."

Consulting
"Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project."

Diagnostics and consistent frameworks are used throughout all four options.

Guided Implementation

A Guided Implementation (GI) is a series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization.

A typical GI is four to six calls over the course of two to four months.

What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

A diagram that shows Guided Implementation in 3 phases.

Annual CIO Survey Report 2024

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  • Parent Category Name: Innovation
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CIOs today face increasing pressures, disruptive emerging technologies, talent shortages, and a slew of other challenges. What are their top concerns, priorities, and technology bets that will define the future direction of IT?

CIO responses to our Future of IT 2024 survey reveal key insights on spending projects, the potential disruptions causing the most concern, plans for adopting emerging technology, and how firms are responding to generative AI.

See how CIOs are sizing up the opportunities and threats of the year ahead

Map your organization’s response to the external environment compared to CIOs across geographies and industries. Learn:

  • The CIO view on continuing concerns such as cybersecurity.
  • Where they rate their IT department’s maturity.
  • What their biggest concerns and budget increases are.
  • How they’re approaching third-party generative AI tools.

Annual CIO Survey Report 2024 Research & Tools

Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

1. Future of IT Survey 2024 – A summary of key insights from the CIO responses to our Future of IT 2024 survey.

Take the pulse of the IT industry and see how CIOs are planning to approach 2024.

  • Annual CIO Survey Report for 2024
[infographic]

Further reading

Annual CIO Survey Report 2024

An inaugural look at what's on the minds of CIOs.

1. Firmographics

  • Region
  • Title
  • Organization Size
  • IT Budget Size
  • Industry

Firmographics

The majority of CIO responses came from North America. Contributors represent regions from around the world.

Countries / Regions Response %
United States 47.18%
Canada 11.86%
Australia 9.60%
Africa 6.50%
China 0.28%
Germany 1.13%
United Kingdom 5.37%
India 1.41%
Brazil 1.98%
Mexico 0.56%
Middle East 4.80%
Asia 0.28%
Other country in Europe 4.52%

n=354

Firmographics

A typical CIO respondent held a C-level position at a small to mid-sized organization.

Half of CIOs hold a C-level position, 10% are VP-level, and 20% are director level

Pie Chart of CIO positions

38% of respondents are from an organization with above 1,000 employees

Pie chart of size of organizations

Firmographics

A typical CIO respondent held a C-level position at a small to mid-sized organization.

40% of CIOs report an annual budget of more than $10 million

Pie chart of CIO annual budget

A range of industries are represented, with 29% of respondents in the public sector or financial services

Range of industries

2. Key Factors

  • IT Maturity
  • Disruptive Factors
  • IT Spending Plans
  • Talent Shortage

Two in three respondents say IT can deliver outcomes that Support or Optimize the business

IT drives outcomes

Most CIOs are concerned with cybersecurity disruptions, and one in four expect a budget increase of above 10%

How likely is it that the following factors will disrupt your business in the next 12 months?

Chart for factors that will disrupt your business

Looking ahead to 2024, how will your organization's IT spending change compared to spending in 2023?

Chart of IT spending change

3. Adoption of Emerging Technology

  • Fastest growing tech for 2024 and beyond

CIOs plan the most new spend on AI in 2024 and on mixed reality after 2024

Top five technologies for new spending planned in 2024:

  1. Artificial intelligence - 35%
  2. Robotic process automation or intelligent process automation - 24%
  3. No-code/low-code platforms - 21%
  4. Data management solutions - 14%
  5. Internet of Things (IoT) - 13%

Top five technologies for new spending planned after 2024:

  1. Mixed reality - 20%
  2. Blockchain - 19%
  3. Internet of Things (IoT) - 17%
  4. Robotics/drones - 16%
  5. Robotic process automation or intelligent process automation - 14%

n=301

Info-Tech Insight
Three in four CIOs say they have no plans to invest in quantum computing, more than any other technology with no spending plans.

4. Adoption of AI

  • Interest in generative AI applications
  • Tasks to be completed with AI
  • Progress in deploying AI

CIOs are most interested in industry-specific generative AI applications or text-based

Rate your business interest in adopting the following generative AI applications:

Chart for interest in AI

There is interest across all types of generative AI applications. CIOs are least interested in visual media generators, rating it just 2.4 out of 5 on average.

n=251

Info-Tech Insight
Examples of generative AI solutions specific to the legal industry include Litigate, CoCounsel, and Harvey.

By the end of 2024, CIOs most often plan to use AI for analytics and repetitive tasks

Most popular use cases for AI by end of 2024:

  1. Business analytics or intelligence - 69%
  2. Automate repetitive, low-level tasks - 68%
  3. Identify risks and improve security - 66%
  4. IT operations - 62%
  5. Conversational AI or virtual assistants - 57%

Fastest growing uses cases for AI in 2024:

  1. Automate repetitive, low-level tasks - 39%
  2. IT operations - 38%
  3. Conversational AI or virtual assistants - 36%
  4. Business analytics or intelligence - 35%
  5. Identify risks and improve security - 32%

n=218

Info-Tech Insight
The least popular use case for AI is to help define business strategy, with 45% saying they have no plans for it.

One in three CIOs are running AI pilots or are more advanced with deployment

How far have you progressed in the use of AI?

Chart of progress in use of AI

Info-Tech Insight
Almost half of CIOs say ChatGPT has been a catalyst for their business to adopt new AI initiatives.

5. AI Risk

  • Perceived impact of AI
  • Approach to third-party AI tools
  • AI features in business applications
  • AI governance and accountability

Six in ten CIOs say AI will have a positive impact on their organization

What overall impact do you expect AI to have on your organization?

Overall impact of AI on organization

The majority of CIOs are waiting for professional-grade generative AI tools

Which of the following best describes your organization's approach to third-party generative AI tools (such as ChatGPT or Midjourney)?

Third-party generative AI

Info-Tech Insight
Business concerns over intellectual property and sensitive data exposure led OpenAI to announce ChatGPT won't use data submitted via its API for model training unless customers opt in to do so. ChatGPT users can also disable chat history to avoid having their data used for model training (OpenAI).

One in three CIOs say they are accountable for AI, and the majority are exploring it cautiously

Who in your organization is accountable for governance of AI?

Governance of AI

More than one-third of CIOs say no AI governance steps are in place today

What AI governance steps does your organization have in place today?

Chart of AI governance steps

Among organizations that plan to invest in AI in 2024, 30% still say there are no steps in place for AI governance. The most popular steps to take are to publish clear explanations about how AI is used, and to conduct impact assessments (n=170).

Chart of AI governance steps

Among all CIOs, including those that do not plan to invest in AI next year, 37% say no steps are being taken toward AI governance today (n=243).

6. Contribute to Info-Tech's Research Community

  • Volunteer to be interviewed
  • Attend LIVE in Las Vegas

It's not too late; take the Future of IT online survey

Contribute to our tech trends insights

If you haven't already contributed to our Future of IT online survey, we are keeping the survey open to continue to collect insights and inform our research reports and agenda planning process. You can take the survey today. Those that complete the survey will be sent a complimentary Tech Trends 2024 report.

Complete an interview for the Future of IT research project

Help us chart the future course of IT

If you are receiving this for completing the Future of IT online survey, thank you for your contribution. If you are interested in further participation and would like to provide a complementary interview, please get in touch at brian.Jackson@infotech.com. All interview subjects must also complete the online survey.

If you've already completed an interview, thank you very much, and you can look forward to seeing more impacts of your contribution in the near future.

LIVE 2023

Methodology

All data in this report is from Info-Tech's Future of IT online survey 2023 edition.

A CIO focus for the Future of IT

Data in this report represents respondents to the Future of IT online survey conducted by Info-Tech Research Group between May 11 and July 7, 2023.

Only CIO respondents were selected for this report, defined as those who indicated they are the most senior member of their organization's IT department.

This data segment reflects 355 total responses with 239 completing every question on the survey.

Further data from the Future of IT online survey and the accompanying interview process will be featured in Info-Tech's Tech Trends 2024 report this fall and in forthcoming Priorities reports including Applications, Data & EA, CIO, Infrastructure, and Security.

Enterprise Architecture

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Demystify enterprise architecture value with key metrics.

Enter Into Mobile Development Without Confusion and Frustration

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  • Parent Category Name: Mobile Development
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  • IT managers don’t know where to start when initiating a mobile program.
  • IT has tried mobile development in the past but didn't achieve success.
  • IT must initiate a mobile program quickly based on business priorities and needs a roadmap based on best practices.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

  • Form factors and mobile devices won't drive success – business alignment and user experience will. Don't get caught up with the latest features in mobile devices.
  • Software emulation testing is not true testing. Get on the device and run your tests.
  • Cross form-factor testing cannot be optimized to run in parallel. Therefore, anticipate longer testing cycles for cross form-factor testing.

Impact and Result

  • Prepare your development, testing, and deployment teams for mobile development.
  • Get a realistic assessment of ROI for the launch of a mobile program.

Enter Into Mobile Development Without Confusion and Frustration Research & Tools

Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

1. Make the Case for a Mobile Program

Understand the current mobile ecosystem. Use this toolkit to help you initiate a mobile development program.

  • Storyboard: Enter Into Mobile Development Without Confusion and Frustration

2. Assess Your Dev Process for Readiness

Review and evaluate your current application development process.

3. Prepare to Execute Your Mobile Program

Prioritize your mobile program based on your organization’s prioritization profile.

  • Mobile Program Tool

4. Communicate with Stakeholders

Summarize the execution of the mobile program.

  • Project Status Communication Worksheet
[infographic]

Workshop: Enter Into Mobile Development Without Confusion and Frustration

Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

1 Build your Future Mobile Development State

The Purpose

Understand the alignment of stakeholder objectives and priorities to mobile dev IT drivers.

Assess readiness of your organization for mobile dev.

Understand how to build your ideal mobile dev process.

Key Benefits Achieved

Identify and address the gaps in your existing app dev process.

Build your future mobile dev state.

Activities

1.1 Getting started

1.2 Assess your current state

1.3 Establish your future state

Outputs

List of key stakeholders

Stakeholder and IT driver mapping and assessment of current app dev process

List of practices to accommodate mobile dev

2 Prepare and Execute your Mobile Program

The Purpose

Assess the impact of mobile dev on your existing app dev process.

Prioritize your mobile program.

Understand the dev practice metrics to gauge success.

Key Benefits Achieved

Properly prepare for the execution of your mobile program.

Calculate the ROI of your mobile program.

Prioritize your mobile program with dependencies in mind.

Build a communication plan with stakeholders.

Activities

2.1 Conduct an impact analysis

2.2 Prepare to execute

2.3 Communicate with stakeholders

Outputs

Impact analysis of your mobile program and expected ROI

Mobile program order of execution and project dependencies mapping

List of dev practice metrics

Build an ERP Strategy and Roadmap

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  • Parent Category Name: Enterprise Resource Planning
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  • Organizations often do not know where to start with an ERP project.
  • They focus on tactically selecting and implementing the technology.
  • ERP projects are routinely reported as going over budget, over schedule, and they fail to realize any benefits.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

  • An ERP strategy is an ongoing communication tool for the business.
  • Accountability for ERP success is shared between IT and the business.
  • An actionable roadmap provides a clear path to benefits realization.

Impact and Result

  • Align the ERP strategy and roadmap with business priorities, securing buy-in from the business for the program.
  • Identification of gaps, needs, and opportunities in relation to business processes; ensuring the most critical areas are addressed.
  • Assess alternatives for the critical path(s) most relevant to your organization’s direction.

Build an ERP Strategy and Roadmap Research & Tools

Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

1. Build an ERP Strategy and Roadmap – A comprehensive guide to align business and IT on what the organization needs from their ERP.

A business-led, top-management-supported initiative partnered with IT has the greatest chance of success.

  • Aligning and prioritizing key business and technology drivers.
  • Clearly defining what is in and out of scope for the project.
  • Getting a clear picture of how the business process and underlying applications support the business strategic priorities.
  • Pulling it all together into an actionable roadmap.
    • Build an ERP Strategy and Roadmap – Phases 1-4
    • ERP Strategy Report Template
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Build an ERP Strategy and Roadmap

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Introduction to ERP

    The Purpose

    To build understanding and alignment between business and IT on what an ERP is and the goals for the project

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Clear understanding of how the ERP supports the organizational goals

    What business processes the ERP will be supporting

    An initial understanding of the effort involved

    Activities

    1.1 Introduction to ERP

    1.2 Background

    1.3 Expectations and goals

    1.4 Align business strategy

    1.5 ERP vision and guiding principles

    1.6 ERP strategy model

    1.7 ERP operating model

    Outputs

    ERP strategy model

    ERP Operating model

    2 Build the ERP operation model

    The Purpose

    Generate an understanding of the business processes, challenges, and application portfolio currently supporting the organization.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    An understanding of the application portfolio supporting the business

    Detailed understanding of the business operating processes and pain points

    Activities

    2.1 Build application portfolio

    2.2 Map the level 1 ERP processes including identifying stakeholders, pain points, and key success indicators

    2.3 Discuss process and technology maturity for each level 1 process

    Outputs

    Application portfolio

    Mega-processes with level 1 process lists

    3 Project set up

    The Purpose

    A project of this size has multiple stakeholders and may have competing priorities. This section maps those stakeholders and identifies their possible conflicting priorities.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    A prioritized list of ERP mega-processes based on process rigor and strategic importance

    An understanding of stakeholders and competing priorities

    Initial compilation of the risks the organization will face with the project to begin early mitigation

    Activities

    3.1 ERP process prioritization

    3.2 Stakeholder mapping

    3.3 Competing priorities review

    3.4 Initial risk register compilation

    Outputs

    Prioritized ERP operating model

    Stakeholder map.

    Competing priorities list.

    Initial risk register.

    4 Roadmap and presentation review

    The Purpose

    Select a future state and build the initial roadmap to set expectations and accountabilities.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Identification of the future state

    Initial roadmap with expectations on accountability and timelines

    Activities

    4.1 Discuss future state options

    4.2 Build initial roadmap

    4.3 Review of final deliverable

    Outputs

    Future state options

    Initiative roadmap

    Draft final deliverable

    Further reading

    Build an ERP Strategy and Roadmap

    Align business and IT to successfully deliver on your ERP initiative

    Table of Contents

    Analyst Perspective

    Phase 3: Plan Your Project

    Executive Summary

    Step 3.1: Stakeholders, risk, and value

    Phase 1: Build Alignment and Scope

    Step 3.2: Project set up

    Step 1.1: Aligning Business and IT

    Phase 4: Next Steps

    Step 1.2: Scope and Priorities

    Step 4.1: Build your roadmap

    Phase 2: Define Your ERP

    Step 4.2: Wrap up and present

    Step 2.1: ERP business model

    Summary of Accomplishment

    Step 2.2: ERP processes and supporting applications

    Research Contributors

    Step 2.3: Process pains, opportunities, and maturity

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Bibliography

    Build an ERP Strategy and Roadmap

    Align business and IT to successfully deliver on your ERP initiative

    EXECUTIVE BRIEF

    Analyst Perspective

    A foundational ERP strategy is critical to decision making.

    Photo of Robert Fayle, Research Director, Enterprise Applications, Info-Tech Research Group.

    Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a core tool that the business leverages to accomplish its goals. An ERP that is doing its job well is invisible to the business. The challenges come when the tool is no longer invisible. It has become a source of friction in the functioning of the business

    ERP systems are expensive, their benefits are difficult to quantify, and they often suffer from poor user satisfaction. Post-implementation, technology evolves, organizational goals change, and the health of the system is not monitored. This is complicated in today’s digital landscape with multiple integration points, siloed data, and competing priorities.

    Too often organizations jump into selecting replacement systems without understanding the needs of the organization. Alignment between business and IT is just one part of the overall strategy. Identifying key pain points and opportunities, assessed in the light of organizational strategy, will provide a strong foundation to the transformation of the ERP system.

    Robert Fayle
    Research Director, Enterprise Applications
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    Organizations often do not know where to start with an ERP project. They focus on tactically selecting and implementing the technology but ignore the strategic foundation that sets the ERP system up for success. ERP projects are routinely reported as going over budget, over schedule, and they fail to realize any benefits.

    Common Obstacles

    ERP projects impact the entire organization – they are not limited to just financial and operating metrics. The disruption is felt during both implementation and in the production environment.

    Missteps early on can cost time, financial resources, and careers. Roughly 55% of ERP projects reported being over budget, and two-thirds of organizations implementing ERP realized less than half of their anticipated benefits.

    Info-Tech’s Approach

    Obtain organizational buy-in and secure top management support. Set clear expectations, guiding principles, and critical success factors.

    Build an ERP operating model/business model that identifies process boundaries, scope, and prioritizes requirements. Assess stakeholder involvement, change impact, risks, and opportunities.

    Understand the alternatives your organization can choose for the future state of ERP. Develop an actionable roadmap and meaningful KPIs that directly align with your strategic goals.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Accountability for ERP success is shared between IT and the business. There is no single owner of an ERP. A unified approach to building your strategy promotes an integrated roadmap so all stakeholders have clear direction on the future state.

    Insight summary

    Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems facilitate the flow of information across business units. It allows for the seamless integration of systems and creates a holistic view of the enterprise to support decision making.

    In many organizations, the ERP system is considered the lifeblood of the enterprise. Problems with this key operational system will have a dramatic impact on the ability of the enterprise to survive and grow.

    A measured and strategic approach to change will help mitigate many of the risks associated with ERP projects, which will avoid the chances of these changes becoming the dreaded “career killers.”

    A business led, top management supported initiative partnered with IT has the greatest chance of success.

    • A properly scoped ERP project reduces churn and provides all parts of the business with clarity.
    • This blueprint provides the business and IT the methodology to get the right level of detail for the business processes that the ERP supports so you can avoid getting lost in the details.
    • Build a successful ERP Strategy and roadmap by:
      • Aligning and prioritizing key business and technology drivers.
      • Clearly defining what is in and out of scope for the project.
      • Providing a clear picture of how the business process and underlying applications support the business strategic priorities.
      • Pulling it all together into an actionable roadmap.

    Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

    What is ERP?

    Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems facilitate the flow of information across business units. They allow for the seamless integration of systems and create a holistic view of the enterprise to support decision making.

    In many organizations, the ERP system is considered the lifeblood of the enterprise. Problems with this key operational system will have a dramatic impact on the ability of the enterprise to survive and grow.

    An ERP system:

    • Automates processes, reducing the amount of manual, routine work.
    • Integrates with core modules, eliminating the fragmentation of systems.
    • Centralizes information for reporting from multiple parts of the value chain to a single point.

    A diagram visualizing the many aspects of ERP and the categories they fall under. Highlighted as 'Supply Chain Management' are 'Supply Chain: Procure to Pay' and 'Distribution: Forecast to Delivery'. Highlighted as 'Customer Relationship Management' are 'Sales: Quote to Cash', 'CRM: Market to Order', and 'Customer Service: Issue to Resolution'.

    ERP use cases:

    • Product-Centric
      Suitable for organizations that manufacture, assemble, distribute, or manage material goods.
    • Service-Centric
      Suitable for organizations that provide and manage field services and/or professional services.

    ERP by the numbers

    50-70%
    Statistical analysis of ERP projects indicates rates of failure vary from 50 to 70%. Taking the low end of those analyst reports, one in two ERP projects is considered a failure. (Source: Saxena and Mcdonagh)

    85%
    Companies that apply the principles of behavioral economics outperform their peers by 85% in sales growth and more than 25% in gross margin. (Source: Gallup)

    40%
    Nearly 40% of companies said functionality was the key driver for the adoption of a new ERP. (Source: Gheorghiu)

    ERP dissatisfaction

    Drivers of Dissatisfaction
    Business
    • Misaligned objectives
    • Product fit
    • Changing priorities
    • Lack of metrics
    Data
    • Access to data
    • Data hygiene
    • Data literacy
    • One view of the customer
    People and teams
    • User adoption
    • Lack of IT support
    • Training (use of data and system)
    • Vendor relations
    Technology
    • Systems integration
    • Multi-channel complexity
    • Capability shortfall
    • Lack of product support

    Finance, IT, Sales, and other users of the ERP system can only optimize ERP with the full support of each other. The cooperation of the departments is crucial when trying to improve ERP technology capabilities and customer interaction.

    Info-Tech Insight

    While technology is the key enabler of building strong customer experiences, there are many other drivers of dissatisfaction. IT must stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the business to develop a technology framework for ERP.

    Info-Tech’s methodology for developing a foundational ERP strategy and roadmap

    1. Build alignment and scope 2. Define your ERP 3. Plan your project 4. Next Steps
    Phase Steps
    1. Aligning business and IT
    2. Scope and priorities
    1. ERP Business Model
    2. ERP processes and supporting applications
    3. Process pains, opportunities & maturity
    1. Stakeholders, risk & value
    2. Project set up
    1. Build your roadmap
    2. Wrap up and present
    Phase Outcomes Discuss organizational goals and how to advance those using the ERP system. Establish the scope of the project and ensure that business and IT are aligned on project priorities. Build the ERP business model then move on to the top level (mega) processes and an initial list of the sub-processes. Generate a list of applications that support the identified processes. Conclude with a complete view of the mega-processes and their sub-processes. Map out your stakeholders to evaluate their impact on the project, build an initial risk register and discuss group alignment. Conclude the phase by setting the initial core project team and their accountabilities to the project. Review the different options to solve the identified pain points then build out a roadmap of how to get to that solution. Build a communication plan as part of organizational change management, which includes the stakeholder presentation.

    Blueprint deliverables

    Each step of this blueprint is accompanied by supporting deliverables to help you accomplish your goals:

    Sample of the Key Deliverable 'ERP Strategy Report'.

    ERP Strategy Report

    Complete an assessment of processes, prioritization, and pain points, and create an initiative roadmap.

    Samples of blueprint deliverables related to 'ERP Strategy Report'.

    ERP Business Model
    Align your business and technology goals and objectives in the current environment.
    Sample of the 'ERP Business Model' blueprint deliverable.
    ERP Operating Model
    Identify and prioritize your ERP top-level processes.
    Sample of the 'ERP Operating Model' blueprint deliverable.
    ERP Process Prioritization
    Assess ERP processes against the axes of rigor and strategic importance.
    Sample of the 'ERP Process Prioritization' blueprint deliverable.
    ERP Strategy Roadmap
    A data-driven roadmap of how to address the ERP pain points and opportunities.
    Sample of the 'ERP Strategy Roadmap' blueprint deliverable.

    Executive Brief Case Study

    INDUSTRY: Aerospace
    SOURCE: Panorama, 2021

    Aerospace organization assesses ERP future state from opportunities, needs, and pain points

    Challenge

    Several issues plagued the aerospace and defense organization. Many of the processes were ad hoc and did not use the system in place, often relying on Excel. The organization had a very large pain point stemming from its lack of business process standardization and oversight. The biggest gap, however, was from the under-utilization of the ERP software.

    Solution

    By assessing the usage of the system by employees and identifying key workarounds, the gaps quickly became apparent. After assessing the organization’s current state and generating recommendations from the gaps, it realized the steps needed to achieve its desired future state. The analysis of the pain points generated various needs and opportunities that allowed the organization to present and discuss its key findings with executive leadership to set milestones for the project.

    Results

    The overall assessment led the organization to the conclusion that in order to achieve its desired future state and maximize ROI from its ERP, the organization must address the internal issues prior to implementing the upgraded software.

    Info-Tech offers various levels of support to best suit your needs

    DIY Toolkit

    Guided Implementation

    Workshop

    Consulting

    "Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful." "Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track." "We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place." "Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project."

    Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options

    Guided Implementation

    What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

    A Guided Implementation (GI) is a series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization.

    A typical GI is between eight to twelve calls over the course of four to six months.

    Phase 1

    • Call #1: Scoping call to understand the current situation.
    • Call #2: Establish business & IT alignment and project scope.

    Phase 2

    • Call #3: Discuss the ERP Strategy business model and mega-processes.
    • Call #4: Begin the drill down on the level 1 processes.

    Phase 3

    • Call #5: Establish the stakeholder map and project risks.
    • Call #6: Discuss project setup including stakeholder commitment and accountability.

    Phase 4

    • Call #7: Discuss resolution paths and build initial roadmap.
    • Call #8: Summarize results and plan next steps.

    Workshop Overview

    Contact your account representative for more information.
    workshops@infotech.com1-888-670-8889

    Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5
    Activities
    Introduction to ERP

    1.1 Introduction to ERP

    1.2 Background

    1.3 Expectations and goals

    1.4 Align business strategy

    1.5 ERP vision and guiding principles

    1.6 ERP strategy model

    1.7 ERP operating model

    Build the ERP operating model

    2.1 Build application portfolio

    2.2 Map the level 1 ERP processes including identifying stakeholders, pain points, and key success indicators

    2.3 Discuss process and technology maturity for each level 1 process

    Project set up

    3.1 ERP process prioritization

    3.2 Stakeholder mapping

    3.3 Competing priorities review

    3.4 Initial risk register compilation

    3.5 Workshop retrospective

    Roadmap and presentation review

    4.1 Discuss future state options

    4.2 Build initial roadmap

    4.3 Review of final deliverable

    Next Steps and wrap-up (offsite)

    5.1 Complete in-progress deliverables from previous four days

    5.2 Set up review time for workshop deliverables and to discuss next steps

    Deliverables
    1. ERP strategy model
    2. ERP operating model
    1. Application portfolio
    2. Mega-processes with level 1 process lists
    1. Prioritized ERP operating model
    2. Stakeholder map
    3. Competing priorities list
    4. Initial risk register
    1. Future state options
    2. Initiative roadmap
    3. Draft final deliverable
    1. Completed ERP strategy template
    2. ERP strategy roadmap

    Build an ERP Strategy and Roadmap

    Phase 1

    Build alignment and scope

    Phase 1

    • 1.1 Aligning business and IT
    • 1.2 Scope and priorities

    Phase 2

    • 2.1 ERP Business Model
    • 2.2 ERP processes and supporting applications
    • 2.3 Process pains, opportunities & maturity

    Phase 3

    • 3.1 Stakeholders, risk & value
    • 3.2 Project set up

    Phase 4

    • 4.1 Build your roadmap
    • 4.2 Wrap up and present

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    Build a common language to ensure clear understanding of the organizational needs. Define a vision and guiding principles to aid in decision making and enumerate how the ERP supports achievement of the organizational goals. Define the initial scope of the ERP project. This includes the discussion of what is not in scope.

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • Primary stakeholders in each value stream supported by the ERP
    • ERP Applications support team

    Create a compelling case that addresses strategic business objectives

    When someone at the organization asks you WHY, you need to deliver a compelling case. The ERP project will receive pushback, doubt, and resistance; if you can’t answer the question WHY, you will be left back-peddling.

    When faced with a challenge, prepare for the WHY.

    • Why do we need this?
    • Why are we spending all this money?
    • Why are we bothering?
    • Why is this important?
    • Why did we do it this way?
    • Why did we choose this vendor?

    Most organizations can answer “What?”
    Some organizations can answer “How?”
    Very few organizations have an answer for “Why?”

    Each stage of the project will be difficult and present its own unique challenges and failure points. Re-evaluate if you lose sight of WHY at any stage in the project.

    Step 1.1

    Aligning business and IT

    Activities
    • 1.1.1 Build a glossary
    • 1.1.2 ERP Vision and guiding principles
    • 1.1.3 Corporate goals and ERP benefits

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Building a common language to ensure a clear understanding of the organization’s needs.
    • Creating a definition of your vision and identifying the guiding principles to aid in decision making.
    • Defining how the ERP supports achievement of the organizational goals.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Primary stakeholders in each value stream supported by the ERP
    • ERP Applications support team

    Outcomes of this step

    Business and IT have a shared understanding of how the ERP supports the organizational goals.

    Are we all talking about the same thing?

    Every group has their own understanding of the ERP system, and they may use the same words to describe different things. For example, is there a difference between procurement of office supplies and procurement of parts to assemble an item for sale? And if they are different, do your terms differ (e.g., procurement versus purchasing)?

    Term(s) Definition
    HRMS, HRIS, HCM Human Resource Management System, Human Resource Information System, Human Capital Management. These represent four capabilities of HR: core HR, talent management, workforce management, and strategic HR.
    Finance Finance includes the core functionalities of GL, AR, and AP. It also covers such items as treasury, financial planning and analysis (FP&A), tax management, expenses, and asset management.
    Supply Chain The processes and networks required to produce and distribute a product or service. This encompasses both the organization and the suppliers.
    Procurement Procurement is about getting the right products from the right suppliers in a timely fashion. Related to procurement is vendor contract management.
    Distribution The process of getting the things we create to our customers.
    CRM Customer Relationship Management, the software used to maintain records of our sales and non-sales contact with our customers.
    Sales The process of identifying customers, providing quotes, and converting those quotes to sales orders to be invoiced.
    Customer Service This is the process of supporting customers with challenges and non-sales questions related to the delivery of our products/services.
    Field Service The group that provides maintenance services to our customers.

    Activity 1.1.1 Build a glossary

    1 hour
    1. As a group, discuss the organization’s functional areas, business capabilities, value streams, and business processes.
    2. Ask each of the participants if there are terms or “jargon” that they hear used that they may be unclear on or know that others may not be aware of. Record these items in the table along with a description.
      • Acronyms are particularly important to document. These are often bandied about without explanation. For example, people outside of finance may not understand that FP&A is short for Financial Planning and Analysis.

    Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.

    Sample of the 'ERP Strategy Report Template: Glossary'.

    Download the ERP Strategy Report Template

    Activity 1.1.1 Working slide

    Example/working slide for your glossary. Consider this a living document and keep it up to date.

    Term(s) Definition
    HRMS, HRIS, HCM Human Resource Management System, Human Resource Information System, Human Capital Management. These represent four capabilities of HR: core HR, talent management, workforce management, and strategic HR.
    Finance Finance includes the core functionalities of GL, AR, and AP. It also covers such items as treasury, financial planning and analysis (FP&A), tax management, expenses, and asset management.
    Supply Chain The processes and networks required to produce and distribute a product or service. This encompasses both the organization and the suppliers.
    Procurement Procurement is about getting the right products from the right suppliers in a timely fashion. Related to procurement is vendor contract management.
    Distribution The process of getting the things we create to our customers.
    CRM Customer Relationship Management, the software used to maintain records of our sales and non-sales contact with our customers.
    Sales The process of identifying customers, providing quotes, and converting those quotes to sales orders to be invoiced.
    Customer Service This is the process of supporting customers with challenges and non-sales questions related to the delivery of our products/services.
    Field Service The group that provides maintenance services to our customers.

    Vision and Guiding Principles

    GUIDING PRINCIPLES

    Guiding principles are high-level rules of engagement that help to align stakeholders from the outset. Determine guiding principles to shape the scope and ensure stakeholders have the same vision.

    Creating Guiding Principles

    Guiding principles should be constructed as full sentences. These statements should be able to guide decisions.

    EXAMPLES

    • [Organization] is implementing an ERP system to streamline processes and reduce redundancies, saving time and money.
    • [Organization] is implementing an ERP to integrate disparate systems and rationalize the application portfolio.
    • [Organization] is aiming at taking advantage of best industry practices and strives to minimize the level of customization required in solution.

    Questions to Ask

    1. What is a strong statement that will help guide decision making throughout the life of the ERP project?
    2. What are your overarching requirements for business processes?
    3. What do you ultimately want to achieve?
    4. What is a statement that will ensure all stakeholders are on the same page for the project?

    Activity 1.1.2 – ERP Vision and Project Guiding Principles

    1 hour

    1. As a group, discuss whether you want to create a separate ERP vision statement or re-state your corporate vision and/or goals.
      • An ERP vision statement will provide project-guiding principles, encompass the ERP objectives, and give a rationale for the project.
      • Using the corporate vision/goals will remind the business and IT that the project is to find an ERP solution that supports and enhances the organizational objectives.
    2. Review each of the sample guiding principles provided and ask the following questions:
      1. Do we agree with the statement?
      2. Is this statement framed in the language we used internally? Does everyone agree on the meaning of the statement?
      3. Will this statement help guide our decision-making process?

    Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.

    Sample of the 'ERP Strategy Report Template: Guiding Principles.

    Download the ERP Strategy Report Template

    Activity 1.1.2 – ERP Vision and Project Guiding Principles

    We, [Organization], will select and implement an integrated software suite that enhances the growth and profitability of the organization through streamlined global business processes, real time data-driven decisions, increased employee productivity, and IT investment protection.

    • Support Business Agility: A flexible and adaptable integrated business system providing a seamless user experience.
    • Utilize ERP best practices: Do not recreate or replicate what we have today, focus on modernization. Exercise customization governance by focusing on those customizations that are strategically differentiating.
    • Automate: Take manual work out where we can, empowering staff and improving productivity through automation and process efficiencies.
    • Stay focused: Focus on scope around core business capabilities. Maintain scope control. Prioritize demand in line with the strategy.
    • Strive for “One Source of Truth”: Unify data model and integrate processes where possible. Assess integration needs carefully.

    Align the ERP strategy with the corporate strategy

    Corporate Strategy Unified Strategy ERP Strategy
    • Conveys the current state of the organization and the path it wants to take.
    • Identifies future goals and business aspirations.
    • Communicates the initiatives that are critical for getting the organization from its current state to the future state.
    • ERP optimization can be and should be linked, with metrics, to the corporate strategy and ultimate business objectives.
    • Communicates the organization’s budget and spending on ERP.
    • Identifies IT initiatives that will support the business and key ERP objectives.
    • Outlines staffing and resourcing for ERP initiatives.

    Info-Tech Insight

    ERP projects are more successful when the management team understands the strategic importance and the criticality of alignment. Time needs to be spent upfront aligning business strategies with ERP capabilities. Effective alignment between IT and the business should happen daily. Alignment doesn’t just to occur at the executive level alone, but at each level of the organization.

    1.1.3 – Corporate goals and ERP benefits

    1-2 hours

    1. Discuss the business objectives. Identify two or three objectives that are a priority for this year.
    2. Produce several ways a new ERP system will meet each objective.
    3. Think about the modules and ERP functions that will help you realize these benefits.

    Cost Reduction

    • Decrease Total Cost: Reduce total costs by five percent by January 2022.
    • Decrease Specific Costs: Reduce costs of “x” business unit by ten percent by Jan. next year.

    ERP Benefits

    • Reduce headcount
    • Reallocate workers
    • Reduce overtime
    • Increased compliance
    • Streamlined audit process
    • Less rework due to decrease in errors

    Download the ERP Strategy Report Template

    Activity 1.1.3 – Corporate goals and ERP benefits

    Corporate Strategy ERP Benefits
    End customer visibility (consumer experience)
    • Help OEM’s target customers
    • Keep customer information up-to-date, including contact choices
    • [Product A] process support improvements
    • Ability to survey and track responses
    • Track and improve renewals
    • Service support – improve cycle times for claims, payment processing, and submission quality
    Social responsibility
    • Reduce paper internally and externally
    • Facilitating tracking and reporting of EFT
    • One location for all documents
    New business development
    • Track all contacts
    • Measure where in process the contact is
    • Measure impact of promotions
    Employee experience
    • Improve integration of systems reducing manual processes through automation
    • Better tracking of sales for employee comp
    • Ability to survey employees

    Step 1.2

    Scope and priorities

    Activities
    • 1.2.1 Project scope
    • 1.2.2 Competing priorities

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Define the initial scope of the ERP project. This includes the discussion of what is not in scope. For example, a stand-alone warehouse management system may be out of scope while an existing HRMS could be in scope.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Primary stakeholders in each value stream supported by the ERP
    • ERP Applications support team

    Outcomes of this step

    A project scope statement and a prioritized list of projects that may compete for organizational resources.

    Understand the importance of setting expectations with a scope statement

    Be sure to understand what is in scope for an ERP strategy project. Prevent too wide of a scope to avoid scope creep – for example, we aren’t tackling MMS or BI under ERP.

    A diamond shape with three layers. Inside is 'In Scope', middle is 'Scope Creep', and outside is 'Out of Scope'.

    Establishing the parameters of the project in a scope statement helps define expectations and provides a baseline for resource allocation and planning. Future decisions about the strategic direction of ERP will be based on the scope statement.

    Well-executed requirements gathering will help you avoid expanding project parameters, drawing on your resources, and contributing to cost overruns and project delays. Avoid scope creep by gathering high-level requirements that lead to the selection of category-level application solutions (e.g. HRIS, CRM, PLM etc.) rather than granular requirements that would lead to vendor application selection (e.g. SAP, Microsoft, Oracle, etc.).

    Out-of-scope items should also be defined to alleviate ambiguity, reduce assumptions, and further clarify expectations for stakeholders. Out-of-scope items can be placed in a backlog for later consideration.

    In Scope Out of Scope
    Strategy High-level ERP requirements, strategic direction
    Software selection Vendor application selection, Granular system requirements

    Activity 1.2.1 – Define scope

    1 hour

    1. Formulate a scope statement. Decide which people, processes, and functions the ERP strategy will address. Generally, the aim of this project is to develop strategic requirements for the ERP application portfolio – not to select individual vendors.
    2. To assist in forming your scope statement, answer the following questions:
      • What are the major coverage points?
      • Who will be using the systems?
      • How will different users interact with the systems?
      • What are the objectives that need to be addressed?
      • Where do we start?
      • Where do we draw the line?

    Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.

    Sample of the 'ERP Strategy Report Template: Scope Statements'.

    Download the ERP Strategy Report Template

    Activity 1.2.1 – Define scope

    Scope statements

    The following systems are considered in scope for this project:

    • Finance
    • HRMS
    • CRM
    • Supply chain

    The following systems are out of scope for this project:

    • PLM – product lifecycle management
    • Project management
    • Contract management

    The following systems are in scope, in that they must integrate into the new system. They will not change.

    • Payroll processing
    • Bank accounts
    • EDI software

    Know your competing priorities

    Organizations typically have multiple projects on the table or in flight. Each of those projects requires resources and attention from business and/or the IT organization.

    Don’t let poor prioritization hurt your ERP implementation.
    BNP Paribas Fortis had multiple projects that were poorly prioritized resulting in the time to bring products to market to double over a three-year period. (Source: Neito-Rodriguez, 2016)

    Project Timeline Priority notes Implications
    Warehouse management system upgrade project Early 2022 implementation High Taking IT staff and warehouse team, testing by finance
    Microsoft 365 October 2021-March 2022 High IT Staff, org impacted by change management
    Electronic Records Management April 2022 – Feb 2023 High Legislative requirement, org impact due to record keeping
    Web site upgrade Early fiscal 2023

    Activity 1.2.2 – Competing priorities

    1 hour

    1. As a group, discuss the projects that are currently in flight as well as any known projects including such things as territory expansion or new regulation compliance.
    2. For each project discuss and record the following items:
      • The project timeline. When does it start and how long is it expected to run?
      • How important is this project to the organization? A lot of high priority projects are going to require more attention from the staff involved.
      • What are the implications of this project?
        • What staff will be impacted? What business users will be impacted, and what is the IT involvement?
        • To what extent will the overall organization be impacted? Is it localized to a location or is it organization wide?
        • Can the project be deferred?

    Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.

    Sample of the 'ERP Strategy Report Template: Priorities'.

    Download the ERP Strategy Report Template

    Activity 1.2.2 – Competing priorities

    List all your known projects both current and proposed. Discuss the prioritization of those projects, whether they are more or less important than your ERP project.

    Project Timeline Priority notes Implications
    Warehouse management system upgrade project Early 2022 implementation High Taking IT staff and warehouse team, testing by finance
    Microsoft 365 October 2021-March 2022 High IT Staff, org impacted by change management
    Electronic Records Management April 2022 – Feb 2023 High Legislative requirement, org impact due to record keeping
    Web site upgrade Early fiscal 2023 Medium
    Point of Sale replacement Oct 2021– Mar 2022 Medium
    ERP utilization and training on unused systems Friday, Sept 17 Medium Could impact multiple staff
    Managed Security Service RFP This calendar year Medium
    Mental Health Dashboard In research phase Low

    Build an ERP Strategy and Roadmap

    Phase 2

    Define your ERP

    Phase 1

    • 1.1 Aligning business and IT
    • 1.2 Scope and priorities

    Phase 2

    • 2.1 ERP Business Model
    • 2.2 ERP processes and supporting applications
    • 2.3 Process pains, opportunities & maturity

    Phase 3

    • 3.1 Stakeholders, risk & value
    • 3.2 Project set up

    Phase 4

    • 4.1 Build your roadmap
    • 4.2 Wrap up and present

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    • Build the ERP business model then move on to the top level (mega) processes and an initial list of the sub-processes
    • Generate a list of applications that support the identified processes
    • Assign stakeholders, discuss pain points, opportunities, and key success indicators
    • Assign process and technology maturity to each stakeholder

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • Primary stakeholders in each value stream supported by the ERP
    • ERP applications support team

    Step 2.1

    ERP business model

    Activities
    • 2.1.1 Environmental factors, technology drivers, and business needs
    • 2.1.2 Challenges, pain points, enablers, and organizational goals

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Identify ERP drivers and objectives
    • Explore ERP challenges and pain points
    • Discuss the ERP benefits and opportunities

    This step involves the following participants:

    • ERP implementation team
    • Business stakeholders

    Outcomes of this step

    • ERP business model

    Explore environmental factors and technology drivers

    1. Identify business drivers that are contributing to the organization’s need for ERP.
    2. Understand how the company is running today and what the organization’s future will look like. Try to identify the purpose for becoming an integrated organization.
    3. Consider external considerations, organizational drivers, technology drivers, and key functional requirements
    The ERP Business Model with 'Business Needs', 'Environmental Factors', and 'Technology Drivers' highlighted. At the center is 'ERP Strategy' with 'Barriers' above and 'Enablers' below. Surrounding and feeding into the center group are 'Business Needs', 'Environmental Factors', 'Technology Drivers', and 'Organizational Goals'.
    External Considerations
    • Regulations
    • Elections
    • Availability of resources
    • Staff licensing and certifications
    Organizational Drivers
    • Compliance
    • Scalability
    • Operational efficiency
    • Union agreements
    • Self service
    • Role appropriate dashboards and reports
    • Real time data access
      • Use of data in the system (no exports)
    Technology Considerations
    • Data accuracy
    • Data quality
    • Better reporting
    Functional Requirements
    • Information availability
    • Integration between systems
    • Secure data

    Activity 2.1.1 – Explore environmental factors and technology drivers

    1 hour

    1. Identify business drivers that are contributing to the organization’s need for ERP.
    2. Understand how the company is running today and what the organization’s future will look like. Try to identify the purpose for becoming an integrated organization. Use a whiteboard or flip charts and markers to capture key findings.
    3. Consider External Considerations, Organizational Drivers, Technology Drivers, and Key Functional Requirements.

    Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.

    Sample of the next slide, 'ERP Business Model', with an iconized ERP Business Model and a table highlighting 'Environmental Factors', 'Technology Drivers', and 'Business Needs'.

    Download the ERP Strategy Report Template

    ERP Business Model A iconized version of the ERP Business Model.

    Environmental FactorsTechnology DriversBusiness Needs
    • Regulations
    • Elections
    • Availability of resources
    • Staff licensing and certifications
    • Document storage
    • Cloud security standards
    • Functionality based on deployment
    • Cloud-first based on above
    • Integration with external data suppliers
    • Integration with internal systems (Elite?)
    • Compliance
    • Scalability
    • Operational efficiency
    • Union agreements
    • Self service
    • Role appropriate dashboards and reports
    • Real time data access
    • Use of data in the system (no exports)
    • CapEx vs. OpEx

    Discuss challenges, pain points, enablers and organizational goals

    1. Identify challenges with current systems and processes.
    2. Brainstorm potential barriers to successful ERP selection and implementation. Use a whiteboard and marker to capture key findings.
    3. Consider organizational goals along with barriers and enablers to ERP success.
    The ERP Business Model with 'Organizational Goals', 'Enablers', and 'Barriers' highlighted. At the center is 'ERP Strategy' with 'Barriers' above and 'Enablers' below. Surrounding and feeding into the center group are 'Business Needs', 'Environmental Factors', 'Technology Drivers', and 'Organizational Goals'.
    Functional Gaps
    • No online purchase order requisition
    Technical Gaps
    • Inconsistent reporting – data quality concerns
    Process Gaps
    • Duplication of data
    • Lack of system integration
    Barriers to Success
    • Cultural mindset
    • Resistance to change
    Business Benefits
    • Business-IT alignment
    IT Benefits
    • Compliance
    • Scalability
    Organizational Benefits
    • Data accuracy
    • Data quality
    Enablers of Success
    • Change management
    • Alignment to strategic objectives

    Activity 2.1.2 – Discuss challenges, pain points, enablers, and organizational goals

    1 hour

    1. Identify challenges with the current systems and processes.
    2. Brainstorm potential barriers to successful ERP selection and implementation. Use a whiteboard or flip chart and markers to capture key findings.
    3. Consider functional gaps, technical gaps, process gaps, and barriers to ERP success.
    4. Identify the opportunities and benefits from an integrated system.
    5. Brainstorm potential enablers for successful ERP selection and implementation. Use a whiteboard and markers to capture key findings.
    6. Consider business benefits, IT benefits, organizational benefits, and enablers of success.

    Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.

    Sample of the next slide, 'ERP Business Model', with an iconized ERP Business Model and a table highlighting 'Organizational Goals', 'Enablers', and 'Barriers'.

    Download the ERP Strategy Report Template

    ERP Business Model A iconized version of the ERP Business Model.

    Organizational Goals Enablers Barriers
    • Efficiency
    • Effectiveness
    • Integrity
    • One source of truth for data
    • One team
    • Customer service, external and internal
    • Cross-trained employees
    • Desire to focus on value-add activities
    • Collaborative
    • Top level executive support
    • Effective change management process
    • Organizational silos
    • Lack of formal process documentation
    • Funding availability
    • What goes first? Organizational priorities

    Step 2.2

    ERP processes and supporting applications

    Activities
    • 2.2.1 ERP process inventory
    • 2.2.2 Application portfolio

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Identify the top-level (mega) processes and create an initial list of the sub-processes
    • Generate a list of applications that support the identified processes

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Primary stakeholders in each value stream supported by the ERP
    • ERP applications support team

    Outcomes of this step

    • A list of in scope business processes
    • A list of current applications and services supporting the business processes

    Process Inventory

    In business architecture, the primary view of an organization is known as a business capability map.

    A business capability defines what a business does to enable value creation rather than how.

    Business capabilities:

    • Represent stable business functions
    • Are unique and independent of each other
    • Will typically have a defined business outcome

    A business capability map provides details that help the business architecture practitioner direct attention to a specific area of the business for further assessment.

    A process map titled 'Business capability map (Level 0)' with many processes sectioned off into sections and subsections. The top-left section is 'Products and Services Development' with subsections 'Design'(6 processes) and 'Manufacturing'(3 processes). The top-middle section is 'Revenue Generation'(3 processes) and below that is 'Sourcing'(2 processes). The top-right section is 'Demand Fulfillment'(9 processes). Along the bottom is the section 'Enterprise Management and Planning' with subsections 'Human Resources'(4 processes), 'Business Direction'(4 processes), and 'Finance'(4 processes).

    If you do not have a documented process model, you can use the APQC Framework to help define your inventory of business processes.

    APQC’s Process Classification Framework is a taxonomy of cross-functional business processes intended to allow the objective comparison of organizational performance within and among organizations.

    APQC’s Process Classification Framework

    Activity 2.2.1 – Process inventory

    2-4 hours

    1. As a group, discuss the business capabilities, value streams, and business processes.
    2. For each capability determine the following:
      • Is this capability applicable to our organization?
      • What application, if any, supports this capability?
    3. Are there any missing capabilities to add?

    Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.

    Sample of the 'Process Inventory' table on the next slide.

    Download the ERP Strategy Report Template

    Activity 2.2.1 – Process inventory

    Core Finance Core HR Workforce Management Talent Management Warehouse Management Enterprise Asset Management
    Process Technology Process Technology Process Technology Process Technology Process Technology Process Technology
    • General ledger
    • Accounts payable
    • Accounts receivable
    • GL consolidation
    • Cash management
    • Billing and invoicing
    • Expenses
    • Payroll accounting
    • Tax management
    • Reporting
    • Payroll administration
    • Benefits administration
    • Position management
    • Organizational structure
    • Core HR records
    • Time and attendance
    • Leave management
    • Scheduling
    • Performance management
    • Talent acquisition
    • Offboarding & onboarding
    • Plan layout
    • Manage inventory
    • Manage loading docks
    • Pick, pack, ship
    • Plan and manage workforce
    • Manage returns
    • Transfer product cross-dock
    • Asset lifecycle management
    • Supply chain management
    • Maintenance planning & scheduling
    Planning & Budgeting Strategic HR Procurement Customer Relationship Management Facilities Management Project Management
    Process Technology Process Technology Process Technology Process Technology Process Technology Process Technology
    • Budget reporting
    • Variance analysis
    • Multi-year operating plan
    • Monthly forecasting
    • Annual operating plan
    • Compensation planning
    • Workforce planning
    • Succession planning
    • Supplier management
    • Purchase order management
    • Workflow approvals
    • Contract / tender management
    • Contact management
    • Activity management
    • Analytics
    • Plan and acquire
    • Asset maintenance
    • Disposal
    • Project management
    • Project costing
    • Budget control
    • Document management

    Complete an inventory collection of your application portfolio

    MANAGED vs. UNMANAGED APPLICATION ENVIRONMENTS

    • Managed environments make way for easier inventory collection since there is significant control as to what applications can be installed on a company asset. Organizations will most likely have a comprehensive list of supported and approved applications.
    • Unmanaged environments are challenging to control because users are free to install any applications on company assets, which may or may not be supported by IT.
    • Most organizations fall somewhere in between – there is usually a central repository of applications and several applications that are exceptions to the company policies. Ensure that all applications are accounted for.

    Determine your inventory collection method:

    MANUAL INVENTORY COLLECTION
    • In its simplest form, a spreadsheet is used to document your application inventory.
    • For large organizations, reps interview all business domains to create a list of installed applications.
    • Conducting an end-user survey within your business domains is one way to gather your application inventory and assess quality.
    • This manual approach is most appropriate for smaller organizations with small application portfolios across domains.
    AUTOMATED INVENTORY COLLECTION
    • Using inventory collection compatibility tools, discover all of the supported applications within your organization.
    • This approach may not capture all applications, depending on the parameters of your automated tool.
    • This approach works well in a managed environment.

    Activity 2.2.2 – Understand the current application portfolio

    1-2 hours

    1. Brainstorm a list of the applications that support the ERP business processes inventoried in Activity 2.2.1. If an application has multiple instances, list each instance as a separate line item.
    2. Indicate the following for each application:
      1. User satisfaction. This may be more than one entry as different groups – e.g., IT vs. business – may differ.
      2. Processes supported. Refer to processes defined in Activity 2.2.1. Update 2.2.1 if additional processes are identified during this exercise.
      3. Define a future disposition: Keep, Update, Replace. It is possible to have more than one disposition, e.g., Update or Replace is a valid disposition.
    3. [Optional] Collect the following information about each application. This information can be used to calculate the cost per application and total cost per user:
      1. Number of users or user groups
      2. Estimated maintenance costs
      3. Estimated capital costs
      4. Estimated licensing costs
      5. Estimated support costs

    Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.

    Sample of the 'Application Portfolio' table on the next slide.

    Download the ERP Strategy Report Template

    2.2.2 - Application portfolio

    Inventory your applications and assess usage, satisfaction, and disposition

    Application Name Satisfaction Processes Supported Future Disposition
    PeopleSoft Financials Medium and declining ERP – shares one support person with HR Update or Replace
    Time Entry (custom) Low Time and Attendance Replace
    PeopleSoft HR Medium Core HR Update or Replace
    ServiceNow High ITSM
    CSM: Med-Low
    ITSM and CSM
    CSM – complexity and process changes
    Update
    Data Warehouse High IT
    Business: Med-Low
    BI portal – Tibco SaaS datamart Keep
    Regulatory Compliance Medium Regulatory software – users need training Keep
    ACL Analytics Low Audit Replace
    Elite Medium Supply chain for wholesale Update (in progress)
    Visual Importer Med-High Customs and taxes Keep
    Custom Reporting application Med-High Reporting solution for wholesale (custom for old system, patched for Elite) Replace

    2.3.1 – Visual application portfolio [optional]

    A diagram of applications and how they connect to each other. There are 'External Systems' and 'Internal Systems' split into three divisions, 'Retail Division', 'Wholesale Division', and 'Corporate Services'. Example external systems are 'Moneris', 'Freight Carriers', and 'Banks'. Example internal systems are 'Retail ERP/POS', 'Elite', and 'Excel'.

    Step 2.3

    Process pains, opportunities, and maturity

    Activities
    • 2.3.1 Level one process inventory with stakeholders
    • 2.3.2 Process pain points and opportunities
    • 2.3.3 Process key success indicators
    • 2.3.4 Process and technology maturity
    • 2.3.5 Mega-process prioritization

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Assign stakeholders, discuss pain points, opportunities, and key success indicators for the mega-processes identified in Step 2.1
    • Assign process and technology maturity to each prioritizing the mega-processes

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Primary stakeholders in each value stream supported by the ERP
    • ERP applications support team

    Outcomes of this step

    For each mega-process:

    • Level 1 processes with process and technology maturity assigned
    • Stakeholders identified
    • Process pain points, opportunities, and key success indicators identified
    • Prioritize the mega-processes

    Building out the mega-processes

    Congratulations, you have made it to the “big lift” portion of the blueprint. For each of the processes that were identified in exercise 2.2.1, you will fill out the following six details:

    1. Primary stakeholder(s)
    2. A description of the process
    3. hat level 1 processes/capabilities the mega-process is composed of
    4. Problems the new system must solve
    5. What success will look like when the new system is implemented
    6. The process and technological maturity of each level 1 process.

    Sample of the 'Core Finance' slide in the ERP Strategy Report, as shown on the next slide, with numbers corresponding to the ordered list above. 1 is on a list of 'Stakeholders', 2 is by the 'Description' box, 3 is on the 'Capability' table column, 4 is on the 'Current Pain Points' box, 5 is on the 'Key Success Factors' box, and 6 is on the 'Maturity' ratings column.

    It will take one to three hours per mega-process to complete the six different sections.

    Note:
    For each mega-process identified you will create a separate slide in the ERP Strategy Report. Default slides have been provided. Add or delete as necessary.

    Sample of the 'Core Finance' slide in the ERP Strategy Report. Note on the list of stakeholders reads 'Primary Stakeholders'. Note on the title, Core Finance, reads 'Mega-process name'. Note on the description box reads 'Description of the process'. Note on the 'Key Success Factors' box reads 'What success looks like'. Note on the 'Current Pain Points' box reads 'Problems the new system must solve'. Below is a capability table with columns 'Capability', 'Maturity', and a blank on for notes. Note on the 'Capability' table column reads 'Level 1 process'. Note on the 'Maturity' ratings column reads 'Level 1 process maturity of process and technology'. Note on the notes column reads 'Level 1 process notes'.

    An ERP project is most effective when you follow a structured approach to define, select, implement, and optimize

    Top-down approach

    ERP Strategy
    • Operating Model – Define process strategy, objectives, and operational implications.
    • Level 1 Processes –Define process boundaries, scope at the organization level; the highest level of mega-process.

    • Level 2 Processes – Define processes by function/group which represent the next level of process interaction in the organization.
    • Level 3 Processes – Decompose process by activity and role and identify suppliers, inputs, outputs, customers, metrics, and controls.
    • Functional Specifications; Blueprint and Technical Framework – Refine how the system will support and enable processes; includes functional and technical elements.
    • Org Structure and Change Management – Align org structure and develop change mgmt. strategy to support your target operating model.
    • Implementation and Transition to Operations – Execute new methods, systems, processes, procedures, and organizational structure.
    • ERP Optimization and Continuous Improvement – Establish a program to monitor, govern, and improve ERP systems and processes.

    *A “stage gate” approach should be used: the next level begins after consensus is achieved for the previous level.

    Activity 2.3.1 – Level 1 process inventory with stakeholders

    1 hour per mega-process

    1. Identify the primary stakeholder for the mega-process. The primary stakeholder is usually the process owner. For example, for core finance the CFO is the process owner/primary stakeholder. Name a maximum of three stakeholders.
    2. In the lower section, detail all the capabilities/processes associated with the mega-process. Be careful to remain at the level 1 process level as it is easy to start identifying the “How” of a process. The “How” is too deep.

    Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.

    Sample of the 'Core Finance' slide in the ERP Strategy Report with the 'Stakeholders' list and 'Capability' table column highlighted.

    Download the ERP Strategy Report Template

    Activity 2.3.2 – Process pain points and opportunities

    30+ minutes per mega-process

    1. As a group, write a clear description of the mega-process. This helps establish alignment on the scope of the mega-process.
    2. Start with the discussion of current pain points with the various capabilities. These pain points will be items that the new solution will have to resolve.

    Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.

    Sample of the 'Core Finance' slide in the ERP Strategy Report with the 'Description', 'Key Success Factors', and 'Current Pain Points' boxes highlighted.

    Download the ERP Strategy Report Template

    Activity 2.3.3 – Key success indicators

    30 minutes per mega-process

    1. Document key success factors that should be base-lined in the existing system to show the overall improvement once the new system is implemented. For example, if month-end close takes 12 days in the current system, target three days for month-end close in the new system.

    Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.

    Sample of the 'Core Finance' slide in the ERP Strategy Report with the 'Description', 'Key Success Factors', and 'Current Pain Points' boxes highlighted.

    Download the ERP Strategy Report Template

    Activity 2.3.4 – Process and technology maturity

    1 hour

    1. For each capability/level 1 process identified determine you level of process maturity:
      • Weak – Ad hoc processes without documentation
      • Moderate – Documented processes that are often executed consistently
      • Strong – Documented processes that include exception handling that are rigorously followed
      • Payroll is an example of a strong process, even if every step is manual. The process is executed the same every time to ensure staff are paid properly and on time.
    2. For each capability/level 1 process identified determine you level of technology maturity:
      • Weak – manual execution and often paper-based
      • Moderate – Some technology support with little automation
      • Strong – The process executed entirely within the technology stack with no manual processes

    Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.

    Sample of the 'Core Finance' slide in the ERP Strategy Report with the 'Maturity' and notes columns highlighted.

    Download the ERP Strategy Report Template

    Activity 2.3.5 – Mega-process prioritization

    1 hour

    1. For the mega-processes identified, map each process’s current state in terms of process rigor versus organizational importance.
      • For process rigor, refer to your process maturity in the previous exercises.
    2. Now, as a group discuss how you want to “move the needle” on each of the processes. Remember that you have a limited capacity so focus on the processes that are, or will be, of strategic importance to the organization. The processes that are placed in the top right quadrant are the ones that are likely the strategic differentiators.

    Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.

    A smaller version of the process prioritization map on the next slide.

    Download the ERP Strategy Report Template.

    ERP Process Prioritization

    Establishing an order of importance can impact vendor selection and implementation roadmap; high priority areas are critical for ERP success.

    A prioritization map placing processes by 'Rigor' and 'Organizational Importance' They are numbered 1-9, 0, A, and B and are split into two colour-coded sets for 'Future (green)' and 'Current(red)'. On the x-axis 'Organizational Importance' ranges from 'Operational' to 'Strategic' and on the y-axis 'Process Rigor' ranges from 'Get the Job Done' to 'Best Practice'. Comparing 'Current' to 'Future', they have all moved up from 'Get the Job Done' into 'Best Practice' territory and a few have migrated over from 'Operational' to 'Strategic'. Processes are 1. Core Finance, 2. Core HR, 3. Workforce Management, 4.Talent Management, 5. Employee Health and Safety, 6. Enterprise Asset Management, 7.Planning & Budgeting, 8. Strategic HR, 9. Procurement Mgmt., 0. CRM, A. Facilities, and B. Project Management.

    Build an ERP Strategy and Roadmap

    Phase 3

    Plan your project

    Phase 1

    • 1.1 Aligning business and IT
    • 1.2 Scope and priorities

    Phase 2

    • 2.1 ERP Business Model
    • 2.2 ERP processes and supporting applications
    • 2.3 Process pains, opportunities & maturity

    Phase 3

    • 3.1 Stakeholders, risk & value
    • 3.2 Project set up

    Phase 4

    • 4.1 Build your roadmap
    • 4.2 Wrap up and present

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    • Map out your stakeholders to evaluate their impact on the project
    • Build an initial risk register and ensure the group is aligned
    • Set the initial core project team and their accountabilities and get them started on the project

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • Primary stakeholders in each value stream supported by the ERP
    • ERP Applications support team

    Step 3.1

    Stakeholders, risk, and value

    Activities
    • 3.1.1 Stakeholder analysis
    • 3.1.2 Potential pitfalls and mitigation strategies
    • 3.1.3 Project value [optional]

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Map out your stakeholders to evaluate their impact on the project
    • Build an initial risk register and ensure the group is aligned

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Primary stakeholders in each value stream supported by the ERP
    • ERP Applications support team

    Outcomes of this step

    • An understanding of the stakeholders and their project influence
    • An initial risk register
    • A consensus on readiness to proceed

    Understand how to navigate the complex web of stakeholders in ERP

    Identify which stakeholders to include and what their level of involvement should be during requirements elicitation based on relevant topic expertise.

    Sponsor End User IT Business
    Description An internal stakeholder who has final sign-off on the ERP project. Front-line users of the ERP technology. Back-end support staff who are tasked with project planning, execution, and eventual system maintenance. Additional stakeholders that will be impacted by any ERP technology changes.
    Examples
    • CEO
    • CIO/CTO
    • COO
    • CFO
    • Warehouse personnel
    • Sales teams
    • HR admins
    • Applications manager
    • Vendor relationship manager(s)
    • Director, Procurement
    • VP, Marketing
    • Manager, HR
    Value Executive buy-in and support is essential to the success of the project. Often, the sponsor controls funding and resource allocation. End users determine the success of the system through user adoption. If the end user does not adopt the system, the system is deemed useless and benefits realization is poor. IT is likely to be responsible for more in-depth requirements gathering. IT possesses critical knowledge around system compatibility, integration, and data. Involving business stakeholders in the requirements gathering will ensure alignment between HR and organizational objectives.

    Large-scale ERP projects require the involvement of many stakeholders from all corners and levels of the organization, including project sponsors, IT, end users, and business stakeholders. Consider the influence and interest of stakeholders in contributing to the requirements elicitation process and involve them accordingly.

    An example stakeholder map, categorizing stakeholders by amount of influence and interest.

    Activity 3.1.1 – Map your stakeholders

    1 hour

    1. As a group, identify all the ERP stakeholders. A stakeholder may be an individual such as the CEO or CFO, or it may be a group such as front-line employees.
    2. Map each stakeholder on the quadrant based on their expected Influence and Involvement in the project
    3. [Optional] Color code the users using the scale below to quickly identify the group that the stakeholder belongs to.
      • Sponsor – An internal stakeholder who has final sign-off on the ERP project.
      • End User – Front-line users of the ERP technology.
      • IT – Back-end support staff who are tasked with project planning, execution, and eventual system maintenance.
      • Business – Additional stakeholders that will be impacted by any ERP technology changes.

    Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.

    Preview of the next slide.

    Download the ERP Strategy Report Template

    Slide titled 'Map the organization's stakeholders with a more in-depth example of a stakeholder map and long 'List of Stakeholders'. The quadrants that stakeholders are sorted into by influence and involvement are labelled 'Keep Satisfied (1)', 'Involve Closely (2)', 'Monitor (3)', and 'Keep Informed (4)'.

    Prepare contingency plans to minimize time spent handling unexpected risks

    Understanding the technical and strategic risks of a project can help you establish contingencies to reduce the likelihood of risk occurrence and devise mitigation strategies to help offset their impact if contingencies are insufficient.

    Risk Impact Likelihood Mitigation Effort
    Inadequate budget for additional staffing resources. 2 1 Use internal transfers and role-sharing rather than external hiring.
    Push-back on an ERP solution. 2 2 Use formal communication plans, an ERP steering committee, and change management to overcome organizational readiness.
    Overworked resources. 1 1 Create a detailed project plan that outlines resources and timelines in advance.
    Rating Scale:
    Impact: 1- High Risk 2- Moderate Risk 3- Minimal Risk
    Likelihood: 1- High/Needs Focus 2- Can Be Mitigated 3- Remote Likelihood

    Remember

    The biggest sources of risk in an ERP strategy are lack of planning, poorly defined requirements, and lack of governance.

    Apply the following mitigation tips to avoid pitfalls and delays.

    Risk Mitigation Tips

    • Upfront planning
    • Realistic timelines
    • Resource support
    • Managing change
    • Executive sponsorship
    • Sufficient funding
    • Setting the right expectations

    Activity 3.1.2 – Identify potential project pitfalls and mitigation strategies

    1-2 hours

    1. Discuss what “Impact” and “Likelihood” mean to your organization. For example, define Impact by what is important to your organization – financial loss, reputational impact, employee loss, and process impairment are all possible factors.
    2. Identify potential risks that may impede the successful completion of each work initiative. Risks may include predictable factors such as low resource capability, or unpredictable factors such as a change in priorities leading to withdrawn buy-in.
    3. For each risk, identify mitigation tactics. In some cases, mitigation tactics might take the form of standalone work initiative. For example, if a risk is lack of end-user buy-in, a work initiative to mitigate that risk might be to build an end-user communication plan.

    Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.

    Preview of the next slide.

    Download the ERP Strategy Report Template

    Risks

    Risk Impact Likelihood Mitigation Effort
    Inadequate budget for additional staffing resources. 2 1 Use internal transfers and role-sharing rather than external hiring.
    Push-back on an ERP solution. 2 2 Use formal communication plans, an ERP steering committee, and change management to overcome organizational readiness.
    Overworked resources. 1 1 Create a detailed project plan that outlines resources and timelines in advance.
    Project approval 1 1 Build a strong business case for project approval and allow adequate time for the approval process
    Software does not work as advertised resulting in custom functionality with associated costs to create/ maintain 1 2 Work with staff to change processes to match the software instead of customizing the system thorough needs analysis prior to RFP creation
    Under estimation of staffing levels required, i.e. staff utilized at 25% for project when they are still 100% on their day job 1 2 Build a proper business case around staffing (be somewhat pessimistic)
    EHS system does not integrate with new HRMS/ERP system 2 2
    Selection of an ERP/HRMS that does not integrate with existing systems 2 3 Be very clear in RFP on existing systems that MUST be integrated to
    Rating Scale:
    Impact: 1- High Risk 2- Moderate Risk 3- Minimal Risk
    Likelihood: 1- High/Needs Focus 2- Can Be Mitigated 3- Remote Likelihood

    Is the organization committed to the ERP project?

    A recent study of critical success factors to an ERP implementation identified top management support and interdepartmental communication and cooperation as the top two success factors.

    By answering the seven questions the key stakeholders are indicating their commitment. While this doesn’t guarantee that the top two critical success factors have been met, it does create the conversation to guide the organization into alignment on whether to proceed.

    A table of example stakeholder questions with options 1-5 for how strongly they agree or disagree. 'Strongly disagree - 1', 'Somewhat disagree - 2', 'Neither agree or disagree - 3', 'Somewhat agree - 4', 'Strongly agree - 5'.

    Activity 3.1.3 – Project value (optional)

    30 minutes

    1. As a group, discuss the seven questions in the table. Ensure everyone agrees on what the questions are asking. If necessary, modify the language so that the meaning is clear to everyone.
    2. Have each stakeholder answer the seven questions on their own. Have someone compile the answers looking for:
      1. Any disagrees, strongly, somewhat, or neither as this indicates a lack of clarity. Endeavour to discover what additional information is required.
      2. [Optional] Have the most positive and most negative respondents present their points of view for the group to discuss. Is someone being overly optimistic, or pessimistic? Did the group miss something?

    There are no wrong answers. It should be okay to disagree with any of these statements. The goal of the exercise is to generate conversation that leads to support of the project and collaboration on the part of the participants.

    Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.

    A preview of the next slide.

    Download the ERP Strategy Report Template

    Ask the right questions now to determine the value of the project to the organization

    Please indicate how much you agree or disagree with each of the following statements.

    Question # Question Strongly disagree Somewhat disagree Neither agree nor disagree Somewhat agree Strongly agree
    1. I have everything I need to succeed. 1 2 3 4 5
    2. The right people are involved in the project. 1 2 3 4 5
    3. I understand the process of ERP selection. 1 2 3 4 5
    4. My role in the project is clear to me. 1 2 3 4 5
    5. I am clear about the vision for this project. 1 2 3 4 5
    6. I am nervous about this project. 1 2 3 4 5
    7. There is leadership support for the project. 1 2 3 4 5

    Step 3.2

    Project set up

    Activities
    • 3.2.1 Create the project team
    • 3.2.2 Set the project RACI

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Set the initial core project team and their accountabilities to the project.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Primary stakeholders in each value stream supported by the ERP
    • ERP Applications support team

    Outcomes of this step

    • Identify the core team members and their time commitments.
    • Assign responsibility, accountability or communication needs.

    Identify the right stakeholders for your project team

    Consider the core team functions when composing the project team. It is essential to ensure that all relevant perspectives (business, IT, etc.) are evaluated to create a well-aligned and holistic ERP strategy.

    PROJECT TEAM ROLES

    • Project champion
    • Project advisor
    • Steering committee
    • Project manager
    • Project team
    • Subject matter experts
    • Change management specialist

    PROJECT TEAM FUNCTIONS

    • Collecting all relevant inputs from the business.
    • Gathering high-level requirements.
    • Creating a roadmap.

    Info-Tech Insight

    There may be an inclination towards a large project team when trying to include all relevant stakeholders. Carefully limiting the size of the project team will enable effective decision making while still including functional business units like HR and Finance, as well as IT.

    Activity 3.2.1 – Project team

    1 hour

    1. Considering your ERP project scope, discuss the resources and capabilities necessary, and generate a complete list of key stakeholders considering each of the roles indicated on the chart to the right.
    2. Using the list previously generated, identify a candidate(s) for each role and determine their responsibility in the ERP strategy and their expected time commitment.

    Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.

    Preview of the table on the next slide.

    Download the ERP Strategy Report Template

    Project team

    Of particular importance for this table is the commitment column. It is important that the organization understands the level of involvement for all roles. Failure to properly account for the necessary involvement is a major risk factor.

    Role Candidate Responsibility Commitment
    Project champion John Smith
    • Provide executive sponsorship.
    20 hours/week
    Steering committee
    • Establish goals and priorities.
    • Define scope and approve changes.
    • Provide adequate resources and resolve conflict.
    • Monitor project milestones.
    10 hours/week
    Project manager
    • Prepare and manage project plan.
    • Monitor project team progress.
    • Conduct project team meetings.
    40 hours/week
    Project team
    • Drive day-to-day project activities.
    • Coordinate department communication.
    • Make process and design decisions.
    40 hours/week
    Subject matter experts by area
    • Attend meetings as needed.
    • Respond to questions and inquiries.
    5 hours/week

    Define project roles and responsibilities to improve progress tracking

    Build a list of the core ERP strategy team members and then structure a RACI chart with the relevant categories and roles for the overall project.

    • Responsible – Conducts work to achieve the task
    • Accountable – Answerable for completeness of task
    • Consulted – Provides input for the task
    • Informed – Receives updates on the task

    Benefits of assigning RACI early:

    • Improve project quality by assigning the right people to the right tasks.
    • Improve chances of project task completion by assigning clear accountabilities.
    • Improve project buy-in by ensuring stakeholders are kept informed of project progress, risks, and successes.

    Activity 3.2.2 – Project RACI

    1 hour

    1. The ERP strategy will require a cross-functional team within IT and business units. Make sure the responsibilities are clearly communicated to the selected project sponsor.
    2. Modify the left-hand column to match the activities expected in your project.

    Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.

    Preview of the RACI chart on the next slide.

    Download the ERP Strategy Report Template

    3.2.2 – Project RACI

    Project champion Project advisor Project steering committee Project manager Project team Subject matter experts
    Determine project scope & vision I C A R C C
    Document business goals I I A R I C
    Inventory ERP processes I I A C R R
    Map current state I I A R I R
    Assess gaps and opportunities I C A R I I
    Explore alternatives R R A I I R
    Build a roadmap R A R I I R
    Create a communication plan R A R I I R
    Present findings R A R I I R

    Build an ERP Strategy and Roadmap

    Phase 4

    Next steps

    Phase 1

    • 1.1 Aligning business and IT
    • 1.2 Scope and priorities

    Phase 2

    • 2.1 ERP Business Model
    • 2.2 ERP processes and supporting applications
    • 2.3 Process pains, opportunities & maturity

    Phase 3

    • 3.1 Stakeholders, risk & value
    • 3.2 Project set up

    Phase 4

    • 4.1 Build your roadmap
    • 4.2 Wrap up and present

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    • Review the different options to solve the identified pain points
    • Build out a roadmap showing how you will get to those solutions
    • Build a communication plan that includes the stakeholder presentation

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • Primary stakeholders in each value stream supported by the ERP
    • ERP Applications support team

    Step 4.1

    Build your roadmap

    Activities
    • 4.1.1 Pick your path
    • 4.1.2 Build your roadmap
    • 4.1.3 Visualize your roadmap (optional)

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Review the different options to solve the identified pain points then build out a roadmap of how to get to that solution.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Primary stakeholders in each value stream supported by the ERP
    • ERP Applications support team

    Outcomes of this step

    • A strategic direction is set
    • An initial roadmap is laid out

    Choose the right path for your organization

    There are several different paths you can take to achieve your ideal future state. Make sure to pick the one that suits your needs as defined by your current state.

    A diagram of strategies. At the top is 'Current State', at the bottom is 'Future State', and listed strategies are 'Maintain Current System', 'Augment Current System', 'Optimize', and 'Transform'.

    Explore the options for achieving your ideal future state

    CURRENT STATE STRATEGY
    Your existing application satisfies both functionality and integration requirements. The processes surrounding it likely need attention, but the system should be considered for retention. MAINTAIN CURRENT SYSTEM
    Your existing application is, for the most part, functionally rich, but may need some tweaking. Spend time and effort building and enhancing additional functionalities or consolidating and integrating interfaces. AUGMENT CURRENT SYSTEM
    Your ERP application portfolio consists of multiple apps serving the same functions. Consolidating applications with duplicate functionality is more cost efficient and makes integration and data sharing simpler. OPTIMIZE: CONSOLIDATE AND INTEGRATE SYSTEMS
    Your existing system offers poor functionality and poor integration. It would likely be more cost and time efficient to replace the application and its surrounding processes altogether. TRANSFORM: REPLACE CURRENT SYSTEM

    Option: Maintain your current system

    Resolve your existing process and people pain points

    MAINTAIN CURRENT SYSTEM

    Keep the system, change the process.

    Your existing application satisfies both functionality and integration requirements. The processes surrounding it likely need attention, but the system should be considered for retention.

    Maintaining your current system entails adjusting current processes and/or adding new ones, and involves minimal cost, time, and effort.

    INDICATORS POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS
    People Pain Points
    • Lack of training
    • Low user adoption
    • Lack of change management
    • Contact vendor to inquire about employee training opportunities
    • Build a change management strategy
    Process Pain Points
    • Legacy processes
    • Workarounds and shortcuts
    • Highly specialized processes
    • Inconsistent processes
    • Explore process reengineering and process improvement opportunities
    • Evaluate and standardize processes

    Option: Augment your current system

    Use augmentation to resolve your existing technology and data pain points

    AUGMENT CURRENT SYSTEM

    Add to the system.

    Your existing application is for the most part functionally rich but may need some tweaking. Spend time and effort enhancing your current system.

    You will be able to add functions by leveraging existing system features. Augmentation requires limited investment and less time and effort than a full system replacement.

    INDICATORS POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS
    Technology Pain Points
    • Lack of reporting functions.
    • Lacking functional depth in key process areas.
    • Add point solutions or enable modules to address missing functionality.
    Data Pain Points
    • Poor data quality
    • Lack of data for processing and reporting
    • Single-source data entry
    • Add modules or augment processes to capture data

    Option: Consolidate and integrate

    Consolidate and integrate your current systems to address your technology and data pain points

    CONSOLIDATE AND INTEGRATE SYSTEMS

    Get rid of one system, combine two, or connect many.

    Your ERP application portfolio consists of multiple apps serving the same functions.

    Consolidating your systems eliminates the need to manage multiple pieces of software that provide duplicate functionality. Reducing the number of ERP applications makes integration and data sharing simpler.

    INDICATORS POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS
    Technology Pain Points
    • Disparate and disjointed systems
    • Multiple systems supporting the same function
    • Unused software licenses
    • System consolidation
    • System and module integration
    • Assess usage and consolidate licensing
    Data Pain Points
    • Multiple versions of same data
    • Duplication of data entry in different modules or systems
    • Poor data quality
    • Centralize core records
    • Assign data ownership
    • Single-source data entry

    Option: Replace your current system

    Replace your system to address gaps in your existing processes and various pain points

    REPLACE CURRENT SYSTEM

    Start from scratch.

    You’re transitioning from an end-of-life legacy system. Your existing system offers poor functionality and poor integration. It would likely be more cost and time efficient to replace the application and its surrounding processes all together.

    INDICATORS POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS
    Technology Pain Points
    • Lack of functionality and poor integration.
    • Obsolete technology.
    • Not aligned with technology direction or enterprise architecture plans.
    • Evaluate the ERP technology landscape.
    • Determine if you need to replace the current system with a point solution or an all-in-one solution.
    • Align ERP technologies with enterprise architecture.
    Data Pain Points
    • Limited capability to store and retrieve data.
    • Understand your data requirements.
    Process Pains
    • Insufficient tools to manage workflow.
    • Review end-to-end processes.
    • Assess user satisfaction.

    Activity 4.1.1 – Path to future state

    1+ hour
    1. Discuss the four options and the implications for your organization.
    2. Come to an agreement on your chosen path.

    The same diagram of strategies. At the top is 'Current State', at the bottom is 'Future State', and listed strategies are 'Maintain Current System', 'Augment Current System', 'Optimize', and 'Transform'.

    Activity 4.1.2 – Build a roadmap

    1-2 hours

    1. Start your roadmap with the stakeholder presentation. This is your mark in the sand to launch the project.
    2. For each item on your roadmap assign an owner who will be accountable to the completion of the roadmap item.
    3. Wherever possible, assign a start date, month, or quarter. The more specific you can be the better.
    4. Identify completion dates to create a sense of urgency. If you are struggling with start dates, it can help to start with a finish date and “back in” to a start date based on estimated efforts.

    Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.

    Note:
    Your roadmap should be treated as a living document that is updated and shared with the stakeholders on a regular schedule.

    Preview of the strategy roadmap table on the next slide.

    Download the ERP Strategy Report Template

    ERP Strategy roadmap

    Initiative Owner Start Date Completion Date
    Create final workshop deliverable Info-Tech 16 September, 2021
    Review final deliverable Workshop sponsor
    Present to executive team Oct 2021
    Build business case CFO, CIO, Directors 3 weeks to build
    3-4 weeks process time
    Build an RFI for initial costings 1-2 weeks
    Stage 1 approval for requirements gathering Executive committee Milestone
    Determine and acquire BA support for next step 1 week
    Requirements gathering – level 2 processes Project team 5-6 weeks effort
    Build RFP (based on informal approval) CFO, CIO, Directors 4th calendar quarter 2022 Possible completion January 2023
    2-4 weeks

    Activity 4.1.3 – Build a visual roadmap [optional]

    1 hour

    1. For some, a visual representation of a roadmap is easier to comprehend. Consider taking the roadmap built in 4.1.2 and creating a visual.

    Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.

    Preview of the visual strategy roadmap chart on the next slide.

    Download the ERP Strategy Report Template

    ERP Strategy Roadmap

    A table set up similarly to the previous one, but instead of 'Start Date' and 'Completion Date' columns there are multiple small columns broken up by fiscal quarters (i.e.. FY2022: Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4). There is a key with a light blue diamond shape representing a 'Milestone' and a blue arrow representing a 'Work in progress'; they are placed the Quarters columns according to when each row item reached a milestone or began its progress.

    Step 4.2

    Wrap up and present

    Activities
    • 4.2.1 Communication plan
    • 4.2.2 Stakeholder presentation

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Build a communication plan as part of organizational change management, which includes the stakeholder presentation

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Primary stakeholders in each value stream supported by the ERP
    • ERP Applications support team

    Outcomes of this step

    • An initial communication plan for organizational change management
    • A stakeholder presentation

    Effectively communicate the changes an ERP foundation strategy will impose

    A communication plan is necessary because not everyone will react positively to change. Therefore, you must be prepared to explain the rationale behind any initiatives that are being rolled out.

    Steps:

    1. Start by building a sound communication plan.
    2. The communication plan should address all stakeholders that will be subject to change, including executives and end users.
    3. Communicate how a specific initiative will impact the way employees work and the work they do.
    4. Clearly convey the benefits of the strategy to avoid resistance.

    “The most important thing in project management is communication, communication, communication. You have to be able to put a message into business terms rather than technical terms.” (Lance Foust, I.S. Manager, Plymouth Tube Company)

    Project Goals Communication Goals Required Resources Communication Channels
    Why is your organization embarking on an ERP project? What do you want employees to know about the project? What resources are going to be utilized throughout the ERP strategy? How will your project team communicate project updates to the employees?
    Streamline processes and achieve operational efficiency. We will focus on mapping and gathering requirements for (X) mega-processes. We will be hiring process owners for each mega-process. You will be kept up to date about the project progress via email and intranet. Please feel free to contact the project owner if you have any questions.

    Activity 4.2.1 – Communication plan

    1 hour

    1. List the types of communication events and documents you will need to produce and distribute.
    2. Indicate the purpose of the event or document, who the audience is, and who is responsible for the communication.
    3. Identify who will be responsible for the development and delivery of the communication plan.

    Record this information in the ERP Strategy Report Template.

    Preview of the Communication Plan table on the next slide.

    Download the ERP Strategy Report Template

    Communication plan

    Use the communication planning template to track communication methods needed to convey information regarding ERP initiatives.

    This is designed to help your organization make ERP initiatives visible and create stakeholder awareness.

    Audience Purpose Delivery/ Format Communicator Delivery Date Status/Notes
    Front-line employees Highlight successes Bi-weekly email CEO Mondays
    Entire organization Highlight successes
    Plans for next iteration
    Monthly townhall Senior leadership Last Thursday of every month Recognize top contributors from different parts of the business. Consider giving out prizes such as coffee mugs
    Iteration demos Show completed functionality to key stakeholders Iteration completion web conference Delivery lead Every other Wednesday Record and share the demonstrations to all employees

    Conduct a presentation of the final deliverable for stakeholders

    After completing the activities and exercises within this blueprint, the final step of the process is to present the deliverable to senior management and stakeholders.

    Know Your Audience

    • Decide what needs to be presented and to whom. The purpose and format for communicating initiatives varies based on the audience. Identify the audience first to ensure initiatives are communicated appropriately.
    • IT and the business speak different languages. The business may not have the patience to try to understand IT, so it is up to IT to learn and use the language of business. Failing to put messages into language that resonates with the business will create disengagement and resistance.
    • Effective communication takes preparation to get the right content and tone to convey your real message.

    Learn From Other Organizations

    “When delivering the strategy and next steps, break the project down into consumable pieces. Make sure you deliver quick wins to retain enthusiasm and engagement.

    By making it look like a different project you keep momentum and avoid making it seem unattainable.” (Scott Clark, Innovation Credit Union)

    “To successfully sell the value of ERP, determine what the high-level business problem is and explain how ERP can be the resolution. Explicitly state which business areas ERP is going to touch. The business often has a very narrow view of ERP and perceives it as just a financial system. The key part of the strategy is that the organization sees the broader view of ERP.” (Scott Clark, Innovation Credit Union)

    Activity 4.2.2 – Stakeholder presentation

    1 hour

    1. The following sections of the ERP Strategy Report Template are designed to function as the stakeholder presentation:
      1. Workshop Overview
      2. ERP Models
      3. Roadmap
    2. You can use the Template as your presentation deck or extract the above sections to create a stand-alone stakeholder presentation.
    3. Remember to take your audience into account and anticipate the questions they may have.

    Samples of the ERP Strategy Report Template.

    Download the ERP Strategy Report Template

    Summary of Accomplishment

    Get the Most Out of Your ERP

    ERP technology is critical to facilitating an organization’s flow of information across business units. It allows for seamless integration of systems and creates a holistic view of the enterprise to support decision making. ERP implementation should not be a one-and-done exercise. There needs to be an ongoing optimization to enable business processes and optimal organizational results.

    Build an ERP Strategy and Roadmap allows organizations to proactively implement continuous assessment and optimization of their enterprise resource planning system, including:

    • Alignment and prioritization of key business and technology drivers.
    • Identification of ERP processes, including classification and gap analysis.
    • Measurement of user satisfaction across key departments.
    • Improved vendor relations.
    • Data quality initiatives.

    This formal ERP optimization initiative will drive business-IT alignment, identify IT automation priorities, and dig deep into continuous process improvement.

    If you would like additional support, have our analysts guide you through other phases as part of an Info-Tech workshop.

    Contact your account representative for more information.
    workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889

    Research Contributors

    Name Title Organization
    Anonymous Anonymous Software industry
    Anonymous Anonymous Pharmaceutical industry
    Boris Znebel VP of Sales Second Foundation
    Brian Kudeba Director, Administrative Systems Fidelis Care
    David Lawrence Director, ERP Allegheny Technologies Inc.
    Ken Zima CIO Aquarion Water Company
    Lance Foust I.S. Manager Plymouth Tube Company
    Pooja Bagga Head of ERP Strategy & Change Transport for London
    Rob Schneider Project Director, ERP Strathcona County
    Scott Clark Innovation Credit Union
    Tarek Raafat Manager, Application Solutions IDRC
    Tom Walker VP, Information Technology StarTech.com

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Bibliography

    Gheorghiu, Gabriel. "The ERP Buyer’s Profile for Growing Companies." Selecthub. 2018. Accessed 21 Feb. 2021.

    "Maximizing the Emotional Economy: Behavioral Economics." Gallup. n.d. Accessed 21 Feb. 2021.

    Neito-Rodriguez, Antonio. Project Management | How to Prioritize Your Company's Projects. 13 Dec. 2016. Accessed 29 Nov 2021. Web.

    "A&D organization resolves organizational.“ Case Study. Panorama Consulting Group. 2021. PDF. 09 Nov. 2021. Web.

    "Process Frameworks." APQC. n.d. Accessed 21 Feb. 2021.

    Saxena, Deepak and Joe Mcdonagh. "Evaluating ERP Implementations: The Case for a Lifecycle-based Interpretive Approach." The Electronic Journal of Information Systems Evaluation, 29-37. 22 Feb. 2019. Accessed 21 Feb. 2021.

    Engineer Your Event Management Process

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}461|cart{/j2store}
    • member rating overall impact (scale of 10): N/A
    • member rating average dollars saved: N/A
    • member rating average days saved: N/A
    • Parent Category Name: Operations Management
    • Parent Category Link: /i-and-o-process-management

    Build an event management practice that is situated in the larger service management environment. Purposefully choose valuable events to track and predefine their associated actions to cut down on data clutter.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    Event management is useless in isolation. The goals come from the pain points of other ITSM practices. Build handoffs to other service management practices to drive the proper action when an event is detected.

    Impact and Result

    Create a repeatable framework to define monitored events, their root cause, and their associated action. Record your monitored events in a catalog to stay organized.

    Engineer Your Event Management Process Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Engineer Your Event Management Deck – A step-by-step document that walks you through how to choose meaningful, monitored events to track and action.

    Engineer your event management practice with tracked events informed by the business impact of the related systems, applications, and services. This storyboard will help you properly define and catalog events so you can properly respond when alerted.

    • Engineer Your Event Management Process – Phases 1-3

    2. Event Management Cookbook – A guide to help you walk through every step of scoping event management and defining every event you track in your IT environment.

    Use this tool to define your workflow for adding new events to track. This cookbook includes the considerations you need to include for every tracked event as well as the roles and responsibilities of those involved with event management.

    • Event Management Cookbook

    3. Event Management Catalog – Using the Event Management Cookbook as a guide, record all your tracked events in the Event Management Catalog.

    Use this tool to record your tracked events and alerts in one place. This catalog allows you to record the rationale, root-cause, action, and data governance for all your monitored events.

    • Event Management Catalog

    4. Event Management Workflow – Define your event management handoffs to other service management practices.

    Use this template to help define your event management handoffs to other service management practices including change management, incident management, and problem management.

    • Event Management Workflow (Visio)
    • Event Management Workflow (PDF)

    5. Event Management Roadmap – Implement and continually improve upon your event management practice.

    Use this tool to implement and continually improve upon your event management process. Record, prioritize, and assign your action items from the event management blueprint.

    • Event Management Roadmap
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Engineer Your Event Management Process

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Situate Event Management in Your Service Management Environment

    The Purpose

    Determine goals and challenges for event management and set the scope to business-critical systems.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Defined system scope of Event Management

    Roles and responsibilities defined

    Activities

    1.1 List your goals and challenges

    1.2 Monitoring and event management RACI

    1.3 Abbreviated business impact analysis

    Outputs

    Event Management RACI (as part of the Event Management Cookbook)

    Abbreviated BIA (as part of the Event Management Cookbook)

    2 Define Your Event Management Scope

    The Purpose

    Define your in-scope configuration items and their operational conditions

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Operational conditions, related CIs and dependencies, and CI thresholds defined

    Activities

    2.1 Define operational conditions for systems

    2.2 Define related CIs and dependencies

    2.3 Define conditions for CIs

    2.4 Perform root-cause analysis for complex condition relationships

    2.5 Set thresholds for CIs

    Outputs

    Event Management Catalog

    3 Define Thresholds and Actions

    The Purpose

    Pre-define actions for every monitored event

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Thresholds and actions tied to each monitored event

    Activities

    3.1 Set thresholds to monitor

    3.2 Add actions and handoffs to event management

    Outputs

    Event Catalog

    Event Management Workflows

    4 Start Monitoring and Implement Event Management

    The Purpose

    Effectively implement event management

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Establish an event management roadmap for implementation and continual improvement

    Activities

    4.1 Define your data policy for event management

    4.2 Identify areas for improvement and establish an implementation plan

    Outputs

    Event Catalog

    Event Management Roadmap

    Further reading

    Engineer Your Event Management Process

    Track monitored events purposefully and respond effectively.

    EXECUTIVE BRIEF

    Analyst Perspective

    Event management is useless in isolation.

    Event management creates no value when implemented in isolation. However, that does not mean event management is not valuable overall. It must simply be integrated properly in the service management environment to inform and drive the appropriate actions.

    Every step of engineering event management, from choosing which events to monitor to actioning the events when they are detected, is a purposeful and explicit activity. Ensuring that event management has open lines of communication and actions tied to related practices (e.g. problem, incident, and change) allows efficient action when needed.

    Catalog your monitored events using a standardized framework to allow you to know:

    1. The value of tracking the event.
    2. The impact when the event is detected.
    3. The appropriate, right-sized reaction when the event is detected.
    4. The tool(s) involved in tracking the event.

    Properly engineering event management allows you to effectively monitor and understand your IT environment and bolster the proactivity of the related service management practices.

    Benedict Chang

    Benedict Chang
    Research Analyst, Infrastructure & Operations
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    Strive for proactivity. Implement event management to reduce response times of technical teams to solve (potential) incidents when system performance degrades.

    Build an integrated event management practice where developers, service desk, and operations can all rely on event logs and metrics.

    Define the scope of event management including the systems to track, their operational conditions, related configuration items (CIs), and associated actions of the tracked events.

    Common Obstacles

    Managed services, subscription services, and cloud services have reduced the traditional visibility of on- premises tools.

    System(s) complexity and integration with the above services has increased, making true cause and effect difficult to ascertain.

    Info-Tech’s Approach

    Clearly define a limited number of operational objectives that may benefit from event management.

    Focus only on the key systems whose value is worth the effort and expense of implementing event management.

    Understand what event information is available from the CIs of those systems and map those against your operational objectives.

    Write a data retention policy that balances operational, audit, and debugging needs against cost and data security needs.

    Info-Tech Insight

    More is NOT better. Even in an AI-enabled world, every event must be collected with a specific objective in mind. Defining the purpose of each tracked event will cut down on data clutter and response time when events are detected.

    Your challenge

    This research is designed to help organizations who are facing these challenges or looking to:

    • Build an event management practice that is situated in the larger service management environment.
    • Purposefully choose events and to track as well as their related actions based on business-critical systems, their conditions, and their related CIs.
    • Cut down on the clutter of current events tracked.
    • Create a framework to add new events when new systems are onboarded.

    33%

    In 2020, 33% of organizations listed network monitoring as their number one priority for network spending. 27% of organizations listed network monitoring infrastructure as their number two priority.
    Source: EMA, 2020; n=350

    Common obstacles

    These barriers make this challenge difficult to address for many organizations:

    • Many organizations have multiple tools across multiple teams and departments that track the current state of infrastructure, making it difficult to consolidate event management into a single practice.
    • Managed services, subscription services, and cloud services have reduced the traditional visibility of on-premises tools
    • System(s) complexity and integration with the above services has increased, making true cause and effect difficult to ascertain.

    Build event management to bring value to the business

    33%

    33% of all IT organizations reported that end users detected and reported incidents before the network operations team was aware of them.
    Source: EMA, 2020; n=350

    64%

    64% of enterprises use 4-10 monitoring tools to troubleshoot their network.
    Source: EMA, 2020; n=350

    Info-Tech’s approach

    Choose your events purposefully to avoid drowning in data.

    A funnel is depicted. along the funnel are the following points: Event Candidates: 1. System Selection by Business Impact; 2. System Decomposition; 3. Event Selection and Thresholding; 4. Event Action; 5. Data Management; Valuable, Monitored, and Actioned Events

    The Info-Tech difference:

    1. Start with a list of your most business-critical systems instead of data points to measure.
    2. Decompose your business-critical systems into their configuration items. This gives you a starting point for choosing what to measure.
    3. Choose your events and label them as notifications, warnings, or exceptions. Choose the relevant thresholds for each CI.
    4. Have a pre-defined action tied to each event. That action could be to log the datapoint for a report or to open an incident or problem ticket.
    5. With your event catalog defined, choose how you will measure the events and where to store the data.

    Event management is useless in isolation

    Define how event management informs other management practices.

    Logging, Archiving, and Metrics

    Monitoring and event management can be used to establish and analyze your baseline. The more you know about your system baselines, the easier it will be to detect exceptions.

    Change Management

    Events can inform needed changes to stay compliant or to resolve incidents and problems. However, it doesn’t mean that changes can be implemented without the proper authorization.

    Automatic Resolution

    The best use case for event management is to detect and resolve incidents and problems before end users or IT are even aware.

    Incident Management

    Events sitting in isolation are useless if there isn’t an effective way to pass potential tickets off to incident management to mitigate and resolve.

    Problem Management

    Events can identify problems before they become incidents. However, you must establish proper data logging to inform problem prioritization and actioning.

    Info-Tech’s methodology for Engineering Your Event Management Process

    1. Situate Event Management in Your Service Management Environment 2. Define Your Monitoring Thresholds and Accompanying Actions 3. Start Monitoring and Implement Event Management

    Phase Steps

    1.1 Set Operational and Informational Goals

    1.2 Scope Monitoring and States of Interest

    2.1 Define Conditions and Related CIs

    2.2 Set Monitoring Thresholds and Alerts

    2.3 Action Your Events

    3.1 Define Your Data Policy

    3.2 Define Future State

    Event Cookbook

    Event Catalog

    Phase Outcomes

    Monitoring and Event Management RACI

    Abbreviated BIA

    Event Workflow

    Event Management Roadmap

    Insight summary

    Event management is useless in isolation.

    The goals come from the pain points of other ITSM practices. Build handoffs to other service management practices to drive the proper action when an event is detected.

    Start with business intent.

    Trying to organize a catalog of events is difficult when working from the bottom up. Start with the business drivers of event management to keep the scope manageable.

    Keep your signal-to-noise ratio as high as possible.

    Defining tracked events with their known conditions, root cause, and associated actions allows you to be proactive when events occur.

    Improve slowly over time.

    Start small if need be. It is better and easier to track a few items with proper actions than to try to analyze events as they occur.

    More is NOT better. Avoid drowning in data.

    Even in an AI-enabled world, every event must be collected with a specific objective in mind. Defining the purpose of each tracked event will cut down on data clutter and response time when events are detected.

    Add correlations in event management to avoid false positives.

    Supplement the predictive value of a single event by aggregating it with other events.

    Blueprint deliverables

    Each step of this blueprint is accompanied by supporting deliverables to help you accomplish your goals:

    Key deliverable:

    This is a screenshot of the Event Management Cookbook

    Event Management Cookbook
    Use the framework in the Event Management Cookbook to populate your event catalog with properly tracked and actioned events.

    This is a screenshot of the Event Management RACI

    Event Management RACI
    Define the roles and responsibilities needed in event management.

    This is a screenshot of the event management workflow

    Event Management Workflow
    Define the lifecycle and handoffs for event management.

    This is a screenshot of the Event Catalog

    Event Catalog
    Consolidate and organize your tracked events.

    This is a screenshot of the Event Roadmap

    Event Roadmap
    Roadmap your initiatives for future improvement.

    Blueprint benefits

    IT Benefits

    • Provide a mechanism to compare operating performance against design standards and SLAs.
    • Allow for early detection of incidents and escalations.
    • Promote timely actions and ensure proper communications.
    • Provide an entry point for the execution of service management activities.
    • Enable automation activity to be monitored by exception
    • Provide a basis for service assurance, reporting and service improvements.

    Business Benefits

    • Less overall downtime via earlier detection and resolution of incidents.
    • Better visibility into SLA performance for supplied services.
    • Better visibility and reporting between IT and the business.
    • Better real-time and overall understanding of the IT environment.

    Case Study

    An event management script helped one company get in front of support calls.

    INDUSTRY - Research and Advisory

    SOURCE - Anonymous Interview

    Challenge

    One staff member’s workstation had been infected with a virus that was probing the network with a wide variety of usernames and passwords, trying to find an entry point. Along with the obvious security threat, there existed the more mundane concern that workers occasionally found themselves locked out of their machine and needed to contact the service desk to regain access.

    Solution

    The system administrator wrote a script that runs hourly to see if there is a problem with an individual’s workstation. The script records the computer's name, the user involved, the reason for the password lockout, and the number of bad login attempts. If the IT technician on duty notices a greater than normal volume of bad password attempts coming from a single account, they will reach out to the account holder and inquire about potential issues.

    Results

    The IT department has successfully proactively managed two distinct but related problems: first, they have prevented several instances of unplanned work by reaching out to potential lockouts before they receive an incident report. They have also successfully leveraged event management to probe for indicators of a security threat before there is a breach.

    Info-Tech offers various levels of support to best suit your needs

    DIY Toolkit

    “Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful.”

    Guided Implementation

    “Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track.”

    Workshop

    “We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place.”

    Consulting

    “Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project.”

    Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options

    Guided Implementation

    What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

    Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3

    Call #1: Scope requirements, objectives, and your specific challenges.

    Call #2: Introduce the Cookbook and explore the business impact analysis.

    Call #4: Define operational conditions.

    Call #6: Define actions and related practices.

    Call #8: Identify and prioritize improvements.

    Call #3: Define system scope and related CIs/ dependencies.

    Call #5: Define thresholds and alerts.

    Call #7: Define data policy.

    A Guided Implementation (GI) is a series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization.

    A typical GI is between 6 to 12 calls over the course of 4 to 6 months.

    Workshop Overview

    Contact your account representative for more information.
    workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889

    Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5
    Situate Event Management in Your Service Management Environment Define Your Event Management Scope Define Thresholds and Actions Start Monitoring and Implement Event Management Next Steps and Wrap-Up (offsite)

    Activities

    1.1 3.1 Set Thresholds to Monitor

    3.2 Add Actions and Handoffs to Event Management

    Introductions

    1.2 Operational and Informational Goals and Challenges

    1.3 Event Management Scope

    1.4 Roles and Responsibilities

    2.1 Define Operational Conditions for Systems

    2.2 Define Related CIs and Dependencies

    2.3 Define Conditions for CIs

    2.4 Perform Root-Cause Analysis for Complex Condition Relationships

    2.4 Set Thresholds for CIs

    3.1 Set Thresholds to Monitor

    3.2 Add Actions and Handoffs to Event Management

    4.1 Define Your Data Policy for Event Management

    4.2 Identify Areas for Improvement and Future Steps

    4.3 Summarize Workshop

    5.1 Complete In-Progress Deliverables From Previous Four Days

    5.2 Set Up Review Time for Workshop Deliverables and to Discuss Next Steps

    Deliverables
    1. Monitoring and Event Management RACI (as part of the Event Management Cookbook)
    2. Abbreviated BIA (as part of the Event Management Cookbook)
    3. Event Management Cookbook
    1. Event Management Catalog
    1. Event Management Catalog
    2. Event Management Workflows
    1. Event Management Catalog
    2. Event Management Roadmap
    1. Workshop Summary

    Phase 1

    Situate Event Management in Your Service Management Environment

    Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3

    1.1 Set Operational and Informational Goals
    1.2 Scope Monitoring and Event Management Using Business Impact

    2.1 Define Conditions and Related CIs
    2.2 Set Monitoring Thresholds and Alerts
    2.3 Action Your Events

    3.1 Define Your Data Policy
    3.2 Set Your Future of Event Monitoring

    Engineer Your Event Management Process

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    1.1.1 List your goals and challenges

    1.1.2 Build a RACI chart for event management

    1.2.1 Set your scope using business impact

    This phase involves the following participants:

    Infrastructure management team

    IT managers

    Step 1.1

    Set Operational and Informational Goals

    Activities

    1.1.1 List your goals and challenges

    1.1.2 Build a RACI chart for event management

    Situate Event Management in Your Service Management Environment

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Set the overall scope of event management by defining the governing goals. You will also define who is involved in event management as well as their responsibilities.

    This step involves the following participants:

    Infrastructure management team

    IT managers

    Outcomes of this step

    Define the goals and challenges of event management as well as their data proxies.

    Have a RACI matrix to define roles and responsibilities in event management.

    Situate event management among related service management practices

    This image depicts the relationship between Event Management and related service management practices.

    Event management needs to interact with the following service management practices:

    • Incident Management – Event management can provide early detection and/or prevention of incidents.
    • Availability and Capacity Management – Event management helps detect issues with availability and capacity before they become an incident.
    • Problem Management – The data captured in event management can aid in easier detection of root causes of problems.
    • Change Management – Event management can function as the rationale behind needed changes to fix problems and incidents.

    Consider both operational and informational goals for event management

    Event management may log real-time data for operational goals and non-real time data for informational goals

    Event Management

    Operational Goals (real-time)

    Informational Goals (non-real time)

    Incident Response & Prevention

    Availability Scaling

    Availability Scaling

    Modeling and Testing

    Investigation/ Compliance

    • Knowing what the outcomes are expected to achieve helps with the design of that process.
    • A process targeted to fewer outcomes will generally be less complex, easier to adhere to, and ultimately, more successful than one targeted to many goals.
    • Iterate for improvement.

    1.1.1 List your goals and challenges

    Gather a diverse group of IT staff in a room with a whiteboard.

    Have each participant write down their top five specific outcomes they want from improved event management.

    Consolidate similar ideas.

    Prioritize the goals.

    Record these goals in your Event Management Cookbook.

    Priority Example Goals
    1 Reduce response time for incidents
    2 Improve audit compliance
    3 Improve risk analysis
    4 Improve forecasting for resource acquisition
    5 More accurate RCAs

    Input

    • Pain points

    Output

    • Prioritized list of goals and outcomes

    Materials

    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Sticky notes

    Participants

    • Infrastructure management team
    • IT managers

    Download the Event Management Cookbook

    Event management is a group effort

    • Event management needs to involve multiple other service management practices and service management roles to be effective.
    • Consider the roles to the right to see how event management can fit into your environment.

    Infrastructure Team

    The infrastructure team is accountable for deciding which events to track, how to track, and how to action the events when detected.

    Service Desk

    The service desk may respond to events that are indicative of incidents. Setting a root cause for events allows for quicker troubleshooting, diagnosis, and resolution of the incident.

    Problem and Change Management

    Problem and change management may be involved with certain event alerts as the resultant action could be to investigate the root cause of the alert (problem management) or build and approve a change to resolve the problem (change management).

    1.1.2 Build a RACI chart for event management

    1. As a group, complete the RACI chart using the template to the right. RACI stands for the following:
      • Responsible. The person doing the work.
      • Accountable. The person who ensures the work is done.
      • Consulted. Two-way communication.
      • Informed. One-way communication
      • There must be one and only one accountable person for each task. There must also be at least one responsible person. Depending on the use case, RACI letters may be combined (e.g. AR means the person who ensures the work is complete but also the person doing the work).
    2. Start with defining the roles in the first row in your own environment.
    3. Look at the tasks on the first column and modify/add/subtract tasks as necessary.
    4. Populate the RACI chart as necessary.

    Download the Event Management Cookbook

    Event Management Task IT Manager SME IT Infrastructure Manager Service Desk Configuration Manager (Event Monitoring System) Change Manager Problem Manager
    Defining systems and configuration items to monitor R C AR R
    Defining states of operation R C AR C
    Defining event and event thresholds to monitor R C AR I I
    Actioning event thresholds: Log A R
    Actioning event thresholds: Monitor I R A R
    Actioning event thresholds: Submit incident/change/problem ticket R R A R R I I
    Close alert for resolved issues AR RC RC

    Step 1.2

    Scope Monitoring and Event Management Using Business Impact

    Activities

    1.2.1 Set your scope using business impact

    Situate Event Management in Your Service Management Environment

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Set your scope of event management using an abbreviated business impact analysis.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Infrastructure manager
    • IT managers

    Outcomes of this step

    • List of systems, services, and applications to monitor.

    Use the business impact of your systems to set the scope of monitoring

    Picking events to track and action is difficult. Start with your most important systems according to business impact.

    • Business impact can be determined by how costly system downtime is. This could be a financial impact ($/hour of downtime) or goodwill impact (internal/external stakeholders affected).
    • Use business impact to determine the rating of a system by Tier (Gold, Silver, or Bronze):
      • GOLD: Mission-critical services. An outage is catastrophic in terms of cost or public image/goodwill. Example: trading software at a financial institution.
      • SILVER: Important to daily operations but not mission critical. Example: email services at any large organization.
      • BRONZE: Loss of these services is an inconvenience more than anything, though they do serve a purpose and will be missed if they are never brought back online. Example: ancient fax machines.
    • Align a list of systems to track with your previously selected goals for event management to determine WHY you need to track that system. Tracking the system could inform critical SLAs (performance/uptime), vulnerability, compliance obligations, or simply system condition.

    More is not better

    Tracking too many events across too many tools could decrease your responsiveness to incidents. Start tracking only what is actionable to keep the signal-to-noise ratio of events as high as possible.

    % of Incidents Reported by End Users Before Being Recognized by IT Operations

    A bar graph is depicted. It displays the following Data: All Organizations: 40%; 1-3 Tools: 29; 4-10 Tools: 36%; data-verified=11 Tools: 52">

    Source: Riverbed, 2016

    1.2.1 Set your scope using business impact

    Collating an exhaustive list of applications and services is onerous. Start small, with a subset of systems.

    1. Gather a diverse group of IT staff and end users in a room with a whiteboard.
    2. List 10-15 systems and services. Solicit feedback from the group. Questions to ask:
      • What services do you regularly use? What do you see others using?
        (End users)
      • Which service comprises the greatest number of service calls? (IT)
      • What services are the most critical for business operations? (Everybody)
      • What is the cost of downtime (financial and goodwill) for these systems? (Business)
      • How does monitoring these systems align with your goals set in Step 1.1?
    3. Assign an importance to each of these systems from Gold (most important) to Bronze (least important).
    4. Record these systems in your Event Management Cookbook.
    Systems/Services/Applications Tier
    1 Core Infrastructure Gold
    2 Internet Access Gold
    3 Public-Facing Website Gold
    4 ERP Silver
    15 PaperSave Bronze

    Include a variety of services in your analysis

    It might be tempting to jump ahead and preselect important applications. However, even if an application is not on the top 10 list, it may have cross-dependencies that make it more valuable than originally thought.

    For a more comprehensive BIA, see Create a Right-Sized Disaster Recovery Plan
    Download the Event Management Cookbook

    Phase 2

    Define Your Monitoring Thresholds and Accompanying Actions

    Phase 1Phase 2Phase 3

    1.1 Set Operational and Informational Goals
    1.2 Scope Monitoring and Event Management Using Business Impact

    2.1 Define Conditions and Related CIs
    2.2 Set Monitoring Thresholds and Alerts
    2.3 Action Your Events

    3.1 Define Your Data Policy
    3.2 Set Your Future of Event Monitoring

    Engineer Your Event Management Process

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    • 2.1.1 Define performance conditions
    • 2.1.2 Decompose services into Related CIs
    • 2.2.1 Verify your CI conditions with a root-cause analysis
    • 2.2.2 Set thresholds for your events
    • 2.3.1 Set actions for your thresholds
    • 2.3.2 Build your event management workflow

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • Business system owners
    • Infrastructure manager
    • IT managers

    Step 2.1

    Define Conditions and Related CIs

    Activities

    2.1.1 Define performance conditions

    2.1.2 Decompose services into related CIs

    Define Your Monitoring Thresholds and Accompanying Actions

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    For each monitored system, define the conditions of interest and related CIs.

    This step involves the following participants:

    Business system owners

    Infrastructure manager

    IT managers

    Outcomes of this step

    List of conditions of interest and related CIs for each monitored system.

    Consider the state of the system that is of concern to you

    Events present a snapshot of the state of a system. To determine which events you want to monitor, you need to consider what system state(s) of importance.

    • Systems can be in one of three states:
      • Up
      • Down
      • Degraded
    • What do these states mean for each of your systems chosen in your BIA?
    • Up and Down are self-explanatory and a good place to start.
    • However, degraded systems are indicative that one or more component systems of an overarching system has failed. You must uncover the nature of such a failure, which requires more sophisticated monitoring.

    2.1.1 Define system states of greatest importance for each of your systems

    1. With the system business owners and compliance officers in the room, list the performance states of your systems chosen in your BIA.
    2. If you have too many systems listed, start only with the Gold Systems.
    3. Use the following proof approaches if needed:
      • Positive Proof Approach – every system when it has certain technical and business performance expectations. You can use these as a baseline.
      • Negative Proof Approach – users know when systems are not performing. Leverage incident data and end-user feedback to determine failed or degraded system states and work backwards.
    4. Focus on the end-user facing states.
    5. Record your critical system states in the Event Management Cookbook.
    6. Use these states in the next several activities and translate them into measurable infrastructure metrics.

    Input

    • Results of business impact analysis

    Output

    • Critical system states

    Materials

    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Sticky notes
    • Markers

    Participants

    • Infrastructure manager
    • Business system owners

    Download the Event Management Cookbook

    2.1.2 Decompose services into relevant CIs

    Define your system dependencies to help find root causes of degraded systems.

    1. For each of your systems identified in your BIA, list the relevant CIs.
    2. Identify dependencies and relationship of those CIs with other CIs (linkages and dependencies).
    3. Starting with the Up/Down conditions for your Gold systems, list the conditions of the CIs that would lead to the condition of the system. This may be a 1:1 relationship (e.g. Core Switches down = Core Infrastructure down) or a many:1 relationship (some virtualization hosts + load balancers down = Core Infrastructure down). You do not need to define specific thresholds yet. Focus on conditions for the CIs.
    4. Repeat step 3 with Degraded conditions.
    5. Repeat step 3 and 4 with Silver and Bronze systems.
    6. Record the results in the Event Management Cookbook.

    Core Infrastructure Example

    An iceberg is depicted. below the surface, are the following terms in order from shallowest to deepest: MPLS Connection, Core Switches, DNS; DHCP, AD ADFS, SAN-01; Load Balancers, Virtualization Hosts (x 12); Power and Cooling

    Download the Event Management Cookbook

    Step 2.2

    Set Monitoring Thresholds and Alerts

    Activities

    2.2.1 Verify your CI conditions with a root-cause analysis

    2.2.2 Set thresholds for your events

    Define Your Monitoring Thresholds and Accompanying Actions

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Set monitoring thresholds for each CI related to each condition of interest.

    This step involves the following participants:

    Business system managers

    Infrastructure manager

    IT managers

    Service desk manager

    Outcomes of this step

    List of events to track along with their root cause.

    Event management will involve a significant number of alerts

    Separate the serious from trivial to keep the signal-to-noise ratio high.

    Event Categories: Exceptions: Alarms Indicate Failure; Alerts indicate exceeded thresholds; Normal Operation. Event Alerts: Informational; Exceptional; Warning

    Set your own thresholds

    You must set your own monitoring criteria based on operational needs. Events triggering an action should be reviewed via an assessment of the potential project and associated risks.

    Consider the four general signal types to help define your tracked events

    Latency – time to respond

    Examples:

    • Web server – time to complete request
    • Network – roundtrip ping time
    • Storage – read/write queue times

    Traffic – amount of activity per unit time

    Web sever – how many pages per minute

    Network – Mbps

    Storage – I/O read/writes per sec

    Errors – internally tracked erratic behaviors

    Web Server – page load failures

    Network – packets dropped

    Storage – disk errors

    Saturation – consumption compared to theoretical maximum

    Web Server – % load

    Network – % utilization

    Storage – % full

    2.2.1 Verify your CI conditions with a root-cause analysis

    RCAs postulate why systems go down; use the RCA to inform yourself of the events leading up to the system going down.

    1. Gather a diverse group of IT staff in a room with a whiteboard.
    2. Pick a complex example of a system condition (many:1 correlation) that has considerable data associated with it (e.g. recorded events, problem tickets).
    3. Speculate on the most likely precursor conditions. For example, if a related CI fails or is degraded, which metrics would you likely see before the failure?
    4. If something failed, imagine what you’d most likely see before the failure.
    5. Extend that timeline backward as far as you can be reasonably confident.
    6. Pick a value for that event.
    7. Write out your logic flow from event recognition to occurrence.
    8. Once satisfied, program the alert and ideally test in a non-prod environment.

    Public Website Example

    Dependency CIs Tool Metrics
    ISP WAN SNMP Traps Latency
    Telemetry Packet Loss
    SNMP Pooling Jitter
    Network Performance Web Server Response Time
    Connection Stage Errors
    Web Server Web Page DOM Load Time
    Performance
    Page Load Time

    Let your CIs help you

    At the end of the day, most of us can only monitor what our systems let us. Some (like Exchange Servers) offer a crippling number of parameters to choose from. Other (like MPLS) connections are opaque black boxes giving up only the barest of information. The metrics you choose are largely governed by the art of the possible.

    Case Study

    Exhaustive RCAs proved that 54% of issues were not caused by storage.

    This is the Nimble Storage Logo

    INDUSTRY - Enterprise IT
    SOURCE - ESG, 2017

    Challenge

    Despite a laser focus on building nothing but all-flash storage arrays, Nimble continued to field a dizzying number of support calls.

    Variability and complexity across infrastructure, applications, and configurations – each customer install being ever so slightly different – meant that the problem of customer downtime seemed inescapable.

    Solution

    Nimble embedded thousands of sensors into its arrays, both at a hardware level and in the code. Thousands of sensors per array multiplied by 7,500 customers meant millions of data points per second.

    This data was then analyzed against 12,000 anonymized app-data gap-related incidents.

    Patterns began to emerge, ones that persisted across complex customer/array/configuration combinations.

    These patterns were turned into signatures, then acted on.

    Results

    54% of app-data gap related incidents were in fact related to non-storage factors! Sub-optimal configuration, bad practices, poor integration with other systems, and even VM or hosts were at the root cause of over half of reported incidents.

    Establishing that your system is working fine is more than IT best practice – by quickly eliminating potential options the right team can get working on the right system faster thus restoring the service more quickly.

    Gain an even higher SNR with event correlation

    Filtering:

    Event data determined to be of minimal predictive value is shunted aside.

    Aggregation:

    De-duplication and combination of similar events to trigger a response based on the number or value of events, rather than for individual events.

    Masking:

    Ignoring events that occur downstream of a known failed system. Relies on accurate models of system relationships.

    Triggering:

    Initiating the appropriate response. This could be simple logging, any of the exception event responses, an alert requiring human intervention, or a pre-programmed script.

    2.2.2 Set thresholds for your events

    If the event management team toggles the threshold for an alert too low (e.g. one is generated every time a CPU load reaches 60% capacity), they will generate too many false positives and create far too much work for themselves, generating alert fatigue. If they go the other direction and set their thresholds too high, there will be too many false negatives – problems will slip through and cause future disruptions.

    1. Take your list of RCAs from the previous activity and conduct an activity with the group. The goal of the exercise is to produce the predictive event values that confidently predict an imminent event.
    2. Questions to ask:
      • What are some benign signs of this incident?
      • Is there something we could have monitored that would have alerted us to this issue before an incident occurred?
      • Should anyone have noticed this problem? Who? Why? How?
      • Go through this for each of the problems identified and discuss thresholds. When complete, include the information in the Event Management Catalog.

    Public Website Example

    Dependency Metrics Threshold
    Network Performance Latency 150ms
    Packet Loss 10%
    Jitter >1ms
    Web Server Response Time 750ms
    Performance
    Connection Stage Errors 2
    Web Page Performance DOM Load time 1100ms
    Page Load time 1200ms

    Download the Event Management Cookbook

    Step 2.3

    Action Your Events

    Activities

    2.3.1 Set actions for your thresholds

    2.3.2 Build your event management workflow

    Define Your Monitoring Thresholds and Associated Actions

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    With your list of tracked events from the previous step, build associated actions and define the handoff from event management to related practices.

    This step involves the following participants:

    Event management team

    Infrastructure team

    Change manager

    Problem manager

    Incident manager

    Outcomes of this step

    Event management workflow

    Set actions for your thresholds

    For each of your thresholds, you will need an action tied to the event.

    • Review the event alert types:
      • Informational
      • Warning
      • Exception
    • Your detected events will require one of the following actions if detected.
    • Unactioned events will lead to a poor signal-to-noise ratio of data, which ultimately leads to confusion in the detection of the event and decreased response effectiveness.

    Event Logged

    For informational alerts, log the event for future analysis.

    Automated Resolution

    For a warning or exception event or a set of events with a well-known root cause, you may have an automated resolution tied to detection.

    Human Intervention

    For warnings and exceptions, human intervention may be needed. This could include manual monitoring or a handoff to incident, change, or problem management.

    2.3.1 Set actions for your thresholds

    Alerts generated by event management are useful for many different ITSM practitioners.

    1. With the chosen thresholds at hand, analyze the alerts and determine if they require immediate action or if they can be logged for later analysis.
    2. Questions to ask:
      1. What kind of response does this event warrant?
      2. How could we improve our event management process?
      3. What event alerts would have helped us with root-cause analysis in the past?
    3. Record the results in the Event Management Catalog.

    Public Website Example

    Outcome Metrics Threshold Response (s)
    Network Performance Latency 150ms Problem Management Tag to Problem Ticket 1701
    Web Page Performance DOM Load time 1100ms Change Management

    Download the Event Management Catalog

    Input

    • List of events generated by event management

    Output

    • Action plan for various events as they occur

    Materials

    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Pens
    • Paper

    Participants

    • Event Management Team
    • Infrastructure Team
    • Change Manager
    • Problem Manager
    • Incident Manager

    2.3.2 Build your event management workflow

    1. As a group, discuss your high-level monitoring, alerting, and actioning processes.
    2. Define handoff processes to incident, problem, and change management. If necessary, open your incident, problem, and change workflows and discuss how the event can further pass onto those practices. Discuss the examples below:
      • Incident Management: Who is responsible for opening the incident ticket? Can the incident ticket be automated and templated?
      • Change Management: Who is responsible for opening an RFC? Who will approve the RFC? Can it be a pre-approved change?
      • Problem Management : Who is responsible for opening the problem ticket? How can the event data be useful in the problem management process?
    3. Use and modify the example workflow as needed by downloading the Event Management Workflow.

    Example Workflow:

    This is an image of an example Event Management Workflow

    Download the Event Management Workflow

    Common datapoints to capture for each event

    Data captured will help related service management practices in different ways. Consider what you will need to record for each event.

    • Think of the practice you will be handing the event to. For example, if you’re handing the event off to incident or problem management, data captured will have to help in root-cause analysis to find and execute the right solution. If you’re passing the event off to change management, you may need information to capture the rationale of the change.
    • Knowing the driver for the data can help you define the right data captured for every event.
    • Consider the data points below for your events:

    Data Fields

    Device

    Date/time

    Component

    Parameters in exception

    Type of failure

    Value

    Download the Event Management Catalog

    Start Monitoring and Implement Event Management

    Phase 1Phase 2Phase 3

    1.1 Set Operational and Informational Goals
    1.2 Scope Monitoring and Event Management Using Business Impact

    2.1 Define Conditions and Related CIs
    2.2 Set Monitoring Thresholds and Alerts
    2.3 Action Your Events

    3.1 Define Your Data Policy
    3.2 Set Your Future of Event Monitoring

    Engineer Your Event Management Process

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    3.1.1 Define data policy needs

    3.2.1 Build your roadmap

    This phase involves the following participants:

    Business system owners

    Infrastructure manager

    IT managers

    Step 3.1

    Define Your Data Policy

    Activities

    3.1.1 Define data policy needs

    Start Monitoring and Implement Event Management

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Your overall goals from Phase 1 will help define your data retention needs. Document these policy statements in a data policy.

    This step involves the following participants:

    CIO

    Infrastructure manager

    IT managers

    Service desk manager

    Outcomes of this step

    Data retention policy statements for event management

    Know the difference between logs and metrics

    Logs

    Metrics

    A log is a complete record of events from a period:

    • Structured
    • Binary
    • Plaintext
    Missing entries in logs can be just as telling as the values existing in other entries. A metric is a numeric value that gives information about a system, generally over a time series. Adjusting the time series allows different views of the data.

    Logs are generally internal constructs to a system:

    • Applications
    • DB replications
    • Firewalls
    • SaaS services

    Completeness and context make logs excellent for:

    • Auditing
    • Analytics
    • Real-time and outlier analysis
    As a time series, metrics operate predictably and consistently regardless of system activity.

    This independence makes them ideal for:

    • Alerts
    • Dashboards
    • Profiling

    Large amounts of log data can make it difficult to:

    • Store
    • Transmit
    • Sift
    • Sort

    Context insensitivity means we can apply the same metric to dissimilar systems:

    • This is especially important for blackbox systems not fully under local control.

    Understand your data requirements

    Amount of event data logged by a 1000 user enterprise averages 113GB/day

    Source: SolarWinds

    Security Logs may contain sensitive information. Best practice is to ensure logs are secure at rest and in transit. Tailor your security protocol to your compliance regulations (PCI, etc.).
    Architecture and Availability When production infrastructure goes down, logging tends to go down as well. Holes in your data stream make it much more difficult to determine root causes of incidents. An independent secondary architecture helps solve problems when your primary is offline. At the very least, system agents should be able to buffer data until the pipeline is back online.
    Performance Log data grows: organically with the rest of the enterprise and geometrically in the event of a major incident. Your infrastructure design needs to support peak loads to prevent it from being overwhelmed when you need it the most.
    Access Control Events have value for multiple process owners in your enterprise. You need to enable access but also ensure data consistency as each group performs their own analysis on the data.
    Retention Near-real time data is valuable operationally; historic data is valuable strategically. Find a balance between the two, keeping in mind your obligations under compliance frameworks (GDPR, etc.).

    3.1.1 Set your data policy for every event

    1. Given your event list in the Event Management Catalog, include the following information for each event:
      • Retention Period
      • Data Sensitivity
      • Data Rate
    2. Record the results in the Event Management Catalog.

    Public Website Example

    Metrics/Log Retention Period Data Sensitivity Data Rate
    Latency 150ms No
    Packet Loss 10% No
    Jitter >1ms No
    Response Time 750ms No
    HAProxy Log 7 days Yes 3GB/day
    DOM Load time 1100ms
    Page Load time 1200ms
    User Access 3 years Yes

    Download the Event Management Catalog

    Input

    • List of events generated by event management
    • List of compliance standards your organization adheres to

    Output

    • Data policy for every event monitored and actioned

    Materials

    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Pens
    • Paper

    Participants

    • Event management team
    • Infrastructure team

    Step 3.2

    Set Your Future of Event Monitoring

    Activities

    3.2.1 Build your roadmap

    Start Monitoring and Implement Event Management

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Event management maturity is slowly built over time. Define your future actions in a roadmap to stay on track.

    This step involves the following participants:

    CIO

    Infrastructure manager

    IT managers

    Outcomes of this step

    Event management roadmap and action items

    Practice makes perfect

    For every event that generates an alert, you want to judge the predictive power of said event.

    Engineer your event management practice to be predictive. For example:

    • Up/Down Alert – Expected Consequence: Service desk will start working on the incident ticket before a user reports that said system has gone down.
    • SysVol Capacity Alert – Expected Consequence: Change will be made to free up space on the volume prior to the system crashing.

    If the expected consequence is not observed there are three places to look:

    1. Was the alert received by the right person?
    2. Was the alert received in enough time to do something?
    3. Did the event triggering the alert have a causative relationship with the consequence?

    While impractical to look at every action resulting from an alert, a regular review process will help improve your process. Effective alerts are crafted with specific and measurable outcomes.

    Info-Tech Insight

    False positives are worse than missed positives as they undermine confidence in the entire process from stakeholders and operators. If you need a starting point, action your false positives first.

    Mind Your Event Management Errors

    Two Donut charts are depicted. The first has a slice which is labeled 7% False Positive. The Second has a slice which is labeled 33% False Negative.

    Source: IEEE Communications Magazine March 2012

    Follow the Cookbook for every event you start tracking

    Consider building event management into new, onboarded systems as well.

    You now have several core systems, their CIs, conditions, and their related events listed in the Event Catalog. Keep the Catalog as your single reference point to help manage your tracked events across multiple tools.

    The Event Management Cookbook is designed to be used over and over. Keep your tracked events standard by running through the steps in the Cookbook.

    An additional step you could take is to pull the Cookbook out for event tracking for each new system added to your IT environment. Adding events in the Catalog during application onboarding is a good way to manage and measure configuration.

    Event Management Cookbook

    This is a screenshot of the Event Management Cookbook

    Use the framework in the Event Management Cookbook to populate your event catalog with properly tracked and actioned events.

    3.2.1 Build an event management roadmap

    Increase your event management maturity over time by documenting your goals.

    Add the following in-scope goals for future improvement. Include owner, timeline, progress, and priority.

    • Add additional systems/applications/services to event management
    • Expand condition lists for given systems
    • Consolidate tracking tools for easier data analysis and actioning
    • Integrate event management with additional service management practices

    This image contains a screenshot of a sample Event Management Roadmap

    Summary of Accomplishment

    Problem Solved

    You now have a structured event management process with a start on a properly tracked and actioned event catalog. This will help you detect incidents before they become incidents, changes needed to the IT environment, and problems before they spread.

    Continue to use the Event Management Cookbook to add new monitored events to your Event Catalog. This ensures future events will be held to the same or better standard, which allows you to avoid drowning in too much data.

    Lastly, stay on track and continually mature your event management practice using your Event Management Roadmap.

    If you would like additional support, have our analysts guide you through other phases as part of an Info-Tech workshop

    Contact your account representative for more information

    workshops@infotech.com

    1-888-670-8889

    Additional Support

    If you would like additional support, have our analysts guide you through other phases as part of an Info-Tech Workshop.

    To accelerate this project, engage your IT team in an Info-Tech workshop with an Info-Tech analyst team.

    Info-Tech analysts will join you and your team at your location or welcome you to Info-Tech’s historic Toronto office to participate in an innovative onsite workshop.

    Contact your account representative for more information.
    workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889

    The following are sample activities that will be conducted by Info-Tech analysts with your team:

    This is an example of a RACI Chart for Event Management

    Build a RACI Chart for Event Management

    Define and document the roles and responsibilities in event management.

    This is an example of a business impact chart

    Set Your Scope Using Business Impact

    Define and prioritize in-scope systems and services for event management.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Standardize the Service Desk

    Improve customer service by driving consistency in your support approach and meeting SLAs.

    Improve Incident and Problem Management

    Don’t let persistent problems govern your department

    Harness Configuration Management Superpowers

    Build a service configuration management practice around the IT services that are most important to the organization.

    Select Bibliography

    DeMattia, Adam. “Assessing the Financial Impact of HPE InfoSight Predictive Analytics.” ESG, Softchoice, Sept. 2017. Web.

    Hale, Brad. “Estimating Log Generation for Security Information Event and Log Management.” SolarWinds, n.d. Web.

    Ho, Cheng-Yuan, et al. “Statistical Analysis of False Positives and False Negatives from Real Traffic with Intrusion Detection/Prevention Systems.” IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 50, no. 3, 2012, pp. 146-154.

    ITIL Foundation ITIL 4 Edition = ITIL 4. The Stationery Office, 2019.

    McGillicuddy, Shamus. “EMA: Network Management Megatrends 2016.” Riverbed, April 2016. Web.

    McGillicuddy, Shamus. “Network Management Megatrends 2020.” Enterprise Management Associates, APCON, 2020. Web.

    Rivas, Genesis. “Event Management: Everything You Need to Know about This ITIL Process.” GB Advisors, 22 Feb. 2021. Web.

    “Service Operations Processes.” ITIL Version 3 Chapters, 21 May 2010. Web.

    Kick-Start IT-Led Business Innovation

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}87|cart{/j2store}
    • member rating overall impact (scale of 10): 9.2/10 Overall Impact
    • member rating average dollars saved: $38,844 Average $ Saved
    • member rating average days saved: 8 Average Days Saved
    • Parent Category Name: Innovation
    • Parent Category Link: /innovation
    • The CIO is not considered a strategic partner. The business may be satisfied with IT services, but no one is looking to IT to solve business problems or drive the enterprise forward.
    • Even if IT staff do generate ideas that will improve operational efficiency or enable the business, few are ever assessed or executed upon.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Business demand for new technology is creating added pressure to innovate and executive stakeholders expect more from IT. If IT is not viewed as a source of innovation, its perceived value will decrease and the threat of shadow IT will grow. Do not wait to start finding and capitalizing on opportunities for IT-led innovation.

    Impact and Result

    • Start innovating right away. All you need are business pains and people willing to ideate around them.
    • Assemble a small team and arm them with proven techniques for identifying unique opportunities for innovation, developing impactful solutions, and prototyping quickly and effectively. Incubate a reservoir of ideas, both big and small, so that you are ready to execute on innovative projects when the timing is right.
    • Once you have demonstrated IT’s ability to innovate, mature your capability with a permanent innovation process and program.

    Kick-Start IT-Led Business Innovation Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should create innovation processes, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Launch innovation

    Sponsor a mandate for innovation and assemble a small team to start sourcing ideas with IT staff.

    • Kick-Start IT-Led Business Innovation – Phase 1: Launch Innovation
    • Innovation Working Group Charter

    2. Ideate

    Identify critical opportunities for innovation and brainstorm effective solutions.

    • Kick-Start IT-Led Business Innovation – Phase 2: Ideate
    • Idea Document
    • Idea Reservoir Tool

    3. Prototype

    Prototype ideas rapidly to gain user feedback, refine solutions, and make a compelling case for project investment.

    • Kick-Start IT-Led Business Innovation – Phase 3: Prototype
    • Prototyping Workbook
    • Prototype Assessment

    4. Mature innovation capability

    Formalize the innovation process and implement a program to create a strong culture of innovation in IT.

    • Kick-Start IT-Led Business Innovation – Phase 4: Mature Innovation Capability

    Infographic

    Workshop: Kick-Start IT-Led Business Innovation

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Launch Innovation

    The Purpose

    Introduce innovation.

    Assess overall IT maturity to understand what you want to achieve with innovation.

    Define the innovation mandate.

    Introduce ideation.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    A set of shared objectives for innovation will be defined.

    A mandate will be created to help focus innovation efforts on what is most critical to the advancement of IT's maturity.

    The group will be introduced to ideation and prepared to begin addressing critical IT or business pains.

    Activities

    1.1 Define workshop goals and objectives.

    1.2 Introduce innovation.

    1.3 Assess IT maturity.

    1.4 Define the innovation mandate.

    1.5 Introduce ideation.

    Outputs

    Workshop goals and objectives.

    An understanding of innovation.

    IT maturity assessment.

    Sponsored innovation mandate.

    An understanding of ideation.

    2 Ideate, Part I

    The Purpose

    Identify and prioritize opportunities for IT-led innovation.

    Map critical processes to identify the pains that should be ideated around.

    Brainstorm potential solutions.

    Assess, pitch, and prioritize ideas that should be investigated further.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    The team will learn best practices for ideation.

    Critical pain points that might be addressed through innovation will be identified and well understood.

    A number of ideas will be generated that can solve identified pains and potentially feed the project pipeline.

    The team will prioritize the ideas that should be investigated further and prototyped after the workshop.

    Activities

    2.1 Identify processes that present opportunities for IT-led innovation.

    2.2 Map selected processes.

    2.3 Finalize problem statements.

    2.4 Generate ideas.

    2.5 Assess ideas.

    2.6 Pitch and prioritize ideas.

    Outputs

    A list of processes with high opportunity for IT-enablement.

    Detailed process maps that highlight pain points and stakeholder needs.

    Problem statements to ideate around.

    A long list of ideas to address pain points.

    Detailed idea documents.

    A shortlist of prioritized ideas to investigate further.

    3 Ideate, Part II

    The Purpose

    Ideate around a more complex problem that presents opportunity for IT-led innovation.

    Map the associated process to define pain points and stakeholder needs in detail.

    Brainstorm potential solutions.

    Assess, pitch, and prioritize ideas that should be investigated further.

    Introduce prototyping.

    Map the user journey for prioritized ideas.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    The team will be ready to facilitate ideation independently with other staff after the workshop.

    A critical problem that might be addressed through innovation will be defined and well understood.

    A number of innovative ideas will be generated that can solve this problem and help IT position itself as a source of innovative projects.

    Ideas will be assessed and prioritized for further investigation and prototyping after the workshop.

    The team will learn best practices for prototyping.

    The team will identify the assumptions that need to be tested when top ideas are prototyped.

    Activities

    3.1 Select an urgent opportunity for IT-led innovation.

    3.2 Map the associated process.

    3.3 Finalize the problem statement.

    3.4 Generate ideas.

    3.5 Assess ideas.

    3.6 Pitch and prioritize ideas.

    3.7 Introduce prototyping.

    3.8 Map the user journey for top ideas.

    Outputs

    Selection of a process which presents a critical opportunity for IT-enablement.

    Detailed process map that highlights pain points and stakeholder needs.

    Problem statement to ideate around.

    A long list of ideas to solve the problem.

    Detailed idea documents.

    A shortlist of prioritized ideas to investigate further.

    An understanding of effective prototyping techniques.

    A user journey for at least one of the top ideas.

    4 Implement an Innovation Process and Program

    The Purpose

    Establish a process for generating, managing, prototyping, prioritizing, and approving new ideas.

    Create an action plan to operationalize your new process.

    Develop a program to help support the innovation process and nurture your innovators.

    Create an action plan to implement your innovation program.

    Decide how innovation success will be measured.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    The team will learn best practices for managing innovation.

    The team will be ready to operationalize an effective process for IT-led innovation. You can start scheduling ideation sessions as soon as the workshop is complete.

    The team will understand the current innovation ecosystem: drivers, barriers, and enablers.

    The team will be ready to roll out an innovation program that will help generate wider engagement with IT-led innovation.

    You will be ready to measure and report on the success of your program.

    Activities

    4.1 Design an IT-led innovation process.

    4.2 Assign roles and responsibilities.

    4.3 Generate an action plan to roll out the process.

    4.4 Determine critical process metrics to track.

    4.5 Identify innovation drivers, enablers, and barriers.

    4.6 Develop a program to nurture a culture of innovation.

    4.7 Create an action plan to jumpstart each of your program components.

    4.8 Determine critical metrics to track.

    4.9 Summarize findings and gather feedback.

    Outputs

    A process for IT-led innovation.

    Defined process roles and responsibilities.

    An action plan for operationalizing the process.

    Critical process metrics to measure success.

    A list of innovation drivers, enablers, and barriers.

    A program for innovation that will leverage enablers and minimize barriers.

    An action plan to roll out your innovation program.

    Critical program metrics to track.

    Overview of workshop results and feedback.

    Infrastructure and Operations Priorities 2023

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    • member rating average dollars saved: N/A
    • member rating average days saved: N/A
    • Parent Category Name: Disruptive & Emerging Technologies
    • Parent Category Link: /disruptive-emerging-technologies
    • Get out of your I&O silo. I&O teams must be expected to work alongside and integrate with cyber security operations.
    • Being unprepared for new ESG reporting mandates without a clear and validated ESG reporting process puts your organization at risk.
    • Get ahead of inflationary pressures with early budgetary planning and identify the gap between the catchup projects and required critical net new investments.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Establish I&O within an AI governance program to build trust in AI results, behaviors, and limit legal exposure.
    • Develop data governance program that includes an I&O data steward for oversight.
    • Ready or not, the metaverse is coming to an infrastructure near you. Start expanding I&O technologies and processes to support a metaverse infrastructure.

    Impact and Result

    • Provide a framework that highlight the impacts the threats of an economic slowdown, growing regulatory reporting requirements, cyber security attacks and opportunity that smart governance over AI, data stewardship and the looming explosion of augmented reality and Web 3.0 technologies.
    • Info-Tech can help communicate your I&O priorities into compelling cases for your stakeholders.

    Infrastructure and Operations Priorities 2023 Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Infrastructure & Operations Priorities 2023 – A framework to dive deeper into the trends most relevant to you and your organization

    Discover Info-Tech's six priorities for Infrastructure & Operations leaders.

    Infographic

    Further reading

    Infrastructure &Operations Priorities 2023

    Navigate the liminal space between threats and opportunities.

    2023: A liminal space between threats and opportunities

    Over the last several years, successful CEOs turned to their Infrastructure and Operations (I&O) departments to survive the effects of the pandemic. It was I&O leaders who were able to reconfigure critical infrastructure on the fly to support remote work, adapt to critical supply chain shortages, and work with lines of business managers to innovate operational workflows.

    2023 promises to bring a new set of challenges. Building on the credibility established during the pandemic, I&O is in a unique position to influence the direction a business will take to be successful in a time of austerity.

    I&O members are going to be asked to mitigate the threats of volatility from recession pressures, new cybersecurity attacks, and operational process and litigation from regulatory mandates. At the same time, I&O members are being asked for fundamental digital transformation items to realize long-term opportunities to their organizations in 2023.

    Seemingly counter-intuitive in a time of economic slowdown, organizations in 2023 will want to start the groundwork to realizing the I&O opportunities that unstructured data and artificial intelligence have promised, while prepping for what has been mislabeled as the Metaverse.

    If you are in a traditionally risk adverse industry, you’re more likely to be impacted by the threat mitigation.

    Opportunistic I&O members will use 2023 to proactively jumpstart digital transformation.

    Introduction

    Welcome to the Info-Tech 2023 I&O Priorities Report

    If I&O members learned anything from the last few years, it’s how to tactically respond to the disruptive waves often arising from sources external to the organization. The good news is that Info-Tech’s I&O priorities report provides forward-looking insights to help members become more proactive to the tsunami of change predicted in our Trends Report to happen over the next three to five years.

    Info-Tech I&O priorities are generated through a phased approach. The first phase senses and identifies mega and macro tends in the digital landscape to formulate hypotheses about the trends for the next three to five years. These hypotheses are validated by sending out a survey to Info-Tech members. The responses from 813 members was used to produce an Info-Tech Trends Report focused on major long-term trends.

    The I&O Priorities were determined by combining the I&O member responses within the Info-tech Trends Survey with insightful signals from secondary research, economic markets, regulatory bodies, industry organizations, and vendors. The six I&O priorities identified in this report are presented in a framework that highlight the impacts of an economic slowdown, growing regulatory reporting requirements, cybersecurity threats, smart governance of AI, embracing stewardship of data, and the looming explosion of augmented reality and Web 3.0 technologies.

    We also have a challenge exercise to help you communicate which priorities to focus your I&O organization on. Additionally, we linked some Info-tech research and tools related to the priorities that help your I&O organization formulate actionable plans for each area.

    Priorities

    Six forward-looking priorities for the next year.

    Focus

    Activity to help select which priorities are relevant for you.

    Actions

    Actionable Info-tech research and tools to help you deliver.

    Infrastructure & Operations priorities

    The I&O priorities were determined by combining I&O member responses from the Tech Trends and Priorities 2023 survey with insightful signals from secondary research, economic markets, regulatory bodies, industry organizations, and vendors.

    The image contains a screenshot of the Infrastructure & Operations priorities.

    I&O Priorities 2023

    The image contains a screenshot of the I&O Priorities.

    I&O priorities framework

    Threats signals

    Enhance I&O Cybersecurity

    Produce ESG Reporting

    Recession Readiness

    Get out of your silo. Forget your job description and start doing what needs to be done.

    Infrastructure rarely has authority in these areas, but somehow it ends up with many of the responsibilities. You can't afford to be reactive. Forget about your traditional silo and get out in front of these topics. Not in your job description? Find out whose job it is and make them aware. Better yet – take charge! If you're going to be responsible you might as well be in control.

    Opportunities signals

    AI Governance: Watching the Watchers

    Prep for A Brave New Metaverse

    Data Governance: Cornerstone of Value

    Proper stewardship of data is an I&O must. If thought you had problems with your unstructured data, wait until you see the data sprawl coming from the metaverse.

    I&O needs to be so much more than just an order taker for the dev teams and lines of business. The sprawl of unstructured data in Word, Excel, PDF and PowerPoint was bad historically; imagine those same problems at metaverse scale! Simple storage and connectivity is no longer enough – I&O must move upstream with more sophisticated service and product offerings generated through proper governance and stewardship.

    Challenge: Expand the I&O border

    The hidden message in this report is that I&O priorities extend beyond the traditional scope of I&O functions. I&O members need to collaborate across functional areas to successfully address the priorities presented in this report.

    Info-Tech can help! Align your priorities with our material on how to Build a Business-Aligned IT Strategy. Use a modified version of the Strategy Initiative Template (next slide) to convey your strong opinion on the priorities you need your stakeholders to know about. And do so in a way that is familiar so they will easily understand.

    The image contains a screenshot of Info-Tech's Maturity Ladder.
    Info-Tech 2023 Trends Survey Results

    Call your Executive Advisor or Counselor to help identify the one or two key messages you want to bring forward for success in 2023!

    Info-Tech IT Strategy Initiative Template, from the IT Strategy Presentation Template & Priorities Report Initiative Template

    .
    The image contains a screenshot of a template for your priorities.

    Protect from threats

    Get out of your silo. Forget your job description and just start doing what needs to be done.

    Enhance I&O Cybersecurity

    Produce ESG Reporting

    Recession Readiness

    Enhance cybersecurity response

    SIGNALS

    Cybersecurity incidents are
    a clear and present danger
    to I&O members.

    Cybersecurity incidents have
    a large financial impact
    on organizations.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Of the surveyed I&O members, 53% identified cybersecurity incidents as the number one threat disrupting their operations in 2023. It’s understandable, as over 18% of surveyed I&O members experienced a cybersecurity incident in 2022. Alarmingly, 10% of surveyed I&O members didn’t know if they had a cybersecurity incident. The impact to the organization was with 14% of those incidents directly impacting their organizations for anywhere from 6 to 60 days.

    The 2022 report “Cost of a Data Breach” was conducted by IBM and the Ponemon Institute using data from 550 companies (across 17 countries) that experienced a security incident during a 12-month period ending in March 2022. It highlighted that the average total organizational cost of a security breach globally was USD 4.35M (locally these numbers expand to USA at USD 9.44M, Canada at USD 5.64, UK at USD 5.05M, Germany at USD 4.85M).

    (Source: IBM, 2022)

    Enhance cybersecurity response

    SIGNALS

    Organizations' exposure comes from internal and external sources.

    The right tools and process can reduce the impact of a cybersecurity incident.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    The IBM/Ponemon Institute report highlighted the following:

    • 59% of organizations didn’t deploy a zero-trust architecture on critical infrastructure to reduce exposure.
    • 19% of the breaches originated from within their business partner eco-system.
    • 45% were cloud-based.

    (Source: IBM, 2022)

    The IBM/Ponemon Institute report also identified technologies and procedures to reduce the fiscal impacts of cybersecurity breaches. Having a dedicated security incident response team with a regularly tested plan reduced the incident cost by an average of USD 2.66M. A fully implemented AI security deduction and response automation system can provide average incident savings of 27.6%.

    Enhance cybersecurity response

    SIGNALS

    Cybersecurity spending is a major and expanding expenditure for our members.

    Cybersecurity is going
    to include brand misinformation.

    For 36% of surveyed I&O members, cybersecurity consumed between 10-20% of their total budget in 2022. Moreover, cybersecurity defense funding is expected to increase for 57% of I&O members.

    A third of surveyed I&O members viewed misinformation as a major risk to their organization for 2023 and 2024. Only 38% of the I&O members reported that they will have software in place to monitor and manage social media posts.

    Increasing environment and regulatory complexity demands more sophisticated cybersecurity operations.

    Infrastructure teams must be expected to work alongside and integrate with cybersecurity operations.

    Enhance cybersecurity response

    CALL TO ACTION

    Get out of your I&O silo and form cross-functional cybersecurity teams.

    I&O priority actions

    Establish a cross-functional security steering committee to coordinate security processes and technologies. The complexity of managing security across modern applications, cloud, IoT, and network infrastructure that members operate is greater than ever before and requires coordinated teamwork.

    Contain the cyber threat with zero trust (ZT) architecture. Extend ZT to network and critical infrastructure to limit exposure.

    Leverage AI to build vigilant security intelligence. Smart I&O operators will make use of AI automation to augment their security technologies to help detect threats and contain security incidents on critical infrastructure.

    Enhance cybersecurity response

    I&O priority actions

    Build specialized cybersecurity incident management protocols with your service desk. Build integrated security focused teams within service desk operations that continually test and improve security incident response protocols internally and with specialized security vendors. In some organizations, security incident response teams extend beyond traditional infrastructure into social media. Work cross-functionally to determine the risk exposure to misinformation and incident response procedures.

    Treat lost or stolen equipment as a security incident. Develop hardware asset management protocols for tracking and reporting on these incidents and keep a record of equipment disposal. Implement tools that allow for remote deletion of data and report on lost or stolen equipment.

    Produce ESG reporting

    SIGNALS

    Government mandates present an operational risk to I&O members.

    ESG reporting is
    often incomplete.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Surveyed members identified government-enacted policy changes to be a top risk to disrupting to their business operations in 2023. One of the trends identified by Info-Tech is that the impact of regulations on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting are being rolled out by governments worldwide.

    Alarmingly, only 7% of surveyed members responded that they could very accurately report on their carbon footprint and 23% said they were not able to report accurately at all.

    Produce ESG reporting

    SIGNALS

    ESG mandates are being rolled out globally.

    ESG reporting has greatly expanded since a 2017 report by Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD, 2017) which recommended that organizations disclose climate-related financial metrics for investors to appropriately price climate-related risks to share price. In 2021, the Swiss Finance Institute research paper (Sautner, 2021) identified 29 countries that require ESG reporting, primarily for larger public companies, financial institutions, and state-owned corporations.

    Global ESG mandates

    The image contains a screenshot of a world map that demonstrates the Global ESG Mandates.

    29 nations with ESG mandates identified by the Swiss Finance Institute

    Produce ESG reporting

    SIGNALS

    ESG mandates are being rolled out globally.

    The EU has mandated ESG reporting for approximately 11,700 large public companies with more than 500 employees under the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD), since 2014. The EU is going to replace the NFRD with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (European Council, 2022), which has set a 3-year timetable for escalating the ESG reporting level to what is estimated to be about 75% of EU total turnover (WorldFavor, 2022).

    • 2024: Companies with 500 or more employees.
    • 2025: Companies with 250 or more employee or 40M EU in revenue/20M in total assets.
    • 2026: SMEs, smaller credit financial, and captive insurance institutions.

    It's been a long time since most enterprises had to report on things like power efficiency factors.

    But don't think that being in the cloud will insulate you from a renewed interest in ESG reporting.

    Produce ESG reporting

    CALL TO ACTION

    Being unprepared for new ESG reporting mandates without a clear and validated ESG reporting process puts your organization at risk.

    I&O priority actions

    Understand ESG risk exposure. Define the gap between what ESG reporting is required in your jurisdiction and current reporting capabilities to meet them. Build the I&O role with responsibility for ESG reporting.

    Include vendors in ESG reporting. Review infrastructure facilities with landlords, utilities, and hosting providers to see if they can provide ESG reporting on sustainable power generation, then map it to I&O power consumption as part of their contractual obligations. Ask equipment vendors to provide ESG reporting on manufacturing materials and energy consumption to boot-strap data collection.

    Implement a HAM process to track asset disposal and other types of e-waste. Update agreements with disposal vendors to get reporting on waste and recycle volumes.

    Produce ESG reporting

    I&O priority actions

    Implement an ESG reporting framework. There are five major ESG reporting frameworks being used globally. Select one of the frameworks below that makes sense for your organization, and implement it.

    ISO 14001 Environmental Management: Part of the ISO Technical Committee family of standards that allows your organization to understand its legal requirements to become certified in ESG.

    Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Standards: GRI has been developing ESG reporting standards since 1997. GRI provides a modular ESG framework applicable to all sizes and sectors of organizations worldwide.

    Principles for Responsible Investment: UN-developed framework for ESG reporting framework for disclosure in responsible investments.

    Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB): ESG report framework to be used by investors.

    UN Global Compact: ESG reporting framework based on 10 principles that organizations can voluntarily contribute data to.

    Implement a HAM process to track asset disposal and other types of e-waste. Update agreements with disposal vendors to get reports on waste and recycle volumes.

    Recession readiness

    SIGNALS

    Managing accelerated technical debt.

    Recessionary pressures.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    I&O members experienced a spike in technical debt following the global pandemic economic shutdown, workforce displacement, and highly disrupted supply chains. 2023 presents a clear opportunity to work on these projects.

    The shortages in workforce and supply chain have accelerated inflation post pandemic. Central banks have started to slow down inflation in 2022 by raising interest rates. However, the World Bank has forecast a potential 2% rise in interest rates as the battle with inflation continues into 2023 and beyond, which could set off a global slowdown in GDP growth to 0.5%, qualifying as a recession. If interest rates continue to climb, I&O members may struggle with the higher cost of capital for their investments.

    (Source: World Bank Organization, 2022)

    Recession readiness

    SIGNALS

    I&O budgets expected to increase.

    Focused budgetary increases.

    Despite economists’ prediction of a looming recession and inflationary pressures, only 11% of I&O members surveyed indicated that they anticipated any reduction in IT budgets for 2023. In fact, 44% of I&O members expected an increase of IT budgets of between 6% and 30%.

    These increases in budget are not uniform across all investments. Surveyed I&O members indicated that the largest anticipated budget increases (compared to 2022) were in the areas of:

    • AI/machine learning ( +7.5%)
    • 5G (+7%)
    • Data Mesh/Fabric and Data Lake infrastructure (+5.7% and +4.4%, respectively)
    • Mixed reality technologies (augmented or virtual reality) (+3.3%)
    • Next generation cybersecurity (+1.7%)

    "2022 has been the first true opportunity to start getting caught up on technical debt stemming from the post pandemic supply chain and resource shortages. That catch-up is going to continue for some time.

    Unfortunately, the world isn't sitting still while doing that. In fact, we see new challenges around inflationary pressures. 2023 planning is going to be a balancing act between old and new projects."

    Paul Sparks,
    CTO at Brookshire Grocery Company

    Recession readiness

    SIGNALS

    Tough choices on budgetary spends.

    The responses indicated that I&O members expect decreased reinvestment for 2023 for the following:

    • API programming (-21.7%)
    • Cloud computing (-19.4%)
    • 44% of I&O members indicated if 2023 requires costs cutting, 5-20% of their cloud computing investment will be at risk of the chopping block!
    • Workforce management (-9.4%)
    • No-code /low-code infrastructure (-5.3%)

    Make sure you can clearly measure the value of all budgeted I&O activities.

    Anything that can't demonstrate clear value to leadership is potentially on the chopping block.

    Recession readiness

    CALL TO ACTION

    Get ahead of inflationary pressures with early budgetary planning, and identify the gap between the catch-up projects and required critical net new investments.

    II&O priority actions

    Hedge against inflation on infrastructure projects. Develop and communicate value-based strategies to lock in pricing and mitigate inflationary risk with vendors.

    Communicate value-add on all I&O budgeted items. Define an infrastructure roadmap to highlight which projects are technical debt and which are new strategic investments, and note their value to the organization.

    Look for cost saving technologies. Focus on I&O projects that automate services to increase productivity and optimize head count.

    Realize opportunities

    Build on a record of COVID-related innovation success and position the enterprise to take advantage of 2023.

    AI governance: Watching the watchers

    Data stewardship: Cornerstone of value

    Prep for a brave new metaverse

    AI governance: Watching the watchers

    SIGNALS

    Continued investment
    in AI technologies

    AI technology is permeating diverse I&O functional areas.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    About 32% of survey respondents who work in I&O said that they already invest in AI, and 40% intend to invest in 2023.

    I&O members have identified the following areas as the top five focal points for AI uses within their organizations.

    • Automated repetitive, low-level tasks
    • Business analytics or intelligence
    • Identification of risks and improvement of security response
    • Monitoring and governance
    • Sensor data analysis

    AI governance: Watching the watchers

    SIGNALS

    Consequences for misbehaving AI.

    I&O leaders can expect to have silos of AI in pockets scattered across the enterprise. Without oversight on the learning model and the data used for training and analytics there is a risk of overprovisioning, which could reduce the efficiency and effectiveness of AI models and results.

    This scale advantage of AI could result in operational inefficiencies without oversight. For example, bad governance means garbage in / garbage out. Which is worse: getting 100 outputs from a system with a 1% error rate, or getting 10,000 outputs from a system with an 1% error rate?

    These are just the operational issues; legally you can be on the hook, as well. The EU Parliament has issued a civil liability regime for AI (European Parliament, n.d.) which imposes liability to operators of AI systems, regardless of whether they acted with operational due diligence. Additionally, the IEEE (IEEE, 2019) is advocating for legal frameworks and accountability for AI that violates human rights and privacy laws and causes legal harm.

    Who is going to instill standards for AI Operations? Who is going to put in the mechanisms to validate and explain the output of AI black boxes?

    If you said it’s going to end up
    being Infrastructure and Operations – you were right!

    AI governance: Watching the watchers

    CALL TO ACTION

    Establish I&O within an AI governance program to build trust in AI results and behaviors and limit legal exposure.

    I&O priority actions

    Define who has overall AI accountability for AI governance within I&O. This role is responsible for establishing strategic governance metrics over AI use and results, and identifying liability risks.

    Maintain an inventory of AI use. Conduct an audit of where AI is used within I&O, and identify gaps in documentation and alignment with I&O processes and organizational values.

    Define an I&O success map. Provide transparency of AI use by generating pseudo code of AI models, and scorecard AI decision making with expected predictions and behavioral actions taken.

    AI governance: Watching the watchers

    Manage bias in AI decision making. Work with AI technology vendors to identify how unethical bias can enter the results, using operational data sets for validation prior to rollout.

    Protect AI data sets from manipulation. Generate new secure storage for AI technology audit trails on AI design making and results. Work with your security team to ensure data sets used by AI for training can’t be corrupted.

    Data governance: Cornerstone of value

    SIGNALS

    Data volumes grow
    with time.

    Data is seen as a source for generating new value.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Of surveyed I&O members, 63% expected to see the data storage grow by at least 10% in 2023, and 15% expected a 30% or more growth in data storage volumes.

    I&O members identified the top three ways data brings value to the organization:

    • Helping reduce operational costs.
    • Presenting value-added to existing products and services.
    • Acquiring new customers.

    Data governance: Cornerstone of value

    SIGNALS

    Approach to data analysis is primarily done in-house.

    85% of surveyed I&O members are doing data analysis with custom-made or external tools. Interestingly, 10% of I&O members do not conduct any data analysis.

    Members are missing a formal data governance process.

    81% of surveyed I&O members do not have a formal or automated process for data governance. Ironically, 24% of members responded that they aim to have publicly accessible data-as-a-service or information repositories.

    Despite investment in data initiatives, organizations carry high levels of data debt.

    Info-Tech research, Establish Data Governance, points out that data debt, the accumulated cost associated with sub-optimal governance of data assets, is a problem for 78% of organizations.

    What the enterprise expects out of enterprise storage is much more complicated in 2023.

    Data protection and governance are non-negotiable aspects of enterprise storage, even when it’s unstructured.

    Data governance: Cornerstone of value

    SIGNALS

    Data quality is the primary driver for data governance.

    The data governance market
    is booming.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    In the 2022 Zaloni survey of data governance professionals, 71% indicated that consistent data quality was the top metric for data governance, followed by reduced time to insight and regulatory compliance.

    (Source: Zaloni DATAVERSITY, 2022)

    The Business Research Company determined that the global data governance market is expected to grow from $3.28 billion in 2022 to $7.42 billion in 2026 at a CAGR of 22.7% in response to 74 zettabytes of data in 2021, with a growth rate of 1.145 trillion MB of new data being created every day.

    (Source: Business Research Company, 2022)

    Data governance: Cornerstone of value

    CALL TO ACTION

    Develop a data governance program that includes an I&O data steward for oversight.

    I&O priority actions

    Establish an I&O data steward. Make data governance by establishing a data steward role with accountability for governance. The steward works collaboratively with DataOPs to control access to I&O data, enforce policies, and reduce the time to make use of the data.

    Define a comprehensive storage architecture. If you thought you had a data sprawl problem before, wait until you see the volume of data generated from IoT and Web 3.0 applications. Get ahead of the problem by creating an infrastructure roadmap for structured and unstructured data storage.

    Build a solid backbone for AI Operations using data quality best practices. Data quality is the foundation for generation of operational value from the data and artificial intelligence efforts. Focus on using a methodology to build a culture of data quality within I&O systems and applications that generate data rather than reactive fixes.

    Look to partner with third-party vendors for your master data management (MDM) efforts. Modern MDM vendors can work with your existing data fabrics/lake and help leverage your data governance policies into the cloud.

    Prep for a brave new metaverse

    SIGNALS

    From science fiction to science fact.

    The term metaverse was coined in 1992 by Neal Stephenson and is a common theme in science fiction. For most I&O surveyed professionals, the term metaverse conjures up more confusion than clarity, as it’s not one place, but multiple metaverse worlds. The primordial metaverse was focused on multiplayer gaming and some educational experiences. It wasn’t until recently that it gained a critical mass in the fashion and entertainment industries with the use of non-fungible tokens (NFT). The pandemic created a unique opportunity for metaverse-related technologies to expand Web 3.0.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Prep for a brave new metaverse

    SIGNALS

    Collaboration and beyond.

    On one hand, metaverse technologies virtual reality(VR)/augmented reality (AR) headsets can be a method of collaborating internally within a single organization. About 10% of our surveyed I&O members engaged this type of collaborative metaverse in 2022, with another 24% looking to run proof of concept projects in 2023. However, there is a much larger terrain for metaverse projects outside of workforce collaboration, which 17% of surveyed I&O members are planning to engage with in 2023.

    These are sophisticated new metaverse worlds, and digital twins of production environments are being created for B2B collaboration, operations, engineering, healthcare, architecture, and education that include the use of block chain, NFTs, smart contracts, and other Web 3.0 technologies

    “They are the audiovisual bodies that people use to communicate with each other in the Metaverse.”

    Neal Stephenson,
    Snow Crash 1992

    Prep for a brave new metaverse

    SIGNALS

    Metaverse requires multidimensional security.

    Security in the context of the metaverse presents new challenges to I&O. The infrastructure that runs the metaverse is still vulnerable to “traditional” security threats. New attack vectors include financial and identity fraud, privacy and data loss, along with new cyber-physical threats which are predicted to occur as the metaverse begins to integrate with IoT and other 3D objects in the physical world.

    The ultimate in "not a product" – the metaverse promises to be a hodgepodge of badly standardized technologies for the near future.

    Be prepared to take care of pets and not cattle for the foreseeable future, but keep putting the fencing around the ranch.

    Prep for a brave new metaverse

    SIGNALS

    Generating new wave of sophisticated engineering coming.

    Economics boom around metaverse set to explode.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Beyond the current online educational resources, there are reputable universities around the world, including Stanford University, that are offering courses on metaverse and Web 3.0 concepts.

    (Source: Arti, 2022)

    So, what’s providing the impetus for all this activity and investment? Economics. In their 2022 report, Metaverse and Money, Citi estimated that the economic value of the metaverse(s) will have 900M to 1B VR/AR users and 5 billion Web 3.0 users with market sizes of $1-2T and $8-$13T, respectively. Yes, that’s a “T” for Trillions.

    (Source: Ghose, 2022)

    Prep for a brave new metaverse

    CALL TO ACTION

    Ready or not, the metaverse is coming to an infrastructure near you. Start expanding I&O technologies and processes to support a metaverse infrastructure.

    I&O priority actions

    Develop a plan for network upgrades.

    A truly immersive VR/AR experience requires very low latency. Identify gaps and develop a plan to enhance your network infrastructure surrounding your metaverse space(s) and end users.

    Extend security posture into the metaverse.

    Securing the infrastructure that runs your metaverse is going to extend the end-user equipment used to navigate it. More importantly, security policies need to encompass the avatars that navigate it and the spatial web that they interact with, which can include physical world items like IoT.

    Prep for a brave new metaverse

    I&O priority actions

    Metaverse theft prevention

    Leverage existing strategies to identify management in the metaverse. Privacy policies need to extend their focus to data loss prevention within the metaverse.

    Collaborate

    The skill set required to build, deploy, manage, and support the metaverse is complex. Develop a metaverse support organization that extends beyond I&O functions into security, DevOps, and end-user experiences.

    Educate

    Web 3.0 technologies and business models are complex. Education of I&O technical- and commerce-focused team members is going to help prevent you from getting blindsided. Seek out specialized training programs for technical staff and strategic education for executives, like the Wharton School of Business certification program.

    Authors

    John Annand

    Theo Antoniadis

    John Annand

    Principal Research Director

    Theo Antoniadis

    Principal Research Director

    Contributors

    Paul Sparks,
    CTO at Brookshire Grocery Company

    2 Anonymous Contributors

    Figuring out the true nature of the “Turbo” button of his 486DX100 launched John on a 20-year career in managed services and solution architecture, exploring the secrets of HPC, virtualization, and DIY WANs built with banks of USR TotalControl modems. Today he focuses his research and advisory on software-defined infrastructure technologies, strategy, organization, and service design in an increasingly Agile and DevOps world.

    Theo has decades of operational and project management experience with start-ups and multinationals across North America and Europe. He has held various consulting, IT management and operations leadership positions within telecommunications, SaaS, and software companies.

    Bibliography

    “3 Cybersecurity Trends that are Changing Financial Data Management." FIMA US. Accessed August 2022.
    Arti. “While much of the world is just discovering the Metaverse, a number of universities have already established centers for studying Web 3." Analytics Insight. 10 July 2022.
    “Artificial intelligence (AI) for cybersecurity." IBM. Accessed September 2022
    “Business in the Metaverse Economy." Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania. Accessed October 2022.
    “Cost of a data breach 2022: A million-dollar race to detect and respond." IBM. Accessed September 2022.
    “Countries affected by mandatory ESG reporting – here’s the list." New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment. Accessed September 2022.
    “Countries affected by mandatory ESG reporting – here’s the list.” WorldFavor. Accessed September 2022.
    Crenshaw, Caroline A. “SEC Proposes to Enhance Disclosures by Certain Investment Advisers and Investment Companies About ESG Investment Practices." U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. May 2022.
    “Cutting through the metaverse hype: Practical guidance and use cases for business." Avanade. Accessed October 2022.
    “Data Governance Global Market Sees Growth Rate Of 25% Through 2022." The Business Research Company. August 2022.
    “DIRECTIVE 2014/95/EU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 22 October 2014 amending Directive 2013/34/EU as regards disclosure of non-financial and diversity information by certain large undertakings and groups." UER-Lex. Accessed September 2022.
    "Ethically Aligned Design: A Vision for Prioritizing Human Well-being with Autonomous and Intelligent Systems." IEEE. March 2019.
    “European Parliament resolution of 20 October 2020 with recommendations to the Commission on a civil liability regime for artificial intelligence." European Parliament. Accessed October 2022.
    Ghose, Ronit et al. "Metaverse and Money." Citi GPS. March 2022.
    Hernandez, Roberto, et al. “Demystifying the metaverse." PWC. Accessed August 2022.
    Info-Tech Trends Report Survey, 2023; N=813.
    “ISO 14000 Family: Environmental Management." ISO. Accessed October 2022.
    Knight, Michelle & Bishop, Annie, ”The 2022 State of Cloud Data Governance.“ Zaloni DATAVERSITY. 2022.

    Bibliography

    Kompella, Kashyap, “What is AI governance and why do you need it?“ TechTarget. March 2022.
    “Management of electronic waste worldwide in 2019, by method." Statista. 2022.
    “Model Artificial Intelligence Governance Framework and Assessment Guide.“ World Economic Forum. Accessed September 2022.
    “Model Artificial Intelligence Governance Framework." PDPC Singapore. Accessed October 2022.
    “New rules on corporate sustainability reporting: provisional political agreement between the Council and the European Parliament.“ European Council. June 2022.
    "OECD Economic Outlook Volume 2022." OECD iLibrary. June 2022.
    "Recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures." TCFD. Accessed August 2022.
    “Risk of Global Recession in 2023 Rises Amid Simultaneous Rate Hikes.” World Bank Organization. September 2022.
    Sautner, Zacharias, et al. “The Effects of Mandatory ESG Disclosure around the World.” SSRN. November 2021.
    Sondergaard, Peter. “AI GOVERNANCE – WHAT ARE THE KPIS? AND WHO IS ACCOUNTABLE?“ The Sondergaard Group. November 2019.
    Srivastavam Sudeep, “How can your business enter the Metaverse?." Appinventiv.
    September 2022.
    “Standards Overview." SASB. Accessed October 2022.
    Stephenson, Neal. Snow Crash. Bantam Books, 1992.
    “Sustainability Reporting Standards." Global Reporting Initiative. Accessed October 2022.
    “The Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact." UN Global Compact. Accessed October 2022.
    Tian Tong Lee, Sheryl. "China Unveils ESG Reporting Guidelines to Catch Peers.” Bloomberg. May 2022.
    “What are the Principles for Responsible Investment?" UNPRI. Accessed October 2022.
    "What is the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)?" WorldFavor.
    June 2022.
    West, Darrell M. “Six Steps to Responsible AI in the Federal Government.“ Brookings Institution. March 2022. Web.

    Implement Risk-Based Vulnerability Management

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    • Parent Category Name: Threat Intelligence & Incident Response
    • Parent Category Link: /threat-intelligence-incident-response
    • Vulnerability scanners, industry alerts, and penetration tests are revealing more and more vulnerabilities, and it is unclear how to manage them.
    • Organizations are struggling to prioritize the vulnerabilities for remediation, as there are many factors to consider, including the threat of the vulnerability and the potential remediation option itself.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Patches are often seen as the only answer to vulnerabilities, but these are not always the most suitable solution.
    • Vulnerability management does not equal patch management. It includes identifying and assessing the risk of the vulnerability, and then selecting a remediation option which goes beyond just patching alone.
    • There is more than one way to tackle the problem. Leverage your existing security controls in order to protect the organization.

    Impact and Result

    • At the conclusion of this blueprint, you will have created a full vulnerability management program that will allow you to take a risk-based approach to vulnerability remediation.
    • Assessing a vulnerability’s risk will enable you to properly determine the true urgency of a vulnerability within the context of your organization; this ensures you are not just blindly following what the tool is reporting.
    • The risk-based approach will allow you prioritize your discovered vulnerabilities and take immediate action on critical and high vulnerabilities, while allowing your standard remediation cycle to address the medium to low vulnerabilities.
    • With your program defined and developed, you now need to configure your vulnerability scanning tool, or acquire one if you don’t already have a tool in place.
    • Lastly, while vulnerability management will help address your systems and applications, how do you know if you are secure from external malicious actors? Penetration testing will offer visibility, allowing you to plug those holes and attain an environment with a smaller risk surface.

    Implement Risk-Based Vulnerability Management Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should design and implement a vulnerability management program, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Identify vulnerability sources

    Begin the project by creating a vulnerability management team and determine how vulnerabilities will be identified through scanners, penetration tests, third-party sources, and incidents.

    • Vulnerability Management SOP Template

    2. Triage vulnerabilities and assign priorities

    Determine how vulnerabilities will be triaged and evaluated based on intrinsic qualities and how they may compromise business functions and data sensitivity.

    • Vulnerability Tracking Tool
    • Vulnerability Management Risk Assessment Tool
    • Vulnerability Management Workflow (Visio)
    • Vulnerability Management Workflow (PDF)

    3. Remediate vulnerabilities

    Address the vulnerabilities based on their level of risk. Patching isn't the only risk mitigation action; some systems simply cannot be patched, but other options are available. Reduce the risk down to medium/low levels and engage your regular operational processes to deal with the latter.

    4. Measure and formalize

    Evolve the program continually by developing metrics and formalizing a policy.

    • Vulnerability Management Policy Template
    • Vulnerability Scanning Tool RFP Template
    • Penetration Test RFP Template

    Infographic

    Workshop: Implement Risk-Based Vulnerability Management

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Identify Vulnerability Sources

    The Purpose

    Establish a common understanding of vulnerability management, and define the roles, scope, and information sources of vulnerability detection.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Attain visibility on all of the vulnerability information sources, and a common understanding of vulnerability management and its scope.

    Activities

    1.1 Define the scope & boundary of your organization’s security program.

    1.2 Assign responsibility for vulnerability identification and remediation.

    1.3 Develop a monitoring and review process of third-party vulnerability sources.

    1.4 Review incident management and vulnerability management

    Outputs

    Defined scope and boundaries of the IT security program

    Roles and responsibilities defined for member groups

    Process for review of third-party vulnerability sources

    Alignment of vulnerability management program with existing incident management processes

    2 Triage and Prioritize

    The Purpose

    We will examine the elements that you will use to triage and analyze vulnerabilities, prioritizing using a risk-based approach and prepare for remediation options.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    A consistent, documented process for the evaluation of vulnerabilities in your environment.

    Activities

    2.1 Evaluate your identified vulnerabilities.

    2.2 Determine high-level business criticality.

    2.3 Determine your high-level data classifications.

    2.4 Document your defense-in-depth controls.

    2.5 Build a classification scheme to consistently assess impact.

    2.6 Build a classification scheme to consistently assess likelihood.

    Outputs

    Adjusted workflow to reflect your current processes

    List of business operations and their criticality and impact to the business

    Adjusted workflow to reflect your current processes

    List of defense-in-depth controls

    Vulnerability Management Risk Assessment tool formatted to your organization

    Vulnerability Management Risk Assessment tool formatted to your organization

    3 Remediate Vulnerabilities

    The Purpose

    Identifying potential remediation options.

    Developing criteria for each option in regard to when to use and when to avoid.

    Establishing exception procedure for testing and remediation.

    Documenting the implementation of remediation and verification.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Identifying and selecting the remediation option to be used

    Determining what to do when a patch or update is not available

    Scheduling and executing the remediation activity

    Planning continuous improvement

    Activities

    3.1 Develop risk and remediation action.

    Outputs

    List of remediation options sorted into “when to use” and “when to avoid” lists

    4 Measure and Formalize

    The Purpose

    You will determine what ought to be measured to track the success of your vulnerability management program.

    If you lack a scanning tool this phase will help you determine tool selection.

    Lastly, penetration testing is a good next step to consider once you have your vulnerability management program well underway.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Outline of metrics that you can then configure your vulnerability scanning tool to report on.

    Development of an inaugural policy covering vulnerability management.

    The provisions needed for you to create and deploy an RFP for a vulnerability management tool.

    An understanding of penetration testing, and guidance on how to get started if there is interest to do so.

    Activities

    4.1 Measure your program with metrics, KPIs, and CSFs.

    4.2 Update the vulnerability management policy.

    4.3 Create an RFP for vulnerability scanning tools.

    4.4 Create an RFP for penetration tests.

    Outputs

    List of relevant metrics to track, and the KPIs, CSFs, and business goals for.

    Completed Vulnerability Management Policy

    Completed Request for Proposal (RFP) document that can be distributed to vendor proponents

    Completed Request for Proposal (RFP) document that can be distributed to vendor proponents

    Further reading

    Implement Risk-Based Vulnerability Management

    Get off the patching merry-go-round and start mitigating risk!

    Table of Contents

    4 Analyst Perspective

    5 Executive Summary

    6 Common Obstacles

    8 Risk-based approach to vulnerability management

    16 Step 1.1: Vulnerability management defined

    24 Step 1.2: Defining scope and roles

    34 Step 1.3: Cloud considerations for vulnerability management

    33 Step 1.4: Vulnerability detection

    46 Step 2.1: Triage vulnerabilities

    51 Step 2.2: Determine high-level business criticality

    56 Step 2.3: Consider current security posture

    61 Step 2.4: Risk assessment of vulnerabilities

    71 Step 3.1: Assessing remediation options

    Table of Contents

    80 Step 3.2: Scheduling and executing remediation

    85 Step 3.3: Continuous improvement

    89 Step 4.1: Metrics, KPIs, and CSFs

    94 Step 4.2: Vulnerability management policy

    97 Step 4.3: Select & implement a scanning tool

    107 Step 4.4: Penetration testing

    118 Summary of accomplishment

    119 Additional Support

    120 Bibliography

    Analyst Perspective

    Vulnerabilities will always be present. Know the unknowns!

    In this age of discovery, technology changes at such a rapid pace. New things are discovered, both in new technology and in old. The pace of change can often be very confusing as to where to start and what to do.

    The ever-changing nature of technology means that vulnerabilities will always be present. Taking measures to address these completely will consume all your department’s time and resources. That, and your efforts will quickly become stale as new vulnerabilities are uncovered. Besides, what about the systems that simply can’t be patched? The key is to understand the vulnerabilities and the levels of risk they pose to your organization, to prioritize effectively and to look beyond patching.

    A risk-based approach to vulnerability management will ensure you are prioritizing appropriately and protecting the business. Reduce the risk surface!

    Vulnerability management is more than just systems and application patching. It is a full process that includes patching, compensating controls, segmentation, segregation, and heightened diligence in security monitoring.

    Jimmy Tom, Research Advisor – Security, Privacy, Risk, and Compliance, Info-Tech Research Group.Jimmy Tom
    Research Advisor – Security, Privacy, Risk, and Compliance
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    Vulnerability scanners, industry alerts, and penetration tests are revealing more and more vulnerabilities, and it is unclear how to manage them.

    Organizations are struggling to prioritize the vulnerabilities for remediation, as there are many factors to consider, including the threat of the vulnerability and the potential remediation option.

    Common Obstacles

    Patches are often seen as the answer to vulnerabilities, but these are not always the most suitable solution.

    Some systems deemed vulnerable simply cannot be patched or easily replaced.

    Companies are unaware of the risk implications that come from leaving the vulnerability open and from the remediation option itself.

    Info-Tech’s Approach

    Design and implement a vulnerability management program that identifies, prioritizes, and remediates vulnerabilities.

    Understand what needs to be considered when implementing remediation options, including patches, configuration changes, and defense-in-depth controls.

    Build a process that is easy to understand and allows vulnerabilities to be remediated proactively, instead of in an ad hoc fashion.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Vulnerability management does not always equal patch management. There is more than one way to tackle the problem, particularly if a system cannot be easily patched or replaced. If a vulnerability cannot be completely remediated, steps to reduce the risk to a tolerable level must be taken.

    Common obstacles

    These barriers make vulnerability management difficult to address for many organizations:
    • The value of vulnerability management is not well articulated in many organizations. As a result, investment in vulnerability scanning technology is often insufficient.
    • Many organizations feel that a “patch everything” approach is the most effective path.
    • Vulnerability management is commonly misunderstood as being a process that only supports patch management.
    • There is often misalignment between SecOps and ITOps in remediation action and priority, affecting the timeliness of remediation.
    CVSS Score Distribution From the National Vulnerability Database: Pie Charts presenting the CVSS Core Distribution for the National Vulnerability Database. The left circle represents 'V3' and the right 'V2', where V3 has an extra option for 'Critical', above 'High', 'Medium', and 'Low', and V2 does not.
    (Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database Dashboard)

    Leverage risk to sort, triage, and prioritize vulnerabilities

    Reduce your risk surface to avoid cost to your business; everything else is table stakes.

    Reduce the critical and high vulnerabilities below the risk threshold and operationalize the remediation of medium/low vulnerabilities by following your effective vulnerability management program cycles.

    Identify vulnerability sources

    An inventory of your scanning tool and vulnerability threat intelligence data sources will help you determine a viable strategy for addressing vulnerabilities. Defining roles and responsibilities ahead of time will ensure you are not left scrambling when dealing with vulnerabilities.

    Triage and prioritize

    Bring the vulnerabilities into context by assessing vulnerabilities based on your security posture and mechanisms and not just what your data sources report. This will allow you to gauge the true urgency of the vulnerabilities based on risk and determine an effective mitigation plan.

    Remediate vulnerabilities

    Address the vulnerabilities based on their level of risk. Patching isn't the only risk mitigation action; some systems simply cannot be patched, but other options are available.

    Reduce the risk down to medium/low levels and engage your regular operational processes to deal with the latter.

    Measure and formalize

    Upon implementation of the program, measure with metrics to ensure that the program is successful. Improve the program with each iteration of vulnerability mitigation to ensure continuous improvement.

    Tactical Insight 1

    All actions to address vulnerabilities should be based on risk and the organization’s established risk tolerance.

    Tactical Insight 2

    Reduce the risk surface down below the risk threshold.

    The industry has shifted to a risk-based approach

    Traditional vulnerability management is no longer viable.

    “For those of us in the vulnerability management space, ensuring that money, resources, and time are strategically spent is both imperative and difficult. Resources are dwindling fast, but the vulnerability problem sure isn’t.” (Kenna Security)

    “Using vulnerability scanners to identify unpatched software is no longer enough. Keeping devices, networks, and digital assets safe takes a much broader, risk-based vulnerability management strategy – one that includes vulnerability assessment and mitigation actions that touch the entire ecosystem.” (Balbix)

    “Unlike legacy vulnerability management, risk-based vulnerability management goes beyond just discovering vulnerabilities. It helps you understand vulnerability risks with threat context and insight into potential business impact.” (Tenable)

    “A common mistake when prioritizing patching is equating a vulnerability’s Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) score with risk. Although CVSS scores can provide useful insight into the anatomy of a vulnerability and how it might behave if weaponized, they are standardized and thus don’t reflect either of the highly situational variables — namely, weaponization likelihood and potential impact — that factor into the risk the vulnerability poses to an organization.” (SecurityWeek)

    Why a take risk-based approach?

    Vulnerabilities, by the numbers

    60% — In 2019, 60% of breaches were due to unpatched vulnerabilities.

    74% — In the same survey, 74% of survey responses said they cannot take down critical applications and systems to patch them quickly. (Source: SecurityBoulevard, 2019)

    Info-Tech Insight

    Taking a risk-based approach will allow you to focus on mitigating risk, rather than “just patching” your environment.

    The average cost of a breach in 2020 is $3.86 million, and “…the price tag was much less for mature companies and industries and far higher for firms that had lackluster security automation and incident response processes.” (Dark Reading)

    Vulnerability Management

    A risk-based approach

    Reduce the risk surface to avoid cost to your business, everything else is table stakes

    Logo for Info-Tech.
    Logo for #iTRG.

    1

    Identify

    4

    Address

    Mitigate the risk surface by reducing the time across the phases ›Mitigate the risk by implementing:
    • patch systems & apps
    • compensating controls
    • systems and apps hardening
    • systems segregation
    Chart presenting an example of 'Risk Surface' with the axes 'Risk Level' and 'Time' with lines created by individual risks. The highlighted line begins in 'Critical' and eventually drops to low. The area between the line and your organization's risk tolerance is labelled 'Risk Surface'.

    Objective: reduce risk surface by reducing time to address

    Your organization's risk tolerance threshold

    Identify vulnerability management scanning tools & external threat intel sources (Mitre CVE, US-CERT, vendor alerts, etc.)Vulnerability information feeds:
    • scanning tool
    • external threat intel
    • internal threat intel

    2

    Analyze

    Assign actual risk (impact x urgency) to the organization based on current security posture

    Triage based on risk ›

    Your organization's risk tolerance threshold

    Risk tolerance threshold map with axes 'Impact' and 'Likelihood'. High levels of one and low levels of the other, or medium levels of both, is 'Medium', High level of one and Medium levels of the other is 'High', and High levels of both is 'Critical'.

    3

    Assess

    Plan risk mitigation strategy ›Consider:
    • risk tolerance
    • compensating controls
    • business impact

    Info-Tech’s vulnerability management methodology

    Focus on developing the most efficient processes.

    Vulnerability management isn’t “old school.”

    The vulnerability management market is relatively mature; however, vulnerability management remains a very relevant and challenging topic.

    Security practitioners are inundated with the advice they need to prioritize their vulnerabilities. Every vulnerability scanning vendor will proclaim their ability to prioritize the identified vulnerabilities.

    Third-party prioritization methodology can’t be effectively applied across all organizations. Each organization is too unique with different constraints. No tool or service can account for these variables.

    Equation to find 'Vulnerability Priority'.

    When patching is not possible, other options exist: configuration changes (hardening), defense-in-depth, compensating controls, and even elevated security monitoring are possible options.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Vulnerability management is not only patch management. Patching is only one aspect.

    Blueprint deliverables

    Each step of this blueprint is accompanied by supporting deliverables to help you accomplish your goals:

    Key deliverable:

    Vulnerability Management SOP

    The Standard operating procedure (SOP) will comprise the end-to-end description of the program: roles & responsibilities, data flow, and expected outcomes of the program.

    Sample of the key deliverable, Vulnerability Management SOP.
    Vulnerability Management Policy

    Template for your vulnerability management policy.

    Sample of the Vulnerability Management Policy blueprint.Vulnerability Tracking Tool

    This tool offers a template to track vulnerabilities and how they are remedied.

    Sample of the Vulnerability Tracking Tool blueprint.
    Vulnerability Scanning RFP Template

    Request for proposal template for the selection of a vulnerability scanning tool.

    Sample of the Vulnerability Scanning RFP Template blueprint.Vulnerability Risk Assessment Tool

    Methodology to assess vulnerability risk by determining impact and likelihood.

    Sample of the Vulnerability Risk Assessment Tool blueprint.

    Blueprint benefits

    IT Benefits

    • A standardized, consistent methodology to assess, prioritize, and remediate vulnerabilities.
    • A risk-based approach that aligns with what’s important to the business.
    • A way of dealing with the high volumes of vulnerabilities that your scanning tool is reporting.
    • Identification of “where to start” in terms of vulnerability management.
    • Ability to not lose yourself in the patch madness but rather take a sound approach to scheduling and prioritizing patches and updates.
    • Knowledge of what to do when patching is simply not possible or feasible.

    Business Benefits

    • Alignment with IT in ensuring that business processes are only interrupted when absolutely necessary while maintaining a regular cadence of vulnerability remediation.
    • A consistent program that the business can plan around and predict when interruptions will occur.
    • IT’s new approach being integrated with existing IT operations processes, offering the most efficient yet expedient method of dealing with vulnerabilities.

    Info-Tech’s process can save significant financial resources

    PhaseMeasured Value
    Phase 1: Identify vulnerability sources
      Define the process, scope, roles, vulnerability sources, and current state
      • Consultant at $100 an hour for 16 hours = $1,600
    Phase 2: Triage vulnerabilities and assign urgencies
      Establish triaging and vulnerability evaluation process
      • Consultant at $100 an hour for 16 hours = $1,600
      Determine high-level business criticality and data classifications
      • Consultant at $100 an hour for 40 hours = $4,000
      Assign urgencies to vulnerabilities
      • Consultant at $100 an hour for 8 hours = $800
    Phase 3: Remediate vulnerabilities
      Prepare documentation for the vulnerability process
      • Consultant at $100 an hour for 8 hours = $800
      Establish defense-in-depth modelling
      • Consultant at $100 an hour for 24 hours = $2,400
      Identify remediation options and establish criteria for use
      • Consultant at $100 an hour for 40 hours = $4,000
      Formalize backup and testing procedures, including exceptions
      • Consultant at $100 an hour for 8 hours = $800
      Remediate vulnerabilities and verify
      • Consultant at $100 an hour for 24 hours = $2,400
    Phase 4: Continually improve the vulnerability management process
      Establish a metrics program for vulnerability management
      • Consultant at $100 an hour for 16 hours = $1,600
      Update vulnerability management policy
      • Consultant at $100 an hour for 8 hours = $800
      Develop a vulnerability scanning tool RFP
      • Consultant at $100 an hour for 40 hours = $4,000
      Develop a penetration test RFP
      • Consultant at $100 an hour for 40 hours = $4,000
    Potential financial savings from using Info-Tech resourcesPhase 1 ($1,600) + Phase 2 ($6,400) + Phase 3 ($10,400) + Phase 4 ($10,400) = $28,800

    Guided Implementation

    A Guided Implementation (GI) is a series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization.

    A typical GI is between 8 to 12 calls over the course of 4 to 6 months.

    What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

    Phase 1

    Phase 2

    Phase 3

    Phase 4

    Call #1: Scope requirements, objectives, and your specific challenges.

    Call #2: Discuss current state and vulnerability sources.

    Call #3: Identify triage methods and business criticality.

    Call #4:Review current defense-in-depth and discuss risk assessment.

    Call #5: Discuss remediation options and scheduling.

    Call #6: Review release and change management and continuous improvement.

    Call #7: Identify metrics, KPIs, and CSFs.

    Call #8: Review vulnerability management policy.

    Workshop Overview

    Contact your account representative for more information.
    workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889

    Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5
    Activities
    Identify vulnerability sources

    1.1 What is vulnerability management?

    1.2 Define scope and roles

    1.3 Cloud considerations for vulnerability management

    1.4 Vulnerability detection

    Triage and prioritize

    2.1 Triage vulnerabilities

    2.2 Determine high-level business criticality

    2.3 Consider current security posture

    2.4 Risk assessment of vulnerabilities

    Remediate vulnerabilities

    3.1 Assess remediation options

    3.2 Schedule and execute remediation

    3.3 Drive continuous improvement

    Measure and formalize

    4.1 Metrics, KPIs & CSFs

    4.2 Vulnerability Management Policy

    4.3 Select & implement a scanning tool

    4.4 Penetration testing

    Next Steps and Wrap-Up (offsite)

    5.1 Complete in-progress deliverables from previous four days

    5.2 Set up review time for workshop deliverables and to discuss next steps

    Deliverables
    1. Scope and boundary definition of vulnerability management program
    2. Responsibility assignment for vulnerability identification and remediation
    3. Monitoring and review process of third-party vulnerability sources
    4. Incident management and vulnerability convergence
    1. Methodology for evaluating identified vulnerabilities
    2. Identification of high-level business criticality
    3. Defined high-level data classifications
    4. Documented defense-in-depth controls
    5. Risk assessment criteria for impact and likelihood
    1. Documented risk assessment methodology and remediation options
    1. Defined metrics, key performance indicators (KPIs), and critical success factors (CSFs)
    2. Initial draft of vulnerability management policy
    3. Scanning tool selection criteria
    4. Introduction to penetration testing
    1. Completed vulnerability management standard operating procedure
    2. Defined vulnerability management risk assessment criteria
    3. Vulnerability management policy draft

    Implement Risk-Based Vulnerability Management

    Phase 1

    Identify Vulnerability Sources

    Phase 1

    1.1 What is vulnerability management?
    1.2 Define scope and roles
    1.3 Cloud considerations for vulnerability management
    1.4 Vulnerability detection

    Phase 2

    2.1 Triage vulnerabilities
    2.2 Determine high-level business criticality
    2.3 Consider current security posture
    2.4 Risk assessment of vulnerabilities

    Phase 3

    3.1 Assessing remediation options
    3.2 Scheduling and executing remediation
    3.3 Continuous improvement

    Phase 4

    4.1 Metrics, KPIs & CSFs
    4.2 Vulnerability management policy
    4.3 Select and implement a scanning tool
    4.4 Penetration testing

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    Establish a common understanding of vulnerability management, define the roles, scope, and information sources of vulnerability detection.

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • Security operations team
    • IT Security Manager
    • IT Director
    • CISO

    Step 1.1

    Vulnerability Management Defined

    Activities

    None for this section

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Establish a common understanding of vulnerability management and its place in the IT organization.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Security operations team
    • IT Security Manager
    • IT Director
    • CISO

    Outcomes of this step

    Foundational knowledge of vulnerability management in your organization.

    Identify vulnerability sources
    Step 1.1Step 1.2Step 1.3Step 1.4

    What is vulnerability management?

    It’s more than just patching.

    • Vulnerability management is the regular and ongoing practice of scanning an operating environment to uncover vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities can be outdated applications, unpatched operating systems and software, open ports, obsolete hardware, or any combination of these.
    • The scanning and detection of vulnerabilities is the first step. Planning and executing of remediation is next, along with the approach, prioritized sequence of events, and timing.
    • A vendor-supplied software patch or firmware update is often the easy answer, however, this is not always a viable solution. What if you can’t patch in a timely fashion? What if patching is not possible as it will break the application and bring down operations? What if no patch exists due to the age of the application or operating platform?

    “Most organizations do not have a formal process for vulnerability management.” (Morey Haber, VP of Technology, BeyondTrust, 2016)

    Effective vulnerability management

    It’s not easy, but it’s much harder without a process in place.
    • Effective vulnerability management requires a formal process for organizations to follow; without one, vulnerabilities are dealt with in an ad hoc fashion.
    • Patching isn’t the only solution, but it’s the one that often draws focus.
    • Responsibilities for the different aspects of vulnerability management are often unclear, such as for testing, remediation, and implementation.
    • Identifying new threats without proper vulnerability scanning tools can be a near-impossible task.
    • Determining which vulnerabilities are most urgent can be an inconsistent process, increasing the organizational risk.
    • Measuring the effectiveness of your vulnerability remediation activities can help you better manage resources in SecOps and ITOps. Your staff will be spending the appropriate effort on vulnerabilities that warrant that level of attention.

    You’re not just doing this for yourself. It’s also for your auditors.

    Many compliance and regulatory obligations require organizations to have thorough documentation of their vulnerability management practices.

    Vulnerability management revolves around your asset security services

    Diagram with 'Asset Security Services' at the center. On either side are 'Network Security Services' and 'Identity Security Services', all three of which flow up into 'Security Analytics | Security Incident Response', and all four share a symbiotic flow with 'Management' below and contribute to 'Mega Trend Mapping' above. Management is supported by 'Governance'.Vulnerabilities can be found primarily within your assets but also connect to your information risk management. These must be effectively managed as part of a holistic security program.

    Without management, vulnerabilities left unattended can be easy for attackers to exploit. It becomes difficult to identify the correct remediation option to mitigate against the vulnerabilities.

    Vulnerability management works in tandem with SecOps and ITOps

    Vulnerability Management Process Inputs/Outputs:
    'Vulnerability Management (Process and Tool)' outputs are 'Incident Management', 'Release Management', 'Change Management', 'IT Asset Management', 'Application Security Testing', 'Threat Intelligence', and 'Security Risk Management'; inputs are 'Vulnerability Disclosure', 'Threat Intelligence', and 'Security Risk Management'.

    Arrows denote direction of information feed

    Vulnerability management serves as the input into a number of processes for remediation, including:
    • Incident management, to deal with issues
    • Release management, for patch management
    • Change management, for change control
    • IT asset management, to track version information, e.g. for patching
    • Application security testing, for the verification of vulnerabilities

    A two-way data flow exists between vulnerability management and:

    • Security risk management, for the overall risk posture of the organization
    • Threat intelligence, as vulnerability management reveals only one of several threat vectors

    For additional information please refer to Info-Tech’s research for each area:

    • Vulnerability management can leverage your existing processes to gain an operational element for the program.
    • As you strive to mature each of the processes on their own, vulnerability management will benefit accordingly.
    • Review our research for each of these areas and speak to one of our analysts if you wish to improve any of the listed processes.

    Info-Tech’s Information Security Program Framework

    Vulnerability management is a component of the Infrastructure Security section of Security Management

    Information Security Framework with Level 1 and Level 2 capabilities in two main sections, 'Management' and 'Governance'. Level 2 capabilities are grouped within Level 1 capabilities.For more information, review our Build an Information Security Strategy blueprint, or speak to one of our analysts.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Vulnerability management is but one piece of the information security puzzle. Ensure that you have all the pieces!

    Case Study

    Logo for Cimpress.
    INDUSTRY: Manufacturing
    SOURCE: Cimpress, 2016

    One organization is seeing immediate benefits by formalizing its vulnerability management program.

    Challenge

    Cimpress was dealing with many challenges in regards to vulnerability management. Vulnerability scanning tools were used, but the reports that were generated often gave multiple vulnerabilities that were seen as critical or high and required many resources to help address them. Scanning was done primarily in an attempt to adhere to PCI compliance rather than to effectively enable security. After re-running some scans, Cimpress saw that some vulnerabilities had existed for an extended time period but were deemed acceptable.

    Solution

    The Director of Information Security realized that there was a need to greatly improve this current process. Guidelines and policies were formalized that communicated when scans should occur and what the expectations for remediations should be. Cimpress also built a tiered approach to prioritize vulnerabilities for remediation that is specific to Cimpress instead of relying on scanning tool reports.

    Results

    Cimpress found better management of the vulnerabilities within its system. There was no pushback to the adoption of the policies, and across the worldwide offices, business units have been proactively trying to understand if there are vulnerabilities. Vulnerability management has been expanded to vendors and is taken into consideration when doing any mergers and acquisitions. Cimpress continues to expand its program for vulnerability management to include application development and vulnerabilities within any existing legacy systems.

    Step 1.2

    Defining the scope and roles

    Activities
    • 1.2.1 Define the scope and boundary of your organization’s security program
    • 1.2.2 Assign responsibility for vulnerability identification and remediation

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Define and understand the scope and boundary of the security program. For example, does it include OT? Define roles and responsibilities for vulnerability identification and remediation

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Security operations team
    • IT Security Manager
    • IT Director
    • CISO

    Outcomes of this step

    Understand how far vulnerability management extends and what role each person in IT plays in the remediation of vulnerabilities

    Identify vulnerability sources
    Step 1.1Step 1.2Step 1.3Step 1.4

    Determine the scope of your security program

    This will help you adjust the depth and breadth of your vulnerability management program.
    • Determining the scope will help you decide how much organizational risk the vulnerability management program will oversee.
    • Scope can be defined along four aspects:
      • Data Scope – What data elements in your organization does your security program cover? How is data classified?
      • Physical Scope – What physical scope, such as geographies, does the security program cover?
      • Organizational Scope – How are business units engaged with security initiatives? Does the scope cover all subsidiary organizations?
      • IT Scope – What parts of the organization does IT cover? Does their coverage include operational technology (OT) and industrial control systems (ICS)?
    Stock image of figures standing in connected circles.

    1.2.1 Define the scope and boundary of your organization’s security program

    60 minutes

    Input: List of Data Scope, Physical Scope, Organization Scope, and IT Scope

    Output: Defined scope and boundaries of the IT security program

    Materials: Whiteboard/Flip Charts, Sticky Notes, Markers, Vulnerability Management SOP Template

    Participants: Business stakeholders, IT leaders, Security team members

    1. On a whiteboard, write the headers: Data Scope, Physical Scope, Organizational Scope, and IT Scope.
    2. Give each group member a handful of sticky notes. Ask them to write down as many items as possible for the organization that could fall under one of the four scope buckets.
    3. In a group, discuss the sticky notes and the rationale for including them. Discuss your security-related locations, data, people, and technologies, and define their scope and boundaries.

    The goal is to identify what your vulnerability management program is responsible for and document it.

    Consider the following:

    How is data being categorized and classified? How are business units engaged with security initiatives? How are IT systems connected to each other? How are physical locations functioning in terms of information security management?

    Download the Vulnerability Management SOP Template

    Assets are part of the scope definition

    An inventory of IT assets is necessary if there is to be effective vulnerability management.

    • Organizations need an up-to-date and comprehensive asset inventory for vulnerability management. This is due to multiple reasons:
      • When vulnerabilities are announced, they will need to be compared to an inventory to determine if the organization has any relevant systems or versions.
      • It indicates where all IT assets can be found both physically and logically.
      • Asset inventories typically have owners assigned to the assets and systems whose responsibility it is to carry out remediations for vulnerabilities.
    • Furthermore, asset inventories can provide insight into where data can be found within the organization. This is extremely useful within a formal data classification program, which plays a large factor in vulnerability management.
    If you need assistance building your asset inventory, review Info-Tech’s Implement Hardware Asset Management and Implement Software Asset Management blueprints.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Create a formal IT asset inventory before continuing with the rest of this project. Otherwise, you risk being at the mercy of a weak vulnerability management program.

    Assign responsibility for vulnerability identification and remediation

    Determine who is critical to effectively detecting and managing vulnerabilities.
    • Some of the remediation steps will involve members of IT management to identify the true organizational risk of a vulnerability.
    • Vulnerability remediation comes in different shapes and sizes. In addition to patching, this can include implementing compensating controls, server and application hardening, or the segregating of vulnerable systems.
      • Who carries out each of these activities? Who coordinates the activities and tracks them to ensure completion?
    • The people involved may be members outside of the security team, such as members from IT operations, infrastructure, and applications. The specific roles that each of these groups play should be clearly identified.
    Stock image of many connected profile photos in a cloud network.

    1.2.2 Assign responsibility for vulnerability identification and remediation

    60 minutes

    Input: Sample list of vulnerabilities and requisite actions from each group, High-level organizational chart with area functions

    Output: Defined set of roles and responsibilities for member groups

    Materials: Vulnerability Management SOP Template

    Participants: CIO, CISO, IT Management representatives for each area of IT

    1. Display the table of responsibilities that need to be assigned.
    2. List all the positions within the IT security team.
    3. Map these to the positions that require IT security team members.
    4. List all positions that are part of the IT team.
    5. Map these to the positions that require IT team members.

    If your organization does not have a dedicated IT security team, you can perform this exercise by mapping the relevant IT staff to the different positions shown on the right.

    Download the Vulnerability Management SOP TemplateSample of the Roles and Responsibilities table from the Vulnerability Management SOP Template.

    Step 1.3

    Cloud considerations for vulnerability management

    Activities

    None for this section.

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Review cloud considerations for vulnerability management

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Security operations team
    • IT Security Manager
    • IT Director
    • CISO

    Outcomes of this step

    Understand the various types of cloud offerings and the implications (and limitations) of vulnerability management in a cloud environment.

    Identify vulnerability sources
    Step 1.1Step 1.2Step 1.3Step 1.4

    Cloud considerations

    Cloud will change your approach to vulnerability management.
    • There will be a heavy dependence on the cloud service provider to ensure that vulnerabilities in their foundational technologies have been addressed.
    • Depending on the level of “as-a-Service,” customers will have varying degrees of control and visibility into the underlying operations.
    • With vendor acquiescence, you can set your tool to scan a given cloud environment, depending on how much visibility you have into their environment based on the service you have purchased.
    • Due to compliance obligations of their customers, there is a growing trend among cloud providers to allow more scanning of cloud environments.
    • In the absence of customer scanning capability, vendors may offer attestation of vulnerability management and remediation.
    Table outlining who has control, between the 'Organization' and the 'Vendor', of different cloud capabilities in different cloud strategies.

    For more information, see Info-Tech Research Group’s Document Your Cloud Strategy blueprint.

    Cloud environment scanning

    Cloud scanning is becoming a more common necessity but still requires special consideration.

    An organization’s cloud environment is just an extension of its own environment. As such, cloud environments need to be scanned for vulnerabilities.

    Private Cloud
    If your organization owns a private cloud, these environments can be tested normally.
    Public Cloud
    Performing vulnerability testing against public, third-party cloud environments is an area experiencing rapid growth and general acceptance, although customer visibility will still be limited.

    In many cases, a customer must rely on the vendor’s assurance that vulnerabilities are being addressed in a sufficient manner.

    Security standards’ compliance requirements are driving the need for cloud suppliers to validate and assure that they are appropriately scanning for and remediating vulnerabilities.

    Infrastructure- or Platform-as-a-Service (IaaS or PaaS) Environments
    • There is a general trend for PaaS and IaaS vendors to allow testing if given due notice.
    • Your contract with the cloud vendor or the vendor’s terms and conditions will outline the permissibility of customer vulnerability scanning. In some cases, a cloud vendor will deny the ability to do vulnerability scanning if they already provide a solution as part of their service.
    • Always ensure that the vendor is aware of your vulnerability scanning activity so that false positives aren’t triggering their security measures as possible denial-of-service (DoS) attacks.
    Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Environments
    • SaaS offers very limited visibility to the services behind the software that the customer sees. You therefore cannot test for patch levels or vulnerabilities.
    • SaaS customers must rely exclusively on the provider for the regular scanning and remediation of vulnerabilities in the back-end technologies supporting the SaaS application.
    • You can only test the connection points to SaaS environments. This involves trying to figure out what you can see, e.g. looking for encrypted traffic.

    Certain testing (e.g. DoS or load testing) will be very limited by your cloud vendor. Cloud vendors won’t open themselves to testing that would possibly impact their operations.

    Step 1.4

    Vulnerability detection

    Activities
    • 1.4.1 Develop a monitoring and review process of third-party vulnerability sources
    • 1.4.2 Incident management and vulnerability management

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Create an inventory of your vulnerability monitoring capability and third-party vulnerability information sources.

    Determine how incident management and vulnerability management interoperate.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Security operations team
    • IT Security Manager
    • IT Director
    • CISO

    Outcomes of this step

    Catalog of vulnerability information data sources. Understanding of the intersection of incident management and vulnerability management.

    Identify vulnerability sources
    Step 1.1Step 1.2Step 1.3Step 1.4

    Vulnerability detection

    Vulnerabilities can be identified through numerous mediums.

    Info-Tech has determined the following to be the four most common ways to identify vulnerabilities.

    Vulnerability Assessment and Scanning Tools
    • Computer programs that function to identify and assess security vulnerabilities and weaknesses within computers, computer systems, applications, or networks.
    • Using a known vulnerability database, the tool scans targeted hosts or systems to identify flaws and generate reports and recommendations based on the results.
    • There are four main types of tools under this category: network and operating system vulnerability scanners, application scanning and testing tools, web application scanners, and exploitation tools.
    Penetration Tests
    • The act of identifying vulnerabilities on computers, computer systems, applications, or networks followed by testing of the vulnerability to validate the findings.
    • Penetration tests are considered a service that is offered by third-parties in which a variety of products, tools, and methods are used to exploit systems and gain access to data.
    Open Source Monitoring
    • New vulnerabilities are detected daily with each vulnerability’s information being uploaded to an information-sharing platform to enable other organizations to be able to identify the same vulnerability on their systems.
    • Open source platforms are used to alert and distribute information on newly discovered vulnerabilities to security professionals.
    Security Incidents
    • Any time an incident response plan is called into action to mitigate an incident, there should be formal communication with the vulnerability management team.
    • Any IT incident an organization experiences should provide a feed for analysis into your vulnerability management program.

    Automate with a vulnerability scanning tool

    Vulnerabilities are too numerous for manual scanning and detection.
    • Vulnerability management is not only the awareness of the existence of vulnerabilities but that they are actively present in your environment.
    • A vulnerability scanner will usually report dozens, if not hundreds, of vulnerabilities on a regular and recurring basis. Typical IT environments have several dozen, if not hundreds, of servers. We haven’t even considered the amount of network equipment or the hundreds of user workstations in an environment.
    • This tool will give you information of the presence of a vulnerability in your environment and the host on which the vulnerability exists. This includes information on the version of software that contains a vulnerability and whether you are running that version. The tool will also report on the criticality of the vulnerability based on industry criticality ratings.
    • The tools are continually updated by the vendor with the latest definition updates for the latest vulnerabilities out there. This ensures you are always scanning for the greatest number of potential vulnerabilities.
    Automation requires oversight.
    1. Vulnerability scanners bring great automation to the task of scanning and detecting vulnerabilities in high numbers.
    2. Vulnerability scanners, however, do not have your level of intelligence. Any compensating controls, network segregation, or other risk mitigation features that you have in place will not be known by the tool.
    3. Determining the risk and urgency of a vulnerability within the context of your specific environment will still require internal review by you or your SecOps team.

    For guidance on tool selection

    Refer to section 4.3 Selecting and Implement a Scanning Tool in this blueprint.

    Vulnerability scanning tool considerations

    Select a vulnerability scanning tool with the features you need to be effective.
    • Vulnerability scanning tool selection can be an exciting and confusing process. You will need to consider what features you desire in a tool and whether you want the tool to go beyond just scanning and reporting.
    • In addition to vulnerability scanning, some tools will integrate with your IT service management (service desk ticketing system) tool and asset, configuration, and change management modules. This can facilitate the necessary workflow that the remediation process follows once a vulnerability is discovered.
    • A number of vulnerability scanning tool vendors have started offering remediation as part of their software features. This includes the automation and orchestration functionality and configuration and asset management to track its remediation activities.
    • A side benefit of the asset discovery feature in vulnerability scanning tools is that it can help enhance an organization’s asset inventory and license compliance, particularly in cases where end users are able to install software on their workstations.
    Stock photo of a smartphone scanning a barcode.

    For guidance on tool vendors

    Visit SoftwareReviews for information on vulnerability management tools and vendors.

    Vulnerability scanning tool best practices

    How often should scans be performed?

    One-off scans provide snapshots in time. Repeated scans over time provide tracking for how systems are changing and how well patches are being applied and software is being updated.

    The results of a scan (asset inventory, configuration data, and vulnerability data) are basic information needed to understand your security posture. This data needs to be as up to date as possible.

    ANALYST PERSPECTIVE: Organizations should look for continuous scanning

    Continuous scanning is the concept of providing continual scanning of your systems so any asset, configuration, or vulnerability information is up to date. Most vendors will advertise continuous scanning but you need to be skeptical of how this feature is met.

    Continuous Scanning Methods

    Continuous agent scanning

    Real-time scanning that is completed through agent-based scanning. Provides real-time understanding of system changes.

    On-demand scanning

    Cyclical scanning is the method where once you’re done scanning an area, you start it again. This is usually done because doing some scans on some areas of your network take time. How long the scan takes depends on the scan itself. How often you perform a scan depends on how long a scan takes. For example, if a scan takes a day, you perform a daily scan.

    Cloud-based scanning

    Cloud-scanning-as-a-Service can provide hands-free continuous monitoring of your systems. This is usually priced as a subscription model.

    Vulnerability scanning tool best practices

    Where to perform a scan.

    What should be scannedHow to point a scanner
    The general idea is that you want to scan pretty much everything. Here are considerations for three environments:
    Mobile Devices

    You need to scan mobile devices for vulnerabilities, but the problem is these can be hard to scan and often come and go on your network. There are always going to be some devices that aren’t on the network when scanning occurs.

    Several ways to scan mobile devices:

    • Intercept the device when it remotes into your network using a VPN. You catch the device with a remote scan. This can only be done if a VPN is required.
    • An agent-based approach can be used for mobile devices. Locally installed software gives the information needed to evaluate the security posture of a device. Discernibly, concerns around device processing, memory, and network bandwidth come into play. Ease of installation becomes key for agents.
    Virtualization
    • In a virtual environment, you will have servers being dynamically spun up. Ensure your tool is able to scan these new servers automatically.
    • Often, vulnerability scanning tool providers will restrict scanning to preapproved scanners. Look for tools that are preapproved by the VM vendors.
    Cloud Environments
    • You can set your tool to scan a given cloud environment. The main concern here is who owns the cloud. If it is a private cloud, there is little concern.
    • If it is a third-party cloud (AWS, Azure, etc.) you need to confirm with the cloud service provider that scanning of your cloud environment can occur.
    • There is a trend to allow more scanning of cloud environments.
    • You need to tell the scanner an IP address, a group of IP addresses, an asset group, or a combination of those.
    • You can categorize by functional classifications – internet-facing servers, workstations, network devices, etc., or by organizational structure – Finance, HR, Legal, etc.
    • If you have a strong change management system, you can better hone when and where to perform a scan based on actual changes.
    • You can set the number of concurrent outbound TCP connections that are being made. For example, set the tool so it sends out to 10 ports at a time, rather than pinging at 64k ports on a machine, which would flood the NIC.
    • Side Note: Flooding a host with pings from a scanning tool can be done to find out DoS thresholds on a machine. There are no bandwidth concerns for a network DoS, however, because the packets are so small.

    Vulnerability scanning tool best practices

    Communication and measurement

    Pre-Scan Communication With Users

    • It is always important to inform owners and users of systems that a scan will be happening.
    • Although it is unlikely any performance issues will arise, it is important to notify end users of potential impact.
    • Local admins or system owners may have controls in place that stop vulnerability scans and you need to inform the owners so that they can safelist the scanner you will be using.
    Vulnerability Scanning Tool Tracking Metrics
    • Vulnerability score by operating system, application, or organization division.
      • This provides a look at the widely accepted severity of the vulnerability as it relates across the organization’s systems.
    • Most vulnerable applications and application version.
      • This provides insight into how outdated applications are creating risk exposure for an organization.
      • This will also provide metrics on the effectiveness of your patching program.
    • Number of assets scanned within the last number of days.
      • This provides visibility into how often your assets are being scanned and thus protected.
    • Number of unowned devices or unapproved applications.
      • This metric will track how many unowned devices or unapproved applications may be on your network. Unowned devices may be rogue devices or just consultant/contractor devices.

    Third-party vulnerability information sources

    IT security forums and mailing lists are another source of vulnerability information.

    Proactively identify new vulnerabilities as they are announced.

    By monitoring for vulnerabilities as they are announced through industry alerts and open-source mechanisms, it is possible to identify vulnerabilities beyond your scanning tool’s penetration tests.

    Common sources:
    • Vendor websites and mailing lists
      • Vendors are the trusted sources for vulnerability and patch information on their products, particularly with new industry vulnerability disclosure requirements. Vendors are the most familiar with their products, downloads are most likely malware free, and additional information is often included.
      • There are some issues: vendors won’t announce a vulnerability until a patch is created, which creates a potential unknown risk exposure; numerous vendor sites will have to be monitored continually.
    • Third-party websites
      • A non-vendor site providing information on vulnerabilities. They often will cover a specific technology or an industry section, becoming a potential “one-stop shop” for some. They will often provide vulnerability information that is augmented with different remediation recommendations faster than vendors.
      • However, it’s more likely that malicious code could be downloaded and it will often not be comprehensive information on patching.
    • Third-party mailing lists, newsgroups, live paid subscriptions, and live open-source feeds
      • These are alerting and notification services for the detection and dissemination of vulnerability information. They provide information on the latest and most critical vulnerabilities, e.g. US-CERT Cybersecurity Alerts.
    • Vulnerability databases
      • These usually consist of dedicated databases on vulnerabilities. They perform the hard work of identifying and aggregating vulnerability and patch information into a central repository for end-user consumption. The commentary features on these databases provide excellent insight for practitioners, e.g. National Vulnerability Database (NVD).
    Stock photo of a student checking a bulletin board.

    Third-party vulnerability information sources

    IT security forums and mailing lists are another source of vulnerability information.

    Third-party sources for vulnerabilities

    • Open Source Vulnerability Database (OSVDB)
      • An open-source database that is run independently of any vendors.
    • Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE)
      • Free, international dictionary of publicly known information security vulnerabilities and exposures.
    • National Vulnerability Database (NVD)
      • Through NIST, the NVD is the US government’s repository of vulnerabilities and includes product names, flaws, and any impact metrics.
      • The National Checklist Repository Program (NCRP), also provided by NIST, provides security checklists for configurations of operating systems and applications.
      • The Center for Internet Security, a separate entity unrelated to NIST, provides configuration benchmarks that are often referenced by the NCRP.
    • Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP)
      • OWASP is another free project helping to expose vulnerabilities within software.
    • US-CERT National Cyber Alert System (US-CERT Alerts)
      • Cybersecurity Alerts – Provide timely information about current security issues, vulnerabilities, and exploits.
      • Cybersecurity Tips – Provide advice about common security issues for the general public.
      • Cybersecurity Bulletins – Provide weekly summaries of new vulnerabilities. Patch information is provided when available.
    • US-CERT Vulnerability Notes Database (US-CERT Vulnerability Notes)
      • Database of searchable security vulnerabilities that were deemed not critical enough to be covered under US-CERT Alerts. Note that the NVD covers both US-CERT Alerts and US-CERT Notes.
    • Open Vulnerability Assessment Language (OVAL)
      • Coding language for security professionals to discuss vulnerability checking and configuration issues. Vulnerabilities are identified using tests that are disseminated in OVAL definitions (XML executables that can be used by end users).

    1.4.1 Develop a monitoring and review process for third-party vulnerability sources

    60 minutes

    Input: Third-party resources list

    Output: Process for review of third-party vulnerability sources

    Materials: Whiteboard, Whiteboard markers, Vulnerability Management SOP Template

    Participants: IT Security Manager, SecOps team members, ITOps team members, CISO

    1. Identify what third-party resources are useful and relevant.
    2. Shortlist your third-party sources.
    3. Identify what is the best way to receive information from a third party.
    4. Document the method to receive or check information from the third-party source.
    5. Identify who is responsible for maintaining third-party vulnerability information sources
    6. Capture this information in the Vulnerability Management SOP Template.
    Download the Vulnerability Management SOP TemplateSample of the Third Party Vulnerability Monitoring tables from the Vulnerability Management SOP Template.

    Incidents and vulnerability management

    Incidents can also be a sources of vulnerabilities.

    When any incident occurs, for example:

    • A security incident, such as malware detected on a machine
    • An IT incident, such as an application becomes unresponsive
    • A crisis occurs, like a worker accident

    There can be underlying vulnerabilities that need to be processed.

    Three Types of IT Incidents exist:
    1. Information Security Incident
    2. IT Incident and/or Problem
    3. Crisis

    Note: You need to have developed your various incident response plans to develop information feeds to the vulnerability mitigation process.
    If you are missing an incident response plan, take a look at Info-Tech’s Related Resources.

    Info-Tech Related Resources:
    If you do not have a formalized information security incident management program, take a look at Info-Tech’s blueprint Develop and Implement a Security Incident Management Program.

    If you do not have a formalized problem management process, take a look at Info-Tech’s blueprint Incident and Problem Management.

    If you do not have a formalized IT incident management process, take a look at Info-Tech’s blueprint Develop and Implement a Security Incident Management Program.

    If you do not have formalized crisis management, take a look at Info-Tech’s blueprint Implement Crisis Management Best Practices.

    1.4.2 Incident management and vulnerability management

    60 minutes

    Input: Existing incident response processes, Existing crisis communications plans

    Output: Alignment of vulnerability management program with existing incident management processes

    Materials: Whiteboard, Whiteboard markers, Vulnerability Management SOP Template

    Participants: IT Security Manager, SecOps team members, ITOps team members, including tiers 1, 2, and 3, CISO, CIO

    1. Inventory what incident response plans the organization has. These include:
      1. Information Security Incident Response Plan
      2. IT Incident Plan
      3. Problem Management Plan
      4. Crisis Management Plan
    2. Identify what part of those plans contains the post-response recap or final analysis.
    3. Formalize a communication process between the incident response plan and the vulnerability mitigation process.

    Note: Most incident processes will cover some sort of root cause analysis and investigation of the incident. If a vulnerability of any kind is detected within this analysis it needs to be reported on and treated as a detected vulnerability, thus warranting the full vulnerability mitigation process.

    Download the Vulnerability Management SOP Template

    Implement Risk-Based Vulnerability Management

    Phase 2

    Triage & prioritize

    Phase 1

    1.1 What is vulnerability management?
    1.2 Define scope and roles
    1.3 Cloud considerations for vulnerability management
    1.4 Vulnerability detection

    Phase 2

    2.1 Triage vulnerabilities
    2.2 Determine high-level business criticality
    2.3 Consider current security posture
    2.4 Risk assessment of vulnerabilities

    Phase 3

    3.1 Assessing remediation options
    3.2 Scheduling and executing remediation
    3.3 Continuous improvement

    Phase 4

    4.1 Metrics, KPIs & CSFs
    4.2 Vulnerability management policy
    4.3 Select and implement a scanning tool
    4.4 Penetration testing

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    Examine the elements that you will use to triage and analyze vulnerabilities, prioritizing using a risk-based approach, and prepare for remediation options.

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • IT Security Manager
    • SecOps team members
    • ITOps team members, including tiers 1, 2, and 3
    • CISO
    • CIO

    Step 2.1

    Triage vulnerabilities

    Activities
    • 2.1.1 Evaluate your identified vulnerabilities

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Review your vulnerability information sources and determine a methodology that will be used to consistently evaluate vulnerabilities as your scanning tool alerts you to them.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • IT Security Manager
    • SecOps team members
    • ITOps team members, including tiers 1, 2, and 3
    • CISO
    • CIO

    Outcomes of this step

    A consistent, documented process for the evaluation of vulnerabilities in your environment.

    Triage & prioritize
    Step 2.1Step 2.2Step 2.3Step 2.4

    Triaging vulnerabilities

    Use Info-Tech’s methodology to allocate urgencies to your vulnerabilities to assign the appropriate resources to each one.

    When evaluating numerous vulnerabilities, use the following three factors to help determine the urgency of vulnerabilities:

    • The intrinsic qualities of the vulnerability
    • The business criticality of the affected asset
    • The sensitivity of the data stored on the affected asset

    Intrinsic qualities of the vulnerability — Vulnerabilities need to be examined for the inherent risk they pose specifically to the organization, which includes if an exploit has been identified or if the industry views this as a serious and likely threat.

    Business criticality of the affected asset — Assets with vulnerabilities need to be assessed for their criticality to the business. Vulnerabilities on systems that are critical to business operations or customer interactions are usually top of mind.

    Sensitivity of the data of the affected asset — Beyond just the criticality of the business, there must be consideration of the sensitivity of the data that may be compromised or modified as a result of any vulnerabilities.

    Info-Tech Insight

    This methodology allows you to determine urgency of vulnerabilities, but your remediation approach needs to be risk-based, within the context of your organization.

    Triage your vulnerabilities, filter out the noise

    Triaging enables your vulnerability management program to focus on what it should focus on.

    Use the Info-Tech Vulnerability Mitigation Process Template to define how to triage vulnerabilities as they first appear.

    Triaging is an important step in vulnerability management, whether you are facing ten to tens of thousands of vulnerability notifications.
    Many scanning tools already provide the capability to compare known vulnerabilities against existing assets through integration with the asset inventory.

    There are two major use cases for this process:
    1. For organizations that have identified vulnerabilities but do not know their own systems well enough. This can be due to a lack of a formal asset inventory.
    2. For proactive organizations that are regularly staying up to date with industry announcements regarding vulnerabilities. Once an alert has been made publicly, this process can assist in confirming if the vulnerability is relevant to the organization.
    The Info-Tech methodology for initial triaging of vulnerabilities:
    Flowchart of the Info-Tech methodology for initial triaging of vulnerabilities, beginning with 'Vulnerability has been identified' and ending with either 'Vulnerability has been triaged' or 'No action needed'.

    Even if neither of these use cases apply to your organization, triaging still addresses the issues of false positives. Triaging provides a quick way to determine if vulnerabilities are relevant.

    After eliminating the noise, evaluate your vulnerabilities to determine urgency

    Consider the intrinsic risk to the organization.

    Is there an associated, verified exploit?
    • For a vulnerability to become a true threat to the organization, it must be exploited to cause damage. In today’s threat landscape, exploit kits are sold online that allow individuals with low technical knowledge to exploit a vulnerability.
    • Not all vulnerabilities have an associated exploit, but this does not mean that these vulnerabilities can be left alone. In many cases, it is just a matter of time before an exploit is created.
    • Another point to consider is that while exploits can exist theoretically, they may not be verified. Vulnerabilities always pose some level of risk, but if there are no known verified exploits, there is less risk attached.
    Is there a CVSS base score of 7.0 or higher?
    • Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) is an open-source industry scoring method to assess the potential severity of vulnerabilities.
    • CVSS takes into account: attack vector, complexity, privileges required, user interaction, scope, confidentiality impact, integrity impact, and availability impact.
    • Vulnerabilities that have a score of 4.0 or lower are classified as low vulnerabilities, while scores between 4.0 and 6.9 are put in the medium category. Scores of 7 or higher are in the high and critical categories. As we will review in the Risk Assessment section, you will want to immediately deal with high and critical vulnerabilities.
    Is there potential for significant lateral movement?
    • Even though a vulnerability may appear to be part of an inconsequential asset, it is important to consider whether it can be leveraged to gain access to other areas of the network or system by an attacker.
    • Another consideration should be whether the vulnerability can be exploited by remote or local access. Remote exploits pose a greater risk as this can mean that attackers can perform an exploit from any location. Local exploits carry less risk, although the risk of insider threats should be considered here as well.

    2.1.1 Evaluate your identified vulnerabilities

    60 minutes

    Input: Visio workflow of Info-Tech’s vulnerability management process

    Output: Adjusted workflow to reflect your current processes, Vulnerability Tracking Tool

    Materials: Whiteboard, Whiteboard markers, Vulnerability Management SOP Template

    Participants: IT Security Manager, SecOps team members, ITOps team members, including tiers 1, 2, and 3, CISO, CIO

    Using the criteria from the previous slide, Info-Tech has created a methodology to evaluate your vulnerabilities by examining their intrinsic qualities.

    The methodology categorizes the vulnerabilities into high, medium, and low risk importance categorizations, before assigning final urgency scores in the later steps.

    1. Review the evaluation process in the Vulnerability Management Workflow library.
    2. Determine if this process makes sense for the organization; otherwise, change the flow to include any other considerations of process flows.
    3. As this process is used to evaluate vulnerabilities, document vulnerabilities to an importance category. This can be done in the Vulnerability Tracking Tool or using a similar internal vulnerability tracking document, if one exists.

    Download the Vulnerability Management SOP Template

    Step 2.2

    Determine high-level business criticality

    Activities
    • 2.2.1 Determine high-level business criticality
    • 2.2.2 Determine your high-level data classifications

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Determining high-level business criticality and data classifications will help ensure that IT security is aligned with what is critical to the business. This will be very important when decisions are made around vulnerability risk and the urgency of remediation action.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • IT Security Manager
    • SecOps team members
    • CISO

    Outcomes of this step

    Understanding and consistency in how business criticality and business data is assessed by IT in the vulnerability management process.

    Triage & prioritize
    Step 2.1Step 2.2Step 2.3Step 2.4

    Understanding business criticality is key to determining vulnerability urgency

    Prioritize operations that are truly critical to the operation of the business, and understand how they would be impacted by an exploited vulnerability.

    Use the questions below to help assess which operations are critical for the business to continue functioning.

    For example, email is often thought of as a business-critical operation when this is not always the case. It is important to the business, but as regular operations can continue for some time without it, it would not be considered extremely business critical.

    Questions to askDescription
    Is there a hard-dollar impact from downtime?This refers to when revenue or profits are directly impacted by a business disruption. For example, when an online ordering system is compromised and shut down, it impacts sales, and therefore, revenue.
    Is there an impact on goodwill/ customer trust?If downtime means delays in service delivery or otherwise impacts goodwill, there is an intangible impact on revenue that may make the associated systems mission critical.
    Is regulatory compliance a factor?Depending on the circumstances of the vulnerabilities, it can be a violation of regulatory compliance and would cause significant fines.
    Is there a health or safety risk?Some operations are critical to health and safety. For example, medical organizations have operations that are necessary to ensure that individuals’ health and safety are maintained. An exploited vulnerability that prevents these operations can directly impact the lives of these individuals.
    Don’t start from scratch – your disaster recovery plan (DRP) may have a business impact analysis (BIA) that can provide insight into which applications and operations are considered business critical.

    Analyst Perspective

    When assessing the criticality of business operations, most core business applications may be deemed business critical over the long term.

    Consider instead what the impact is over the first 24 or 48 hours of downtime.

    2.2.1 Determine high-level business criticality

    120 minutes; less time if a Disaster recovery plan business impact analysis exists

    Input: List of business operations, Insight into business operations impacts to the business

    Output: List of business operations and their criticality and impact to the business

    Materials: Vulnerability Management SOP Template

    Participants: Participants from the business, IT Security Manager, CISO, CIO

    1. List your core business operations at a high level.
    2. Use a High, Medium, or Low ranking to prioritize the business operations based on mission-critical criteria and the impact of the vulnerability.
    3. When using the process flow, consider if the vulnerability directly affects any of these business operations and move through the process flow based on the corresponding High, Medium, or Low ranking.
    Example prioritization of business operations for a manufacturing company:Questions to ask:
    1. Is there a hard-dollar impact from downtime?
    2. Is there impact on goodwill or customer trust?
    3. Is regulatory compliance a factor?
    4. Is there a health or safety risk?

    Download the Vulnerability Management SOP Template

    Determine vulnerability urgency by its data classification

    Consider how to classify your data based on if the Confidentiality, Integrity, or Availability (CIA) is compromised.

    To properly classify your data, consider how the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of that data would be affected if it were to be exploited by a vulnerability. Review the table below for an explanation for each objective.
    Confidentiality

    Preserving authorized restrictions on information access and disclosure, including means for protecting personal privacy and proprietary information.

    Integrity

    Guarding against improper information modification or destruction, and ensuring information non-repudiation and authenticity.

    Availability

    Ensuring timely and reliable access to and use of information.

    Each piece of data should be ranked as High, medium, or low across confidentiality, integrity, and availability based on adverse effect.Arrow pointing right.Low — Limited adverse effect

    Moderate — Serious adverse effect

    High — Severe or catastrophic adverse effect

    If you wish to build a whole data classification methodology, refer to our Discover and Classify Your Data blueprint.

    How to determine data classification when CIA differs:

    The overall ranking of the data will be impacted by the highest objective’s ranking.

    For example, if confidentiality and availability are low, but integrity is high, the overall impact is high.

    This process was developed in part by Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 199.

    2.2.2 Determine your high-level data classifications

    120 minutes, less time if data classification already exists

    Input: Knowledge of data use and sensitivity

    Output: Adjusted workflow to reflect your current processes, Vulnerability Tracking Tool

    Materials: Whiteboard, Whiteboard markers, Vulnerability Management SOP Template

    Participants: IT Security Manager, CISO, CIO

    If your organization has formal data classification in place, it should be leveraged to determine the high, medium, and low rankings necessary for the process flows. However, if there is no formal data classification in place, the process below can be followed:

    1. List common assets or applications that are prone to vulnerabilities.
    2. Consider the data that is on these devices and provide a high (severe or catastrophic adverse effect), medium (serious adverse effect), or low (limited adverse effect) ranking based on confidentiality, availability, and integrity.
      1. Use the table on the previous slide to assist in providing the ranking.
      2. Remember that it is the highest ranking that dictates the overall ranking of the data.
    3. Document which data belongs in each of the categories to provide contextual evidence.

    Download the Vulnerability Management SOP Template

    This process should be part of your larger data classification program. If you need assistance in building this out, review the Info-Tech research, Discover and Classify Your Data.

    Step 2.3

    Consider current security posture

    Activities
    • 2.3.1 Document your defense-in-depth controls

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Your defense-in-depth controls are the existing layers of security technology that protects your environment. These are relevant when considering the urgency and risk of vulnerabilities in your environment, as they will mitigate some of the risk.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • IT Security Manager
    • SecOps team members
    • ITOps team members, including tiers 1, 2, and 3
    • CISO
    • CIO

    Outcomes of this step

    Understanding and documentation of your current defense-in-depth controls.

    Triage & prioritize
    Step 2.1Step 2.2Step 2.3Step 2.4

    Review your current security posture

    What you have today matters.
    • In most cases, your vulnerability scanning tool alone will not have the context of your security posture in the results of its scans. This can skew the true urgency of detected vulnerabilities in your environment.
    • What you have in place today is what comprises your organization’s overall security posture. This bears high relevance to the determination of the risk that a vulnerability poses to your environment.
    • Elements such as enterprise architecture and defense in depth mechanisms should be factored into determining the risk of a vulnerability and what kind of immediacy is warranted to address it.
    • Details of your current security posture will also contribute to the assessment and selection of remediation options.
    Stock image of toy soldiers split into two colours, facing eachother down.

    Enterprise architecture considerations

    What does your network look like?
    • Most organizations have a network topology that has been put in place with operational needs in mind. These includes specific vLANs or subnets, broadcast domains, or other methods of traffic segregation.
    • The firewall and network ACLs (access control lists) will manage traffic and the routes that data packets follow to traverse a network.
    • Organizations may physically separate data network types, for example, a network for IT services and one for operational technology (OT)(OT is often known as ICS (industrial control systems) or SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition)) or other types of production technology.
    • The deployment of distribution and access switches across an enterprise can also be a factor, where a flatter network will have fewer network devices within the topology.
    • In a directory services environment such as Windows Active Directory, servers and applications can be segregated by domains and trust relationships, organizational units, and security groups.
    What’s the relevance to vulnerability management?

    For a vulnerability to be exploited, a malicious actor must find a way to access the vulnerable system to make use of the vulnerability in question.

    Any enterprise architecture characteristics that you have in place may lessen the probability of a successful vulnerability exploit.

    This may potentially “buy time” for SecOps to address and remediate the vulnerability.

    Defense-in-depth

    Defense-in-depth provides extra layers of protection to the organization.

    • Defense-in-depth refers to the coordination of security controls to add layers of security to the organization.
      • This means that even if attackers are able to get past one control or layer, they are hindered by additional security.
    • Defense-in-depth is distinct from the previous section on enterprise architecture as these are security controls put in place with the purpose of being lines of defense within your security posture.
    • This can be extremely useful in managing vulnerabilities; thus, it is important to establish the existing defense-in-depth controls. By establishing the base model for your defense-in-depth, it will allow you to leverage these controls to manage vulnerabilities.
    • Controls are typically distributed across endpoints, network infrastructure, servers, and physical security.

    Note: Defense-in-depth controls do not entirely mitigate vulnerability risk. They provide a way in which the vulnerability cannot be exploited, but it continues to exist on the application. This must be kept in mind as the controls or applications themselves change, as it can re-open the vulnerability and cause potential problems.

    Examples of defense-in-depth controls can consist of any of the following:
    • Antivirus software
    • Authentication security
    • Multi-factor authentication
    • Firewalls
    • Demilitarized zones (DMZ)
    • Sandboxing
    • Network zoning
    • Application whitelisting
    • Access control lists
    • Intrusion detection & prevention systems
    • Airgapping
    • User security awareness training

    2.3.1 Document your defense-in-depth controls

    2 hours, less time if a security services catalog exists

    Input: List of technologies within your environment, List of IT security controls that are in place

    Output: List of defense-in-depth controls

    Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts, Vulnerability Management SOP Template

    Participants: IT Security Manager, Infrastructure Manager, IT Director, CISO

    1. Document the existing defense-in-depth controls within your system.
    2. Review the initial list that has been provided and see if these are controls that currently exist.
    3. Indicate any other controls that are being used by the organization. This may already exist if you have a security services catalog.
    4. Indicate who the owners of the different controls are.
    5. Track the information in the Vulnerability Management SOP Template.

    Download the Vulnerability Management SOP Template

    Sample table of security controls within a Defense-in-depth model with column headers 'Defense-in-depth control', 'Description', 'Workflow', and 'Control Owner'.

    Step 2.4

    Risk assessment of vulnerabilities

    Activities
    • 2.4.1 Build a classification scheme to consistently assess impact
    • 2.4.2 Build a classification scheme to consistently assess likelihood

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Assessing risk will be the cornerstone of how you evaluate vulnerabilities and what priority you place on remediation. This is actual risk to the organization and not simply what the tool reports without the context of your defense-in-depth controls.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • IT Security Manager
    • IT Operations Management
    • CISO
    • CIO

    Outcomes of this step

    A risk matrix tailored to your organization, based on impact and likelihood. This will provide a consistent, unambiguous way to assess risk across the vulnerability types that is reported by your scanning tool.

    Triage & prioritize
    Step 2.1Step 2.2Step 2.3Step 2.4

    Vulnerabilities and risk

    Vulnerabilities must be addressed to mitigate risk to the business.
    • Vulnerabilities are a concern because they are potential threats to the business. Vulnerabilities that are not addressed can turn from potential threats into actual threats; it is only a matter of time and opportunity.
    • Your organization will already be familiar with risk management, as every decision carries a business risk component. There may even be a senior manager assigned as corporate risk officer to manage organizational risk.
    • The organization likely has a risk tolerance level that defines the organization’s risk appetite. This may be measured in dollars, non-productivity time, or other units of inefficiency.
    • The risk of a vulnerability can be calculated using impact and likelihood. Impact is the effect that the vulnerability will have if it is exploited by a malicious actor. Likelihood is the degree to which a vulnerability exploit can possibly occur.
    Stock image of a cartoon character in a tie hanging on the needle of a 'RISK' meter as it sits at 'LOW'.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Risk to the organization is business language that everyone can understand. This is particularly true when the risk is to productivity or to the company’s bottom line.

    A risk-based approach to vulnerability management

    CVSS scores are just the starting point!

    Vulnerabilities are constant.
    • There will always be vulnerabilities in the environment, many of which won’t be reported as they are currently unknown.
    • Don’t focus on trying to resolve all vulnerabilities in your environment. You are neither resourced for it nor can the business tolerate the downtime needed to remediate every single vulnerability.
      • The constant follow of new vulnerabilities will quickly render your efforts useless and it will become a game of “whack-a-mole.”
    • Being able to prioritize which vulnerabilities require appropriate levels of response is crucial to ensuring that an organization stays ahead of the continual flow.
    • Your vulnerability scanning tool will report the severity of a vulnerability, often using an industry Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) system ranging from 0 to 10. It will then scan your environment for the presence of the vulnerability and report accordingly.
      • Your vulnerability scanning tool will not be aware of any mitigation components in your environment, such as compensating controls, network segregation, server/application hardening, or any other measures that can reduce the risk. That is why determining actual risk is a crucial step.

    Stock image of a whack-a-mole game.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Vulnerability scanning is a valuable function, but it does not tell the full picture. You must determine how urgent a vulnerability truly is, based on your specific environment.

    Prioritize remediation by levels of risk

    Address critical and high risk with high immediacy.

    • Addressing the critical and high-risk vulnerabilities with urgency will ensure that you are addressing a more manageable number of vulnerabilities.
    • An optimized vulnerability management process will address the medium and low risk vulnerabilities within the regular cycle.
    • This may be very similar to what you do today in an ad hoc fashion:
      • Zero-day vulnerabilities tend to warrant a stop in operations and are dealt with immediately (or as soon as a vendor has a fix).
      • The standard remediation process (patching/updating, change of configuration, etc.) happens within a regular controlled time cycle.
    • Formalizing this process will ensure that appropriate attention is given to vulnerabilities that warrant it and that the remaining vulnerabilities are dealt with as a regular, recurring activity.

    Mitigate the risk surface by reducing the time across the phases

    Chart titled 'Mitigate the risk surface by reducing the time across the phases' with the axes 'Risk Level' and 'Time' with lines created by individual risks. The highlighted line begins in 'Critical' and eventually drops to low. A note on the line reads 'Objective: Reduce risk surface by reducing time to address'. The area between the line and your organization's risk tolerance is labelled 'Risk Surface, to be addressed with high priority'. A bracket around Risk levels 'High' and 'Critical' reads 'Priority focus zone (risk surface)'. Risk lines within levels 'Low' and 'Medium' read 'Follow standard vulnerability management cycles'.

    Risk matrix

    Risk = Impact x Likelihood
    • Info-Tech’s Vulnerability Management Risk Assessment Tool provides a method of calculating the risk of a vulnerability. The risk rating is assigned using the impact of the risk and the likelihood or probability that the event may occur.
    • The tool puts the vulnerability into your organization’s context: How many people will be affected? What service types are vulnerable and how does that impact the business? Is there an anticipated update from the vendor of the system being affected?
    • Urgency of remediation should be based on the business consequences if the vulnerability were to be exploited, relative to the business’ risk tolerance.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Risk determination should be done within the context of your current environment and not simply based on what your vulnerability tool is reporting.

    A risk matrix is useful in calculating a risk rating for vulnerabilities. Risk matrix with axes 'Impact' and 'Time' and individual vulnerabilities mapped onto it via their risk rating. The example 'Organizational Risk Tolerance Threshold' line runs diagonally through the 'Medium' squares.

    2.4.1 Build a classification scheme to consistently assess impact

    60 minutes

    Input: Knowledge of IT environment, Knowledge of business impact for each IT component or service

    Output: Vulnerability Management Risk Assessment Tool formatted to your organization

    Materials: Vulnerability Management Risk Assessment Tool

    Participants: Functional Area Managers, IT Security Manager, CISO

    Risk always has a negative impact, but the size of the impact can vary considerably in terms of cost, number of people or sites affected, and the severity of the impact. Impact questions tend to be more objective and quantifiable than likelihood questions.

    1. Define a set of questions to measure risk impact or edit existing questions in the tool.
    2. For each question, assign a weight that should be placed on that factor.
    3. Define criteria for each question that would categorize the risk. The drop-down box content can be modified in the hidden Labels tab.

    Note that you are looking to baseline vulnerability types, rather than categorizing every single vulnerability your scanning tool reports. The volume of vulnerabilities will be high, but vulnerabilities can be categorized into types on a regular basis.

    Download the Vulnerability Management Risk Assessment Tool

    Screenshot of table from Info-Tech's Vulnerability Management Risk Assessment Tool for assessing Impact. Column headers are 'Weight', 'Question', 'OS vulnerability', 'Application vulnerability', 'Network vulnerability', and 'Vendor patch release'.

    2.4.2 Build a classification scheme to consistently assess likelihood

    60 minutes

    Input: Knowledge of IT environment, Knowledge of business impact for each IT component or service

    Output: Vulnerability Management Risk Assessment Tool formatted to your organization

    Materials: Vulnerability Management Risk Assessment Tool

    Participants: Functional Area Managers, IT Security Manager, CISO

    Risk always has a negative impact, but the size of the impact can vary considerably in terms of cost, number of people or sites affected, and the severity of the impact. Impact questions tend to be more objective and quantifiable than likelihood questions.

    1. Define a set of questions to measure risk impact or edit existing questions in the tool.
    2. For each question, assign a weight that should be placed on that factor.
    3. Define criteria for each question that would categorize the risk. The drop-down box content can be modified in the hidden Labels tab.

    Note that you are looking to baseline vulnerability types, rather than categorizing every single vulnerability that your scanning tool reports. The volume of vulnerabilities will be high, but vulnerabilities can be categorized into types on a regular basis.

    Download the Vulnerability Management Risk Assessment Tool

    Screenshot of table from Info-Tech's Vulnerability Management Risk Assessment Tool for assessing Likelihood. Column headers are 'Weight', 'Question', 'OS vulnerability', 'Application vulnerability', and 'Network vulnerability'.

    Prioritize based on risk

    Select the best remediation option to minimize risk.

    Through the combination of the identified risk and remediation steps in this phase, the prioritization for vulnerabilities will become clear. Vulnerabilities will be assigned a priority once their intrinsic qualities and threat potential to business function and data have been identified.

    • Remediation options will be identified for the higher urgency vulnerabilities.
    • Options will be assessed for whether they are appropriate.
    • They will be further tested to determine if they can be used adequately prior to full implementation.
    • Based on the assessments, the remediation will be implemented or another option will be considered.
    Prioritization
    1. Assignment of risk
    2. Identification of remediation options
    3. Assessment of options
    4. Implementation

    Remediation plays an incredibly important role in the entire program. It plays a large part in wider risk management when you must consider the risk of the vulnerability, the risk of the remediation option, and the risk associated with the overall process.

    Implement Risk-Based Vulnerability Management

    Phase 3

    Remediate vulnerabilities

    Phase 1

    1.1 What is vulnerability management?
    1.2 Define scope and roles
    1.3 Cloud considerations for vulnerability management
    1.4 Vulnerability detection

    Phase 2

    2.1 Triage vulnerabilities
    2.2 Determine high-level business criticality
    2.3 Consider current security posture
    2.4 Risk assessment of vulnerabilities

    Phase 3

    3.1 Assessing remediation options
    3.2 Scheduling and executing remediation
    3.3 Continuous improvement

    Phase 4

    4.1 Metrics, KPIs & CSFs
    4.2 Vulnerability management policy
    4.3 Select and implement a scanning tool
    4.4 Penetration testing

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    • Identifying potential remediation options.
    • Developing criteria for each option with regards to when to use and when to avoid.
    • Establishing exception procedure for testing and remediation.
    • Documenting the implementation of remediations and verification.

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • CISO, or equivalent
    • Security Manager/Analyst
    • Network, Administrator, System, Database Manager
    • Other members of the vulnerability management team
    • Risk managers for the risk-related steps

    Determining how to remediate

    Patching is only one option.

    This phase will allow organizations to build out the specific processes for remediating vulnerabilities. The overall process will be the same but what will be critical is the identification of the correct material. This includes building the processes around:
    • Identifying and selecting the remediation option to be used.
    • Determining what to do when a patch or update is not available.
    • Scheduling and executing the remediation activity.
    • Continuous improvement.

    Each remediation option carries a different level of risk that the organization needs to consider and accept by building out this program.

    It is necessary to be prepared to do this in real time. Careful documentation is needed when dealing with vulnerabilities. Use the Vulnerability Tracking Tool to assist with documentation in real time. This is separate from using the process template but can assist in the documentation of vulnerabilities.

    Step 3.1

    Assessing remediation options

    Activities
    • 3.1.1 Develop risk and remediation action

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    With the risk assessment from the previous activity, we can now examine remediation options and make a decision. This activity will guide us through that.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • IT Security Manager
    • SecOps team members
    • ITOps team members, including tiers 1, 2, and 3
    • CISO
    • CIO

    Outcomes of this step

    List of remediation options and criteria on when to consider each.

    Remediate vulnerabilities
    Step 3.1Step 3.2Step 3.3

    Identify remediation options

    There are four options when it comes to vulnerability remediation.

    Patches and Updates

    Patches are software or pieces of code that are meant to close vulnerabilities or provide fixes to any bugs within existing software. These are typically provided by the vendor to ensure that any deployed software is properly protected after vulnerabilities have been detected.

    Configuration Changes

    Configuration changes involve administrators making significant changes to the system or network to remediate against the vulnerability. This can include disabling the vulnerable application or specific element and can even extend to removing the application altogether.

    Remediation

    Compensating Controls

    By leveraging security controls, such as your IDS/IPS, firewalls, or access control, organizations can have an added layer of protection against vulnerabilities beyond the typical patches and configuration changes. This can be used as a measure while waiting to implement another option (if one exists) to reduce the risk of the vulnerability in the short or long term.

    Risk Acceptance

    Whenever a vulnerability is not remediated, either indefinitely or for a short period of time, the organization is accepting the associated risk. Segregation of the vulnerable system can occur in this instance. This can occur in cases where a system or application cannot be updated without detrimental effect to the business.

    Patches and updates

    Patches are often the easiest and most common method of remediation.

    Patches are usually the most desirable remediation solution when it comes to vulnerability management. They are typically provided by the vendor of the vulnerable application or system and are meant to eliminate the existing vulnerability.

    When to use

    • When adequate testing can be performed on the patch to be implemented.
    • When there is a change window approaching for the affected systems.
    • When there is standardization across the IT assets to allow for easier installation of patches.

    When to avoid

    • When the patch cannot be adequately tested.
    • When a patch has been tested, but it caused an unfavorable consequence such as a system or application failure.
    • When there is no near change window in which to install the patches, which is often the case for critical systems.
    When to consider other remediation options
    • For critical systems, it can be difficult to implement a patch as they often require the system to be rebooted or go through some downtime. There must be consideration towards whether there is a change window approaching if a patch is to be implemented on a business-critical system.
      • If there is no opportunity to implement the patch, or no approaching change window, it is wise to leverage another remediation option.
    • When patches are not currently available from the vendor or they are in production, other remediation options are needed.
    • Other remediation options can be used in tandem with the patch. For example, if a patch is being deferred until the change window, it would be wise to use alternate remediation options to close the vulnerability.

    Compensating controls

    Compensating controls can decrease the risk of vulnerabilities that cannot be (immediately) remediated.

    • Compensating controls are measures put in place when direct remediation measures are impractical or non-existent.
    • Similar to the payment card industry’s PCI DSS 1.0 provision of compensating controls, these are meant to meet the intent or rigor of the original requirement; unlike PCI DSS, these measures are to mitigate risk rather than meet compliance.
    • The compensating control should be viewed as only a temporary measure for dealing with a vulnerability, although circumstances may dictate a degree of permanence in the application of the compensating control.
    • Examples where compensating controls may be needed are:
      • The software vendor is developing an update or patch to address a vulnerability.
      • Through your testing process, a patch will adversely affect the performance or operation of the target system and be detrimental to the business.
      • A critical application will only run on a legacy operating system, the latter of which is no longer supported by the vendor.
      • A legacy application is no longer being supported but is critical to your operations. A replacement, if one exists, will take time to implement.
    Examples of compensating controls
    • Segregating a vulnerable server or application on the network, physically or logically.
    • Hardening the operating system or application.
    • Restricting user logins to the system or application.
    • Implementing access controls on the network route to the system.
    • Instituting application whitelisting.

    Configuration changes

    Configuration changes involve making changes directly to the application or system in which there is a vulnerability. This can vary from disabling or removing the vulnerable element or, in the case of applications built in-house, changing the coding of the application itself. These are commonly used in network vulnerabilities such as open ports.

    When to use

    • A patch is not available.
    • The vulnerable element can be significantly changed, or even disabled, without significantly disrupting the business.
    • The application is built in-house, as the vulnerability must be closed internally.
    • There is adequate testing to ensure that the configuration change does not affect the business.
    • A configuration change in your network or system can affect numerous endpoints or systems, reducing endpoint patching or use of defense-in-depth controls.

    When to avoid

    • When a suitable patch is available.
    • When the vulnerability is on a business-critical element with no nearby change window or it cannot be disabled.
    • When there is no opportunity in which to perform testing to ensure that there are no unintended consequences.
    When to consider other remediation options
    • Configuration changes require careful documentation as changes are occurring to the system and applications. If there is a need to perform a back-out process and return to the original configuration, this can be extremely difficult without clear documentation of what occurred.
    • If business systems are too critical or important to the regular business function to perform any changes, it is necessary to consider other options.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Remember your existing processes: configuration changes may need to be approved and orchestrated through your organization’s configuration and change management processes.

    Case Study

    Remediation options do not have to be used separately. Use the Shellshock 2014 case as an example.

    INDUSTRY: All
    SOURCE: Public Domain
    Challenge

    Bashdoor, more commonly known as Shellshock, was announced on September 24, 2014.

    This bug involved the Bash shell, which normally executes user commands, but this vulnerability meant that malicious attackers could exploit it.

    This was rated a 10/10 by CVSS – the highest possible score.

    Within hours of the announcement, hackers began to exploit this vulnerability across many organizations.

    Solution

    Organizations had to react quickly and multiple remediation options were identified:

    • Configuration changes – Companies were recommended to use other shells instead of the Bash shell.
    • Defense-in-depth controls – Using HTTP server logs, it could be possible to identify if the vulnerability had been exploited.
    • Patches – Many vendors released patches to close this vulnerability including Debian, Ubuntu, and Red Hat.
    Results

    Companies began to protect themselves against these vulnerabilities.

    While many organizations installed patches as quickly as possible, some also wished to test the patch and leveraged defense-in-depth controls in the interim.

    However, even today, many still have the Shellshock vulnerability and exploits continue to occur.

    Accept the risk and do nothing

    By choosing not to remediate vulnerabilities, you must accept the associated risk. This should be your very last option.

    Every time that a vulnerability is not remediated, it continues to pose a risk to the organization. While it may seem that every vulnerability needs to be remediated, this is simply not possible due to limited resources. Further, it can take away resources from other security initiatives as opposed to low-priority vulnerabilities that are extremely unlikely to be exploited.

    Common criteria for vulnerabilities that are not remediated:
    • Affected systems are of extremely low criticality.
    • Affected systems are deemed too critical to take offline to perform adequate remediation.
    • Low urgency is assigned to those vulnerabilities.
    • Cost and time required for the remediation are too high.
    • No adequate solutions exist – the vendor has not released a patch, there are weak defense-in-depth controls, and it is not possible to perform a configuration change.

    Risk acceptance is not uncommon…

    • With an ever-increasing number of vulnerabilities, organizations are struggling to keep up and often, intentionally or unintentionally, accept the risk associated.
    • In the end, non-remediation means full acceptance of the risk and any consequences.

    Enterprise risk management
    Arrow pointing up.
    Risk acceptance of vulnerabilities

    While these are common criteria, they must be aligned to the enterprise risk management framework and approved by management.

    Don’t forget the variables that were assessed in Phase 2. This includes the risk from potential lateral movement or if there is an existing exploit.

    Risk considerations

    When determining if risk acceptance is appropriate, consider the cost of not mitigating vulnerabilities.

    Don’t accept the risk because it seems easy. Consider the financial impact of leaving vulnerabilities open.

    With risk acceptance, it is important to review the financial impact of a security incident resulting from that vulnerability. There is always the possibility of exploitation for vulnerabilities. A simple metric taken from NIST SP800-40 to use for this is:

    Cost not to mitigate = W * T * R

    Where (W) is the number of work stations, (T) is the time spent fixing systems or lost in productivity, and (R) is the hourly rate of the time spent.

    As an example provided by NIST SP800-40 Version 2.0, Creating a Patch and Vulnerability Management Program:

    “For an organization where there are 1,000 computers to be fixed, each taking an average of 8 hours of down time (4 hours for one worker to rebuild a system, plus 4 hours the computer owner is without a computer to do work) at a rate of $70/hour for wages and benefits:

    1,000 computers * 8 hours * $70/hour = $560,000”

    Info-Tech Insight

    Always consider the financial impact that can occur from an exploited vulnerability that was not remediated.

    3.1.1 Develop risk and remediation action

    90 minutes

    Input: List of remediation options

    Output: List of remediation options sorted into “when to use” and “when to avoid” lists

    Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts, Vulnerability Management SOP Template

    Participants: IT Security Manager, IT Infrastructure Manager, IT Operations Manager, Corporate Risk Officer, CISO

    It is important to define and document your organization-specific criteria for when a remediation option is appropriate and inappropriate.

    1. List each remediation option on a flip chart and create two headings: “When to use” and “When to avoid.”
    2. Each person will list “when to use” criteria on a green sticky note and “when to avoid” criteria on a red one for each option; these will be placed on the appropriate flip chart.
    3. Discuss as a group which criteria are appropriate and which should be removed.
    4. Move on to the next remediation option when completed.
      • Ensure to include when there are remediation options that will be connected. For example, the risk may be accepted until the next available change window, or a defense-in-depth control is used before a patch can be fully installed.
    5. Once the criteria has been established, document this in the Vulnerability Management SOP Template.
    When to use:
    • When adequate testing can be performed on the patch to be implemented.
    • When there is a change window approaching, especially for critical systems.
    • When there is standardization across the IT assets to allow for easier installation of patches.
    When to avoid:
    • When the patch cannot be adequately tested.
    • When a patch has been tested, but it has caused an unfavorable consequence such as a system or application failure.
    • When there is no near change window in which to install the patches.
    (Example from the Vulnerability Management SOP Template for Patches.)

    Download the Vulnerability Management SOP Template

    Step 3.2

    Scheduling and executing remediation

    Activities

    None for this section.

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Although there are no specific activities for this section, it will walk you through your existing processes configuration and change management to ensure that you are leveraging those activities in your vulnerability remediation actions.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • IT Security Manager
    • SecOps team members
    • ITOps team members, including tiers 1, 2, and 3
    • CISO
    • CIO

    Outcomes of this step

    Gained understanding of how IT operations processes configuration and change management can be leveraged for the vulnerability remediation process. Don’t reinvent the wheel!

    Remediate vulnerabilities
    Step 3.1Step 3.2Step 3.3

    Implementing the remediation

    Vulnerability management converges with your IT operations functions.
    • Once a remediation strategy has been formulated, you can leverage your release and change management processes to orchestrate the testing, version tracking, scheduling, approval, and implementation activities.
    • Each of these processes should exist in your environment in some form. Leveraging these will engage the IT operations team to carry out their tasks in the remediation process.
    • There can be a partial or full handoff to these processes, however, the owner of the vulnerability management program is responsible for verifying the application of the remediation measure and that the overall risk has been reduced.
    • Although full blueprints exist that cover each of these processes in great detail, the following slides provide an overview of each of these IT operations processes and how they intersect with vulnerability management.
    Stock image of a person on a laptop overlaid by an icon with gears indicating settings.

    Release Management

    Control the quality of deployments and releases of software updates.

    • The release management process exists to ensure that new software releases (such as patches and updates) are properly tested and documented with version control prior to their implementation into the production environment.
    • The process should map out the logistics of the deployment process to ensure that it is consistent and controlled.
    • Testing is an important part of release management and the urgency of a vulnerability remediation operation can expedite this process to ensure minimal delays. Once testing has been completed successfully, the update is then “promoted” to production-ready status and submitted into the change management process.
    • Often a separate release team may not exist, however, release management still occurs.

    For guidance on implementing or improving your release management process, refer to Info-Tech’s Stabilize Release and Deployment Management blueprint or speak to one of our experts.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Many organizations don’t have a separate release team. Rather, whomever is doing the deployment will submit a change request and the testing details are vetted through the organization’s change management process.

    For guidance on the change management process review our Optimize Change Management blueprint.

    Change Management

    Leverage change control, interruption management, approval, and scheduling.
    • Change management likely exists in some shape or form in your organization. There is usually someone or a committee, such as a change advisory board (CAB), that gives approval for a change.
    • Leveraging the change management process will ensure that your vulnerability remediation has undergone the proper review and approval before implementation. There will usually be business sign-off as part of a change management approval process.
    • Communication will also be integrated in the change management process, so the change manager will ensure that appropriate, timely communications are sent to the proper key stakeholders.
    • The change management process will link to release management and configuration management processes if they exist.

    For further guidance on implementing or improving your change management process, refer to Info-Tech’s Optimize Change Management blueprint or speak to one of our experts.

    “With no controls in place, IT gets the blame for embarrassing outages. Too much control, and IT is seen as a roadblock to innovation.” (VP IT, Federal Credit Union)

    Post-implementation activities

    Vulnerability remediation isn’t a “set it and forget it” activity.
    • Once vulnerability remediation has occurred, it is imperative that the results are reported back to the vulnerability management program manager. This ensures that the loop is closed and the tracking of the remediation activity is done properly.
      • Organizations that are subject to audit by external entities will understand the importance of such documentation.
    • The results of post-implementation review from the change management process will be of great interest, particularly if there was any deviation from the planned activities.
    • Although change execution will usually undergo some form of testing during the maintenance window, there is always the possibility that something has broken as a result of the software update. Be quick to respond to these types of incidents!
      • One example of an issue that is near impossible to test during a maintenance window is one that manifests only when the system or software comes under load. This is what makes for busy Monday mornings after a weekend change window.
    A scan with your vulnerability management software after remediation can be a way to verify that the overall risk has been reduced, if remediation was done by way of patching/updates.

    Info-Tech Insight

    After every change completion, whether due to vulnerability remediation or not, it is a good idea to ensure that your infrastructure team increases its monitoring diligence and that your service desk is ready for any sudden influx of end-user calls.

    Step 3.3

    Continuous improvement

    Activities

    None for this section.

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Although this section has no activities, it will review the process by which you may continually improve vulnerability management.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • IT Security Manager
    • SecOps team members
    • ITOps team members, including tiers 1, 2, and 3
    • CISO
    • CIO

    Outcomes of this step

    An understanding of the importance of ongoing improvements to the vulnerability management program.

    Remediate vulnerabilities
    Step 3.1Step 3.2Step 3.3

    Drive continuous improvement

    • Also known as “Continual Improvement” within the ITIL best practice framework.
    • Your vulnerability management program will not be perfect on first launch. In fact, due to the ever-changing nature of vulnerabilities and the technology designed to detect and combat vulnerabilities, the processes within your vulnerability management program will need to be tweaked from time to time.
    • Continuous improvement is a sustained, proactive approach to process improvement. The practice allows for all process participants to observe and suggest incremental improvements that can help improve the overall process.
    • In many cases, continuous improvement can be triggered by changes in the environment. This makes perfect sense for vulnerability management process improvement as a change in the environment will require vulnerability scanning to ensure that such changes have not introduced new vulnerabilities into the environment, increasing your risk surface.
    • One key method to tracking continuous improvement is through the effective use of metrics, covered in Section 4.1 of this blueprint.
    “The success rate for continual improvement efforts is less than 60 percent. A major – if not the biggest – factor affecting the deployment of long-term continual improvement initiatives today is the fundamental change taking place in the way companies manage and execute work.” (Industry analyst at a consulting firm, 2014)

    Continuous Improvement

    Continuously re-evaluate the vulnerability management process.

    As your systems and assets change, your vulnerability management program may need updates in two ways.

    When new assets and systems are introduced:

    • When new systems and assets are introduced, it is important for organizations to recognize how these can affect vulnerability management.
    • It will be necessary to identify the business criticality of the new assets and systems and the sensitivity of the data that can be found on them.
    • Without doing so, these will be considered rogue systems or assets – there is no clear process for assigning urgencies.
    • This will only cause problems as actions may be taken that are not aligned with the organization’s risk management framework.

    Effective systems and asset management are needed to track this. Review Info-Tech’s Implement Systems Management to Improve Availability and Visibility blueprint for more help.

    Document any changes to the vulnerability management program in the Vulnerability Management SOP Template.

    When defense-in-depth capabilities are modified:

    • As you build an effective security program, more controls will be added that can be used to protect the organization.
    • These should be documented and evaluated based on ability to mitigate against vulnerabilities.
    • The defense-in-depth model that was previously established should be updated to include the new capabilities that can be used.
    • Defense-in-depth models are continually evolving as the security landscape evolves, and organizations must be ready for this.

    To assist in building a defense-in-depth model, review Build an Information Security Strategy.

    Implement Risk-Based Vulnerability Management

    Phase 4

    Measure and formalize

    Phase 1

    1.1 What is vulnerability management?
    1.2 Define scope and roles
    1.3 Cloud considerations for vulnerability management
    1.4 Vulnerability detection

    Phase 2

    2.1 Triage vulnerabilities
    2.2 Determine high-level business criticality
    2.3 Consider current security posture
    2.4 Risk assessment of vulnerabilities

    Phase 3

    3.1 Assessing remediation options
    3.2 Scheduling and executing remediation
    3.3 Continuous improvement

    Phase 4

    4.1 Metrics, KPIs & CSFs
    4.2 Vulnerability management policy
    4.3 Select and implement a scanning tool
    4.4 Penetration testing

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    • You will determine what ought to be measured to track the success of your vulnerability management program.
    • If you lack a scanning tool this phase will help you determine tool selection.
    • Lastly, penetration testing is a good next step to consider once you have your vulnerability management program well underway.

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • IT Security Manager
    • SecOps team members
    • Procurement representatives
    • CISO
    • CIO

    Step 4.1

    Metrics, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and Critical Success Factors (CSFs)

    Activities
    • 4.1.1 Measure your program with metrics, KPIs, and CSFs

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    After a review of the differences between raw metrics, key performance indicators (KPI), and critical success factors (CSF), compile a list of what metrics you will be tracking, why, and the business goals for each.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • IT Security Manager
    • SecOps team members
    • CISO
    • CIO

    Outcomes of this step

    Outline of metrics you can configure your vulnerability scanning tool to report on.

    Measure and formalize
    Step 4.1Step 4.2Step 4.3Step 4.4

    You can’t manage what you can’t measure

    Metrics provides visibility.

    • Management consultant Peter Drucker introduced the concept of metrics tied to key performance indicators (KPIs), and the concept holds true: without metrics, you lack the visibility to manage or improve a process.
    • Metrics aren’t just a collection of statistics, they have to be meaningful, they have to tell the story, and most importantly, they have to answer the “so what?” question. What is the significance of a metric – do they illustrate a trend or an anomaly? What actions should be carried out when a metric hits a certain threshold?
    • It would be prudent to track several metrics that can be combined to tell the full story. For example, tracking the number of critical vulnerabilities alone does not give a sense of the overall risk to the organization, nor does it offer any information on how quickly they have been remediated or what amount of effort was invested.
    Stock image of measuring tape.

    Metrics, KPIs, and CSFs

    Tracking the right information and making the information relevant.
    • There is often confusion between raw metrics, key performance indicators, and critical success factors.
    • Raw metrics are what is trackable from your systems and processes as a set of measurements without any context. Raw metrics in themselves are useful in telling the story of “what are we doing?”
    • KPIs are the specific metric or combination of metrics that help you track or gauge performance. KPIs tell the story of “how are we doing?” or “how well are we doing?”
    • CSFs are the specific KPIs that track the activities that are absolutely critical to accomplish for the business or business unit to be successful.
    The activity tracker on your wrist is a wealth of metrics, KPIs, and CSFs.

    If you wear an activity tracker, you are likely already familiar with the differences between metrics, key performance indicators, and critical success factors:

    • The raw metrics are your heart rate, step count, hours of sleep, caloric intake, etc.
    • KPIs are the individual goals that you have set: maintain a heart rate within the appropriate range for your age/activity level, achieve a step count goal per day, get x hours of sleep per night, consume a calorie range of y per day, etc.
    • CSFs are your overall goal: increase your cardiovascular capacity, lose weight, feel more energetic, etc.

    Your security systems can be similarly measured and tracked – transfer this skill!

    Tracking relevant information

    Tell the story in the numbers.

    Below are a number of suggested metrics to track, and why.

    Business Goal

    Critical Success Factor

    Key Performance Indicator

    Metric to track

    Minimize overall risk exposureReduction of overall risk due to vulnerabilitiesDecrease in vulnerabilitiesTrack the number of vulnerabilities year after year.
    Appropriate allocation of time and resourcesProper prioritization of vulnerability mitigation activitiesDecrease of critical and high vulnerabilitiesTrack the number of high-urgency vulnerabilities.
    Consistent timely remediation of threats to the businessMinimize risk when vulnerabilities are detectedRemediate vulnerabilities more quicklyMean time to detect: track the average time between the identification to remediation.
    Track effectiveness of scanning toolMinimize the ratio, indicating that the tool sees everythingRatio between known assets and what the scanner tracksScanner coverage compared to known assets in the organization.
    Having effective tools to track and addressAccuracy of the scanning toolDifference or ratio between reported vulnerabilities and verified onesNumber of critical or high vulnerabilities verified, between the scanning tool’s criticality rating and actual criticality.
    Reduction of exceptions to ensure minimal exposureVisibility into persistent vulnerabilities and risk mitigation measuresNumber of exceptions grantedNumber of vulnerabilities in which little or no remediation action was taken.

    4.1.1 Measure your program with metrics, KPIs, and CSFs

    60 minutes

    Input: List of metrics current being measured by the vulnerability management tool

    Output: List of relevant metrics to track, and the KPIs, CSFs, and business goals related to the metric

    Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts, Vulnerability Management SOP Template

    Participants: IT Security Manager, IT operations management, CISO

    Metrics can offer a way to view how the organization is dealing with vulnerabilities and if there is improvement.

    1. Determine the high-level vulnerability management goals for the organization.
    2. Even with a formal process in place, the organization should be considering ways it can improve.
    3. Determine metrics that can help quantify those goals and how they can be measured.
    4. Metrics should always be easy to measure. If it’s a complex process to find the information required, it means that it is not a metric that should be used.
    5. Document your list of metrics in the Vulnerability Management SOP Template.

    Download the Vulnerability Management SOP Template

    Step 4.2

    Vulnerability Management Policy

    Activities
    • 4.2.1 Update the vulnerability management program policy

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    If you have a vulnerability management policy, this activity may help augment it. Otherwise, if you don’t have one, this would be a great starting point.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • IT Security Manager
    • CISO
    • CIO
    • Human resources representative

    Outcomes of this step

    An inaugural policy covering vulnerability management

    Measure and formalize
    Step 4.1Step 4.2Step 4.3Step 4.4

    Vulnerability Management Program Policy

    Policies provide governance and enforcement of processes.
    • Policies offer formal guidance on the “rules” of a program, describing its purpose, scope, detailed program description, and consequences of non-compliance. Often they will have a employee sign-off acknowledging understanding.
    • In many organizations, policies are endorsed by senior executives, which gives the policy its “teeth” across the company. The human resources department will always have input due to the implications of the non-compliance aspect.
    • Policies are written to ensure an outcome of consistent expected behavior and are often written to protect the company from liability.
    • Policies should be easy to understand and unambiguous, reflect the current state, and be enforceable. Enforceability can come in the form of audit, technology, or any other means of determining compliance and enforcing behavior.
    Stock image of a judge's gavel.

    4.2.1 Update the vulnerability management policy

    60 minutes

    Input: Vulnerability Management SOP, HR guidance on policy creation and approval

    Output: Completed Vulnerability Management Policy

    Materials: Vulnerability Management SOP, Vulnerability Management Policy Template

    Participants: IT Security Manager, IT operations management, CISO, Human resources representative

    After having built your entire process in this project, formalize it into a vulnerability management policy. This will set the standards and expectations for vulnerability management in the organization, while the process will be around the specific actions that need to be taken around vulnerability management.

    This is separate and distinct from the Vulnerability Management SOP Template, which is a process and procedure document.
    1. Review Info-Tech’s Vulnerability Management Policy and customize it to your organization’s specifications.
    2. Use your Vulnerability Management SOP as a resource when specifying some of the details within the policy.
    Sample of Info-Tech's Vulnerability Management Policy Template

    Download the Vulnerability Management Policy Template

    Step 4.3

    Select and implement a scanning tool

    Activities
    • 4.3.1 Create an RFP for vulnerability scanning tools

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    If you need to select a new vulnerability scanning tool, or replace your existing one, this activity will help set up a request for proposal (RFP).

    This step involves the following participants:

    • IT Security Manager
    • SecOps team members
    • CISO

    Outcomes of this step

    The provisions needed for you to create and deploy an RFP for a vulnerability management tool.

    Measure and formalize
    Step 4.1Step 4.2Step 4.3Step 4.4

    Vulnerability management and penetration testing

    Similar in nature, yet provide different security functions.

    Vulnerability Scanning Tools

    Scanning tools focus on the network and operating systems. These tools look for items such as missing patches or open ports. They won’t detect specific application vulnerabilities.

    Exploitation Tools

    These tools will look to exploit a detected vulnerability to validate it.

    Penetration Tests

    A penetration test simulates the actions of an external or internal cyber attacker that aims to breach the information security of the organization. (Formal definition of penetration test)

    ‹————— What’s the difference again? —————›
    Vulnerability scanning tools are just one type of tool.When you add an exploitation tool to the mix, you move down the spectrum.Penetration tests will use scanning tools, exploitation tools, and people.

    What is the value of each?

    • For vulnerability scans, the person performing the scan provides the value – value comes from the organization itself.
    • For exploitation tools on their own, the value comes from the tool itself being used in a safe environment.
    • For penetration tests, the tester is providing the value. They are the value add.

    What’s the implication for me?

    Info-Tech Recommends:
    • A combination of vulnerability scanning and penetration testing. This will improve your security posture through systematic risk reduction and improve your security program through the testing of prevention, detection, and response capabilities with unique recommendations being generated.
    • Start with as much vulnerability scanning as possible to identify gaps to fix and then move onto a penetration test to do a more robust and validated assessment.
    • For penetration tests, start with a transparent box test first, then move to an opaque box. Ideally, this is done with different third parties.

    Vulnerability scanning software

    All organizations can benefit from having one.

    Scanning tools will benefit areas beyond just vulnerability management

    • Network security: It improves the accuracy and granularity of your network security technologies such as WAFs, NGFWs, IDPS, and SIEM.
    • Asset management: Vulnerability scanning can identify new or unknown assets and provide current status information on assets.
    • System management: Information from a vulnerability scan supports baselining activities and determination of high-value and high-risk assets.

    Vulnerability Detection Use Case

    Most organizations use scanners to identify and assess system vulnerabilities and prioritize efforts.

    Compliance Use Case

    Others will use scanners just for compliance, auditing, or larger GRC reasons.

    Asset Discovery Use Case

    Many organizations will use scanners to perform active host and application identification.

    Scanning Tool Market Trends

    Vulnerability scanning tools have expanded value from conventional checking for vulnerabilities to supporting configuration checking, asset discovery, inventory management, patch management, SSL certificate validation, and malware detection.

    Expect to see network and system vulnerability scanners develop larger vulnerability management functions and develop exploitation tool functionality. This will become a table stakes option enabling organizations to provide higher levels of validation of detected vulnerabilities. Some tools already possess these capabilities:

    • Core Impact is an exploitation tool with vulnerability scanning aspects.
    • Metasploit is an exploitation tool with some new vulnerability scanning aspects.
    • Nessus is mainly a vulnerability scanning tool but has some exploitation aspects.

    Device proliferation (BYOD, IoT, etc.) is increasing the need for stronger vulnerability management and scanners. This is driving the need for numerous device types and platform support and the development of baseline and configuration norms to support system management.

    Increased regulatory or compliance controls are also stipulating the need for vulnerability scanning, especially by a trusted third party.

    Organizations are outsourcing security functions or moving to cloud-based deployment options for any security technology they can. Expect to see massive growth of vulnerability scanning as a service.

    Vulnerability scanning market

    There are several technology types or functional differentiators that divide the market up.

    Vulnerability Exploitation Tools

    • These will actually test defences and better emulate real life than just scanning. These tools include packet manipulation tools (such as hping) and password cracking tools (such as John the Ripper or Cain and Abel).
    • These tools will provide much more granular information on your network, operations systems, and applications.
    • The main limitation of these tools is how to use them. If you do not have development or test environments that mimic your real production environments to run the exploit tools, these tools may not be appropriate. It may work if you can find some downtime on production systems, but only in very specific and careful instances.
    • Lower maturity security programs usually just do network and application vulnerability scanning. Higher maturity programs will also use penetration testing, application testing, and vulnerability exploitation tools.
    • Network vulnerability scanning tools should always be used. Once you identify any servers or ports running web applications, then you run a web application vulnerability scanner.
    • Exploitation tools and application testing tools are used in more specific use cases that are often related to more-demanding security programs.

    Scanning Tool Market Trends

    • These are considered baseline tools and are near commoditization.
    • Vulnerability scanning tools are not granular enough to detect application-level vulnerabilities (thus the need for application scanners and testing tools) and they don’t validate the exploitability of the vulnerability (thus the need for exploit tools).

    Web Application Scanning Tools

    These tools perform dynamic application security testing (DAST) and static application security testing (SAST).

    Application Scanning and Testing Tools

    • These perform a detailed scan against an application to detect any problematic or malicious code and try to break the application using known vulnerabilities.
    • These tools will identify if something is vulnerable to an exploit but won’t actually run the exploit.
    • These tools are evaluated based on their ability to detect application-specific issues and validate them.

    Vulnerability scanning tool features

    Evaluate vulnerability scanning tools on specific features or functions that are the best differentiators.

    Differentiator

    Description

    Deployment OptionsDo you want a traditional on-premises, cloud-based, or managed service?
    Vulnerability Database CoverageScanners use a library of known vulnerabilities to test for. Evaluate based on the amount of exploits/vulnerabilities the tool can scan for.
    Scanning MethodEvaluate if you want agent-based, authenticated active, unauthenticated active, passive, or some combination of those scanning methods.
    IntegrationWhat is the breadth of other security and non-security technologies the tool can integrate with?
    RemediationHow detailed are the recommended remediation actions? The more granular, the better.

    Differentiator

    Description

    PrioritizationDoes the tool evaluate vulnerabilities based on commonly accepted methods or through a custom-designed prioritization methodology?
    Platform SupportWhat is the breadth of environment, application, and device support in the tool? Consider your need for virtual support, cloud support, device support, and application-specific support. Also consider how often new scanning modules are supported (e.g. how quickly Windows 10 was supported).
    PricingAs with many security controls that have been around for a long time and are commonly used, pricing becomes a main consideration, especially when there are so many open-source options available.

    Common areas people mistake as tool differentiators:

    • Accuracy – Scanning tools are evaluated more on efficiency than effectiveness. Evaluate on the ability to detect, remediate, and manage vulnerabilities rather than real vulnerability detection and the number of false positives. To reduce false positives, you need to use exploitation tools.
    • Performance – Scanning tools have such a small footprint in an environment and the actual scanning itself is such a small impact that evaluation on performance doesn’t matter.

    For more information on vulnerability scanning tools and how they rate, review the Vulnerability Management category on SoftwareReviews.

    Vulnerability scanning deployment options

    Understand the different deployment options to identify which is best for your security program.

    Option

    Description

    Pros

    Cons

    Use Cases

    On-PremisesEither an on-premises appliance or an on-premises virtualized machine that performs external and internal scanning.
    • Small resource need, so limited network impact.
    • Strong internal scanning.
    • Easier integration with other technologies.
    • Network footprint and resource usage.
    • Maintenance and support costs.
    • Most common deployment option.
    • Appropriate if you have cloud concerns or strong internal network scanning, or if you require strong integration with other systems.
    CloudEither hosted on a public cloud infrastructure or hosted by a third party and offered “as a service.”
    • Small network footprint.
    • On-demand scanning as needed.
    • Optimal external scanning capabilities.
    • Can only do edge-related scanning unless authenticated or agent based.
    • No internal network scanning with passive or unauthenticated active scanning methods.
    • Very limited network resources.
    • Compliance obligations that dictate external vulnerability scanning.
    ManagedA third party is contracted to manage and maintain your vulnerability scanner so you can dedicate resources elsewhere.
    • Expert management of environment scanning, optimizing tool usage.
    • Most scanning work time is report customization and tuning and remediation efforts; thus, managed doesn’t provide sizable resource alleviation.
    • Third party has and owns the vulnerability information.
    • Limited staff resources or expertise to maintain and manage scanner.

    Vulnerability scanning methods

    Understand the different scanning methods to identify which tool best supports your needs.

    Method

    Description

    Pros

    Cons

    Use Cases

    Agent-Based ScanningLocally installed software gives the information needed to evaluate the security posture of a device.
    • Provides information that can’t be discovered remotely such as installed applications that aren’t running at a given time.
    • Device processing, memory, and network bandwidth impact.
    • Asset without an agent is not scanned.
    • Need for continuous scanning.
    • Organization has strong asset management
    Authenticated Active ScanningTool uses authenticated credentials to log in to a device or application to perform scanning.
    • Provides information that can’t be discovered remotely such as installed applications that aren’t running at a given time.
    • Best accuracy for vulnerability detection across a network.
    • Aggregation and centralization of authenticated credentials creates a major risk.
    • All use cases.
    Unauthenticated Active ScanningScanning of devices without any authentication.
    • Emulates realistic scan by an attacker.
    • Provides limited scope of scanning.
    • Some compliance use cases.
    • Perform after either agent or authenticated scanning.
    Passive ScanningScanning of network traffic.
    • Lowest resource impact.
    • Not enough information can be provided for true prioritization and remediation.
    • Augmenting scanning technique to agent or authenticated scanning.

    IP Management and IPv6

    IP management and the ability to manage IPv6 is a new area for scanning tool evaluation.

    Scanning on IPv4

    Scanning tools create databases of systems and devices with IP addresses.
    Info-Tech Recommends:

    • It is easier to do discovery by directing the scanner at a set IP address or range of IP addresses; thus, it’s useful to organize your database by IPs.
    • Do discovery by phases: Start with internet-facing systems. Your perimeter usually is well-defined by IP addresses and system owners and is most open to attack.
    • Stipulate a list of your known IP addresses through the DHCP registration and perform a scan on that.
    • Depending on your IP address space, another option is to scan your entire IP address space.

    Current Problem With IP Addresses

    IP addresses are becoming no longer manageable or even owned by organizations. They are often provided by ISPs or other third parties.

    Even if it is your range, chances are you don't do static IP ranges today.

    Info-Tech Recommends:

    • Agent-based scanning or MAC address-based scanning
    • Use your DHCP for scanning

    Scanning on IPv6

    First, you need to know if your organization is moving to IPv6. IPv6 is not strategically routed yet for most organizations.

    If you are moving to IPv6, Info-Tech recommends the following:

    • Because you cannot point a scanner at an IPv6 IP range, any scanning tool needs to have a strategy around how to handle IPv6 and properly scan based on IP ranges.
    • You need to know IPv4 to IPv6 translations.
    • Evaluate vulnerability scanning tools on whether any IPv6 features are on par with IPv4 features.

    If you are already on IPv6, Info-Tech recommends the following:

    • If you are on an IPv6 native network, it is nearly impossible to scan the network. You have to always scan your known addresses from your DHCP.

    4.3.1 Create an RFP for vulnerability scanning tools

    2 hours

    Input: List of key feature requirements for the new tool, List of intersect points with current software, Network topology and layout of servers and applications

    Output: Completed RFP document that can be distributed to vendor proponents

    Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts, Vulnerability Scanning Tool RFP Template

    Participants: IT Security Manager, IT operations managers, CISO, Procurement department representative

    Use a request for proposal (RFP) template to convey your desired scanning tool requirements to vendors and outline the proposal and procurement steps set by your organization.

    1. Determine what kind of requirements will be needed for your scanning tool RFP, based on people, process, and technology requirements.
    2. Consider items such as the desired capabilities and the scope of the scanning.
    3. Conduct interviews with relevant stakeholders to determine the exact requirements needed.
    4. Use Info-Tech’s Vulnerability Scanning Tool RFP Template. It lists many requirements but can be customized to your organization’s specific needs.

    Download the Vulnerability Scanning Tool RFP Template

    4.3.1 Create an RFP for vulnerability scanning tools (continued)

    Things to Consider:
    • Ensure there is adequate resource dedication to support and maintenance for vulnerability scanning.
    • Consider if you will benefit from an RFP. If there is a more appropriate option for your need and your organization, consider that instead.
    • If you don’t know the product you want, then perform an RFI.
    • In the RFP, you need to express your driving needs for the tool so the vendor can best understand your use case.
    • Identify who should participate in the RFP creation and evaluation. Make sure they have time available and it does not conflict with other items.
    • Determine if you want to send it to a select few or if you want to send it to a lot of vendors.
    • Determine a response date so you can know who is soliciting your business.
    • You need to have a process to handle questions from vendors.
    Info-Tech RFP Table of Contents:
    1. Statement of Work
    2. General Information
    3. Proposal Preparation Instructions
    4. Scope of Work, Specifications, and Requirements
    5. Vendor Qualifications and References
    6. Budget and Estimated Pricing
    7. Vendor Certification

    Download the Vulnerability Scanning Tool RFP Template

    Step 4.4

    Penetration testing

    Activities
    • 4.1.1 Create an RFP for penetration tests

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    We will review penetration testing, its distinction from vulnerability management, and why you may want to engage a penetration testing service.

    We provide a request for proposal (RFP) template that we can review if this is an area of interest.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • IT Security Manager
    • SecOps team members
    • CISO
    • CIO

    Outcomes of this step

    An understanding of penetration testing, and guidance on how to get started if there is interest to do so.

    Measure and formalize
    Step 4.1Step 4.2Step 4.3Step 4.4

    Penetration testing

    Penetration tests are critical parts of any strong security program.

    Penetration testing will emulate the methods an attacker would use in the real world to circumvent your security controls and gain access to systems and data.

    Penetration testing is much more than just running a scanner or other automated tools and then generating a report. Penetration testing performs critical exploit validation to create certainty around your vulnerability.

    The primary objective of a penetration test is to identify and validate security weaknesses in an organization’s security systems.

    Reasons to Test:

    • Assess current security control effectiveness
    • Develop an action plan of items
    • Build a business case for a better security program
    • Increased security budget through vulnerability validation
    • Third-party, unbiased validation
    • Adhere to compliance or regulatory requirements
    • Raise security awareness
    • Demonstrate how an attacker can escalate privileges
    • Effective way to test incident response

    Regulatory Considerations:

    • There is a lot of regulatory wording saying that organizations can’t get a system that is managed, integrated, and supported by one vendor and then have it tested by the same vendor.
    • There is the need for separate third-party testing.
    • Penetration testing is required for PCI, cloud providers, and federal entities.

    How and where is the value being generated?

    Penetration testing is a service provided by trained and tested professionals with years of experience. The person behind the test is the most important part of the test. The person is able to emulate a real-life attacker better than any computer. It is just a vulnerability scan if you use tools or executables alone.

    “A penetration test is an audit with validation.” (Joel Shapiro, Vice President Sales, Digital Boundary Group)

    Start by considering the spectrum of penetration tests

    Network Penetration Tests

    Conventional testing of network defences.

    Testing vectors include:

    • Perimeter infrastructure
    • Wireless, WEP/WPA cracking
    • Cloud penetration testing
    • Telephony systems or VoIP
    Types of tests:
    • Denial-of-service testing
    • Out-of-band attacks
    • War dialing
    • Wireless network testing/war driving
    • Spoofing
    • Trojan attacks
    • Brute force attacks
    • Watering hole attacks
    • Honeypots
    • Cloud-penetration testing
    Application Penetration Tests

    Core business functions are now being provided through web applications, either to external customers or to internal end users.

    Types: Web apps, non-web apps, mobile apps

    Application penetration and security testing encompasses:

    • Code review – analyzing the application code for sensitive information of vulnerabilities in the code.
    • Authorization testing – testing systems responsible for user session management to see if unauthorized access can be permitted.
    • Authentication process for user testing.
    • Functionality testing – test the application functionality itself.
    • Website pen testing – active analysis of weaknesses or vulnerabilities.
    • Encryption testing – testing things like randomness or key strength.
    • User-session integrity testing.
    Human-Centric Testing
    • Penetration testing is developing a people aspect as opposed to just being technology focused.
    • End users and their susceptibility to social engineering attacks (spear phishing, phone calls, physical site testing, etc.) is now a common area to test.
    • Social engineering penetration testing is not only about identifying your human vulnerabilities, but also about proactively training your end users. As well as discovering and fixing potential vulnerabilities, social engineering penetration testing will help to raise security awareness within an organization.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Your pen test should use multiple methods. Demonstrating weakness in one area is good but easy to identify. When you blend techniques, you get better success at breaching and it becomes more life-like. Think about prevention, detection, and response testing to provide full insight into your security defenses.

    Penetration testing types

    Evaluate four variables to determine which type of penetration test is most appropriate for your organization.

    Evaluate these dimensions to determine relevant penetration testing.

    Network, Application, or Human

    Evaluate your need to perform different types of penetration testing.

    Some level of network and application testing is most likely appropriate.

    The more common decision point is to consider to what degree your organization requires human-centric penetration testing.

    External or Internal

    External: Attacking an organization’s perimeter and internet-facing systems. For these, you generally provide some level of information to the tester. The test will begin with publicly available information gathering followed by some kind of network scanning or probing against externally visible servers or devices (DNS server, email server, web server, firewall, etc.)

    Internal: Carried out within the organization’s network. This emulates an attack originating from an internal point (disgruntled employee, authorized user, etc.). The idea is to see what could happen if the perimeter is breached.

    Transparent, Semi-Transparent, or Opaque Box

    Opaque Box: The penetration tester is not provided any information. This emulates a real-life attack. Test team uses publicly available information (corporate website, DNS, USENET, etc.) to start the test. These tests are more time consuming and expensive. They often result in exploitation of the easiest vulnerability.
    Use cases: emulating a real-life attack; testing detection and response capabilities; limited network segmentation.

    Transparent Box: Tester is provided full disclosure of information. The tester will have access to everything they need: building floor plans, data flow designs, network topology, etc. This represents what a credentialed and knowledgeable insider would do.
    Use cases: full assessment of security controls; testing of attacker traversal capabilities.

    Aggressiveness of the Test

    Not Aggressive: Very slow and careful penetration testing. Usually spread out in terms of packets being sent and number of calls to individuals. It attempts to not set off any alarm bells.

    Aggressive: A full DoS attack or something similar. These would be DoS attacks that take down systems or full SQL injection attacks all at once versus small injections over time. Testing options cover anything including physical tests, network tests, social engineering, and data extraction and exfiltration. This is more costly and time consuming.

    Assessing Aggressiveness: How aggressive the test should be is based on the threats you are concerned with. Assess who you are concerned with: random individuals on the internet, state-sponsored attacks, criminals, hacktivists, etc. Who you are concerned with will determine the appropriate aggressiveness of the test.

    Penetration testing scope

    Establish the scope of your penetration test before engaging vendors.

    Determining the scope of what is being tested is the most important part of a penetration test. Organizations need to be as specific as possible so the vendor can actually respond or ask questions.

    Organizations need to define boundaries, objectives, and key success factors.

    For scope:
    • If you go too narrow, the realism of the test suffers.
    • If you go too broad, it is more costly and there’s a possible increase in false positives.
    • Balance scope vs. budget.
    Boundaries to scope before a test:
    • IP addresses
    • URLs
    • Applications
    • Who is in scope for social engineering
    • Physical access from roof to dumpsters defined
    • Scope prioritized for high-value assets
    Objectives and key success factors to scope:
    • When is the test complete? Is it at the point of validated exploitation?
    • Are you looking for as many holes as possible, or are you looking for how many ways each hole can be exploited?

    What would be out of scope?

    • Are there systems, IP addresses, or other things you want out of scope? These are things you don’t explicitly want any penetration tester to touch.
    • Are there third-party connections to your environment that you don’t want to be tested? These are instances such as cloud providers, supply chain connections, and various services.
    • Are there things that would be awkward to test? For example, determine if you include high-level people in a social engineering test. Do you conduct social engineering for the CEO? If you get their credentials, it could be an awkward moment.

    Ways to break up a penetration test:

    • Location – This is the most common way to break up a penetration test.
    • Division – Self-contained business units are often done as separate tests so you can see how each unit does.
    • IT systems – For example, you put certain security controls in a firewall and want to test its effectiveness.
    • Applications – For example, you are launching a new website or a new portal and you want to test it.

    Penetration testing appropriateness

    Determine your penetration testing appropriateness.

    Usual instances to conduct a penetration test:
    • Setting up a new physical office. Penetration testing will not only test security capabilities but also resource availability and map out network flows.
    • New infrastructure hardware implemented. All new infrastructure needs to be tested.
    • Changes or upgrades to existing infrastructure. Need for testing varies depending on the size of the change.
    • New application deployment. Need to test before being pushed to production environments.
    • Changes or upgrades to existing applications. When fundamental functional changes occur, perform testing:
      • Before upgrades or patching
      • After upgrades or patching
    • Periodic testing. It is a best practice to periodically test your security control effectiveness. Consider at least an annual test.

    Specific timing considerations: Testing should be completed during non-production times of day. Testing should be completed after a backup has been performed.

    Assess your threats to determine your appropriate test type:

    Penetration testing is about what threats you are concerned about. Understand your risk profile, risk tolerance level, and specific threats to see how relevant penetration tests are.

    • Are external attackers concerning to you? Are you distressed about how an attacker can use brute force to enter your network? If so, focus on ingress points, such as FWs, routers, and DMZ.
    • Is social engineering a concern for you (i.e. phone-based or email-based)? Then you are concerned about a credentialed hacker.
    • Is it an insider threat, a disgruntled employee, etc.? This also includes an internal system that is under command and control (C&C).

    ANALYST PERSPECTIVE: Do a test only after you take a first pass.
    If you have not done some level of vulnerability assessment on your own (performing a scan, checking third-party sources, etc.) don’t waste your money on a penetration test. Only perform a penetration test after you have done a first pass and identified and remediated all the low-hanging fruit.

    4.4.1 Create an RFP for penetration tests

    2 hours

    Input: List of criteria and scope for the penetration test, Systems and application information if white box

    Output: Completed RFP document that can be distributed to vendor proponents

    Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts, Penetration Test RFP Template

    Participants: IT Security Manager, IT operations managers, CISO, Procurement department representative

    Use an RFP template to convey your desired penetration test requirements to vendors and outline the proposal and procurement steps set by your organization.

    1. Determine what kind of requirements will be needed for your penetration test RFP based on people, process, and technology requirements.
      • Consider items such as your technology environment and the scope of the penetration tests.
    2. Conduct an interview with relevant stakeholders to determine the exact requirements needed.
    3. Use Info-Tech’s Penetration Test RFP Template, which lists many requirements but can be customized to your organization’s specific needs.

    Download the Penetration Test RFP Template

    4.4.1 Create an RFP for penetration tests (continued)

    Steps of a penetration test:
    1. Determine scope
    2. Gather targeted intelligence
    3. Review exploit attempts, such as access and escalation
    4. Test the collection of sensitive data
    5. Run reporting
    Info-Tech RFP Table of Contents:
    1. Statement of Work
    2. General Information
    3. Proposal Preparation Instructions
    4. Scope of Work, Specifications, and Requirements
    5. Vendor Qualifications and References
    6. Budget and Estimated Pricing
    7. Vendor Certification

    Download the Penetration Test RFP Template

    Penetration testing considerations – service providers

    Consider what type of penetration testing service provider is best for your organization

    Professional Service Providers

    Professional Services Firms. These firms will often provide a myriad of professional services across auditing, financial, and consulting services. If they offer security-related consulting services, they will most likely offer some level of penetration testing.

    Security Service Firms. These are dedicated security consulting or advisory firms that will offer a wide spectrum of security-related services. Penetration testing may be one aspect of larger security assessments and strategy development services.

    Dedicated Penetration Testing Firms. These are service providers that will often offer the full gamut of penetration testing services.

    Integrators

    Managed Security Service Providers. These providers will offer penetration testing. For example, Dell SecureWorks offers numerous services including penetration testing. For organizations like this, you need to be skeptical of ulterior motives. For example, expect recommendations around outsourcing from Dell SecureWorks.

    Regional or Small Integrators. These are service providers that provide security services of some kind. For example, they would help in the implementation of a firewall and offer penetration testing services as well.

    Info-Tech Recommends:

    • Always be conscientious of who is conducting the testing and what else they offer. Even if you get another party to test rather than your technology provider, they will try to obtain you as a client. Remember that for larger technology vendors, security testing is a small revenue stream for them and it’s a way to find technology clients. They may offer penetration testing for free to obtain other business.
    • Most of the penetration testers were systems administrators (for network testing) or application developers (for application testing) at some point before becoming penetration testers. Remember this when evaluating providers and evaluating remediation recommendations.
    • Evaluate what kind of open-source tools, commercial tools, and proprietary tools are being used. In general, you don’t want to rely on an open-source scanner. For open source, they will have more outdated vulnerability databases, system identification can also be limited compared to commercial, and reporting is often lacking.
    • Above all else, ensure your testers are legally capable, experienced, and abide by non-disclosure agreements.

    Penetration testing best practices – communications

    Communication With Service Provider

    • During testing there should be designated points of contact between the service provider and the client.
    • There needs to be secure channels for communication of information between the tester and the client both during the test and for any results.
    • Results should always be explained to the client by the tester, regardless of the content or audience.
    • There should be a formal debrief with the results report.
    Immediate reporting of issues
    • Before any testing commences, immediate reporting conditions need to be defined. These are instances when you would want immediate notification of something occurring.
    • Stipulate certain systems or data types that if broken into or compromised, you would want to be notified right away.
    • Example:
      • If you are conducting social engineering, require notification for all account credentials that are compromised. Once credentials are compromised, it destroys all accountability for those credentials and the actions associated with those credentials by any user.
      • Require immediate reporting of specific high-critical systems that are compromised or if access is even found.
      • Require immediate reporting when regulated data is discovered or compromised in any way.

    Communication With Internal Staff

    Do you tell your internal staff that this is happening?

    This is sometimes called a “double blind test” when you don’t let your IT team know of the test occurring.

    Pros to notifying:
    • This tests the organization’s security monitoring, incident detection, and response capabilities.
    • Letting the team know they are going to see some activity will make sure they don’t get too worried about it.
    • There may be systems you can’t jeopardize but still need to test so notification beforehand is essential (e.g. you wouldn’t allow ERP testing with notification).
    Cons:
    • It does not give you a real-life example of how you respond if something happens.
    • Potential element of disrespect to IT people.

    Penetration testing best practices – results and remediation

    What to expect from penetration test results report:

    A final results report will state all findings including what was done by the testers, what vulnerabilities or exploitations were detected, how they were compromised, the related risk, and related remediation recommendations.

    Expect four major sections:
    • Introduction. An overview of the penetration test methodology including rating methodology of vulnerabilities.
    • Executive Summary. A management-level description of the test, often including a summary of any recommendations.
    • Technical Review. An overview of each item that was looked at and touched. This area breaks down what was done, how it was done, what was found, and any related remediation recommendations. Expect graphs and visuals in this section.
    • Detailed Findings. An in-depth breakdown of all testing methods used and results. Each vulnerability will be explained regarding how it was detected, what the risk is, and what the remediation recommendation is.
    Two areas that will vary by service provider:

    Prioritization

    • Most providers will boast their unique prioritization methodology.
    • A high, medium, and low rating scale based on some combination of variables (e.g. ease of exploitation, breadth of hole, information accessed resulting in further exploitation).
    • The prioritization won’t take into account asset value or criticality.
    • Keep in mind the penetration test is not an input into ultimate vulnerability prioritization, but it can help determine your urgency.

    Remediation

    • Remediation recommendations will vary across providers.
    • Generally, fairly generic recommendations are provided (e.g. remove your old telnet and input up-to-date SSH).
    • Most of the time, it is along the lines of “we found a hole; close the hole.”

    Summary of Accomplishment

    Problem Solved

    At the conclusion of this blueprint, you will have created a full vulnerability management program that will allow you to take a risk-based approach to vulnerability remediation.

    Assessing a vulnerability’s risk will enable you to properly determine the true urgency of a vulnerability within the context of your organization; this ensures you are not just blindly following what the tool is reporting.

    The risk-based approach will allow you to prioritize your discovered vulnerabilities and take immediate action on critical and high vulnerabilities while allowing your standard remediation cycle to address the medium to low vulnerabilities.

    With your program defined and developed, you now need to configure your vulnerability scanning tool or acquire one if you don’t already have a tool in place.

    Lastly, while vulnerability management will help address your systems and applications, how do you know if you are secure from external malicious actors? Penetration testing will offer visibility, allowing you to plug those holes and attain an environment with a smaller risk surface.

    If you would like additional support, have our analysts guide you through other phases as part of an Info-Tech workshop.

    Contact your account representative for more information.

    workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889

    Additional Support

    If you would like additional support, have our analysts guide you through other phases as part of an Info-Tech workshop.

    Photo of Jimmy Tom.

    Contact your account representative for more information.

    workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889

    To accelerate this project, engage your IT team in an Info-Tech workshop with an Info-Tech analyst team.

    Info-Tech analysts will join you and your team at your location or welcome you to Info-Tech’s historic Toronto office to participate in an innovative onsite workshop.

    The following are sample activities that will be conducted by Info-Tech analysts with your team:

    Sample of the Implement Vulnerability Management storyboard.
    Review of the Implement Vulnerability Management storyboard
    Sample of the Vulnerability Mitigation SOP template.
    Build your vulnerability management SOP

    Contributors

    Contributors from 2016 version of this project:

    • Morey Haber, Vice President of Technology, BeyondTrust
    • Richard Barretto, Manager, Information Privacy and Security, Cimpress
    • Joel Shapiro, Vice President Sales, Digital Boundary Group

    Contributors from current version of this project:

    • 2 anonymous contributors from the manufacturing sector
    • 1 anonymous contributor from a US government agency
    • 2 anonymous contributors from the financial sector
    • 1 anonymous contributor from the medical technology industry
    • 2 anonymous contributors from higher education
    • 1 anonymous contributor from a Canadian government agency
    • 7 anonymous others; information gathered from advisory calls

    Bibliography

    Arya. “COVID-19 Impact: Vulnerability Management Solution Market | Strategic Industry Evolutionary Analysis Focus on Leading Key Players and Revenue Growth Analysis by Forecast To 2028 – FireMon, Digital Shadows, AlienVault.” Bulletin Line, 6 Aug. 2020. Accessed 6 Aug. 2020.

    Campagna, Rich. “The Lean, Mean Vulnerability Management Machine.” Security Boulevard, 31 Mar. 2020. Accessed 15 Aug. 2020.

    Constantin, Lucian. “What are vulnerability scanners and how do they work?” CSO Online, 10 Apr. 2020. Accessed 1 Sept. 2020.

    “CVE security vulnerabilities published in 2019.” CVE Details. Accessed 22 Sept. 2020.

    Garden, Paul, et al. “2019 Year End Report – Vulnerability QuickView.” Risk Based Security, 2020. Accessed 22 Sept. 2020.

    Keary, Eoin. “2019 Vulnerability Statistics Report.” Edgescan, Feb. 2019. Accessed 22 Sept. 2020.

    Lefkowitz, Josh. ““Risk-Based Vulnerability Management is a Must for Security & Compliance.” SecurityWeek, 1 July 2019. Accessed 1 Nov. 2020.

    Mell, Peter, Tiffany Bergeron, and David Henning. “Creating a Patch and Vulnerability Management Program.” Creating a Patch and Vulnerability Management Program. NIST, Nov. 2005. Web.

    “National Vulnerability Database.” NIST. Accessed 18 Oct. 2020.

    “OpenVAS – Open Vulnerability Assessment Scanner.” OpenVAS. Accessed 14 Sept. 2020.

    “OVAL.” OVAL. Accessed 21 Oct. 2020.

    Paganini, Pierluigi. “Exploiting and Verifying Shellshock: CVE-2014-6271.” INFOSEC, 27 Sept. 2014. Web.

    Pritha. “Top 10 Metrics for your Vulnerability Management Program.” CISO Platform, 28 Nov. 2019. Accessed 25 Oct. 2020.

    “Risk-Based Vulnerability Management: Understanding Vulnerability Risk With Threat Context And Business Impact.” Tenable. Accessed 21 Oct. 2020.

    Stone, Mark. “Shellshock In-Depth: Why This Old Vulnerability Won’t Go Away.” SecurityIntelligence, 6 Aug. 2020. Web.

    “The Role of Threat Intelligence in Vulnerability Management.” NOPSEC, 18 Sept. 2014. Accessed 18 Aug. 2020.

    “Top 15 Paid and Free Vulnerability Scanner Tools in 2020.” DNSstuff, 6 Jan. 2020. Accessed 15 Sept. 2020.

    Truta, Filip. “60% of Breaches in 2019 Involved Unpatched Vulnerabilities.” Security Boulevard, 31 Oct. 2019. Accessed 2 Nov. 2020.

    “Vulnerability Management Program.” Core Security. Accessed 15 Sept. 2020.

    “What is Risk-Based Vulnerability Management?” Balbix. Accessed 15 Sept. 2020.

    White, Monica. “The Cost Savings of Effective Vulnerability Management (Part 1).” Kenna Security, 23 April 2020. Accessed 20 Sept. 2020.

    Wilczek, Marc. “Average Cost of a Data Breach in 2020: $3.86M.” Dark Reading, 24 Aug. 2020. Accessed 5 Nov 2020.

    Slash Spending by Optimizing Your Software Maintenance and Support

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    • Parent Category Name: Vendor Management
    • Parent Category Link: /vendor-management
    • Perpetual software maintenance (SW M&S) is an annual budget cost that increases almost yearly. You don’t really know if there is value in it, if its required by the vendor, or if there are opportunities for cost savings.
    • Most organizations never reap the full benefits of software M&S. They blindly send renewal fees to the vendor every year without validating their needs or the value of the maintenance. In addition, your vendor maintenance may be under contract and you aren’t sure what the obligations are for both parties.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Analyzing the benefits contained within a vendor’s software M&S will provide the actual cost value of the M&S and whether there are critical support requirements vs. “nice to have” benefits.
    • Understanding the value and your requirement for M&S will allow you to make an informed decision on how best to optimize and reduce your annual software M&S spend.
    • Use a holistic approach when looking to reduce your software M&S spend. Review the entire portfolio for targeted reduction that will result in short- and long-term savings.
    • When targeting vendors to negotiate M&S price or coverage reduction, engaging them three to six months in advance of renewal will provide you with more time to effectively negotiate and not fall to the pressure of time.

    Impact and Result

    • Reduce annual costs for software maintenance and support.
    • Complete a value of investment (VOI) analysis of your software M&S for strategic vendors.
    • Maximize value of the software M&S by using all the benefits being paid for.
    • Right-size support coverage for your requirements.
    • Prioritize software vendors to target for cost reduction and optimization.

    Slash Spending by Optimizing Your Software Maintenance and Support Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out how to prioritize your software vendors and effectively target M&S for reduction, optimization, or elimination.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Evaluate

    Evaluate what software maintenance you are spending money.

    • Slash Spending by Optimizing Your Software Maintenance and Support – Phase 1: Evaluate
    • Software M&S Inventory and Prioritization Tool

    2. Establish

    Establish your software M&S requirements and coverage.

    • Slash Spending by Optimizing Your Software Maintenance and Support – Phase 2: Establish
    • Software Vendor Classification Tool

    3. Optimize

    Optimize your M&S spend, reduce or eliminate, where applicable.

    • Slash Spending by Optimizing Your Software Maintenance and Support – Phase 3: Optimize
    • Software M&S Value of Investment Tool
    • Software M&S Cancellation Decision Guide
    • Software M&S Executive Summary Template
    • Software M&S Cancellation Support Template
    [infographic]

    Application Maintenance

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    • Parent Category Name: Applications
    • Parent Category Link: /applications

    The challenge

    • If you work with application maintenance or operations teams that handle the "run" of your applications, you may find that the sheer volume and variety of requests create large backlogs.
    • Your business and product owners may want scrum or DevOps teams to work on new functionality rather than spend effort on lifecycle management.
    • Increasing complexity and increasing reliance on technology may create unrealistic expectations for your maintenance teams. Business applications must be available around the clock, and new feature roadmaps cannot be side-tracked by maintenance.

    Our advice

    Insight

    • Improving maintenance focus may mean doing less work but create more value. Your teams need to be realistic about what commitments they take—balance maintenance with business value and risk levels.
    • Treat maintenance the same as any other development practice. Use the same intake and prioritization practices. Uphold the same quality standards.

    Impact and results 

    • Justify the necessity of streamlined and regular maintenance. Understand each stakeholder's objectives and concerns, validate them against your staff's current state, processes, and technologies involved.
    • Maintenance and risk go hand in hand. And the business wants to move forward all the time as well. Strengthen your prioritization practice. Use a holistic view of the business and technical impacts, risks, urgencies across the maintenance needs and requests. That allows you to justify their respective positions in the overall development backlog. Identify opportunities to bring some requirements and features together.
    • Build a repeatable process with appropriate governance around it. Ensure that people know their roles and responsibilities and are held accountable.
    • Instill development best-practices into your maintenance processes.

    The roadmap

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    Get started.

    Read our executive brief to understand everyday struggles regarding application maintenance, the root causes, and our methodology to overcome these. We show you how we can support you.

    Understand your maintenance priorities

    Identify your stakeholders and understand their drivers.

    • Streamline Application Maintenance – Phase 1: Assess the Current Maintenance Landscape (ppt)
    • Application Maintenance Operating Model Template (doc)
    • Application Maintenance Resource Capacity Assessment (xls)
    • Application Maintenance Maturity Assessment (xls)

    Define and employ maintenance governance

    Identify the right level of governance appropriate to your company and business context for your application maintenance. That ensures that people uphold standards across maintenance practices.

    • Streamline Application Maintenance – Phase 2: Develop a Maintenance Release Schedule (ppt)

    Enhance your prioritization practices

    Most companies cannot do everything for all applications and systems. Build your maintenance triage and prioritization rules to safeguard your company, maximize business value generation and IT risks and requirements.

    • Streamline Application Maintenance – Phase 3: Optimize Maintenance Capabilities (ppt)

    Streamline your maintenance delivery

    Define quality standards in maintenance practices. Enforce these in alignment with the governance you have set up. Show a high degree of transparency and open discussions on development challenges.

    • Streamline Application Maintenance – Phase 4: Streamline Maintenance Delivery (ppt)
    • Application Maintenance Business Case Presentation Document (ppt)

     

     

    Skills Development on the Mainframe Platform

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    • Parent Category Name: Strategy and Organizational Design
    • Parent Category Link: /strategy-and-organizational-design

    Mainframes remain a critical part of an organization’s infrastructure and will need to support these platforms for the foreseeable future. Despite the importance, it can be a challenge for organizations to find qualified resources to support them. Meanwhile, companies are unsure of where to find help to train and develop their teams on mainframe technologies and are at risk of a skills gap within their teams.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Mainframes continue to have wide usage, particularly in enterprise organizations. The complexity of moving or replatforming many of these applications means these platforms will be around for a long time still.
    • Companies need to be proactive about developing their teams to support their mainframe systems.

    Impact and Result

    • Companies can protect their assets by cultivating a pipeline of qualified resources to support their mainframe infrastructure.
    • There is a robust training ecosystem headed by large, reputable organizations to help develop and support companies' resources. You don’t have to do it alone.

    Skills Development on the Mainframe Platform Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Skills Development on the Mainframe Platform Storyboard – An overview of the solutions available to support your mainframe training and skills development needs.

    Your mainframes are not going to disappear overnight. These systems often support the most critical operations in your organization. You need to ensure you have the right qualified resources to support your platforms.

    • Skills Development on the Mainframe Platform Storyboard
    [infographic]

    Reduce Time to Consensus With an Accelerated Business Case

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    • Parent Category Name: Business Analysis
    • Parent Category Link: /business-analysis
    • Enterprise application initiatives are complex, expensive, and require a significant amount of planning before initiation.
    • A financial business case is sometimes used to justify these initiatives.
    • Once the business case (and benefits therein) are approved, the case is forgotten, eliminating a critical check and balance of benefit realization.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    1. Frame the conversation.

    Understand the audience and forum for the business case to best frame the conversation.

    2. Time-box the process of building the case.

    More time should be spent on performing the action rather than building the case.

    3. The business case is a living document.

    The business case creates the basis for review of the realization of the proposed business benefits once the procurement is complete.

    Impact and Result

    • Understand the drivers for decision making in your organization, and the way initiatives are evaluated.
    • Compile a compelling business case that provides decision makers with sufficient information to make decisions confidently.
    • Evaluate proposed enterprise application initiatives “apples-to-apples” using a standardized and repeatable methodology.
    • Provide a mechanism for tracking initiative performance during and after implementation.

    Reduce Time to Consensus With an Accelerated Business Case Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should build a business case for enterprise application investments, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand how we can support you in completing this project.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Gather the required information

    Complete the necessary preceding tasks to building the business case. Rationalize the initiative under consideration, determine the organizational decision flow following a stakeholder assessment, and conduct market research to understand the options.

    • Reduce Time to Consensus With an Accelerated Business Case – Phase 1: Gather the Required Information
    • Business Case Readiness Checklist
    • Business Case Workbook
    • Request for Information Template
    • Request for Quotation Template

    2. Conduct the business case analysis

    Conduct a thorough assessment of the initiative in question. Define the alternatives under consideration, identify tangible and intangible benefits for each, aggregate the costs, and highlight any risks.

    • Reduce Time to Consensus With an Accelerated Business Case – Phase 2: Conduct the Business Case Analysis

    3. Make the case

    Finalize the recommendation based on the analysis and create a business case presentation to frame the conversation for key stakeholders.

    • Reduce Time to Consensus With an Accelerated Business Case – Phase 3: Make the Case
    • Full-Form Business Case Presentation Template
    • Summary Business Case Presentation Template
    • Business Case Change Log
    • Business Case Close-Out Form
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Reduce Time to Consensus With an Accelerated Business Case

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Plan for Business Case Development

    The Purpose

    Complete the necessary preceding tasks to building a strong business case.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Alignment with business objectives.

    Stakeholder buy-in.

    Activities

    1.1 Map the decision flow in your organization.

    1.2 Define the proposed initiative.

    1.3 Define the problem/opportunity statement.

    1.4 Clarify goals and objectives expected from the initiative.

    Outputs

    Decision traceability

    Initiative summary

    Problem/opportunity statement

    Business objectives

    2 Build the Business Case Model

    The Purpose

    Put together the key elements of the business case including alternatives, benefits, and costs.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Rationalize the business case.

    Activities

    2.1 Design viable alternatives.

    2.2 Identify the tangible and intangible benefits.

    2.3 Assess current and future costs.

    2.4 Create the financial business case model.

    Outputs

    Shortlisted alternatives

    Benefits tracking model

    Total cost of ownership

    Impact analysis

    3 Enhance the Business Case

    The Purpose

    Determine more integral factors in the business case such as ramp-up time for benefits realization as well as risk assessment.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Complete a comprehensive case.

    Activities

    3.1 Determine ramp-up times for costs and benefits.

    3.2 Identify performance measures and tracking.

    3.3 Assess initiative risk.

    Outputs

    Benefits realization schedule

    Performance tracking framework

    Risk register

    4 Prepare the Business Case

    The Purpose

    Finalize the recommendation and formulate the business case summary and presentation.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Prepare the business case presentation.

    Activities

    4.1 Choose the alternative to be recommended.

    4.2 Create the detailed and summary business case presentations.

    4.3 Present and incorporate feedback.

    4.4 Monitor and close out.

    Outputs

    Final recommendation

    Business case presentation

    Final sign-off

    Service Management Integration With Agile Practices

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    • Parent Category Name: Service Management
    • Parent Category Link: /service-management

    • Work efficiently and in harmony with Agile and service management to deliver business value.
    • Optimize the value stream of services and products.
    • Leverage the benefits of each practice.
    • Create a culture of collaboration to support a rapidly changing business.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    Agile and Service Management are not necessarily at odds; find the integration points to solve specific problems.

    Impact and Result

    • Optimize the value stream of services and products.
    • Work efficiently and in harmony with Agile and service management to deliver business value.
    • Create a culture of collaboration to support a rapidly changing business.

    Service Management Integration With Agile Practices Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Service Management Integration With Agile Practices Storyboard – Use this deck to understand the integration points and how to overcome common challenges.

    Understand how service management integrates with Agile software development practices, and how to solve the most common challenges to work efficiently and deliver business value.

    • Service Management Integration With Agile Practices Storyboard

    2. Service Management Stakeholder Register Template – Use this tool to identify and document Service Management stakeholders.

    Use this tool to identify your stakeholders to engage when working on the service management integration.

    • ITSM Stakeholder Register Template

    3. Service Management Integration With Agile Practices Assessment Tool – Use this tool to identify key challenging integration points in your organization.

    Use this tool to identify which of your current practices might already be aligned with Agile mindset and which might need adjustment. Identify integration challenges with the current service management practices.

    • Service Management Integration With Agile Practices Assessment Tool
    [infographic]

    Further reading

    Service Management Integration With Agile Practices

    Understand how Agile transformation affects service management

    Analyst Perspective

    Don't forget about operations

    Many organizations believe that once they have implemented Agile that they no longer need any service management framework, like ITIL. They see service management as "old" and a roadblock to deliver products and services quickly. The culture clash is obvious, and it is the most common challenge people face when trying to integrate Agile and service management. However, it is not the only challenge. Agile methodologies are focused on optimized delivery. However, what happens after delivery is often overlooked. Operations may not receive proper communication or documentation, and processes are cumbersome or non-existent. This is a huge paradox if an organization is trying to become nimbler. You need to find ways to integrate your Agile practices with your existing Service Management processes.

    This is a picture of Renata Lopes

    Renata Lopes
    Senior Research Analyst
    Organizational Transformation Practice
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    • Work efficiently and in harmony with Agile and service management to deliver business value.
    • Optimize the value stream of services and products.
    • Leverage the benefits of each practice.
    • Create a culture of collaboration to support a rapidly changing business.

    Common Obstacles

    • Culture clashes.
    • Inefficient or inexistent processes.
    • Lack of understanding of what Agile and service management mean.
    • Leadership doesn't understand the integration points of practices.
    • Development overlooks the operations requirement.

    Info-Tech's Approach

    • When integrating Agile and service management practices start by understanding the key integration points:
    • Processes
    • People and resources
    • Governance and org structure

    Info-Tech Insight

    Agile and Service Management are not necessarily at odds Find the integration points to solve specific problems.

    Your challenge

    Deliver seamless business value by integrating service management and Agile development.

    • Understand how Agile development impacts service management.
    • Identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies when integrating with service management.
    • Connect teams across the organization to collaborate toward the organizational goals.
    • Ensure operational requirements are considered while developing products in an Agile way.
    • Stay in alignment when designing and delivering services.

    The most significant Agile adoption barriers

    46% of respondents identified inconsistent processes and practices across teams as a challenge.
    Source: Digital.ai, 2021

    43% of respondents identified Culture clashes as a challenge.
    Source: Digital.ai, 2021

    What is Agile?

    Agile development is an umbrella term for several iterative and incremental development methodologies to develop products.

    In order to achieve Agile development, organizations will adopt frameworks and methodologies like Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Scrum, Large Scaled Scrum (LeSS), DevOps, Spotify Way of Working (WoW), etc.

    • DevOps
    • WoW
    • SAFe
    • Scrum
    • LeSS

    Leading Through Uncertainty Workshop Overview

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    As the world around us changes there is a higher risk that IT productivity and planned priorities will be derailed.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    To meet the challenges of uncertainty head on IT leaders must adapt so their employees are supported and IT departments continue to operate successfully.

    Impact and Result

    • Clearly define and articulate the current and future priorities to provide direction and cultivate hope for the future.
    • Recognize and manage your own reactions to be conscious of how you are showing up and the perceptions others may have.
    • Incorporate the 4Cs of Leading Through Uncertainty into your leadership practice to make sense of the situation and lead others through it.
    • Build tactics to connect with your employees that will ensure employee engagement and productivity.

    Leading Through Uncertainty Workshop Overview Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Workshop Overview

    Read our concise Workshop Overview to find out how this program can support IT leaders when managing teams through uncertain times.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    • Leading Through Uncertainty (LTU) Workshop Overview
    [infographic]

    Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market

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    Your challenge:

    • Rising supplier costs and inflation are eroding margins and impacting customers' budgets.
    • There is pressure from management to make a gut-feeling decision because of time, lack of skills, and process limitations.
    • You must navigate competing pricing-related priorities among product, sales, and finance teams.
    • Product price increases fail because discovery lacks understanding of costs, price/value equation, and competitive price points.
    • Customers can react negatively, and results are seen much later (more than 12 months) after the price decision.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    Product leaders will price products based on a deep understanding of the buyer price/value equation and alignment with financial and competitive pricing strategies, and make ongoing adjustments based on an ability to monitor buyer, competitor, and product cost changes.

    Impact and Result

    • Success for many SaaS product managers requires a reorganization and modernization of pricing tools, techniques, and assumptions. Leaders will develop the science of tailored price changes versus across-the-board price actions and account for inflation exposure and the customers’ willingness to pay.
    • This will build skills on how to price new products or adjust pricing for existing products. The disciplines using our pricing strategy methodology will strengthen efforts to develop repeatable pricing models and processes and build credibility with senior management.

    Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Executive Brief - A deck to build your skills on how to price new products or adjust pricing for existing products.

    This Executive Brief will build your skills on how to price new products or adjust pricing for existing products.

    • Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Executive Brief

    2. Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Storyboard – A deck that provides key steps to complete the project.

    This blueprint will build your skills on how to price new products or adjust pricing for existing products with documented key steps to complete the pricing project and use the Excel workbook and customer presentation.

    • Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market – Phases 1-3

    3. Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Workbook – A tool that enables product managers to simplify the organization and collection of customer and competitor information for pricing decisions.

    These five organizational workbooks for product pricing priorities, interview tracking, sample questions, and critical competitive information will enable the price team to validate price change data through researching the three pricing schemes (competitor, customer, and cost-based).

    • Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Workbook

    4. Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Presentation Template – A template that serves as a guide to communicating the Optimize Pricing Strategy team's results for a product or product line.

    This template includes the business case to justify product repricing, contract modifications, and packaging rebuild or removal for launch. This template calls for the critical summarized results from the Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market blueprint and the Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Workbook to complete.

    • Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Presentation Template

    Infographic

    Further reading

    SoftwareReviews — A Division of INFO~TECH RESEARCH GROUP

    Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market

    Leading SaaS product managers align pricing strategy to company financial goals and refresh the customer price/value equation to avoid leaving revenues uncaptured.

    Table of Contents

    Section Title Section Title
    1 Executive Brief 2 Key Steps
    3 Concluding Slides

    Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market

    Leading SaaS product managers align pricing strategy to company financial goals and refresh the customer price/value equation to avoid leaving revenues uncaptured.

    EXECUTIVE BRIEF

    Analyst Perspective

    Optimized Pricing Strategy

    Product managers without well-documented and repeatable pricing management processes often experience pressure from “Agile” management to make gut-feel pricing decisions, resulting in poor product revenue results. When combined with a lack of customer, competitor, and internal cost understanding, these process and timing limitations drive most product managers into suboptimal software pricing decisions. And, adding insult to injury, the poor financial results from bad pricing decisions aren’t fully measured for months, which further compounds the negative effects of poor decision making.

    A successful product pricing strategy aligns finance, marketing, product management, and sales to optimize pricing using a solid understanding of the customer perception of price/value, competitive pricing, and software production costs.

    Success for many SaaS product managers requires a reorganization and modernization of pricing tools, techniques, and data. Leaders will develop the science of tailored price changes versus across-the-board price actions and account for inflation exposure and the customers’ willingness to pay.

    This blueprint will build your skills on how to price new products or adjust pricing for existing products. The discipline you build using our pricing strategy methodology will strengthen your team’s ability to develop repeatable pricing and will build credibility with senior management and colleagues in marketing and sales.

    Photo of Joanne Morin Correia, Principal Research Director, SoftwareReviews.

    Joanne Morin Correia
    Principal Research Director
    SoftwareReviews

    Executive Summary

    Organizations struggle to build repeatable pricing processes:
    • A lack of alignment and collaboration among finance, marketing, product development, and sales.
    • A lack of understanding of customers, competitors, and market pricing.
    • Inability to stay ahead of complex and shifting software pricing models.
    • Time is wasted without a deep understanding of pricing issues and opportunities, and revenue opportunities go unrealized.
    Obstacles add friction to the pricing management process:
    • Pressure from management to make quick decisions results in a gut-driven approach to pricing.
    • A lack of pricing skills and management processes limits sound decision making.
    • Price changes fail because discovery often lacks competitive intelligence and buyer value to price point understanding. Customers’ reactions are often observed much later, after the decision is made.
    • Economic disruptions, supplier price hikes, and higher employee salaries/benefits are driving costs higher.
    Use SoftwareReviews’ approach for more successful pricing:
    • Organize for a more effective pricing project including roles & responsibilities as well as an aligned pricing approach.
    • Work with CFO/finance partner to establish target price based on margins and key factors affecting costs.
    • Perform a competitive price assessment and understand the buyer price/value equation.
    • Arrive at a target price based on the above and seek buy-in and approvals.

    SoftwareReviews Insight

    Product leaders will price products based on a deep understanding of the buyer price/value equation and alignment with financial and competitive pricing strategies, and they will make ongoing adjustments based on an ability to monitor buyers, competitors, and product cost changes.

    What is an optimized price strategy?

    “Customer discovery interviews help reduce the chance of failure by testing your hypotheses. Quality customer interviews go beyond answering product development and pricing questions.” (Pricing Strategies, Growth Ramp, March 2022)

    Most product managers just research their direct competitors when launching a new SaaS product. While this is essential, competitive pricing intel is insufficient to create a long-term optimized pricing strategy. Leaders will also understand buyer TCO.

    Your customers are constantly comparing prices and weighing the total cost of ownership as they consider your competition. Why?

    Implementing a SaaS solution creates a significant time burden as buyers spend days learning new software, making sure tools communicate with each other, configuring settings, contacting support, etc. It is not just the cost of the product or service.

    Optimized Price Strategy Is…
    • An integral part of any product plan and business strategy.
    • Essential to improving and maintaining high levels of margins and customer satisfaction.
    • Focused on delivering the product price to your customer’s business value.
    • Understanding customer price-value for your software segment.
    • Monitoring your product pricing with real-time data to ensure support for competitive strategy.
    Price Strategy Is Not…
    • Increasing or decreasing price on a gut feeling.
    • Changing price for short-term gain.
    • Being wary of asking customers pricing-related questions.
    • Haphazardly focusing entirely on profit.
    • Just covering product costs.
    • Only researching direct competitors.
    • Focusing on yourself or company satisfaction but your target customers.
    • Picking the first strategy you see.

    SoftwareReviews Insight

    An optimized pricing strategy establishes the “best” price for a product or service that maximizes profits and shareholder value while considering customer business value vs. the cost to purchase and implement – the total cost of ownership (TCO).

    Challenging environment

    Product managers are currently experiencing the following:
    • Supplier costs and inflation are rising, eroding product margins and impacting customers’ budgets.
    • Pressure from management to make a gut-feeling decision because of time, lack of skills, and process limitations.
    • Navigating competing pricing-related priorities among product, sales, and finance.
    • Product price increases that fail because discovery lacks understanding of costs, price/value equation, and competitive price points.
    • Slowing customer demand due to poorly priced offerings may not be fully measured for many months following the price decision.
    Doing nothing is NOT an option!
    Offense Double Down

    Benefit: Leverage long-term financial and market assets

    Risk: Market may not value those assets in the future
    Fight Back

    Benefit: Move quickly

    Risk: Hard to execute and easy to get pricing wrong
    Defense Retrench

    Benefit: Reduce threats from new entrants through scale and marketing

    Risk: Causes managed decline and is hard to sell to leadership
    Move Away

    Benefit: Seize opportunities for new revenue sources

    Risk: Diversification is challenging to pull off
    Existing Markets and Customers New Markets and Customers

    Pricing skills are declining

    Among product managers, limited pricing skills are big obstacles that make pricing difficult and under-optimized.

    Visual of a bar chart with descending values, each bar has written on it: 'Limited - Limits in understanding of engineering, marketing, and sales expectations or few processes for pricing and/or cost', 'Inexperienced - Inexperience in pricing project skills and corporate training', 'Lagging - Financial lag indicators (marketing ROI, revenue, profitability, COGs)', 'Lacking - Lack of relevant competitive pricing/packaging information', 'Shifting - Shift to cloud subscription-based revenue models is challenging'.

    The top three weakest product management skills have remained constant over the past five years:
    • Competitive analysis
    • Pricing
    • End of life
    Pricing is the weakest skill and has been declining the most among surveyed product professionals every year. (Adapted from 280 Group, 2022)

    Key considerations for more effective pricing decisions

    Pricing teams can improve software product profitability by:
    • Optimizing software profit with four critical elements: properly pricing your product, giving complete and accurate quotations, choosing the terms of the sale, and selecting the payment method.
    • Implementing tailored price changes (versus across-the-board price actions) to help account for inflation exposure, customer willingness to pay, and product attribute changes.
    • Accelerating ongoing pricing decision-making with a dedicated cross-functional team ready to act quickly.
    • Resetting discounting and promotion, and revisiting service-level agreements.
    Software pricing leaders will regularly assess:

    Has it been over a year since prices were updated?

    Have customers told you to raise your prices?

    Do you have the right mix of customers in each pricing plan?

    Do 40% of your customers say they would be very disappointed if your product disappeared? (Adapted from Growth Ramp, 2021)

    Case Study

    Middleware Vendor

    INDUSTRY
    Technology Middleware
    SOURCE
    SoftwareReviews Custom Pricing Strategy Project
    A large middleware vendor, who is running on Microsoft Azure, known for quality development and website tools, needed to react strategically to the March 2022 Microsoft price increase.

    Key Initiative: Optimize New Pricing Strategy

    The program’s core objective was to determine if the vendor should implement a price increase and how the product should be packaged within the new pricing model.

    For this initiative, the company interviewed buyers using three key questions: What are the core capabilities to focus on building/selling? What are the optimal features and capabilities valued by customers that should be sold together? And should they be charging more for their products?

    Results
    This middleware vendor saw buyer support for a 10% price increase to their product line and restructuring of vertical contract terms. This enabled them to retain customers over multi-year subscription contracts, and the price increase enabled them to protect margins after the Microsoft price increase.

    The Optimize New Pricing Strategy included the following components:

    Components: 'Product Feature Importance & Satisfaction', 'Correlation of Features and Value Drivers', 'Fair Cost to Value Average for Category', 'Average Discounting for Category', 'Customer Value Is an Acceptable Multiple of Price'. First four: 'Component fails into the scope of optimizing price strategy to value'; last one: 'They are optimizing their price strategy decisions'.

    New product price approach

    As a collaborative team across product management, marketing, and finance, we see leaders taking a simple yet well-researched approach when setting product pricing.

    Iterating to a final price point is best done with research into how product pricing:

    • Delivers target margins.
    • Is positioned vs. key competitors.
    • Delivers customer value at a fair price/value ratio.
    To arrive at our new product price, we suggest iterating among 3 different views:

    New Target Price:

    • Buyer Price vs. Value
    • Cost - Plus
    • Vs. Key Competitors
    We analyzed:
    • Customer price/value equation interviews
    • Impacts of Supplier cost increases
    • Competitive pricing research
    • How product pricing delivers target margins

    Who should care about optimized pricing?

    Product managers and marketers who:

    • Support the mandate for optimizing pricing and revenue generation.
    • Need a more scientific way to plan and implement new pricing processes and methods to optimize revenues and profits.
    • Want a way to better apply customer and competitive insights to product pricing.
    • Are evaluating current pricing and cost control to support a refreshed pricing strategy.

    Finance, sales, and marketing professionals who are pricing stakeholders in:

    • Finding alternatives to current pricing and packaging approaches.
    • Looking for ways to optimize price within the shifting market momentum.

    How will they benefit from this research?

    • Refine the ability to effectively target pricing to specific market demands and customer segments.
    • Strengthen product team’s reputation for reliable and repeatable price-management capabilities among senior leadership.
    • Recognize and plan for new revenue opportunities or cost increases.
    • Allow for faster, more accurate intake of customer and competitive data. 
    • Improve pricing skills for professional development and business outcomes.
    • Create new product price, packaging, or market opportunities. 
    • Reduce financial costs and mistakes associated with manual efforts and uneducated guessing.
    • Price software products that better achieve financial goals optimizing revenue, margins, or market share.
    • Enhance the product development and sales processes with real competitive and customer expectations.

    Is Your Pricing Strategy Optimized?

    With the right pricing strategy, you can invest more money into your product, service, or growth. A 1% price increase will improv revenues by:

    Three bars: 'Customer acquisition, 3.32%', 'Customer retention, 6.71%', 'Price monetization, 12.7%'.

    Price monetization will almost double the revenue increases over customer acquisition and retention. (Pricing Strategies, Growth Ramp, March 2022)

    DIAGNOSE PRICE CHALLENGES

    Prices of today's cloud-based services/products are often misaligned against competition and customers' perceived value, leaving more revenues on the table.
    • Do you struggle to price new products with confidence?
    • Do you really know your SaaS product's costs?
    • Have you lost pricing power to stronger competitors?
    • Has cost focus eclipsed customer value focus?
    If so, you are likely skipping steps and missing key outputs in your pricing strategy.

    OPTIMIZE THESE STEPS

    ALIGNMENT
    1. Assign Team Responsibilities
    2. Set Timing for Project Deliverables
    3. Clarify Financial Expectations
    4. Collect Customer Contacts
    5. Determine Competitors
    6. BEFORE RESEARCH, HAVE YOU
      Documented your executive's financial expectations? If "No," return.

    RESEARCH & VALIDATE
    1. Research Competitors
    2. Interview Customers
    3. Test Pricing vs. Financials
    4. Create Pricing Presentation
    5. BEFORE PRESENTING, HAVE YOU:
      Clarified your customer and competitive positioning to validate pricing? If "No," return.

    BUY-IN
    1. Executive Pricing Presentation
    2. Post-Mortem of Presentation
    3. Document New Processes
    4. Monitor the Pricing Changes
    5. BEFORE RESEARCH, HAVE YOU:
      Documented your executive's financial expectations? If "No," return.

    DELIVER KEY OUTPUTS

    Sponsoring executive(s) signs-offs require a well-articulated pricing plan and business case for investment that includes:
    • Competitive features and pricing financial templates
    • Customer validation of price value
    • Optimized price presentation
    • Repeatable pricing processes to monitor changes

    REAP THE REWARDS

    • Product pricing is better aligned to achieve financial goals
    • Improved pricing skills or professional development
    • Stronger team reputation for reliable price management

    Key Insights

    1. Gain a competitive edge by using market and customer information to optimize product financials, refine pricing, and speed up decisions.
    2. Product leaders will best set software product price based on a deep understanding of buyer/price value equation, alignment with financial strategy, and an ongoing ability to monitor buyer, competitor, and product costs.

    SoftwareReviews’ methodology for optimizing your pricing strategy

    Steps

    1.1 Establish the Team and Responsibilities
    1.2 Educate/Align Team on Pricing Strategy
    1.2 Document Portfolio & Target Product(s) for Pricing Updates
    1.3 Clarify Product Target Margins
    1.4 Establish Customer Price/Value
    1.5 Identify Competitive Pricing
    1.6 Establish New Price and Gain Buy-In

    Outcomes

    1. Well-organized project
    2. Clarified product pricing strategy
    3. Customer value vs. price equation
    4. Competitive price points
    5. Approvals

    Insight summary

    Modernize your price planning

    Product leaders will price products based on a deep understanding of the buyer price/value equation and alignment with financial and competitive pricing strategies, and make ongoing adjustments based on an ability to monitor buyer, competitor, and product cost changes.

    Ground pricing against financials

    Meet and align with financial stakeholders.
    • Give finance a heads-up that you want to work with them.
    • Find out the CFO’s expectations for pricing and margins.
    • Ask for a dedicated finance team member.

    Align on pricing strategy

    Lead stakeholders in SaaS product pricing decisions to optimize pricing based on four drivers:
    • Customer’s price/value
    • Competitive strategy
    • Reflective of costs
    • Alignment with financial goals

    Decrease time for approval

    Drive price decisions, with the support of the CFO, to the business value of the suggested change:
    • Reference current product pricing guidelines
    • Compare to the competition and our strategy and weigh results against our customer’s price/value
    • Compare against the equation to business value for the suggested change
    Develop the skill of pricing products

    Increase product revenues and margins by enhancing modern processes and data monetization. Shift from intuitive to information-based pricing decisions.

    Look at other options for revenue

    Adjust product design, features, packaging, and contract terms while maintaining the functionality customers find valuable to their business.

    Blueprint deliverables

    Each step of this blueprint is accompanied by supporting deliverables to help you accomplish your goals:
    Key deliverable:

    New Pricing Strategy Presentation Template

    Capture key findings for your price strategy with the Optimize Your Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Strategy Presentation Template

    Sample of the 'Acme Corp New Product Pricing' blueprint.

    Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Executive Brief

    This executive brief will build your knowledge on how to price new products or adjust pricing for existing products.

    Sample of the 'Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market' blueprint.

    Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Workbook

    This workbook will help you prioritize which products require repricing, hold customer interviews, and capture competitive insights.

    Sample of the 'Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market' workbook.

    Guided Implementation

    A Guided Implementation (GI) is a series of calls with a SoftwareReviews analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization.

    A typical GI is 4 to 8 calls over the course of 2 to 4 months.

    What does a typical GI on optimizing software pricing look like?

    Alignment

    Research & Reprice

    Buy-in

    Call #1: Share the pricing team vision and outline activities for the pricing strategy process. Plan next call – 1 week.

    Call #2: Outline products that require a new pricing approach and steps with finance. Plan next call – 1 week.

    Call #3: Discuss the customer interview process. Plan next call – 1 week.

    Call #4 Outline competitive analysis. Plan next call – 1 week.

    Call #5: Review customer and competitive results for initial new pricing business case with finance for alignment. Plan next call – 3 weeks.

    Call #6: Review the initial business case against financial plans across marketing, sales, and product development. Plan next call – 1 week.

    Call #7 Review the draft executive pricing presentation. Plan next call – 1 week.

    Call #8: Discuss gaps in executive presentation. Plan next call – 3 days.

    SoftwareReviews Offers Various Levels of Support to Meet Your Needs

    Included in Advisory Membership Optional add-ons

    DIY Toolkit

    Guided Implementation

    Workshop

    Consulting

    "Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful." "Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track." "We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place." "Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project."

    Desire a Guided Implementation?

    • A GI is where your SoftwareReviews engagement manager and executive advisor/counselor will work with SoftwareReviews research team members to craft with you a Custom Key Initiative Plan (CKIP).
    • A CKIP guides your team through each of the major steps, outlines responsibilities between members of your team and SoftwareReviews, describes expected outcomes, and captures actual value delivered.
    • A CKIP also provides you and your team with analyst/advisor/counselor feedback on project outputs, helps you communicate key principles and concepts to your team, and helps you stay on project timelines.
    • If Guided Implementation assistance is desired, contact your engagement manager.

    Workshop overview

    Contact your account representative for more information.
    workshops@infotech.com1-888-670-8889
    Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5
    Align Team, Identify Customers, and Document Current Knowledge
    Validate Initial Insights and Identify Competitors and Market View
    Schedule and Hold Buyer Interviews
    Summarize Findings and Provide Actionable Guidance to Stakeholders
    Present, Go Forward, and Measure Impact and Results
    Activities

    1.1 Identify Team Members, roles, and responsibilities

    1.2 Establish timelines and project workflow

    1.3 Gather current product and future financial margin expectations

    1.4 Review the Optimize Software Executive Brief and Workbook Templates

    1.4 Build prioritized pricing candidates hypothesis

    2.1 Identify customer interviewee types by segment, region, etc.

    2.2 Hear from industry analysts their perspectives on the competitors, buyer expectations, and price trends

    2.3 Research competitors for pricing, contract type, and product attributes

    3.2 Review pricing and attributes survey and interview questionnaires

    3.2 Hold interviews and use interview guides (over four weeks)

    A gap of up to 4 weeks for scheduling of interviews.

    3.3 Hold review session after initial 3-4 interviews to make adjustments

    4.1 Review all draft price findings against the market view

    4.2 Review Draft Executive Presentation

    5.1 Review finalized pricing strategy plan with analyst for market view

    5.2 Review for comments on the final implementation plan

    Deliverables
    1. Documented steering committee and working team
    2. Current and initial new pricing targets for strategy
    3. Documented team knowledge
    1. Understanding of market and potential target interviewee types
    2. Objective competitive research
    1. Initial review – “Are we going in the right direction with surveys?”
    2. Validate or adjust the pricing surveys to what you hear in the market
    1. Complete findings and compare to the market
    2. Review and finish drafting the Optimize Software Pricing Strategy presentation
    1. Final impute on strategy
    2. Review of suggested next steps and implementation plan

    Our process

    Align team, perform research, and gain executive buy-in on updated price points

    1. Establish the team and responsibilities
    2. Educate/align team on pricing strategy
    3. Document portfolio & target product(s) for pricing updates
    4. Clarify product target margins
    5. Establish customer price/value
    6. Identify competitive pricing
    7. Establish new price and gain buy-in

    Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market

    Our process will help you deliver the following outcomes:

    • Well-organized project
    • Clarified product pricing strategy
    • Customer value vs. price equation
    • Competitive price points
    • Approvals

    This project involves the following participants:

    • Product management
    • Program leadership
    • Product marketing
    • CFO or finance representative/partner
    • Others
    • Representative(s) from Sales

    1.0 Assign team responsibilities

    Input: Steering committee roles and responsibilities, Steering committee interest and role

    Output: List of new pricing strategy steering committee and workstream members, roles, and timelines, Updated Software Pricing Strategy presentation

    Materials: Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Presentation Template

    Participants: CFO, sponsoring executive, Functional leads – development, product marketing, product management, marketing, sales, customer success/support

    1-2 hours
    1. The product manager/member running this pricing/repricing program should review the entire Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market blueprint and each blueprint attachment.
    2. The product manager should also refer to slide 19 of the Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market blueprint and decide if help via a Guided Implementation (GI) is of value. If desired, alert your SoftwareReviews engagement manager.
    1-2 hours
    1. The product manager should meet with the chief product officer/CPO and functional leaders, and set the meeting agenda to:
      1. Nominate steering committee members.
      2. Nominate work-stream leads.
      3. Establish key pricing project milestones.
      4. Schedule both the steering committee (suggest monthly) and workstream lead meetings (suggest weekly) through the duration of the project.
      5. Ask the CPO to craft, outside this meeting, his/her version of the "Message from the chief product officer.”
      6. If a Guided Implementation is selected, inform the meeting attendees that a SoftwareReviews analyst will join the next meeting to share his/her Executive Brief on Pricing Strategy.
    2. Record all above findings in the Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Presentation Template.

    Download the Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Presentation Template

    SoftwareReviews Advisory Insight:

    Pricing steering committees are needed to steer overall product, pricing, and packaging decisions. Some companies include the CEO and CFO on this committee and designate it as a permanent body that meets monthly to give go/no-go decisions to “all things product and pricing related” across all products and business units.

    2.0 Educate the team

    1 hour

    Input: Typically, a joint recognition that pricing strategies need upgrading and have not been fully documented, Steering committee and working team members

    Output: Communication of team members involved and the makeup of the steering committee and working team, Alignment of team members on a shared vision of “why a new price strategy is critical” and what key attributes define both the need and impact on business

    Materials: Optimize Your Software Strategy Executive Brief PowerPoint presentation

    Participants: Initiative manager – individual leading the new pricing strategy, CFO/sponsoring executive, Working team – typically representatives in product marketing, product management, and sales, SoftwareReviews marketing analyst (optional)

    1. Walk the team through the Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Executive Brief PowerPoint presentation.
    2. Optional – Have the SoftwareReviews Advisory (SRA) analyst walk the team through the Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Executive Brief PowerPoint presentation as part of your session. Contact your engagement manager to schedule.
    3. Walk the team through the current version of the Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Presentation Template outlining project goals, steering committee and workstream make-up and responsibilities, project timeline and key milestones, and approach to arriving at new product pricing.
    4. Set expectations among team members of their specific roles and responsibilities for this project, review the frequency of steering committee and workstream meetings to set expectations of key milestones and deliverable due dates.

    Download the Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Executive Brief

    3.0 Document portfolio and target products for pricing update

    1-3 Hours

    Input: List of entire product portfolio

    Output: Prioritized list of product candidates that should be repriced

    Materials: Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Executive Brief presentation, Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Workbook

    Participants: Initiative manager – individual leading the new pricing strategy, CFO/sponsoring executive, Working team – typically representatives in product marketing, product management, and sales

    1. Walk the team through the current version of Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market workbook, tab 2: “Product Portfolio Organizer.” Modify sample attributes to match your product line where necessary.
    2. As a group, record the product attributes for your entire portfolio.
    3. Prioritize the product price optimization candidates for repricing with the understanding that it might change after meeting with finance.

    Download the Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Workbook

    4.0 Clarify product target margins

    2-3 sessions of 1 Hour each

    Input: Finance partner/CFO knowledge of target product current and future margins, Finance partner/CFO who has information on underlying costs with details that illustrate supplier contributions

    Output: Product finance markup target percentage margins and revenues

    Materials: Finance data on the product family, Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Workbook, Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Presentation Template

    Participants: Initiative manager, Finance partner/CFO

    1. Schedule a meeting with your finance partner/CFO to validate expectations for product margins. The goal is to understand the detail of underlying costs/margins and if the impacts of supplier costs affect the product family. The information will be placed into the Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Workbook on tab 2, Product Portfolio Organizer under the “Unit Margins” heading.
    2. Arrive at a final “Cost-Plus New Price” based on underlying costs and target margins for each of the products. Record results in the Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Workbook, tab 2, under the “Cost-Plus New Price” heading.
    3. Record product target finance markup price under “Cost-Plus” in Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Presentation Template, slide 9, and details in Appendix, “Cost-Plus Analysis,” slide 11.
    4. Repeat this process for any other products to be repriced.

    Download the Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Workbook

    Download the Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Presentation Template

    5.0 Establish customer price to value

    1-4 weeks

    Input: Identify segments within which you require price-to-value information, Understand your persona insight gaps, Review Sample Interview Guide using the Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile, Competitive Market Workbook, Tab 4. Interview Guide.

    Output: List of interviewees, Updated Interview Guide

    Materials: Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Workbook, Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Presentation Template

    Participants: Initiative manager, Customer success to help identify interviewees, Customers, prospects

    1. Identify a list of customers and prospects that best represent your target persona when interviewed. Choose interviewees who will inform key differences among key segments (geographies, company size, a mix of customers and prospects, etc.) and who are decision makers and can best inform insights on price/value and competitors.
    2. Recruit interviewees and schedule 30-minute interviews.
    3. Keep track of interviewees using the Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Workbook, tab 3: “Interviewee Tracking.”
    4. Review the Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Workbook, tab 4: “Interview Guide,” and modify/update it where appropriate.
    5. Record interviewee perspectives on the “price they are willing to pay for the value received” (price/value equation) using the Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Workbook, tab 4: “Interview Guide.”
    6. Summarize findings to result in an average “customer’s value price.” Record product target ”customer’s value price” in Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Presentation Template, slide 9 and supporting details in Appendix, “Customer Pricing Analysis,” slide 12.

    Download the Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Workbook

    Download the Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Presentation Template

    6.0 Identify competitive pricing

    1-2 weeks

    Input: Identify price candidate competitors, Your product pricing, contract type, and product attribute information to compare against, Knowledge of existing competitor information, websites, and technology research sites to guide questions

    Output: Competitive product average pricing

    Materials: Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Workbook, Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Presentation Template

    Participants: Initiative manager, Customers, prospects

    1. Identify the top 3-5 competitors’ products that you most frequently compete against with your selected product.
    2. Perform competitive intelligence research on deals won or lost that contain competitive pricing insights by speaking with your sales force.
    3. Use the interviews with key customers to also inform competitive pricing insights. Include companies which you may have lost to a competitor in your customer interviewee list.
    4. Modify and add key competitive pricing, contract, or product attributes in the Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Workbook, tab 5: “Competitive Information.”
    5. Place your product’s information into the Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Workbook, tab 5: “Competitive Information.”
    6. Research your competitors’ summarized pricing and product attribute insights into the workbook.
    7. Record research in the Summarize research on competitors to arrive at an average “Competitors Avg. Price”. Record in ”Customer’s Value Price” in Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Presentation Template, slide 9, and details in Appendix, “Competitor Pricing Analysis,” slide 13.

    Download the Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Workbook

    Download the Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Presentation Template

    7.0 Establish new price and gain buy-in

    2-3 hours

    Input: Findings from competitive, cost-plus, and customer price/value analysis

    Output: Approvals for price change

    Materials: Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Presentation Template

    Participants: Initiative manager, Steering committee, Working team – typically representatives in product marketing, product management, sales

    1. Using prior recorded findings of Customer’s Value Price, Competitors’ Avg. Price, and Finance Markup Price, arrive at a recommended “New Price” and record in Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Presentation Template, slide 9 and the Appendix for Project Analysis Details.
    2. Present findings to steering committee. Be prepared to show customer interviews and competitive analysis results to support your recommendation.
    3. Plan internal and external communications and discuss the timing of when to “go live” with new pricing. Discuss issues related to migration to a new price, how to handle currently low-priced customers, and how to migrate them over time to the new pricing.
    4. Identify if it makes sense to target a date to launch the new pricing in the future, so customers can be alerted in advance and therefore take advantage of “current pricing” to drive added revenues.
    5. Confer with IT to assess times required to implement within CPQ systems and with product marketing for time to change sales proposals, slide decks, and any other affected assets and systems.

    Download the Optimize Software Pricing in a Volatile Competitive Market Presentation Template

    Summary of Accomplishment

    Problem Solved

    With the help of this blueprint, you have deepened your and your company’s understanding of how to look at new pricing opportunities and what the market and the buyer will pay for your product. You are among the minority of product and marketing leaders that have thoroughly documented their new pricing strategy and processes – congratulations!

    The benefits of having led your team through the process are significant and include the following:

    • Allow for faster, more accurate intake of customer and competitive data 
    • Refine the ability to effectively target pricing to specific market demands and customer segments 
    • Understand the association between the value proposition of products and services
    • Reduce financial costs and mistakes associated with manual efforts & uneducated guessing
    • Recognize and plan for new revenue opportunities or cost increases
    • Create new market or product packaging opportunities
    And finally, by bringing your team along with you in this process, you have also led your team to become more customer-focused while pricing your products – a strategic shift that all organizations should pursue.

    If you would like additional support, contact us and we’ll make sure you get the professional expertise you need.

    Contact your account representative for more information.

    info@softwarereviews.com
    1-888-670-8889

    Bibliography

    “Chapter 4 Reasons for Project Failure.” Kissflow's Guide to Project Management. Kissflow, n.d. Web.

    Edie, Naomi. “Microsoft Is Raising SaaS Prices, and Other Vendors Will, Too.” CIO Dive, 8 December 2021. Web.

    Gruman, Galen, Alan S. Morrison, and Terril A. Retter. “Software Pricing Trends.” PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2018. Web.

    Hargrave, Marshall. “Example of Economic Exposure.” Investopedia, 12 April 2022. Web.

    Heaslip, Emily. “7 Smart Pricing Strategies to Attract Customers.” CO—, 17 November 2021. Web.

    Higgins, Sean. “How to Price a Product That Your Sales Team Can Sell.” HubSpot, 4 April 2022. Web.

    “Pricing Strategies.” Growth Ramp, March 2022. Web.

    “Product Management Skills Benchmark Report 2021.” 280 Group, 9 November 2021. Web.

    Quey, Jason. “Price Increase: How to Do a SaaS Pricing Change in 8 Steps.” Growth Ramp, 22 March 2021. Web.

    Steenburg, Thomas, and Jill Avery. “Marketing Analysis Toolkit: Pricing and Profitability Analysis.” Harvard Business School, 16 July 2010. Web.

    “2021 State of Competitive Intelligence.” Crayon and SCIO, n.d. Web.

    Valchev, Konstantin. “Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) for Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Business.” OpenView Venture Partners, OV Blog, 20 April 2020. Web.

    “What Is Price Elasticity?” Market Business News, n.d. Web.

    Identify Opportunities to Mature the Security Architecture

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    • Parent Category Name: Secure Cloud & Network Architecture
    • Parent Category Link: /secure-cloud-network-architecture
    • Organizations do not have a solid grasp on the complexity of their infrastructure and are unaware of the overall risk to their infrastructure posed by inadequate security.
    • Organizations do not understand how to properly create and deliver value propositions of technical security solutions.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • The security architecture is a living, breathing thing based on the risk profile of your organization.
    • Compliance and risk mitigation create an intertwined relationship between the business and your security architecture. The security architecture roadmap must be regularly assessed and continuously maintained to ensure security controls align with organizational objectives.

    Impact and Result

    • A right-sized security architecture can be created by assessing the complexity of the IT department, the operations currently underway for security, and the perceived value of a security architecture within the organization. This will bring about a deeper understanding of the organizational infrastructure.
    • Developing a security architecture should also result in a list of opportunities (i.e. initiatives) that an organization can integrate into a roadmap. These initiatives will seek to improve security operations and strengthen the IT department’s understanding of security’s role within the organization.
    • A better understanding of the infrastructure will help to save time on determining the correct technologies required from vendors and therefore cut down on the amount of vendor noise.
    • Creating a defensible roadmap will assist with justifying future security spend.

    Identify Opportunities to Mature the Security Architecture Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should develop a right-sized security architecture, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Identify the organization’s ideal security architecture

    Complete three unique assessments to define the ideal security architecture maturity for your organization.

    • Identify Opportunities to Mature the Security Architecture – Phase 1: Identify the Organization's Ideal Security Architecture
    • Security Architecture Recommendation Tool
    • None

    2. Create a security program roadmap

    Use the results of the assessments from Phase 1 of this research to create a roadmap for improving the security program.

    • Identify Opportunities to Mature the Security Architecture – Phase 2: Create a Security Program Roadmap
    [infographic]

    Help Managers Inform, Interact, and Involve on the Way to Team Engagement

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    • Parent Category Name: Employee Development
    • Parent Category Link: /train-and-develop
    • Employee engagement impacts a company’s bottom line as well as the quality of work life for employees.
    • Employee engagement surveys often fail to provide the value you are hoping for because they are treated like an annual project that quickly loses steam.
    • The responsibility for fixing the issues identified falls to HR, and ultimately HR has very little control over an employee’s concerns with their day-to-day role.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • HR and the executive team have been exclusively responsible for engagement for too long. Since managers have the greatest impact on employees, they should also be primarily responsible for employee engagement.
    • In most organizations, managers underestimate the impact they can have on employee engagement, and assume that the broader organization will take more meaningful action.
    • Improving employee engagement may be as simple as improving the frequency and quality of the “3Is”: informing employees about the why behind decisions, interacting with them on a personal level, and involving them in decisions that affect them.

    Impact and Result

    • Managers have the greatest impact on employee engagement as they are in a unique situation to better understand what makes employees tick.
    • If employees have a good relationship with their manager, they are much more likely to be engaged at work which ultimately leads to increases in revenue, profit, and shareholder return.

    Help Managers Inform, Interact, and Involve on the Way to Team Engagement Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Get more involved in analyzing and improving team engagement

    Improve employee engagement and ultimately the organization’s bottom line.

    • Storyboard: Help Managers Inform, Interact, and Involve on the Way to Team Engagement

    2. Gather feedback from employees

    Have a productive engagement feedback discussion with teams.

    • Engagement Feedback Session Agenda Template

    3. Engage teams to improve engagement

    Facilitate effective team engagement action planning.

    • Action Planning Worksheet

    4. Gain insight into what engages and disengages employees

    Solicit employee pain points that could potentially hinder their engagement.

    • Stay Interview Guide

    5. Get to know new hires on a more personal level

    Develop a stronger relationship with employees to drive engagement.

    • New Hire Conversation Guide
    [infographic]

    Master Your Security Incident Response Communications Program

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    • Parent Category Name: Threat Intelligence & Incident Response
    • Parent Category Link: /threat-intelligence-incident-response
    • When a significant security incident is discovered, usually very few details are known for certain. Nevertheless, the organization will need to say something to affected stakeholders.
    • Security incidents tend to be ongoing situations that last considerably longer than other types of crises, making communications a process rather than a one-time event.
    • Effective incident response communications require collaboration from: IT, Legal, PR, and HR – groups that often speak “different languages.”

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • There’s no such thing as successful incident response communications; strive instead for effective communications. There will always be some fallout after a security incident, but it can be effectively mitigated through honesty, transparency, and accountability.
    • Effective external communications begin with effective internal communications. Security Incident Response Team members come from departments that don’t usually work closely with each other. This means they often have different ways of thinking and speaking about issues. Be sure they are familiar with each other before a crisis occurs.
    • You won’t save face by withholding embarrassing details. Lying only makes a bad situation worse, but coming clean and acknowledging shortcomings (and how you’ve fixed them) can go a long way towards restoring stakeholders’ trust.

    Impact and Result

    • Effective and efficient management of security incidents involves a formal process of preparation, detection, analysis, containment, eradication, recovery, and post-incident activities: communications must be integrated into each of these phases.
    • Understand that prior planning helps to take the guesswork out of incident response communications. By preparing for several different types of security incidents, the communications team will get used to working with each other, as well as learning what strategies are and are not effective. Remember, the communications team contains diverse members from various departments, and each may have different ideas about what information is important to release.

    Master Your Security Incident Response Communications Program Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should implement a security incident response communications plan, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Dive into communications planning

    This phase addresses the benefits and challenges of incident response communications and offers advice on how to assemble a communications team and develop a threat escalation protocol.

    • Master Your Security Incident Response Communications Program – Phase 1: Dive Into Communications Planning
    • Security Incident Management Plan

    2. Develop your communications plan

    This phase focuses on creating an internal and external communications plan, managing incident fallout, and conducting a post-incident review.

    • Master Your Security Incident Response Communications Program – Phase 2: Develop Your Communications Plan
    • Security Incident Response Interdepartmental Communications Template
    • Security Incident Communications Policy Template
    • Security Incident Communications Guidelines and Templates
    • Security Incident Metrics Tool
    • Tabletop Exercises Package
    [infographic]

    Stakeholder Relations

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    • Parent Category Name: Strategy and Governance
    • Parent Category Link: /strategy-and-governance

    The challenge

    • Stakeholders come in a wide variety, often with competing and conflicting demands.
    • Some stakeholders are hard to identify. Those hidden agendas may derail your efforts.
    • Understanding your stakeholders' relative importance allows you to prioritize your IT agenda according to the business needs.

    Our advice

    Insight

    • Stakeholder management is an essential factor in how successful you will be.
    • Stakeholder management is a continuous process. The landscape constantly shifts.
    • You must also update your stakeholder management plan and approach on an ongoing basis.

    Impact and results 

    • Use your stakeholder management process to identify, prioritize, and manage key stakeholders effectively.
    • Continue to build on strengthening your relationships with stakeholders. It will help to gain easier buy-in and support for your future initiatives. 

    The roadmap

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    Make the case

    Identify stakeholders

    • Stakeholder Management Analysis Tool (xls)

    Analyze your stakeholders

    Assess the stakeholder's influence, interest, standing, and support to determine priority for future actions 

    Manage your stakeholders

    Develop your stakeholder management and communication plans

    • Stakeholder Management Plan Template (doc)
    • Communication Plan Template (doc)

    Monitor your stakeholder management plan performance

    Measure and monitor the success of your stakeholder management process.

     

     

    Understand the Data and Analytics Landscape

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    • Parent Category Name: Data Management
    • Parent Category Link: /data-management
    • The data and analytics landscape comprises many disciplines and components; organizations may find themselves unsure of where to start or what data topic or area they should be addressing.
    • Organizations want to better understand the components of the data and analytics landscape and how they are connected.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • This deck will provide a base understanding of the core data disciplines and will point to the various Info-Tech blueprints that dive deeper into each of the areas.

    Impact and Result

    • This deck will provide a base understanding of the core disciplines of the data and analytics landscape and will point to the various Info-Tech blueprints that dive deeper into each of the areas.

    Understand the Data and Analytics Landscape Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Understand the data and analytics landscape

    Get an overview of the core disciplines of the data and analytics landscape.

    • Understand the Data and Analytics Landscape Storyboard

    Infographic

    Create a Game Plan to Implement Cloud Backup the Right Way

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    • Parent Category Name: Storage & Backup Optimization
    • Parent Category Link: /storage-and-backup-optimization
    • Cloud adoption is frequently driven by hype rather than careful consideration of the best-fit solution.
    • IT is frequently rushed into cloud adoption without appropriate planning.
    • Organizations frequently lack appropriate strategies to deal with cloud-specific backup challenges.
    • Insufficient planning for cloud backup can exacerbate problems rather than solving them, leading to poor estimates of the cost and effort involved, budget overruns, and failure to meet requirements.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • The cloud isn’t a magic bullet, but it tends to deliver the most value to organizations with specific use cases – frequently smaller organizations who are looking to avoid the cost of building or upgrading a data center.
    • Cloud backup does not necessarily reduce backup costs so much as it moves them around. Cloud backup distributes costs over a longer term. Organizations need to compare the difference in CAPEX and OPEX to determine if making the move makes financial sense.
    • The cloud can deliver a great deal of value for organizations who are looking to reduce the operational effort demanded by an existing tape library for second- or third-tier backups.
    • Data security risks in some cases may be overstated, depending on what on-premises security is available. However, targeting backup to the cloud introduces other risks that need to be considered before implementation is given the green light.

    Impact and Result

    • Understand if cloud backup is the right solution for actual organizational needs.
    • Make an informed decision about targeting backup to the cloud by considering the big picture TCO and effort level involved in adoption.
    • Have a ready strategy to mitigate the most common challenges with cloud adoption projects.
    • Develop a roadmap that lays out the required step-by-step to implement cloud backup.

    Create a Game Plan to Implement Cloud Backup the Right Way Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Understand the benefits and risks of targeting backups to the cloud

    Build a plan to mitigate the risks associated with backing data up in the cloud.

    • Storyboard: Create a Game Plan to Implement Cloud Backup the Right Way

    2. Determine if the cloud can meet the organization's data requirements

    Assess if the cloud is a good fit for your organization’s backup data.

    • Cloud Backup Implementation Game Plan Tool

    3. Mitigate the Challenges of Backing Up to the Cloud

    Build a cloud challenge contingency plan.

    4. Build a Cloud Backup Implementation Roadmap

    Perform a gap analysis to determine cloud backup implementation initiatives.

    Infographic

    Workshop: Create a Game Plan to Implement Cloud Backup the Right Way

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Evaluate the business case for targeting backup at the cloud

    The Purpose

    Understand how cloud backup will affect backup and recovery processes

    Determine backup and recovery objectives

    Assess the value proposition of cloud backup

    Key Benefits Achieved

    A high-level understanding of the benefits of moving to cloud backup

    A best-fit analysis of cloud backup in comparison to organizational needs

    Activities

    1.1 Document stakeholder goals for cloud backup

    1.2 Document present backup processes

    1.3 Document ideal backup processes

    1.4 Review typical benefits of cloud backup

    Outputs

    Documented stakeholder goals

    Current backup process diagrams

    Ideal backup process diagram

    2 Identify candidate data sets and assess opportunities and readiness

    The Purpose

    Identify candidate data sets for cloud-based backup

    Determine RPOs and RTOs for candidate data sets

    Identify potential value specific to each data set for targeting backup at the cloud

    Evaluate organizational readiness for targeting backup at the cloud

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Documented recovery objectives

    Recommendations for cloud backup based on actual organizational needs and readiness

    Activities

    2.1 Document candidate data sets

    2.2 Determine recovery point and recovery time objectives for candidate data sets

    2.3 Identify potential value of cloud-based backup for candidate data sets

    2.4 Discuss the risk and value of cloud-based backup versus an on-premises solution

    2.5 Evaluate organizational readiness for cloud backup

    2.6 Identify data sets to move to the cloud

    Outputs

    Validated list of candidate data sets

    Specific RPOs and RTOs for core data sets

    An assessment of the value of cloud backup for data sets

    A tool-based recommendation for moving backups to the cloud

    3 Mitigate the challenges of backing up to the cloud

    The Purpose

    Understand different cloud provider models and their specific risks

    Identification of how cloud backup will affect IT infrastructure and personnel

    Strategize ways to mitigate the most common challenges of implementing cloud backup

    Understand the client/vendor relationship in cloud backup

    Understand the affect of cloud backup on data security

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Verified best-fit cloud provider model for organizational needs

    Verified strategy for meeting the most common challenges for cloud-based backup

    A strong understanding of how cloud backup will change IT

    Strategies for approaching vendors to ensure a strong footing in negotiations and clear expectations for the client/vendor relationship

    Activities

    3.1 Discuss the impact of cloud backup on infrastructure and IT environment

    3.2 Create a cloud backup risk contingency plan

    3.3 Document compliance and security regulations

    3.4 Identify client and vendor responsibilities for cloud backup

    3.5 Discuss and document the impact of cloud backup on IT roles and responsibilities

    3.6 Compile a list of implementation intiatives

    3.7 Evaluate the financial case for cloud backup

    Outputs

    Cloud risk assessment

    Documented contingency strategies for probabe risks

    Negotiation strategies for dealing with vendors

    A committed go/no-go decision on the value of cloud backup weighted against the effort of implementation

    4 Build a cloud backup implementation roadmap

    The Purpose

    Create a road map for implementing cloud backup

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Determine any remaining gaps between the present state and the ideal state for cloud backup

    Understand the steps and time frame for implementing cloud backup

    Allocate roles and responsibilities for the implementation intitiative

    A validated implementation road map

    Activities

    4.1 Perform a gap analysis to generate a list of implementation intiatives

    4.2 Prioritize cloud backup initiatives

    4.3 Assess risks and dependencies for critical implementation initiatives

    4.4 Assign ownership over implementation tasks

    4.5 Determine road map time frame and structure

    4.6 Populate the roadmap with cloud backup initiatives

    Outputs

    A validated gap analysis

    A prioritized list of cloud backup initiatives

    Documented dependencies and risks associated with implementation tasks

    A roadmap for targeting backups at the cloud

    The First 100 Days as CISO

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    • member rating average dollars saved: 50 Average Days Saved
    • member rating average days saved: After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real-time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve.
    • Parent Category Name: Security Strategy & Budgeting
    • Parent Category Link: /security-strategy-and-budgeting
    • Make a good first impression at your new job.
    • Obtain guidance on how you should approach the first 100 days.
    • Assess the current state of the security program and recommend areas of improvement and possible solutions.
    • Develop a high-level security strategy in three months.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Every CISO needs to follow Info-Tech’s five-step approach to truly succeed in their new position. The meaning and expectations of a CISO role will differ from organization to organization and person to person, however, the approach to the new position will be relatively the same.
    • Eighty percent of your time will be spent listening. The first 100 days of the CISO role is an information gathering exercise that will involve several conversations with different stakeholders and business divisions. Leverage this collaborative time to understand the business, its internal and external operations, and its people. Unequivocally, active listening will build company trust and help you to build an information security vision that reflects that of the business strategy.
    • Start “working” before you actually start the job. This involves finding out as much information about the company before officially being an employee. Investigate the company website and leverage available organizational documents and initial discussions to better understand your employer’s leadership, company culture ,and business model.

    Impact and Result

    • Hit the ground running with Info-Tech’s ready-made agenda vetted by CISO professionals to impress your colleagues and superiors.
    • Gather details needed to understand the organization (i.e. people, process, technology) and determine the current state of the security program.
    • Track and assess high-level security gaps using Info-Tech’s diagnostic tools and compare yourself to your industry’s vertical using benchmarking data.
    • Deliver an executive presentation that shows key findings obtained from your security evaluation.

    The First 100 Days as CISO Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why the first 100 days of being a CISO is a crucial time to be strategic. Review Info-Tech’s methodology and discover our five-step approach to CISO success.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Prepare

    Review previous communications to prepare for your first day.

    • CISO Diary
    • Introduction Sheet

    2. Build relationships

    Understand how the business operates and develop meaningful relationships with your sphere of influence.

    3. Inventory components of the business

    Inventory company assets to know what to protect.

    4. Assess security posture

    Evaluate the security posture of the organization by leveraging Info-Tech’s IT Security diagnostic program.

    • Diagnostic Benchmarks: Security Governance & Management Scorecard
    • Diagnostic Benchmarks: Security Business Satisfaction Report

    5. Deliver plan

    Communicate your security vision to business stakeholders.

    • The First 100 Days as CISO Executive Presentation Template
    • The First 100 Days as CISO Executive Presentation Example
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    Corporate security consultancy

    Corporate security consultancy

    Based on experience
    Implementable advice
    human-based and people-oriented

    Engage our corporate security consultancy firm to discover any weaknesses within your company’s security management. Tymans Group has extensive expertise in helping small and medium businesses set up clear security protocols to safeguard their data and IT infrastructure. Read on to discover how our consulting firm can help improve corporate security within your company.

    Why should you hire a corporate security consultancy company?

    These days, corporate security includes much more than just regulating access to your physical location, be it an office or a store. Corporate security increasingly deals in information and data security, as well as general corporate governance and responsibility. Proper security protocols not only protect your business from harm, but also play an important factor in your overall success. As such, corporate security is all about setting up practical and effective strategies to protect your company from harm, regardless of whether the threat comes from within or outside. As such, hiring a security consulting firm to improve corporate security and security management within your company is not an unnecessary luxury, but a must.

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    Embed security thinking through aligning your security strategy to business goals and values

    Read more

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    Create a disaster recovey plan that is right for your company

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    Build your right-sized IT Risk Management Program

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    Improve your corporate security with help from our consulting company

    As a consultancy firm, Tymans Group can help your business to identify possible threats and help set up strategies to avoid them. However, as not all threats can be avoided, our corporate security consultancy firm also helps you set up protocols to mitigate and manage them, as well as help you develop effective incident management protocols. All solutions are practical, people-oriented and based on our extensive experience and thus have proven effectiveness.

    Hire our experienced consultancy firm

    Engage the services of our consulting company to improve corporate security within your small or medium business. Contact us to set up an appointment on-site or book a one-hour talk with expert Gert Taeymans to discuss any security issues you may be facing. We are happy to offer you a custom solution.

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    Data and Analytics Trends 2023

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    Data is a unique resource that keeps growing, presenting opportunities along the way. CIOs and IT leaders can use rapidly evolving technologies and capabilities to harness this data and its value for the organization.

    IT leaders must prepare their teams and operations with the right knowledge, capabilities, and strategies to make sure they remain competitive in 2023 and beyond. Nine trends that expand on the three common Vs of data – volume, velocity, and variety – can help guide the way.

    Focus on trends that align with your opportunities and challenges

    The path to becoming more competitive in a data-driven economy differs from one company to the next. IT leaders should use the data and analytics trends that align most with their organizational goals and can lead to positive business outcomes.

    1. Prioritize your investments: Conduct market analysis and prioritize the data and analytics investments that will be critical to your business.
    2. Build a robust strategy: Identify a clear path between your data vision and business outcomes to build a strategy that’s a good fit for your organization.
    3. Inspire practical innovation: Follow a pragmatic approach to implementing trends that range from data gravity and democratization to data monetization and augmented analytics.

    Data and Analytics Trends 2023 Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Data and Analytics Trends Report 2023 – A report that explores nine data use cases for emerging technologies that can improve on capabilities needed to compete in the data-driven economy.

    Data technologies are rapidly evolving. Understanding data's art of the possible is critical. However, to adapt to these upcoming data trends, a solid data management foundation is required. This report explores nine data trends based on the proven framework of data V's: Volume, Velocity, Variety, Veracity, Value, Virtue, Visualization, Virality, and Viscosity.

    • Data and Analytics Trends Report 2023
    [infographic]

    Further reading

    Data and Analytics Trends Report 2023

    SOONER OR LATER, YOU WILL BE IN THE DATA BUSINESS!

    Nine Data Trends for 2023

    In this report, we explore nine data use cases for emerging technologies that can improve on capabilities needed to compete in the data-driven economy. Use cases combine emerging data trends and modernization of existing capabilities.

    1. VOLUME
      • Data Gravity
    2. VELOCITY
    • Democratizing Real-Time Data
  • VARIETY
    • Augmented Data Management
  • VERACITY
    • Identity Authenticity
  • VALUE
    • Data Monetization
  • VIRTUE
    • Adaptive Data Governance
  • VISUALIZATION
    • AI-Driven Storytelling & Augmented Analytics
  • VIRALITY
    • Data Marketplace
  • VISCOSITY
    • DevOps – DataOps – XOps

    VOLUME

    Data Gravity

    Trend 01 Demand for storage and bandwidth continues to grow

    When organizations begin to prioritize data, they first consider the sheer volume of data, which will influence data system design. Your data systems must consider the existing and growing volume of data by assessing industry initiatives such as digital transformation, Industry 4.0, IoT, consumer digital footprint, etc.

    The largest data center in the world is a citadel in Reno, Nevada, that stretches over 7.2 million square feet!

    Source: Cloudwards, 2022

    IoT devices will generate 79.4 zettabytes of data
    by 2025.

    Source: IDC, 2019

    There were about 97
    zettabytes of data generated worldwide in 2022.

    Source: “Volume of Data,” Statista, 2022

    VOLUME

    Data Gravity

    Data attracts more data and an ecosystem of applications and services

    SharePoint, OneDrive, Google Drive, and Dropbox offer APIs and integration opportunities for developers to enhance their products.

    Social media platforms thought about this early by allowing for an ecosystem of filters, apps, games, and effects that engage their users with little to no additional effort from internal resources.

    The image contains four logos. SharePoint, OneDrive, Google Drive, and Dropbox.

    VOLUME

    Data Gravity

    Focus on data gravity and avoid cloud repatriation

    Data gravity is the tendency of data to attract applications, services, and other data. A growing number of cloud migration decisions will be made based on the data gravity concept. It will become increasingly important in data strategies, with failure potentially resulting in costly cloud repatriations.

    Emerging technologies and capabilities:

    Data Lakehouse, Data Mesh, Data Fabric, Hybrid Data, Cloud Data, Edge Computing

    47%

    Centralized cloud storage going down in 2 years

    22%
    25%

    Hybrid storage (centralized + edge) going up in 2 years

    47%

    Source: CIO, 2022

    VOLUME

    Data Gravity

    What worked for terabytes is ineffective for petabytes

    When compared to on-premises infrastructure, cloud computing is less expensive and easier to implement. However, poor data replication and data gravity can significantly increase cloud costs to the point of failure. Data gravity will help organizations make better cloud migration decisions.

    It is also critical to recognize changes in the industry landscape. The goal of data processing and analytics is to generate the right data for users to act on. In most cases, the user is a human being, but in the case of autonomous driving (AD), the car takes on the role of the user (DXC Technology).

    To avoid cloud repatriation, it will become prudent for all organizations to consider data gravity and the timing of cloud migration.

    The image contains a diagram on data gravity.

    VELOCITY

    Democratizing Real-Time Data

    Trend 02 Real-time analytics presents an important differentiator

    The velocity element of data can be assessed from two standpoints: the speed at which data is being generated and how fast the organization needs to respond to the incoming information through capture, analysis, and use. Traditionally data was processed in a batch format (all at once or in incremental nightly data loads). There is a growing demand to process data continuously using streaming data-processing techniques.

    Emerging technologies and capabilities:

    Edge Computing

    Google announced it has a quantum computer that is 100 million times faster than any classical computer in its lab.

    Source: Science Alert, 2015

    The number of qubits in quantum computers has been increasing dramatically, from 2 qubits in 1998 to 128 qubits in 2019.

    Source: Statista, 2019

    IBM released a 433-qubit quantum chip named Osprey in 2022 and expects to surpass 1,000 qubits with its next chip, Condor, in 2023.

    Source: Nature, 2023

    VELOCITY

    Democratizing Real-Time Data

    Make data accessible to everyone in real time

    • 90% of an organization’s data is replicated or redundant.
    • Build API and web services that allow for live access to data.
    • Most social media platforms, like Twitter and Facebook, have APIs that offer access to incredible amounts of data and insights.

    VELOCITY

    Democratizing Real-Time Data

    Trend in Data Velocity

    Data democratization means data is widely accessible to all stakeholders without bottlenecks or barriers. Success in data democratization comes with ubiquitous real-time analytics. Google highlights a need to address democratization in two different frames:

    1. Democratizing stream analytics for all businesses to ensure real-time data at the company level.
    2. Democratizing stream analytics for all personas and the ability of all users to generate real-time insights.

    Emerging technologies and capabilities:

    Data Lakehouse, Streaming API Ecosystem, Industry 4.0, Zero-Copy Cloning

    Nearly 70% of all new vehicles globally will be connected to the internet by 2023.

    Source: “Connected light-duty vehicles,” Statista, 2022

    VELOCITY

    Democratizing Real-Time Data

    Enable real-time processing with API

    In the past, data democratization has largely translated into a free data set and open data portals. This has allowed the government to freely share data with the public. Also, the data science community has embraced the availability of large data sets such as weather data, stock data, etc. In the future, more focus will be on the combination of IoT and steaming analytics, which will provide better responsiveness and agility.

    Many researchers, media companies, and organizations now have easy access to the Twitter/Facebook API platform to study various aspects of human behavior and sentiments. Large technology companies have already democratized their data using real-time APIs.

    Thousands of sources for open data are available at your local municipalities alone.

    6G will push Wi-Fi connectivity to 1 terabyte per second! This is expected to become commercially available by 2030.

    VARIETY

    Augmented Data Management

    Trend 03 Need to manage unstructured data

    The variety of data types is increasingly diverse. Structured data often comes from relational databases, while unstructured data comes from several sources such as photos, video, text documents, cell phones, etc. The variety of data is where technology can drive business value. However, unstructured data also poses a risk, especially for external data.

    The number of IoT devices could rise to 30.9 billion by 2025.

    Source: “IoT and Non-IoT Connections Worldwide,” Statista, 2022

    The global edge computing market is expected to reach $250.6 billion by 2024.

    Source: “Edge Computing,” Statista, 2022

    Genomics research is expected to generate between 2 and 40 exabytes of data within the next decade.

    Source: NIH, 2022

    VARIETY

    Augmented Data Management

    Employ AI to automate data management

    New tools will enhance many aspects of data management:

    • Data preparation, integration, cataloging, and quality
    • Metadata management
    • Master data management

    Enabling AI-assisted decision-making tools

    The image contains logos of the AI-assisted decision-making tools. Informatica, collibra, OCTOPAI.

    VARIETY

    Augmented Data Management

    Trend in Data Variety

    Augmented data management will enhance or automate data management capabilities by leveraging AI and related advanced techniques. It is quite possible to leverage existing data management tools and techniques, but most experts have recognized that more work and advanced patterns are needed to solve many complex data problems.

    Emerging technologies and capabilities:

    Data Factory, Data Mesh, Data Fabric, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning

    VARIETY

    Augmented Data Management

    Data Fabric vs. Data Mesh: The Data Journey continues at an accelerated pace

    Data Fabric

    Data Mesh

    Data fabric is an architecture that facilitates the end-to-end integration of various data pipelines and cloud environments using intelligent and automated systems. It’s a data integration pattern to unify disparate data systems, embed governance, strengthen security and privacy measures, and provide more data accessibility to workers and particularly to business users.

    The data mesh architecture is an approach that aligns data sources by business domains, or functions, with data owners. With data ownership decentralization, data owners can create data products for their respective domains, meaning data consumers, both data scientists and business users, can use a combination of these data products for data analytics and data science.

    More Unstructured Data

    95% of businesses cite the need to manage unstructured data as a problem for their business.

    VERACITY

    Identity Authenticity

    Trend 04 Veracity of data is a true test of your data capabilities

    Data veracity is defined as the accuracy or truthfulness of a data set. More and more data is created in semi-structured and unstructured formats and originates from largely uncontrolled sources (e.g. social media platforms, external sources). The reliability and quality of the data being integrated should be a top concern. The veracity of data is imperative when looking to use data for predictive purposes. For example, energy companies rely heavily on weather patterns to optimize their service outputs, but weather patterns have an element of unpredictability.

    Data quality affects overall labor productivity by as much as 20%, and 30% of operating expenses are due to insufficient data.

    Source: Pragmatic Works, 2017

    Bad data costs up to
    15% to 25% of revenue.

    Source: MIT Sloan Management Review, 2017

    VERACITY

    Identity Authenticity

    Veracity of data is a true test of your data capabilities

    • Stop creating your own identity architectures and instead integrate a tried-and-true platform.
    • Aim for a single source of truth for digital identity.
    • Establish data governance that can withstand scrutiny.
    • Imagine a day in the future where verified accounts on social media platforms are available.
    • Zero-trust architecture should be used.

    VERACITY

    Identity Authenticity

    Trend in Data Veracity

    Veracity is a concept deeply linked to identity. As the value of the data increases, a greater degree of veracity is required: We must provide more proof to open a bank account than to make friends on Facebook. As a result, there is more trust in bank data than in Facebook data. There is also a growing need to protect marginalized communities.

    Emerging technologies and capabilities:

    Zero Trust, Blockchain, Data Governance, IoT, Cybersecurity

    The image contains a screenshot of Info-Tech's blueprint slide on Zero Trust.

    VERACITY

    Identity Authenticity

    The identity discussion is no longer limited to people or organizations. The development of new technologies, such as the IoT phenomenon, will lead to an explosion of objects, from refrigerators to shipping containers, coming online as well. If all these entities start communicating with each other, standards will be needed to establish who or what they are.

    IDENTITY
    IS

    Age

    Gender

    Address

    Fingerprint

    Face

    Voice

    Irises

    IDENTITY
    KNOWS

    Password

    Passphrase

    PIN

    Sequence

    IDENTITY
    HAS

    Access badge

    Smartcard

    Security token

    Mobile phone

    ID document

    IDENTITY
    DOES

    Motor skills

    Handwriting

    Gestures

    Keystrokes

    Applications use

    The IoT market is expected to grow 18% to 14.4 billion in 2022 and 27 billion by 2025.

    Source: IoT Analytics, 2022

    VALUE

    Data Monetization

    Trend 05 Not Many organization know the true value of their data

    Data can be valuable if used effectively or dangerous if mishandled. The rise of the data economy has created significant opportunities but also has its challenges. It has become urgent to understand the value of data, which may vary for stakeholders based on their business model and strategy. Organizations first need to understand ownership of their data by establishing a data strategy, then they must improve data maturity by developing a deeper understanding of data value.

    94% of enterprises say data is essential to business growth.

    Source: Find stack, 2021

    VALUE

    Data Monetization

    Start developing your data business

    • Blockbuster ran its business well, but Netflix transformed the video rental industry overnight!
    • Big players with data are catching up fast.
    • You don’t have to be a giant to monetize data.
    • Data monetization is probably closer than you think.
    • You simply need to find it, catalog it, and deliver it.

    The image contains logos of companies related to data monetization as described in the text above. The companies are Amazon Prime, Netflix, Disney Plus, Blockbuster, and Apple TV.

    VALUE

    Data Monetization

    Trend in Data Value

    Data monetization is the transformation of data into financial value. However, this does not imply selling data alone. Monetary value is produced by using data to improve and upgrade existing and new products and services. Data monetization demands an organization-wide strategy for value development.

    Emerging technologies and capabilities:

    Data Strategy, Data Monetization Strategy, Data Products

    Netflix uses big data to save $1 billion per year on customer retention.

    Source: Logidots, 2021

    VALUE

    Data Monetization

    Data is a strategic asset

    Data is beyond currency, assets, or commodities and needs to be a category
    of its own.

    • Data always outlives people, processes, and technology. They all come and go while data remains.
    • Oil is a limited resource. Data is not. Unlike oil, data is likely to grow over time.
    • Data is likely to outlast all other current popular financial instruments, including currency, assets, or commodities.
    • Data is used internally and externally and can easily be replicated or combined.

    Data monetization is currently in the speculative territory, which is unacceptable. It should instead be guided by sound data management theory.

    VIRTUE

    Adaptive Data Governance

    Trend 06 Five Core Virtues: Resilience, Humility, Grit, Liberal Education, Empathy (Forbes, 2020)

    We have become more and more dependent on data, analytics, and organizational protection policies. Data virtue is about leveraging data securely and ethically. This topic has become more critical with the advent of GDPR, the right to be forgotten, and related regulations. Data governance, which seeks to establish an oversight framework that manages the creation, acquisition, integrity, security, compliance, and quality of data, is essential for any organization that makes decisions about data.

    Cultural obstacles are the greatest barrier to becoming data-driven, according to 91.9% of executives.

    Source: Harvard Business Review, 2022

    Fifty million Facebook profiles were harvested for Cambridge Analytica in a major data breach.

    Source: The Guardian, 2018

    VIRTUE

    Adaptive Data Governance

    Encourage noninvasive and automated data governance

    • Data governance affects the entire organization, not just data.
    • The old model for data governance was slow and clumsy.
    • Adaptive data governance encourages faster decision making and a more collaborative approach to governance.
    • Agile data governance allows for faster and more flexible decision making.
    • Automated data governance will simplify execution across the organization.
    • It is great for compliance, quality, impact tracking, and cross-referencing and offers independence to data users.

    VIRTUE

    Adaptive Data Governance

    Trend in Data Virtue

    Adaptive data governance encourages a flexible approach that allows an organization to employ multiple data governance strategies depending on changing business situations. The other aspect of adaptive data governance is moving away from manual (and often slow) data governance and toward aggressive automation.

    Emerging technologies and capabilities:

    AI-Powered Data Catalog and Metadata Management,
    Automated Data Policy Enforcement

    “To effectively meet the needs and velocity of digital organizations and modern practices, IT governance must be embedded and automated where possible to drive success and value.”

    Source: Valence Howden, Info-Tech Research Group

    “Research reveals that the combination of AI and big data technologies can automate almost 80% of all physical work, 70% of data processing, and 64% of data collection tasks.”

    Source: Forbes, 2021

    VIRTUE

    Data Governance Automation

    Simple and easy Data Governance

    Tools are not the ultimate answer to implementing data governance. You will still need to secure stakeholders' buy-in and engagement in the data process. Data governance automation should be about simplifying the execution of roles and responsibilities.

    “When you can see where your data governance strategy can be improved, it’s time to put in place automation that help to streamline processes.”

    Source: Nintex, 2021

    VISUALIZATION

    AI-Driven Storytelling & Augmented Analytics

    Trend 07 Automated and augmented data storytelling is not that far away

    Today, data storytelling is led by the user. It’s the manual practice of combining narrative with data to deliver insights in a compelling form to assist decision makers in engaging with data and analytics. A story backed by data is more easily consumed and understood than a dashboard, which can be overwhelming. However, manual data storytelling has some major shortcomings.

    Problem # 1: Telling stories on more than just the insights noticed by people

    Problem # 2: Poor data literacy and the limitations of manual self-service

    Problem # 3: Scaling data storytelling across the business

    VISUALIZATION

    AI-Driven Storytelling & Augmented Analytics

    Use AI to enhance data storytelling

    • Tableau, Power BI, and many other applications already use
      AI-driven analytics.
    • Power BI and SharePoint can use AI to generate visuals for any SharePoint list in a matter of seconds.

    VISUALIZATION

    AI-Driven Storytelling & Augmented Analytics

    Trend in Data Visualization

    AI and natural language processing will drive future visualization and data storytelling. These tools and techniques are improving rapidly and are now designed in a streamlined way to guide people in understanding what their data means and how to act on it instead of expecting them to do self-service analysis with dashboards and charts and know what to do next. Ultimately, being able to understand how to translate emotion, tropes, personal interpretation, and experience and how to tell what’s most relevant to each user is the next frontier for augmented and automated analytics

    Emerging technologies and capabilities:

    AI-Powered Data Catalog and Metadata Management,
    Automated Data Policy Enforcement

    VISUALIZATION

    Data Storytelling

    Augmented data storytelling is not that far away

    Emotions are a cornerstone of human intelligence and decision making. Mastering the art of storytelling is not easy.

    Industry experts predict the combination of data storytelling with augmented and automated techniques; these capabilities are more than capable of generating and automating parts of a data story’s creation for end users.

    The next challenge for AI is translating emotion, tropes, personal interpretation, and experience into what is most essential to end users.

    Source: Yellowfin, 2021

    VIRALITY

    Data Marketplace

    Trend 08 Missing data marketplace

    Data virality measures data spread and popularity. However, for data virality to occur, an ecosystem comparable to that of traditional or modern digital marketplaces is required. Organizations must reevaluate their data strategies to ensure investment in appropriate data domains by understanding data virality. Data virality is the exact opposite of dark data.

    Dark data is “all the information companies collect in their regular business processes, don’t use, have no plans to use, but will never throw out.”

    Source: Forbes, 2019

    VIRALITY

    Data Marketplace

    Make data easily accessible

    • Making data accessible to a broader audience is the key to successful virality.
    • Data marketplaces provide a location for you to make your data public.
    • Why do this? Contributing to public data marketplaces builds credibility, just like contributing to public GitHub projects.
    • Big players like Microsoft, Amazon, and Snowflake already do this!
    • Snowflake introduced zero-copy cloning, which allows users to interact with source data without compromising the integrity of the original source.

    The image contains the logos of Microsoft, Amazon, and Snowflake.

    VIRALITY

    Data Marketplace

    Trend in Data Virality

    The data marketplace can be defined as a dynamic marketplace where users decide what has the most value. Companies can gauge which data is most popular based on usage and decide where to invest. Users can shop for data products within the marketplace and then join these products with other ones they’ve created to launch truly powerful data-driven projects.

    Emerging technologies and capabilities:

    AI-Powered Data Catalog and Metadata Management,
    Automated Data Policy Enforcement

    The image contains a screenshot of Info-Tech's Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) Framework.

    “Data is like garbage. You’d better know what you are going to do with it before you collect it.”

    – Mark Twain

    VIRALITY

    Data Marketplace

    Journey from siloed data platforms to dynamic data marketplaces

    Data remains a complex topic due to many missing foundational components and infrastructure. Interoperability, security, quality, discoverability, speed, and ease are some of those missing foundational components that most organizations face daily.

    Data lacks an ecosystem that is comparable to those of traditional assets or commodities. Data must be available in open or closed data marketplaces to measure its value. These data marketplaces are still in their infancy.

    “Data markets are an important component of the data economy that could unleash the full potential of data generated by the digital economy and human activity in general.”

    Source: ITU Journal, 2018

    VISCOSITY

    DevOps – DataOps – XOps

    Trend 09 Increase efficiency by removing bottlenecks

    Compared to water, a fluid with a high viscosity flows more slowly, like honey. Data viscosity measures the resistance to flow in a volume of data. The data resistance may come from other Vs (variety, velocity, etc.).

    VISCOSITY

    DevOps – DataOps – XOps

    Increase efficiency by removing bottlenecks

    Consider XOps for a second. It makes no difference what X is. What's important is matching operational requirements to enterprise capabilities.

    • For example, Operations must meet the demands of Sales – hence SalesOps
      or S&Op.
    • Development resources must meet the demands of Operations – hence DevOps.
    • Finally, Data must also meet the demand of Operations.

    These Operations guys are demanding!!

    VISCOSITY

    DevOps – DataOps – XOps

    Trend in Data Viscosity

    The merger of development (Dev) and IT Operations (Ops) started in software development with the concept of DevOps. Since then, new Ops terms have formed rapidly (AIOps, MLOps, ModelOps, PlatformOps, SalesOps, SecOps, etc.). All these methodologies come from Lean manufacturing principles, which seek to identify waste by focusing on eliminating errors, cycle time, collaboration, and measurement. Buzzwords are distractions, and the focus must be on the underlying goals and principles. XOps goals should include the elimination of errors and improving efficiencies.

    Emerging technologies and capabilities:

    Collaborative Data Management, Automation Tools

    VISCOSITY

    DataOps → Data Observability

    Data observability, a subcomponent of DataOps, is a set of technical practices, cultural norms, and architecture that enables low error rates. Data observability focuses on error rates instead of only measuring data quality at a single point in time.

    Data Quality Dimensions

    • Uniqueness
    • Timeliness
    • Validity
    • Accuracy
    • Consistency

    ERROR RATES

    Lateness: Missing Your SLA

    System Processing Issues

    Code Change That Broke Something

    Data Quality

    What’s next? Go beyond the buzzwords.

    Avoid following trends solely for the sake of following them. It is critical to comprehend the concept and apply it to your industry. Every industry has its own set of problems and opportunities.

    Highlight the data trends (or lack thereof) that have been most beneficial to you in your organizations. Follow Info-Tech’s approach to building a data practice and platform to develop your data capabilities through the establishment of data goals.

    The image contains a screenshot of Info-Tech's Build Your Data Pracrice and Platform.

    Research Authors

    Rajesh Parab Chris Dyck

    Rajesh Parab

    Director, Research & Advisory

    Data and Analytics

    Chris Dyck

    Research Lead

    Data and Analytics

    “Data technologies are rapidly evolving. Understanding what’s possible is critical. Adapting to these upcoming data trends requires a solid data management foundation.”

    – Rajesh Parab

    Contributing Experts

    Carlos Thomas John Walsh

    Carlos Thomas

    Executive Counselor

    Info-Tech Research Group

    John Walsh

    Executive Counselor

    Info-Tech Research Group

    Bibliography

    Bean, Randy. “Why Becoming a Data-Driven Organization Is So Hard.” Harvard Business Review, 24 Feb. 2022. Accessed Oct. 2022.
    Brown, Annie. “Utilizing AI And Big Data To Reduce Costs And Increase Profits In Departments Across An Organization.” Forbes, 13 April 2021.
    Accessed Oct. 2022.
    Burciaga, Aaron. “Five Core Virtues For Data Science And Artificial Intelligence.” Forbes, 27 Feb. 2020. Accessed Aug. 2022.
    Cadwalladr, Carole, and Emma Graham-Harrison. “Revealed: 50 million Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach.”
    The Guardian, 17 March 2018. Accessed Aug. 2022.
    Carlier, Mathilde. “Connected light-duty vehicles as a share of total vehicles in 2023.” Statista, 31 Mar. 2021. Accessed Oct. 2022.
    Carter, Rebekah. “The Ultimate List of Big Data Statistics for 2022.” Findstack, 22 May 2021. Accessed Oct. 2022.
    Castelvecchi, Davide. “Underdog technologies gain ground in quantum-computing race.” Nature, 6 Nov. 2023. Accessed Feb. 2023.
    Clark-Jones, Anthony, et al. “Digital Identity:” UBS, 2016. Accessed Aug 2022.
    “The Cost of Bad Data Infographic.” Pragmatic Works, 25 May 2017. Accessed Oct. 2022.
    Demchenko, Yuri, et al. “Data as Economic Goods: Definitions, Properties, Challenges, Enabling Technologies for Future Data Markets.“ ITU Journal: ICT Discoveries, Special Issue, no. 2, vol. 23, Nov. 2018. Accessed Aug 2022.
    Feldman, Sarah. ”20 Years of Quantum Computing Growth.” Statista, 6 May 2019. Accessed Oct. 2022.
    “Genomic Data Science.” NIH, National Human Genome Research Institute, 5 April 2022. Accessed Oct. 2022.

    Bibliography

    Hasbe, Sudhir, and Ryan Lippert. “The democratization of data and insights: making real-time analytics ubiquitous.” Google Cloud, 15 Jan. 2021.
    Accessed Aug. 2022.
    Helmenstine, Anne. “Viscosity Definition and Examples.” Science Notes, 3 Aug. 2021. Accessed Aug. 2022.
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    Internet of Things (IoT) and non-IoT active device connections worldwide from 2010 to 2025” Statista, 27 Nov. 2022. Accessed Nov. 2022.
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    Communicate Any IT Initiative

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    IT communications are often considered ineffective and unengaging. This is demonstrated by the:

    • Lack of expectation that IT should communicate well. Why develop a skill that no one expects IT to deliver on?
    • Failure to recognize the importance of communication to engage employees and communicate ideas.
    • Perception that communication is a broadcast not a continuous dialogue.
    • Inability to create, monitor, and manage feedback mechanisms.
    • Overreliance on data as the main method of communication instead of as evidence to support a broader narrative.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Don't make data your star. It is a supporting character. People can argue about the collection methods or interpretation of the data, but they cannot argue with the story you share.
    • Messages are also non-verbal. Practice using your voice and body to set the right tone and impact your audience.
    • Recognize that communications are essential even in highly technical IT environments.
    • Measure if the communication is being received and resulting in the desired outcome. If not, modify what and how the message is being expressed.

    Impact and Result

    • Develop an actionable plan to deliver consistent, timely messaging for all audiences.
    • Compose and deliver meaningful messages.
    • Consistently deliver the right information and the right time to the right stakeholders.

    Communicate Any IT Initiative Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Communicate Any IT Initiative Deck – A step-by-step document that walks you through how to plan, compose, and deliver communications to any stakeholder up, down, or across the organization.

    This blueprint not only provides the tools and techniques for planning, composing, and delivering effective communications, but also walks you through practical exercises. Practice and perfect your communication, composition, and delivery skills for any IT initiative.

    • Communicate Any IT Initiative – Phases 1-3

    2. Communicate Any IT Initiative Facilitation Deck – A step-by-step communications workshop deck suitable for any workshop with a communication component.

    Communication concepts and exercises that teach you how to plan, compose, and deliver effective communications. The deck includes practical tools, techniques, and skills practice.

    • Communicate Any IT Initiative Facilitation Deck

    3. Communications Planner – An communications plan template that includes a section to define a change, a communications plan, communications calendars, and a pitch composition exercise.

    This communications planner is a tool that accompanies the Effective IT Communications blueprint and the Communicate Any IT Initiative Facilitation Deck so that you can plan your communications, view your deliverables, and compose your pitch all in one document.

    • Communications Planner Tool

    4. Stakeholder Analysis Tool – A tool to help ensure that all stakeholders are identified and none are missed.

    A tool for identifying stakeholders and conducting an analysis to understand their degree of influence or impact.

    • Stakeholder Management Analysis Tool
    [infographic]

    Further reading

    Communicate Any IT Initiative

    Plan, compose, and deliver communications that engage your audience.

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge Common Obstacles Info-Tech’s Approach
    Communicating about your initiative is when the work really begins. Many organizations struggle with:
    • Knowing what target audiences need to be communicated with.
    • Communicating the same message consistently and clearly across target audiences.
    • Communicating to target audiences at the right times.
    • Selecting a channel that will be most effective for the message and practicing to deliver that message.
    Some of the challenges IT faces when it comes to communicating its initiatives includes:
    • Not being given the opportunity or time to practice composing or delivering communications.
    • Coordinating the communications of this initiative with other initiative communications.
    • Forgetting to communicate with key stakeholders.
    Choosing not to communicate because we do not know how it’s leading to initiative failures and lack of adoption by impacted parties.
    For every IT initiative you have going forward, focus on following these three steps:
    1. Create a plan of action around who, what, how, and when communications will take place.
    2. Compose an easy-to-understand pitch for each stakeholder audience.
    3. Practice delivering the message in an authentic and clear manner.
    By following these steps, you will ensure that your audience always understands and feels ready to engage with you.

    Info-Tech Insight
    Every IT employee can be a great communicator; it just takes a few consistent steps, the right tools, and a dedication to practicing communicating your message.

    Info-Tech’s approach

    Effective communications is not a broadcast but a dialogue between communicator and audience in a continuous feedback loop.

    Continuous Feedback Loop

    The Info-Tech difference:

    1. The skills needed to communicate effectively as a front-line employee or CIO are the same. It’s important to begin the development of these skills from the beginning of one's career.
    2. Time is a non-renewable resource. Any communication needs to be considered valuable and engaging by the audience or they will be unforgiving.
    3. Don't make data your star. It is a supporting character. People can argue about the collection methods or interpretation of the data, but they cannot argue about the story you share.

    Poor communication can lead to dissatisfied stakeholders

    27.8% of organizations are not satisfied with IT communications.

    25.8% of business stakeholders are not satisfied with IT communications.

    Source: Info-Tech Diagnostic Programs; n=34,345 business stakeholders within 604 organizations

    The bottom line? Stakeholders for any initiative need to be communicated with often and well. When stakeholders become dissatisfied with IT’s communication, it can lead to an overall decrease in satisfaction with IT.

    Good IT initiative communications can be leverage

    • IT risk mitigation and technology initiative funding are dependent on critical stakeholders comprehending the risk impact and initiative benefit in easy-to-understand terms.
    • IT employees need clear and direct information to feel empowered and accountable to do their jobs well.
    • End users who have a good experience engaging in communications with IT employees have an overall increase in satisfaction with IT.
    • Continuously demonstrating IT’s value to the organization comes when those initiatives are clearly aligned to overall objectives – don’t assume this alignment is being made.
    • Communication prevents assumptions and further miscommunication from happening among IT employees who are usually impacted and fear change the most.

    “Nothing gets done properly if it's not communicated well.”
    -- Nastaran Bisheban, CTO KFC Canada

    Approach to communications

    Introduction
    Review effective communications.

    Plan
    Plan your communications using a strategic tool.

    Compose
    Create your own message.

    Deliver
    Practice delivering your own message.

    Info-Tech’s methodology for effective IT communications

    1. Plan Strategic Communications 2. Compose a Compelling Message 3. Deliver Messages Effectively
    Step Activities
    1. Define the Change
    2. Determine Target Audience
    3. Communication Outcomes
    4. Clarify the Key Message(s)
    5. Identify the Owner and Messenger(s)
    6. Select the Right Channels
    7. Establish a Frequency and Time Frame
    8. Obtain Feedback and Improve
    9. Finalize the Calendar
    1. Craft a Pitch
    2. Revise the Pitch
    1. Deliver Your Pitch
    2. Refine and Deliver Again
    Step Outcomes Establish an easy-to-read view of the key communications that need to take place related to your initiative or change. Practice writing a pitch that conveys the message in a compelling and easy-to-understand way. Practice delivering the pitch. Ensure there is authenticity in the delivery while still maintaining the audience’s attention.

    This blueprint can support communication about any IT initiative

    • Strategy or roadmap
    • Major transformational change
    • System integration
    • Process changes
    • Service changes
    • New solution rollouts
    • Organizational restructuring

    We recommend considering this blueprint a natural add-on to any completed Info-Tech blueprint, whether it is completed in the DIY fashion or through a Guided Implementation or workshop.

    Key deliverable:

    Communication Planner
    A single place to plan and compose all communications related to your IT initiative.

    Blueprint deliverables

    Each step of this blueprint is accompanied by supporting deliverables to help you accomplish your goals.

    Facilitation Guide
    A step-by-step guide to help your IT organization develop a communication plan and practice composing and delivering key messages.

    Stakeholder Analysis
    An ability to assess all stakeholders based on impact, influence, and involvement.

    Workshop Overview

    MorningAfternoon
    ActivitiesPlan Strategic Communications for Your Initiative
    1. Define the Change
    2. Determine Target Audience
    3. Communication Outcomes
    4. Clarify the Key Message(s)
    5. Identify the Owner and Messenger(s)
    6. Select the Right Channels
    7. Establish a Frequency and Time Frame
    8. Obtain Feedback and Improve
    9. Finalize the Calendar
    Compose and Deliver a Compelling Message
    1. Craft a Pitch
    2. Revise the Pitch
    3. Deliver Your Pitch
    4. Refine and Deliver Again
    Deliverables
    1. Communication planner with weekly, monthly, and yearly calendar views to ensure consistent and ongoing engagement with every target audience member
    1. Crafted pitches that can be used for communicating the initiative to different stakeholders
    2. Skills and ability to deliver messages more effectively

    Contact your account representative for more information.
    workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889

    Key KPIs for communication with any stakeholder

    Measuring communication is hard; use these to determine effectiveness:

    Goal Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Related Resource
    Obtain board buy-in for IT strategic initiatives. X% of IT initiatives that were approved to be funded.
    Number of times that technical initiatives were asked to be explained further.
    Using our Board Presentation Review
    Ensure stakeholders feel engaged during initiatives. X% of business leadership satisfied with the statement “IT communicates with your group effectively.” Using the CIO Business Vision Diagnostic
    End users know what IT initiatives are going to impact the products or services they use. X% of end users that are satisfied with communications around changing services or applications. Using the End-User Satisfaction Survey
    Project stakeholders receive sufficient communication throughout the initiative. X% overall satisfaction with the quality of the project communications. Using the PPM Customer Satisfaction Diagnostic
    Employees are empowered to perform on IT initiatives. X% satisfaction employees have with statement “I have all the resources and information I need to do a great job.” Using the Employee Engagement Diagnostic Program

    Phase 1

    Plan Strategic Communications

    Activities
    1.1 Define the Change
    1.2 Determine Target Audience
    1.3 Communication Outcomes
    1.4 Clarify the Key Message(s)
    1.5 Identify the Owner and Messenger(s)
    1.6 Select the Right Channels
    1.7 Establish a Frequency and Time Frame
    1.8 Obtain Feedback and Improve
    1.9 Finalize the Calendar

    Communicate Any IT Initiative Effectively
    Phase1 > Phase 2 > Phase 3

    This step involves the following participants:
    Varies based on those who would be relevant to your initiative.

    Outcomes of this step
    Create an easy-to-follow communications plan to ensure that the right message is sent to the right audience using the right medium and frequency.

    What is an IT change?

    Before communicating, understand the degree of change.

    Incremental Change:
    • Changes made to improve current processes or systems (e.g. optimizing current technology).
    Transitional Change:
    • Changes that involve dismantling old systems and/or processes in favor of new ones (e.g. new product or services added).
    Transformational Change:
    • Significant change in organizational strategy or culture resulting in substantial shift in direction.
    Examples:
    • New or changed policy
    • Switching from on-premises to cloud-first infrastructure
    • Implementing ransomware risk controls
    • Implementing a learning & development plan
    Examples:
    • Moving to an insourced or outsourced service desk
    • Developing a BI & analytics function
    • Integrating risk into organization risk
    • Developing a strategy (technology, architecture, security, data, service, infrastructure, application)
    Examples:
    • Organizational redesign
    • Acquisition or merger of another organization
    • Implementing a digital strategy
    • A new CEO or board taking over the organization's direction

    Consider the various impacts of the change

    Invest time at the start of the project to develop a detailed understanding of the impact of the change. This will help to create a plan that will simplify the change and save time in the end. Evaluate the impact from a people, process, and technology perspective.

    Leverage a design thinking principle: Empathize with the stakeholder – what will change?

    People

    • Team structure
    • Reporting structure
    • Career paths
    • Job skills
    • Responsibilities
    • Company vision/mission
    • Number of FTE
    • Culture
    • Training required

    Process

    • Budget
    • Work location
    • Daily workflow
    • Working conditions
    • Work hours
    • Reward structure
    • Required number of completed tasks
    • Training required

    Technology

    • Required tools
    • Required policies
    • Required systems
    • Training required

    1.1 Define the change

    30 minutes

    1. While different stakeholders will be impacted by the change differently, it’s important to be able to describe what the change is at a higher level.
    2. Have everyone take eight minutes to jot down what the change is and why it is happening in one to two sentences. Tab 2 of the Communication Planner Tool can also be used to house the different ideas.
    3. Present the change statements to one another.
    4. By leveraging one of the examples or consolidating many examples, as a group document:
      • What is the change?
      • Why is it happening?
    5. The goal is to ensure that all individuals involved in establishing or implementing the change have the same understanding.
    Input Output
    • Individual ideas about what change is occurring and why.
    • A single statement that reflects the change occurring and the rationale for why the change is needed.
    Materials Participants
    • Communication Planner Tool
    • Sticky notes
    • Whiteboard
    • Varies based on those who would be relevant to your initiative.

    Download the Communication Planner Tool

    Ensure effective communication by focusing on four key elements

    Audience
    Stakeholders (either groups or individuals) who will receive the communication.

    Message
    Information communicated to impacted stakeholders. Must be rooted in a purpose or intent.

    Messenger
    Person who delivers the communication to the audience. The communicator and owner are two different things.

    Channel
    Method or channel used to communicate to the audience.

    Identify the target audience

    The target audience always includes groups and individuals who are directly impacted by the change and may also include those who are change adjacent.

    Define the target audience: Identify which stakeholders will be the target audience of communications related to the initiative. Stakeholders can be single individuals (CFO) or groups (Applications Team).

    Stakeholders to consider:

    • Who is sponsoring the initiative?
    • Who benefits from the initiative?
    • Who loses from the initiative?
    • Who can make approvals?
    • Who controls resources?
    • Who has specialist skills?
    • Who implements the changes?
    • Who will be adversely affected by potential environmental and social impacts in areas of influence that are affected by what you are doing?
    • At which stage will stakeholders be most affected (e.g. procurement, implementation, operations, decommissioning)?
    • Will other stakeholders emerge as the phases are started and completed?

    1.2a Determine target audience

    20 minutes

    1. Consider all the potential individuals or groups of individuals who will be impacted or can influence the outcome of the initiative.
    2. On tab 3 of the Communication Planner Tool, list each of the stakeholders who will be part of the target audience. If in person, use sticky notes to define the target audiences. The individuals or group of individuals that make up the target audience are all the people who require being communicated with before, during, or after the initiative.
    3. As you list each target audience, consider how they perceive IT. This perception could impact how you choose to communicate with the stakeholder(s).
    InputOutput
    • The change
    • Why the change is needed
    • A list of individuals or group of individuals that will be communicated with.
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Communication Planner Tool
    • Sticky notes
    • Whiteboard
    • Varies based on those who would be relevant to your initiative.

    Download the Communication Planner Tool

    1.2b Conduct a stakeholder analysis (optional)

    1 hour

    1. For each stakeholder identified as a part of the target audience, conduct an analysis to understand their degree of influence or impact.
    2. Based on the stakeholder, the influence or impact of the change, initiative, etc. can inform the type and way of communicating.
    3. This is a great activity for those who are unsure how to frame communications for each stakeholder identified as a target audience.
    InputOutput
    • The change
    • Why the change is needed
    • A list of individuals or group of individuals that will be communicated with
    • The degree of influence or impact each target audience stakeholder has.
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Communication Planner Tool
    • Sticky notes
    • Whiteboard
    • Varies based on those who would be relevant to your initiative.

    Download the Stakeholder Management Analysis Tool

    Determine the desired outcome of communicating with each audience

    For each target audience, there will be an overall goal on why they need to be communicated with. This outcome or purpose is often dependent on the type of influence the stakeholder wields within the organization as well as the type of impact the change or initiative will have. Depending on the target audience, consider each of the communication outcomes listed below.

    Communicating Across the Organization Communicating Up to Board or Executives Communicating Within IT
    • Obtain buy-in
    • Obtain approval
    • Obtain funding
    • Demonstrate alignment to organization objectives
    • Reduce concerns about risk
    • Demonstrate alignment to organization objectives
    • Demonstrate alignment to individual departments or functions
    • Obtain other departments’ buy-in
    • Inform about a crisis
    • Inform about the IT change
    • Obtain adoption related to the change
    • Obtain buy-in
    • Inform about the IT change
    • Create a training plan
    • Inform about department changes
    • Inform about organization changes
    • Inform about a crisis
    • Obtain adoption related to the change
    • Distribute key messages to change agents

    1.3 Communication outcomes

    30 minutes

    1. For each stakeholder, there may be one or more reasons why you need to communicate with them. On tab 3 of the Communication Planner Tool or on a whiteboard, begin to identify the objective or outcome your team is seeking by engaging in each target audience.
    2. As you move through the communication outcomes, it could result in more than one outcome for each target audience.
    3. Ensure there is one line for each target audience desired communication outcome. Many stakeholders might need to be communicated with for several reasons. If using the Communication Planner Tool, add the target audience name in column C for as many different communication outcomes there are in column D related to that stakeholder.
    InputOutput
    • The change
    • A list of individuals or group of individuals that will be communicated with
    • Outcome or objective of communicating with each stakeholder
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Communication Planner Tool
    • Sticky notes
    • Whiteboard
    • Varies based on those who would be relevant to your initiative.

    Download the Communication Planner Tool

    Establish and define key messages based on organizational objectives

    What are key messages?
    • Key messages guide all internal communications to ensure they are consistent, unified, and straightforward.
    • Distill key messages down from organizational objectives and use them to reinforce the organization’s strategic direction. Key messages should inspire employees to act in a way that will help the organization reach its objectives.
    How to establish key messages: Ground key messages in organizational strategy and culture. These should be the first places you look to determine the organization’s key messages:
    • Refer to organizational strategy documents. What needs to be reinforced in internal communications to ensure the organization can achieve its strategy? This is a key message.
    • Look at the organization’s values. How do values guide how work should be done? Do employees need to behave in a certain way or keep a certain value top of mind? This is a key message.

    Key messages should be clear, concise, and consistent (Porter, 2014). The intent is to convey important information in a way that is relatable and memorable, to promote reinforcement, and ultimately, to drive action.

    Info-Tech Insight
    Empathizing with the audience is key to anticipating and addressing objections as well as identifying benefits. Customize messaging based on audience attributes such as work model (e.g. hybrid), anticipated objections, what's in it for me? (WIIFM), and specific expectations.

    1.4 Clarify the key messages

    25 minutes

    1. Divide the number of communication lines up equally amongst the participants.
    2. Based on the outcome expected from engaging that target audience in communications, define one to five key messages that should be expressed.
    3. The key messages should highlight benefits anticipated, concerns anticipated, details about the change, and plan of action or next steps. The goal here is to ensure the target audience is included in the communication process.
    4. The key messages should be focused on how the target audience receives a consistent message, especially if different communication messengers are involved.
    5. Document the key messages on tab 3 of the Communication Planner Tool.
    InputOutput
    • The change
    • Target audience
    • Communication outcomes
    • Key messages to support a consistent approach
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Communication Planner Tool
    • Sticky notes
    • Whiteboard
    • Varies based on those who would be relevant to your initiative.

    Download the Communication Planner Tool

    Understand to how to identify appropriate messengers

    Messages must be communicated by a variety of individuals across the organization. Select the messenger depending on the message characteristics (e.g. audience, message, medium). The same messenger can be used for a variety of messages across different mediums.

    Personal impact messages should be delivered by an employee's direct supervisor.

    Organizational impact messages and rationale should be delivered by senior leaders in the affected areas.

    Chart Preferred Messenger for Change Messages

    Recent research by Prosci found employees prefer to hear personal messages from their direct manager and organizational messages from the executive leadership team.

    Fifty percent of respondents indicated the CEO as the preferred messenger for organizational change messages.

    Select the appropriate messenger

    For each audience, message, and medium, review whether the message is personal or organizational to determine which messengers are best.

    The number and seniority of messengers involved depends on the size of the change:

    • Incremental change
      • Personal messages from direct supervisors
      • Organizational messages from a leader in the audience’s function or the direct supervisor
    • Transitional change
      • Personal messages from direct supervisors or function leaders
      • Organizational messages from a leader in the audience’s function or the C suite
    • Transformational change
      • Personal messages from direct supervisors or function leaders
      • Organizational messages from the CEO or C-suite
      • Cascading messages are critical in this type of change because all levels of the organization will be involved

    Communication owner vs. messenger

    Communication Owner

    Single person
    Accountable for the communication message and activities
    Oversees that the communication does not contradict other communications
    Validates the key messages to be made

    Communication Messenger(s)

    Single person or many people
    Responsible for delivering the intended message
    Engages the target audience in the communication
    Ensures the key messages are made in a consistent and clear manner

    1.5 Identify the owner and messenger(s)

    30 minutes

    1. For every communication, there needs to be a single owner. This is the person who approves the communication and will be accountable for the communication
    2. The messenger(s) can be several individuals or a single individual depending on the target audience and desired outcome being sought through the communications.
    3. Identify the person or role who will be accountable for the communication and document this in the Communication Planner Tool.
    4. Identify the person(s) or role(s) who will be responsible for delivering the communication and engaging the target audience and document this in the Communication Planner Tool.
    Input Output
    • Individual ideas about what change is occurring and why.
    • A single statement that reflects the change occurring and the rationale for why the change is needed.
    Materials Participants
    • Communication Planner Tool
    • Sticky notes
    • Whiteboard
    • Varies based on those who would be relevant to your initiative.

    Download the Communication Planner Tool

    Review appropriate channel for different types of messages

    Communication channels are in-person, paper-based, or tech-enabled. Provide communicators with guidance on which mediums to use in different situations.

    First question: Should the communication be delivered in-person or not?
    Types of channels In-Person Paper-Based or Tech-Enabled
    Questions to consider
    • How is your message likely to be received? Is the message primarily negative?
    • Will the message prompt a lot of dialogue or questions? Will it require significant context or clarification?
    Note: Messages that are important, complex, or negative must be delivered in person. This allows the sender to provide context, clarify questions, and collect feedback.
    • Use paper-based and tech-enabled communications to provide reminders or updates.
    • When deciding which of the two to use, think about your audience: do they have regular access to a computer?
    Two-way interaction Supplement in-person communications with paper-based or tech-enabled communications to provide follow-up and consistency (Government of Nova Scotia). Tech-enabled communications allow the sender to deliver messages when they do not co-locate with the receiver. That said, make sure paper-based communications are provided to those without regular access to a computer.

    Consider accessibility when communicating change – not all employees will have access to the same mediums. To ensure inclusivity, strategically plan which mediums to use to reach the entire audience.

    Select communication channels

    Medium Description Key Messages When to Use
    One-on-One Meetings Individual meetings between managers and their direct reports to ensure they understand the change, can express any concerns, and obtain feedback or recommendations.
    • How the change will impact the employee, what they can expect throughout the change, how they can get support, what the timelines are, etc.
    • Requests for feedback.
    • Responses to feedback.
    • Most applicable for personal messages throughout all stages of change.
    • When real-time feedback is needed.
    • To understand the change’s impact on each employee, understand their emotional reactions and provide support.
    • After a change has been announced and continuing at a regular cadence until after the change has been implemented. Frequency of meetings will vary by employee over the course of the change.
    Team Meeting A meeting of a work unit or department. Can be virtual, in person, or a combination. Led by the work unit or department head/manager.
    • How the change will impact the team – how work gets done, who they work with, etc.
    • Available timelines regarding the change.
    • Support available throughout the change.
    • Most applicable for personal messages throughout all change stages.
    • When real-time communication is needed to keep everyone on the same page and provide an opportunity to ask questions (essential for buy-in).
    • To announce a small change or after a larger change announcement. Continue frequently until the end of adoption, with time reserved for ad hoc meetings.
    Email Electronic communication sent to the audience’s company emails, or in the absence of that, to their personal emails.
    • Overarching details and timelines.
    • Short, easy-to-digest pieces of information that either provide a summary of what to expect or describe actions employees need to take.
    • Applicable for both personal and organizational messages, depending on the messenger. Send personal messages in separate emails from organizational messages.
    • To communicate key details quickly and to a distributed workforce.
    • To reinforce or reiterate information that has been shared in person. Can be used broadly or target specific employees/groups.

    Select communication channels

    Medium Description Key Messages When to Use
    Town Hall Virtual or in-person meeting where senior leadership shares information with a wide audience about the change and answers questions.
    • Messaging that is applicable to a large audience.
    • The strategic decisions of senior leadership.
    • Highlight positive initiative outcomes.
    • Recognize employee efforts.
    • Report on engagement.
    • Most applicable for organizational messages to launch a change or between milestones in a long-term or complex change.
    • To enable senior leaders to explain strategic decisions to employees.
    • To allow employees to ask questions and provide feedback.
    • When support of senior leadership is critical to change success.
    Roadshow A series of meetings where senior leadership or the change champion travels to different geographic locations to hold town halls adapted to each location’s audience.
    • Why the change is happening, when the change is happening, who will be impacted, expectations, and key points of contact.
    • Most applicable for organizational messages to launch a change and between milestones during a long-term, large, or complex change.
    • For a change impacting several locations.
    • When face time with senior leadership is critical to developing understanding and adoption of the change. Satellite locations can often feel forgotten. A roadshow provides access to senior leadership and lends the credibility of the leader to the change.
    • To enable live two-way communication between employees and leadership.

    Select communication channels

    Medium Description Key Messages When to Use
    Intranet An internal company website that a large number of employees can access at any time.
    • Information that has already been communicated to the audience before, so they can access it at any time.
    • FAQs and/or general details about the change (e.g. milestones).
    • Most applicable for organizational messages.
    • To post relevant documentation so the audience can access it whenever they need it.
    • To enable consistency in answers to common questions.
    Training Scheduled blocks of time for the team to learn new skills and behaviors needed to successfully adapt to the change.
    • Reinforce the need for change and the benefits the change will have.
    • Most applicable for organizational messages during the implementation stage.
    • To reduce anxiety over change initiatives, improve buy-in, and increase adoption by helping employees develop skills and behaviors needed to perform effectively.
    Video Message A prerecorded short video clip designed for either simultaneous broadcast or just-in-time viewing. Can be sent over email or mobile or uploaded to a company portal/intranet.
    • Positive messaging to convey enthusiasm for the change.
    • Details about why the organization is changing and what the benefits will be, updates on major milestone achievements, etc.
    • Most applicable for organizational messages, used on a limited basis at any point during the change.
    • Effective when the message needs to appear more personal by putting a face to the message and when it can be presented in a condensed time frame.
    • When a message needs to be delivered consistently across a variety of employees, locations, and time zones.
    • To provide updates and recognize key achievements.

    Select communication channels

    Medium Description Key Messages When to Use
    Shift Turnover Meeting A meeting between teams or departments when a shift changes over; sometimes called a shift report. Used to communicate any relevant information from the outgoing shift to the incoming shift members.
    • Details related to the activities performed during the shift.
    • Most applicable for personal impact messages during the implementation stage to reinforce information shared using other communication mediums.
    • Where change directly impacts role expectations or performance so teams hear the same message at the same time.
    Company Newsletter Electronic or hardcopy newsletter published by the company. Contains timely updates on company information.
    • Overarching change details.
    • Information that has already been communicated through other mediums.
    • Varies with the change stage and newsletter frequency.
    • Most applicable for organizational messages throughout the change.
    • When the change implementation is expected to be lengthy and audiences need to be kept updated.
    • To celebrate change successes and milestone achievements.
    Sign/Poster Digital or paper-based sign, graphic, or image. Includes posters, screensavers, etc.
    • Positive messaging to convey enthusiasm for the change.
    • Key dates and activities.
    • Key contacts.
    • Most applicable for organizational messages throughout the change.
    • As visual reminders in common, highly visible locations (e.g. a company bulletin board, elevator TV monitors).

    1.6 Select the right channels

    20 minutes

    1. Consider the different channels that were described and presented on the previous five slides. Each channel has element(s) to it that will allow it to be more beneficial based on the communication target audience, outcome, and messenger.
    2. Evenly assign the number of communication rows on tab 3 of the Communication Planner Tool and input the channel that should be used.
    3. Consider if the channel will:
      • Obtain the desired outcome of the communication.
      • Be completed by the messenger(s) defined.
      • Support the target audience in understanding the key messages.
    4. If any target audience communication requires several channels, add additional rows to the planner on TAB 3.
    InputOutput
    • Target audience
    • Communication outcome
    • Communication messenger(s)
    • The right channel selected to support the desired communication outcome.
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Communication Planner Tool
    • Sticky notes
    • Whiteboard
    • Varies based on those who would be relevant to your initiative.

    Download the Communication Planner Tool

    Define the communication time frame based on the initiative

    Communication occurs during four of the five stages of an initiative:

    01 Identify and prioritize 02 Prepare for initiative 03 Create a communication plan 04 Implement change 05 Sustain the desired outcome
    Before During After
    • Communication begins with sponsors and the project team.
    • Set general expectations with project team and sponsors.
    • Outline the communication plan for the remaining stages.
    • Set specific expectations with each stakeholder group.
    • Implement the communication plan.
    • Use feedback loops to determine updates or changes to communications.
    • Communication continues as required after the change.
    • Feedback loops continue until change becomes business as usual.
    Where communication needs to happen

    Don’t forget: Cascade messages down through the organization to ensure those who need to deliver messages have time to internalize the change before communicating it to others. Include a mix of personal and organizational messages, but where possible, separate personal and organizational content into different communications.

    Establish a frequency that aligns to the desired communication outcome

    Successful communications are frequent communications.

    • The cadence of a communication is highly dependent on the objective of the communication.
    • Each target requires a different frequency as well:
      • Board Presentations > four times a year is a good frequency
      • Executive Leadership > monthly frequency
      • Organizationally > annually and when necessary
      • Organization Crises > daily, if not hourly
      • IT Initiatives and Projects > weekly
      • IT Teams > weekly, if not daily

    Tech Team Frequency for Discussing Goals

    “When goals are talked about weekly, teams are nearly 3X more likely to feel confident hitting them.”
    – Hypercontext, 2022

    Info-Tech Insight
    Communications made once will always fail. Ensure there is a frequency appropriate for every communication — or do not expect the desired outcome.

    1.7 Establish a frequency and time frame

    30 minutes

    1. For each row in tab 3, determine how frequently that communication needs to take place and when that communication needs to be completed by.
      • Frequency: How often the communication will be delivered to the audience (e.g. one-time, monthly, as needed).
      • Time frame: When the communication will be delivered to the audience (e.g. a planned period or a specific date).
    2. When selecting the time frame, consider what dependencies need to take place prior to that communication. For example, IT employees should not be communicated with on anything that has not yet been approved by the CEO. Also consider when other communications might be taking place so the message is not lost in the noise.
    3. For frequency, the only time that a communication needs to take place once is when presenting up to senior leaders of the organization. And even then it will sometimes require more than one conversation. Be mindful of this.
    InputOutput
    • The change
    • Target audience
    • Communication outcome
    • Communication channel
    • Frequency and time frame of the communication
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Communication Planner Tool
    • Sticky notes
    • Whiteboard
    • Varies based on those who would be relevant to your initiative.

    Download the Communication Planner Tool

    First, ensure feedback mechanisms are in place

    Soliciting and acting on feedback involves employees in the decision-making process and demonstrates to them that their contributions matter.

    Prior to the strategy rollout, make sure you have also established feedback mechanisms to collect feedback on both the messages delivered and how they were delivered. Some ways to collect feedback include:

    • Evaluating intranet comments and interactions (likes, etc.) if this function is enabled.
    • Measuring comprehension and satisfaction through surveys and polls.
    • Looking for themes in the feedback and questions employees bring forward to managers during in-person briefings.

    Feedback Mechanisms:

    • CIO Business Vision Survey
    • Engagement Surveys
    • Focus Groups
    • Suggestion Boxes
    • Team Meetings
    • Random Sampling
    • Informal Feedback
    • Direct Feedback
    • Audience Body Language
    • Repeating the Message Back

    Select metrics to measure progress on key results

    There are two types of metrics that can be used to measure the impact of an internal communications strategy and progress toward strategy goals. These metrics are used to measure both outputs and outcomes.

    Select metrics measuring both:
    Tactical Effectiveness (Outputs) Strategic Effectiveness (Outcomes)
    • Open rate
    • Click-through rate
    • Employee sentiment
    • Participation rates
    • Physical distractions
    • Shift in behavior
    • Manager capability to communicate
    • Organizational ability to meet goals
    • Engagement
    • Turnover

    Pyramid of metrics to measure process on key results

    1.8 Obtain feedback and improve

    20 minutes

    1. Evenly distribute the number of rows in the communication plan to all those involved. Consider a metric that would help inform whether the communication outcome was achieved.
    2. For each row, identify a feedback mechanism (slide 38) that could be used to enable the collection and confirm a successful outcome.
    3. Come back as a group and validate the feedback mechanisms selected.
    4. The important aspect here is not just to measure if the desired outcome was achieved. However, if the desired outcome is not achieved, consider what you might do to change or enable better communication to that target audience.
    5. Every communication can be better. Feedback, whether it is tactical or strategic, will help inform methods to improve future communication activities.
    InputOutput
    • Communication outcome
    • Target audience
    • Communication channel
    • A mechanism to measure communication feedback and adjust future communications when necessary.
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Communication Planner Tool
    • Sticky notes
    • Whiteboard
    • Varies based on those who would be relevant to your initiative.

    Download the Communication Planner Tool

    Example of internal communications survey

    Use and modify the questions below when building an internal communications survey. Use a Likert scale to gauge responses.

    1. I am satisfied with the communications at our organization.
    2. I am kept fully informed of news and updates relevant to our organization.
    3. I receive information that is relevant to me on a regular basis.
    4. I have the information I need to do my job.
    5. I know where to go to find the information I am looking for.
    6. My manager communicates with me in-person on a regular basis.
    7. I feel I can believe the information I receive from the company.
    8. I feel heard by senior leaders and know that they have received my feedback.
    9. The content and information that I receive is interesting to me.

    Create an easy-to-read approach to communication

    Example of an easy-to-read approach to communication

    1.9 Finalize the calendar

    2 hours

    1. Once the information on tabs 2 and 3 of the Communication Planner Tool has been completed, start to organize the information in an easy-to-read view.
    2. Using the annual, monthly, and weekly calendar views on tabs 3 to 5, begin to formalize the dates of when communications will take place.
    3. Following the instructions on each tab, complete one or all of the views of the communication plan. Remember, the stakeholder that makes up the target audience needs to be considered and whether this communication will overlap with any other communications.
    InputOutput
    • Communication Plan on tab 2
    • Yearly, monthly, and weekly communication calendars
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Communication Planner Tool
    • Sticky notes
    • Whiteboard
    • Varies based on those who would be relevant to your initiative.

    Download the Communication Planner Tool

    Phase 2

    Compose a Compelling Message

    Activities

    2.1 Craft a Pitch
    2.2 Revise the Pitch

    This step involves the following participants:
    Varies based on those who would be relevant to your initiative.

    Outcomes of this step
    Ability to create a clear, concise, and consistent message using best practices and a pitch framework.

    Communication Any IT Initiative Effectively

    Phase 1 > Phase 2 > Phase 3

    Include all the following pieces in your message for an effective communication

    Pieces needed in your message for effective communication

    Info-Tech Insight
    Time is a non-renewable resource. The message crafted must be considered a value-add communication to your audience.

    Enable good communication with these components

    Be Consistent Be Clear
    • The core message must be consistent regardless of audience, channel, or medium.
    • Test your communication with your team or colleagues to obtain feedback before delivering to a broader audience.
    • A lack of consistency can be interpreted as an attempt at deception. This can hurt credibility and trust.
    • Say what you mean and mean what you say.
    • Choice of language is important: “Do you think this is a good idea? I think we could really benefit from your insights and experience here.” Or do you mean: “I think we should do this. I need you to do this to make it happen.”
    • Don’t use jargon.
    Be Relevant Be Concise
    • Talk about what matters to the stakeholder.
    • Talk about what matters to the initiative.
    • Tailor the details of the message to each stakeholder’s specific concerns.
    • IT thinks in processes but stakeholders only care about results: talk in terms of results.
    • IT wants to be understood, but this does not matter to stakeholders. Think: “what’s in it for them?”
    • Communicate truthfully; do not make false promises or hide bad news.
    • Keep communication short and to the point so key messages are not lost in the noise.
    • There is a risk of diluting your key message if you include too many other details.
    • If you provide more information than necessary, the clarity and consistency of the message can be lost.

    Draft the core messages to communicate

    Draft core messages communicating information consistent with the high-level communications plan. This includes the overall goal of communications, key messaging, specifics related to the change action, and customizations for each audience. It’s also important to:

    1. Hook your audience: Use a compelling introduction that ensures your target audience cares about the message. Use a statistic or another piece of information that presents the problem in a unique way.
    2. Demonstrate you can help: Let the audience know that based on the unique problem you can help. There is value to engaging and working with you further.
    3. Repeat messages several times and through several messengers and mediums throughout the change stages to ensure all audience members receive and understand the details.
    4. Write for the ear: Use concise and clear sentences, avoid technological language, and when you speak it aloud ensure it sounds like how you would normally speak.
    5. Keep messaging positive but realistic. Avoid continually telling stakeholders that “change is hard.” Instead, communicate messages around change success to positively prime the audience’s mindset (Harvard Business Review).
    6. Communicate what is meaningfully unchanged. Not everything will be impacted by the change. To help reduce fears, include information about meaningful aspects of employees’ work that will not be changing (e.g. employees are moving to report to a new manager on a new team, but the job responsibilities are staying the same).
    7. Finish with a call to action: Your concluding statement should not be a thank-you but a call to action that ignites how your audience will behave after the communication.

    Components of a good pitch

    Key Components of a Good Pitch
    Purpose of the pitch What are you asking for? What is the desired outcome of the conversation? What three things do you want the audience to take away?
    Speak to what matters to them Who is your audience and what are their biggest challenges today? What do they care? What is the “so what”? Humanize it. Start with an example of a real person.
    Sell the improvement How is your solution going to solve that problem? Is your solution a pain killer or vitamin?
    Show real value How will your solution create real value? How can that be measured? Give an example.
    Discuss potential fears Identify and alleviate fears the stakeholder may have in working with you. Think about what they think now and what you want them to think.
    Have a call to action Identify what your ask is. What are you looking for from the stakeholder? Listen and respond.
    Follow up with a thank-you Did you ensure that the participants’ time was respected and appreciated? Be genuine and sincere.

    Key questions to answer with change communication

    To effectively communicate change, answer questions before they’re asked, whenever possible. To do this, outline at each stage of the change process what’s happening next for the audience and answer other anticipated questions. Pair key questions with core messages in change communications.

    Examples of key questions by change stage include:

    What is changing?
    When is the change expected?
    Who will be championing the change?
    What are the change expectations?
    Will I have input into how the change is happening?
    What’s happening next?
    Why are we changing?
    Why is the change happening now?
    What are the risks of not changing?
    What will be new?
    What’s in it for me?
    What training will be available?
    Who will be impacted?
    How will I be impacted?
    How will my team be impacted?
    What’s happening next?
    Who should I contact with questions or concerns?
    How will I be updated?
    How can I access more information?
    Will the previous process be available throughout the new process implementation?
    What needs to be done and what needs to stop to succeed?
    Will I be measured on this change?
    What’s happening next?
    How can I access more information?
    Will this change be added to key performance indicators?
    How did the change implementation go?
    What’s happening next?
    Before change During change After change
    Prepare for change Create change action and communication plan Implement change Sustain the change

    2.1 Craft a pitch

    20 minutes

    1. Using the set of stakeholders identified in activity 1.2, every participant takes one stakeholder.
    2. Open tab 7 of the Communication Planner Tool or use a piece of paper and create a communication message specific to that stakeholder.
    3. Select a topic from your workshop or use something you are passionate about.
    4. Consider the pitch components as a way to create your pitch. Remember to use what you have learned from the planning and composing sections of this training (in bold).
    5. Compose a three-minute pitch that you will deliver to your audience member.
    InputOutput
    • Individual ideas about what change is occurring and why.
    • A single statement that reflects the change occurring and the rationale for why the change is needed.
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Communication Planner Tool
    • Sticky notes
    • Whiteboard
    • Varies based on those who would be relevant to your initiative.

    Download the Communication Planner Tool

    Communication Composition Checklist

    • Did you open the communication with a statistic or other memorable piece of information?
    • Is the topic being communicated in a compelling way that engages the target audience?
    • Are there statistics or data to support the story?
    • Are the statistics and data clear so they cannot be conveyed in any other way than their intended method?
    • Are you writing in clear and concise sentences?
    • Are you avoiding any technical jargon?
    • Is the message only focused on what needs to be said? Have you removed all unnecessary components?
    • Is the content organized in priority order? Could you adapt if the presentation time is shortened?
    • Is the way the communication is written sound like how you would speak normally? Are you writing for the ear?
    • Do you have a clear call to action that the audience will be asked to complete at the end?
    • Does your communication encourage discussion with the target audience? Is the audience a part of the solution?

    2.2 Revise the pitch

    10 minutes

    1. Review the pitch that was created in activity 2.1.
    2. Consider what could be done to make the pitch better:
      • Concise: Identify opportunities to remove unnecessary information.
      • Clear: It uses only terms or language the target audience would understand.
      • Relevant: It matters to the target audience and the problems they face.
      • Consistent: The message could be repeated across audiences.
    3. Validate that when you say the pitch out loud, it sounds like something you would say normally when communicating with other people.
    4. Make updates to the pitch and get ready to present.
    Input Output
    • Individual ideas about what change is occurring and why.
    • A single statement that reflects the change occurring and the rationale for why the change is needed.
    Materials Participants
    • Communication Planner Tool
    • Sticky notes
    • Whiteboard
    • Varies based on those who would be relevant to your initiative.

    Download the Communication Planner Tool

    Phase 3

    Deliver Messages Effectively

    Activities
    3.1 Deliver Your Pitch
    3.2 Refine and Deliver Again

    This step involves the following participants:
    Varies based on those who would be relevant to your initiative.

    Outcomes of this step
    Ability to deliver the pitch in a manner that is clear and would be understood by the specific stakeholder the pitch is intended for.

    Communicate Any IT Initiative Effectively

    Phase 1 > Phase 2 > Phase 3

    Hone presentation skills before meeting with key stakeholders

    Using voice and body

    Think about the message you are trying to convey and how your body can support that delivery. Hands, stance, and frame all have an impact on what might be conveyed.

    If you want your audience to lean in and be eager about your next point, consider using a pause or softer voice and volume.

    Be professional and confident

    State the main points of your presentation confidently. While this should be obvious, it is essential. Your audience should be able to clearly see that you believe the points you are stating.

    Present in a way that is genuine to you and your voice. Whether you have an energetic personality or a calm and composed personality, the presentation should be authentic to you.

    Connect with your audience

    Look each member of the audience in the eye at least once during your presentation. Avoid looking at the ceiling, the back wall, or the floor. Your audience should feel engaged – this is essential to keeping their attention.

    Avoid reading from your slides. If there is text on a slide, paraphrase it while maintaining eye contact.

    Info-Tech Insight
    You are responsible for the response of your audience. If they aren’t engaged, it is on you as the communicator.

    Use clear slides that avoid distracting the audience

    Which slide will be better to present?

    Sample A:

    Sample A

    Sample B:

    Sample B

    3.1 Deliver your pitch

    20 minutes

    1. Take ten minutes to think about how to deliver your pitch. Where will you emphasize words, speak louder, softer, lean in, stand tall, make eye contact, etc.?
    2. Group into pairs. One person is the speaker and the other the audience.
    3. Set a timer on your phone or watch.
    4. Speaker:
      1. Take a few seconds to center yourself and prepare to deliver your pitch.
      2. Deliver your pitch to Person 2. Don’t forget to use your body language and your voice to deliver.
    5. Audience:
      1. Repeats ideas back to Person 1. Are the ideas correct? Are you convinced?
      2. Identifies who the audience is. Are they correct?
    6. Reverse roles and repeat.
    7. Discuss and provide feedback to one another.
    InputOutput
    • Written pitch
    • Best practices for delivering
    • An ability to deliver the pitch in a clear and concise manner that could be understood by the intended stakeholder.
    • Feedback from person 2.
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Pitch framework
    • Communications Plan Tool
    • Piece of paper
    • Varies based on those who would be relevant to your initiative.

    Communication Delivery Checklist

    • Are the slides clean so the audience can focus on your speaking and not on reading the context-heavy slide?
    • Have you practiced delivering the communication to team members or coaches?
    • Have you practiced delivering the communication to someone with little to no technology background?
    • Are you making yourself open to feedback and improvement opportunities?
    • If the communication is derailed from your plan, are you prepared to handle that change?
    • Can you deliver the communication without reading your notes word for word?
    • Have you adapted your voice throughout the communication to highlight specific components you want the audience to focus on?
    • Are you presenting in a way that is genuine to you and your personality?
    • Can you communicate the message within the time allotted?
    • Are you moving in an appropriate manner based on your communication (e.g. toward the screen, across the stage, hand gestures).

    3.2 Refine and deliver again

    1 hour

    1. Go back to what you wrote as your pitch and take ten minutes to eliminate more information to get the pitch down to two minutes based on the feedback from your original partner.
    2. Repeat the last exercise where you deliver your pitch; however, deliver it to the larger group this time.
    3. Focus on ways to adjust body language and voice to make the message more compelling.
    4. Identify if your audience is telling you anything with their body language (e.g. leaning in, leaning back). Use this to adjust as you are presenting.
    5. Have the group provide additional feedback on what was effective about the message and opportunities to further improve the message.
    InputOutput
    • Three-minute pitch
    • Feedback from first delivery
    • An ability to deliver the pitch in a clear and concise manner that could be understood by the intended stakeholder.
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Pitch framework
    • Communications Plan Tool
    • Piece of paper
    • Varies based on those who would be relevant to your initiative.

    Info-Tech Insight
    Whether the CIO or a service desk technician, delivering a presentation is a fear for every role in IT. Prepare your communication to help overcome the fears that are within your control.

    Research Contributors and Experts

    Anuja Agrawal, National Communications Director, PwC

    Anuja Agrawal
    National Communications Director
    PwC

    Anuja is an accomplished global communications professional, with extensive experience in the insurance, banking, financial, and professional services industry in Asia, the US, and Canada. She is currently the National Communications Director at PwC Canada. Her prior work experience includes communication leadership roles at Deutsche Bank, GE, Aviva, and Veritas. Anuja works closely with senior business leaders and key stakeholders to deliver measurable results and effective change and culture building programs. Anuja has experience in both internal and external communications, including strategic leadership communication, employee engagement, PR and media management, digital and social media, M&A/change and crisis management. Anuja believes in leveraging digital tools and technology-enabled solutions combined with in-person engagement to help improve the quality of dialogue and increase interactive communication within the organization to help build an inclusive culture of belonging.

    Nastaran Bisheban, Chief Technology Officer, KFC Canada

    Nastaran Bisheban
    Chief Technology Officer
    KFC Canada

    A passionate technologist and seasoned transformational leader. A software engineer and computer scientist by education, a certified Project Manager that holds an MBA in Leadership with Honors and Distinction from University of Liverpool. A public speaker on various disciplines of technology and data strategy with a Harvard Business School executive leadership program training to round it all. Challenges status quo and conventional practices; is an advocate for taking calculated risk and following the principle of continuous improvement. With multiple computer software and project management publications she is a strategic mentor and board member on various non-profit organizations. Nastaran sees the world as a better place only when everyone has a seat at the table and is an active advocate for diversity and inclusion.

    Heidi Davidson, Co-founder & CEO, Galvanize Worldwide and Galvanize On Demand

    Heidi Davidson
    Co-founder & CEO
    Galvanize Worldwide and Galvanize On Demand

    Dr. Heidi Davidson is the Co-Founder and CEO of Galvanize Worldwide, the largest distributed network of marketing and communications experts in the world. She also is the Co-Founder and CEO of Galvanize On Demand, a tech platform that matches marketing and communications freelancers with client projects. Now with 167 active experts, the Galvanize team delivers startup advisory work, outsourced marketing, training, and crisis communications to organizations of all sizes. Before Galvanize, Heidi spent four years as part of the turnaround team at BlackBerry as the Chief Communications Officer and SVP of Corporate Marketing, where she helped the company move from a device manufacturer to a security software provider.

    Eli Gladstone, Co-founder, Speaker Labs

    Eli Gladstone
    Co-Founder
    Speaker Labs

    Eli is a Co-Founder of Speaker Labs. He has spent over 6 years helping countless individuals overcome their public speaking fears and communicate with clarity and confidence. When he's not coaching others on how to build and deliver the perfect presentation, you'll probably find him reading some weird books, teaching his kids how to ski or play tennis, or trying to develop a good enough jumpshot to avoid being a liability on the basketball court.

    Francisco Mahfuz, Keynote Speaker & Storytelling Coach

    Francisco Mahfuz
    Keynote Speaker & Storytelling Coach

    Francisco Mahfuz has been telling stories in front of audiences for a decade, and even became a National Champion of public speaking. Today, Francisco is a keynote speaker and storytelling coach and offers communication training to individuals and international organisations, and has worked with organisations like Pepsi, HP, the United Nations, Santander and Cornell University. He's the author of Bare: A Guide to Brutally Honest Public Speaking, the host of The Storypowers Podcast, and he’s been part of the IESE MBA communications course since 2020. He's received a BA in English Literature from Birkbeck University in London.

    Sarah Shortreed, EVP & CTO, ATCO Ltd.

    Sarah Shortreed
    EVP & CTO
    ATCO Ltd.

    Sarah Shortreed is ATCO’s Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. Her responsibilities include leading ATCO’s Information Technology (IT) function as it continues to drive agility and collaboration throughout ATCO’s global businesses and expanding and enhancing its enterprise IT strategy, including establishing ATCO’s technology roadmap for the future. Ms. Shortreed's skill and expertise are drawn from her more than 30-year career that spans many industries and includes executive roles in business consulting, complex multi-stakeholder programs, operations, sales, customer relationship management and product management. She was recently the Chief Information Officer at Bruce Power and has previously worked at BlackBerry, IBM and Union Gas. She sits on the Board of Governors for the University of Western Ontario and is the current Chair of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) Committee at the Conference Board of Canada.

    Eric Silverberg, Co-Founder Speaker Labs

    Eric Silverberg
    Co-Founder
    Speaker Labs

    Eric is a Co-Founder of Speaker Labs and has helped thousands of people build their public speaking confidence and become more dynamic and engaging communicators. When he's not running workshops to help people grow in their careers, there's a good chance you'll find him with his wife and dog, drinking Diet Coke and rewatching iconic episodes of the reality TV show Survivor! He's such a die-hard fan, that you'll probably see him playing the game one day.

    Stephanie Stewart, Communications Officer & DR Coordinator, Info Security Services Simon Fraser University

    Stephanie Stewart
    Communications Officer & DR Coordinator
    Info Security Services Simon Fraser University

    Steve Strout, President, Miovision Technologies

    Steve Strout
    President
    Miovision Technologies

    Mr. Strout is a recognized and experienced technology leader with extensive experience in delivering value. He has successfully led business and technology transformations by leveraging many dozens of complex global SFDC, Oracle and/or SAP projects. He is especially adept at leading what some call “Project Rescues” – saving people’s careers where projects have gone awry; always driving "on-time and on-budget.“ Mr. Strout is the current President of Miovision Technologies and the former CEO and board member of the Americas’ SAP Users’ Group (ASUG). His wealth of practical knowledge comes from 30 years of extensive experience in many CxO and executive roles at some prestigious organizations such as Vonage, Sabre, BlackBerry, Shred-it, The Thomson Corporation (now Thomson Reuters) and Morris Communications. Served on Boards including Customer Advisory Boards of Apple, AgriSource Data, Dell, Edgewise, EMC, LogiSense, Socrates.ai, Spiro Carbon Group, and Unifi.

    Info-Tech Research Group Contributors:
    Sanchia Benedict, Research Lead
    Koula Bouloukos, Production Manager
    Antony Chan, Executive Counsellor
    Janice Clatterbuck, Executive Counsellor
    Ahmed Jowar, Research Specialist
    Dave Kish, Practice Lead
    Nick Kozlo, Senior Research Analyst
    Heather Leier Murray, Senior Research Analyst
    Amanda Mathieson, Research Director
    Carlene McCubbin, Practice Lead
    Joe Meier, Executive Counsellor
    Andy Neill, AVP, Research
    Thomas Randall, Research Director

    Plus an additional two contributors who wish to remain anonymous.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Boardroom Presentation Review

    • You will come away with a clear, concise, and compelling board presentation that IT leaders can feel confident presenting in front of their board of directors.
    • Add improvements to your current board presentation in terms of visual appeal and logical flow to ensure it resonates with your board of directors.
    • Leverage a best-of-breed presentation template.

    Build a Better Manager

    • Management skills training is needed, but organizations are struggling to provide training that makes a long-term difference in the skills managers actually use in their day to day.
    • Many training programs are ineffective because they offer the wrong content, deliver it in a way that is not memorable, and are not aligned with the IT department’s business objectives.

    Crisis Communication Guides

    During a crisis it is important to communicate to employees through messages that convey calm and are transparent and tailored to your audience. Use the Crisis Communication Guides to:

    • Draft a communication strategy.
    • Tailor messages to your audience.
    • Draft employee crisis communications.

    Use this guide to equip leadership to communicate in times of crisis.

    Bibliography

    Gallo, Carmine. "How Great Leaders Communicate." Harvard Business Review. 23 November 2022.

    Gallup. State of the American Workplace Report. Washington, D.C.: Gallup, 6 February 2020.

    Guthrie, Georgina. “Why Good Internal Communications Matter Now More than Ever.” Nulab. 15 Dec. 2021.

    Hypercontext. “The State of High Performing Teams in Tech 2022.” Hypercontext. 2022.

    Lambden, Duncan. “The Importance of Effective Workplace Communication – Statistics for 2022.” Expert Market. 13 June 2022.

    McCreary, Gale & WikiHow. “How to Measure the Effectiveness of Communication: 14 Steps.” WikiHow.

    Nowak, Marcin. “Top 7 Communication Problems in the Workplace.” MIT Enterprise Forum CEE, 2021.

    Nunn, Philip. “Messaging That Works: A Unique Framework to Maximize Communication Success.” iabc.

    Picincu, Andra. “How to Measure Effective Communications.” Small Business Chron. 12 January 2021.

    Price. David A. “Pixar Story Rules.”

    Prosci. “Best Practices in Change Management 2020 Edition.” Prosci, 2020.

    Roberts, Dan. “How CIOs Become Visionary Communicators.” CIO, 2019.

    Schlesinger, Mark. “Why building effective communication skill in IT is incredibly important.”

    Skills Framework for the Information Age, “Mapping SFIA Levels of Responsibilities to Behavioural Factors.” Skills Framework for the Information Age, 2021.

    St. James, Halina. Talk It Out. Podium, 2005.

    TeamState. “Communication in the Workplace Statistics: Importance and Effectiveness in 2022.” TeamStage, 2022.

    Walters, Katlin. “Top 5 Ways to Measure Internal Communication.” Intranet Connections, 30 May 2019.

    Govern Shared Services

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}459|cart{/j2store}
    • member rating overall impact (scale of 10): N/A
    • member rating average dollars saved: N/A
    • member rating average days saved: N/A
    • Parent Category Name: Operations Management
    • Parent Category Link: /i-and-o-process-management
    • IT managers have come under increasing pressure to cut costs, and implementing shared services has become a popular demand from the business.
    • Business unit resistance to a shared services implementation can derail the project.
    • Shared services rearranges responsibilities within existing IT departments, potentially leaving no one accountable for project success and causing cost overruns and service performance failures.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Over one-third of shared services implementations increase IT costs, due to implementation failures. Ineffective governance plays a major role in the breakdown of shared services, particularly when it does not overcome stakeholder resistance or define clear areas of responsibility.
    • Effective governance of a shared services implementation requires the IT leader to find the optimal combination of independence and centralization for the shared service provider.
    • Three primary models exist for governing shared services: entrepreneurial, mandated, and market-based. Each one occupies a different location in the trade-off of independence and centralization. The optimal model for a specific situation depends on the size of the organization, the number of participants, the existing trend towards centralization, and other factors.

    Impact and Result

    • Find the optimal governance model for your organization by weighing the different likely benefits and costs of each path.
    • Assign appropriate individual responsibilities to participants, so you can effectively scope your service offering and fund your implementation.
    • Support the governance effort effectively using published Info-Tech tools and templates.

    Govern Shared Services Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Understand each of the governance models and what each entails

    Build a plan for governing an implementation.

    • Storyboard: Govern Shared Services
    • None

    2. Choose the optimal approach to shared services governance

    Maximize the net benefit conferred by governance.

    • Shared Services Governance Strategy Roadmap Tool
    [infographic]

    Collaborate Effectively in Microsoft Teams

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}63|cart{/j2store}
    • member rating overall impact (scale of 10): N/A
    • member rating average dollars saved: N/A
    • member rating average days saved: N/A
    • Parent Category Name: End-User Computing Applications
    • Parent Category Link: /end-user-computing-applications

    Your organization has adopted Microsoft Teams, but users are not maximizing their use of it.

    • IT needs to support the business to get the best value out of Microsoft Teams: managing Teams effectively while also enabling end users to use Teams creatively.
    • IT must follow best practices for evaluation of new functionality when integrating Microsoft and third-party apps and also communicate changes to end users.
    • Due in part to the frequent addition of new features and lack of communication and training, many organizations don’t know which apps would benefit their users.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    Collaboration is as much an art as a science. IT can help users collaborate more effectively in Teams by removing friction – while still maintaining guardrails – for users attempting to build out and experiment with features and capabilities.

    Impact and Result

    Use Info-Tech’s Collaborate Effectively in Microsoft Teams to help collaboration flourish:

    • Collate key organizational collaboration use cases.
    • Prioritize the most important Teams apps and features to support use cases.
    • Implement request process for new Teams apps.
    • Communicate new Teams collaboration functionality.

    Collaborate Effectively in Microsoft Teams Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Collaborate Effectively in Microsoft Teams Deck – Maximize the use of your chosen collaboration software solution.

    Set up your users for Teams collaboration success. Create a process that improves their ability to access, understand, and maximize their use of your chosen collaboration software solution.

    • Collaborate Effectively in Microsoft Teams Storyboard

    2. Microsoft Teams End-User Satisfaction Survey – Capture end-user feedback on their collaborative use of Microsoft Teams.

    The survey responses will inform your organization's collaboration use cases for Teams and help you to identify which features and apps to enable.

    • Microsoft Teams End-User Satisfaction Survey

    3. Microsoft Teams Planning Tool – A tool to help prioritize features to implement.

    Use this Excel tool to help you document the organization’s key collaboration use cases and prioritize which Teams apps to implement and encourage adoption on.

    • Microsoft Teams Planning Tool
    [infographic]

    Further reading

    Collaborate Effectively in Microsoft Teams

    Empower your users to explore Teams collaboration beyond the basics.

    Analyst Perspective

    Life after Teams implementation

    You have adopted Teams, implemented it, and painted an early picture for your users on the basics. However, your organization is not yet maximizing its use of Teams' collaboration capabilities. Although web conferencing, channel-based collaboration, and chat are the most obvious ways Teams supports collaboration, users must explore Teams' functionality further to harness the application's full potential.

    You should enable your users to expand their collaboration use cases in Teams, but not at the risk of being flooded with app requests, nor user confusion or dissatisfaction. Instead, develop a process to evaluate and integrate new apps that will benefit the organization. Encourage your users to request new apps that will benefit them, while proactively planning for app integration that users should be alerted to.

    Photo of Emily Sugerman, Research Analyst, Infrastructure and Operations, Info-Tech Research Group. Emily Sugerman
    Research Analyst, Infrastructure and Operations
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    Your organization has adopted Microsoft Teams, but users are not getting the maximum benefit.

    • IT needs to support the business to get the best value out of Microsoft Teams: managing Teams effectively while enabling end-user creativity.
    • IT must follow best practices for evaluating new functionality when integrating Microsoft and third-party apps, while communicating changes to end users.
    • Due partly to the frequent addition of new features and lack of communication and training, many organizations don't know which apps would benefit their users.

    Common Obstacles

    • Users are unenthusiastic about exploring Teams further due to negative past experiences, preference for other applications, or indifference.
    • End users are unaware of the available range of features. When they become aware and try to add unapproved or unlicensed apps, they experience the frustration of being declined.
    • Users seek support from IT who are unfamiliar with new Teams features an apps, or with supporting Teams beyond the basics.
    • IT teams have no process to raise end-user awareness of these apps and functionality.

    Info-Tech's Approach

    Use Info-Tech's Collaborate Effectively in Microsoft Teams to help collaboration flourish:

    • Collate key organizational collaboration use cases
    • Prioritize the most important Teams apps and features to support use cases
    • Implement request process for new Teams apps
    • Communicate new Teams collaboration functionality

    Info-Tech Insight

    Collaboration is as much an art as a science. IT can help users collaborate more effectively in Teams by removing friction – while still maintaining guardrails – for users attempting to build out and experiment with features and capabilities.

    Are your users in a Teams rut?

    Are users failing to maximize their use of Teams to collaborate and get work done?

    Teams can do much more than chat, video conferencing, and document sharing. A fully-deployed Teams also lets users leverage apps and advanced collaboration features.

    However, IT must create a process for evaluating and approving Microsoft and third-party apps, and for communicating changes to end users.

    In the end, IT needs to support the business to get the best value out of Microsoft Teams: managing Teams effectively while also enabling end-user creativity.

    Third-party app use in Teams is rising:

    “Within Teams, the third-party apps with 10,000 users and above rose nearly 40% year-over-year.”
    Source: UC Today, 2023.

    Collaborate effectively in Microsoft Teams

    Set up your users for Teams collaboration success. Create a process that improves their ability to access, understand, and maximize their use of your chosen collaboration software solution.

    Challenges with Teams collaboration

    • Lack of motivation to explore available features
    • Scattered information
    • Lack of comfort using Teams beyond the basics
    • Blocked apps
    • Overlapping features
    • Confusing permissions

    Empowering Collaboration in Microsoft Teams

    1. Identify current collaboration challenges and use cases in Teams
    2. Create Teams app request workflows
    3. Set up communication hubs in Teams
    4. Empower end users to customize their Teams for effective collaboration

    Solution

    • Collate key organizational collaboration use cases
    • Prioritize the most important Teams apps and features to support use cases
    • Implement request process for new Teams apps
    • Communicate new Teams collaboration functionality

    Project deliverables

    Use these tools to develop your plan to enable effective collaboration in Microsoft Teams.

    Key deliverable:

    Microsoft Teams Planning Tool

    An Excel tool for documenting the organization's key collaboration use cases and prioritizing which Teams apps to implement and encourage adoption of.

    Sample of the Microsoft Teams Planning Tool deliverable.

    Additional support:

    Microsoft Teams End-User Satisfaction Survey

    Use or adapt this survey to capture user perception of how effectively Teams supports collaboration needs.

    Sample of the End-user satisfaction survey deliverable.

    Insight Summary

    Key Insight:

    Collaboration is as much an art as a science. IT can help users collaborate more effectively in Teams by removing friction – while still maintaining guardrails – for users attempting to build out and experiment with features and capabilities.

    Additional insights:

    Insight 1

    Users can browse the Teams app store and attempt to add unapproved apps, but they may not be able to distinguish between available and blocked apps. To avoid a bad user experience, communicate which apps they can add without additional approval and which they will need to send through an approval process.

    Insight 2

    Teams lets you customize the message users see when they request unapproved apps and/or redirect their request to your own URL. Review this step in the request process to ensure users are seeing the instructions that they need to see.

    Insight 3

    A Teams hub is where users can access a service catalog of approved Teams apps and submit service requests for new ones via the Make a Request button.

    Section 1: Collaborating Effectively in Teams for IT

    Section 1

    Collaborating Effectively in Teams for IT

    Section 2

    Collaborating Effectively in Teams for End Users

    Stop: Do you need the Teams Cookbook?

    If you:

    • are at the Teams implementation stage,
    • require IT best practices for initial governance of Teams creation, or
    • require end-user best practices for basic Teams functionality …

    Consult the Microsoft Teams Cookbook first.

    Understand the Microsoft vision of Teams collaboration

    Does it work for you?

    Microsoft's vision for Teams collaboration is to enable end-user freedom. For example, out of the box, users can create their own teams and channels unless IT restricts this ability.

    Teams is meant to be more than just chats and meetings. Microsoft is pushing Teams app integration so that Teams becomes, essentially, a landing page from which users can centralize their work and org updates.

    In partnership with the business, IT must determine which guardrails are necessary to balance end-user collaboration and creativity with the need for governance and control.

    Why is it difficult to increase the caliber of collaboration in Teams?

    Because collaboration is inherently messy, complex, and creative

    Schubert & Glitsch find that enterprise collaboration systems (such as Teams) have characteristics that reflect the unstructured and creative nature of collaboration. These systems “are designed to support joint work among people in the workplace. . . [They] contain, for the most part, unstructured content such as documents, blogs, or news posts,” and their implementations “are often reported to follow a ‘bottom up' and rather experimental introduction approach.” The open-endedness of the tool requires users to be able to creatively and voluntarily apply it, which in turn requires more enterprise effort to help increase adoption over time through trial and error.

    Source: Procedia Computer Science, 2015

    Info-Tech Insight

    Collaboration is as much an art as a science. IT can help users collaborate more effectively in Teams by removing friction – while still maintaining guardrails – for users attempting to build out and experiment with features and capabilities.

    Activity 1: Identify current challenges

    Input: Team input, Survey results
    Output: List of Teams challenges experienced by the organization
    Materials: Whiteboard (digital or physical)
    Participants: Teams collaboration working group

    First, identify what works and what doesn't for your users in Teams

    • Have users reported any challenges with Teams as their primary means of channel-based collaboration? Run a short survey to capture end-user sentiment on how Teams works for them. This survey can be set up and distributed through Microsoft Forms. Distribute either to the whole organization or a specific focus group. Gather feedback from users on the following: What are the major ways they need to collaborate to do their jobs? What IT-supported tools do they need to support this collaboration? What specific aspects of Teams do they want to better exploit?
    • If you send out transactional surveys on service desk tickets, run a report on Teams-related tickets to identify common complaints.
    • Brainstorm Teams challenges IT has experienced personally or have seen reported – especially difficulties with collaboration.
    • Once you have the data, group the challenges into themes. Are the challenges specifically related to collaboration? Data issues? Support issues? Access issues? Technical issues? Document them in tab 2 of the Microsoft Teams Planning Tool.

    Download the Microsoft Teams End-User Satisfaction Survey template

    Define your organization's key collaboration scenarios

    Next, identify what users need to do in Teams

    The term collaboration scenarios has been proposed to describe the types of collaboration behavior your software – in this case, Teams – must support (Schubert & Glitsch, 2015). A successful implementation of this kind of tool requires that you “identif[y] use cases and collaboration scenarios that best suit a specific company and the people working in it” (Schubert & Glitsch, 2016).

    Teams tends to support the following kinds of collaboration and productivity goals (see list).

    What types of collaboration scenarios arise in the user feedback in the previous activity? What do users most need to do?

    Be proactive: Configure Microsoft Teams to match collaboration scenarios/use cases your users must engage in. This will help prevent an increase in shadow IT, where users attempt to bring in unapproved/unreviewed software that might duplicate your existing service catalog and/or circumvent the proper review and procurement process.

    MS Teams Use Cases

    1. Gather feedback
    2. Collaboratively create content
    3. Improve project & task management
    4. Add media content
    5. Conduct knowledge management
    6. Increase meeting effectiveness
    7. Increase employee engagement
    8. Enhance professional development
    9. Provide or access support
    10. Add third-party apps

    Activity 2: Match your collaboration scenarios to Teams capabilities

    Input: Collaboration scenarios, Teams use cases
    Output: Ranked list of Teams features to implement and/or promote
    Materials: Microsoft Teams Planning Tool
    Participants: Teams collaboration working group

    Which features support the key collaboration use cases?

    1. Using the Microsoft Teams Planning Tool, list your organization's key collaboration scenarios. Draw on the data returned in the previous activity. List them in Tab 2.
    2. See the following slide for the types of collaboration use cases Teams is designed to support. In the planning tool, select use cases that best match your organizational collaboration scenarios.
    3. Dive into more specific features on Tab 3, which are categorized by collaboration use case. Where do users' collaboration needs align with Teams' inherent capabilities? Add lines in Tab C for the third-party apps that you are considering adding to Teams.
    4. In columns B and C of Tab 3, decide and prioritize the candidates for implementation. Review the list of prioritized features on tab 4.

    NB: Microsoft has introduced a Teams Premium offering, with additional capabilities for meetings and webinars (including customized banding, meeting watermarks, and virtual webinar green rooms) and will paywall some features previously available without Premium (live caption translations, meeting data on attendee departure/arrival times) (“What is Microsoft Teams Premium?”, n.d.)

    Download the Microsoft Teams Planning Tool

    MS Teams productivity & collab features

    Teams apps & collaboration features enable the following types of work. When designing collaboration use cases, identify which types of collaboration are necessary, then explore each category in depth.

    1. Gather feedback

      Solicit feedback and comments, and provide updates
    2. Collaboratively create content

      Compose as a group, with live-synced changes
    3. Improve project & task management

      Keep track of projects and tasks
    4. Add media content

      Enrich Teams conversations with media, and keep a library of video resources
    5. Knowledge management

      Pull together document libraries and make information easier to find
    6. Increase meeting effectiveness

      Facilitate interactions and document meeting outcomes
    7. Increase employee engagement

      Use features that enhance social interaction among Teams users
    8. Enhance professional development

      Find resources to help achieve professional goals
    9. Provide or access support

      IT and user-facing resources for accessing and/or providing support
    10. Add third-party apps

      Understand the availability/restrictions of the built-in Teams app catalog

    The Teams app store

    • The lure of the app store: Your users will encounter a mix of supported and unsupported applications, some of which they can access, some for which you have no licenses, some built by your organization, some built by Microsoft or third parties. However, the distinction between these categories may not be immediately apparent to users. Microsoft does not remove blocked apps from users' view.
    • Users may attempt to add unsupported apps and then receive error messages or prompts to send a request through Teams to IT for approval.
    • App add-ins are not limited to those built by Microsoft Corporation. The Teams app store also features a plethora of third-party apps that can provide value.
    • However, their third-party status introduces another set of complications.
    • Attempting to add third-party apps may expose users to sales pitches and encourage the implementation of shadow IT, circumventing the IT request process.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Users can browse and attempt to add unapproved apps in the Teams app store, but they may have difficulty distinguishing between available and blocked apps. To avoid a bad user experience, communicate to your users which apps they can add without additional approval, and which must be sent through an approval process.

    Decide how you will evaluate requests for new Teams apps

    • As you encourage users to explore and fully utilize Teams, you may see increased requests for admin approval for apps you do not currently support.
    • To prevent disorganized response and user dissatisfaction, build out a workflow for handling new/unapproved Teams app requests. Ensure the workflow accounts for Microsoft and third-party apps.
    • What must you consider when integrating third-party tools? You must have control over what users may add. These requests should follow, or build upon, your existing process for non-standard requests, including a process for communicating the change.
    • Track the fulfillment time for Teams app requests. The longer the user must wait for a response, the more their satisfaction will decline.

    icrosoft suggests that you regularly review the app usage report in the Teams admin center as “a signal about the demand for an app within your organization.” This will help you proactively determine which apps to evaluate for approval.

    Build request workflow for unsupported Teams apps

    What are the key steps?

    1. Request comes in
    2. Review by a technical review team
    3. Review by service desk or business analyst
    4. Additional operational technical reviews if necessary
    5. Procurement and installation
    6. Communication of result to requester
    7. App added to the catalog so it can be used by others

    Example workflow of a 'Non-Standard Software Request Process'.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Teams allows you to customize the message users see when they request an unapproved app and/or redirect their request to your own URL. Review this step in the request process to ensure your users are seeing the instructions that they need to see.

    Download the Service Request Workflow library

    Incorporate new approved service requests into a service request catalog

    Follow the process in Reduce Shadow IT With a Service Request Catalog to build out a robust request management process and service catalog to continuously incorporate new non-standard requests and advertise new Teams apps:

    • Design the service
    • Design the catalog
    • Build the catalog
    • Market the service

    Sample of the 'Reduce Shadow IT With a Service Request Catalog' blueprint.

    Add a company hub to Teams

    Use Teams to help users access the company intranet for organizational information that is relevant to their roles.

    This can be done in two ways:

    1. By adding a SharePoint home site to Teams.
    2. By leveraging Viva Connections: A hub to access other apps and Viva services. The user sees a personalized dashboard, feed, and resources.

    Venn diagram with two circles 'Viva Connections - App-based employee experience where individuals get their work done' and 'Home Sites - Portal that features organizational news, events, and supplemental resources'. The overlapping middle has a list: 'News, Shared navigation, Integrates with M365, Developer platforms & management, Audience targeting, Web parts, Permissions'. (Venn diagram recreated from Microsoft Learn, 2023.)

    Info-Tech Insight

    The hub is where users can access a service catalog of approved Teams apps and submit service requests for a new one via a Make a Request button.

    Communicate changes to Teams

    Let end users know what's available and how to add new productivity tools.

    Where will users find approved Teams apps? How will you inform people about what's available? Once a new app is available, how is this communicated?

    Options:

    • Communicate new Teams features in high-visibility places (e.g. the Hub).
    • Leverage the Power Apps Bulletins app in Teams to communicate regular announcements about new features.
    • Create a company-wide Team with a channel called “What's New in Teams.” Post updates on new features and integrations, and link to more detailed knowledgebase articles on how to use the new features.
    • Aim for the sweet spot of communication frequency: not too much nor too little.

    Measure your success

    Determine how you will evaluate the success of your efforts to improve the Teams collaboration experience

    Improved satisfaction with Teams: Increased net promoter score (NPS)

    Utilization of features: Increased daily average users on key features, apps, integrations

    Timeliness: % of SLAs met for service request fulfillment

    Improved communication to end users about Teams' functionality: Satisfaction with knowledgebase articles on Teams

    Satisfaction with communication from IT

    Section 2: Collaborating Effectively in Teams for End Users

    Section 1

    Collaborating Effectively in Teams for IT

    Section 2

    Collaborating Effectively in Teams for End Users

    For IT: Use this section to help users understand Teams collaboration features

    Share the collateral in this section with your users to support their deeper exploration of Teams collaboration.

    • Use the Microsoft Teams Planning Tool to prepare a simple service catalog of the features and apps available to your users.
    • Edit Tab 2 (MS Teams Collab Features & Apps) by deleting the blocked apps/features.
    • Share this document with your users by linking to it via this image on the following slides:
    Sample of the Microsoft Teams Planning Tool deliverable.

    Download the Microsoft Teams Planning Tool for an expanded list of features & apps

    End-user customization of Teams

    Consider how you want to set up your Teams view. Add the apps you already use to have them at your fingertips in Teams.

    You can . . .

    1. Customize your navigation bar by pinning your preferred apps and working with them within Teams (Microsoft calls these personal apps).
    2. Customize your message bar by adding the app extensions you find most useful. Screenshot of the message bar with the 3-dot highlighted.
    3. Customize chats and Teams by adding tabs with content your group needs frequent access to. Screenshot of MS Teams tabs with the plus sign highlighted.
    4. Set up connectors to send notifications from apps to a Team and bots to answer questions and automate simple tasks. Screenshot of the 'Set up a connector' button.

    Learn more from Microsoft here

    MS Teams productivity & collab features

    The Apps catalog includes a range of apps that users may add to channels, chat, or the navigation bar. Teams also possesses other collaboration features that may be underused in your organization.

    1. Gather feedback

      Solicit feedback and comments, and provide updates
    2. Collaboratively create content

      Compose as a group, with live-synced changes
    3. Improve project & task management

      Keep track of projects and tasks
    4. Add media content

      Enrich Teams conversations with media, and keep a library of video resources
    5. Knowledge management

      Pull together document libraries and make information easier to find
    6. Increase meeting effectiveness

      Facilitate interactions and document meeting outcomes
    7. Increase employee engagement

      Use features that enhance social interaction among Teams users
    8. Enhance professional development

      Find resources to help achieve professional goals
    9. Provide or access support

      IT and user-facing resources for accessing and/or providing support
    10. Add third-party apps

      Understand the availability/restrictions of the built-in Teams app catalog

    Samples of four features: 'Prioritize with a voting table', 'Launch a live meeting poll', 'Launch a survey', and 'Request an update'.

    Download the Microsoft Teams Collaboration Tool for an expanded list of features & apps

    Use integrated Teams features to gather feedback and provide updates

    • Vote: Create a list of items for teams to brainstorm pros and cons, and then tabulate votes on. This component can be edited inline by anyone with whom the component is shared. The edits will sync anywhere the component is shared.
    • Meeting polls: Capture instant feedback from teams, chat, and call participants. Participant anonymity can be set by the poll organizer. Results can be exported.
    • Create surveys and quizzes and share the results. Results can be exported.
    • Create, track, and review updates and progress reports from teams and individuals.

    Collaboratively create content

    Samples of four features: 'Add Office suite docs', 'Brainstorm in Whiteboard', 'Add Loop components', and 'Take notes in OneNote'.

    Download the Microsoft Teams Planning Tool for an expanded list of features & apps

    Use integrated Teams features composed as a group, with live-synced changes

    • Microsoft Office documents: Add/upload files to a chat or channel discussion. Find them again in the Files tab or add the file itself as a tab to a chat or channel and edit it within Teams.
    • Brainstorm with the Whiteboard application. Add a whiteboard to a tab or to a meeting.
    • Add Loop components to a chat: Create a list, checklist, paragraph, or table that can be edited in real time by anyone in the chat.
    • Add OneNote to a chat or channel tab or use during a meeting to take notes. Pin OneNote to your app bar if it's one of your most frequently-used apps.

    Improve project & task management

    Samples of four features: 'Request approvals and updates', 'Add & track tasks', 'Create a personal notespace', and 'Manage workflows'.

    Download the Microsoft Teams Planning Tool for an expanded list of features & apps

    Keep track of projects and tasks

    • Use the Approvals and Update apps to create, track, and respond to requests for approvals and progress reports within Teams.
    • Use Tasks by Planner & To Do to track both individual and team tasks. Pin the Tasks app to the app bar, add a plan as a tab to a Team, and turn any Teams message into a task by right-clicking on it.
    • Start a chat with yourself to maintain a private space to jot down quick notes.
    • Add Lists to a Teams channel.
    • Explore automation: Add pre-built Teams workflows from the Workflows app, or build new ones in PowerAutomate
    • IT teams may leverage Teams apps like Azure Boards, Pipelines, Repos, AD notifications, and GitHub.

    Add media content

    Samples of four features: 'Share news stories', 'Share YouTube videos', 'Share Stream content', and 'Add RSS feeds'.

    Download the Microsoft Teams Planning Tool for an expanded list of features & apps

    Enrich Teams conversations with media, and keep a library of video resources

    • Search for and add specific news stories to a chat or channel. See recent news stories in search.
    • Search, share, and watch YouTube videos.
    • Share video links from Microsoft Stream.
    • Add RSS feeds.

    Knowledge management

    Samples of four features: 'SharePoint Pages', 'SharePoint document library', 'SharePoint News', and 'Who'.

    Download the Microsoft Teams Planning Tool for an expanded list of features & apps

    Pull together document libraries and make information easier to find

    • Add a page from an existing SharePoint site to a Team as a tab.
    • Add a SharePoint document library to a Team as a tab.
    • Search names of members of your organization to learn about their role, place in the organizational structure, and contact information.

    Increase meeting effectiveness

    Samples of four features: 'Take meeting notes', 'Set up a Q&A', 'Use live captions', and 'Record and transcribe meetings'.

    Download the Microsoft Teams Planning Tool for an expanded list of features & apps

    Facilitate interactions and document meeting outcomes

    • Take simple notes during a meeting.
    • Start conversations and ask and answer questions in a dedicated Q&A space during the Teams meeting.
    • Turn on live captions during the meeting.
    • Record a meeting and automatically generate a transcript of the meeting.
    • Assign attendees to breakout rooms.
    • Track the effectiveness of the meeting by producing an attendance report with the number of attendees, the meeting start/end time, a list of the attendees, and participation in activities.

    Increase employee engagement

    Samples of four features: 'Send praise', 'Build an avatar', 'Add video effects', and 'Play games during meetings'.

    Download the Microsoft Teams Planning Tool for an expanded list of features & apps

    Use features that enhance social interaction among Teams users

    • Send supportive comments to colleagues using Praise.
    • Build out digital avatars to toggle on during meetings instead of your own video.
    • Apply different visual effects, filters, and backgrounds to your screen during meetings.
    • Games for Work: Launch icebreaker games during a meeting.
    • Translate a Teams message from another language to your default language.
    • Send emojis, GIFs, and stickers in messages or as reactions to others' messages. You can also send reactions live during meetings to increase meeting engagement.

    Enhance professional development

    Samples of four features: 'Launch Viva Learning', 'Turn on Speaker Coach', 'Viva Insights', and 'Viva Goals'.

    Download the Microsoft Teams Planning Tool for an expanded list of features & apps

    Connect with learning resources and apply data-driven feedback based on Teams usage

    • Add learning materials from various course catalogs in Viva Learning.
    • Speaker Coach: Receive AI feedback on your performance as a speaker during a meeting.
    • Receive automatically generated insights and suggestions from Viva Insights on work habits and time allocation to different work activities.
    • Viva Goals: Track organizational "objectives and key results"/manage organizational goals

    Provide or access support

    Samples of four features: 'Access MS Support', 'Manage Teams & M365', 'Deploy power virtual agents', and 'Consult MS resource center'.

    Download the Microsoft Teams Planning Tool for an expanded list of features & apps

    IT and user-facing resources for accessing or providing support

    • Admin: Carry out simple Teams management tasks (for IT).
    • Power Virtual Agents: Build out chatbots to answer user questions (can be built by IT and end users for their customers).
    • Resource Center: A combination of pre-built Microsoft resources (tips, templates) with resources provided by organizational IT.
    • Support: Access Microsoft self-serve knowledgebase articles (for IT).

    Add third-party apps

    Understand the availability/restrictions of the built-in Teams app catalog

    • App add-ins are not limited to those built by Microsoft Corporation. The Teams app store also features a plethora of third-party apps that may provide value.
    • However, being able to view an app in the app store does not necessarily mean it's supported or licensed by your organization.
    • Teams will allow users to request access to apps, which will then be evaluated by your IT support team. Follow your service desk's recommended request process for requesting and justifying the addition of a new Teams app that is not currently supported.
    • Before making the request, investigate existing Teams features to determine if the functionality is already available.

    Research contributors

    Mike Cavanagh
    Global Service Desk Manager
    Clearwater Seafoods LP

    Info-Tech contributors:

    Benedict Chang, Senior Advisory Analyst

    John Donovan, Principal Research Director

    Allison Kinnaird, Practice Lead

    P.J. Ryan, Research Director

    Natalie Sansone, Research Director

    Christine West, Managing Partner

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Sample of the 'Reduce Shadow IT with a Service Request Catalog' blueprint.

    Reduce Shadow IT With a Service Request Catalog

    Foster business relationships through sourcing-as-a-service. There is a direct correlation between service delivery dissatisfaction and increases in shadow IT. Whether the goal is to reduce shadow IT or gain control, improved customer service and fast delivery are key to making lasting changes.

    Sample of the 'Microsoft Teams Cookbook' blueprint.

    Microsoft Teams Cookbook

    Recipes for best practices and use cases for Teams. Microsoft Teams is not a standalone app. Successful utilization of Teams occurs when conceived in the broader context of how it integrates with M365. Understanding how information flows between Teams, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive for Business, for instance, will aid governance with permissions, information storage, and file sharing.

    Sample of the 'Govern Office 365 (M365)' blueprint.

    Govern Office 365

    You bought it. Use it right. Map your organizational goals to the administration features available in the Office 365/M365 console. Your governance should reflect your requirements.

    Bibliography

    Mehta, Tejas. “The Home Site App for Microsoft Teams.” Microsoft Community Hub. https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-sharepoint-blog/the-home-site-app-for-microsoft-teams/ba-p/1714255.

    Overview: Viva Connections. 7 Mar. 2023, https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/viva/connections/viva-connections-overview.

    Rogers, Laura. “SharePoint Home Site in Teams.” Wonderlaura, 24 Jun 2021. https://wonderlaura.com/2021/06/24/sharepoint-home...

    Schubert, Petra, and Johannes H. Glitsch. “Adding Structure to Enterprise Collaboration Systems: Identification of Use Cases and Collaboration Scenarios.” Procedia Computer Science, vol. 64, Jan. 2015, pp. 161–69. ScienceDirect, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2015.08.477.

    Schubert, Petra, and Johannes Glitsch. “Use Cases and Collaboration Scenarios: How Employees Use Socially-Enabled Enterprise Collaboration Systems (ECS).” International Journal of Information Systems and Project Management, vol. 4, no. 2, Jan. 2016, pp. 41–62.

    Thompson, Mark. “User Requests for Blocked Apps in the Teams Store.” Supersimple365, 5 Apr 2022, https://supersimple365.com/user-requests-for-apps-...

    “What is Microsoft Teams Premium?” Breakwater IT, n.d., https://breakwaterit.co.uk/guides/microsoft-teams-...

    Wills, Jonny. “Microsoft Teams Monthly Users Hits 280 Million.” UC Today, 25 Jan. 2023, https://www.uctoday.com/unified-communications/microsoft-teams-monthly-users-hits-280-million/.

    In Case Of Emergency...

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    1. Get people to safety efficiently by following the floor warden's information and get out if needed
      If there are no floor wardens, YOU take the initiative and alert people. Vacate the premises if you suspect danger.
      Err on the side of caution. Nobody ever got fired over keeping people safe.
    2. Get people to safety (yes! double check this)
    3. Check what is happening
    4. Stop the bleeding
    5. Check what you broke while stopping the bleeding
    6. Check if you need to go into DR mode
    7. Go into DR mode if that is the fastest way to restore the service
    8. Only now start to look deeper

    Notice what is missing in this list?

    • WHY did this happen?
    • WHO did what

    During the first reactions to an event, stick to the facts of what is happening and the symptoms. If the symptoms are bad, attend to people first, no matter the financial losses occurring.
    Remember that financial losses are typically insured. Human life is not. Only loss of income and ability to pay is insured! Not the person's life.

    The WHY, HOW, WHO and other root cause questions are asked in the aftermath of the incident and after you have stabilized the situation.
    In ITIL terms, those are Problem Management and Root Cause Analysis stage questions.

     

     

     

    Management, incident, reaction, emergency

    Build a Cloud Security Strategy

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    • member rating overall impact (scale of 10): 9.4/10 Overall Impact
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    • Parent Category Name: Security Strategy & Budgeting
    • Parent Category Link: /security-strategy-and-budgeting
    • Leveraging the cloud introduces IT professionals to a new world that they are tasked with securing.
    • With many cloud vendors proposing to share the security responsibility, it can be a challenge for organizations to develop a clear understanding of how they can best secure their data off premises.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Cloud security is not fundamentally different from security on premises.
    • While some of the mechanics are different, the underlying principles are the same. Accountability doesn’t disappear.
    • By virtue of its broad network accessibility, the cloud does expose decisions to extreme scrutiny, however.

    Impact and Result

    • The business is adopting a cloud environment and it must be secured, which includes:
      • Ensuring business data cannot be leaked or stolen.
      • Maintaining privacy of data and other information.
      • Securing the network connection points.
    • This blueprint and associated tools are scalable for all types of organizations within various industry sectors.

    Build a Cloud Security Strategy Research & Tools

    Start Here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should build a cloud security strategy, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Explore security considerations for the cloud

    Explore how the cloud changes the required controls and implementation strategies for a variety of different security domains.

    • Build a Cloud Security Strategy – Phase 1: Explore Security Considerations for the Cloud
    • Cloud Security Information Security Gap Analysis Tool
    • Cloud Security Strategy Template

    2. Prioritize initiatives and construct a roadmap

    Develop your organizational approach to various domains of security in the cloud, considering the cloud’s unique risks and challenges.

    • Build a Cloud Security Strategy – Phase 2: Prioritize Initiatives and Construct a Roadmap
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Build a Cloud Security Strategy

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Define Your Approach

    The Purpose

    Define your unique approach to improving security in the cloud.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    An understanding of the organization’s requirements for cloud security.

    Activities

    1.1 Define your approach to cloud security.

    1.2 Define your governance requirements.

    1.3 Define your cloud security management requirements.

    Outputs

    Defined cloud security approach

    Defined governance requirements

    2 Respond to Cloud Security Challenges

    The Purpose

    Explore challenges posed by the cloud in various areas of security.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    An understanding of how the organization needs to evolve to combat the unique security challenges of the cloud.

    Activities

    2.1 Explore cloud asset management.

    2.2 Explore cloud network security.

    2.3 Explore cloud application security.

    2.4 Explore log and event management.

    2.5 Explore cloud incident response.

    2.6 Explore cloud eDiscovery and forensics.

    2.7 Explore cloud backup and recovery.

    Outputs

    Understanding of cloud security strategy components (cont.).

    3 Build Cloud Security Roadmap

    The Purpose

    Identify initiatives to mitigate challenges posed by the cloud in various areas of security.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    A roadmap for improving security in the cloud.

    Activities

    3.1 Define tasks and initiatives.

    3.2 Finalize your task list

    3.3 Consolidate gap closure actions into initiatives.

    3.4 Finalize initiative list.

    3.5 Conduct a cost-benefit analysis.

    3.6 Prioritize initiatives and construct a roadmap.

    3.7 Create effort map.

    3.8 Assign initiative execution waves.

    3.9 Finalize prioritization.

    3.10 Incorporate initiatives into a roadmap.

    3.11 Schedule initiatives.

    3.12 Review your results.

    Outputs

    Defined task list.

    Cost-benefit analysis

    Roadmap

    Effort map

    Initiative schedule

    Tech Trend Update: If Biosecurity Then Autonomous Edge

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    • Parent Category Name: Innovation
    • Parent Category Link: /innovation

    COVID-19 has created new risks to physical encounters among workers and customers. New biosecurity processes and ways to effectively enforce them – in the least intrusive way possible – are required to resume these activities.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    New biosecurity standards will be imposed on many industries, and the autonomous edge will be part of the solution to manage that new reality.

    Impact and Result

    There are some key considerations for businesses considering new biosecurity measures:

    1. If prevention, then ID-based access control
    2. If intervention, then alerts based on data
    3. If investigation, then contact tracing

    Tech Trend Update: If Biosecurity Then Autonomous Edge Research & Tools

    Tech Trend Update: If Biosecurity Then Autonomous Edge

    Understand how new biosecurity requirements could affect your business and why AI at the edge could be part of the solution.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    • Tech Trend Update: If Biosecurity Then Autonomous Edge Storyboard
    [infographic]

    Drive Technology Adoption

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    • Parent Category Name: Strategy and Organizational Design
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    The project isn’t over if the new product or system isn’t being used. How do you ensure that what you’ve put in place isn’t going to be ignored or only partially adopted? People are more complicated than any new system and managing them through the change needs careful planning.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    Cultivating a herd mentality, where people adopt new technology merely because everyone else is, is an important goal in getting the bulk of users using the new product or system. The herd needs to gather momentum though and this can be done by using the more tech-able and enthused to lead the rest on the journey. Identifying and engaging these key resources early in the process will greatly assist in starting the flow.

    Impact and Result

    While communication is key throughout, involving staff in proof-of-concept activities and contests and using the train-the-trainer techniques and technology champions will all start the momentum toward technology adoption. Group activities will address the bulk of users, but laggards may need special attention.

    Drive Technology Adoption Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Drive Technology Adoption – A brief deck describing how to encourage users to adopt newly implemented technology.

    This document will help you to ensure that newly implemented systems and technologies are correctly adopted by the intended recipients.

    • Drive Technology Adoption Storyboard
    [infographic]

    Further reading

    Drive Technology Adoption

    The project is over. The new technology is implemented. Now how do we make sure it's used?

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    Technology endlessly changes and evolves. Similarly, business directions and requirements change, and these changes need to be supported by technology. Improved functionality and evolvement of systems, along with systems becoming redundant or unsupported, means that maintaining a static environment is virtually impossible.

    Enormous amounts of IT budget are allocated to these changes each year. But once the project is over, how do you manage that change and ensure the systems are being used? Planning your technology adoption is vital.

    Common Obstacles

    The obstacles to technology adoption can be many and various, covering a broad spectrum of areas including:

    • Reluctance of staff to let go of familiar processes and procedures.
    • Perception that any change will add complications but not add value, thereby hampering enthusiasm to adopt.
    • Lack of awareness of the change.
    • General fear of change.
    • Lack of personal confidence.

    Info-Tech’s Approach

    Start by identifying, understanding, categorizing, and defining barriers and put in place a system to:

    • Gain an early understanding of the different types of users and their attitudes to technology and change.
    • Review different adoption techniques and analyze which are most appropriate for your user types.
    • Use a “Follow the Leader” approach, by having technical enthusiasts and champions to show the way.
    • Prevent access to old systems and methods.

    Info-Tech Insight

    For every IT initiative that will be directly used by users, consider the question, “Will the final product be readily accepted by those who are going to use it?” There is no point in implementing a product that no one is prepared to use. Gaining user acceptance is much more than just ticking a box in a project plan once UAT is complete.

    The way change should happen is clear

    Prosci specializes in change. Its ADKAR model outlines what’s required to bring individuals along on the change journey.

    AWARENESS

    • Awareness means more than just knowing there’s a change occurring,
    • it means understanding the need for change.

    DESIRE

    • To achieve desire, there needs to be motivation, whether it be from an
    • organizational perspective or personal.

    KNOWLEDGE

    • Both knowledge on how to train during the transition and knowledge
    • on being effective after the change are required. This can only be done
    • once awareness and desire are achieved.

    ABILITY

    • Ability is not knowledge. Knowing how to do something doesn’t necessarily translate to having the skills to do it.

    REINFORCEMENT

    • Without reinforcement there can be a tendency to revert.

    When things go wrong

    New technology is not being used

    The project is seen as complete. Significant investments have been made, but the technology either isn’t being used or is only partially in use.

    Duplicate systems are now in place

    Even worse. The failure to adopt the new technology by some means that the older systems are still being used. There are now two systems that fail to interact; business processes are being affected and there is widespread confusion.

    Benefits not being realized

    Benefits promised to the business are not being realized. Projected revenue increases, savings, or efficiencies that were forecast are now starting to be seen as under threat.

    There is project blowout

    The project should be over, but the fact that the technology is not being used has created a perception that the implementation is not complete and the project needs to continue.

    Info-Tech Insight

    People are far more complicated than any technology being implemented.

    Consider carefully your approach.

    Why does it happen?

    POOR COMMUNICATION

    There isn’t always adequate communications about what’s changing in the workplace.

    FEAR

    Fear of change is natural and often not rational. Whether the fear is about job loss or not being able to adapt to change; it needs to be managed.

    TRAINING

    Training can be insufficient or ineffective and when this happens people are left feeling like they don’t have the skills to make the change.

    LACK OF EXECUTIVE SUPPORT

    A lack of executive support for change means the change is seen as less important.

    CONFLICTING VIEWS OF CHANGE

    The excitement the project team and business feels about the change is not necessarily shared throughout the business. Some may just see the change as more work, changing something that already works, or a reason to reduce staff levels.

    LACK OF CONFIDENCE

    Whether it’s a lack of confidence generally with technology or concern about a new or changing tool, a lack of confidence is a huge barrier.

    BUDGETARY CONSTRAINTS

    There is a cost with managing people during a change, and budget must be allocated to allow for it.

    Communications

    Info-Tech Insight

    Since Sigmund Freud there has been endless work to understand people’s minds.
    Don’t underestimate the effect that people’s reactions to change can have on your project.

    This is a Kubler-ross change curve graph, plotting the following Strategies: Create Alignment; Maximize Communication; Spark Motivation; Develop Capability; Share Knowledge

    Communication plans are designed to properly manage change. Managing change can be easier when we have the right tools and information to adapt to new circumstances. The Kubler-Ross change curve illustrates the expected steps on the path to acceptance of change. With the proper communications strategy, each can be managed appropriately

    Analyst perspective

    Paul Binns – Principal Research Advisor, Info-Tech

    The rapidly changing technology landscape in our world has always meant that an enthusiasm or willingness to embrace change has been advantageous. Many of us have seen how the older generation has struggled with that change and been left behind.

    In the work environment, the events of the past two years have increased pressure on those slow to adopt as in many cases they couldn't perform their tasks without new tools. Previously, for example, those who may have been reluctant to use digital tools and would instead opt for face-to-face meetings, suddenly found themselves without an option as physical meetings were no longer possible. Similarly, digital collaboration tools that had been present in the market for some time were suddenly more heavily used so everyone could continue to work together in the “online world.”

    At this stage no one is sure what the "new normal" will be in the post-pandemic world, but what has been clearly revealed is that people are prepared to change given the right motivation.

    “Technology adoption is about the psychology of change.”
    Bryan Tutor – Executive Counsellor, Info-Tech

    The Fix

    • Categorize Users
      • Gain a clear understanding of your user types.
    • Identify Adoption Techniques
      • Understand the range of different tools and techniques available.
    • Match Techniques To Categories
      • Determine the most appropriate techniques for your user base.
    • Follow-the-Leader
      • Be aware of the different skills in your environment and use them to your advantage.
    • Refresh, Retrain, Restrain
      • Prevent reversion to old methods or systems.

    Categories

    Client-Driven Insight

    Consider your staff and industry when looking at the Everett Rogers curve. A technology organization may have less laggards than a traditional manufacturing one.

    In Everett Rogers’ book Diffusion of Innovations 5th Edition (Free Press, 2005), Rogers places adopters of innovations into five different categories.

    This is an image of an Innovation Adoption Curve from Everett Rogers' book Diffusion of Innovations 5th Edition

    Category 1: The Innovator – 2.5%

    Innovators are technology enthusiasts. Technology is a central interest of theirs, either at work, at home, or both. They tend to aggressively pursue new products and technologies and are likely to want to be involved in any new technology being implemented as soon as possible, even before the product is ready to be released.

    For people like this the completeness of the new technology or the performance can often be secondary because of their drive to get new technology as soon as possible. They are trailblazers and are not only happy to step out of their comfort zone but also actively seek to do so.

    Although they only make up about 2.5% of the total, their enthusiasm, and hopefully endorsement of new technology, offers reassurance to others.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Innovators can be very useful for testing before implementation but are generally more interested in the technology itself rather than the value the technology will add to the business.

    Category 2: The Early Adopter – 13.5%

    Whereas Innovators tend to be technologists, Early Adopters are visionaries that like to be on board with new technologies very early in the lifecycle. Because they are visionaries, they tend to be looking for more than just improvement – a revolutionary breakthrough. They are prepared to take high risks to try something new and although they are very demanding as far as product features and performance are concerned, they are less price-sensitive than other groups.

    Early Adopters are often motivated by personal success. They are willing to serve as references to other adopter groups. They are influential, seen as trendsetters, and are of utmost importance to win over.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Early adopters are key. Their enthusiasm for technology, personal drive, and influence make them a powerful tool in driving adoption.

    Category 3: The Early Majority – 34%

    This group is comprised of pragmatists. The first two adopter groups belong to early adoption, but for a product to be fully adopted the mainstream needs to be won over, starting with the Early Majority.

    The Early Majority share some of the Early Adopters’ ability to relate to technology. However, they are driven by a strong sense of practicality. They know that new products aren’t always successful. Consequently, they are content to wait and see how others fare with the technology before investing in it themselves. They want to see well-established references before adopting the technology and to be shown there is no risk.

    Because there are so many people in this segment (roughly 34%), winning these people over is essential for the technology to be adopted.

    Category 4: The Late Majority – 34%

    The Late Majority are the conservatives. This group is generally about the same size as the Early Majority. They share all the concerns of the Early Majority; however, they are more resistant to change and are more content with the status quo than eager to progress to new technology. People in the Early Majority group are comfortable with their ability to handle new technology. People in the Late Majority are not.

    As a result, these conservatives prefer to wait until something has become an established standard and take part only at the end of the adoption period. Even then, they want to see lots of support and ensure that there is proof there is no risk in them adopting it.

    Category 5: The Laggard – 16%

    This group is made up of the skeptics and constitutes 16% of the total. These people want nothing to do with new technology and are generally only content with technological change when it is invisible to them. These skeptics have a strong belief that disruptive new technologies rarely deliver the value promised and are almost always worried about unintended consequences.

    Laggards need to be dealt with carefully as their criticism can be damaging and without them it is difficult for a product to become fully adopted. Unfortunately, the effort required for this to happen is often disproportional to the size of the group.

    Info-Tech Insight

    People aren’t born laggards. Technology projects that have failed in the past can alter people’s attitudes, especially if there was a negative impact on their working lives. Use empathy when dealing with people and respect their hesitancy.

    Adoption Techniques

    Different strokes for different folks

    Technology adoption is all about people; and therefore, the techniques required to drive that adoption need to be people oriented.

    The following techniques are carefully selected with the intention of being impactful on all the different categories described previously.

    Technology Adoption: Herd Mentality; Champions; Force; Group Training; One-on-One; Contests; Marketing; Proof of Concept; Train the Trainer

    There are multitudes of different methods to get people to adopt new technology, but which is the most appropriate for your situation? Generally, it’s a combination.

    Technology Adoption: Herd Mentality; Champions; Force; Group Training; One-on-One; Contests; Marketing; Proof of Concept; Train the Trainer

    Train the Trainer

    Use your staff to get your message across.

    Abstract

    This technique involves training key members of staff so they can train others. It is important that those selected are strong communicators, are well respected by others, and have some expertise in technology.

    Advantages

    • Cost effective
    • Efficient dissemination of information
    • Trusted internal staff

    Disadvantages

    • Chance of inconsistent delivery
    • May feel threatened by co-worker

    Best to worst candidates

    • Early Adopter: Influential trendsetters. Others receptive of their lead.
    • Innovator: Comfortable and enthusiastic about new technology, but not necessarily a trainer.
    • Early Majority: Tendency to take others’ lead.
    • Late Majority: Risk averse and tend to follow others, only after success is proven.
    • Laggard: Last to adopt usually. Unsuitable as Trainer.

    Marketing

    Marketing should be continuous throughout the change to encourage familiarity.

    Abstract

    Communication is key as people are comfortable with what is familiar to them. Marketing is an important tool for convincing adopters that the new product is mainstream, widely adopted and successful.

    Advantages

    • Wide communication
    • Makes technology appear commonplace
    • Promotes effectiveness of new technology

    Disadvantages

    • Reliant on staff interest
    • Can be expensive

    Best to worst candidates

    • Early Majority: Pragmatic about change. Marketing is effective encouragement.
    • Early Adopter: Receptive and interested in change. Marketing is supplemental.
    • Innovator: Actively seeks new technology. Does not need extensive encouragement.
    • Late Majority: Requires more personal approach.
    • Laggard: Resistant to most enticements.

    One-on-One

    Tailored for individuals.

    Abstract

    One-on-one training sometimes is the only way to train if you have staff with special needs or who are performing unique tasks.
    It is generally highly effective but inefficient as it only addresses individuals.

    Advantages

    • Tailored to specific need(s)
    • Only relevant information addressed
    • Low stress environment

    Disadvantages

    • Expensive
    • Possibility of inconsistent delivery
    • Personal conflict may render it ineffective

    Best to worst candidates

    • Laggard: Encouragement and cajoling can be used during training.
    • Late Majority: Proof can be given of effectiveness of new product.
    • Early Majority: Effective, but not cost efficient.
    • Early Adopter: Effective, but not cost-efficient.
    • Innovator: Effective, but not cost-efficient.

    Group Training

    Similar roles, attitudes, and abilities.

    Abstract

    Group training is one of the most common methods to start people on their journey toward new technology. Its effectiveness with the two largest groups, Early Majority and Late Majority, make it a primary tool in technology adoption.

    Advantages

    • Cost effective
    • Time effective
    • Good for team building

    Disadvantages

    • Single method may not work for all
    • Difficult to create single learning pace for all

    Best to worst candidates

    • Early Majority: Receptive. The formality of group training will give confidence.
    • Late Majority: Conservative attitude will be receptive to traditional training.
    • Early Adopter: Receptive and attentive. Excited about the change.
    • Innovator: Will tend to want to be ahead or want to move ahead of group.
    • Laggard: Laggards in group training may have a negative impact.

    Force

    The last resort.

    Abstract

    The transition can’t go on forever.

    At some point the new technology needs to be fully adopted and if necessary, force may have to be used.

    Advantages

    • Immediate full transition
    • Fixed delivery timeline

    Disadvantages

    • Alienation of some staff
    • Loss of faith in product if there are issues

    Best to worst candidates

    • Laggard: No choice but to adopt. Forces the issue.
    • Late Majority: Removes issue of reluctance to change.
    • Early Majority: Content, but worried about possible problems.
    • Early Adopter: Feel less personal involvement in change process.
    • Innovator: Feel less personal involvement in change process.

    Contests

    Abstract

    Contests can generate excitement and create an explorative approach to new technology. People should not feel pressured. It should be enjoyable and not compulsory.

    Advantages

    • Rapid improvement of skills
    • Bring excitement to the new technology
    • Good for team building

    Disadvantages

    • Those less competitive or with lower skills may feel alienated
    • May discourage collaboration

    Best to worst candidates

    • Early Adopter: Seeks personal success. Risk taker. Effective.
    • Innovator: Enthusiastic to explore limits of technology.
    • Early Majority: Less enthusiastic. Pragmatic. Less competitive.
    • Late Majority: Conservative. Not enthusiastic about new technology.
    • Laggard: Reluctant to get involved.

    Incentives

    Incentives don’t have to be large.

    Abstract

    For some staff, merely taking management’s lead is not enough. Using “Nudge” techniques to give that extra incentive is quite effective. Incentivizing staff either financially or through rewards, recognition, or promotion is a successful adoption technique for some.

    Advantages

    Encouragement to adopt from receiving tangible benefit

    Draws more attention to the new technology

    Disadvantages

    Additional expense to business or project

    Possible poor precedent for subsequent changes

    Best to worst candidates

    Early Adopter: Desire for personal success makes incentives enticing.

    Early Majority: Prepared to change, but extra incentive will assist.

    Late Majority: Conservative attitude means incentive may need to be larger.

    Innovator: Enthusiasm for new technology means incentive not necessary.

    Laggard: Sceptical about change. Only a large incentive likely to make a difference.

    Champions

    Strong internal advocates for your new technology are very powerful.

    Abstract

    Champions take on new technology and then use their influence to promote it in the organization. Using managers as champions to actively and vigorously promote the change is particularly effective.

    Advantages

    • Infectious enthusiasm encourages those who tend to be reluctant
    • Use of trusted internal staff

    Disadvantages

    • Removes internal staff from regular duties
    • Ineffective if champion not respected

    Best to worst candidates

    • Early Majority: Champions as references of success provide encouragement.
    • Late Majority: Management champions in particular are effective.
    • Laggard: Close contact with champions may be effective.
    • Early Adopter: Receptive of technology, less effective.
    • Innovator: No encouragement or promotion required.

    Herd Mentality

    Follow the crowd.

    Abstract

    Herd behavior is when people discount their own information and follow others. Ideally all adopters would understand the reason and advantages in adopting new technology, but practically, the result is most important.

    Advantages

    • New technology is adopted without question
    • Increase in velocity of adoption

    Disadvantages

    • Staff may not have clear understanding of the reason for change and resent it later
    • Some may adopt the change before they are ready to do so

    Best to worst candidates

    • Early Majority: Follow others’ success.
    • Late Majority: Likely follow an established proven standard.
    • Early Adopter: Less effective as they prefer to set trends rather than follow.
    • Innovator: Seeks new technology rather than following others.
    • Laggard: Suspicious and reluctant to change.

    Proof of Concepts

    Gain early input and encourage buy-in.

    Abstract

    Proof of concept projects give early indications of the viability of a new initiative. Involving the end users in these projects can be beneficial in gaining their support

    Advantages

    Involve adopters early on

    Valuable feedback and indications of future issues

    Disadvantages

    If POC isn’t fully successful, it may leave lingering negativity

    Usually, involvement from small selection of staff

    Best to worst candidates

    • Innovator: Strong interest in getting involved in new products.
    • Early Adopter: Comfortable with new technology and are influencers.
    • Early Majority: Less interest. Prefer others to try first.
    • Late Majority: Conservative attitude makes this an unlikely option.
    • Laggard: Highly unlikely to get involved.

    Match techniques to categories

    What works for who?

    This clustered column chart categorizes techniques by category

    Follow the leader

    Engage your technology enthusiasts early to help refine your product, train other staff, and act as champions. A combination of marketing and group training will develop a herd mentality. Finally, don’t neglect the laggards as they can prevent project completion.

    This is an inverted funnel chart with the output of: Change Destination.  The inputs are: 16% Laggards; 34% Late Majority; 34% Early Majority; 13.3% Early Adopters; 2% Innovators

    Info-Tech Insight

    Although there are different size categories, none can be ignored. Consider your budget when dealing with smaller groups, but also consider their impact.

    Refresh, retrain, restrain

    We don’t want people to revert.

    Don’t assume that because your staff have been trained and have access to the new technology that they will keep using it in the way they were trained. Or that they won’t revert back to their old methods or system.

    Put in place methods to remove completely or remove access to old systems. Schedule refresh training or skill enhancement sessions and stay vigilant.

    Research Authors

    Paul Binns

    Paul Binns

    Principal Research Advisor, Info-Tech Research Group

    With over 30 years in the IT industry, Paul brings to his work his experience as a Strategic Planner, Consultant, Enterprise Architect, IT Business Owner, Technologist, and Manager. Paul has worked with both small and large companies, local and international, and has had senior roles in government and the finance industry.

    Scott Young

    Scott Young

    Principal Research Advisor, Info-Tech Research Group

    Scott Young is a Director of Infrastructure Research at Info-Tech Research Group. Scott has worked in the technology field for over 17 years, with a strong focus on telecommunications and enterprise infrastructure architecture. He brings extensive practical experience in these areas of specialization, including IP networks, server hardware and OS, storage, and virtualization.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    User Group Analysis Workbook

    Use Info-Tech’s workbook to gather information about user groups, business processes, and day-to-day tasks to gain familiarity with your adopters.

    Governance and Management of Enterprise Software Implementation

    Use our research to engage users and receive timely feedback through demonstrations. Our iterative methodology with a task list focused on the business’ must-have functionality allows staff to return to their daily work sooner.

    Quality Management User Satisfaction Survey

    This IT satisfaction survey will assist you with early information to use for categorizing your users.

    Master Organizational Change Management Practices

    Using a soft, empathetic approach to change management is something that all PMOs should understand. Use our research to ensure you have an effective OCM plan that will ensure project success.

    Bibliography

    Beylis, Guillermo. “COVID-19 accelerates technology adoption and deepens inequality among workers in Latin America and the Caribbean.” World Bank Blogs, 4 March 2021. Web.

    Cleland, Kelley. “Successful User Adoption Strategies.” Insight Voices, 25 Apr. 2017. Web.

    Hiatt, Jeff. “The Prosci ADKAR ® Model.” PROSCI, 1994. Web.

    Malik, Priyanka. “The Kübler Ross Change Curve in the Workplace.” whatfix, 24 Feb. 2022. Web.

    Medhaugir, Tore. “6 Ways to Encourage Software Adoption.” XAIT, 9 March 2021. Web.

    Narayanan, Vishy. “What PwC Australia learned about fast tracking tech adoption during COVID-19” PWC, 13 Oct. 2020. Web.

    Sridharan, Mithun. “Crossing the Chasm: Technology Adoption Lifecycle.” Think Insights, 28 Jun 2022. Web.

    Integrate Threat Intelligence Into Your Security Operations

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    • member rating overall impact (scale of 10): 9.0/10 Overall Impact
    • member rating average dollars saved: 2 Average Days Saved
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    • Parent Category Name: Threat Intelligence & Incident Response
    • Parent Category Link: /threat-intelligence-incident-response
    • Organizations have limited visibility into their threat landscape, and as such are vulnerable to the latest attacks, hindering business practices, workflow, revenue generation, and damaging their public image.
    • Organizations are developing ad hoc intelligence capabilities that result in operational inefficiencies, the misalignment of resources, and the misuse of their security technology investments.
    • It is difficult to communicate the value of a threat intelligence solution when trying to secure organizational buy-in and the appropriate resourcing.
    • There is a vast array of “intelligence” in varying formats, often resulting in information overload.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    1. Information alone is not actionable. A successful threat intelligence program contextualizes threat data, aligns intelligence with business objectives, and then builds processes to satisfy those objectives.
    2. Your security controls are diminishing in value (if they haven’t already). As technology in the industry evolves, threat actors will inevitably adopt new tools, tactics, and procedures; a threat intelligence program can provide relevant situational awareness to stay on top of the rapidly-evolving threat landscape.
    3. Your organization might not be the final target, but it could be a primary path for attackers. If you exist as a third-party partner to another organization, your responsibility in your technology ecosystem extends beyond your own product/service offerings. Threat intelligence provides visibility into the latest threats, which can help you avoid becoming a backdoor in the next big data breach.

    Impact and Result

    • Assess the needs and intelligence requirements of key stakeholders.
    • Garner organizational buy-in from senior management.
    • Identify organizational intelligence gaps and structure your efforts accordingly.
    • Understand the different collection solutions to identify which best supports your needs.
    • Optimize the analysis process by leveraging automation and industry best practices.
    • Establish a comprehensive threat knowledge portal.
    • Define critical threat escalation protocol.
    • Produce and share actionable intelligence with your constituency.
    • Create a deployment strategy to roll out the threat intelligence program.
    • Integrate threat intelligence within your security operations.

    Integrate Threat Intelligence Into Your Security Operations Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should implement a threat intelligence program, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Plan for a threat intelligence program

    Assess current capabilities and define an ideal target state.

    • Integrate Threat Intelligence Into Your Security Operations – Phase 1: Plan for a Threat Intelligence Program
    • Security Pressure Posture Analysis Tool
    • Threat Intelligence Maturity Assessment Tool
    • Threat Intelligence Project Charter Template
    • Threat Intelligence RACI Tool
    • Threat Intelligence Management Plan Template
    • Threat Intelligence Policy Template

    2. Design an intelligence collection strategy

    Understand the different collection solutions to identify which best supports needs.

    • Integrate Threat Intelligence Into Your Security Operations – Phase 2: Design an Intelligence Collection Strategy
    • Threat Intelligence Prioritization Tool
    • Threat Intelligence RFP MSSP Template

    3. Optimize the intelligence analysis process

    Begin analyzing and acting on gathered intelligence.

    • Integrate Threat Intelligence Into Your Security Operations – Phase 3: Optimize the Intelligence Analysis Process
    • Threat Intelligence Malware Runbook Template

    4. Design a collaboration and feedback program

    Stand up an intelligence dissemination program.

    • Integrate Threat Intelligence Into Your Security Operations – Phase 4: Design a Collaboration and Feedback Program
    • Threat Intelligence Alert Template
    • Threat Intelligence Alert and Briefing Cadence Schedule Template
    [infographic]

    Harness Configuration Management Superpowers

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    • Parent Category Name: Asset Management
    • Parent Category Link: /asset-management
    • Configuration management databases (CMDB) are a lot of work to build and maintain. Starting down this process without the right tools, processes, and buy-in is a lot of work with very little reward.
    • If you decide to just build it and expect they will come, you may find it difficult to articulate the value, and you will be disappointed by the lack of visitors.
    • Relying on manual entry or automated data collection without governance may result in data you can’t trust, and if no one trusts the data, they won’t use it.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • The right mindset is just as important as the right tools. By involving everyone early, you can ensure the right data is captured and validated and you can make maintenance part of the culture. This is critical to reaching early and continual value with a CMDB.

    Impact and Result

    • Define your use cases: Identify the use cases and prioritize those objectives into phases. Define what information will be needed to meet the use cases and how that information will be populated.
    • Understand and design the CMDB data model: Define services and undiscoverable configuration items (CI) and map them to the discoverable CIs.
    • Operationalize configuration record updates: Define data stewards and governance processes and integrate your configuration management practice with existing practices and lifecycles.

    Harness Configuration Management Superpowers Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Harness Configuration Management Superpowers Deck – A step-by-step document that walks you through creating a configuration management program.

    Use this blueprint to create a configuration management program that provides immediate value.

    • Harness Configuration Management Superpowers – Phases 1-4

    2. Configuration Management Project Charter Template – A project charter template to help you build a concise document for communicating appropriate project details to stakeholders.

    Use this template to create a project charter to launch the configuration management project.

    • Configuration Management Project Charter

    3. Configuration Control Board Charter Template – A board charter template to help you define the roles and responsibilities of the configuration control board.

    Use this template to create your board charter for your configuration control board (CCB). Define roles and responsibilities and mandates for the CCB.

    • Configuration Control Board Charter

    4. Configuration Management Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Template – An SOP template to describe processes and procedures for ongoing maintenance of the CMDB under the configuration management program.

    Use this template to create and communicate your SOP to ensure ongoing maintenance of the CMDB under the configuration management program.

    • Configuration Management Standard Operation Procedures

    5. Configuration Management Audit and Validation Checklist Template – A template to be used as a starting point to meet audit requirements under NIST and ITIL programs.

    Use this template to assess capability to pass audits, adding to the template as needed to meet internal auditors’ requirements.

    • Configuration Management Audit and Validation Checklist

    6. Configuration Management Policy Template – A template to be used for building out a policy for governance over the configuration management program.

    Use this template to build a policy for your configuration management program.

    • Configuration Management Policy

    7. Use Cases and Data Worksheet – A template to be used for validating data requirements as you work through use cases.

    Use this template to determine data requirements to meet use cases.

    • Use Cases and Data Worksheet

    8. Configuration Management Diagram Template Library – Examples of process workflows and data modeling.

    Use this library to view sample workflows and a data model for the configuration management program.

    • Configuration Management Diagram Template Library (Visio)
    • Configuration Management Diagram Template Library (PDF)

    9. Configuration Manager Job Description – Roles and responsibilities for the job of Configuration Manager.

    Use this template as a starting point to create a job posting, identifying daily activities, responsibilities, and required skills as you create or expand your configuration management program.

    • Configuration Manager

    Infographic

    Workshop: Harness Configuration Management Superpowers

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Configuration Management Strategy

    The Purpose

    Define the scope of your service configuration management project.

    Design the program to meet specific stakeholders needs

    Identify project and operational roles and responsibilities.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Designed a sustainable approach to building a CMDB.

    Activities

    1.1 Introduction

    1.2 Define challenges and goals.

    1.3 Define and prioritize use cases.

    1.4 Identify data needs to meet these goals.

    1.5 Define roles and responsibilities.

    Outputs

    Data and reporting use cases based on stakeholder requirements

    Roles and responsibility matrix

    2 CMDB Data Structure

    The Purpose

    Build a data model around the desired use cases.

    Identify the data sources for populating the CMDB.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Identified which CIs and relationships will be captured in the CMDB.

    Activities

    2.1 Define and prioritize your services.

    2.2 Evaluate CMDB default classifications.

    2.3 Test configuration items against existing categories.

    2.4 Build a data model diagram.

    Outputs

    List of CI types and relationships to be added to default settings

    CMDB data model diagram

    3 Processes

    The Purpose

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Built a right-sized approach to configuration record updates and data validation.

    Activities

    3.1 Define processes for onboarding, offboarding, and maintaining data in the CMDB.

    3.2 Define practices for configuration baselines.

    3.3 Build a data validation and auditing plan.

    Outputs

    Documented processes and workflows

    Data validation and auditing plan

    4 Communications & Roadmap

    The Purpose

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Metrics program defined

    Communications designed

    Activities

    4.1 Define key metrics for configuration management.

    4.2 Define metrics for supporting services.

    4.3 Build configuration management policies.

    4.4 Create a communications plan.

    4.5 Build a roadmap

    Outputs

    Policy for configuration management

    Communications documents

    Roadmap for next steps

    Further reading

    Harness Configuration Management Superpowers

    Create a configuration management practice that will provide ongoing value to the organization.

    EXECUTIVE BRIEF

    Analyst Perspective

    A robust configuration management database (CMDB) can provide value to the business and superpowers to IT. It's time to invest smartly to reap the rewards.

    IT environments are becoming more and more complex, and balancing demands for stability and demands for faster change requires visibility to make the right decisions. IT needs to know their environment intimately. They need to understand dependencies and integrations and feel confident they are making decisions with the most current and accurate view.

    Solutions for managing operations rely on the CMDB to bring visibility to issues, calculate impact, and use predictive analytics to fix performance issues before they become major incidents. AIOps solutions need accurate data, but they can also help identify configuration drift and flag changes or anomalies that need investigation.

    The days of relying entirely on manual entry and updates are all but gone, as the functionality of a robust configuration management system requires daily updates to provide value. We used to rely on that one hero to make sure information was up to date, but with the volume of changes we see in most environments today, it's time to improve the process and provide superpowers to the entire IT department.

    This is a picture of Sandi Conrad

    Sandi Conrad, ITIL Managing Professional
    Principal Research Director, IT Infrastructure & Operations, Info-Tech Research Group

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    • Build a configuration management database (CMDB): You need to implement a CMDB, populate it with records and relationships, and integrate it with discovery and management tools.
    • Identify the benefits of a CMDB: Too many CMDB projects fail because IT tries to collect everything. Base your data model on the desired use cases.
    • Define roles and responsibilities: Keeping data accurate and updated is difficult. Identify who will be responsible for helping

    Common Obstacles

    • Significant process maturity is required: Service configuration management (SCM) requires high maturity in change management, IT asset management, and service catalog practices.
    • Large investment: Building a CMDB takes a large amount of effort, process, and expertise.
    • Tough business case: Configuration management doesn't directly provide value to the business, but it requires a lot of investment from IT.

    Info-Tech's Approach

    • Define your scope and objectives: Identify the use cases for SCM and prioritize those objectives into phases.
    • Design the CMDB data model: Align with your existing configuration management system's data model.
    • Operationalize configuration record updates: Integrate your SCM practice with existing practices and lifecycles.

    Start small

    Scope creep is a serial killer of configuration management databases and service configuration management practices.

    Insight summary

    Many vendors are taking a CMDB-first approach to enable IT operations or sometimes asset management. It's important to ensure processes are in place immediately to ensure the data doesn't go stale as additional modules and features are activated.

    Define processes early to ensure success

    The right mindset is just as important as the right tools. By involving everyone early, you can ensure the right data is captured and validated and you can make maintenance part of the culture. This is critical to reaching early and continual value with a CMDB.

    Identify use cases

    The initial use case will be the driving force behind the first assessment of return on investment (ROI). If ROI can be realized early, momentum will increase, and the team can build on the initial successes.

    If you don't see value in the first year, momentum diminishes and it's possible the project will never see value.

    Keep the initial scope small and focused

    Discovery can collect a lot of data quickly, and it's possible to be completely overwhelmed early in the process.

    Build expertise and troubleshoot issues with a smaller scope, then build out the process.

    Minimize customizations

    Most CMDBs have classes and attributes defined as defaults. Use of the defaults will enable easier implementation and faster time to value, especially where automations and integrations depend on standard terms for field mapping.

    Automate as much as possible

    In large, complex environments, the data can quickly become unmanageable. Use automation as much as possible for discovery, dependency mapping, validation, and alerts. Minimize the amount of manual work but ensure everyone is aware of where and how these manual updates need to happen to see continual value.

    Info-Tech's Harness Configuration Management Superpowers.

    Configuration management will improve functionality of all surrounding processes

    A well-functioning CMDB empowers almost all other IT management and governance practices.

    Service configuration management is about:

    • Building a system of record about IT services and the components that support those services.
    • Continuously reconciling and validating information to ensure data accuracy.
    • Ensuring the data lifecycle is defined and well understood and can pass data and process audits.
    • Accessing information in a variety of ways to effectively serve IT and the business.
    An image of Info-Tech's CMDB Configuration Management tree, breaking down aspects into the following six categories: Strategic Partner; Service Provider; Proactive; Stabilize; Core; and Foundational.

    Configuration management most closely impacts these practices

    Info-Tech Research Group sees a clear relationship.

    When an IT department reports they are highly effective at configuration management, they are much more likely to report they are highly effective at these management and governance processes:

    The following management and governance processes are listed: Quality Management; Asset Management; Performance Measurement; Knowledge Management; Release Management; Incident and Problem Management; Service Management; Change Management.

    The data is clear

    Service configuration management is about more than just doing change management more effectively.

    Source: Info-Tech Research Group, IT Management and Governance Diagnostic; N=684 organizations, 2019 to July 2022.

    Make the case to use configuration management to improve IT operations

    Consider the impact of access to data for informing innovations, optimization efforts, and risk assessments.

    75% of Uptime's 2021 survey respondents who had an outage in the past three years said the outage would have been prevented if they'd had better management or processes.(1)

    75%

    75% of Uptime's 2021 survey respondents who had an outage in the past three years said the outage would have been prevented if they'd had better management or processes.(1)

    42%

    of publicly reported outages were due to software or configuration issues. (1)

    58%

    of networking-related IT outages were due to configuration and change management failure.(1)

    It doesn't have to be that way!

    Enterprise-grade IT service management (ITSM) tools require a CMDB for the different modules to work together and to enable IT operations management (ITOM), providing greater visibility.

    Decisions about changes can be made with accurate data, not guesses.

    The CMDB can give the service desk fast access to helpful information about the impacted components, including a history of similar incidents and resolutions and the relationship between the impacted components and other systems and components.

    Turn your team into IT superheroes.

    CMDB data makes it easier for IT Ops groups to:

    • Avoid change collisions.
    • Eliminate poor changes due to lack of visibility into complex systems.
    • Identify problematic equipment.
    • Troubleshoot incidents.
    • Expand the services provided by tier 1 and through automation.

    Benefits of configuration management

    For IT

    • Configuration management will supercharge processes that have relied on inherent knowledge of the IT environment to make decisions.
    • IT will more quickly analyze and understand issues and will be positioned to improve and automate issue identification and resolution.
    • Increase confidence and reduce risks for decisions involving release and change management with access to accurate data, regardless of the complexity of the environment.
    • Reduce or eliminate unplanned work related to poor outcomes due to decisions made with incorrect or incomplete data.

    For the Business

    • Improve strategic planning for business initiatives involving IT solutions, which may include integrations, development, or security concerns.
    • More quickly deploy new solutions or updates due to visibility into complex environments.
    • Enable business outcomes with reliable and stable IT systems.
    • Reduce disruptions caused by planning without accurate data and improve resolution times for service interruptions.
    • Improve access to reporting for budgeting, showbacks, and chargebacks as well as performance metrics.

    Measure the value of this blueprint

    Fast-track your planning and increase the success of a configuration management program with this blueprint

    Workshop feedback
    8.1/10

    $174,000 savings

    30 average days saved

    Guided Implementation feedback

    8.7/10

    $31,496 average savings

    41 average days saved

    "The workshop was well run, with good facilitation, and gained participation from even the most difficult parts of the audience. The best part of the experience was that if I were to find myself in the same position in the future, I would repeat the workshop."

    – University of Exeter

    Info-Tech offers various levels of support to best suit your needs

    DIY Toolkit

    “Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful.”

    Guided Implementation

    “Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track.”

    Workshop

    “We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place.”

    Consulting

    “Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project.”

    Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options

    Guided Implementation

    What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

    Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4

    Call #1: Scope requirements, objectives, and your specific challenges.

    Call #2: Prioritize services and use cases.

    Call #3: Identify data needed to meet goals.

    Call #4: Define roles and responsibilities.

    Call #5: Define and prioritize your services.

    Call #6: Evaluate and test CMDB default classifications.

    Call #7: Build a data model diagram.

    Call #8: Define processes for onboarding, offboarding, and maintaining data.

    Call #9: Discuss configuration baselines.

    Call #10: Build a data validation and audit plan.

    Call #11: Define key metrics.

    Call #12: Build a configuration management policy and communications plan.

    Call #13: Build a roadmap.

    A Guided Implementation (GI) is a series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization.

    A typical GI is between 8 to 12 calls over the course of 4 to 9 months.

    Workshop Overview

    Contact your account representative for more information.
    workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889

    Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4

    Configuration Management Strategy

    CMDB Data Structure

    Process Design

    Communications & Roadmap

    Activities
    • Introduction
    • Define challenges and goals.
    • Define and prioritize use cases.
    • Identify data needed to meet goals.
    • Define roles and responsibilities.
    • Define and prioritize your services.
    • Evaluate CMDB default classifications.
    • Test configuration items against existing categories.
    • Build a data model diagram.
    • Define processes for onboarding, offboarding, and maintaining data in the CMDB.
    • Define practices for configuration baselines.
    • Build a data validation and auditing plan.
    • Define key metrics for configuration management.
    • Define metrics for supporting services.
    • Build configuration management policies.
    • Create a communications plan.
    • Build a roadmap.

    Deliverables

    • Roles and responsibility matrix
    • Data and reporting use cases based on stakeholder requirements
    • List of CI types and relationships to be added to default settings
    • CMDB data model diagram
    • Documented processes and workflows
    • Data validation and auditing plan
    • Policy for configuration management
    • Roadmap for next steps
    • Communications documents

    Blueprint deliverables

    Each step of this blueprint is accompanied by supporting deliverables to help you accomplish your goals:

    Configuration Management Project Charter

    Detail your approach to building an SCM practice and a CMDB.

    Screenshot from the Configuration Management Project Charter

    Use Cases and Data Worksheet

    Capture the action items related to your SCM implementation project.

    Screenshot from the Use Cases and Data Worksheet

    Configuration Manager Job Description

    Use our template for a job posting or internal job description.

    Screenshot from the Configuration Manager Job Description

    Configuration Management Diagram Template Library

    Use these diagrams to simplify building your SOP.

    Screenshot from the Configuration Management Diagram Template Library

    Configuration Management Policy

    Set expectations for configuration control.

    screenshot from the Configuration Management Policy

    Configuration Management Audit and Validation Checklist

    Use this framework to validate controls.

    Screenshot from the Configuration Management Audit and Validation Checklist

    Configuration Control Board Charter

    Define the board's responsibilities and meeting protocols.

    Screenshot from the Configuration Management Audit and Validation Checklist

    Key deliverable:

    Configuration Management Standard Operating Procedures Template

    Outlines SCM roles and responsibilities, the CMDB data model, when records are expected to change, and configuration baselines.

    Four Screenshots from the Configuration Management Standard Operating Procedures Template

    Phase 1

    Configuration Management Strategy

    Strategy Data Structure Processes Roadmap
    • Challenges and Goals
    • Use Cases and Data
    • Roles and Responsibilities
    • Services
    • Classifications
    • Data Modeling
    • Lifecycle Processes
    • Baselines
    • Audit and Data Validation
    • Metrics
    • Communications Plan
    • Roadmap

    This phase will walk you through the following aspects of a configuration management system:

    • Scope
    • Use Cases
    • Reports and Analytics

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • IT and business service owners
    • Business/customer relationship managers
    • Enterprise architects
    • Practice owners and managers
    • SCM practice manager
    • SCM project manager
    • SCM project sponsor

    Harness Service Configuration Management Superpowers

    Establish clear definitions

    Ensure everyone is using the same terms.

    Term Definition
    Configuration Management

    The purpose of configuration management is to:

    • "Ensure that accurate and reliable information about the configuration of services, and the CIs that support them, is available when and where it is needed. This includes information on how CIs are configured and the relationships between them" (AXELOS).
    • "Provide sufficient information about service assets to enable the service to be effectively managed. Assess the impact of changes and deal with service incidents" (ISACA, 2018).
    Configuration Management System (CMS) A set of tools and databases used to manage, update, and present data about all configuration items and their relationships. A CMS may maintain multiple federated CMDBs and can include one or many discovery and dependency mapping tools.
    Configuration Management Database (CMDB) A repository of configuration records. It can be as simple as a spreadsheet or as complex as an integrated database populated through multiple autodiscovery tools.
    Configuration Record Detailed information about a configuration item.
    Configuration Item (CI)

    "Any component that needs to be managed in order to deliver an IT service" (AXELOS).

    These components can include everything from IT services and software to user devices, IT infrastructure components, and documents (e.g. maintenance agreements).
    Attributes Characteristics of a CI included in the configuration record. Common attributes include name, version, license expiry date, location, supplier, SLA, and owner.
    Relationships Information about the way CIs are linked. A CI can be part of another CI, connect to another CI, or use another CI. A CMDB is significantly more valuable when relationships are recorded. This information allows CMDB users to identify dependencies between components when investigating incidents, performing root-cause analysis, assessing the impact of changes before deployment, and much more.

    What is a configuration management database (CMDB)?

    The CMDB is a system of record of your services and includes a record for everything you need to track to effectively manage your IT services.

    Anything that is tracked in your CMDB is called a configuration item (CI). Examples of CIs include:

    • User-Facing Services
    • IT-Facing Services
    • Business Capabilities
    • Relationships
    • IT Infrastructure Components
    • Enterprise Software
    • End-User Devices
    • Documents

    Other systems of record can refer to CIs, such as:

    • Ticket database: Tickets can refer to which CI is impacted by an incident or provided as part of a service request.
    • Asset management database (AMDB): An IT asset is often also a CI. By associating asset records with CI records, you can leverage your IT asset data in your reporting.
    • Financial systems: If done well, the CMDB can supercharge your IT financial cost model.

    CMDBs can allow you to:

    • Query multiple databases simultaneously (so long as you have the CI name field in each database).
    • Build automated workflows and chatbots that interact with data across multiple databases.
    • More effectively identify the potential impact of changes and releases.

    Do not confuse asset with configuration

    Asset and configuration management look at the same world through different lenses

    • IT asset management (ITAM) tends to focus on each IT asset in its own right: assignment or ownership, lifecycle, and related financial obligations and entitlements.
    • Configuration management is focused on configuration items (CIs) that must be managed to deliver a service and the relationships and integrations with other CIs.
    • ITAM and configuration management teams and practices should work closely together. Though asset and configuration management focus on different outcomes, they may use overlapping tools and data sets. Each practice, when working effectively, can strengthen the other.
    • Many objects will exist in both the CMDB and AMDB, and the data on those shared objects will need to be kept in sync.

    A comparison between Asset and Configuration Management Databases

    *Discovery, dependency mapping, and data normalization are often features or modules of configuration management, asset management, or IT service management tools.

    Start with ITIL 4 guiding principles to make your configuration management project valuable and realistic

    Focus on where CMDB data will provide value and ensure the cost of bringing that data in will be reasonable for its purpose. Your end goal should be not just to build a CMDB but to use a CMDB to manage workload and workflows and manage services appropriately.

    Focus on value

    Include only the relevant information required by stakeholders.

    Start where you are

    Use available sources of information. Avoid adding new sources and tools unless they are justified.

    Progress iteratively with feedback

    Regularly review information use and confirm its relevance, adjusting the CMDB scope if needed.

    Collaborate and promote visibility

    Explain and promote available sources of configuration information and the best ways to use them, then provide hints and tips for more efficient use.

    Think and work holistically

    Consider other sources of data for decision making. Do not try to put everything in the CMDB.

    Keep it simple and practical

    Provide relevant information in the most convenient way; avoid complex interfaces and reports.

    Optimize and automate

    Continually optimize resource-consuming practice activities. Automate CDMB verification, data collection, relationship discovery, and other activities.

    ITIL 4 guiding principles as described by AXELOS

    Step 1.1

    Identify use cases and desired benefits for service configuration management

    Activities

    1.1.1 Brainstorm data collection challenges

    1.1.2 Define goals and how you plan to meet them

    1.1.3 Brainstorm and prioritize use cases

    1.1.4 Identify the data needed to reach your goals

    1.1.5 Record required data sources

    This step will walk you through the following aspects of a configuration management system:

    • Scope
    • Use cases

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • IT and business service owners
    • Business/customer relationship managers
    • Enterprise architects
    • Practice owners and managers
    • SCM practice manager
    • Project sponsor
    • Project manager

    Identify potential obstacles in your organization to building and maintaining a CMDB

    Often, we see multiple unsuccessful attempts to build out a CMDB, with teams eventually losing faith and going back to spreadsheets. These are common obstacles:

    • Significant manual data collection, which is rarely current and fully accurate.
    • Multiple discovery solutions creating duplicate records, with no clear path to deduplicate records.
    • Manual dependency mapping that isn't accurate because it's not regularly assessed and updated.
    • Hybrid cloud and on-premises environment with discovery solutions only partially collecting as the right discovery and dependency mapping solutions aren't in place.
    • Dynamic environments (virtual, cloud, or containers) that may exist for a very short time, but no one knows how they should be managed.
    • Lack of expertise to maintain and update the CMDB or lack of an assigned owner for the CMDB. If no one owns the process and is assigned as a steward of data, it will not be maintained.
    • Database that was designed with other purposes in mind and is heavily customized, making it difficult to use and maintain.

    Understanding the challenges to accessing and maintaining quality data will help define the risks created through lack of quality data.

    This knowledge can drive buy-in to create a configuration management practice that benefits the organization.

    1.1.1 Brainstorm data collection challenges

    Involve stakeholders.
    Allot 45 minutes for this discussion.

    1. As a group, brainstorm the challenges you have with data:
    2. Accuracy and trustworthiness: What challenges do you have with getting accurate data on IT services and systems?
      1. Access: Where do you have challenges with getting data to people when they need it?
      2. Manually created data: Where are you relying on data that could be automatically collected?
      3. Data integration: Where do you have issues with integrating data from multiple sources?
      4. Impact: What is the result of these challenges?
    3. Group together these challenges into similar issues and identify what goals would help overcome them.
    4. Record these challenges in the Configuration Management Project Charter, section 1.2: Project Purpose.

    Download the Configuration Management Project Charter

    Input

    Output

    • None
    • List of high-level desired benefits for SCM
    Materials Participants
    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Sticky notes
    • Markers/pens
    • Configuration Management Project Charter
    • IT and business service owners
    • Business/customer relationship managers
    • Practice owners and managers
    • SCM practice manager
    • SCM project sponsor

    Info-Tech Maturity Ladder

    Identify your current and target state

    INNOVATOR

    • Characteristics of business partner
    • Integration with orchestration tools

    BUSINESS PARTNER

    Data collection and validation is fully automated

    Integrated with several IT processes

    Meets the needs of IT and business use cases

    TRUSTED OPERATOR

    • Data collection and validation is partially or fully automated
    • Trust in data accuracy is high, meets the needs of several IT use cases

    FIREFIGHTER

    • Data collection is partially or fully automated, validation is ad hoc
    • Trust in data accuracy is variable, used for decision making

    UNSTABLE

    INNOVATOR

    • Characteristics of business partner
    • Integration with orchestration tools

    BUSINESS PARTNER

    • Data collection and validation is fully automated
    • Integrated with several IT processes
    • Meets the needs of IT and business use cases

    TRUSTED OPERATOR

    • Data collection and validation is partially or fully automated
    • Trust in data accuracy is high, meets the needs of several IT use cases

    FIREFIGHTER

    • Data collection is partially or fully automated, validation is ad hoc
    • Trust in data accuracy is variable, used for decision making

    UNSTABLE

    A tower is depicted, with arrows pointing to Current (orange) and Target(blue)

    Define goals for your CMDB to ensure alignment with all stakeholders

    • How are business or IT goals being hindered by not having the right data available?
    • If the business isn't currently asking for service-based reporting and accountability, start with IT goals. This will help to develop goals that will be most closely aligned to the IT teams' needs and may help incentivize the right behavior in data maintenance.
    • Configuration management succeeds by enabling its stakeholders to achieve their outcomes. Set goals for configuration management based on the most important outcomes expected from this project. Ask your stakeholders:
      1. What are the business' or IT's planned transformational initiatives?
      2. What are your highest priority goals?
      3. What should the priorities of the configuration management practice be?
    • The answers to these questions will shape your approach to configuration management. Direct input from your leadership and executives, or their delegates, will help ensure you're setting a solid foundation for your practice.
    • Identify which obstacles will need to be overcome to meet these goals.

    "[T]he CMDB System should be viewed as a 'system of relevance,' rather than a 'single source of truth.' The burdens of relevance are at once less onerous and far more meaningful in terms of action, analysis, and automation. While 'truth' implies something everlasting or at least stable, relevance suggests a far more dynamic universe."

    – CMDB Systems, Making Change Work in the Age of Cloud and Agile, Drogseth et al

    Identify stakeholders to discuss what they need from a CMDB; business and IT needs will likely differ

    Define your audience to determine who the CMDB will serve and invite them to these conversations. The CMDB can aid the business and IT and can be structured to provide dashboards and reports for both.

    Nondiscoverable configuration items will need to be created for both audiences to organize CIs in a way that makes sense for all uses.

    Integrations with other systems may be required to meet the needs of your audience. Note integrations for future planning.

    Business Services

    Within the data sets, service configuration models can be used for:

    • Impact analysis
    • Cause and effect analysis
    • Risk analysis
    • Cost allocation
    • Availability analysis and planning

    Technical Services

    Connect to IT Finance for:

    • Service-based consumption and costing
    • Financial awareness through showback
    • Financial recovery through chargeback
    • Support IT strategy through financial transparency
    • Cost optimization
    • Reporting for depreciation, location-related taxation, and capitalization (may also use asset management for these)

    Intersect with IT Processes to:

    • Reduce time to restore services through incident management
    • Improve stability through change management
    • Reduce outages through problem management
    • Optimize assets through IT asset management
    • Provide detailed reporting for audit/governance, risk, and compliance

    1.1.2 Define goals and how you plan to meet them

    Involve stakeholders.

    Allot 45 minutes for this discussion.

    As a group, identify current goals for building and using a CMDB.

    Why are we doing this?

    • How do you hope to use the data within the CMDB?
    • What processes will be improved through use of this data and what are the expected outcomes?

    How will we improve the process?

    • What processes will be put in place to ensure data integrity?
    • What tools will be put in place to improve the methods used to collect and maintain data?

    Record these goals in the Configuration Management Project Charter, section 1.3: Project Objectives.

    Input

    Output

    • None
    • List of high-level desired benefits for SCM
    Materials Participants
    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Sticky notes
    • Markers/pens
    • Configuration Management Project Charter
    • IT and business service owners
    • Business/customer relationship managers
    • Practice owners and managers
    • SCM practice manager
    • SCM project sponsor

    It's easy to think that if you build it, they will come, but CMDBs rarely succeed without solid use cases

    Set expectations for your organization that defined and fulfilled use cases will factor into prioritization exercises, functional plans, and project milestones to achieve ROI for your efforts.

    A good use case:

    • Justifies resource allocation
    • Gains funding for the right tools
    • Builds stakeholder support
    • Drives interest and excitement
    • Gains support from anyone in a position to help build out and validate the data
    • Helps to define success

    In the book CMDB Systems, Making Change Work in the Age of Cloud and Agile, authors Drogseth, Sturm, and Twing describe the secrets of success:

    A documented evaluation of CMDB System vendors showed that while most "best case" ROI fell between 6 and 9 months for CMDB deployments, one instance delivered ROI for a significant CMDB investment in as little as 2 weeks!

    If there's a simple formula for quick time to value for a CMDB System, it's the following:

    Mature levels of process awareness
    + Strong executive level support
    + A ready and willing team with strongly supportive stakeholders
    + Clearly defined and ready phase one use case
    + Carefully selected, appropriate technologies

    All this = Powerful early-phase CMDB System results

    Define and prioritize use cases for how the CMDB will be used to drive value

    The CMDB can support several use cases and may require integration with various modules within the ITSM solution and integration with other systems.

    Document the use cases that will drive your CMDB to relevance, including the expected benefits for each use case.

    Identify the dependencies that will need to be implemented to be successful.

    Define "done" so that once data is entered, verified, and mapped, these use cases can be realized.

    "Our consulting experience suggests that more than 75% of all strategic initiatives (CMDB or not) fail to meet at least initial expectations across IT organizations. This is often due more to inflated expectations than categorical failure."

    – CMDB Systems, Making Change Work in the Age of Cloud and Agile, Drogseth et al.

    This image demonstrates how CMBD will be used to drive value.

    After identifying use cases, determine the scope of configuration items required to feed the use cases

    On-premises software and equipment will be critical to many use cases as the IT team and partners work on network and data-center equipment, enterprise software, and integrations through various means, including APIs and middleware. Real-time and near real-time data collection and validation will ensure IT can act with confidence.

    Cloud use can include software as a service (SaaS) solutions as well as infrastructure and platform as a service (IaaS and PaaS), and this may be more challenging for data collection. Tools must be capable of connecting to cloud environments and feeding the information back into the CMDB. Where on-premises and cloud applications show dependencies, you might need to validate data if multiple discovery and dependency mapping solutions are used to get a complete picture. Tagging will be crucial to making sense of the data as it comes into the CMDB.

    In-house developed software would be beneficial to have in the CMDB but may require more manual work to identify and classify once discovered. A combination of discovery and tagging may be beneficial to input and classification.

    Highly dynamic environments may require data collection through integration with a variety of solutions to manage and record continuous deployment models and verifications, or they may rely on tags and activity logs to record historical activity. Work with a partner who specializes in CI/CD to help architect this use case.

    Containers will require an assessment of the level of detail required. Determine if the container is a CI and if the content will be described as attributes. If there is value to your use case to map the contents of each container as separate CIs within the container CI, then you can map to that level of detail, but don't map to that depth unless the use case calls for it.

    Internet of Things (IoT) devices and applications will need to match a use case as well. IoT device asset data will be useful to track within an asset database but may have limited value to add to a CMDB. If there are connections between IoT applications and data warehouses, the dependencies should likely be mapped to ensure continued dataflow.

    Out of scope

    A single source of data is highly beneficial, but don't make it a catchall for items that are not easily stored in a CMDB.

    Source code should be stored in a definitive media library (DML). Code can be linked to the CMDB but is generally too big to store in a CMDB and will reduce performance for data retrieval.

    Knowledge articles and maintenance checklists are better suited to a knowledge base. They can also be linked to the CDMB if needed but this can get messy where many-to-many relationships between articles and CIs exist.

    Fleet (transportation) assets and fixed assets should be in fleet management systems and accounting systems, respectively. Storing these types of data in the CMDB doesn't provide value to the support process.

    1.1.3 Brainstorm and prioritize use cases

    Which IT practices will you supercharge?

    Focus on improving both operations and strategy.

    1. Brainstorm the list of relevant use cases. What do you want to do with the data from the CMDB? Consider:
      1. ITSM management and governance practices
      2. IT operations, vendor orchestration, and service integration and management (SIAM) to improve vendor interactions
      3. IT finance and business service reporting needs
    2. Identify which use cases are part of your two- to three-year plan, including the purpose for adding configuration data into that process. Prioritize one or two of these use cases to accomplish in your first year.
    3. Identify dependencies to manage as part of the solution and define a realistic timeline for implementing integrations, modules, or data sources.
    4. Document this table in the Configuration Management Project Charter, section 2.2: Use Cases.
    Audience Use Case Goal/Purpose Project/Solution Dependencies Proposed Timeline Priority
    • IT
    • Change Management

    Stabilize the process by seeing:

    Change conflict reporting

    Reports of CI changes without change records

    System availability

    RFC mapping requires discovered CIs

    RFC review requires criticality, technical and business owners

    Conflict reporting requires dependency mapping

    • Discovery and manual information entered by October
    • Dependency mapping implemented by December

    High

    Determine what additional data will be needed to achieve your use cases

    Regardless of which use cases you are planning to fulfill with the CMDB, it is critical to not add data and complexity with the plan of resolving every possible inquiry. Ensure the cost and effort of bringing in the data and maintaining it is justified. The complexity of the environment will impact the complexity of data sources and integrations for discovery and dependency mapping.

    Before bringing in new data, consider:

    • Is this information available in other maintained databases now?
    • Will this data be critical for decision making? If it is nice to have or optional, can it be automatically moved into the database and maintained using existing integrations?
    • Is there a cost to bringing the data into the CMDB and maintaining it? Is that cost reasonable for its purpose?
    • How frequently will this information be accessed, and can it be updated in an adequate cadence to meet these needs?
    • When does this information need to be available?

    Info-Tech Insight

    If data will be used only occasionally upon request, determine if it will be more efficient to maintain it or to retrieve it from the CMDB or another data source as needed.

    Remember, within the data sets, service configuration models can be used for:

    • Impact analysis
    • Cause and effect analysis
    • Risk analysis
    • Cost allocation
    • Availability analysis and planning

    1.1.4 Expand your use cases by identifying the data needed to reach your goals

    Involve stakeholders.

    Allot 60 minutes for this discussion.

    Review use cases and their goals.

    Identify what data will be required to meet those goals and determine whether it will be mandatory or optional/nice-to-have information.

    Identify sources of data for each type of data. Color code or sort.

    Italicize data points that can be automatically discovered.

    Gain consensus on what information will be manually entered.

    Record the data in the Use Cases and Data Worksheet.

    Download the Use Cases and Data Worksheet

    Input

    Output

    • None
    • List of data requirements
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Sticky notes
    • Markers/pens
    • Use Cases and Data Worksheet
    • IT and business service owners
    • Business/customer relationship managers
    • Practice owners and managers
    • SCM practice manager
    • SCM project sponsor

    Use discovery and dependency mapping tools to automatically update the CMDB

    Avoid manual data entry whenever possible.

    Consider these features when looking at tools:

    • Application dependency mapping: Establishing and tracking the relationships and dependencies between system components, applications, and IT services. The ideal tool will be able to generate maps automatically.
    • Agentless and agent discovery: Scanning systems with both agent and agentless approaches. Agent-based scanning provides comprehensive information on applications used in individual endpoints, which is helpful in minimizing its IT footprint. However, agents require endpoint access. Agentless-based scanning provides a broader and holistic view of deployed applications without the need to install an agent on end devices, which can be good enough for inventory awareness.
    • Data export capability: Easy exporting of application inventory information to be used in reports and other tools.
    • Dashboards and chart visualization: Detailed list of the application inventory, including version number, number of users, licenses, deployment location, and other application details. These details will inform decision makers of each application's health and its candidacy for further rationalization activities.
    • Customizable scanning scripts: Tailor your application discovery approach by modifying the scripts used to scan your systems.
    • Integration with third-party tools: Easy integration with other systems with out-of-the-box plugins or customizable APIs.

    Determine which data collection methods will be used to populate the CMDB

    The effort-to-value ratio is an important factor in populating a CMDB. Manual efforts require a higher process focus, more intensive data validation, and a constant need to remind team members to act on every change.

    Real-Time Data AIOps continual scans Used for event and incident management
    Near Real-Time Data Discovery and dependency mapping run on a regular cycle Used for change and asset management
    Historical Data Activity log imports, manual data entry Used for IT finance, audit trail
    • Determine what amount of effort is appropriate for each data grouping and use case. As decisions are made to expand data within the CMDB, the effort-to-value ratio should always factor in. To be usable, data must be accurate, and every piece of data that needs to be manually entered runs the risk of becoming obsolete.
    • Identify which data sources will bring in each type of data. Where there is a possibility of duplicate records being created, one of the data sources will need to be identified as the primary.
    • If the decision is to manually enter configuration items early in the process, be aware that automation may create duplicates of the CIs that will need to be deduplicated at some point in the process to make the information more usable.
    • Typically, items are discovered, validated, then mapped, but there will be variations depending on the source.
    • Active Directory or LDAP may be used to bring users and technicians into the CMDB. Data may be imported from spreadsheets. Identify efforts where data cleanup may have to happen before transferring into the CMDB.
    • Identify how often manual imports will need to be conducted to make sure data is usable.

    Identify other nondiscoverable data that will need to be added to or accessed by the CMDB

    Foundational data, such as technicians, end users and approvers, roles, location, company, agency, department, building, or cost center, may be added to tables that are within or accessed by the CMDB. Work with your vendor to understand structure and where this information resides.

    • These records can be imported from CSV files manually, but this will require manual removal or edits as information changes.
    • Integration with the HRIS, Active Directory, or LDAP will enable automatic updates through synchronization or scheduled imports.
    • If synchronization is fully enabled, new data can be added and removed from the CMDB automatically.
    • Identify which nondiscoverable attributes will be needed, such as system criticality, support groups, groups it is managed by, location.
    • If partially automating the process, identify where manual updates will need to occur.
    • If fully automating the process, notifications will need to be set up when business owner or product or technical owner fields become empty to prompt defining a replacement within the CMDB.
    • Determine who will manage these updates.
    • Work with your CMDB implementation vendor to determine the best option for bringing this information in.

    1.1.5 Record required data sources

    Allot 15 minutes for this discussion.

    1. Where do you track the work involved in providing services? Typically, your ticket database tracks service requests and incidents. Additional data sources can include:
      • Enterprise resource planning tools for tracking purchase orders
      • Project management information system for tracking tasks
    2. What trusted data sources exist for the technology that supports these services? Examples include:
      • Management tools (e.g. Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager)
      • Architectural diagrams and network topology diagrams
      • IT asset management database
      • Spreadsheets
      • Other systems of record
    3. What other data sources can help you gather the data you identified in activity 1.1.4?
    4. Record the relevant data sources for each use case in the Configuration Management Standard Operating Procedures, section 6: Data Collection and Updates.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Improve the trustworthiness of your CMDB as a system of record by relying on data that is already trusted.

    Input

    Output

    • Use cases
    • List of data requirements
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Use Cases and Data Worksheet
    • Configuration Management Standard Operating Procedures
    • IT and business service owners
    • Practice owners and managers
    • SCM practice manager
    • SCM project sponsor

    Step 1.2

    Define roles and responsibilities

    Activities

    1.2.1 Record the project team and stakeholders

    1.2.2 Complete a RACI chart to define who will be accountable and responsible for configuration tasks

    This step will walk you through the following aspects of a configuration management system:

    • Roles and responsibilities

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • IT service owners
    • Enterprise architects
    • Practice owners and managers
    • SCM practice manager
    • Project manager

    Identify the roles you need in your SCM project

    Determine which roles will need to be involved in the initial project and how to source these roles.

    Leadership Roles
    Oversee the SCM implementation

    1. Configuration Manager – The practice owner for SCM. This is a long-term role.
    2. Configuration Control Board (CCB) Chair – An optional role that oversees proposed alterations to configuration plans. If a CCB is implemented, this is a long-term role.
    3. Project Sponsor or Program Sponsor – Provides the necessary resources for building the CMDB and SCM practices.
    4. Architecture Roles
      Plan the program to build strong foundation
      1. Configuration Management Architect – Technical leader who defines the overall CM solution, plans the scope, selects a tool, and leads the technical team that will implement the solution.
      2. Requirements Analyst – Gathers and manages the requirements for CM.
      3. Process Engineer – Defines, documents, and implements the entire process.

    Architecture Roles
    Plan the program to build strong foundation

    1. Configuration Management Architect – Technical leader who defines the overall CM solution, plans the scope, selects a tool, and leads the technical team that will implement the solution.
    2. Requirements Analyst – Gathers and manages the requirements for CM.
    3. Process Engineer – Defines, documents, and implements the entire process.

    Engineer Roles
    Implement the system

    1. Logical Database Analyst (DBA) Designs the structure to hold the configuration management data and oversees implementation.
    2. Communications and Trainer – Communicates the goals and functions of CM and teaches impacted users the how and why of the process and tools.

    Administrative Roles
    Permanent roles involving long-term ownership

    1. Technical Owner – The system administrator responsible for their system's uptime. These roles usually own the data quality for their system.
    2. Configuration Management Integrator – Oversees regular transfer of data into the CMDB.
    3. Configuration Management Tool Support – Selects, installs, and maintains the CM tool.
    4. Impact Manager – Analyzes configuration data to ensure relationships between CIs are accurate; conducts impact analysis.

    1.2.1 Record the project team and stakeholders

    Allocate 25 minutes to this discussion.

    1. Record the project team.
      1. Identify the project manager who will lead this project.
      2. Identify key personnel that will need to be involved in design of the configuration management system and processes.
      3. Identify where vendors/outsourcers may be required to assist with technical aspects.
      4. Document the project team in the Configuration Management Project Charter, section 1.1: Project Team.
    1. Record a list of stakeholders.
      1. Identify stakeholders internal and external to IT.
      2. Build the stakeholder profile. For each stakeholder, identify their role, interest in the project, and influence on project success. You can score these criteria high/medium/low or score them out of ten.
      3. If managed service providers will need to be part of the equation, determine who will be the liaison and how they will provide or access data.
    Input

    Output

    • Project team members
    • Project plan resources
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Configuration Management Project Charter
    • List of project stakeholders and participants
    • IT service owners
    • Practice owners and managers
    • SCM practice manager
    • SCM project sponsor

    Even with full automation, this cannot be a "set it and forget it" project if it is to be successful long-term

    Create a team to manage the process and data updates and to ensure data is always usable.

    • Services may be added and removed.
    • Technology will change as technical debt is reduced.
    • Vendors may change as contract needs develop.
    • Additional use cases may be introduced by IT and the business as approaches to management evolve.
    • AIOps can reduce the level of effort and improve visibility as configuration items change from the baseline and notifications are automated.
    • Changes can be checked against requests for changes through automated reconciliations, but changes will still need to be investigated where they do not meet expectations.
    • Manual data changes will need to be made regularly and verified.

    "We found that everyone wanted information from the CMDB, but no one wanted to pay to maintain it. People pointed to the configuration management team and said, 'It's their responsibility.'

    Configuration managers, however, cannot own the data because they have no way of knowing if the data is accurate. They can own the processes related to checking accuracy, but not the data itself."
    – Tim Mason, founding director at TRM Associates
    (Excerpt from Viewpoint: Focus on CMDB Leadership)

    Include these roles in your CMDB practice to ensure continued success and continual improvement

    These roles can make up the configuration control board (CCB) to make decisions on major changes to services, data models, processes, or policies. A CCB will be necessary in complex environments.

    Configuration Manager

    This role is focused on ensuring everyone works together to build the CMDB and keep it up to date. The configuration manager is responsible to:

    • Plan and manage the standards, processes, and procedures and communicate all updates to appropriate staff. Focused on continual improvement.
    • Plan and manage population of the CMDB and ensure data included meets criteria for cost effectiveness and reasonable effort for the value it brings.
    • Validate scope of services and CIs to be included and controlled within the CMDB and manage exceptions.
    • Audit data quality to ensure it is valid, is current, and meets defined standards.
    • Evaluate and recommend tools to support processes, data collection, and integrations.
    • Ensure configuration management processes interface with all other service and business management functions to meet use cases.
    • Report on configuration management performance and take appropriate action on process adherence and quality issues.

    Configuration Librarian

    This role is most important where manual data entry is prevalent and where many nonstandard configurations are in place. The librarian role is often held by the tool administrator. The librarian focuses specifically on data within the CMDB, including:

    • Manual updates to configuration data.
    • CMDB data verification on a regular schedule.
    • Processing ad hoc requests for data.

    Product/Service/Technical Owners

    The product or technical owner will validate information is correctly updating and reflects the existing data requirements as new systems are provisioned or as existing systems change.

    Interfacing Practice Owners

    All practice owners, such as change manager, incident manager, or problem manager, must work with the configuration team to ensure data is usable for each of the use cases they are responsible for.

    Download the Configuration Manager job description

    Assign configuration management responsibilities and accountabilities

    Align authority and accountability.

    • A RACI exercise will help you discuss and document accountability and responsibility for critical configuration management activities.
    • When responsibility and accountability are not well documented, it's often useful to invite a representative of the roles identified to participate in this alignment exercise. The discussion can uncover contrasting views on responsibility and governance, which can help you build a stronger management and governance model.
    • The RACI chart can help you identify who should be involved when making changes to a given activity. Clarify the variety of responsibilities assigned to each key role.
    • In the future, you may need to define roles in more detail as you change your configuration management procedures.

    Responsible: The person who actually gets the job done.
    Different roles may be responsible for different aspects of the activity relevant to their role.

    Accountable: The one role accountable for the activity (in terms of completion, quality, cost, etc.)
    Must have sufficient authority to be held accountable; responsible roles are often accountable to this role.

    Consulted: Those who need the opportunity to provide meaningful input at certain points in the activity; typically, subject matter experts or stakeholders. The more people you must consult, the more overhead and time you'll add to a process.

    Informed: Those who receive information regarding the task but do not need to provide feedback.
    Information might relate to process execution, changes, or quality.

    Complete a RACI chart to define who will be accountable and responsible for configuration tasks

    Determine what roles will be in place in your organization and who will fulfill them, and create your RACI chart to reflect what makes sense for your organization. Additional roles may be involved where there is complexity.

    R = responsible, A = accountable, C = consulted, I = informed CCB Configuration Manager Configuration Librarian Technical Owner(s) Interfacing Practice Owners Tool Administrator
    Plan and manage the standards, processes, and procedures and communicate all updates to appropriate staff. Focused on continual improvement. A R
    Plan and manage population of the CMDB and ensure data included meets criteria for cost effectiveness and reasonable effort for the value it brings. A R
    Validate scope of services and CIs to be included and controlled within the CMDB and manage exceptions. A R
    Audit data quality to ensure it is valid, is current, and meets defined standards. A,R
    Evaluate and recommend tools to support processes, data collection, and integrations. A,R
    Ensure configuration management processes interface with all other service and business management functions to meet use cases. A
    Report on configuration management performance and take appropriate action on process adherence and quality issues. A
    Make manual updates to configuration data. A
    Conduct CMDB data verification on a regular schedule. A
    Process ad hoc requests for data. A
    Enter new systems into the CMDB. A R
    Update CMDB as systems change. A R
    Identify new use cases for CMDB data. R A
    Validate data meets the needs for use cases and quality. R A
    Design reports to meet use cases. R
    Ensure integrations are configured as designed and are functional. R

    1.2.2 Complete a RACI chart to define who will be accountable and responsible for configuration tasks

    Allot 60 minutes for this discussion.

    1. Open the Configuration Management Standard Operating Procedures, section 4.1: Responsibility Matrix. In the RACI chart, review the top row of roles. Smaller organizations may not need a configuration control board, in which case the configuration manager may have more authority.
    2. Modify or expand the process tasks in the left column as needed.
    3. For each role, identify what that person is responsible for, accountable for, consulted on, or informed of. Fill out each column.
    4. Document in the SOP. Schedule a time to share the results with organization leads.
    5. Distribute the chart among all teams in your organization.
    6. Describe additional roles as needed in the documentation.
    7. Add accountabilities and responsibilities for the CCB into the Configuration Control Board Charter.
    8. If appropriate, add auxiliary roles to the Configuration Management Standard Operating Procedures, section 4.2: Configuration Management Auxiliary Role Definitions.

    Notes:

    1. Assign one Accountable for each task.
    2. Have one or more Responsible for each task.
    3. Avoid generic responsibilities such as "team meetings."
    4. Keep your RACI definitions in your documents for quick reference.

    Refer back to the RACI chart when building out the communications plan to ensure accountable and responsible team members are on board and consulted and informed people are aware of all changes.

    Input

    Output

    • Task assignments
    • RACI chart with roles and responsibilities
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Configuration Management Standard Operating Procedures, RACI chart
    • Configuration Control Board Charter, Responsibilities section
    • IT service owners
    • Practice owners and managers
    • SCM practice manager
    • SCM project sponsor

    Phase 2

    Configuration Management Data Model

    StrategyData StructureProcessesRoadmap
    • Challenges and Goals
    • Use Cases and Data
    • Roles and Responsibilities
    • Services
    • Classifications
    • Data Modeling
    • Lifecycle Processes
    • Baselines
    • Audit and Data Validation
    • Metrics
    • Communications Plan
    • Roadmap

    This phase will walk you through the following aspects of a configuration management system:

    • Data Model
    • Customer-Facing and Supporting Services
    • Business Capabilities
    • Relationships
    • IT Infrastructure Components
    • Enterprise Software
    • End-User Devices
    • Documents

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • IT service owners
    • Enterprise architects
    • Practice owners and managers
    • CM practice manager
    • CM project manager

    Step 2.1

    Build a framework for CIs and relationships

    Activities

    Document services:

    2.1.1 Define and prioritize your services

    2.1.2 Test configuration items against existing categories

    2.1.3 Create a configuration control board charter to define the board's responsibilities and protocols

    This step will walk you through the following aspects of a configuration management system:

    • Data model
    • Configuration items
    • Relationships

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • IT service owners
    • Enterprise architects
    • Practice owners and managers
    • CM practice manager
    • Project manager

    Making sense of data daily will be key to maintaining it, starting with services

    As CIs are discovered and mapped, they will automatically map to each other based on integrations, APIs, queries, and transactions. However, CIs also need to be mapped to a conceptional model or service to present the service and its many layers in an easily consumable way.

    These services will need to be manually created or imported into the CMDB and manually connected to the application services. Services can be mapped to technical or business services or both.

    If business services reporting has been requested, talk to the business to develop a list of services that will be required. Use terms the business will be expecting and identify which applications and instances will be mapped to those services.

    If IT is using the CMDB to support service usage and reporting, develop the list of IT services and identify which applications and instances will be mapped to those services.

    This image show the relationship between Discoverable and Nondiscoverable CIs. The discoverable CIs are coloured in purple, and the nondiscoverables are blue.

    Work with your stakeholders to ensure catalog items make sense to them

    There isn't a definitive right or wrong way to define catalog items. For example, the business and IT could both reference application servers, but only IT may need to see technical services broken down by specific locations or device types.

    Refer back to your goals and use cases to think through how best to meet those objectives and determine how to categorize your services.

    Define the services that will be the top-level, nondiscoverable services, which will group together the CIs that make up the complete service. Identify which application(s) will connect into the technical service.

    When you are ready to start discovery, this list of services will be connected to the discovered data to organize it in a way that makes sense for how your stakeholders need to see the data.

    While working toward meeting the goals of the first few use cases, you will want to keep the structure simple. Once processes are in place and data is regularly validated, complexities of different service types and names can be integrated into the data.

    This image show the relationship between Discoverable and Nondiscoverable CIs. Both Discoverable and nondiscoverable CIs are blue.

    Application Service(blue); Technical Service(Purple); IT Shared Services(Orange); Billable Services(green); Service Portfolio(red)

    Define the service types to manage within the CMDB to logically group CIs

    Determine which method of service groupings will best serve your audience for your prioritized use cases. This will help to name your service categories. Service types can be added as the CMDB evolves and as the audience changes.

    Application Service

    Technical Service

    IT Shared Services

    Billable Services

    Service Portfolio

    A set of interconnected applications and hosts configured to offer a service to the organization.

    Example: Financial application service, which may include email, web server, application server, databases, and middleware.

    A logical grouping of CIs based on common criteria.

    Example: Toronto web services, which may include several servers, web applications, and databases.

    A logical grouping of IT and business services shared and used across the organization.

    Example: VoIP/phone services or networking or security services.

    A group of services that will be billed out to departments or customers and would require logical groupings to enable invoicing.

    A group of business and technical service offerings with specific performance reporting levels. This may include multiple service levels for different customer audiences for the same service.

    2.1.1 Define and prioritize your services

    Prioritize your starting point. If multiple audiences need to be accommodated, work with one group at a time.

    Timing: will vary depending on number of services, and starting point

    1. Create your list of services, referencing an existing service catalog, business continuity or disaster recovery plan, list of applications, or brainstorming sessions. Use the terminology that makes the most sense for the audience and their reporting requirements.
    2. If this list is already in place, assess for relevance and reduce the list to only those services that will be managed through the CMDB.
    3. Determine what data will be relevant for each service based on the exercises done in 1.1.4 and 1.1.5. For example, if priority was a required attribute for use case data, ensure each service lists the priority of that service.
    4. For each of these, identify the supporting services. These items can come from your technical service catalog or list of systems and software.
    5. Document this table in the Use Cases and Data Worksheet, tab 3: Service Catalog.

    Service Record Example

    Service: Email
    Supporting Services: M365, Authentication Services

    Service Attributes

    Availability: 24/7 (99.999%)
    Priority: Critical
    Users: All
    Used for: Collaboration
    Billable: Departmental
    Support: Unified Support Model, Account # 123456789

    The CMDB will be organized by services and will enable data analysis through multiple categorization schemes

    To extract maximum service management benefit from a CMDB, the highest level of CI type should be a service, as demonstrated below. While it is easier to start at the system or single-asset level, taking the service mapping approach will provide you with a useful and dynamic view of your IT environment as it relates to the services you offer, instead of a static inventory of components.

    Level 1: Services

    • Business Service Offering: A business service is an IT service that supports a business process, or a service that is delivered to business customers. Business service offerings typically are bound by service-level agreements.
    • IT Service Offering: An IT service supports the customer's business processes and is made up of people, processes, and technology. IT service offerings typically are bound by service-level agreements.

    Level 2: Infrastructure CIs

    • IT Component Set: An IT service offering consists of one of more sets of IT components. An IT component set allows you to group or bundle IT components with other components or groupings.
    • IT Component: An IT system is composed of one or more supporting components. Many components are shared between multiple IT systems.

    Level 3: Supporting CIs

    • IT Subcomponent: Any IT asset that is uniquely identifiable and a component of an IT system.
    • IT components can have subcomponents, and those components can have subcomponents, etc.

    Two charts, showing Enterprise Architect Model and Configuration Service Model. Each box represents a different CI.

    Assess your CMDB's standard category offerings against your environment, with a plan to minimize customization

    Standard categorization schemes will allow for easier integration with multiple tools and reporting and improve results if using machine learning to automate categorization. If the CMDB chosen includes structured categories, use that as your starting point and focus only on gaps that are not addressed for CIs unique to your environment.

    There is an important distinction between a class and a type. This concept is foundational for your configuration data model, so it is important that you understand it.

    • Types are general groupings, and the things within a type will have similarities. For attributes that you want to collect on a type, all children classes and CIs will have those attribute fields.
    • Classes are a more specific grouping within a type. All objects within a class will have specific similarities. You can also use subclasses to further differentiate between CIs.
    • Individual CIs are individual instances of a class or subclass. All objects in a class will have the same attribute fields and behave the same, although the values of their attributes will likely differ.
    • Attributes may be discovered or nondiscoverable and manually added to CIs. The attributes are properties of the CI such as serial number, version, memory, processor speed, or asset tag.

    Use inheritance structures to simplify your configuration data model.

    An example CM Data Model is depicted.

    Assess the list of classes of configuration items against your requirements

    Types are general groupings, and the things within a type will have similarities. Each type will have its own table within the CMDB. Classes within a type are a more specific grouping of configuration items and may include subclasses.

    Review your vendor's CMDB documentation. Find the list of CI types or classes. Most CMDBs will have a default set of classes, like this standard list. If you need to build your own, use the table below as a starting point. Define anything required for unique classes. Create a list and consult with your installation partner.

    Sample list of classes organized by type

    Types Services Network Hardware Storage Compute App Environment Documents
    Classes
    • Application Service
    • Technical Service
    • IT Shared Service
    • Billable Service
    • Service Portfolio
    • Switch
    • Router
    • Firewall
    • Modem
    • SD-WAN
    • Load Balancer
    • UPS
    • Computer
    • Laptop
    • Server
    • Tablet
    • Database
    • Network-Attached Storage
    • Storage Array Network
    • Blob
    • Operating System
    • Hypervisor
    • Virtual Server
    • Virtual Desktop
    • Appliance
    • Virtual Application
    • Enterprise Application
    • Line of Business Application Software
    • Development
    • Test
    • Production
    • Contract
    • Business Impact Analysis
    • Requirements

    Review relationships to determine which ones will be most appropriate to map your dependencies

    Your CMDB should include multiple relationship types. Determine which ones will be most effective for your environment and ensure everyone is trained on how to use them. As CIs are mapped, verify they are correct and only manually map what is incorrect or not mapping through automation.

    Manually mapping CMDB relationships may be time consuming and prone to error, but where manual mapping needs to take place, ensure the team has a common view of the dependency types available and what is important to map.

    Use automated mapping whenever possible to improve accuracy, provide functional visualizations, and enable dynamic updates as the environment changes.

    Where a dependency maps to external providers, determine where it makes sense to discover and map externally provided CIs.

    • Only connect where there is value in mapping to vendor-owned systems.
    • Only connect where data and connections can be trusted and verified.

    Most common dependency mapping types

    A list of the most common dependency mapping types.

    2.1.2 Test configuration items against existing categories

    Time to complete: 1-2 hours

    1. Select a service to test.
    2. Identify the various components that make up the service, focusing on configuration items, not attributes
    3. Categorize configuration items against types and classes in the default settings of the CMDB.
    4. Using the default relationships within the CMDB, identify the relationships between the configuration items.
    5. Identify types, classes, and relationships that do not fit within the default settings. Determine if there are common terms for these items or determine most appropriate name.
    6. Validate these exceptions with the publisher.
    7. Document exceptions in the Configuration Management Standard Operating Procedures, Appendix 2: Types and Classes of Configuration Items
    Input

    Output

    • List of default settings for classes, types, and relationships
    • Small list of services for testing
    • List of CIs to map to at least one service
    • List of categories to add to the CMDB solution.
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Use Cases and Data Worksheet
    • Configuration Management Standard Operating Procedures
    • IT service owners
    • Practice owners and managers
    • SCM practice manager
    • SCM project sponsor

    2.1.3 Create a configuration control board charter to define the board's responsibilities and protocols

    A charter will set the tone for meetings, ensure purpose is defined and meeting cadence is set for regular reviews.

    1. Open the Configuration Control Board Charter. Review the document and modify as appropriate for your CCB. This will include:
      • Purpose and mandate of the committee – Reference objectives from the project charter.
      • Team composition – Determine the right mix of team members. A team of six to ten people can provide a good balance between having a variety of opinions and getting work done.
      • Voting option – Determine the right quorum to approve changes.
      • Responsibilities – List responsibilities, starting with RACI chart items.
      • Authority – Define the control board's span of control.
      • Governing laws and regulations – List any regulatory requirements that will need to be met to satisfy your auditors.
      • Meeting preparation – Set expectations to ensure meetings are productive.
    2. Distribute the charter to CCB members.
    Input

    Output

    • Project team members
    • Project plan resources
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Configuration Control Board Charter
    • IT service owners
    • Practice owners and managers
    • SCM practice manager
    • SCM project sponsor

    Assess the default list of statuses for each state

    Align this list with your CMDB

    Minimize the number of customizations that will make it difficult to update the platform.

    1. Review the default status list within the tool.
    2. Identify which statuses will be most used. Write a definition for each status.
    3. Update this list as you update process documentation in Step 3.1. After initial implementation, this list should only be modified through change enablement.
    4. Record this list of statuses in the Configuration Management Standard Operating Procedures, Appendix 4: Statuses
    State Status Description
    Preparation Ordered Waiting delivery from the vendor
    In Planning Being created
    Received Vendor has delivered the item, but it is not ready for deployment
    Production In Stock Available to be deployed
    In Use Deployed
    On Loan Deployed to a user on a temporary basis
    For Removal Planning to be phased out but still deployed to an end user
    Offline In Transit Moving to a new location
    Under Maintenance Temporarily offline while a patch or change is applied
    Removed Decommissioned Item has been retired and is no longer in production
    Disposed Item has been destroyed and we are no longer in possession of it
    Lost Item has been lost
    Stolen Item has been stolen

    Step 2.2

    Document statuses, attributes, and data sources

    Activities

    2.2.1 Follow the packet and map out the in-scope services and data centers

    2.2.2 Build data model diagrams

    2.2.3 Determine access rights for your data

    This step will walk you through the following aspects of a configuration management system:

    • Statuses
    • Attributes for each class of CI

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • IT service owners
    • Enterprise architects
    • Practice owners and managers
    • SCM practice manager
    • Project manager

    Outcomes of this step

    • Framework for approaching CI statuses
    • Attributes for each class of CI
    • Data sources for those attributes

    Service mapping approaches

    As you start thinking about dependency mapping, it's important to understand the different methods and how they work, as well as your CMDB's capabilities. These approaches may be all in the same tool, or the tool may only have the top-down options.

    Top down, most common

    Pattern-based

    Most common option, which includes indicators of connections such as code, access rights, scripting, host discovery, and APIs.

    Start with pattern-based, then turn on traffic-based for more detail. This combination will provide the most accuracy.

    Traffic-based

    Map against traffic patterns involving connection rules to get more granular than pattern-based.

    Traffic-based can add a lot of overhead with extraneous data, so you may not want to run it continuously.

    Tag-based

    Primarily used for cloud, containers, and virtual machines and will attach the cloud licenses to their dependent services and any related CIs.

    Tags work well with cloud but will not have the same hierarchical view as on-premises dependency mapping.

    Machine learning

    Machine learning will look for patterns in the traffic-based connections, match CIs to categories and help organize the data.

    Machine learning (ML) may not be in every solution, but if you have it, use it. ML will provide many suggestions to make the life of the data manager easier.

    Model hierarchy

    Automated data mapping will be helpful, but it won't be foolproof. It's critical to understand the data model to validate and map nondiscoverable CIs correctly.

    The framework consists of the business, enterprise, application, and implementation layers.

    The business layer encodes real-world business concepts via the conceptual model.

    The enterprise layer defines all enterprise data assets' details and their relationships.

    The application layer defines the data structures as used by a specific application.

    The implementation layer defines the data models and artifacts for use by software tools.

    An example of Model Hierarchy is depicted.

    Learn how to create data models with Info-Tech's blueprint Create and Manage Enterprise Data Models

    2.2.1 Follow the packet and map out the in-scope services and data centers

    Reference your network topology and architecture diagrams.

    Allot 1 hour for this activity.

    1. Start with a single service that is well understood and documented.
    2. Identify the technical components (hardware and applications) that make up the service.
    3. Determine if there is a need to further break down services into logical service groupings. For example, the email service to the right is broken down into authentication and mail flow.
    4. If you don't have a network diagram to follow, create a simple one to identify workflows within the service and components the service uses.
    5. Record the apps and underlying components in the Configuration Management Standard Operating Procedures, Appendix 1: Configuration Data Model Structure.

    This information will be used for CM project planning and validating the contents of the CMDB.

    an example of a Customer-facing service is shown, for Email sample topology.

    Download the Configuration Management Diagram Template Library to see an example.

    Build your configuration data model

    Rely on out-of-the-box functionality where possible and keep a narrow focus in the early implementation stages.

    1. If you have an enterprise architecture, then your configuration management data model should align with it.
    2. Keep a narrow focus in the early implementation stages. Don't fill up your CMDB until you are ready to validate and fix the data.
    3. Rely on out-of-the-box (OOTB) functionality where possible. If your configuration management database (CMDB) and platform do not have a data model OOTB, then rely on a publicly available data model.
    4. Map your business or IT service offering to the first few layers.

    Once this is built out in the system, you can let the automated dependency mapping take over, but you will still need to validate the accuracy of the automated mapping and investigate anything that is incorrect.

    Sample Configuration Data Model

    Every box represents a CI, and every line represents a relationship

    A sample configuration Data model is shown.

    Example: Data model and CMDB visualization

    Once the data model is entered into the CMDB, it will provide a more dynamic and complex view, including CIs shared with other services.

    An example of a Data Model Exercise

    CMDB View

    An example of a CMDB View of the Data Model Exercise

    2.2.2 Build data model diagrams

    Visualize the expected CI classes and relationships.

    Allot 45 minutes.

    1. Identify the different data model views you need. Use multiple diagrams to keep the information simple to read and understand. Common diagrams include:
      1. Network level: Outline expected CI classes and relationships at the network level.
      2. Application level: Outline the expected components and relationships that make up an application.
      3. Services level: Outline how business capability CIs and service CIs relate to each other and to other types of CIs.
    1. Use boxes to represent CI classes.
    2. Use lines to represent relationships. Include details such as:
      1. Relationship name: Write this name on the arrow.
      2. Direction: Have an arrow point to each child.

    Review samples in Configuration Management Diagram Template Library.
    Record these diagrams in the Configuration Management Standard Operating Procedures, Appendix 1: Configuration Data Model Structure.

    Input

    Output

    • List of default settings for classes, types, and relationships
    • Small list of services for testing
    • List of CIs to map to at least one service
    • List of additions of categories to add to the CMDB solution.
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Configuration Management Standard Operating Procedures
    • Configuration Management Diagram Template Library
    • IT service owners
    • Practice owners and managers
    • SCM practice manager
    • SCM project sponsor

    Download the Configuration Management Diagram Template Library to see examples.

    Determine governance for data security, access, and validation

    Align CMDB access to the organization's access control policy to maintain authorized and secure access for legitimate staff performing their role.

    Data User Type Access Role
    Data consumers
    • View-only access
    • Will need to view and use the data but will not need to make modifications to it
    • Service desk
    • Change manager
    • Major incident manager
    • Finance
    CMDB owner
    • Read/write access with the ability to update and validate data as needed
    • Configuration manager
    Domain owner
    • Read/write access for specific domains
    • Data owner within their domain, which includes validating that data is in the database and that it is correctly categorized.
    • Enterprise architect
    • Application owner
    Data provider
    • Read/write access for specific domains
    • Ensures automated data has been added and adds nondiscoverable assets and attributes as needed
    • Server operations
    • Database management
    • Network teams
    CMDB administrator
    • View-only access for data
    • Will need to have access for modifying the structure of the product, including adding fields, as determined by the CCB
    • ITSM tool administrator

    2.2.3 Determine access rights for your data

    Allot 30 minutes for this discussion.

    1. Open the Configuration Management Standard Operating Procedures, section 5: Access Rights.
    2. Review the various roles from an access perspective.
      1. Who needs read-only access?
      2. Who needs read/write access?
      3. Should there be restrictions on who can delete data?
    1. Fill in the chart and communicate this to your CMDB installation vendor or your CMDB administrator.
    Input

    Output

    • Task assignments
    • Access rights and roles
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Configuration Management Standard Operating Procedures
    • IT service owners
    • Practice owners and managers
    • SCM practice manager
    • SCM project sponsor

    Phase 3

    Configuration Record Updates

    StrategyData StructureProcessesRoadmap
    • Challenges and Goals
    • Use Cases and Data
    • Roles and Responsibilities
    • Services
    • Classifications
    • Data Modeling
    • Lifecycle Processes
    • Baselines
    • Audit and Data Validation
    • Metrics
    • Communications Plan
    • Roadmap

    This phase will walk you through the following aspects of a configuration management system:

    • ITSM Practices and Workflows
    • Discovery and Dependency Mapping Tools
    • Auditing and Data Validation Practices

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • IT service owners
    • Enterprise architects
    • Practice owners and managers
    • SCM practice manager
    • SCM project manager
    • IT audit

    Harness Service Configuration Management Superpowers

    Step 3.1

    Keep CIs and relationships up to date through lifecycle process integrations

    Activities

    3.1.1 Define processes to bring new services into the CMDB

    3.1.2 Determine when each type of CI will be created in the CMDB

    3.1.3 Identify when each type of CI will be retired in the CMDB

    3.1.4 Record when and how attributes will change

    3.1.5 Institute configuration control and configuration baselines

    This step will walk you through the following aspects of a configuration management system:

    1. ITSM Practices and Workflows
    2. Discovery and Dependency Mapping Tools

    This phase involves the following participants:

    1. IT service owners
    2. Enterprise architects
    3. Practice owners and managers
    4. SCM practice manager
    5. Project manager

    Outcomes of this step

    • List of action items for updating interfacing practices and processes
    • Identification of where configuration records will be manually updated

    Incorporate CMDB updates into IT operations

    Determine which processes will prompt changes to the CMDB data

    Onboard new services - Offboard Redundant Services. Onboard new CIs - Offboard Redundant CIs; Maintain CIs - Update Attributes.

    Change enablement

    Identify which process are involved in each stage of data input, maintenance, and removal to build out a process for each scenario.

    Project management

    Change enablement

    Asset management

    Security controls

    Project management

    Incident management

    Deployment management

    Change enablement

    Asset management

    Security controls

    Project management

    Incident management

    Service management

    Formalize the process for adding new services to the CMDB

    As new services and products are introduced into the environment, you can improve your ability to correctly cost the service, design integrations, and ensure all operational capabilities are in place, such as data backup and business continuity plans.
    In addition, attributes such as service-level agreements (SLAs), availability requirements, and product, technical, and business owners should be documented as soon as those new systems are made live.

    • Introduce the technical team and CCB to the product early to ensure the service record is created before deployment and to quickly map the services once they are moved into the production environment.
    • Engage with project managers or business analysts to define the process to include security and technical reviews early.
    • Engage with the security and technical reviewers to start documenting the service as soon as it is approved.
    • Determine which practices will be involved in the creation and approval of new services and formalize the process to streamline entry of the new service, onboarding corresponding CIs and mapping dependencies.

    an example of the review and approval process for new service or products is shown.

    3.1.1 Define processes to bring new services into the CMDB

    Start with the most frequent intake methods, and if needed, use this opportunity to streamline the process.

    1. Discuss the methods for new services to be introduced to the IT environment.
    2. Critique existing methods to assess consistency and identify issues that could prevent the creation of services in the CMDB in a timely manner.
    3. Create a workflow for the existing processes, with an eye to improvement. Identify any changes that will need to be introduced and managed appropriately.
    4. Identify where additional groups may need to be engaged to ensure success. For example, if project managers are not interfacing early with IT, discuss process changes with them.
    5. Discuss the validation process and determine where control points are. Document these on the workflows.
    6. Complete the Configuration Management Standard Operating Procedures, section 8.1: Introduce New Service and Data Model.

    Possible intake opportunities:

    • Business-driven project intake process
    • IT-driven project intake process
    • Change enablement reviews
    • Vendor-driven product changes
    Input

    Output

    • Discussion
    • Intake processes
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Configuration Management Standard Operating Procedures
    • Configuration Management Diagram Template Library
    • Configuration control board
    • Configuration manager
    • Project sponsor
    • IT stakeholders

    Identify scenarios where CIs are added and removed in the configuration management database

    New CIs may be introduced with new services or may be introduced and removed as part of asset refreshes or through service restoration in incident management. Updates may be done by your own services team or a managed services provider.
    Determine the various ways the CIs may be changed and test with various CI types.
    Review attributes such as SLAs, availability requirements, and product, technical, and business owners to determine if changes are required.

    • Identify what will be updated automatically or manually. Automation could include discovery and dependency mapping or synchronization with AMDB or AIOps tools.
    • Engage with relevant program managers to define and validate processes.
    • Identify control points and review audit requirements.

    An example of New or refresh CI from Procurement.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Data deemed no longer current may be archived or deleted. Retained data may be used for tracing lifecycle changes when troubleshooting or meeting audit obligations. Determine what types of CIs and use cases require archived data to meet data retention policies. If none do, deletion of old data may be appropriate.

    3.1.2 Identify when each type of CI will be created in the CMDB

    Allot 45 minutes for discussion.

    1. Discuss the various methods for new CIs to be introduced to the IT environment.
    2. Critique existing methods to assess consistency and identify issues that could prevent the creation of CIs in the CMDB in a timely manner.
    3. Create a workflow for the existing processes, with an eye to improvement. Identify any changes that will need to be introduced and managed appropriately.
    4. Identify where additional groups may need to be engaged to ensure success. For example, if project managers are not interfacing early with IT, discuss process changes with them.
    5. Discuss the validation process and determine where control points are. Document these on the workflows.
    6. Complete Configuration Management Standard Operating Procedures, section 8.2: Introduce New Configuration Items to the CMDB

    Possible intake opportunities:

    • Business-driven project intake process
    • IT-driven project intake process
    • Change enablement reviews
    • Vendor-driven product changes
    • Incident management
    • Asset management, lifecycle refresh
    Input

    Output

    • Discussion
    • Retirement processes
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Configuration Management Standard Operating Procedures
    • Configuration Management Diagram Template Library
    • Configuration control board
    • Configuration manager
    • Project sponsor
    • IT stakeholders

    3.1.3 Identify when each type of CI will be retired in the CMDB

    Allot 45 minutes for discussion.

    1. Discuss the various methods for CIs to be removed from the IT environment.
    2. Critique existing methods to assess consistency and identify issues that could prevent the retirement of CIs in the CMDB in a timely manner.
    3. Create a workflow for the existing processes, with an eye to improvement. Identify any changes that will need to be introduced and managed appropriately.
    4. Identify where additional groups may need to be engaged to ensure success. For example, if project managers are not interfacing early with IT, discuss process changes with them.
    5. Discuss the validation process and determine where control points are. Document these on the workflows.
    6. Discuss data retention. How long will retired information need to be archived? What are the potential scenarios where legacy information may be needed for analysis?
    7. Complete the Configuration Management Standard Operating Procedures, section 8.4: Retire and Archive Configuration Records.

    Possible retirement scenarios:

    • Change enablement reviews
    • Vendor-driven product changes
    • Incident management
    • Asset management, lifecycle refresh
    Input

    Output

    • Discussion
    • Intake processes
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Configuration Management Standard Operating Procedures
    • Configuration Management Diagram Template Library
    • Configuration control board
    • Configuration manager
    • Project sponsor
    • IT stakeholders

    Determine appropriate actions for detecting new or changed CIs through discovery

    Automated detection will provide the most efficient way of recording planned changes to CIs as well as detected unplanned changes. Check with the tool to determine what reports or notifications are available for the configuration management process and define what actions will be appropriate.

    As new CIs are detected, identify the process by which they should have been introduced into configuration management and compare against those records. If your CMDB can automatically check for documentation, this may be easier. Weekly reporting will allow you to catch changes quickly, and alerts on critical CIs could enable faster remediation, if the tool allows for alerting. AIOps could identify, notify of, and process many changes in a highly dynamic environment.

    Type of Change

    Impacted Process

    Validation

    Findings

    Actions

    Configuration change to networking equipment or software

    Change management

    Check for request for change

    No RFC

    Add to CAB agenda, notify technical owner

    Configuration change to end-user device or software

    Asset management

    Check for service ticket

    No ticket

    Escalate to asset agenda, notify service manager

    New assets coming into service

    Security incident and event management

    Check for SIEM integration

    No SIEM integration

    Notify security operations team to investigate

    The configuration manager may not have authority to act but can inform the process owners of unauthorized changes for further action. Once the notifications are forwarded to the appropriate process owner, the configuration manager will note the escalation and follow up on data corrections as deemed appropriate by the associated process owner.

    3.1.4 Record when and how attributes will change

    These lists will help with configuration control plans and your implementation roadmap.

    1. List each attribute that will change in that CI type's life.
    2. Write all the times that each attribute will change. Identify:
      1. The name of the workflow, service request, process, or practice that modifies the attribute.
      2. Whether the update is made automatically or manually.
      3. The role or tool that updates the CMDB.
    1. Update the relevant process or procedure documentation. Explicitly identify when the configuration records are updated.

    Document these tables in Configuration Management Standard Operation Procedures, Section 8.7: Practices That Modify CIs.

    Network Equipment
    Attributes

    Practices That Modify This Attribute

    Status
    • Infra Deployment (updated manually by Network Engineering)
    • Change Enablement (updated manually by CAB or Network Engineering)
    Assigned User
    • IT Employee Offboarding or Role Change (updated manually by Network Engineering)
    Version
    • Patch Deployment (updated automatically by SolarWinds)
    End-User Computers
    Attributes
    Practices That Modify This Attribute
    Status
    • Device Deployment (updated manually by Desktop Support)
    • Device Recovery (updated manually by Desktop Support)
    • Employee Offboarding and Role Change (updated manually by Service Desk)
    Assigned User
    • Device Deployment (updated manually by Desktop Support)
    • Device Recovery (updated manually by Desktop Support)
    • Employee Offboarding and Role Change (updated manually by Service Desk)
    Version
    • Patch Deployment (updated automatically by ConfigMgr)

    Institute configuration control and configuration baselines where appropriate

    A baseline enables an assessment of one or more systems against the desired state and is useful for troubleshooting incidents or problems and validating changes and security settings.

    Baselines may be used by enterprise architects and system engineers for planning purposes, by developers to test their solution against production copies, by technicians to assess configuration drift that may be causing performance issues, and by change managers to assess and verify the configuration meets the target design.

    Configuration baselines are a snapshot of configuration records, displaying attributes and first-level relationships of the CIs. Standard configurations may be integral to the success of automated workflows, deployments, upgrades, and integrations, as well as prevention of security events. Comparing current CIs against their baselines will identify configuration drift, which could cause a variety of incidents. Configuration baselines are updated through change management processes.
    Configuration baselines can be used for a variety of use cases:

    • Version control – Management of software and hardware versions, https://dj5l3kginpy6f.cloudfront.net/blueprints/harness-configuration-management-superpowers-phases-1-4/builds, and releases.
    • Access control – Management of access to facilities, storage areas, and the CMS.
    • Deployment control – Take a baseline of CIs before performing a release so you can use this to check against actual deployment.
    • Identify accidental changes Everyone makes mistakes. If someone installs software on the wrong server or accidentally drops a table in a database, the CMS can alert IT of the unauthorized change (if the CI is included in configuration control).

    Info-Tech Insight

    Determine the appropriate method for evaluating and approving changes to baselines. Delegating this to the CCB every time may reduce agility, depending on volume. Discuss in CCB meetings.

    A decision tree for deploying requested changes.

    3.1.5 Institute configuration control and configuration baselines where appropriate

    Only baseline CIs and relationships that you want to control through change enablement.

    1. Determine criteria for capturing configuration baselines, including CI type, event, or processes.
    2. Identify who will use baselines and how they will use the data. Identify their needs.
    3. Identify CIs that will be out of scope and not have baselines created.
    4. Document requirements in the SOP.
    5. Ensure appropriate team members have training on how to create and capture baselines in the CMDB.
    6. Document in the Configuration Management Standard Operating Procedures, section 8.5: Establish and Maintain Configuration Baselines.
    Process Criteria Systems
    Change Enablement & Deployment All high-risk changes must have the baseline captured with version number to revert to stable version in the event of an unsuccessful change
    • Servers (physical and virtual)
    • Enterprise software
    • IaaS
    • Data centers
    Security Identify when configuration drift may impact risk mitigation strategies
    • Servers (physical and virtual)
    • Enterprise software
    • IaaS
    • Data centers
    Input

    Output

    • Discussion
    • Baseline configuration guidelines
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Configuration Management Standard Operating Procedures
    • Configuration control board
    • Configuration manager
    • Project sponsor
    • IT stakeholders

    Step 3.2

    Validate data within the CMDB

    Activities

    3.2.1 Build an audit plan and checklist

    This step will walk you through the following aspects of a configuration management system:

    • Data validation and audit

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • IT service owners
    • Enterprise architects
    • Practice owners and managers
    • SCM practice manager
    • Project manager
    • IT audit

    Outcomes of this step

    • Updates to processes for data validation
    • Plan for auditing and validating the data in the CMDB

    Audit and validate the CMDB

    Review the performance of the supporting technologies and processes to validate the accuracy of the CMDB.

    A screenshot of the CM Audit Plan.

    CM Audit Plan

    • CM policies
    • CM processes and procedures
    • Interfacing processes
    • Content within the CMDB

    "If the data in your CMDB isn't accurate, then it's worthless. If it's wrong or inaccurate, it's going to drive the wrong decisions. It's going to make IT worse, not better."
    – Valence Howden, Research Director, Info-Tech Research Group

    Ensure the supporting technology is working properly

    Does the information in the database accurately reflect reality?

    Perform functional tests during audits and as part of release management practices.

    Audit results need to have a clear status of "compliant," "noncompliant," or "compliant with conditions," and conditions need to be noted. The conditions will generally offer a quick win to improve a process, but don't use these audit results to quickly check off something as "done." Ensure the fix is useful and meaningful to the process.
    The audit should cover three areas:

    • Process: Are process requirements for the program well documented? Are the processes being followed? If there were updates to the process, were those updates to the process documented and communicated? Has behavior changed to suit those modified processes?
    • Physical: Physical configuration audits (PCAs) are audits conducted to verify that a configuration item, as built, conforms to the technical documentation that defines and describes it.
    • Functional: Functional configuration audits (FCAs) are audits conducted to verify that the development of a configuration item has been completed satisfactorily, the item has achieved the functional attributes specified in the functional or allocated baseline, and its technical documentation is complete and satisfactory.

    Build auditing and validation of processes whenever possible

    When technicians and analysts are working on a system, they should check to make sure the data about that system is correct. When they're working in the CMDB, they should check that the data they're working with is correct.

    More frequent audits, especially in the early days, may help move toward process adoption and resolving data quality issues. If audits are happening more frequently, the audits can include a smaller scope, though it's important to vary each one to ensure many different areas have been audited through the year.

    • Watch for data duplication from multiple discovery tools.
    • Review mapping to ensure all relevant CIs are attached to a product or service.
    • Ensure report data is logical.

    Ensure the supporting technology is working properly

    Does the information in the database accurately reflect reality?

    Perform functional tests during audits and as part of release management practices.

    Audit results need to have a clear status of "compliant," "noncompliant," or "compliant with conditions," and conditions need to be noted. The conditions will generally offer a quick win to improve a process, but don't use these audit results to quickly check off something as "done." Ensure the fix is useful and meaningful to the process.
    The audit should cover three areas:

    • Process: Are process requirements for the program well documented? Are the processes being followed? If there were updates to the process, were those updates to the process documented and communicated? Has behavior changed to suit those modified processes?
    • Physical: Physical configuration audits (PCAs) are audits conducted to verify that a configuration item, as built, conforms to the technical documentation that defines and describes it.
    • Functional: Functional configuration audits (FCAs) are audits conducted to verify that the development of a configuration item has been completed satisfactorily, the item has achieved the functional attributes specified in the functional or allocated baseline, and its technical documentation is complete and satisfactory.

    More frequent audits, especially in the early days, may help move toward process adoption and resolving data quality issues. If audits are happening more frequently, the audits can include a smaller scope, though it's important to vary each one to ensure many different areas have been audited through the year.

    • Watch for data duplication from multiple discovery tools.
    • Review mapping to ensure all relevant CIs are attached to a product or service.
    • Ensure report data is logical.

    Identify where processes break down and data is incorrect

    Once process stops working, data becomes less accurate and people find workarounds to solve their own data needs.

    Data within the CMDB often becomes incorrect or incomplete where human work breaks down

    • Investigate processes that are performed manually, including data entry.
    • Investigate if the process executors are performing these processes uniformly.
    • Determine if there are opportunities to automate or provide additional training.
    • Select a sample of the corresponding data in the CMS. Verify if the data is correct.

    Non-CCB personnel may not be completing processes fully or consistently

    • Identify where data in the CMS needs to be updated.
    • Identify whether the process practitioners are uniformly updating the CMS.
    • Discuss options for improving the process and driving consistency for data that will benefit the whole organization.

    Ensure that the data entered in the CMDB is correct

    • Confirm that there is no data duplication. Data duplication is very common when there are multiple discovery tools in your environment. Confirm that you have set up your tools properly to avoid duplication.
    • Build a process to respond to baseline divergence when people make changes without following change processes and when updates alter settings.
    • Audit the system for accuracy and completeness.

    3.2.1 Build an audit plan and checklist

    Use the audit to identify areas where processes are breaking down.

    Audits present you with the ability to address these pain points before they have greater negative impact.

    1. Identify which regulatory requirements and/or auditing bodies will be relevant to audit processes or findings.
    2. Determine frequency of practice audits and how they relate to internal audits or external audits.
    3. Determine audit scope, including requirements for data spot checks.
    4. Determine who will be responsible for conducting audits and validate this is consistent with the RACI chart.
    5. Record audit procedures in the Configuration Management Standard Operating Procedures section 8.6: Verify and Review the Quality of Information Through Auditing.
    6. Review the Configuration Management Audit and Validation Checklist and modify to suit your needs.

    Download the Configuration Management Audit and Validation Checklist

    Input

    Output

    • Discussion
    • Baseline configuration guidelines
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Configuration Management Standard Operating Procedures
    • Configuration control board
    • Configuration manager
    • Project sponsor
    • IT stakeholders

    Phase 4

    Service Configuration Roadmap

    StrategyData StructureProcessesRoadmap
    • Challenges and Goals
    • Use Cases and Data
    • Roles and Responsibilities
    • Services
    • Classifications
    • Data Modeling
    • Lifecycle Processes
    • Baselines
    • Audit and Data Validation
    • Metrics
    • Communications Plan
    • Roadmap

    This phase will walk you through the following aspect of a configuration management system:
    Roadmap
    This phase involves the following participants:

    • IT service owners
    • Enterprise architects
    • Practice owners and managers
    • SCM practice manager
    • SCM project manager

    Harness Service Configuration Management Superpowers

    Step 4.1

    Define measures of success

    Activities

    4.1.1 Identify key metrics to define configuration management success
    4.1.2 Brainstorm and record desired reports, dashboards, and analytics
    4.1.3 Build a configuration management policy

    This phase will walk you through the following aspects of a configuration management system:

    • Metrics
    • Policy

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • IT service owners
    • Enterprise architects
    • Practice owners and managers
    • SCM practice manager
    • SCM project manager

    The value of metrics can be found in IT efficiency increases

    When determining metrics for configuration management, be sure to separate metrics needed to gauge configuration management success and those that will use data from the CMDB to provide metrics on the success of other practices.

    • Metrics provide accurate indicators for IT and business decisions.
    • Metrics help you identify IT efficiencies and problems and solve issues before they become more serious.
    • Active metrics tracking makes root cause analysis of issues much easier.
    • Proper application of metrics helps IT services identification and prioritization.
    • Operational risks can be prevented by identifying and implementing metrics.
    • Metrics analysis increases the confidence of the executive team and ensures that IT is working well.

    A funnel is shown. The output is IT Performance. The inputs are: Service Desk Metrics; Incident Metrics; Asset Mgmt. Metrics; Release Mgmt. Metrics; Change Mgmt. Metrics; Infra. Metrics

    4.1.1 Identify key metrics to define configuration management success

    Determine what metrics are specifically related to the practice and how and when metrics will be accessed.

    Success factors

    Key metrics

    Source

    Product and service configuration data is relevant

    • Stakeholder satisfaction with data access, accuracy, and usability
    • Stakeholder satisfaction with service configuration management interface, procedures, and reports

    Stakeholder discussions

    • Number of bad decisions made due to incorrect or insufficient data
    • Impact of bad decisions made due to incorrect or insufficient data

    Process owner discussions

    • Number and impact of data identified as incorrect
    • % of CMDB data verified over the period

    CMDB

    Cost and effort are continually optimized

    • Effort devoted to service configuration management
    • Cost of tools directly related to the process

    Resource management or scheduling

    ERP

    Progress reporting

    • Communication execution
    • Process
    • Communications and feedback

    Communications team and stakeholder discussions

    Data – How many products are in the CMDB and are fully and accurately discovered and mapped?

    CMDB

    Ability to meet milestones on time and with appropriate quality

    Project team

    Document metrics in the Configuration Management Standard Operating Procedures, section 7: Success Metrics

    Use performance metrics to identify areas to improve service management processes using CMDB data

    Metrics can indicate a problem with service management processes but cannot provide a clear path to a solution on their own.

    • The biggest challenge is defining and measuring the process and people side of the equation.
    • Expected performance may also need to be compared to actual performance in planning, budgeting, and improvements.
    • The analysis will need to include critical success factors (CSFs), data collection procedures, office routines, engineering practices, and flow diagrams including workflows and key relationships.
    • External benchmarking may also prove useful in identifying how similar organizations are managing aspects of their infrastructure, processing transactions/requests, or staffing. If using external benchmarking for actual process comparisons, clearly defining your internal processes first will make the data collection process smoother and more informative.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Using a service framework such as ITIL, COBIT, or ISO 20000 may make this job easier, and subscribing to benchmarking partners will provide some of the external data needed for comparison.

    4.1.2 Brainstorm and record desired reports, dashboards, and analytics with related practices

    The project team will use this list as a starting point

    Allot 45 minutes for this discussion.

    1. Create a table for each service or business capability.
      1. Have one column for each way of consuming data: reports, dashboards, and ad hoc analytics.
      2. Have one row for each stakeholder group that will consume the information.
    2. Use the challenges and use cases to brainstorm reports, dashboards, and ad hoc analytic capabilities that each stakeholder group will find useful.
    3. Record these results in your Configuration Management Standard Operating Procedures, section 7: Aligned Processes' Desired Analytical Capabilities.
    Stakeholder Groups Reports Dashboards
    Change Management
    • CI changes executed without an RFC
    • RFCs grouped by service
    • Potential collisions in upcoming changes
    Security
    • Configuration changes that no longer match the baseline
    • New configuration items discovered
    Finance
    • Service-based costs
    • Service consumption by department

    Download the blueprint Take Control of Infrastructure and Operations Metrics to create a complete metrics program.

    Create a configuration management policy and communicate it

    Policies are important documents to provide definitive guidelines and clarity around data collection and use, process adherence, and controls.

    • A configuration management policy will apply to IT as the audience, and participants in the program will largely be technical.
    • Business users will benefit from a great configuration management program but will not participate directly.
    • The policy will include objectives and scope, use of data, security and integrity of data, data models and criteria, and baseline configurations.
    • Several governing regulations and practices may intersect with configuration management, such as ITIL, COBIT, and NIST frameworks, as well as change enablement, quality management, asset management, and more.
    • As the policy is written, review processes to ensure policies and processes are aligned. The policy should enable processes, and it may require modifications if it hinders the collection, security, or use of data required to meet proposed use cases.
    • Once the policy is written and approved, ensure all stakeholders understand the importance, context, and repercussions of the policy.

    The approvals process is about appropriate oversight of the drafted policies. For example:

    • Do the policies satisfy compliance and regulatory requirements?
    • Do the policies work with the corporate culture?
    • Do the policies address the underlying need?

    If the draft is approved:

    • Set the effective date and a review date.
    • Begin communication, training, and implementation.

    Employees must know that there are new policies and understand the steps they must take to comply with the policies in their work.

    Employees must be able to interpret, understand, and know how to act upon the information they find in the policies.

    Employees must be informed on where to get help or ask questions and who to request policy exceptions from.

    If the draft is rejected:

    • Acquire feedback and make revisions.
    • Resubmit for approval.

    4.1.3 Build a configuration management policy

    This policy provides the foundation for configuration control.

    Use this template as a starting point.

    The Configuration Management Policy provides the foundation for a configuration control board and the use of configuration baselines.
    Instructions:

    1. Review and modify the policy statements. Ensure that the policy statements reflect your organization and the expectations you wish to set.
    2. If you don't have a CCB: The specified responsibilities can usually be assigned to either the configuration manager or the governing body for change enablement.
    3. Determine if you should apply this policy beyond SCM. As written, this policy may provide a good starting point for practices such as:
      • Secure baseline configuration management
      • Software configuration management

    Two screenshots from the Configuration Management Policy template

    Download the Configuration Management Policy template

    Step 4.2

    Build communications and a roadmap

    Activities

    4.2.1 Build a communications plan
    4.2.2 Identify milestones

    This phase will walk you through the following aspects of a configuration management system:

    • Communications plan
    • Roadmap

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • IT service owners
    • Enterprise architects
    • Practice owners and managers
    • SCM practice manager
    • SCM project manager

    Outcomes of this step

    • Documented expectations around configuration control
    • Roadmap and action items for the SCM project

    Do not discount the benefits of a great communications plan as part of change management

    Many configuration management projects have failed due to lack of organizational commitment and inadequate communications.

    • Start at the top to ensure stakeholder buy-in by verifying alignment and use cases. Without a committed project sponsor who believes in the value of configuration management, it will be difficult to draw the IT team into the vision.
    • Clearly articulate the vision, strategy, and goals to all stakeholders. Ensure the team understands why these changes are happening, why they are happening now, and what outcomes you hope to achieve.
    • Gain support from technical teams by clearly expressing organizational and departmental benefits – they need to know "what's in it for me."
    • Clearly communicate new responsibilities and obligations and put a feedback process in place to hear concerns, mitigate risk, and act on opportunities for improvement. Be prepared to answer questions as this practice is rolled out.
    • Be consistent in your messaging. Mixed messages can easily derail progress.
    • Communicate to the business how these efforts will benefit the organization.
    • Share documents built in this blueprint or workshop with your technical teams to ensure they have a clear picture of the entire configuration management practice.
    • Share your measures and view of success and communicate wins throughout building the practice.

    30%

    When people are truly invested in change, it is 30% more likely to stick.
    McKinsey

    82%

    of CEOs identify organizational change management as a priority.
    D&B Consulting

    6X

    Initiatives with excellent change management are six times more likely to meet objectives than those with poor change management.
    Prosci

    For a more detailed program, see Drive Technology Adoption

    Formulate a communications plan to ensure all stakeholders and impacted staff will be aware of the plan

    Communication is key to success in process adoption and in identifying potential risks and issues with integration with other processes. Engage as often as needed to get the information you need for the project and for adoption.

    Identify Messages

    Distinct information that needs to be sent at various times. Think about:

    • Who will be impacted and how.
    • What the goals are for the project/new process.
    • What the audience needs to know about the new process and how they will interface with each business unit.
    • How people can request configuration data.

    Identify Audiences

    Any person or group who will be the target of the communication. This may include:

    • Project sponsors and stakeholders.
    • IT staff who will be involved in the project.
    • IT staff who will be impacted by the project (i.e. who will benefit from it or have obligations to fulfill because of it).
    • Business sponsors and product owners.

    Document and Track

    Document messaging, medium, and responsibility, working with the communications team to refine messages before executing.

    • Identify where people can send questions and feedback to ensure they have the information they need to make or accept the changes.
    • Document Q&A and share in a central location.

    Determine Timing

    Successful communications plans consider timing of various messages:

    • Advanced high-level notice of improvements for those who need to see action.
    • Advanced detailed notice for those who will be impacted by workload.
    • Advanced notice for who will be impacted (i.e. who will benefit from it or have obligations to fulfill because of it) once the project is ready to be transitioned to daily life.

    Determine Delivery

    Work with your communications team, if you have one, to determine the best medium, such as:

    • Meeting announcement for stakeholders and IT.
    • Newsletter for those less impacted.
    • Intranet announcements: "coming soon!"
    • Demonstrations with vendors or project team.

    4.2.1 Build a communications plan

    The communications team will use this list as a starting point.

    Allot 45 minutes for this discussion.

    Identify stakeholders.

    1. Identify everyone who will be affected by the project and by configuration management.

    Craft key messages tailored to each stakeholder group.

    1. Identify the key messages that must be communicated to each group.

    Finalize the communication plan.

    1. Determine the most appropriate timing for communications with each group to maximize receptivity.
    2. Identify any communication challenges you anticipate and incorporate steps to address them into your communication plan.
    3. Identify multiple methods for getting the messages out (e.g. newsletters, emails, meetings).
    1. Identify how feedback will be collected (i.e. through interviews or surveys) to measure whether the changes were communicated well.
    Audience Message Medium Timing Feedback Mechanism
    Configuration Management Team Communicate all key processes, procedures, policies, roles, and responsibilities In-person meetings and email communications Weekly meetings Informal feedback during weekly meetings
    Input

    Output

    • Discussion
    • Rough draft of messaging for communications team
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Project plan
    • Configuration manager
    • Project sponsor
    • IT director
    • Communications team

    Build a realistic, high-level roadmap including milestones

    Break the work into manageable pieces

    1. Plan to have multiple phases with short-, medium-, and long-term goals/timeframes. Building a CMDB is not easy and should be broken into manageable sections.
    2. Set reasonable milestones. For each phase, document goals to define "done" and ensure they're reasonable for the resources you have available. If working with a vendor, include them in your discussions of what's realistic.
    3. Treat the first phase as a pilot. Focus on items you understand well:
      1. Well-understood user-facing and IT services
      2. High-maturity management and governance practices
      3. Trusted data sources
    4. Capture high-value, high-criticality services early. Depending on the complexity of your systems, you may need to split this phase into multiple phases.

    Document this table in the Configuration Management Project Charter, section 3.0: Milestones

    Timeline/Owner Milestone/Deliverable Details
    First four weeks Milestone: Plan defined and validated with ITSM installation vendor Define processes for intake, maintenance, and retirement.
    Rebecca Roberts Process documentation written, approved, and ready to communicate Review CI categories

    4.2.2 Identify milestones

    Build out a high-level view to inform the project plan

    Open the Configuration Management Project Charter, section 3: Milestones.
    Instructions:

    1. Identify high-level milestones for the implementation of the configuration management program. This may include tool evaluation and implementation, assignment of roles, etc.
    2. Add details to fill out the milestone, keeping to a reasonable level of detail. This may inform vendor discussion or further development of the project plan.
    3. Add target dates to the milestones. Validate they are realistic with the team.
    4. Add notes to the assumptions and constraints section.
    5. Identify risks to the plan.

    Two Screenshots from the Configuration Management Project Charter

    Download the Configuration Management Project Charter

    Workshop Participants

    R = Recommended
    O = Optional

    Participants Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4
    Configuration Management Strategy CMDB Data Structure Processes Communications & Roadmap
    Morning Afternoon Morning Afternoon Morning Afternoon Morning Afternoon
    Head of IT R O
    Project Sponsor R R O O O O O O
    Infrastructure, Enterprise Apps Leaders R R O O O O O O
    Service Manager R R O O O O O O
    Configuration Manager R R R R R R R R
    Project Manager R R R R R R R R
    Representatives From Network, Compute, Storage, Desktop R R R R R R R R
    Enterprise Architecture R R R R O O O O
    Owner of Change Management/Change Control/Change Enablement R R R R R R R R
    Owner of In-Scope Apps, Use Cases R R R R R R R R
    Asset Manager R R R R R R R R

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Research Contributors and Experts

    Thank you to everyone who contributed to this publication

    Brett Johnson, Senior Consultant, VMware

    Yev Khovrenkov, Senior Consultant, Solvera Solutions

    Larry Marks, Reviewer, ISACA New Jersey

    Darin Ohde, Director of Service Delivery, GreatAmerica Financial Services

    Jim Slick, President/CEO, Slick Cyber Systems

    Emily Walker, Sr. Digital Solution Consultant, ServiceNow

    Valence Howden, Principal Research Director, Info-Tech Research Group

    Allison Kinnaird, Practice Lead, IT Operations, Info-Tech Research Group

    Robert Dang, Principal Research Advisor, Security, Info-Tech Research Group

    Monica Braun, Research Director, IT Finance, Info-Tech Research Group

    Jennifer Perrier, Principal Research Director, IT Finance, Info-Tech Research Group

    Plus 13 anonymous contributors

    Bibliography

    An Introduction to Change Management, Prosci, Nov. 2019.
    BAI10 Manage Configuration Audit Program. ISACA, 2014.
    Bizo, Daniel, et al, "Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey 2021." Uptime Institute, 1 Sept. 2021.
    Brown, Deborah. "Change Management: Some Statistics." D&B Consulting Inc. May 15, 2014. Accessed June 14, 2016.
    Cabinet Office. ITIL Service Transition. The Stationery Office, 2011.
    "COBIT 2019: Management and Governance Objectives. ISACA, 2018.
    "Configuration Management Assessment." CMStat, n.d. Accessed 5 Oct. 2022.
    "Configuration Management Database Foundation." DMTF, 2018. Accessed 1 Feb. 2021.
    Configuration Management Using COBIT 5. ISACA, 2013.
    "Configuring Service Manager." Product Documentation, Ivanti, 2021. Accessed 9 Feb. 2021.
    "Challenges of Implementing configuration management." CMStat, n.d. Accessed 5 Oct. 2022.
    "Determining if configuration management and change control are under management control, part 1." CMStat, n.d. Accessed 5 Oct. 2022.
    "Determining if configuration management and change control are under management control, part 2." CMStat, n.d. Accessed 5 Oct. 2022.
    "Determining if configuration management and change control are under management control, part 3." CMStat, n.d. Accessed 5 Oct. 2022.
    "CSDM: The Recipe for Success." Data Content Manager, Qualdatrix Ltd. 2022. Web.
    Drogseth, Dennis, et al., 2015, CMDB Systems: Making Change Work in the Age of Cloud and Agile. Morgan Kaufman.
    Ewenstein, B, et al. "Changing Change Management." McKinsey & Company, 1 July 2015. Web.
    Farrell, Karen. "VIEWPOINT: Focus on CMDB Leadership." BMC Software, 1 May 2006. Web.
    "How to Eliminate the No. 1 Cause of Network Downtime." SolarWinds, 4 April 2014. Accessed 9 Feb. 2021.
    "ISO 10007:2017: Quality Management -- Guidelines for Configuration Management." International Organization for Standardization, 2019.
    "IT Operations Management." Product Documentation, ServiceNow, version Quebec, 2021. Accessed 9 Feb. 2021.
    Johnson, Elsbeth. "How to Communicate Clearly During Organizational Change." Harvard Business Review, 13 June 2017. Web.
    Kloeckner, K. et al. Transforming the IT Services Lifecycle with AI Technologies. Springer, 2018.
    Klosterboer, L. Implementing ITIL Configuration Management. IBM Press, 2008.
    Norfolk, D., and S. Lacy. Configuration Management: Expert Guidance for IT Service Managers and Practitioners. BCS Learning & Development Limited, revised ed., Jan. 2014.
    Painarkar, Mandaar. "Overview of the Common Data Model." BMC Documentation, 2015. Accessed 1 Feb. 2021.
    Powers, Larry, and Ketil Been. "The Value of Organizational Change Management." Boxley Group, 2014. Accessed June 14, 2016.
    "Pulse of the Profession: Enabling Organizational Change Throughout Strategic Initiatives." PMI, March 2014. Accessed June 14, 2016.
    "Service Configuration Management, ITIL 4 Practice Guide." AXELOS Global Best Practice, 2020
    "The Guide to Managing Configuration Drift." UpGuard, 2017.

    Determine Your Zero Trust Readiness

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    • Parent Category Name: Security Strategy & Budgeting
    • Parent Category Link: /security-strategy-and-budgeting

    CISOs pushing for zero trust as their security strategy face several challenges including:

    • Understanding and clarifying the benefits of zero trust for the organization.
    • The inability to verify all business operations are maintaining security best practices.
    • Convincing business units to add more security controls that go against the grain of reducing friction in workflows while still demonstrating these controls support the business.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Zero trust must benefit the business and security. Because the road to zero trust is an iterative process, IT security will need to constantly determine how different areas of zero trust will affect core business processes.
    • Zero trust reduces reliance on perimeter security. Zero trust is a strategy that solves how to move beyond the reliance on perimeter security and move controls to where the user accesses resources.
    • Not everyone can achieve zero trust, but everyone can adopt it. Zero trust will be different for every organization and may not be applicable in every control area. This means that zero trust is not a one-size-fits-all approach to IT security. Zero trust is the goal, but some organizations can only get so close to the ideal.

    Impact and Result

    Zero trust is a journey that uses multiple capabilities and requires multiple parties to contribute to an organization’s security. Use Info-Tech’s approach to:

    • Understand zero trust as a strategic platform for building your security roadmap.
    • Assess your current state and determine the benefits of adopting zero trust to help plan your roadmap.
    • Separate vendors from the hype surrounding zero trust to adopt a vendor-agnostic approach to your zero trust planning.

    Determine Your Zero Trust Readiness Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should determine your zero trust readiness, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the ways we can support you in completing this project.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Understand zero trust

    Recognize the zero trust ideal and understand the different zero trust schools of thought.

    2. Assess your zero trust readiness

    Assess and determine the benefits of zero trust and identify and evaluate vendors in the zero trust market.

    • Zero Trust Security Benefit Assessment Tool
    [infographic]

    Release management

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    • Parent Category Name: Infra and Operations
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    Today's world requires frequent and fast deployments. Stay in control with release management.

    Build a Security Compliance Program

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    • Parent Category Name: Governance, Risk & Compliance
    • Parent Category Link: /governance-risk-compliance
    • Most organizations spend between 25 and 40 percent of their security budget on compliance-related activities.
    • Despite this growing investment in compliance, only 28% of organizations believe that government regulations help them improve cybersecurity.
    • The cost of complying with cybersecurity and data protection requirements has risen to the point where 58% of companies see compliance costs as barriers to entering new markets.
    • However, recent reports suggest that while the costs of complying are higher, the costs of non-compliance are almost three times greater.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Test once, attest many. Having a control framework allows you to satisfy multiple compliance requirements by testing a single control.
    • Choose your own conformance adventure. Conformance levels allow your organization to make informed business decisions on how compliance resources will be allocated.
    • Put the horse before the cart. Take charge of your audit costs by preparing test scripts and evidence repositories in advance.

    Impact and Result

    • Reduce complexity within the control environment by using a single framework to align multiple compliance regimes.
    • Provide senior management with a structured framework for making business decisions on allocating costs and efforts related to cybersecurity and data protection compliance obligations.
    • Reduces costs and efforts related to managing IT audits through planning and preparation.
    • This blueprint can help you comply with NIST, ISO, CMMC, SOC2, PCI, CIS, and other cybersecurity and data protection requirements.

    Build a Security Compliance Program Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should manage your security compliance obligations, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the ways we can support you in completing this project.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    Infographic

    Workshop: Build a Security Compliance Program

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Establish the Program

    The Purpose

    Establish the security compliance management program.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Reviewing and adopting an information security control framework.

    Understanding and establishing roles and responsibilities for security compliance management.

    Identifying and scoping operational environments for applicable compliance obligations.

    Activities

    1.1 Review the business context.

    1.2 Review the Info-Tech security control framework.

    1.3 Establish roles and responsibilities.

    1.4 Define operational environments.

    Outputs

    RACI matrix

    Environments list and definitions

    2 Identify Obligations

    The Purpose

    Identify security and data protection compliance obligations.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Identifying the security compliance obligations that apply to your organization.

    Documenting obligations and obtaining direction from management on conformance levels.

    Mapping compliance obligation requirements into your control framework.

    Activities

    2.1 Identify relevant security and data protection compliance obligations.

    2.2 Develop conformance level recommendations.

    2.3 Map compliance obligations into control framework.

    2.4 Develop process for operationalizing identification activities.

    Outputs

    List of compliance obligations

    Completed Conformance Level Approval forms

    (Optional) Mapped compliance obligation

    (Optional) Identification process diagram

    3 Implement Compliance Strategy

    The Purpose

    Understand how to build a compliance strategy.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Updating security policies and other control design documents to reflect required controls.

    Aligning your compliance obligations with your information security strategy.

    Activities

    3.1 Review state of information security policies.

    3.2 Recommend updates to policies to address control requirements.

    3.3 Review information security strategy.

    3.4 Identify alignment points between compliance obligations and information security strategy.

    3.5 Develop compliance exception process and forms.

    Outputs

    Recommendations and plan for updates to information security policies

    Compliance exception forms

    4 Track and Report

    The Purpose

    Track the status of your compliance program.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Tracking the status of your compliance obligations.

    Managing exceptions to compliance requirements.

    Reporting on the compliance management program to senior stakeholders.

    Activities

    4.1 Define process and forms for self-attestation.

    4.2 Develop audit test scripts for selected controls.

    4.3 Review process and entity control types.

    4.4 Develop self-assessment process.

    4.5 Integrate compliance management with risk register.

    4.6 Develop metrics and reporting process.

    Outputs

    Self-attestation forms

    Completed test scripts for selected controls

    Self-assessment process

    Reporting process

    Recommended metrics

    Build a Robust and Comprehensive Data Strategy

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    • Parent Category Name: Data Management
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    • The volume and variety of data that organizations have been collecting and producing have been growing exponentially and show no sign of slowing down.
    • At the same time, business landscapes and models are evolving, and users and stakeholders are becoming more and more data centric, with maturing expectations and demands.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • As the CDO or equivalent data leader in your organization, a robust and comprehensive data strategy is the number one tool in your toolkit for delivering on your mandate of creating measurable business value from data.
    • A data strategy should never be formulated disjointed from the business. Ensure the data strategy aligns with the business strategy and supports the business architecture.
    • Building and fostering a data-driven culture will accelerate and sustain adoption of, appetite for, and appreciation for data and hence drive the ROI on your various data investments.

    Impact and Result

    • Formulate a data strategy that stitches all of the pieces together to better position you to unlock the value in your data:
      • Establish the business context and value: Identify key business drivers for executing on an optimized data strategy, build compelling and relevant use cases, understand your organization’s culture and appetite for data, and ensure you have well-articulated vision, principles, and goals for your data strategy
      • Ensure you have a solid data foundation: Understand your current data environment, data management enablers, people, skill sets, roles, and structure. Know your strengths and weakness so you can optimize appropriately.
      • Formulate a sustainable data strategy: Round off your strategy with effective change management and communication for building and fostering a data-driven culture.

    Build a Robust and Comprehensive Data Strategy Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Data Strategy Research – A step-by-step document to facilitate the formulation of a data strategy that brings together the business context, data management foundation, people, and culture.

    Data should be at the foundation of your organization’s evolution. The transformational insights that executives and decision makers are constantly seeking to leverage can be unlocked with a data strategy that makes high-quality, trusted, and relevant data readily available to the users who need it.

    • Build a Robust and Comprehensive Data Strategy – Phases 1-3

    2. Data Strategy Stakeholder Interview Guide and Findings – A template to support you in your meetings or interviews with key stakeholders as you work on understanding the value of data within the various lines of business.

    This template will help you gather insights around stakeholder business goals and objectives, current data consumption practices, the types or domains of data that are important to them in supporting their business capabilities and initiatives, the challenges they face, and opportunities for data from their perspective.

    • Data Strategy Stakeholder Interview Guide and Findings

    3. Data Strategy Use Case Template – An exemplar template to demonstrate the business value of your data strategy.

    Data strategy optimization anchored in a value proposition will ensure that the data strategy focuses on driving the most valuable and critical outcomes in support of the organization’s enterprise strategy. The template will help you facilitate deep-dive sessions with key stakeholders for building use cases that are of demonstrable value not only to their relevant lines of business but also to the wider organization.

    • Data Strategy Use Case Template

    4. Chief Data Officer – A job description template that includes a detailed explication of the responsibilities and expectations of a CDO.

    Bring data to the C-suite by creating the Chief Data Officer role. This position is designed to bridge the gap between the business and IT by serving as a representative for the organization's data management practices and identifying how the organization can leverage data as a competitive advantage or corporate asset.

    • Chief Data Officer

    5. Data Strategy Document Template – A structured template to plan and document your data strategy outputs.

    Use this template to document and formulate your data strategy. Follow along with the sections of the blueprint Build a Robust and Comprehensive Data Strategy and complete the template as you progress.

    • Data Strategy Document Template
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Build a Robust and Comprehensive Data Strategy

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Establish Business Context and Value: Understand the Current Business Environment

    The Purpose

    Establish the business context for the business strategy.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Substantiates the “why” of the data strategy.

    Highlights the organization’s goals, objectives, and strategic direction the data must align with.

    Activities

    1.1 Data Strategy 101

    1.2 Intro to Tech’s Data Strategy Framework

    1.3 Data Strategy Value Proposition: Understand stakeholder’s strategic priorities and the alignment with data

    1.4 Discuss the importance of vision, mission, and guiding principles of the organization’s data strategy

    1.5 Understand the organization’s data culture – discuss Data Culture Survey results

    1.6 Examine Core Value Streams of Business Architecture

    Outputs

    Business context; strategic drivers

    Data strategy guiding principles

    Sample vision and mission statements

    Data Culture Diagnostic Results Analysis

    2 Business-Data Needs Discovery: Key Business Stakeholder Interviews

    The Purpose

    Build use cases of demonstrable value and understand the current environment.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    An understanding of the current maturity level of key capabilities.

    Use cases that represent areas of concern and/or high value and therefore need to be addressed.

    Activities

    2.1 Conduct key business stakeholder interviews to initiate the build of high-value business-data cases

    Outputs

    Initialized high-value business-data cases

    3 Understand the Current Data Environment & Practice: Analyze Data Capability and Practice Gaps and Develop Alignment Strategies

    The Purpose

    Build out a future state plan that is aimed at filling prioritized gaps and that informs a scalable roadmap for moving forward on treating data as an asset.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    A target state plan, formulated with input from key stakeholders, for addressing gaps and for maturing capabilities necessary to strategically manage data.

    Activities

    3.1 Understand the current data environment: data capability assessment

    3.2 Understand the current data practice: key data roles, skill sets; operating model, organization structure

    3.3 Plan target state data environment and data practice

    Outputs

    Data capability assessment and roadmapping tool

    4 Align Business Needs with Data Implications: Initiate Roadmap Planning and Strategy Formulation

    The Purpose

    Consolidate business and data needs with consideration of external factors as well as internal barriers and enablers to the success of the data strategy. Bring all the outputs together for crafting a robust and comprehensive data strategy.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    A consolidated view of business and data needs and the environment in which the data strategy will be operationalized.

    An analysis of the feasibility and potential risks to the success of the data strategy.

    Activities

    4.1 Analyze gaps between current- and target-state

    4.2 Initiate initiative, milestone and RACI planning

    4.3 Working session with Data Strategy Owner

    Outputs

    Data Strategy Next Steps Action Plan

    Relevant data strategy related templates (example: data practice patterns, data role patterns)

    Initialized Data Strategy on-a-Page

    Further reading

    Build a Robust and Comprehensive Data Strategy

    Key to building and fostering a data-driven culture.

    ANALYST PERSPECTIVE

    Data Strategy: Key to helping drive organizational innovation and transformation

    "In the dynamic environment in which we operate today, where we are constantly juggling disruptive forces, a well-formulated data strategy will prove to be a key asset in supporting business growth and sustainability, innovation, and transformation.

    Your data strategy must align with the organization’s business strategy, and it is foundational to building and fostering an enterprise-wide data-driven culture."

    Crystal Singh,

    Director – Research and Advisory

    Info-Tech Research Group

    Our understanding of the problem

    This Research is Designed For:

    • Chief data officers (CDOs), chief architects, VPs, and digital transformation directors and CIOs who are accountable for ensuring data can be leveraged as a strategic asset of the organization.

    This Research Will Help You:

    • Put a strategy in place to ensure data is available, accessible, well integrated, secured, of acceptable quality, and suitably visualized to fuel decision making by the organizations’ executives.
    • Align data management plans and investments with business requirements and the organization’s strategic plans.
    • Define the relevant roles for operationalizing your data strategy.

    This Research Will Also Assist:

    • Data architects and enterprise architects who have been tasked with supporting the formulation or optimization of the organization’s data strategy.
    • Business leaders creating plans for leveraging data in their strategic planning and business processes.
    • IT professionals looking to improve the environment that manages and delivers data.

    This Research Will Help Them:

    • Get a handle on the current situation of data within the organization.
    • Understand how the data strategy and its resulting initiatives will affect the operations, integration, and provisioning of data within the enterprise.

    Executive Summary

    Situation

    • The volume and variety of data that organizations have been collecting and producing have been growing exponentially and show no sign of slowing down. At the same time, business landscapes and models are evolving, and users and stakeholders are becoming more and more data centric, with maturing and demanding expectations.

    Complication

    • As organizations pivot in response to industry disruptions and changing landscapes, a reactive and piecemeal approach leads to data architectures and designs that fail to deliver real and measurable value to the business.
    • Despite the growing focus on data, many organizations struggle to develop a cohesive business-driven strategy for effectively managing and leveraging their data assets.

    Resolution

    Formulate a data strategy that stitches all of the pieces together to better position you to unlock the value in your data:

    • Establish the business context and value: Identify key business drivers for executing on an optimized data strategy, build compelling and relevant use cases, understand your organization’s culture and appetite for data, and ensure you have well-articulated vision, principles, and goals for your data strategy.
    • Ensure you have a solid data foundation: Understand your current data environment, data management enablers, people, skill sets, roles, and structure. Know your strengths and weakness so you can optimize appropriately.
    • Formulate a sustainable data strategy: Round off your strategy with effective change management and communication for building and fostering a data-driven culture.

    Info-Tech Insight

    1. As the CDO or equivalent data leader in your organization, a robust and comprehensive data strategy is the number one tool in your toolkit for delivering on your mandate of creating measurable business value from data.
    2. A data strategy should never be formulated disjointed from the business. Ensure the data strategy aligns with the business strategy and supports the business architecture.
    3. Building and fostering a data-driven culture will accelerate and sustain adoption of, appetite for, and appreciation for data and hence drive the ROI on your various data investments.

    Why do you need a data strategy?

    Your data strategy is the vehicle for ensuring data is poised to support your organization’s strategic objectives.

    The dynamic marketplace of today requires organizations to be responsive in order to gain or maintain their competitive edge and place in their industry.

    Organizations need to have that 360-degree view of what’s going on and what’s likely to happen.

    Disruptive forces often lead to changes in business models and require organizations to have a level of adaptability to remain relevant.

    To respond, organizations need to make decisions and should be able to turn to their data to gain insights for informing their decisions.

    A well-formulated and robust data strategy will ensure that your data investments bring you the returns by meeting your organization’s strategic objectives.

    Organizations need to be in a position where they know what’s going on with their stakeholders and anticipate what their stakeholders’ needs are going to be.

    Data cannot be fully leveraged without a cohesive strategy

    Most organizations today will likely have some form of data management in place, supported by some of the common roles such as DBAs and data analysts.

    Most will likely have a data architecture that supports some form of reporting.

    Some may even have a chief data officer (CDO), a senior executive who has a seat at the C-suite table.

    These are all great assets as a starting point BUT without a cohesive data strategy that stitches the pieces together and:

    • Effectively leverages these existing assets
    • Augments them with additional and relevant key roles and skills sets
    • Optimizes and fills in the gaps around your current data management enablers and capabilities for the growing volume and variety of data you’re collecting
    • Fully caters to real, high-value strategic organizational business needs

    you’re missing the mark – you are not fully leveraging the incredible value of your data.

    Cross-industry studies show that on average, less than half of an organization’s structured data is actively used in making decisions

    And, less than 1% of its unstructured data is analyzed or used at all. Furthermore, 80% of analysts' time is spent simply discovering and preparing, data with over 70% of employees having access to data they should not. Source: HBR, 2017

    Organizational drivers for a data strategy

    Your data strategy needs to align with your organizational strategy.

    Main Organizational Strategic Drivers:

    1. Stakeholder Engagement/Service Excellence
    2. Product and Service Innovations
    3. Operational Excellence
    4. Privacy, Risk, and Compliance Management

    “The companies who will survive and thrive in the future are the ones who will outlearn and out-innovate everyone else. It is no longer ‘survival of the fittest’ but ‘survival of the smartest.’ Data is the element that both inspires and enables this new form of rapid innovation.– Joel Semeniuk, 2016

    A sound data strategy is the key to unlocking the value in your organization’s data.

    Data should be at the foundation of your organization’s evolution.

    The transformational insights that executives are constantly seeking to leverage can be unlocked with a data strategy that makes high-quality, well-integrated, trustworthy, relevant data readily available to the business users who need it.

    Whether hoping to gain a better understanding of your business, trying to become an innovator in your industry, or having a compliance and regulatory mandate that needs to be met, any organization can get value from its data through a well-formulated, robust, and cohesive data strategy.

    According to a leading North American bank, “More than one petabyte of new data, equivalent to about 1 million gigabytes” is entering the bank’s systems every month. – The Wall Street Journal, 2019

    “Although businesses are at many different stages in unlocking the power of data, they share a common conviction that it can make or break an enterprise.”– Jim Love, ITWC CIO and Chief Digital Officer, IT World Canada, 2018

    Data is a strategic organizational asset and should be treated as such

    The expression “Data is an asset” or any other similar sentiment has long been heard.

    With such hype, you would have expected data to have gotten more attention in the boardrooms. You would have expected to see its value reflected on financial statements as a result of its impact in driving things like acquisition, retention, product and service development and innovation, market growth, stakeholder satisfaction, relationships with partners, and overall strategic success of the organization.

    The time has surely come for data to be treated as the asset it is.

    “Paradoxically, “data” appear everywhere but on the balance sheet and income statement.”– HBR, 2018

    “… data has traditionally been perceived as just one aspect of a technology project; it has not been treated as a corporate asset.”– “5 Essential Components of a Data Strategy,” SAS

    According to Anil Chakravarthy, who is the CEO of Informatica and has a strong vantage point on how companies across industries leverage data for better business decisions, “what distinguishes the most successful businesses … is that they have developed the ability to manage data as an asset across the whole enterprise.”– McKinsey & Company, 2019

    How data is perceived in today’s marketplace

    Data is being touted as the oil of the digital era…

    But just like oil, if left unrefined, it cannot really be used.

    "Data is the new oil." – Clive Humby, Chief Data Scientist

    Source: Joel Semeniuk, 2016

    Enter your data strategy.

    Data is being perceived as that key strategic asset in your organization for fueling innovation and transformation.

    Your data strategy is what allows you to effectively mine, refine, and use this resource.

    “The world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data.”– The Economist, 2017

    “Modern innovation is now dependent upon this data.”– Joel Semeniuk, 2016

    “The better the data, the better the resulting innovation and impact.”– Joel Semeniuk, 2016

    What is it in it for you? What opportunities can data help you leverage?

    GOVERNMENT

    Leveraging data as a strategic asset for the benefit of citizens.

    • The strategic use of data can enable governments to provide higher-quality services.
    • Direct resources appropriately and harness opportunities to improve impact.
    • Make better evidence-informed decisions and better understand the impact of programs so that funds can be directed to where they are most likely to deliver the best results.
    • Maintain legitimacy and credibility in an increasingly complex society.
    • Help workers adapt and be competitive in a changing labor market.
    • A data strategy would help protect citizens from the misuse of their data.

    Source: Privy Council Office, Government of Canada, 2018

    What is it in it for you? What opportunities can data help you leverage?

    FINANCIAL

    Leveraging data to boost traditional profit and loss levers, find new sources of growth, and deliver the digital bank.

    • One bank used credit card transactional data (from its own terminals and those of other banks) to develop offers that gave customers incentives to make regular purchases from one of the bank’s merchants. This boosted the bank’s commissions, added revenue for its merchants, and provided more value to the customer (McKinsey & Company, 2017).
    • In terms of enhancing productivity, a bank used “new algorithms to predict the cash required at each of its ATMs across the country and then combined this with route-optimization techniques to save money” (McKinsey & Company, 2017).

    A European bank “turned to machine-learning algorithms that predict which currently active customers are likely to reduce their business with the bank.” The resulting understanding “gave rise to a targeted campaign that reduced churn by 15 percent” (McKinsey & Company, 2017).

    A leading Canadian bank has built a marketplace around their data – they have launched a data marketplace where they have productized the bank’s data. They are providing data – as a product – to other units within the bank. These other business units essentially represent internal customers who are leveraging the product, which is data.

    Through the use of data and advanced analytics, “a top bank in Asia discovered unsuspected similarities that allowed it to define 15,000 microsegments in its customer base. It then built a next-product-to-buy model that increased the likelihood to buy three times over.” Several sets of big data were explored, including “customer demographics and key characteristics, products held, credit-card statements, transaction and point-of-sale data, online and mobile transfers and payments, and credit-bureau data” (McKinsey & Company, 2017).

    What is it in it for you? What opportunities can data help you leverage?

    HEALTHCARE

    Leveraging data and analytics to prevent deadly infections

    The fifth-largest health system in the US and the largest hospital provider in California uses a big data and advanced analytics platform to predict potential sepsis cases at the earliest stages, when intervention is most helpful.

    Using the Sepsis Bio-Surveillance Program, this hospital provider monitors 120,000 lives per month in 34 hospitals and manages 7,500 patients with potential sepsis per month.

    Collecting data from the electronic medical records of all patients in its facilities, the solution uses natural language processing (NLP) and a rules engine to continually monitor factors that could indicate a sepsis infection. In high-probability cases, the system sends an alarm to the primary nurse or physician.

    Since implementing the big data and predictive analytics system, this hospital provider has seen a significant improvement in the mortality and the length of stay in ICU for sepsis patients.

    At 28 of the hospitals which have been on the program, sepsis mortality rates have dropped an average of 5%.

    With patients spending less time in the ICU, cost savings were also realized. This is significant, as sepsis is the costliest condition billed to Medicare, the second costliest billed to Medicaid and the uninsured, and the fourth costliest billed to private insurance.

    Source: SAS, 2019

    What is it in it for you? What opportunities can data help you leverage?

    RETAIL

    Leveraging data to better understand customer preferences, predict purchasing, drive customer experience, and optimize supply and demand planning.

    Netflix is an example of a big brand that uses big data analytics for targeted advertising. With over 100 million subscribers, the company collects large amounts of data. If you are a subscriber, you are likely familiar with their suggestions messages of the next series or movie you should catch up on. These suggestions are based on your past search data and watch data. This data provides Netflix with insights into your interests and preferences for viewing (Mentionlytics, 2018).

    “For the retail industry, big data means a greater understanding of consumer shopping habits and how to attract new customers.”– Ron Barasch, Envestnet | Yodlee, 2019

    The business case for data – moving from platitudes to practicality

    When building your business case, consider the following:

    • What is the most effective way to communicate the business case to executives?
    • How can CDOs and other data leaders use data to advance their organizations’ corporate strategy?
    • What does your data estate look like? Are you looking to leverage and drive value from your semi-structured and unstructured data assets?
    • Does your current organizational culture support a data-driven one? Does the organization have a history of managing change effectively?
    • How do changing privacy and security expectations alter the way businesses harvest, save, use, and exchange data?

    “We’re the converted … We see the value in data. The battle is getting executive teams to see it our way.”– Ted Maulucci, President of SmartONE Solutions Inc. IT World Canada, 2018

    Where do you stack up? What is your current data management maturity?

    Info-Tech’s IT Maturity Ladder denotes the different levels of maturity for an IT department and its different functions. What is the current state of your data management capability?

    Innovator - Transforms the Business. Business Partner - Expands the Business. Trusted Operator - Optimizes the Business. Firefighter - Supports the Business. Unstable - Struggles to Support.

    Info-Tech Insight

    You are best positioned to successfully execute on a data strategy if you are currently at or above the Trusted Operator level. If you find yourself still at the Unstable or Firefighter stage, your efforts are best spent on ensuring you can fulfill your day-to-day data and data management demands. Improving this capability will help build a strong data management foundation.

    Guiding principles of a data strategy

    Value of Clearly Defined Data Principles

    • Guiding principles help define the culture and characteristics of your practice by describing your beliefs and philosophy.
    • Guiding principles act as the heart of your data strategy, helping to shape initiative plans and day-to-day behaviors related to the use and treatment of the organization’s data assets.

    “Organizational culture can accelerate the application of analytics, amplify its power, and steer companies away from risky outcomes.”– McKinsey, 2018

    Build a Robust and Comprehensive Data Strategy

    Business Strategy and Current Environment connect with the Data Strategy. Data Strategy includes: Organizational Drivers and Data Value, Data Strategy Objectives and Guiding Principles, Data Strategy Vision and Mission, Data Strategy Roadmap, People: Roles and Organizational Structure, Data Culture and Data Literacy, Data Management and Tools, Risk and Feasibility.

    Follow Info-Tech’s methodology for effectively leveraging the value out of your data

    Some say it’s the new oil. Or the currency of the new business landscape. Others describe it as the fuel of the digital economy. But we don’t need platitudes — we need real ways to extract the value from our data. – Jim Love, CIO and Chief Digital Officer, IT World Canada, 2018

    1. Business Context. 2. Data and Resources Foundation. 3. Effective Data Strategy

    Our practical step-by-step approach helps you to formulate a data strategy that delivers business value.

    1. Establish Business Context and Value: In this phase, you will determine and substantiate the business drivers for optimizing the data strategy. You will identify the business drivers that necessitate the data strategy optimization and examine your current organizational data culture. This will be key to ensuring the fruits of your optimization efforts are being used. You will also define the vision, mission, and guiding principles and build high-value use cases for the data strategy.
    2. Ensure You Have a Solid Data and Resources Foundation: This phase will help you ensure you have a solid data and resources foundation for operationalizing your data strategy. You will gain an understanding of your current environment in terms of data management enablers and the required resources portfolio of key people, roles, and skill sets.
    3. Formulate a Sustainable Data Strategy: In this phase, you will bring the pieces together for formulating an effective data strategy. You will evaluate and prioritize the use cases built in Phase 1, which summarize the alignment of organizational goals with data needs. You will also create your strategic plan, considering change management and communication.

    Info-Tech offers various levels of support to best suit your needs

    DIY Toolkit

    “Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful.”

    Guided Implementation

    “Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track.”

    Workshop

    “We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place.”

    Consulting

    “Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project.”

    Diagnostics and consistent frameworks are used throughout all four options.

    2020 CIO Priorities Report

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    • Parent Category Name: Innovation
    • Parent Category Link: /innovation
    • The velocity and magnitude of technology changes today has increased dramatically compared to anything that has come before.
    • The velocity and magnitude of advancements in technology has always seemed unprecedented in every wave of technology change we have experienced over the past 40 years. With each new wave of innovation, “unprecedented” is redefined to a new level, and so it remains true that today’s CIO is faced with unprecedented levels of change as a direct result of emerging technologies.
    • What is different today is that we are at the point where the emerging technology itself is now capable of accelerating the pace of change even more through artificial intelligence capabilities.
    • If we are to realize the business value through the adoption of emerging technologies, CIOs must address significant challenges. We believe addressing these challenges lies in the CIO priorities for 2020.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • First there was IT/business alignment, then there was IT/business integration – both states characterized as IT “getting on the same page” as the business. In the context of emerging technologies, the CIO should no longer be focused on getting on the same page as the CEO.
    • Today it is about the CEO and the CIO collaborating to write a new book about convergence of all things: technology (infrastructure and applications), people (including vendors), process, and data.
    • Digital transformation and adoption of emerging technologies is not a goal, it is a journey – a means to the end, not the end unto itself.

    Impact and Result

    • Use Info-Tech's 2020 CIO Priorities Report to ascertain, based on our research, what areas of focus for 2020 are critical for success in adopting emerging technologies.
    • Adopting these technologies requires careful planning and consideration for what is critical to your business customers.
    • This report provides focus on the business benefits of the technology and not just the capabilities themselves. It puts the CIO in a position to better understand the true value proposition of any of today’s technology advancements.

    2020 CIO Priorities Report Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to understand the top five priorities for CIOs in 2020 and why these are so critical to success.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Refine and adapt processes

    Learn about how processes can make or break your adoption of emerging technologies.

    • 2020 CIO Priorities Report – Priority 1: Refine and Adapt Processes

    2. Re-invent IT as collaboration engine

    Learn about how IT can transform its role within the organization to optimize business value.

    • 2020 CIO Priorities Report – Priority 2: Re-Invent IT as Collaboration Engine

    3. Acquire and retain talent for roles in emerging technologies

    Learn about how IT can attract and keep employees with the skills and knowledge needed to adopt these technologies for the business.

    • 2020 CIO Priorities Report – Priority 3: Acquire and Retain Talent for Roles in Emerging Technologies

    4. Define and manage cybersecurity and cyber resilience requirements related to emerging technologies

    Understand how the adoption of emerging technologies has created new levels of risk and how cybersecurity and resilience can keep pace.

    • 2020 CIO Priorities Report – Priority 4: Define and Manage Cybersecurity and Cyber Resilience Requirements Related to Emerging Technologies

    5. Leverage emerging technology to create Wow! customer experiences

    Learn how IT can leverage emerging technology for its own customers and those of its business partners.

    • 2020 CIO Priorities Report – Priority 5: Leverage Emerging Technology to Create Wow! Customer Experiences
    [infographic]

    Understand Common IT Contract Provisions to Negotiate More Effectively

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    • Parent Category Name: Vendor Management
    • Parent Category Link: /vendor-management
    • Contract reviews are tedious, and reviewers may lack the skills and experience to effectively complete the process.
    • Vendors have a repository of contract terms and conditions that are road-tested and often biased in their favor.
    • Vendors change their contracts frequently through hyperlinked documents without notifying customers, and the onus is on you to stay compliant.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Focus on the terms and conditions, not just the price. Too often, organizations focus on the price contained within their contracts, neglecting to address core terms and conditions that can end up costing multiples of the initial price.
    • Lawyers can’t ensure you get the best business deal. Lawyers tend to look at general terms and conditions for legal risk and may not understand IT-specific components and business needs.

    Impact and Result

    • Align contract language to meet IT and business needs.
    • Communicate more effectively with Legal and the vendors.
    • Identify and reduce contractual and performance risk.
    • Understand the relationship between contract provisions.
    • Negotiate more effectively.

    Understand Common IT Contract Provisions to Negotiate More Effectively Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should employ a systematic process for reviewing contracts, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Assess contract terms and conditions

    Review and assess your IT contracts for vendor-biased terms and conditions, and gain tips for getting vendors to take on their fair share of risk and become more accountable.

    • Contract Review Tool
    • Contract Playbook
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Understand Common IT Contract Provisions to Negotiate More Effectively

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Assess Contract Terms and Conditions

    The Purpose

    Understand IT contract clauses, improve risk identification, and be more effective at negotiating contract terms.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Increased awareness of how contract provisions relate to each other.

    Demystification of legalese and legal concepts.

    Increased ability to seek assistance from internal parties (e.g. Legal, Risk, and Procurement).

    Activities

    1.1 Review the Contract Review Tool.

    1.2 Review the Contract Playbook template.

    1.3 Review 35 contract provisions and reinforce key learnings with exercises (spread across three days)

    Outputs

    Partial completion of the template

    Exercise results and debrief

    Leadership Workshop Overview

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    • Parent Category Name: Leadership Development Programs
    • Parent Category Link: /leadership-development-programs

    Leadership has evolved over time. The velocity of change has increased and leadership for the future looks different than the past.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    Development of the leadership mind should never stop. This program will help IT leaders continue to craft their leadership competencies to navigate the ever-changing world in which we operate.

    Impact and Result

    • Embrace and lead change through active sharing, transparency, and partnerships.
    • Encourage growth mindset to enhance innovative ideas and go past what has always been done.
    • Actively delegate responsibilities and opportunities that engage and develop team members to build on current skills and prepare for the future.

    Leadership Workshop Overview Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Workshop Overview

    Read our concise Workshop Overview to find out how this program can support the development needs of your IT leadership teams.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    • Info-Tech Leadership Workshop Overview
    [infographic]

    Build Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook

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    • Parent Category Name: Selection & Implementation
    • Parent Category Link: /selection-and-implementation
    • Given the increasing complexity of software implementations, you are continually challenged with staying above water with your current team.
    • In addition, rapid changes in the business make maintaining project sponsors’ engagement challenging.
    • Project sprawl across the organization has created a situation where each project lead tracks progress in their own way. This makes it difficult for leadership to identify what was successful – and what wasn’t.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    An effective enterprise application implementation playbook is not just a list of steps, but a comprehensive view of what is necessary to support your implementation. This starts with a people-first approach. Start by asking about sponsors, stakeholders, and goals. Without asking these questions first, the implementation will be set up for failure, regardless of the technology, processes, and tools available.

    Impact and Result

    Follow these steps to build your enterprise application playbook:

    • Define your sponsor, map out your stakeholders, and lay out the vision, goals and objectives for your project.
    • Detail the scope, metrics, and the team that will make it happen.
    • Outline the steps and processes that will carry you through the implementation.

    Build Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Build Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook Deck - Your implementation doesn’t start with technology, but with an effective plan that the team can align on.

    This blueprint provides the steps necessary to build your own enterprise application implementation playbook that can be deployed and leveraged by your implementation teams.

    • Build Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook – Phases 1-3

    2. Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook – The key output from leveraging this research is a completed implementation playbook.

    This is the main playbook that you build through the exercises defined in the blueprint.

    • Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook

    3. Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook - Timeline Tool – Supporting tool that captures the project timeline information, issue log, and follow-up dashboard.

    This tool provides input into the playbook around project timelines and planning.

    • Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook - Timeline Tool

    4. Light Project Change Request Form Template – This tool will help you record the requested change, allow assess the impact of the change and proceed the approval process.

    This provides input into the playbook around managing change requests

    • Light Project Change Request Form Template

    Infographic

    Workshop: Build Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Understand the Project

    The Purpose

    Lay out the overall objectives, stakeholders, and governance structure for the project.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Align everyone on the sponsor, key stakeholders, vision, and goals for your project

    Activities

    1.1 Select the project sponsor.

    1.2 Identify your stakeholders.

    1.3 Align on a project vision.

    1.4 List your guiding principles.

    1.5 Confirm your goals and objectives for the implementation project.

    1.6 Define the project governance structure.

    Outputs

    Project sponsor has been selected.

    Project stakeholders have been identified and mapped with their roles and responsibilities.

    Vision has been defined.

    Guiding principles have been defined.

    Articulated goals and objectives.

    Detailed governance structure.

    2 Set up for Success

    The Purpose

    Define the elements of the playbook that provide scope and boundaries for the implementation.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Align the implementation team on the scope for the project and how the team should operate during the implementation.

    Activities

    2.1 Gather and review requirements, with an agreed to scope.

    2.2 Define metrics for your project.

    2.3 Define and document the risks that can impact the project.

    2.4 Establish team composition and identify the team.

    2.5 Detail your OCM structure, resources, roles, and responsibilities.

    2.6 Define requirements for training.

    2.7 Create a communications plan for stakeholder groups and delivery teams.

    Outputs

    Requirements for enterprise application implementation with an agreed-to scope.

    Metrics to help measure what success looks like for the implementation.

    Articulated list of possible risks during the implementation.

    The team responsible and accountable for implementation is identified.

    Details of your organization’s change management process.

    Outline of training required.

    An agreed-to plan for communication of project status.

    3 Document Your Plan

    The Purpose

    With the structure and boundaries in place, we can now lay out the details on the implementation plan.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    A high-level plan is in place, including next steps and a process on running retrospectives.

    Activities

    3.1 Define your implementation steps.

    3.2 Create templates to enable follow-up throughout the project.

    3.3 Decide on the tracking tools to help during your implementation.

    3.4 Define the follow-up processes.

    3.5 Define project progress communication.

    3.6 Create a Change request process.

    3.7 Define your retrospective process for continuous improvement.

    3.8 Prepare a closure document for sign-off.

    Outputs

    An agreed to high-level implementation plan.

    Follow-up templates to enable more effective follow-ups.

    Shortlist of tracking tools to leverage during the implementation.

    Defined processes to enable follow-up.

    Defined project progress communication.

    A process for managing change requests.

    A process and template for running retrospectives.

    A technique and template for closure and sign-off.

    Further reading

    Build Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook

    Your implementation doesn’t start with technology, but with an effective plan that the team can align on.

    Analyst Perspective

    Your implementation is not just about technology, but about careful planning, collaboration, and control.

    Recardo de Oliveira

    A successful enterprise application implementation requires more than great software; it requires a clear line of sight to the people, processes, metrics, and tools that can help make this happen.

    Additionally, every implementation is unique with its own set of challenges. Working through these challenges requires a tailored approach taking many factors into account. Building out your playbook for your implementation is an important initial step before diving head-first into technology.

    Regardless of whether you use an implementation partner, a playbook ensures that you don’t lose your enterprise application investment before you even get started!

    Ricardo de Oliveira

    Research Director,
    Application Delivery and Management
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    • Given the increasing complexity of software implementations, you are continually challenged with staying above water with your current team.
    • Rapid changes in the business make maintaining project sponsors’ engagement challenging.
    • Project sprawl across the organization has created a situation where project leads track progress in their own way. This makes it difficult for leadership to identify what was successful (and what wasn’t).

    Common Obstacles

    • Your best process experts are the same people you need to keep the business running. The business cannot afford to have its best people pulled into the implementation for long periods of time.
    • Enterprise application implementations generate huge organizational changes and the adoption of the new systems and processes resulting from these projects are quite difficult.
    • People are generally resistant to change, especially large, transformational changes that will impact the day-to-day way of doing things.

    Info-Tech's Approach

    • Build your enterprise application implementation playbook. Follow these steps to build your enterprise application playbook:
      • Define your sponsor, map out your stakeholders, and lay out the vision, goals, and objectives for your project.
      • Detail the scope, metrics, and the team that will make it happen.
      • Detail the steps and processes that will carry you through the implementation

    Info-Tech Insight

    An effective enterprise application implementation playbook is not just a list of steps; it is a comprehensive view of what is necessary to support your implementation. This starts with a people-first approach. Start by asking about sponsors, stakeholders, and goals. Without asking these questions first, the implementation will be set up for failure, regardless of the technology, processes, and tools available.

    Enterprise Applications Lifescycle Advisory Services. Strategy, selection, implementation, optimization and operations.

    Insight summary

    Building an effective playbook starts with asking the right questions, not jumping straight into the technical details.

    • This blueprint provides the steps required to lay out an implementation playbook to align the team on what is necessary to support the implementation.
    • Build your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook by:
      • Aligning and confirming project’s goals, stakeholders, governance and team.
      • Clearly defining what is in and out of scope for the project and the risks involved.
      • Building up a strong change management process.
      • Providing the tools and processes to keep track of the project.
      • Pulling it all together into an actionable playbook.

    Grapsh showing 39%

    Lack of planning is the reason that 39% of projects fail. Poor project planning can be disastrous: The consequences are usually high costs and time overruns.

    Graph showing 20%

    Almost 20% of IT projects can fail so badly that they can become a threat to a company’s existence. Lack of proper planning, poor communication, and poorly defined goals all contribute to the failure of projects.

    Graph showig 2.5%

    A PwC study of over 10,640 projects found that a tiny portion of companies – 2.5% – completed 100% of their projects successfully. These failures extract a heavy cost – failed IT projects alone cost the United States $50-$150B in lost revenue and productivity.

    Source: Forbes, 2020

    Planning and control are key to enterprise project success

    An estimated 70% of large-scale corporate projects fail largely due to a lack of change management infrastructure, proper oversight, and regular performance check-ins to track progress (McKinsey, 2015).

    Table showing that 88% of projects completed on time, 90% completed within budget and 92% meet original goals. 68% of projects have scope creep, 24% deemed failures and 46% experience budget lose when project fails

    “A survey published in HBR found that the average IT project overran its budget by 27%. Moreover, at least one in six IT projects turns into a ‘black swan’ with a cost overrun of 200% and a schedule overrun of 70%. Kmart’s massive $1.2B failed IT modernization project, for instance, was a big contributor to its bankruptcy.”

    Source: Forbes, 2020

    Sponsor commitment directly improves project success.

    Having the right sponsor significantly improves your chances of success across many different dimensions:

    1. On-time delivery
    2. Delivering within budget
    3. Delivered within an agreed-to scope
    4. Delivered with sufficient quality.
    Graph that shows Project success scores versus sponsor involvement in change communication. Shows increase for projects on time, projects on budget, within scope and overall quality.

    Source: Info-Tech, PPM Current State Scorecard Diagnostic

    Executive Brief Case Study

    Chocolate manufacturer implementing a new ERP

    INDUSTRY

    Consumer Products

    SOURCE

    Carlton, 2021

    Challenge

    Not every ERP ends in success. This case study reviews the failure of Hershey, a 147-year-old confectioner, headquartered in Hershey Pennsylvania. The enterprise saw the implementation of an ERP platform as being central to its future growth.

    Solution

    Consequently, rather than approaching its business challenge on the basis of an iterative approach, it decided to execute a holistic plan, involving every operating center in the company. Subsequently, SAP was engaged to implement a $10 million systems upgrade; however, management problems emerged immediately.

    Results

    The impact of this decision was significant, and the company was unable to conduct business because virtually every process, policy, and operating mechanism was in flux simultaneously. The consequence was the loss of $150 million in revenue, a 19% reduction in share price, and the loss of 12% in international market share.

    Remember: Poor management can scupper implementation, even when you have selected the perfect system.

    A successful software implementation provides more than simply immediate business value…

    It can build competitive advantage.

    • When software projects fail, it can jeopardize an organization’s financial standing and reputation, and in some severe cases, it can bring the company down altogether.
    • Rarely do projects fail for a single reason, but by understanding the pitfalls, developing a risk mitigation plan, closely monitoring risks, and self-evaluating during critical milestones, you can increase the probability of delivering on time, on budget, and with the intended benefits.

    Benefits are not limited to just delivering on time. Some others include:

    • Building organizational delivery competence and overall agility.
    • The opportunity to start an inventory of best practices, eventually building them into a center of excellence.
    • Developing a competitive advantage by maximizing software value and continuously transforming the business.
    • An opportunity to develop a competent pool of staff capable of executing on projects and managing organizational change.

    Blueprint deliverables

    Each step of this blueprint is accompanied by supporting deliverables to help you accomplish your goals:

    Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook – Timeline Tool

    Supporting template that captures the project timeline information, issue log, and follow-up dashboard.

    Info-Tech: Project Planning and Monitoring Tool.
    Light Project Change Request Form Template

    This tool will help you record the requested change, and allow you to assess the impact of the change and proceed with the approval process.

    Info-Tech: Light change request form template.

    Key deliverable:

    Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook

    Record the results from the exercises to define the steps for a successful implementation.

    Build your enterprise application implementation playbook.

    Info-Tech’s methodology for Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook

    Phase Steps

    1. Understand the Project

    1. Identify the project sponsor
    2. Define project stakeholders
    3. Review project vision and guiding principles
    4. Review project objectives
    5. Establish project governance

    2. Set up for success

    1. Review project scope
    2. Define project metrics
    3. Prepare for project risks
    4. Identify the project team
    5. Define your change management process

    3. Document your plan

    1. Develop a master project plan
    2. Define a follow-up plan
    3. Define the follow-up process
    4. Understand what’s next
    Phase Outcomes
    • Project sponsor has been selected
    • Project stakeholders have been identified and mapped with their roles and responsibilities.
    • Vision, guiding principles, goals objectives, and governance have been defined
    • Project scope has been confirmed
    • Project metrics to identify successful implementation has been defined
    • Risks have been assessed and articulated.
    • Identified project team
    • An agreed-to change management process
    • Project plan covering the overall implementation is in place, including next steps and retrospectives

    Info-Tech offers various levels of support to best suit your needs

    DIY Toolkit

    "Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful."

    Guided Implementation

    "Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track."

    Workshop

    "We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place."

    Consulting

    "Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project."

    Diagnostic and consistent frameworks are used throughout all four options.

    Guided Implementation

    What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

    The three phases of guided implementation.

    A Guided Implementation (GI) is a series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization. A typical GI is between 8 to 12 calls over the course of 4 to 6 months.

    Workshop Overview

    Contact your account representative for more information.

    workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889 Activities and deliverables for each module of the workshop. Module 1: understanding the project, Module 2: Set up for success, Modeule 3: Document your plan, and Post Workshop: Next steps and Wrap-up(offsite).

    Phase 1

    Understand the project

    3 phases, phase 1 is highlighted.

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    1.1 Identify the project sponsor

    1.2 Identify project stakeholders

    1.3 Review project vision and guiding principles

    1.4 Review project objectives

    1.5 Establish project governance

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    Step 1.1

    Identify the project sponsor

    Activities

    1.1.1 Define the project sponsor's responsibilities

    1.1.2 Shortlist potential sponsors

    1.1.3 Select the project sponsor

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    Outcomes of this step

    Selected sponsor.

    Sponsor commitment directly improves project success.

    Having the right sponsor significantly improves your chances of success across many different dimensions:

    1. On-time delivery
    2. Delivering within budget
    3. Delivered within an agreed-to scope
    4. Delivered with sufficient quality.

    Graph that shows Project success scores versus sponsor involvement in change communication. Shows increase for projects on time, projects on budget, within scope and overall quality.

    Source: Info-Tech, PPM Current State Scorecard Diagnostic

    Typical project sponsor responsibilities

    • Help define the business goals of their projects before they start.
    • Provide guidance and support to the project manager and the project team throughout the project management lifecycle.
    • Ensure that sufficient financial resources are available for their projects.
    • Resolve problems and issues that require authority beyond that of the project manager.
    • Ensure that the business objectives of their projects are achieved and communicated.

    For further discussion on sponsor responsibilities, use Info-Tech’s blueprint, Drive Business Value With a Right-Sized Project Gating Process

    Portrait of head with multiple layers representing the responsibilities of a sponsor. From top down: Define business goals, provide guidance, ensure human ad financial resources, resolve problems and issues.

    1.1.1 Define the project sponsor’s responsibilities

    0.5-1 hour

    1. Discuss the minimum requirements for a sponsor at your organization.
    2. As a group, brainstorm the criteria necessary for an individual to be a project sponsor:
      1. Is there a limit to the number of projects they can sponsor at one time?
      2. Is there a minimum number of hours they must be available to the project team?
      3. Do they have to be at a certain seniority level in the organization?
      4. What is their role at each stage of the project lifecycle?
    3. Document these criteria on a whiteboard.
    4. Record the sponsor’s responsibilities in section 1.1 of Info-Tech’s Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Download Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook

    Input

    Output

    • Requirements for a sponsor
    • Your responsibilities as a sponsor

    Materials

    Participants

    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook
    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    1.1.1 Define the project sponsor’s responsibilities (Continued)

    Example

    Project sponsor responsibilities.

    1.1.2 Shortlist potential sponsors

    0.5-1 hour

    1. Based on the responsibilities defined in Exercise 1.1.1, produce a list of the potential sponsors.
    2. Record the sponsor’s shortlist in section 1.2 of Info-Tech’s Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Download Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook

    Input

    Output

    • Characteristics of a sponsor
    • Your list of candidates

    Materials

    Participants

    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook
    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    1.1.2 Shortlist potential sponsors (Continued)

    Example

    Shortlist of potential sponsors. 6 names listed with checkmarks on criteria ranking.

    Don’t forget, the project team is there to support the sponsor

    Given the burden of the sponsor role, the project team is committed to doing their best to facilitate a successful outcome.

    Project Success: Follow best practices, escalate issues, stay focused, communicate, adapt to change.

    • Follow the framework set out by the governance group at the organization to drive efficiency on the project.
    • Ensure stakeholders with proper authority are notified of issues that occur during the project.
    • Stay focused on the project tasks to drive quality on the deliverables and avoid rework after the project.
    • Communicate within the project team to drive coordination of tasks, complete deliverables, and avoid resource waste.
    • Changes are more common than not; the team must be prepared to adjust plans and stay agile to adapt to changes for the project.

    Seek the key characteristics of a sponsor

    Man walking up stairs denoting characteristics of a good sponsor. First step: Leader, second step: Strong Communicator, third step: knowledgeable, fourth step: problem solver, fifth step: delegator, final step: dedicated.

    1.1.3 Select the project sponsor

    0.5-1 hour

    1. Review the characteristics and the list of potential candidates.
    2. Assess availability, suitability, and desire of the selected sponsor.
    3. Record the selected sponsor in section 1.3 of Info-Tech’s Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Download Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook

    Input

    Output

    • List of candidates
    • Characteristics of a sponsor
    • Your selected sponsor

    Materials

    Participants

    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook
    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    1.1.3 Select the project sponsor (Continued)

    Example

    Name of example sponsor with their key traits listed.

    Step 1.2

    Identify the project stakeholders

    Activities

    1.2.1 Identify your stakeholders

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    Outcomes of this step

    Stakeholders’ management plan

    How to find the right stakeholders

    Start with the obvious candidates, but keep an open mind.

    How to find stakeholders

    • Talk to your stakeholders and ask who else you should be talking to, to discover additional stakeholders and ensure you don’t miss anyone.
    • Less obvious stakeholders can be found by conducting various types of trace analysis, i.e. following various paths flowing from your initiative through to the path’s logical conclusion.

    Create a stakeholder network map for your application implementation

    Follow the trail of breadcrumbs from your direct stakeholders to their influencers to uncover hidden stakeholders.

    Stakeholder network map showing direction of professional influence as well as bidirectional, informal influence relationships.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Your stakeholder map defines the influence landscape your enterprise application operates in. It is every bit as important as the teams who enhance, support, and operate your applications directly.

    Use connectors to determine who may be influencing your direct stakeholders. They may not have any formal authority within the organization, but they may have substantial informal relationships with your stakeholders.

    Understand how to navigate the complex web of stakeholders

    Identify which stakeholders to include and what their level of involvement should be during requirements elicitation based on relevant topic expertise.

    Graph showing influence vs. interest, divided into 4 quadrants. Low influence and intersest is labeled: Monitor, low influence and high interest is labeled: Keep informed, High influence and low interest is labeled: Keep satisfied, and high influence and high interest is labeled: Involve closely

    Large-scale projects require the involvement of many stakeholders from all corners and levels of the organization, including project sponsors, IT, end users, and business stakeholders. Consider the influence and interest of stakeholders in contributing to the requirements elicitation process and involve them accordingly.

    Map the organization’s stakeholders

    List of various stakeholder titles. As well as a graph showing the influence vs involvement of each stakeholder title. Influence and interest is divided into 4 quadrants: Monitor, Keep informed, keep satisfied, and involve closely.

    1.2.1 Identify your stakeholders

    1-2 hours

    1. As a group, identify all the project stakeholders. A stakeholder may be an individual such as the CEO or CFO, or it may be a group such as front-line employees.
    2. Map each stakeholder on the quadrant based on their expected influence and involvement in the project
    3. Identify stakeholders and add them to the list.
    4. Record the stakeholders list in section 1.4 of Info-Tech’s Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.
    5. Download Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook

      Input

      Output

      • Types of stakeholders
      • Your stakeholders initial list

      Materials

      Participants

      • Whiteboard/flip charts
      • Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook
      • Project team
      • Operations
      • SMEs
      • Team lead and facilitators
      • IT leaders

    1.2.1 Identify your stakeholders(Continued)

    Example

    Table with rows of stakeholders: Customer, End Users, IT, Vendor and other listed. Columns provide: description, examples, value and involvement level of each stakeholder.

    Step 1.3

    Review project vision and guiding principles

    Activities

    1.3.1 Align on a project vision

    1.3.2 List your guiding principles

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    Outcomes of this step

    Project vision and guiding principles

    Vision and guiding principles

    GUIDING PRINCIPLES

    Guiding principles are high-level rules of engagement that help to align stakeholders from the outset. Determine guiding principles to shape the scope and ensure stakeholders have the same vision.

    Creating Guiding Principles

    Guiding principles should be constructed as full sentences. These statements should be able to guide decisions.

    EXAMPLES
    • [Organization] is implementing an ERP system to streamline processes and reduce redundancies, saving time and money.
    • [Organization] is implementing an ERP to integrate disparate systems and rationalize the application portfolio.
    • [Organization] is aiming at taking advantage of industry best practices and strives to minimize the level of customization required in solution.

    Questions to Ask

    1. What is a strong statement that will help guide decision making throughout the life of the ERP project?
    2. What are your overarching requirements for business processes?
    3. What do you ultimately want to achieve?
    4. What is a statement that will ensure all stakeholders are on the same page for the project?

    1.3.1 Align on a project vision

    1-2 hours

    1. As a group, discuss whether you want to create a separate project vision statement or restate your corporate vision and/or goals.
      1. A project vision statement will provide project-guiding principles, encompass the project objectives, and give a rationale for the project.
      2. Using the corporate vision/goals will remind the business and IT that the project is to implement an enterprise application that supports and enhances the organizational objectives.
    2. Record the project vision in section 1.5 of Info-Tech’s Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Download Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook

    Input

    Output

    • Project vision statement defined during strategy building
    • Your project vision

    Materials

    Participants

    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook
    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    1.3.1 Align on a project vision (Continued)

    Example

    Project Vision

    We, [Organization], will select and implement an integrated software suite that enhances the growth and profitability of the organization through streamlined global business processes, real-time data-driven decisions, increased employee productivity, and IT investment protection.

    Guiding principles examples

    The guiding principles will help guide your decision-making process. These can be adjusted to align with your internal language.

    • Support business agility: A flexible and adaptable integrated business system providing a seamless user experience.
    • Use best practices: Do not recreate or replicate what we have today; focus on modernization. Exercise customization governance by focusing on those customizations that are strategically differentiating.
    • Automate: Take manual work out where we can, empowering staff and improving productivity through automation and process efficiencies.
    • Stay focused: Focus on scope around core business capabilities. Maintain scope control. Prioritize demand in line with the strategy.
    • Strive for "one source of truth": Unify data model and integrate processes where possible. Assess integration needs carefully.

    1.3.2 List your guiding principles

    1-2 hours

    1. Start with the guiding principles defined during the strategy building.
    2. Review each of the sample guiding principles provided and ask the following questions:
      1. Do we agree with the statement?
      2. Is this statement framed in the language we use internally? Does everyone agree on the meaning of the statement?
      3. Will this statement help guide our decision-making process?
    3. Record the guiding principles in section 1.6 of Info-Tech’s Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Download Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook

    Input

    Output

    • Guiding principles defined during strategy building
    • Your guiding principles

    Materials

    Participants

    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook
    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    1.3.2 List your guiding principles (Continued)

    Example

    Guiding principals: Support business agility, use best practices, automate, stay focused, strive for `one source truth`.

    Step 1.4

    Review project objectives

    Activities

    1.4.1 Confirm your goals and objectives for the implementation project

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    Outcomes of this step

    The objectives of the implementation project

    Review the elements of the project charter

    Leverage completed deliverables to get project managers started down the path of success.

    Deliverables of project chaters for PMs. Project purpose, scope, logistics and sign-off.

    1.4.1 List your guiding principles

    1-2 hours

    1. Articulate the high-level objectives of the project. (What are the goals of the project?)
    2. Elicit the business benefits the sponsor is committed to achieving. (What are the business benefits of the project?)
    3. Record Project goals and objectives in section 1.7 of Info-Tech’s Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Download Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook

    Input

    Output

    • Your BizDevOps objectives and metrics
    • Understanding of various collaboration methods, such as Scrum, Kanban, and Scrumban
    • Your chosen collaboration method

    Materials

    Participants

    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook
    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    1.4.1 Confirm your goals and objectives for the implementation project (Continued)

    Example:

    Project Objectives: End-user visibility, New business development, employee experience. Business Benefits for each objective listed.

    Step 1.5

    Establish project governance

    Activities

    1.5.1 Define the project governance structure

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    Outcomes of this step

    Approach to build an effective project governance

    1.5.1 List your guiding principles

    0.5-1 hour

    1. Identify the IT governance structure in place today and document the high-level function of each body (councils, steering committees, review boards, centers of excellence, etc.).
    2. Identify and document the existing enterprise applications governance structure, roles, and responsibilities (if any exist).
    3. Identify gaps and document the desired enterprise applications governance structure, roles, and responsibilities.
    4. Record the project governance structure in section 1.8 of Info-Tech’s Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Download Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook

    Input

    Output

    • IT governance structure
    • Your project governance structure

    Materials

    Participants

    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook
    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    Governance is NOT management

    Three levels of governance: Team Level, Steering Committee Level, and Executive Governance Level.

    Info-Tech Insight

    You won’t get engagement unless there is a sense of accountability. Do not leave this vague. Accountability needs to be assigned to specific individuals in your organization to ensure the system development achieves what was intended by your organization and not what your system integrator (SI) intended.

    Who is accountable?

    Too many assumptions are made that the SI is accountable for all implementation activities and deliverables – this is simply untrue. All activities can be better planned for, and misunderstandings can be avoided, with a clear line of sight on roles and responsibilities and the documentation that will support these assumptions.

    Discuss, define, and document roles and responsibilities:
    • For each role (e.g. executive sponsor, delivery manager, test lead, conversion lead), clearly articulate the responsibilities of the role, who is accountable for fulfillment, and whether it’s a client role, SI role, or both.
    • Articulate the purpose of each deliverable clearly, define which individual or team has responsibility for it, and document who is expected to contribute.
    • Empower the team by granting them the authority to make decisions. Ease their reluctance to think outside the box for fear of stakeholder or user backlash.
    • The implementation cannot and will not be transformative if the wrong people are involved or if the right people have not been given the tools required to succeed in their role.

    1.5.2 List your guiding principles

    0.5-1 hour

    1. Assess the skills necessary for an enterprise implementation. Inventory the competencies required for an enterprise implementation team. Map your internal resources to each competency as applicable.
    2. Select your internal implementation team. Determine who needs to be involved closely with the implementation. Key stakeholders should also be considered as members of your implementation team.
    3. Identify the number of external consultants/support required for implementation. Consider your in-house skills, timeline, integration environment complexity, and cost constraints as you make your resourcing plan.
    4. Record governance team roles and responsibilities in 1.9 section of Info-Tech’s Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Download Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook

    Input

    Output

    • Available resources (internal, external, contract)
    • Your governance structure roles and responsibilities

    Materials

    Participants

    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook
    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    1.5.2 Define governance team roles and responsibilities (Continued)

    Example

    Governance team roles and their responsibilities.

    Phase 2

    Set up for success

    3 phases, phase 2 is highlighted.

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    2.1. Review project scope

    2.2. Define project metrics

    2.3. Prepare for project risks

    2.4. Identify the project team

    2.5. Define your change management process

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    Step 2.1

    Review project scope

    Activities

    2.1.1 Gather and review requirements

    2.1.2 Confirm your scope for implementation

    2.1.3 Formulate a scope statement

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    Outcomes of this step

    The project scope

    Requirements are key to defining scope

    Project scope management includes the processes required to ensure that the project includes all and only the work required to complete the project successfully. Therefore, managing project scope is about defining and controlling what is and is not included in the project.

    PMBOK defines requirements as “conditions or capabilities that are to be met by the project or present in the product, service, or result to satisfy an agreement or other formally imposed specification.” Detailed requirements should be gathered and elicited in order to provide the basis for defining the project scope.

    70% of projects fail due to poor requirements, organizations using poor practices spent 62% more, 4th highest correlation to high IT performance is requirements gathering.

    Well-executed requirements gathering results in:

    • Consistent approach from project to project, resulting in more predictable outcomes.
    • Solutions that meet the business need on the surface and under the hood.
    • Reduce risk for fast-tracked projects by establishing a right-sized approach.
    • Requirements team that can drive process improvement and improved execution.
    • Confidence when exploring solution alternatives.

    Poorly executed requirements gathering results in:

    • IT receiving the blame for any project shortcomings or failures.
    • Business needs getting lost in the translation between the initial request and final output.
    • Inadequate solutions or cost overruns and dissatisfaction with IT.
    • IT losing its credibility as stakeholders do not see the value and work around the process.
    • Late projects that tie up IT resources longer than planned, and cost overruns that come out of the IT budget.
    • Inconsistent project execution, leading to inconsistent outcomes.

    Strong stakeholder satisfaction with requirements results in higher satisfaction in other areas

    High stakeholder satisfaction with requirements results in higher satisfaction in other areas.

    Note: “High satisfaction” was classified as a score greater or equal to eight, and “low satisfaction” was every organization that scored below eight on the same questions.

    2.1.1 Gather and review requirements

    1-2 hours

    1. Once existing documentation has been gathered, evaluate the effectiveness of the documentation and decide whether you need additional information to proceed to current-state mapping.
    2. The initiative team should avoid spending too much time on the discovery phase, as the goal of discovery is to obtain enough information to produce a level-one current-state map.
    3. Consider reviewing capabilities, business processes, current applications, integration, and data migration.

    Download Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook

    Input

    Output

    • Your requirements, capabilities, business processes, current applications, integration, and/or data migration
    • Your requirements, capabilities, business processes, current applications, integration, and/or data migration revisited

    Materials

    Participants

    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook
    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    2.1.1 Requirements list

    Example

    Requirements with description, category and priority.

    2.1.2 Confirm your scope for implementation

    1-2 hours

    1. Based on the requirements, write down features of the product or services, as well as dependencies with other interfaces.
    2. Write down exclusions to guard against scope creep.
    3. Validate the scope by asking these questions:
      1. Will this scope provide a common understanding for all stakeholders, including those outside of IT, as to what the project will accomplish and what it excludes?
      2. Should any detail be added to prevent scope creep later?
    4. Record the project scope in section 2.1 of Info-Tech’s Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Download Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook

    Input

    Output

    • What’s in scope
    • What’s out of scope
    • What needs to integrate
    • Your scope areas

    Materials

    Participants

    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook
    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    2.1.2 Scope detail

    Example

    Example of scope detail. Table with scope levels: In scope, out of scope and existing scope. Each scope level has details about it listed.

    Distill your requirements into a scope statement

    Requirements are about the what and the how.
    Scope specifies the features of the product or service – what is in and what is out
    Table showing Requirement document vs. Scope statement. It lists the audience, content, inputs and outputs for each.

    The Build Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook 2.2 Project Scope Statement includes:

    • Scope description (features, how it interfaces with other solution components, dependencies).
    • Exclusions (what is not part of scope).
    • Deliverables (product outputs, documentation).
    • Acceptance criteria (what metrics must be satisfied for the deliverable to be accepted).
    • Final sign-off (owner).
    • Project exclusions (scope item, details).

    The scope statement should communicate the breadth of the project

    To assist in forming your scope statement, answer the following questions:
    • What are the major coverage points?
    • Who will be using the systems?
    • How will different users interact with the systems?
    • What are the objectives that need to be addressed?
    • Where do we start?
    • Where do we draw the line?

    2.1.3 Formulate a scope statement

    1-2 hours

    1. Lay out the scope description (features, how it interfaces with other solution components, dependencies).
    2. Record the exclusions (what is not part of scope).
    3. Fill out the scope statement.
    4. Record the scope statement in section 2.2 of Info-Tech’s Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Download Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Input

    Output

    • Your scope areas
    • Your scope statement

    Materials

    Participants

    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.
    • Scope statement template
    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    2.1.3 Scope statement

    Example

    Examples of scope statements showing the following: Product or service in scope, project deliverables and acceptance criteria, and project exclusions.

    Step 2.2

    Review project scope

    Activities

    2.2.1 Define metrics for your project

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    Outcomes of this step

    The project metrics

    Building leading indicators

    Lagging KPIs are relatively simple to identify, whereas leading KPIs can be more elusive.

    For example, take the lagging KPI “Customer Satisfaction.” How do you turn that into a leading KPI? One method is to look at sources of customer complaints. In a retail sales system, backordered items will negatively impact customer satisfaction. As a leading indicator, track the number of orders with backordered lines and the percentage of the total order that was backordered.

    Performance Metrics

    Use leading and lagging metrics, as well as benchmarks, to track the progress of your system.

    Leading KPIs: Input-oriented measures:

    • Number of active users in the system.
    • Time-to-completion for processes that previously experienced efficiency pain points.

    Lagging KPIs: Output-oriented measures:

    • Faster production times.
    • Increased customer satisfaction scores

    Benchmarks: A standard to measure performance against:

    • Number of days to ramp up new users.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Leading indicators make the news; lagging indicators report on the news. Focusing on leading indicators allows you to address challenges before they become large problems with only expensive solutions.

    2.2.1 Define metrics for your project

    1-2 hours

    1. Examine outputs from any feedback mechanisms you have (satisfaction surveys, emails, existing SLAs, burndown charts, resourcing costs, licensing costs per sprint, etc.).
    2. Look at historical trends and figures when available. However, be careful of frequent anomalies, as these may indicate a root cause that needs to be addressed.
    3. Explore the definition of specific metrics across different functional teams to ensure consistency of measurement and reporting.
    4. Record the Project Metrics in section 2.3 of Info-Tech’s Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Download Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Input

    Output

    • Outputs of any feedback mechanism
    • Historical trends
    • Your project tracking metrics

    Materials

    Participants

    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.
    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    2.2.1 Metrics

    In addition to delivery metrics and system performance metrics, equip the business with process-based metrics to continuously prove the value of the enterprise software. Review the examples below as a starting point.

    Table showing metrics and desciption. Metrics listed are: Percent of requirements complete, issues found, issues resolved, and percent of processess complete.

    Step 2.3

    Prepare for project risks

    Activities

    2.3.1 Build a risk event menu

    2.3.2 Determine contextual risks

    2.3.3 Determine process risks

    2.3.4 Determine business risks

    2.3.5 Determine change risks

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    Outcomes of this step

    Steps to create your product canvas and product vision statement

    All risks are not created equal

    Project Risk consists of: Contextual risk, process risk, change risk and business risk.

    For more information on Info-Tech’s Four-Pillar Risk Framework, please see Right-Size Your Project Risk Investment.

    Info-Tech’s Four-Pillar Risk Framework

    Unusual risks should be detected by finding out how each project is different from the norm. Use this framework to start this process by confronting the risks that are more easily anticipated.

    2.3.1 Build a risk event menu

    0.5-1 hour

    1. Build and maintain an active menu of potential risk events across the four risk categories.
    2. Record the risk event menu in section 2.4 of Info-Tech’s Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Download Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Input

    Output

    • Risk events
    • Your risk events menu

    Materials

    Participants

    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.
    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    2.3.1 Risk event menu

    Example

    Risk event menu example. A table with: Contextual Risk, process risk, business risk, change risk events with examples for each.

    2.3.2 Determine contextual risks

    0.5-1 hour

    1. Contextual risk factors are those that operate within the context of your department, organization, and/or community.
    2. Fill out contextual risks.
    3. Record the contextual risks in section 2.5 of Info-Tech’s Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Download

    Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Input

    Output

    • Your risk events menu
    • Your list of people involved in risk management
    • Your contextual risks

    Materials

    Participants

    • Project Risk Management Workbook
    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.
    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    2.3.2 Contextual risks

    Example

    two tables for Contextual risks. Table 1: Risk identification with event name, risk cause, impact and risk owner. Table 2: shows probability of risk, impact, rating, recommended action, and any mitigations.

    2.3.3 Determine process risks

    0.5-1 hour

    1. Process risks are those that involve project sponsorship, project management, business and functional requirements, work assignment, communication, and/or visibility.
    2. Fill out process risks.
    3. Record the process risks in section 2.6 of Info-Tech’s Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Download

    Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Input

    Output

    • Your risk events menu
    • Your list of people involved in risk management
    • Your process risks

    Materials

    Participants

    • Project Risk Management Workbook
    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.
    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    2.3.3 Process risks

    Example

    two tables for Process risks. Table 1: Risk identification with event name, risk cause, impact and risk owner. Table 2: shows probability of risk, impact, rating, recommended action, and any mitigations.

    2.3.4 Determine business risks

    0.5-1 hour

    1. Business risks are those that affect the bottom line of the organization. They usually have implications on revenue, costs, and/or image.
    2. Fill out business risks.
    3. Record the business risks in section 2.7 of Info-Tech’s Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Download

    Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Input

    Output

    • Your risk events menu
    • Your list of people involved in risk management
    • Your business risks

    Materials

    Participants

    • Project Risk Management Workbook
    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.
    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    2.3.4 Business risks

    Example

    two tables for Business risks. Table 1: Risk identification with event name, risk cause, impact and risk owner. Table 2: shows probability of risk, impact, rating, recommended action, and any mitigations.

    2.3.5 Determine change risks

    0.5-1 hour

    1. Change risks are those that result from imposing changes on the people and customers of the organization and their daily routines.
    2. Fill change risks.
    3. Record the change risks in section 2.7 of Info-Tech’s Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Download Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Input

    Output

    • Your risk events menu
    • Your list of people involved in risk management
    • Your business risks

    Materials

    Participants

    • Project Risk Management Workbook
    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.
    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    2.3.5 Change risks

    Example

    two tables for Change risks. Table 1: Risk identification with event name, risk cause, impact and risk owner. Table 2: shows probability of risk, impact, rating, recommended action, and any mitigations.

    Step 2.4

    Identify the project team

    Activities

    2.4.1 Establish team composition

    2.4.2 Identify the team

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    Outcomes of this step

    Steps to get your project team ready

    Understand the unique external resource considerations for the implementation

    Organizations rarely have sufficient internal staffing to resource an enterprise software implementation project entirely on their own. Consider the options for closing the gap in internal resource availability.

    The most common project resourcing structures for enterprise projects are:

    1. Management consultant
    2. Vendor consultant
    3. System integrator

    When contemplating a resourcing structure, consider:

    • Availability of in-house implementation competencies and resources.
    • Timeline and cost constraints.
    • Integration environment complexity.

    CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING

    Internal Vs. External Roles and Responsibilities

    Clearly delineate between internal and external team responsibilities and accountabilities and communicate this to your technology partner upfront.

    Internal Vs. External Accountabilities

    Accountability is different than responsibility. Your vendor or SI partner may be responsible for completing certain tasks, but be careful not to outsource accountability for the implementation – ultimately, the internal team will be accountable.

    Partner Implementation Methodologies

    Often vendors and/or SIs will have their own preferred implementation methodology. Consider the use of your partner’s implementation methodology; however, you know what will work for your organization.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Selecting a partner is not just about capabilities, it’s about compatibility! Ensure you select a partner that has a culture compatible with your own.

    2.4.1 Establish team composition

    0.5-1 hour

    1. Assess the skills necessary for an enterprise implementation.
    2. Select your internal implementation team.
    3. Identify the number of external consultants/support required for implementation.
    4. Document the roles and responsibilities, accountabilities, and other expectations as they relate to each step of the implementation.
    5. Record the team composition in section 2.9 of Info-Tech’s Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Download

    Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Input

    Output

    • List of project team skills
    • Your team composition
    • Your business risks

    Materials

    Participants

    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.
    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    2.4.1 Team composition

    Example

    Team composition: Role of each team member, and their skills.

    2.4.2 Identify the team

    0.5-1 hour

    1. Identify a candidate for each role and determine their responsibility in the project and their expected time commitment.
    2. The project will require a cross-functional team within IT and business units. Make sure the responsibilities are clearly communicated to the selected project sponsor.
    3. Create a RACI matrix for the project.
    4. Record the team list in section 2.10 of Info-Tech’s Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Download

    Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Input

    Output

    • Your team composition
    • Your team with responsibilities and commitment

    Materials

    Participants

    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.
    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    2.4.2 Team list

    Example

    Team list: Role of each team member, candidate, responsibilities, and their commitment in hours per week.

    RACI example

    RACI example. Responsibilities and team member roles that are tasked with each responsibility.

    Step 2.5

    Define your change management process

    Activities

    2.5.1 Define OCM structure and resources

    2.5.2 Define OCM team’s roles and responsibilities

    2.5.3 Define requirements for training

    2.5.4 Create a communications plan for stakeholder groups, and delivery teams

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    Outcomes of this step

    A structure and procedures for an effective organizational change management

    Define your change management process to improve quality and adoption

    Organizational change management is the practice through which the PMO can improve user adoption rates and maximize project benefits.

    Correlation of change management effectiveness with meeting results.

    “It’s one thing to provide a new technology tool to your end users.

    It’s quite another to get them to use the tool, and still different for them to use the new tool proficiently.

    When your end users fully use a new technology and make it part of their daily work habits, they have ‘adopted’ the new tool.”

    – “End-User Adoption and Change Management Process” (2022)

    Large projects require organizational change management

    Organizational change management (OCM) governs the introduction of new business processes and technologies to ensure stakeholder adoption. The purpose of OCM is to prepare the business to accept the change.

    OCM is a separate body of knowledge. However, as a practice, it is inseparable from project management.

    In IT, project planning tends to fixate on technology, and it underestimates the behavioral and cultural factors that inhibit user adoption. Whether change is project-specific or continuous, it’s more important to instill the desire to change than to apply specific tools and techniques.

    Accountability for instilling this desire should start with the project sponsor. The project manager should support this with effective stakeholder and communication management plans.

    16% of projects with poor change management met or exceeded objectives. 71% of projects with excellent change management finish on or ahead of schedule. 67% of organizations include project change management in their initiatives.

    For further discussion on organizational change, use Info-Tech’s blueprint, Master Organizational Change Management Practices

    Your application implementation will be best served by centralizing OCM

    A centralized approach to OCM is most effective, and the PMO is already a centralized project office and is already accountable for project outcomes.

    What’s more, in organizations where accountabilities for OCM are not explicitly defined, the PMO will likely already be assumed to be the default change leader by the wider organization.

    It makes sense for the PMO to accept this accountability – in the short term at least – and claim the benefits that will come from coordinating and consistently driving successful project outcomes.

    In the long term, OCM leadership will help the PMO become a strategic partner with the executive layer and the business side.

    Short-term gains made by the PMO can be used to spark dialogues with those who authorize project spending and have the implicit fiduciary obligation to drive project benefits.

    Ultimately, it’s their job to explicitly transfer that obligation along with the commensurate resourcing and authority for OCM activities.

    Organizational resistance to change is cited as the #1 challenge to project success that PMOs face. Companies with mature PMOs that effectively manage change meet expectations 90% of the time.

    For further discussion on organizational change, use Info-Tech’s blueprint, Master Organizational Change Management Practices

    2.5.1 Define OCM structure and resources

    0.5-1 hour

    1. Assess the roles and resources that might be needed to help support these OCM efforts.
    2. Record the OCM structure in section 2.11 of Info-Tech’s Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Download

    Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Input

    Output

    • Your project objectives
    • Your OCM structure and resources

    Materials

    Participants

    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.
    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    2.5.1 OCM structure and resources

    Example

    OCM structure example. Table showing OCM activity and resources available to support.

    2.5.2 Define OCM team’s roles and responsibilities

    0.5-1 hour

    1. Assess the tasks required for the team.
    2. Determine roles and responsibilities.
    3. Record the results in the RACI matrix in section 2.13 of Info-Tech’s Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Download

    Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Input

    Output

    • Your communications timeline
    • Your OCM structure and resources
    • Your OCM plan and RACI matrix

    Materials

    Participants

    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.
    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    OCM team’s roles and responsibilities

    Example

    Responsibilities for OCM team members.

    2.5.3 Define requirements for training

    0.5-1 hour

    1. Analyze HR requirements to ensure efficient use of HR and project stakeholder time.
    2. Outline appropriate HR and training activities.
    3. Define training content and make key logistical decisions concerning training delivery for staff and users.
    4. Record training requirements in section 2.14 of Info-Tech’s Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Download

    Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Input

    Output

    • Your OCM Plan and RACI matrix
    • Your HR training needs

    Materials

    Participants

    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.
    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    2.5.3 Training requirements

    Example

    Training requirements example: Project milestones, milestone time frame, hr/training activities, activity timing, and notes.

    Project communication plans must address creation, flow, deposition, and security of project information

    A good communication management plan is like the oil that keeps moving parts going. Ensuring smooth information flow is a fundamental aspect of project management.

    Project communication management is more than keeping track of stakeholder requirements. A communication management plan must address timely and appropriate creation, flow, and deposition of information about the project – as well as the security of the information.

    Create:

    • In addition to standardized status reporting elements discussed for level 1 projects, level 2 and 3 projects may require additional information to be disseminated among key stakeholders and the PMO.

    Flow:

    • The plan must address the methods of communication. Distributed project teams require more careful planning, as they pose additional communication challenges.

    Deposit:

    • As the volume of information continues to grow exponentially, retrieving information becomes a challenge. The plan for depositing project information must be consistent with your organization’s content management policies.

    Security:

    • Preventing unauthorized access and information leaks is important for projectsthat are intended to provide the organization with a competitive edge or for projects that deal with confidential data.
    45% of organizations had established mature communications and engagement processes.

    2.5.4 Create a communications timeline

    0.5-1 hour

    1. Base your change communications on your organization’s cultural appetite for change in general.
    2. Document communications plan requirements.
    3. Create a high-level communications timeline.
    4. Tailor a communications strategy for each stakeholder group.
    5. Record the communications timeline in section 2.12 of Info-Tech’s Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Download

    Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Input

    Output

    • Your OCM structure and resources
    • Your project objectives
    • Your project scope
    • Your stakeholders’ management plan
    • Your communications timeline

    Materials

    Participants

    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.
    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    Example of communications timeline

    Project sponsors are the most compelling storytellers to communicate the change

    Example of project communications timeline. Planning, requirements, design, development, QA, deployment, warranty, and benefits/closure.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Communication with stakeholders and sponsors is not a single event, but a continual process throughout the lifecycle of the project implementation – and beyond!

    Phase 3

    Document your plan

    3 phases, phase 3 is highlighted.

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    3.1 Develop a master project plan

    3.2. Define a follow-up plan

    3.3. Define the follow-up process

    3.4. Understand what’s next

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    Step 3.1

    Develop a master project plan

    Activities

    3.1.1 Define your implementation steps

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    Outcomes of this step

    Steps to create your resourcing and master plans

    Resources Vs. Demand

    Organizations rarely have sufficient internal staffing to resource an enterprise software implementation project entirely on their own. Consider the options for closing the gap in internal resource availability.

    Project demand: Data classification, cloud strategy, application rationalization, recovery planning etc. must be weighted against the organizations internal staffing resources.

    Competing priorities

    Example

    Table for competing priorities: List of projects, their timeline, priority notes, and their implications.

    3.1.1 Define your implementation steps

    0.5-1 hour

    1. Write each phase of the project on a separate sticky note and add it to the whiteboard. Determine what steps make up each phase. Write each step of the phase on a separate sticky note and add it to the whiteboard.
    2. Determine what tasks make up each step. Write each task of the step on a separate sticky note and add it to the whiteboard.
    3. Record the tasks in the Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook – Timeline tool. This tool has an example of a typical list of tasks, to help you start your master plan. Use the timeline for project planning and progress tracking.
    4. Record your project’s basic data and work schedule.

    Download

    Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Input

    Output

    • Project's work breakdown structure
    • Your project master plan

    Materials

    Participants

    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    Implementation plan – basic data

    Record your project name, project manager, and stakeholders from previous exercises.

    Example project information form: Project name, estimated start date, estimated end date, project manager, stakeholders, and time off of project.

    Implementation plan – work schedule

    Use this template to keep track of all project tasks, dates, owners, dependencies, etc.

    Use this template to keep track of all project tasks, dates, owners, dependencies, etc.

    “Actual Start Date” and “Actual Completion Date” columns must be updated to be reflected in the Gantt chart.

    This information will also be captured as the source for session 3.2.1 dashboards.

    Step 3.2

    Define a follow up plan

    Activities

    3.2.1 Create templates to enable follow-up throughout the project

    3.2.2 Decide on the tracking tools to help during your implementation

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    Outcomes of this step

    Steps to create the processes and define the tools to track progress

    Leveraging dashboards

    Build a dashboard that reflects the leading metrics you have identified. Call out requirements that represent key milestones in the implementation.

    For further information on monitoring the project, use Info-Tech’s blueprint, Governance and Management of Enterprise Software Implementation

    Build a dashboard that reflects the leading metrics you have identified. Call out requirements that represent key milestones in the implementation.

    3.2.1 Create templates to enable follow-up throughout the project

    0.5-1 hour

    1. Create status report, dashboards/charts, budget control, risk/issues/gaps templates, and change request forms.
    2. Build a dashboard that reflects the leading metrics you have identified.
    3. Call out requirements that represent key milestones in the implementation.

    Download

    Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Input

    Output

    • Your projects master plan
    • Your project follow-up kit

    Materials

    Participants

    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    Dashboards

    Based on the inputs in session 3.1.1 Define Your Implementation Steps, once the “Actual Start Date” and “Actual Completion Date” columns have been updated, this dashboard will present the project status and progress

    Based on the inputs in session 3.1.1 Define Your Implementation Steps, once the “Actual Start Date” and “Actual Completion Date” columns have been updated, this dashboard will present the project status and progress.

    This executive overview of the project's progress is meant to be used during the status meeting.

    Select the right tools

    Use SoftwareReviews to explore product features, vendor experience, and capability satisfaction.

    SoftwareReviews, Requirements Management, 2023

    SoftwareReviews, Project Management, 2023

    SoftwareReviews, Business Intelligence & Analytics, 2023

    3.2.2 Decide on the tracking tools to help during your implementation

    0.5-1 hour

    1. Based on the standards within your organization, select the appropriate project tracking tools to help you track the implementation project.
    2. If you do not have any tools or wish to change them, please see leverage Info-Tech’s SoftwareReviews to help you in making your decision.
    3. Consider tooling across a number of different categories:
      1. Requirements Management
      2. Project Management
      3. Reporting and Analytics
    4. Record the project tracking tools in section 3.3 of Info-Tech’s Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Download

    Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Input

    Output

    • Your project follow-up kit
    • Your project follow-up kit tools

    Materials

    Participants

    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    Example: project tools

    Table listing project tools by type, use, and products available.

    Step 3.3

    Define a follow-up process

    Activities

    3.3.1 Define project progress communication

    3.3.2 Create a change request process

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    Outcomes of this step

    Steps to create your follow-up process

    Project status updates should occur throughout the implementation

    Project status updates can be both formal and informal. Formal status updates provide a standardized means of disseminating information on project progress. It is the lifeblood of project management: Accurate and up-to-date status reporting enables your project manager to ensure that your project can continue to use the resources needed.

    Informal status updates are done over coffee with key stakeholders to address their concerns and discuss key outcomes they want to see. Informal status updates help to build a more personal relationship.

    Ask for feedback during the status update meetings. Use the meeting as an opportunity to align values, goals, and incentives.

    Codify the following considerations:

    • Minimum requirement for a formal status update:
      • Frequency of reporting, as required by the project portfolio
      • Parties to be consulted and informed
      • Recording, producing, and archiving meeting minutes, both formal and informal
    • Procedure for follow-up on feedback generated from status updates:
      • Filing change requests
      • Keeping the change requester/relevant stakeholders in the loop

    3.3.1 Define project progress communication

    0.5-1 hour

    1. Provide a standardized means of disseminating information on project progress.
    2. Create an accurate and up-to-date status report to help keep team engaged and leadership supporting the project.
    3. Record the project progress communication in section 3.5 of Info-Tech’s Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Download

    Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Input

    Output

    • Your project follow-up process
    • Your project progress communication

    Materials

    Participants

    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.
    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    Project progress communication

    Example

    Example table of project progress communication. Audience, purpose, delivery/format, communicator, delivery date, and status/notes.

    Manage project scope changes

    1. Change in project scope is unpredictable and almost inevitable regardless of project size. If changes are not properly managed, the project runs the risk of scope creep and loss of progress. Therefore, changes need to be monitored and controlled.
    2. Scope change can be initiated voluntarily by the project sponsor or other stakeholders, or it could be a mandatory reaction to changing project process.
    3. Scope change may also take place due to internal factors such as a stakeholder requiring more extensive insights or external factors such as changing market conditions.
    4. Scope changes have the potential to affect project outcomes either positively or negatively, depending on how the change is managed and implemented. The project manager should take care to maintain focus on the project’s ultimate objectives; consideration needs to be given as to what to do and what to give up.
    5. If changes arise, project managers should ensure that adequate resources and actions are provided so the project can be completed on time and on budget.
    • The project manager needs to use both hard and soft skills: analytical skills for evaluating and quantifying the impact of potential changes and communication skills for communicating and negotiating with stakeholders.
    • Build trust and credibility by taking an evidence-based approach when presenting changes. This gives you room to respectfully push back on certain changes.
    • Assess changes before crossing them off the list, but don’t be afraid to say no. Greater care must be taken when there is very limited budgetary freedom or when scope changes will interfere with the critical path.
    • All change requests must be received by the project manager first so they can make sure that IT project resources are not approached with multiple ad hoc change requests.

    Document your process to manage project change requests

    1 Initial assessment

    Using the scope statement as the reference point:

    • Why do we need the change?
    • Is the change necessary?
    • What is the business value that the change brings to the project?

    Recommend alternative solutions that are easier to implement while consulting the requester.

    2 Minor change

    If the change has been classified as minor, the project manager and the project team can tackle it directly, since it doesn’t affect project budget or schedule in a significant way. Ensure that the change is documented.

    3 conduct an in-depth assessment

    The project manager should bring major changes to the attention of the project sponsor and carry out a detailed assessment of the change and its impact.

    Additional time and resources are required to do the in-depth assessment because the impact on the project can be complex and affect requirements, resources, budget, and schedule.

    4 Obtain approval from the governing body

    Present the results to the governing body. Since a major change significantly affects the project baseline beyond the authorized contingency, it is the responsibility of the governing body to either approve the change with allocation of additional resources or reject the change and maintain course.

    Flow chart to document your process to manage project change requests.

    For further discussion on change requests, use Info-Tech’s blueprint, Begin Your Projects With the End in Mind

    3.3.2 Create a change request process

    0.5-1 hour

    1. Identify any existing processes that you have for addressing changes for projects.
    2. Discuss whether or not the current change request process will suit the project at hand.
    3. Define the agreed-to change request process that fits your organization’s culture.
    4. For a change request template, you can leverage, refer to section 3.6 of Info-Tech’s Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.
    5. Make any changes to the template as necessary.

    Download

    Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Input

    Output

    • Your project scope
    • Your change request

    Materials

    Participants

    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    3.3.2 Create a change request process (Continued)

    Example of a change request process form.

    Step 3.4

    Understand what's next

    Activities

    3.4.1 Run a “lessons learned” session for continuous improvement

    3.4.2 Prepare a closure document for sign-off

    3.4.3 Document optimization and future release opportunities

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    Outcomes of this step

    Lessons learned throughout the project-guiding

    Good project planning is key to smooth project closing

    Begin with the end in mind. Without a clear scope statement and criteria for acceptance, it’s anyone’s guess when or how a project will end.

    During the closing process, the project manager should use planning and execution documents, such as the project charter and the scope statement, to assess project completeness and obtain sign-off based on the acceptance criteria.

    Project completion criteria should be clearly defined. For example, the project is defined as finished when costs are in, vendor receipts are received, financials are reviewed and approved, etc.

    However, there are other steps to be taken after completing the project deliverables. These activities include:

    • Transferring project knowledge and operations to support
    • Completing user training
    • Obtaining business sign-off and acceptance
    • Releasing resources
    • Conducting post-mortem meeting
    • Archiving project assets

    The project manager needs to complete all project management processes, including:

    • Risk management (close out risk assessment and action plan)
    • Quality management (test the final deliverables against acceptance criteria)
    • Stakeholder management (decision log, close out issues, plan and assign owners for resolutions of open issues)
    • Project team management (performance evaluation for team members as well as the project manager)

    3.4.1 Define the process for lessons learned

    0.5-1 hour

    1. Determine the reporting frequency for lessons learned.
    2. Consider attributing lessons learned to project phases.
    3. Coordinate lessons learned check-ins with project milestones to review and reflect.
    4. At each reporting session, the project team should identify challenges and successes informally.
    5. The PM and the PMO should transform the reports from each team member into formalized lessons.
    6. Record lessons learned for each project in section 3.7 of Info-Tech’s Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Download

    Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Input

    Output

    • Your project's lessons learned

    Materials

    Participants

    • Project Lessons Learned Template
    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.
    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    Lessons learned

    Example

    Form: Project successes, notes, areas of imporvement, impact, solution.

    Watch for these potential problems with project closure

    Don’t leave the door open for stakeholder dissatisfaction. Properly close out your projects.

    Potential problems with project closure.

    For further information on project closure issues, use Info-Tech’s blueprint, Get Started With Project Management Excellence.

    3.4.2 Prepare a closure document for sign-off

    0.5-1 hour

    1. Create a realistic closure and transition process that gains sign-off from the sponsor.
    2. Prepare a project closure checklist.
    3. Transfer accountability to operations, release project resources, and avoid disrupting other projects that are trying to get started.
    4. Record the project closure document in section 3.8 of Info-Tech’s Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Download

    Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Input

    Output

    • Your project objectives
    • Your project scope
    • Your project's closure checklist

    Materials

    Participants

    • Project closure checklist Template
    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.
    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    Closure checklist

    Project closure checklist. project management checklist, deliverables, goals, benefits, outstanding action items and issues, handover of technical documents, knowledge transfer, sign-off.

    For further information on closure procedures, use Info-Tech’s blueprint, Begin Your Projects With the End in Mind.

    3.4.3 Document optimization and future release opportunities

    0.5-1 hour

    Consider the future opportunities for improvement post-release:

    1. Product and vendor satisfaction opportunities
    2. Capability and feature optimization opportunities
    3. Process optimization opportunities
    4. Integration optimization opportunities
    5. Data optimization opportunities
    6. Cost-saving opportunities
    7. Record optimization and future release opportunities in section 3.9 of Info-Tech’s Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Download

    Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.

    Input

    Output

    • Your project objectives
    • Your project scope
    • Your optimization opportunities list

    Materials

    Participants

    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Your Enterprise Application Implementation Playbook.
    • Project team
    • Operations
    • SMEs
    • Team lead and facilitators
    • IT leaders

    Optimization opportunities

    Example

    Optimization types and opportunities.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Build upon your foundations

    Build an ERP Strategy and Roadmap

    • A business-led, top-management-supported initiative partnered with IT has the greatest chance of success. This blueprint provides business and IT the methodology for getting the right level of detail for the business processes that the ERP supports thus avoiding getting lost in the details.

    Governance and Management of Enterprise Software Implementation

    • Implementing enterprise software is hard. You need a framework that will greatly improve your chance of success. Traditional Waterfall project implementations have a demonstrated a low success rate for on-time, on-budget delivery.

    Select and Implement a Human Resource Information System

    • Your organization is in the midst of a selection and implementation process for a human resource information system (HRIS), and there is a need to disambiguate the market and arrive at a shortlist of vendors.

    Select and Implement an ERP Solution

    • Selecting and implementing an ERP is one of the most expensive and time-consuming technology transformations an organization can undertake. ERP projects are notorious for time and budget overruns, with only a margin of the anticipated benefits being realized.

    Right-Size Your Project Risk Investment

    • Avoid the all-or-nothing mindset; even modest investments in risk will provide a return. Learn from and record current and historical risk events so lessons learned can easily be embedded into future projects. Assign someone to own the risk topic and make it their job to keep a relevant menu of risks.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Build upon your foundations

    Drive Business Value With a Right-Sized Project Gating Process

    • Many organizations have implemented gating as part of their project management process. So, what separates those who are successful from those who are not? For starters, successful gating requires that each gate is treated as an essential audit. That means there need to be clear roles and responsibilities in the framework.

    Master Organizational Change Management Practices

    • Organizational change management (OCM) is often an Achilles’ heel for IT departments and business units, putting projects and programs at risk – especially large, complex, transformational projects.

    Get Started With Project Management Excellence

    • Lack of proper scoping at the beginning of the project leads to constant rescoping, rescheduling, and budget overruns.

    ERP Requirements Picklist Tool

    • Use this tool to collect ERP requirements in alignment with the major functional areas of ERP. Review the existing set of ERP requirements as a starting point to compiling your organization's requirements.

    Begin Your Projects With the End in Mind

    • Stakeholders are dissatisfied with IT’s inability to meet or even provide consistent, accurate estimates. The business’ trust in IT erodes every time a project is late, lost, or unable to start.

    Get Started With IT Project Portfolio Management

    • Most companies are struggling to get their project work done. This is due in part to the fact that many prescribed remedies are confusing, disruptive, costly, or ineffective.

    Bibliography

    7 Shocking Project Management Statistics and Lessons We Should Learn.” TeamGantt, Jan. 2017.

    Akrong, Godwin Banafo, et al. "Overcoming the Challenges of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): A Systematic Review Approach." IJEIS vol.18, no.1 2022: pp.1-41.

    Andriole, S. “Why No One Can Manage Projects, Especially Technology Projects.” Forbes, 1 Dec. 2020.

    Andriole, Steve. “Why No One Can Manage Projects, Especially Technology Projects.” Forbes, 1 Dec. 2020.

    Beeson, K. “ERP Implementation Plan (ERP Implementation Process Guide).” ERP Focus, 8 Aug. 2022.

    Biel, Justin. “60 Critical ERP Statistics: 2022 Market Trends, Data and Analysis.” Oracle Netsuite, 12 July 2022.

    Bloch, Michael, et al. “Delivering Large-Scale IT Projects on Time, on Budget, and on Value.” McKinsey & Company, 2012.

    Buverud, Heidi. ERP System Implementation: How Top Managers' Involvement in a Change Project Matters. 2019. Norwegian School of Economics, Ph.D. thesis.

    Carlton, R. “Four ERP Implementation Case Studies You Can Learn From.” ERP Focus, 15 July 2015.

    Gopinath, S. Project Management in the Emerging World of Disruption. PMI India Research and Academic Conference 2019. Kozhikode Publishers.

    Grabis, J. “On-Premise or Cloud Enterprise Application Deployment: Fit-Gap Perspective.” Enterprise Information Systems. Edited by Filipe, J., Śmiałek, M., Brodsky, A., Hammoudi, S. ICEIS, 2019.

    Harrin, E. The Definitive Guide to Project Sponsors. RGPM, 13 Dec. 2022.

    Jacobs-Long, Ann. “EPMO’s Can Make A Difference In Your Organization.” 9 May 2012.

    Kotadia, C. “Challenges Involved in Adapting and Implementing an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems.” International Journal of Research and Review vol. 7 no. 12 December 2020: 538-548.

    Panorama Consulting Group. "2018 ERP Report." Panorama Consulting Group, 2018. Accessed 12 Oct. 2021.

    Panorama Consulting Group. "2021 ERP Report." Panorama Consulting Group, 2021. Accessed 12 Oct. 2021.

    PM Solutions. (2014). The State of the PMO 2014.

    PMI. Pulse of the Profession. 2017.

    Podeswa, H. “The Business Case for Agile Business Analysis.” Requirements Engineering Magazine, 21 Feb. 2017.

    Project Delivery Performance in Australia. AIPM and KPMG, 2020.

    Prosci. (2020). Prosci 2020 Benchmarking Data from 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019.

    Swartz, M. “End User Adoption and Change Management Process.” Swartz Consulting LLC, 11 July 2022.

    Trammell, H. “28 Important Project Management KPIs (& How To Track Them).” ClearPoint Strategy, 2022.

    “What are Business Requirements?" Requirements.com, 18 Oct. 2018.

    “What Is the Role of a Project Sponsor?” Six Sigma Daily, 18 May 2022.

    “When Will You Think Differently About Programme Delivery?” 4th Global Portfolio and Programme Management Survey. PricewaterhouseCoopers, Sept. 2014.

    2022 Tech Trends

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}94|cart{/j2store}
    • member rating overall impact (scale of 10): N/A
    • member rating average dollars saved: N/A
    • member rating average days saved: N/A
    • Parent Category Name: Innovation
    • Parent Category Link: /innovation
    • The post-pandemic workplace continues to shift and requires collaboration between remote workers and office workers.
    • Digital transformation has accelerated across every organization and CIOs must maneuver to keep pace.
    • Customer expectations have shifted, and spending habits are moving away from in-person activities to online.
    • IT must improve its maturity in key capabilities to maintain relevance in the organization.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Improve the capabilities that matter. Focus on IT capabilities that are most relevant to competing in the digital economy and will enable the CEO's mission for growth.
    • Assess how external environment presents opportunities or threats to your organization using a scenarios approach, then chart a plan.

    Impact and Result

    • Use the data and analysis from Info-Tech's 2022 Tech Trends report to inform your digital strategic plan.
    • Discover the five trends shaping IT's path in 2022 and explore use cases for emerging technologies.
    • Hear directly from leading subject matter experts on each trend with featured episodes from our Tech Insights podcast.

    2022 Tech Trends Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. 2022 Tech Trends Report – A deck that discusses five use cases that can improve on your organization’s ability to compete in the digital economy.

    The post-pandemic pace of change continues to accelerate as the economic rapidly becomes more digital. To keep pace with shifting consumer expectations, CIOs must help the CEO compete in the digital economy by focusing on five key capabilities: innovation, human resources management, data architecture, security strategy, and business process controls and internal audit. Raising maturity in these capabilities will help CIOs deliver on opportunities to streamline back-office processes and develop new lines of revenue.

    • 2022 Tech Trends Report

    Infographic

    Further reading

    2022 Tech Trends

    Enabling the digital economy

    Supporting the CEO for growth

    The post-pandemic pace of change

    The disruptions to the way we work caused by the pandemic haven’t bounced back to normal.

    As part of its research process for the 2022 Tech Trends Report, Info-Tech Research Group conducted an open online survey among its membership and wider community of professionals. The survey was fielded from August 2021 through to September 2021, collecting 475 responses. We asked some of the same questions as last year’s survey so we can compare results as well as new questions to explore new trends.

    How much do you expect your organization to change permanently compared to how it was operating before the pandemic?

    • 7% – No change. We'll keep doing business as we always have.
    • 33% – A bit of change. Some ways of working will shift long term
    • 47% – A lot of change. The way we work will be differ in many ways long term. But our business remains...
    • 13% – Transformative change. Our fundamental business will be different and we'll be working in new ways.

    This year, about half of IT professionals expect a lot of change to the way we work and 13% expect a transformative change with a fundamental shift in their business. Last year, the same percentage expected a lot of change and only 10% expected transformative change.

    30% more professionals expect transformative permanent change compared to one year ago.

    47% of professionals expect a lot of permanent change; this remains the same as last year. (Info-Tech Tech Trends 2022 Survey)

    The pandemic accelerated the speed of digital transformation

    With the massive disruption preventing people from gathering, businesses shifted to digital interactions with customers.

    A visualization of the growth of 'Global average share of customer interactions that are digital' from December 2019 to July 2020. In that time it went from 36% to 58% with an 'Acceleration of 3 years'.

    Companies also accelerated the pace of creating digital or digitally enhanced products and services.

    A visualization of the growth of 'Global average share of partially or fully digitized products and/or services' from December 2019 to July 2020. In that time it went from 35% to 55% with an 'Acceleration of 7 years'. (McKinsey, 2020)

    “The Digital Economy incorporates all economic activity reliant on or significantly enhanced by the use of digital inputs, including digital technologies, digital infrastructure, digital services and data.” (OECD Definition)

    IT must enable participation in the digital economy

    Consumer spending is tilting more digital.

    Consumers have cut back spending on sectors where purchases are mostly made offline. That spending has shifted to digital services and online purchases. New habits formed during the pandemic are likely to stick for many consumers, with a continued shift to online consumption for many sectors.

    Purchases on online platforms are projected to rise from 10% today to 33% by 2030.

    Estimated online share of consumption
    Recreation & culture 30%
    Restaurants & hotels 50%
    Transport 10%
    Communications 90%
    Education 50%
    Health 20%
    Housing & utilities 50%
    (HSBC, 2020)

    Changing customer expectations pose a risk.

    IT practitioners agree that customer expectations are changing. They expect this to be more likely to disrupt their business in the next 12 months than new competition, cybersecurity incidents, or government-enacted policy changes.

    Factors likely to disrupt business in next 12 months
    Government-enacted policy changes 22%
    Cybersecurity incidents 56%
    Regulatory changes 45%
    Established competitor wins 26%
    New player enters the market 23%
    Changing customer expectations 68%
    (Info-Tech Tech Trends 2022 Survey)

    This poses a challenge to IT departments below the “expand” level of maturity

    CIOs must climb the maturity ladder to help CEOs drive growth.

    Most IT departments rated their maturity in the “optimize” or “support” level on Info-Tech’s maturity ladder.

    CIOs at the “optimize” level can play a role in digital transformation by improving back-office processes but should aim for a higher mandate.

    CIOs achieving at the “expand” level can help directly improve revenues by improving customer-facing products and services, and those at the “transform” level can help fundamentally change the business to create revenue in new ways. CIOs can climb the maturity ladder by enabling new digital capabilities.

    Maturity is heading in the wrong direction.

    Only half of IT practitioners described their department’s maturity as “transform” compared to last year’s survey, and more than twice the number rated themselves as “struggle.”

    A colorful visualization of the IT 'Maturity Ladder' detailing levels of IT function within an organization. Percentages represent answers from IT practitioners to an Info-Tech survey about the maturity level of their company. Starting from the bottom: 13% answered 'Struggle', compared to 6% in 2020; 35% answered 'Support'; 37% answered 'Optimize'; 12% answered 'Expand'; and only 3% answered 'Transform', compared to 6% in 2020.

    48% rate their IT departments as low maturity.

    Improve maturity by focusing on key capabilities to compete in the digital economy

    Capabilities to unlock digital

    Innovation: Identify innovation opportunities and plan how to use technology innovation to create a competitive advantage or achieve improved operational effectiveness and efficiency.

    Human Resources Management: Provide a structured approach to ensure optimal planning, evaluation, and development of human resources.

    Data Architecture: Manage the business’ data stores, including technology, governance, and people that manage them. Establish guidelines for the effective use of data.

    Security Strategy: Define, operate, and monitor a system for information security management. Keep the impact and occurrence of information security incidents within risk appetite levels.

    Business Process Controls and Internal Audit: Manage business process controls such as self-assessments and independent assurance reviews to ensure information related to and used by business processes meets security and integrity requirements. (ISACA, 2020)

    A periodic table-esque arrangement of Info-Tech tools and templates titled 'IT Management and Governance Framework', subtitled 'A comprehensive and connected set of research to help you optimize and improve your core IT processes', and anchored by logos for Info-Tech and COBIT. Color-coded sections with highlighted tools or templates are: 'Strategy and Governance' with 'APO04 Innovation' highlighted; 'People and Resources' with 'APO07 Human Resources Management' highlighted; 'Security and Risk' with 'APO13 Security Strategy' and 'DSS06 MEA02 Business Process Controls and Internal Audit' highlighted; 'Data and BI' with 'ITRG07 Data Architecture' highlighted. Other sections are 'Financial Management', 'Service planning and architecture', 'Infrastructure and operations', 'Apps', and 'PPM and projects'.

    5 Tech Trends for 2022

    In this report, we explore five use cases for emerging technology that can improve on capabilities needed to compete in the digital economy. Use cases combine emerging technologies with new processes and strategic planning.

    DIGITAL ECONOMY

    TREND 01 | Human Resources Management

    HYBRID COLLABORATION
    Provide a digital employee experience that is flexible, contextual, and free from the friction of hybrid operating models.

    TREND 02 | Security Strategy

    BATTLE AGAINST RANSOMWARE
    Prevent ransomware infections and create a response plan for a worst-case scenario. Collaborate with relevant external partners to access resources and mitigate risks.

    TREND 03 | Business Process Controls and Internal Audit

    CARBON METRICS IN ENERGY 4.0
    Use internet of things (IoT) and auditable tracking to provide insight into business process implications for greenhouse gas emissions.

    TREND 04 | Data Architecture

    INTANGIBLE VALUE CREATION
    Provide governance around digital marketplace and manage implications of digital currency. Use blockchain technology to turn unique intellectual property into saleable digital products

    TREND 05 | Innovation

    AUTOMATION AS A SERVICE
    Automate business processes and access new sophisticated technology services through platform integration.

    Hybrid Collaboration

    TREND 01 | HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

    Provide a digital employee experience that is flexible, contextual, and free from the friction of hybrid operating models.

    Emerging technologies:
    Intelligent conference rooms; intelligent workflows, platforms

    Introduction

    Hybrid work models enable productive, diverse, and inclusive talent ecosystems necessary for the digital economy.

    Hybrid work models have become the default post-pandemic work approach as most knowledge workers prefer the flexibility to choose whether to work remotely or come into the office. CIOs have an opportunity lead hybrid work by facilitating collaboration between employees mixed between meeting at the office and virtually.

    IT departments rose to the challenge to quickly facilitate an all-remote work scenario for their organizations at the outset of the pandemic. Now they must adapt again to facilitate the hybrid work model, which brings new friction to collaboration but also new opportunities to hire a talented, engaged, and diverse workforce.

    79% of organizations will have a mix of workers in the office and at home. (Info-Tech Tech Trends 2022 Survey)

    35% view role type as a determining factor in the feasibility of the hybrid work model.

    Return-to-the-office tensions

    Only 18% of employees want to return to the office full-time.

    But 70% of employers want people back in the office. (CNBC, April 2021)

    Signals

    IT delivers the systems needed to make the hybrid operating model a success.

    IT has an opportunity to lead by defining the hybrid operating model through technology that enables collaboration. To foster collaboration, companies plan to invest in the same sort of tools that helped them cope during the pandemic.

    As 79% of organizations envision a hybrid model going forward, investments into hybrid work tech stacks – including web conferencing tools, document collaboration tools, and team workspaces – are expected to continue into 2022.

    Plans for future investment in collaboration technologies

    Web Conferencing 41%
    Document Collaboration and Co-Authoring 39%
    Team Workspaces 38%
    Instant Messaging 37%
    Project and Task Management Tools 36%
    Office Meeting Room Solutions 35%
    Virtual Whiteboarding 30%
    Intranet Sites 21%
    Enterprise Social Networking 19%
    (Info-Tech Tech Trends 2022 Survey)

    Drivers

    COVID-19

    Vaccination rates around the world are rising and allowing more offices to welcome back workers because the risk of COVID-19 transmission is reduced and jurisdictions are lifting restrictions limiting gatherings.

    Worker satisfaction

    Most workers don't want to go to the office full-time. In a Bloomberg poll (2021), almost half of millennial and Gen Z workers say they would quit their job if not given an option to work remotely.

    IT spending

    Companies are investing more into IT budgets to find ways to support a mix of remote work and in-office resources to cope with work disruption. This extra spending is offset in some cases by companies saving money from having employees work from home some portion of the time. (CIO Dive, 2021)

    Risks and Benefits

    Benefits

    Flexibility Employees able to choose between working from home and working in the office have more control over their work/life balance.
    Intelligence Platforms that track contextual work relationships can accelerate workflows through smart recommendations that connect people at the right time, in the right place.
    Talent Flexible work arrangements provide businesses with access to the best talent available around the world and employees with more career options as they work from a home office (The Official Microsoft Blog, 2021).

    Risks

    Uncertainty The pandemic lacks a clear finish line and local health regulations can still waver between strict control of movement and open movement. There are no clear assurances of what to expect for how we'll work in the near future.
    FOMO With some employees going back to the office while others remain at home, employee bases could be fractured along the lines of those seeing each other in person every day and those still connecting by videoconference.
    Complexity Workers may not know in advance whether they're meeting certain people in person or online, or a mix of the two. They'll have to use technology on the fly to try and collaborate across a mixed group of people in the office and people working remotely (McKinsey Quarterly, 2021).

    “We have to be careful what we automate. Do we want to automate waste? If a company is accustomed to having a ton of meetings and their mode in the new world is to move that online, what are you going to do? You're going to end up with a lot of fatigue and disenchantment…. You have to rethink your methods before you think about the automation part of it." (Vijay Sundaram, Chief Strategy Officer, Zoho)

    Photo of Vijay Sundaram, Chief strategy officer, Zoho.

    Listen to the Tech Insights podcast: Unique approach to hybrid collaboration

    Case Study: Zoho

    Situation

    Zoho Corp. is a cloud software firm based in Chennai, India. It develops a wide range of cloud software, including enterprise collaboration software and productivity tools. Over the past decade, Zoho has used flexible work models to grant remote work options to some employees.

    When the coronavirus pandemic hit, not only did the office have to shut down but also many employees had to relocate back with families in rural areas. The human costs of the pandemic experienced by staff required Zoho to respond by offering counseling services and material support to employees.

    Complication

    Zoho prides itself as an employee-centric company and views its culture as a community that's purpose goes beyond work. That sense of community was lost because of the disruption caused by the pandemic. Employees lost their social context and their work role models. Zoho had to find a way to recreate that without the central hub of the office or find a way to work with the limitations of it not being possible.

    Resolution

    To support employees in rural settings, Zoho sent out phones to provide redundant bandwidth. As lockdowns in India end, Zoho is taking a flexible approach and giving employees the option to come to the office. It's seeing more people come back each week, drawn by the strong community.

    Zoho supports the hybrid mix of workers by balancing synchronous and asynchronous collaboration. It holds meetings when absolutely necessary through tools like Zoho Meet but tries to keep more work context to asynchronous collaboration that allows people to complete tasks quickly and move on. Its applications are connected to a common platform that is designed to facilitate workflows between employees with context and intelligence. (Interview with Vijay Sundaram, Chief Strategy Officer, Zoho)

    “We tend to think of it on a continuum of synchronous to asynchronous work collaboration. It’s become the paramount norm for so many different reasons…the point is people are going to work at different times in different locations. So how do we enable experiences where everyone can participate?" (Jason Brommet, Head of Modern Work and Security Business Group at Microsoft)

    Photo of Jason Brommet, Head of Modern Work and Security Business Group at Microsoft.

    Listen to the Tech Insights podcast: Microsoft on the ‘paradox of hybrid work’

    Case Study: Microsoft

    Situation

    Before the pandemic, only 18% of Microsoft employees were working remotely. As of April 1, 2020, they were joined by the other 82% of non-essential workers at the company in working remotely.

    As with its own customers, Microsoft used its own software to enable this new work experience, including Microsoft Teams for web conferencing and instant messaging and Office 365 for document collaboration. Employees proved just as productive getting their work done from home as they were working in the office.

    Complication

    At Microsoft, the effects of firm-wide remote work changed the collaboration patterns of the company. Even though a portion of the company was working remotely before the pandemic, the effects of everyone working remotely were different. Employees collaborated in a more static and siloed way, focusing on scheduled meetings with existing relationships. Fewer connections were made with more disparate parts of the organization. There was also a decrease in synchronous communication and an increase in asynchronous communication.

    Resolution

    Microsoft is creating new tools to break down the silos in organizations that are grappling with hybrid work challenges. For example, Viva Insights is designed to inform workers about their collaboration habits with analytics. Microsoft wants to provide workers with insights on their collaborative networks and whether they are creating new connections or deepening existing connections. (Interview with Jason Brommet, Head of Modern Work and Security Business Group, Microsoft; Nature Human Behaviour, 2021)

    What's Next?

    Distributed collaboration space:

    International Workplace Group says that more companies are taking advantage of its full network deals on coworking spaces. Companies such as Standard Charter are looking to provide their workers with a happy compromise between working from home and making the commute all the way to the central office. The hub-and-spoke model gives employees the opportunity to work near home and looks to be part of the hybrid operating model mix for many companies. (Interview with Wayne Berger, CEO of IWG Canada & Latin America)

    Optimized hybrid meetings:

    Facilitating hybrid meetings between employees grouped in the office and remote workers will be a major pain point. New hybrid meeting solutions will provide cameras embedded with intelligence to put boardroom participants into independent video streams. They will also focus on making connecting to the same meeting from various locations as convenient as possible and capture clear and crisp audio from each speaker.

    Uncertainties

    Mix between office and remote work:

    It's clear we're not going to work the way we used to previously with central work hubs, but full-on remote work isn't the right path forward either. A new hybrid work model is emerging, and organizations are experimenting to find the right approach.

    Attrition:

    Between April and September 2021, 15 million US workers quit their jobs, setting a record pace. Employees seek a renewed sense of purpose in their work, and many won’t accept mandates to go back to the office. (McKinsey, 2021)

    Equal footing in meetings:

    What are the new best practices for conducting an effective meeting between employees in the office and those who are remote? Some companies ask each employee to connect via a laptop. Others are using conference rooms with tech to group in-office workers together and connect them with remote workers.

    Hybrid Collaboration Scenarios

    Organizations can plan their response to the hybrid work context by plotting their circumstances across two continuums: synchronous to asynchronous collaboration approach and remote work to central hub work model.

    A map of hybrid collaboration scenarios with two axes representing 'Work Context, From all remote work to gathering in a central hub' and 'Collaboration Style, From collaborating at the same time to collaborating at different times'. The axes split the map into quarters. 'Work Context' ranges from 'Remote Work' on the left to 'Central Hub' on the right. 'Collaboration Style' ranges from 'Synchronous' on top to 'Asynchronous' on bottom. The top left quarter, synchronous remote work, reads 'Virtual collective collaboration via videoconference and collaboration software, with some workers meeting in coworking spaces.' The top right quarter, synchronous central hub, reads 'In-person collective collaboration in the office.' The bottom left quarter, asynchronous remote work, reads 'Virtual group collaboration via project tracking tools and shared documents.' The bottom right quarter, asynchronous central hub, reads 'In-person group collaboration in coworking spaces and the main office.'

    Recommendations

    Rethink technology solutions. Don't expect your pre-pandemic videoconference rooms to suffice. And consider how to optimize your facilities and infrastructure for hot-desking scenarios.

    Optimize remote work. Shift from the collaboration approach you put together just to get by to the program you'll use to maximize flexibility.

    Enable effective collaboration. Enable knowledge sharing no matter where and when your employees work and choose the best collaboration software solutions for your scenario.

    Run better meetings. Successful hybrid workplace plans must include planning around hybrid meetings. Seamless hybrid meetings are the result of thoughtful planning and documented best practices.

    89% of organizations invested in web conferencing technology to facilitate better collaboration, but only 43% invested in office meeting room solutions. (Info-Tech Tech Trends 2022 Survey)

    Info-Tech Resources

    Battle Against Ransomware

    TREND 02 | SECURITY STRATEGY

    Prevent ransomware infections and create a response plan for a worst-case scenario. Collaborate with relevant external partners to access resources and mitigate risks.

    Emerging technologies:
    Open source intelligence; AI-powered threat detection

    “It has been a national crisis for some time…. For every [breach] that hits the news there are hundreds that never make it.” (Steve Orrin, Federal Chief Technology Officer, Intel)

    Photo of Steve Orrin, Federal Chief Technology Officer, Intel.

    Listen to the Tech Insights podcast: Ransomware crisis and AI in military

    Introduction

    Between 2019 and 2020, ransomware attacks rose by 62% worldwide and by 158% in North America. (PBS NewsHour, 2021)

    Security strategies are crucial for companies to control access to their digital assets and confidential data, providing it only to the right people at the right time. Now security strategies must adapt to a new caliber of threat in ransomware to avoid operational disruption and reputational damage.

    In 2021, ransomware attacks exploiting flaws in widely used software from vendors Kaseya, SolarWinds, and Microsoft affected many companies and saw record-breaking ransomware payments made to state-sponsored cybercriminal groups.

    After a ransomware attack caused Colonial Pipeline to shut down its pipeline operations across the US, the ransomware issue became a topic of federal attention with executives brought before Senate committees. A presidential task force to combat ransomware was formed.

    62% of IT professionals say they are more concerned about being a victim of ransomware than they were one year ago. (Info-Tech Tech Trends 2022 Survey)

    $70 million demanded by REvil gang in ransom to unlock firms affected by the Kaseya breach. (TechRadar, 2021)

    Signals

    Organizations are taking a multi-faceted approach to preparing for the event of a ransomware breach.

    The most popular methods to prepare for ransomware are to buy an insurance policy or create offline backups and redundant systems. Few are making an effort to be aware of free decryption tools, and only 2% admit to budgeting to pay ransoms.

    44% of IT professionals say they spent time and money specifically to prevent ransomware over the past year. (Info-Tech Tech Trends 2022 Survey)

    Approaches to prepare for ransomware

    Kept aware of free decryption tools available 9%
    Set aside budget to pay ransoms 2%
    Designed network to contain ransomware 24%
    Implemented technology to eradicate ransomware 36%
    Created a specific incident response plan for ransomware 26%
    Created offline backups and redundant systems 41%
    Purchased insurance covering cyberattacks 47%

    (Info-Tech Tech Trends 2022 Survey)

    Drivers

    National security concerns

    Attacks on US infrastructure and government agencies have prompted the White House to treat ransomware as a matter of national security. The government stance is that Russia supports the attacks. The US is establishing new mechanisms to address the threat. Plans include new funding to support ransomware response, a mandate for organizations to report incidents, and requirements for organizations to consider the alternatives before paying a ransom. (Institute for Security and Technology, 2021)

    Advice from cybersecurity insurance providers

    Increases in ransom payouts have caused cybersecurity insurance providers to raise premiums and put in place more security requirements for policyholders to try and prevent ransomware infection. However, when clients are hit with ransomware, insurance providers advise to pay the ransom as it's usually the cheapest option. (ProPublica, 2019)

    Reputational damage

    Ransomware attacks also often include a data breach event with hackers exfiltrating the data before encrypting it. Admitting a breach to customers can seriously damage an organization's reputation as trustworthy. Organizations may also be obligated to pay for credit protection of their customers. (Interview with Frank Trovato, Research Director – Infrastructure, Info-Tech Research Group)

    Risks and Benefits

    Benefits

    Privacy Protecting personal data from theft improves people’s confidence that their privacy is being respected and they are not at risk of identity theft.
    Productivity Ransomware can lock out employees from critical work systems and stop them from being able to complete their tasks.
    Access Ransomware has prevented public access to transportation, healthcare, and any number of consumer services for days at a time. Ransomware prevention ensures public service continuity.

    Risks

    Expenses Investing in cybersecurity measures to protect against attacks is becoming more expensive, and recently cybersecurity insurance premiums have gone up in response to expensive ransoms.
    Friction More security requirements could create friction between IT priorities and business priorities in trying to get work done.
    Stability If ransomware attacks become worse or cybercriminals retaliate for not receiving payments, people could find their interactions with government services and commercial services are disrupted.

    Case Study: Victim to ransomware

    Situation

    In February 2020, a large organization found a ransomware note on an admin’s workstation. They had downloaded a local copy of the organization’s identity management database for testing and left a port open on their workstation. Hackers exfiltrated it and encrypted the data on the workstation. They demanded a ransom payment to decrypt the data.

    Complication

    Because private information of employees and customers was breached, the organization decided to voluntarily inform the state-level regulator. With 250,000 accounts affected, plans were made to require password changes en masse. A public announcement was made two days after the breach to ensure that everyone affected could be reached.

    The organization decided not to pay the ransom because it didn’t need the data back, since it had a copy on an unaffected server.

    Resolution

    After a one-day news cycle for the breach, the story about the ransom was over. The organization also received praise for handling the situation well and quickly informing stakeholders.

    The breach motivated the organization to put more protections in place. It implemented a deny-by-default network and turned off remote desktop protocol and secure shell. It mandated multi-factor authentication and put in a new endpoint-detection and response system. (Interview with CIO of large enterprise)

    What's Next

    AI for cybersecurity:

    New endpoint protections using AI are being deployed to help defend against ransomware and other cybersecurity intrusions. The solutions focus on the prevention and detection of ransomware by learning about the expected behavior of an environment and then detecting anomalies that could be attack attempts. This type of approach can be applied to everything from reading the contents of an email to helping employees detect phishing attempts to lightweight endpoint protection deployed to an Internet of Things device to detect an unusual connection attempt.

    Unfortunately, AI is a tool available to both the cybersecurity industry and hackers. Examples of hackers tampering with cybersecurity AI to bypass it have already surfaced. (Forbes, 23 Sept. 2021)

    Uncertainties

    Government response:

    In the US, the Ransomware Task Force has made recommendations to the government but it's not clear whether all of them will be followed. Other countries such as Russia are reported to be at least tolerating ransomware operations if not supporting them directly with resources.

    Supply chain security:

    Sophisticated attacks using zero-day exploits in widely used software show that organizations simply can't account for every potential vulnerability.

    Arms escalation:

    The ransomware-as-a-service industry is doing good business and finding new ways to evade detection by cybersecurity vendors. New detection techniques involving AI are being introduced by vendors, but will it just be another step in the back-and-forth game of one-upmanship? (Interview with Frank Trovato)

    Battle Against Ransomware Scenarios

    Determine your organization’s threat profile for ransomware by plotting two variables: the investment made in cybersecurity and the sophistication level of attacks that you should be prepared to guard against.

    A map of Battle Against Ransomware scenarios with two axes representing 'Attack Sophistication, From off-the-shelf, ransomware-as-a-service kits to state-sponsored supply chain attacks' and 'Investment in Cybersecurity, From low, minimal investment to high investment for a multi-layer approach.'. The axes split the map into quarters. 'Attack Sophistication' ranges from 'Ransomware as a Service' on the left to 'State-Sponsored' on the right. 'Investment in Cybersecurity' ranges from 'High' on top to 'Low' on bottom. The top left quarter, highly invested ransomware as a service, reads 'Organization is protected from most ransomware attacks and isn’t directly targeted by state-sponsored attacks.' The top right quarter, highly invested state-sponsored, reads 'Organization is protected against most ransomware attacks but could be targeted by state-sponsored attacks if considered a high-value target.' The bottom left quarter, low investment ransomware as a service, reads 'Organization is exposed to most ransomware attacks and is vulnerable to hackers looking to make a quick buck by casting a wide net.' The bottom right quarter, low investment state-sponsored, reads 'Organization is exposed to most ransomware attacks and risks being swept up in a supply chain attack by being targeted or as collateral damage.'

    Recommendations

    Create a ransomware incident response plan. Assess your current security practices and identify gaps. Quantify your ransomware risk to prioritize investments and run tabletop planning exercises for ransomware attacks.

    Reduce your exposure to ransomware. Focus on securing the frontlines by improving phishing awareness among staff and deploying AI tools to help flag attacks. Use multi-factor authentication. Take a zero-trust approach and review your use of RDP, SSH, and VPN.

    Require security in contracts. Security must be built into vendor contracts. Government contracts are now doing this, elevating security to the same level as functionality and support features. This puts money incentives behind improving security. (Interview with Intel Federal CTO Steve Orrin)

    42% of IT practitioners feel employees must do much more to help defend against ransomware. (Info-Tech Tech Trends 2022 Survey)

    Info-Tech Resources

    Carbon Metrics in Energy 4.0

    TREND 03 | BUSINESS PROCESS CONTROLS AND INTERNAL AUDIT

    Use Internet of Things (IoT) and auditable tracking to provide insight into business process implications for greenhouse gas emissions.

    Emerging technologies:
    IoT

    Introduction

    Making progress towards a carbon-neutral future.

    A landmark report published in 2021 by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change underlines that human actions can still determine the future course of climate change. The report calls on governments, individuals, and organizations to stop putting new greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere no later than 2050, and to be at the halfway point to achieving that by 2030.

    With calls to action becoming more urgent, organizations are making plans to reduce the use of fossil fuels, move to renewable energy sources, and reduce consumption that causes more emissions downstream. As both voluntary and mandatory regulatory requirements task organizations with reducing emissions, they will first be challenged to accurately measure the size of their footprint.

    CIOs in organizations are well positioned to make conscious decisions to both influence how technology choices impact carbon emissions and implement effective tracking of emissions across the entire enterprise.

    Canada’s CIO strategy council is calling on organizations to sign a “sustainable IT pledge” to cut emissions from IT operations and supply chain and to measure and disclose emissions annually. (CIO Strategy Council, Sustainable IT Pledge)

    SCOPE 3 – Indirect Consumption

    • Goods and services
    • Fuel, travel, distribution
    • Waste, investments, leased assets, employee activity

    SCOPE 2 – Indirect Energy

    • Electricity
    • Heat and cooling

    SCOPE 1 – Direct

    • Facilities
    • Vehicles

    Signals

    Emissions tracking requires a larger scope.

    About two-thirds of organizations have a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. When asked about what tactics they use to reduce emissions, the most popular options affect either scope 1 emissions (retiring older IT equipment) or scope 2 emissions (using renewable energy sources). Fewer are using tactics that would measure scope 3 emissions such as using IoT to track or using software or AI.

    68% of organizations say they have a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (Info-Tech Tech Trends 2022 Survey)

    Approaches to reducing carbon emissions

    Using "smart technologies" or IoT to help cut emissions 12%
    Creating incentive programs for staff to reduce emissions 10%
    Using software or AI to manage energy use 8%
    Using external DC or cloud on renewable energy 16%
    Committing to external emissions standards 15%
    Retiring/updating older IT equipment 33%
    Using renewable energy sources 41%

    (Info-Tech Tech Trends 2022 Survey)

    Drivers

    Investor pressure

    The world’s largest asset manager, at $7 trillion in investments, says it will move away from investing in firms that are not aligned to the Paris Agreement. (The New York Times, 2020)

    Compliance tipping point

    International charity CDP has been collecting environmental disclosure from organizations since 2002. In 2020, more than 9,600 of the world’s largest companies – representing over 50% of global market value – took part. (CDP, 2021)

    International law

    In 2021, six countries have net-zero emissions policies in law, six have proposed legislations, and 20 have policy documents. (Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit, 2021)

    Employee satisfaction

    In 2019, thousands of workers walked out of offices of Amazon, Google, Twitter, and Microsoft to demand their employers do more to reduce carbon emissions. (NBC News, 2021)

    High influence factors for carbon reduction

    • 25% – New government laws or policies
    • 9% – External social pressures
    • 9% – Pressure from investors
    • 8% – International climate compliance efforts
    • 7% – Employee satisfaction

    (Info-Tech Tech Trends 2022 Survey)

    Risks and Benefits

    Benefits

    Trust Tracking carbon emissions creates transparency into an organization’s operations and demonstrates accountability to its carbon emissions reduction goals.
    Innovation As organizations become more proficient with carbon measurement and modeling, insights can be leveraged as a decision-making tool.
    Resilience Reducing energy usage shrinks your carbon footprint, increases operational efficiency, and decreases energy costs.

    Risks

    Regulatory Divergence Standardization of compliance enforcement around carbon emissions is a work in progress. Several different voluntary frameworks exist, and different governments are taking different approaches including taxation and cap-and-trade markets.
    Perceptions Company communications that speak to emissions reduction targets without providing proof can be accused of “greenwashing” or falsely trying to improve public perception.
    Financial Pain Institutional investments are requiring clear commitments and plans to reduce greenhouse gases. Some jurisdictions are now taxing carbon emissions.

    “When you can take technology and embed that into management change decisions that impact the environment, you can essentially guarantee that [greenhouse gas] offset. Companies that are looking to reduce their emissions can buy those offsets and it creates value for everybody.” (Wade Barnes, CEO and founder of Farmers Edge)

    Photo of Wade Barnes, CEO and founder of Farmers Edge.

    Listen to the Tech Insights podcast: The future of farming is digital

    Case Study

    Situation

    The Alberta Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction Regulation is Alberta’s approach to reduce emissions from large industrial emitters. It prices GHG and provides a trading system.

    No-till farming and nitrogen management techniques sequester up to 0.3 metric tons of GHG per year.

    Complication

    Farmers Edge offers farmers a digital platform that includes IoT and a unified data warehouse. It can turn farm records into digital environmental assets, which are aggregated and sold to emitters.

    Real-time data from connected vehicles, connected sensors, and other various inputs can be verified by third-party auditors.

    Resolution

    Farmers Edge sold aggregated carbon offsets to Alberta power producer Capital Power to help it meet regulatory compliance.

    Farmers Edge is expanding its platform to include farmers in other provinces and in the US, providing them opportunity to earn revenue via its Smart Carbon program.

    The firm is working to meet standards outlined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. (Interview with Wade Barnes, CEO, Farmers Edge)

    What's Next

    Global standards:

    The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) has been formed by the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation and will have its headquarters location announced in November at a United Nations conference. The body is already governing a set of global standards that have a roadmap for development through 2023 through open consultation. The standards are expected to bring together the multiple frameworks for sustainability standards and offer one global set of standards. (Business Council of Canada, 2021)

    CIOs take charge:

    The CIO is well positioned to take the lead role on corporate sustainability initiatives, including measuring and reducing an organization’s carbon footprint (or perhaps even monetizing carbon credits for an organization that is a negative emitter). CIOs can use their position as facilities managers and cross-functional process owners and mandate to reduce waste and inefficiency to take accountability for this important role. CIOs will expand their roles to deliver transparent and auditable reporting on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals for the enterprise.

    Uncertainties

    International resolve:

    Fighting the climate crisis will require governments and private sector collaboration from around the world to commit to creating new economic structures to discourage greenhouse gas emissions and incentivize long-term sustainable thinking. If some countries or private sector forces continue to prioritize short-term gains over sustainability, the U.N.’s goals won’t be achieved and the human costs as a result of climate change will become more profound.

    Cap-and-trade markets:

    Markets where carbon credits are sold to emitters are organized by various jurisdictions around the world and have different incentive structures. Some are created by governments and others are voluntary markets created by industry. This type of organization for these markets limits their size and makes it hard to scale the impact. Organizations looking to sell carbon credits at volume face the friction of having to navigate different compliance rules for each market they want to participate in.

    Carbon Metrics in Energy 4.0 Scenarios

    Determine your organization’s approach to measuring carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions by considering whether your organization is likely to be a high emitter or a carbon sink. Also consider your capability to measure and report on your carbon footprint.

    A map of Carbon Metrics in Energy 4.0 scenarios with two axes representing 'Quantification Capability, From not tracking any emissions whatsoever to tracking all emissions at every scope' and 'Greenhouse Gas Emissions, From mitigating more emissions than you create to emitting more than regulations allow'. The axes split the map into quarters. 'Quantification Capability' ranges from 'No Measures' on the left to 'All Emissions Measured' on the right. 'Greenhouse Gas Emissions' ranges from 'More Than Allowed' on top to 'Net-Negative' on bottom. The top left quarter, no measures and more than allowed, reads 'Companies that are likely to be high emitters and not measuring will attract the most scrutiny from regulators and investors.' The top right quarter, all measured and more than allowed, reads 'Companies emit more than regulators allow but the measurements show a clear path to mitigation through the purchase of carbon credits.' The bottom left quarter, no measures and net-negative, reads 'Companies able to achieve carbon neutrality or even be net-negative in emissions but unable to demonstrate it will still face scrutiny from regulators.' The bottom right quarter, all measured and net-negative, reads 'Companies able to remove more emissions than they create have an opportunity to aggregate those reductions and sell on a cap-and-trade market.'

    Recommendations

    Measure the whole footprint. Devise a plan to measure scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions at a level that is auditable by a third party.

    Gauge the impact of Industry 4.0. New technologies in Industry 4.0 include IoT, additive manufacturing, and advanced analytics. Make sustainability a core part of your focus as you plan out how these technologies will integrate with your business.

    Commit to net zero. Make a clear commitment to achieve net-zero emissions by a specific date as part of your organization’s core strategy. Take a continuous improvement approach to make progress towards the goal with measurable results.

    New laws from governments will have the highest degree of influence on an organization’s decision to reduce emissions. (Info-Tech Tech Trends 2022 Survey)

    Info-Tech Resources

    Intangible Value Creation

    TREND 04 | DATA ARCHITECTURE

    Use blockchain technology to turn unique intellectual property into saleable digital products. Provide governance around marketplaces where sales are made.

    Emerging technologies:
    Blockchain, Distributed Ledger Technology, Virtual Environments

    Introduction

    Decentralized technologies are propelling the digital economy.

    As the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated our shift into virtual social and economic systems, blockchain technology poses a new technological frontier – further disrupting digital interactions and value creation by providing a modification of data without relying on third parties. New blockchain software developments are being used to redefine how central banks distribute currency and to track provenance for scarce digital assets.

    Tokenizing the blockchain

    Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are distinct cryptographic tokens created from blockchain technology. The rarity systems in NFTs are redefining digital ownership and being used to drive creator-centric communities.

    Not crypto-currency, central currency

    Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) combine the same architecture of cryptocurrencies built on blockchain with the financial authority of a central bank. These currencies are not decentralized because they are controlled by a central authority, rather they are distributed systems. (Decrypt, 2021)

    80% of banks are working on a digital currency. (Atlantic Council, 2021)

    Brands that launched NFTs

    NBA, NFL, Formula 1, Nike, Stella Artois, Coca-Cola, Mattel, Dolce & Gabbana, Ubisoft, Charmin

    Banks that launched digital currencies

    The Bahamas, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Lucia, Grenada

    Signals

    ID on the blockchain

    Blockchains can contain smart contracts that automatically execute given specific conditions, protecting stakeholders involved in a transaction. These have been used by central banks to automate when and how currency can be spent and by NFT platforms to attribute a unique identity to a digital asset. Automation and identity verification are the most highly valued digital capabilities of IT practitioners.

    $69.3 million – The world’s most expensive NFT artwork sale, for Beeple’s “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days” (The New York Times, Mar. 2021)

    Digital capabilities that provide high value to the organization

    E-commerce 50%
    Automation 79%
    Smart contracts 42%
    Community building and engagement 55%
    Real-time payments 46%
    Tracking provenance 33%
    Identity verification 74%

    (Info-Tech Tech Trends 2022 Survey)

    Drivers

    Financial autonomy

    Central banks view cryptocurrencies as "working against the public good" and want to maintain control over their financial system to maintain the integrity of payments and provide financial crime oversight and protections against money laundering. (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 2021)

    Bitcoin energy requirements and greenhouse gas emissions

    Annual energy consumption of the Bitcoin blockchain in China is estimated to peak in 2024 at 297 TwH and generate 130.5 million metric tons of carbon emissions. That would exceed the annual GHG of the Czech Republic and Qatar and rank in the top 10 among 182 cities and 42 industrial sectors in China. This is motiving cryptocurrency developers and central banks to move away from the energy-intensive "Proof of Work" mining approach and towards the "Proof of Stake" approach. (Nature Communications, 2021)

    Digital communities

    During the pandemic, people spent more time exploring digital spaces and interacting in digital communities. Asset ownership within those communities is a way for individuals to show their own personal investment in the community and achieve a status that often comes with additional privileges. The digital assets can also be viewed as an investment vehicle or to gain access to exclusive experiences.

    “The pillars of the music economy have always been based on three things that the artist has never had full control of. The idea of distribution is freed up. The way we are going to connect to fans in this direct to fan value prop is very interesting. The fact we can monetize it, and that money exchange, that transaction is immediate. And on a platform like S!NG we legitimately have a platform to community build…. Artists are getting a superpower.” (Raine Maida, Chief Product Officer, S!NG Singer, Our Lady Peace)

    Raine Maida, Chief Product Officer, S!NG, and Singer, Our Lady Peace.

    Listen to the Tech Insights podcast: Raine Maida's startup is an NFT app for music

    Case Study

    Situation

    Artists can create works and distribute them to a wide audience more easily than ever with the internet. Publishing a drawing or a song to a website allows it to be infinitely copied. Creators can use social media accounts and digital advertisements to build up a fan base for their work and monetize it through sales or premium-access subscriber schemes.

    Complication

    The internet's capacity for frictionless distribution is a boon and a burden for artists at the same time. Protecting copyright in a digital environment is difficult because there is no way to track a song or a picture back to its creator. This devalues the work because it can be freely exchanged by users.

    Resolution

    S!NG allows creators to mint their works with a digital token that stamps its origin to the file and tracks provenance as it is reused and adapted into other works. It uses the ERC 721 standard on the Ethereum blockchain to create its NFT tokens. They are portable files that the user can create for free on the S!NG platform and are interoperable with other digital token platforms. This enables a collaboration utility by reducing friction in using other people's works while giving proper attribution. Musicians can create mix tracks using the samples of others’ work easily and benefit from a smart-contract-based revenue structure that returns money to creators when sales are made. (Interview with Geoff Osler and Raine Maida, S!NG Executives)

    Risks and Benefits

    Benefits

    Autonomy Digital money and assets could proliferate the desire for autonomy as users have greater control over their assets (by cutting out the middlemen, democratizing access to investments, and re-claiming ownership over intangible data).
    Community Digital worlds and assets offer integrated and interoperable experiences influenced by user communities.
    Equity Digital assets allow different shareholder equity models as they grant accessible and affordable access to ownership.

    Risks

    Volatility Digital assets are prone to volatile price fluctuations. A primary reason for this is due to its perceived value relative to the fiat currency and the uncertainty around its future value.
    Security While one of the main features of blockchain-based digital assets is security, digital assets are vulnerable to breaches during the process of storing and trading assets.
    Access Access to digital marketplaces requires a steep learning curve and a base level of technical knowledge.

    What's Next

    Into the Metaverse:

    Digital tokens are finding new utility in virtual environments known as the Metaverse. Decentraland is an example of a virtual reality environment that can be accessed via a web browser. Based on the Ethereum blockchain, it's seen sales of virtual land plots for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Sotheby's is one buyer, building a digital replica of its New Bond Street gallery in London, complete with commissionaire Hans Lomuldur in avatar form to greet visitors. The gallery will showcase and sell Sotheby's digital artworks. (Artnet News, 2021)

    Bitcoin as legal tender:

    El Salvador became the first country in the world to make Bitcoin legal tender in September 2021. The government intended for this to help citizens avoid remittance fees when receiving money sent from abroad and to provide a way for citizens without bank accounts to receive payments. Digital wallet Chivo launched with technical glitches and in October a loophole that allowed “price scalping” had to be removed to stop speculators from using the app to trade for profit. El Salvador’s experiment will influence whether other countries consider using Bitcoin as legal tender. (New Scientist, 2021)

    Uncertainties

    Stolen goods at the mint:

    William Shatner complained that Twitter account @tokenizedtweets had taken his content without permission and minted tokens for sale. In doing so, he pointed out there’s no guarantee a minted digital asset is linked to the creator of the attached intellectual property.

    Decentralized vs. distributed finance:

    Will blockchain-based markets be controlled by a single platform operator or become truly open? For example, Dapper Labs centralizes the minting of NFTs on its Flow blockchain and controls sales through its markets. OpenSea allows NFTs minted elsewhere to be brought to the platform and sold.

    Supply and demand:

    Platforms need to improve the reliability of minting technology to create tokens in the future. Ethereum's network is facing more demand than it can keep up with and requires future upgrades to improve its efficiency. Other platforms that support minting tokens are also awaiting upgrades to be fully functional or have seen limited NFT projects launched on their platform.

    Intangible Value Creation Scenarios

    Determine your organization’s strategy by considering the different scenarios based on two main factors. The design decisions are made around whether digital assets are decentralized or distributed and whether the assets facilitate transactions or collections.

    A map of Intangible Value Creation scenarios with two axes representing 'Fungibility, From assets that are designed to be exchanged like currency to assets that are unique' and 'Asset Control Model, From decentralized control with open ownership to centralized control with distributed assets'. The axes split the map into quarters. 'Fungibility' ranges from 'Transactional' on the left to 'Collectible' on the right. 'Asset Control Model' ranges from 'Distributed' on top to 'Decentralized' on bottom. The top left quarter, distributed transactional, reads 'Platform-controlled digital exchanges and utility (e.g. tokens exchanged for fan experiences, central bank digital currency, S!NG).' The top right quarter, distributed collectible, reads 'Platform-controlled digital showcases and community (e.g. NBA Top Shot, Decentraland property).' The bottom left quarter, decentralized transactional, reads 'Peer-controlled digital exchanges and utility (e.g. Bitcoin).' The bottom right quarter, decentralized collectible, reads 'Peer-controlled digital showcases and community (e.g. OpenSea and Ethereum-based NFTs).'

    Recommendations

    Determine your role in the digital asset ecosystem.
    • Becoming a platform provider for digital tokens will require a minting capability to create blockchain-based assets and a marketplace for users to exchange them.
    • Issuing digital tokens to a platform through a sale will require making partnerships and marketing.
    • Investing in digital assets will require management of digital wallets and subject-matter expert analysis of the emerging markets.
    Track the implications of digital currencies.

    Track what your country’s central bank is planning for digital currency and determine if you’ll need to prepare to support it. Be informed about payment partner support for cryptocurrency and consider any complications that may introduce.

    $1 billion+ – The amount of cryptocurrency spent by consumers globally through crypto-linked Visa cards in first half of 2021. (CNBC, July 2021)

    Info-Tech Resources

    Automation as a Service

    TREND 05 | INNOVATION

    Automate business processes and access new sophisticated technology services through platform integration.

    Emerging technologies:
    Cloud platforms, APIs, Generative AI

    Introduction

    The glue for innovation

    Rapidly constructing a business model that is ready to compete in a digital economy requires continuous innovation. Application programming interfaces (APIs) can accelerate innovation by unlocking marketplaces of ready-to-use solutions to business problems and automating manual tasks to make more time for creativity. APIs facilitate a microarchitecture approach and make it possible to call upon a new capability with a few lines of code. This is not a new tool, as the first API was specified in 1951, but there were significant advances of both scale and capability in this area in 2021.

    In the past 18 months, API adoption has exploded and even industries previously considered as digital laggards are now integrating them to reinvent back-office processes. Technology platforms specializing in API management are attracting record-breaking investment. And sophisticated technology services such as artificial intelligence are being delivered by APIs.

    APIs can play a role in every company’s digital strategy, from transforming back-office processes to creating revenue as part of a platform.

    $500,000 was invested in API companies in 2016. (Forbes, May 2021)

    $2,000,000,000+ was invested in API companies in 2020. (Forbes, May 2021)

    69% of IT practitioners say digital transformation has been a high priority for their organization during the pandemic. (Info-Tech Tech Trends 2022 Survey)

    51% of developers used more APIs in 2020 than in 2019. (InsideHPC, 2021)

    71% of developers planned to use even more APIs in 2021. (InsideHPC, 2021)

    Signals

    IT practitioners indicate that digital transformation was a strong focus for their organization during the pandemic and will remain so during the period afterwards, and one-third say their organizations were “extremely focused” on digital transformation.

    When it came to shifting processes from being done manually to being completed digitally, more than half of IT practitioners say they shifted at least 21% of their processes during the past year. More than one in five say that at least 60% of their processes were shifted from manual to digital in the past year.

    3.5 trillion calls were performed on API management platform Apigee, representing a 50% increase year over year. (SiliconANGLE, 2021)

    Processes shifted from manual to digital in the past year

    A horizontal bar chart recording survey responses regarding the percent of processes that shifted from manual to digital in the past year. The horizontal axis is 'percent of survey respondents' with values from 0 to 35%. The vertical axis is 'percent of process shifted to digital' with bar labels 'Between 0 to 20%', 'Between 21 to 40%', and so on until 'Between 81 to 100%'. 20% of respondents answered '0 to 20%' of processes went digital. 28% of respondents answered '21 to 40%' of processes went digital. 30% of respondents answered '41 to 60%' of processes went digital. 15% of respondents answered '61 to 80%' of processes went digital. 7% of respondents answered '81 to 100%' of processes went digital.

    Drivers

    Covid-19

    The pandemic lockdowns pushed everyone into a remote-work scenario. With in-person interaction not an option, even more traditional businesses had to adapt to digital processes.

    Customer Expectations

    The success of digital services in the consumer space is causing expectations to rise in other areas, such as professional services. Consumers now want their health records to be portable and they want to pay their lawyer through e-transfer, not by writing a cheque. (Interview with Mik Lernout)

    Standardization

    Technology laggard industries such as legal and healthcare are recognizing the pain of working with siloed systems. New standardization efforts are driving the adoption of open APIs at a rapid rate. (Interview with Jennifer Jones, Research Director – Industry, Info-Tech Research Group)

    Risks and Benefits

    Benefits

    Speed Using a microarchitecture approach with readily available services constructed in different ways provides a faster way to get from idea to minimum-viable product.
    Intelligence Open APIs have more than ever exposed people to sophisticated AI algorithms that were in the domain of only advanced researchers just a couple years ago. Developers can integrate AI with a couple lines of code. Non-technical users can train algorithms with low-code and no-code tools (Forbes, Sept. 2021).
    Resilience If one function of a solution doesn't work, it can be easily replaced with another one available on the market and the overall experience is maintained.

    Risks

    Loss of Privacy APIs are being targeted by hackers as a way to access personal information. Recent API-related leaks affected Experian, John Deere, Clubhouse, and Peloton (VentureBeat, 2021).
    Complexity Using a decentralized approach to assemble applications means that there is no single party accountable for the solution. Different pieces can break, or oversights can go unnoticed.
    Copycats Platforms that take the approach of exposing all functions via API run the risk of having their services used by a competitor to offer the same solution but with an even better user experience.

    “When we think about what the pandemic did, we had this internal project called 'back to the future.' It kind of put the legal industry in a time machine and it kind of accelerated the legal industry 5, maybe even 10 years. A lot of the things we saw with the innovators became table stakes.” (Mik Lernout, Vice President of Product, Clio)

    Photo of Mik Lernout, Vice president of product, Clio.

    Listen to the Tech Insights podcast: Clio drives digital transformation to redefine the legal industry

    Case Study

    Situation

    The COVID-19 pandemic required the legal industry to shift to remote work. A typically change-resistant industry was now holding court hearings over videoconference, taking online payments, and collecting e-signatures on contracts. For Clio, a software-as-a-service software vendor that serves the legal industry, its client base grew and its usage increased. It previously focused on the innovators in the legal industry, but now it noticed laggards were going digital too.

    Complication

    Law firms have very different needs depending on their legal practice area (e.g. family law, corporate law, or personal injury) and what jurisdiction they operate in.

    Clients are also demanding more from their lawyers in terms of service experience. They don't want to travel to the law office to drop off a check but expect digital interactions on par with service they receive in other areas.

    Resolution

    Since its inception, Clio built its software product so that all of its functions could be called upon by an API as well. It describes its platform as the "operating system for the legal industry." Its API functions include capabilities like managing activities, billing, and contracts. External developers can submit applications to the Clio Marketplace to add new functionality. Its platform approach enables it to find solutions for its 150,000+ users. During the pandemic, Clio saw its customers rely on its APIs more than ever before. It expects this accelerated adoption to be the way of working in the future. (ProgrammableWeb, 2021; Interview with Mik Lernout)

    What's Next

    GOOGLE’S API-FIRST APPROACH:

    Google is expanding its Apigee API management platform so enterprises will be able to connect existing data and applications and access them via APIs. It's part of Google's API-first approach to digital transformation, helping enterprises with their integration challenges. The new release includes tools and a framework that's needed to integrate services in this way and includes pre-built connectors for common business apps and services such as Salesforce, Cloud SQL, MySQL, and BigQuery. (SiliconANGLE, 2021)

    Uncertainties

    API SECURITY:

    APIs represent another potential vulnerability for hackers to exploit and the rise in popularity has come with more security incidents. Companies using APIs have leaked data through APIs, with one research report on the state of API security finding that 91% of organizations have suffered an API security incident. Yet more than a quarter of firms running production APIs don’t have an API security strategy. (VentureBeat, 2021)

    For low IT maturity organizations moving onto platforms that introduce API capabilities, education is required about the consequences of creating more integrations. Platforms must bear some responsibility for monitoring for irregular activity. (Interview with Mik Lernout)

    Automation as a Service Scenarios

    Determine your organization’s platform strategy from the basis of your digital maturity – from that of a laggard to a native – and whether it involves monetized APIs vs. freely available public APIs. A strategy can include both the consumption of APIs and the creation of them.

    A map of Automation as a Service scenarios with two axes representing 'Business Model, From an open and public API to a monetized pay-for-use API' and 'Digital Maturity, From being a digital laggard to being a digital native'. The axes split the map into quarters. 'Business Model' ranges from 'Public APIs' on the left to 'Monetized APIs' on the right. 'Digital Maturity' ranges from 'Digital Native' on top to 'Digital Laggard' on bottom. The top left quarter, digital native public APIs, reads 'Platform business model that grows through adoption of free APIs (e.g. Clio).' The top right quarter, digital native monetized APIS, reads 'Platform business model with spectrum of API services including free tiers.' The bottom left quarter, digital laggard public APIs, reads 'Consume public APIs to simplify and automate business processes and improve customer experience (e.g. law firms using Clio).' The bottom right quarter, digital laggard monetized APIs, reads 'Consume paid APIs to provide customers with expanded services (e.g. retailer Lowe’s uses AccuWeather to predict supply and demand).'

    Recommendations

    Leverage APIs to connect your systems. Create a repeatable process to improve the quality, reusability, and governance of your web APIs.

    Transform your business model with digital platforms. Use the best practices of digital native enterprises and leverage your core assets to compete in a digital economy.

    Deliver sophisticated new capabilities with APIs. Develop an awareness of new services made available through API integration, such as artificial intelligence, and take advantage of them.

    4.5 billion words per day generated by the OpenAI natural language API GPT-3, just nine months after launch. (OpenAI, 2021)

    Info-Tech Resources

    Behind the design

    Inspiration provided by the golden ratio

    The golden ratio has long fascinated humans for its common occurrence in nature and inspired artists who adopted its proportions as a guiding principle for their creations. A new discovery of the golden ratio in economic cycles was published in August 2021 by Bert de Groot, et al. As the boundaries of value creation blur between physical and digital and the pace of change accelerates, these digital innovations may change our lives in many ways. But they are still bound by the context of the structure of the economy. Hear more about this surprising finding from de Groot and from this report’s designer by listening to our podcast. (Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2021)

    “Everything happening will adapt itself into the next cycle, and that cycle is one phi distance away.” (Bert de Groot, professor of economics at Erasmus University Rotterdam)

    Photo of Bert de Groot, Professor of Economics at Erasmus University Rotterdam.

    Listen to the Tech Insights podcast: New discovery of the golden ratio in the economy

    Contributing Experts

    Vijay Sundaram
    Chief Strategy Officer, Zoho
    Photo of Vijay Sundaram, Chief Strategy Officer, Zoho.
    Jason Brommet
    Head of Modern Work and Security Business Group, Microsoft
    Photo of Jason Brommet, Head of Modern Work and Security Business Group at Microsoft.
    Steve Orrin
    Federal Chief Technology Officer, Intel
    Photo of Steve Orrin, Federal Chief Technology Officer, Intel.
    Wade Barnes
    CEO and Founder, Farmers Edge
    Photo of Wade Barnes, CEO and founder of Farmers Edge.

    Contributing Experts

    Raine Maida
    Chief Product Officer, S!NG
    Singer, Our Lady Peace
    Raine Maida, Chief Product Officer, S!NG Singer, Our Lady Peace.
    Geoff Osler
    CEO, S!NG
    Photo of Geoff Osler, CEO, S!NG.
    Mik Lernout
    Vice President of Product, Clio
    Photo of Mik Lernout, Vice President of Product, Clio.
    Bert de Groot
    Professor of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam
    Photo of Bert de Groot, Professor of Economics at Erasmus University Rotterdam.

    Bibliography – Enabling the Digital Economy

    “2021 Canada Dealer Financing Satisfaction Study.” J.D. Power, 13 May 2021. Accessed 27 May 2021.

    Brown, Sara. “The CIO Role Is Changing. Here’s What’s on the Horizon.” MIT Sloan, 2 Aug. 2021. Accessed 16 Aug. 2021.

    de Groot, E. A., et al. “Disentangling the Enigma of Multi-Structured Economic Cycles - A New Appearance of the Golden Ratio.” Technological Forecasting and Social Change, vol. 169, Aug. 2021, pp. 120793. ScienceDirect, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2021.120793.

    Hatem, Louise, Daniel Ker, and John Mitchell. “Roadmap toward a common framework for measuring the Digital Economy.” Report for the G20 Digital Economy Task Force, OECD, 2020. Accessed 19 Oct. 2021.

    LaBerge, Laura, et al. “How COVID-19 has pushed companies over the technology tipping point—and transformed business forever.” McKinsey, 5 Oct. 2020. Accessed 14 June 2021.

    Pomeroy, James. The booming digital economy. HSBC, Sept. 2020. Web.

    Salman, Syed. “Digital Transformation Realized Through COBIT 2019.” ISACA, 13 Oct. 2020. Accessed 25 Oct. 2021.

    Bibliography – Hybrid Collaboration

    De Smet, Aaron, et al. “Getting Real about Hybrid Work.” McKinsey Quarterly, 9 July 2021. Web.

    Herskowitz, Nicole. “Brace Yourselves: Hybrid Work Is Hard. Here’s How Microsoft Teams and Office 365 Can Help.” Microsoft 365 Blog, 9 Sept. 2021. Web.

    Melin, Anders, and Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou. “Employees Are Quitting Instead of Giving Up Working From Home.” Bloomberg, 1 June 2021. Web.

    Spataro, Jared. “Microsoft and LinkedIn Share Latest Data and Innovation for Hybrid Work.” The Official Microsoft Blog, 9 Sept. 2021. Web.

    Subin, Samantha. “The new negotiation over job benefits and perks in post-Covid hybrid work.” CNBC, 23 Apr. 2021. Web.

    Torres, Roberto. “How to Sidestep Overspend as Hybrid Work Tests IT.” CIO Dive, 26 July 2021. Accessed 16 Sept. 2021.

    Wong, Christine. “How the hybrid workplace will affect IT spending.” ExpertIP, 15 July 2021. Web.

    Yang, Longqi, et al. “The Effects of Remote Work on Collaboration among Information Workers.” Nature Human Behaviour, Sept. 2021, pp. 1-12. Springer Nature, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01196-4.

    Bibliography – Battle Against Ransomware

    Berg, Leandro. “RTF Report: Combatting Ransomware.” Institute for Security and Technology (IST), 2021. Accessed 21 Sept. 2021.

    Dudley, Renee. “The Extortion Economy: How Insurance Companies Are Fueling a Rise in Ransomware Attacks.” ProPublica, 27 Aug. 2019. Accessed 22 Sept. 2021.

    Durbin, Steve. “Council Post: Artificial Intelligence: The Future Of Cybersecurity?” Forbes, 23 Sept. 2021. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.

    “FACT SHEET: Ongoing Public U.S. Efforts to Counter Ransomware.” The White House, 13 Oct. 2021. Web.

    Jeffery, Lynsey, and Vignesh Ramachandran. “Why ransomware attacks are on the rise — and what can be done to stop them.” PBS NewsHour, 8 July 2021. Web.

    McBride, Timothy, et al. Data Integrity: Recovering from Ransomware and Other Destructive Events. NIST Special Publication (SP) 1800-11, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 22 Sept. 2020. NIST Computer Security Resource Center (CSRC), https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.1800-11.

    Mehrotra, Karitkay, and Jennifer Jacobs. “Crypto Channels Targeted in Biden’s Fight Against Ransomware.” BNN Bloomberg, 21 Sept. 2021. Web.

    Sharma, Mayank. “Hackers demand $70m ransom after executing massive Solar Winds-like attack.” TechRadar, 5 July 2021. Web.

    “Unhacked: 121 Tools against Ransomware on a Single Website.” Europol, 26 July 2021. Web.

    Bibliography – Carbon Metrics in Energy 4.0

    “The A List 2020.” CDP, 2021. Web.

    Baazil, Diedrik, Hugo Miller, and Laura Hurst. “Shell loses climate case that may set precedent for big oil.” Australian Financial Review, 27 May 2021. Web.

    “BlackRock’s 2020 Carbon Footprint.” BlackRock, 2020. Accessed 25 May 2021.

    “CDP Media Factsheet.” CDP, n.d. Accessed 25 May 2021.

    Glaser, April, and Leticia Miranda. “Amazon workers demand end to pollution hitting people of color hardest.” NBC News, 24 May 2021. Accessed 25 May 2021.

    Little, Mark. “Why Canada should be the home of the new global sustainability standards board.” Business Council of Canada, 1 Oct. 2021. Accessed 22 Oct. 2021.

    McIntyre, Catherine. “Canada vying for global headquarters to oversee sustainable-finance standards.” The Logic, 22 July 2021. Web.

    “Net Zero Scorecard.” Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit, 2021. Accessed 25 May 2021.

    Sayer, Peter. “Greenhouse gas emissions: The next big issue for CIOs.” CIO, 13 Oct. 2021. Web.

    “Scope 1 and Scope 2 Inventory Guidance.” US EPA, OAR. 14 Dec. 2020. Web.

    Sorkin, Andrew Ross. “BlackRock C.E.O. Larry Fink: Climate Crisis Will Reshape Finance.” The New York Times, 14 Jan. 2020. Web.

    “Sustainable IT Pledge.” CIO Strategy Council, 2021. Accessed 22 Oct. 2021.

    Bibliography – Intangible Value Creation

    Areddy, James T. “China Creates Its Own Digital Currency, a First for Major Economy.” Wall Street Journal, 5 Apr. 2021. Web.

    Boar, Codruta, et al. Impending arrival - a sequel to the survey on central bank digital currency. BIS Papers No 107, Jan. 2020. Web.

    Brainard, Lael. “Speech by Governor Brainard on Private Money and Central Bank Money as Payments Go Digital: An Update on CBDCs.” Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 24 May 2021. Accessed 28 May 2021.

    Howcroft, Elizabeth, and Ritvik Carvalho. “How a 10-second video clip sold for $6.6 million.” Reuters, 1 Mar. 2021. Web.

    “Central Bank Digital Currency Tracker.” Atlantic Council, 2021. Accessed 10 Sept. 2021.

    “Expert Comment From Warwick Business School: Problems With El Salvador’s Bitcoin Experiment Are Unsurprising.” Mondo Visione, 8 Sept. 2021. Accessed 10 Sept. 2021.

    Goldstein, Caroline. “In Its Ongoing Bid to Draw Crypto-Collectors, Sotheby’s Unveils a Replica of Its London H.Q. in the Blockchain World Decentraland.” Artnet News, 7 June 2021. Web.

    Hamacher, Adriana. “Taco Bell to Charmin: 10 Big Brands Jumping On The NFT Bandwagon.” Decrypt, 22 Mar. 2021. Web.

    Hazan, Eric, et al. “Getting tangible about intangibles: The future of growth and productivity?” McKinsey. 16 June 2021. Web.

    Bibliography – Intangible Value Creation

    Herrera, Pedro. “Dapp Industry Report: Q3 2021 Overview.” DappRadar, 1 Oct. 2021. Web.

    Holland, Frank. “Visa Says Crypto-Linked Card Usage Tops $1 Billion in First Half of 2021.” CNBC, 7 July 2021. Web.

    Jiang, Shangrong, et al. “Policy Assessments for the Carbon Emission Flows and Sustainability of Bitcoin Blockchain Operation in China.” Nature Communications, vol. 12, no. 1, Apr. 2021, p. 1938. Springer Nature, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22256-3.

    Reyburn, Scott. “JPG File Sells for $69 Million, as ‘NFT Mania’ Gathers Pace.” The New York Times, 11 Mar. 2021. Web.

    Taylor, Luke. “Bitcoin: El Salvador’s Cryptocurrency Gamble Hit by Trading Loophole.” New Scientist, 25 Oct. 2021. Web.

    Bibliography – Automation as a Service

    Belsky, Scott. “The Furry Lisa, CryptoArt, & The New Economy Of Digital Creativity.” Medium, 21 Feb. 2021. Web.

    Culbertson, Joy. “10 Top Law APIs.” ProgrammableWeb, 14 Feb. 2021. Web.

    Caballar, Rina Diane. “Programming by Voice May Be the Next Frontier in Software Development - IEEE Spectrum.” IEEE Spectrum: Technology, Engineering, and Science News, 22 Mar 2021. Accessed 23 Mar. 2021.

    Gonsalves, Chris. “The Problem with APIs.” VentureBeat, 7 May 2021. Web.

    Graca, Joao. “Council Post: How APIs Are Democratizing Access To AI (And Where They Hit Their Limits).” Forbes, 24 Sept 2021. Accessed 28 Sept. 2021.

    Harris, Tony. “What is the API Economy?” API Blog: Everything You Need to Know, 4 May 2021. Web.

    Kitsing, Meelis. Scenarios for Digital Platform Ecosystems, 2020, pp. 453-57. ResearchGate, https://doi.org/10.1109/ICCCS49078.2020.9118571.

    Pilipiszyn, Ashley. “GPT-3 Powers the Next Generation of Apps.” OpenAI, 25 Mar. 2021. Web.

    Rethans, John. “So You Want to Monetize Your APIs?” APIs and Digital Transformation, 29 June 2018. Web.

    Bibliography – Automation as a Service

    Salyer, Patrick. “API Stack: The Billion Dollar Opportunities Redefining Infrastructure, Services & Platforms.” Forbes, 4 May 2021. Accessed 27 Oct. 2021.

    staff. “RapidAPI Raises $60M for Expansion of API Platform.” InsideHPC, 21 Apr. 2021. Web.

    Taulli, Tom. “API Economy: Is It The Next Big Thing?” Forbes, 18 Jan. 2021. Accessed 5 May 2021.

    Warren, Zach. “Clio Taking 2021 Cloud Conference Virtual, Announces New Mission Among Other News.” Legaltech News, 11 Mar. 2021. Web.

    Wheatley, Mike. “Google Announces API-First Approach to Application Data Integration with Apigee.” SiliconANGLE, 28 Sept. 2021. Web.

    About the research

    Tech trends survey

    As part of its research process for the 2022 Tech Trends Report, Info-Tech Research Group conducted an open online survey among its membership and wider community of professionals. The survey was fielded from August 2021 to September 2021, collecting 475 responses.

    The underlying metrics are diverse, capturing 14 countries and regions and 16 Industries.

    A geospatial chart of the world documenting the percentage of respondents from each country to Info-Tech's '2022 Tech Trends Report' Percentages are below.
    01 United States 45.3% 08 India 1.7%
    02 Canada 19.2% 09 Other (Asia) 1.7%
    03 Africa 9.3% 10 New Zealand 1.5%
    04 Other (Europe) 5.3% 11 Germany 0.8%
    05 Australia 4.2% 12 Mexico 0.4%
    06 Great Britain 3.8% 13 Netherlands 0.4%
    07 Middle East 2.9% 14 Japan 0.2%

    Industry

    01 Government 18.9%
    02 Media, Information, & Technology 12.8%
    03 Professional Services 12.8%
    04 Manufacturing 9.9%
    05 Education 8.8%
    06 Healthcare 8.2%
    07 Financial Services 7.8%
    08 Transportation & Logistics 3.4%
    09 Utilities 3.4%
    10 Insurance 2.5%
    11 Retail & Wholesale 2.5%
    12 Construction 2.3%
    13 Natural Resources 2.1%
    14 Real Estate & Property Management 1.7%
    15 Arts & Leisure 1.5%
    16 Professional Associations 1.3%

    Department

    IT (information technology) 88.2%
    Other (Department) 3.79%
    Operations 2.32%
    Research & Development 1.89%
    Sales 1.26%
    Administration 1.06%
    Finance 0.42%
    HR (Human Resources) 0.42%
    Marketing 0.42%
    Production 0.21%

    Role

    Manager 24%
    Director-level 22%
    C-level officer 19%
    VP-level 9%
    Team lead / supervisor 7%
    Owner / President / CEO 7%
    Team member 7%
    Consultant 5%
    Contractor 1%

    IT Spend

    Respondents on average spent 35 million per year on their IT budget.

    Accounting for the outlier responses – the median spend sits closer to 4.5 million per year. The highest spend on IT was within the Government, Healthcare, and Retail & Wholesale sectors.

    Lead Staff through Change

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}510|cart{/j2store}
    • member rating overall impact (scale of 10): N/A
    • member rating average dollars saved: N/A
    • member rating average days saved: N/A
    • Parent Category Name: High Impact Leadership
    • Parent Category Link: /lead
    • Sixty to ninety percent of change initiatives fail, costing organizations dollars off the bottom line and lost productivity.
    • Seventy percent of change initiatives fail because of people-related issues, which place a major burden on managers to drive change initiatives successfully.
    • Managers are often too busy focusing on the process elements of change; as a result, they neglect major opportunities to leverage and mitigate staff behaviors that affect the entire team.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Change is costly, but failed change is extremely costly. Managing change right the first time is worth the time and effort.
    • Staff pose the biggest opportunity and risk when implementing a change – managers must focus on their teams in order to maintain positive change momentum.
    • Large and small changes require the same change process to be followed but at different scales.
    • The size of a change must be measured according to the level of impact the change will have on staff, not how executives and managers perceive the change.
    • To effectively lead their staff through change, managers must anticipate staff reaction to change, develop a communication plan, introduce the change well, help their staff let go of old behaviors while learning new ones, and motivate their staff to adopt the change.

    Impact and Result

    • Anticipate and respond to staff questions about the change in order to keep messages consistent, organized, and clear.
    • Manage staff based on their specific concerns and change personas to get the best out of your team during the transition through change.
    • Maintain a feedback loop between staff, executives, and other departments in order to maintain the change momentum and reduce angst throughout the process.

    Lead Staff through Change Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Learn how to manage people throughout the change process

    Set up a successful change adoption.

    • Storyboard: Lead Staff through Change

    2. Learn the intricacies of the change personas

    Correctly identify which persona most closely resembles individual staff members.

    • None

    3. Assess the impact of change on staff

    Ensure enough time and effort is allocated in advance to people change management.

    • Change Impact Assessment Tool

    4. Organize change communications messages for a small change

    Ensure consistency and clarity in change messages to staff.

    • Basic Business Change Communication Worksheet

    5. Organize change communications messages for a large change

    Ensure consistency and clarity in change messages to staff.

    • Advanced Business Change Description Form

    6. Evaluate leadership of the change process with the team

    Improve people change management for future change initiatives.

    • Change Debrief Questionnaire
    [infographic]

    Minimize the Damage of IT Cost Cuts

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}53|cart{/j2store}
    • member rating overall impact (scale of 10): N/A
    • member rating average dollars saved: N/A
    • member rating average days saved: N/A
    • Parent Category Name: Cost & Budget Management
    • Parent Category Link: /cost-and-budget-management
    • Average growth rates for Opex and Capex budgets are expected to continue to decline over the next fiscal year.
    • Common “quick-win” cost-cutting initiatives are not enough to satisfy the organization’s mandate.
    • Cost-cutting initiatives often take longer than expected, failing to provide cost savings before the organization’s deadline.
    • Cost-optimization projects often have unanticipated consequences that offset potential cost savings and result in business dissatisfaction.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • IT costs affect the entire business, not just IT. For this reason, IT must work with the business collaboratively to convey the full implications of IT cost cuts.
    • Avoid making all your cuts at once; phase your cuts by taking into account the magnitude and urgency of your cuts and avoid unintended consequences.
    • Don’t be afraid to completely cut a service if it should not be delivered in the first place.

    Impact and Result

    • Take a value-based approach to cost optimization.
    • Reduce IT spend while continuing to deliver the most important services.
    • Involve the business in the cost-cutting process.
    • Develop a plan for cost cutting that avoids unintended interruptions to the business.

    Minimize the Damage of IT Cost Cuts Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should take a value-based approach to cutting IT costs, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Understand the mandate and take immediate action

    Determine your approach for cutting costs.

    • Minimize the Damage of IT Cost Cuts – Phase 1: Understand the Mandate and Take Immediate Action
    • Cost-Cutting Plan
    • Cost-Cutting Planning Tool

    2. Select cost-cutting initiatives

    Identify the cost-cutting initiatives and design your roadmap.

    • Minimize the Damage of IT Cost Cuts – Phase 2: Select Cost-Cutting Initiatives

    3. Get approval for your cost-cutting plan and adopt change management best practices

    Communicate your roadmap to the business and attain approval.

    • Minimize the Damage of IT Cost Cuts – Phase 3: Get Approval for Your Cost-Cutting Plan and Adopt Change Management Best Practices
    • IT Personnel Engagement Plan
    • Stakeholder Communication Planning Tool
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Minimize the Damage of IT Cost Cuts

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Understand the Mandate and Take Immediate Action

    The Purpose

    Determine your cost-optimization stance.

    Build momentum with quick wins.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Understand the internal and external drivers behind your cost-cutting mandate and the types of initiatives that align with it.

    Activities

    1.1 Develop SMART project metrics.

    1.2 Dissect the mandate.

    1.3 Identify your cost-cutting stance.

    1.4 Select and implement quick wins.

    1.5 Plan to report progress to Finance.

    Outputs

    Project metrics and mandate documentation

    List of quick-win initiatives

    2 Select Cost-Cutting Initiatives

    The Purpose

    Create the plan for your cost-cutting initiatives.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Choose the correct initiatives for your roadmap.

    Create a sensible and intelligent roadmap for the cost-cutting initiatives.

    Activities

    2.1 Identify cost-cutting initiatives.

    2.2 Select initiatives.

    2.3 Build a roadmap.

    Outputs

    High-level cost-cutting initiatives

    Cost-cutting roadmap

    3 Get Approval for Your Cost-Cutting Plan and Adopt Change Management Best Practices

    The Purpose

    Finalize the cost-cutting plan and present it to the business.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Attain engagement with key stakeholders.

    Activities

    3.1 Customize your cost-cutting plan.

    3.2 Create stakeholder engagement plans.

    3.3 Monitor cost savings.

    Outputs

    Cost-cutting plan

    Stakeholder engagement plan

    Cost-monitoring plan

    Make Prudent Decisions When Increasing Your Salesforce Footprint

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}134|cart{/j2store}
    • member rating overall impact (scale of 10): 8.9/10 Overall Impact
    • member rating average dollars saved: $55,224 Average $ Saved
    • member rating average days saved: 4 Average Days Saved
    • Parent Category Name: Licensing
    • Parent Category Link: /licensing
    • Too often, organizations fail to achieve economy of scale. They neglect to negotiate price holds, do not negotiate deeper discounts as volume increases, or do not realize there are already existing contracts within the organization.
    • Understand what to negotiate. Organizations do not know what can and cannot be negotiated, which means value gets left on the table.
    • Integrations with other applications must be addressed from the outset. Many users buy the platform only to realize later on that the functionality they wanted does not exist and may be an extra expense with customization.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Buying power dissipates when you sign the contract. Get the right product for the right number of users for the right term and get it right the first time.
    • Getting the best price does not assure a great total cost of ownership or ROI. There are many components as part of the purchasing process that if unaccounted for can lead to dramatic and unbudgeted spend.
    • Avoid buyer’s remorse through due diligence before signing the deal. If you need to customize the software or extend it with a third-party add-in, identify your costs and timelines upfront. Plan for successful adoption.

    Impact and Result

    • Centralize purchasing instead of enabling small deals to maximize discount levels by creating a process to derive a cost-effective methodology when subscribing to Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Force.com.
    • Educate your organization on Salesforce’s licensing methods and contract types, enabling informed purchasing decisions. Critical components of every agreement that need to be negotiated are a renewal escalation cap, term protection, and license metrics to document what comes with each. Re-bundling protection is also critical in case a product is no longer desired.
    • Proactively addressing integrations and business requirements will enable project success and enable the regular upgrades the come with a multi-tenant cloud services SaaS solution.

    Make Prudent Decisions When Increasing Your Salesforce Footprint Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you need to understand and document your Salesforce licensing strategy, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Establish software requirements

    Begin your journey by understanding whether Salesforce is the right CRM. Also proactively approach Salesforce licensing by understanding which information to gather and assessing the current state and gaps.

    • Make Prudent Decisions When Increasing Your Salesforce Footprint – Phase 1: Establish Software Requirements
    • Salesforce Licensing Purchase Reference Guide
    • RASCI Chart

    2. Evaluate licensing options

    Review current products and licensing models to determine which licensing models will most appropriately fit the organization's environment.

    • Make Prudent Decisions When Increasing Your Salesforce Footprint – Phase 2: Evaluate Licensing Options
    • Salesforce TCO Calculator
    • Salesforce Discount Calculator

    3. Evaluate agreement options

    Review Salesforce’s contract types and assess which best fits the organization’s licensing needs.

    • Make Prudent Decisions When Increasing Your Salesforce Footprint – Phase 3: Evaluate Agreement Options
    • Salesforce Terms and Conditions Evaluation Tool

    4. Purchase and manage licenses

    Conduct negotiations, purchase licensing, finalize a licensing management strategy, and enhance your CRM with a Salesforce partner.

    • Make Prudent Decisions When Increasing Your Salesforce Footprint – Phase 4: Purchase and Manage Licenses
    • Controlled Vendor Communications Letter
    • Vendor Communication Management Plan
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Make Prudent Decisions When Increasing Your Salesforce Footprint

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Establish Software Requirements

    The Purpose

    Assess current state and align goals; review business feedback.

    Interview key stakeholders to define business objectives and drivers.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Have a baseline for whether Salesforce is the right solution.

    Understand Salesforce as a solution.

    Examine all CRM options.

    Activities

    1.1 Perform requirements gathering to review Salesforce as a potential solution.

    1.2 Gather your documentation before buying or renewing.

    1.3 Confirm or create your Salesforce licensing team.

    1.4 Meet with stakeholders to discuss the licensing options and budget allocation.

    Outputs

    Copy of your Salesforce Master Subscription Agreement

    RASCI Chart

    Salesforce Licensing Purchase Reference Guide

    2 Evaluate Licensing Options

    The Purpose

    Review product editions and licensing options.

    Review add-ons and licensing rules.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Understand how licensing works.

    Discuss licensing rules and their application to your current environment.

    Determine the product and license mix that is best for your requirements.

    Activities

    2.1 Determine the editions, licenses, and add-ons for your Salesforce CRM solution.

    2.2 Calculate total cost of ownership.

    2.3 Use the Salesforce Discount Calculator to ensure you are getting the discount you deserve.

    2.4 Meet with stakeholders to discuss the licensing options and budget allocation.

    Outputs

    Salesforce CRM Solution

    Salesforce TCO Calculator

    Salesforce Discount Calculator

    Salesforce Licensing Purchase Reference Guide

    3 Evaluate Agreement Options

    The Purpose

    Review terms and conditions of Salesforce contracts.

    Review vendors.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Determine if MSA or term agreement is best.

    Learn what specific terms to negotiate.

    Activities

    3.1 Perform a T&Cs review and identify key “deal breakers.”

    3.2 Decide on an agreement that nets the maximum benefit.

    Outputs

    Salesforce T&Cs Evaluation Tool

    Salesforce Licensing Purchase Reference Guide

    4 Purchase and Manage Licenses

    The Purpose

    Finalize the contract.

    Discuss negotiation points.

    Discuss license management and future roadmap.

    Discuss Salesforce partner and implementation strategy.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Discuss negotiation strategies.

    Learn about licensing management best practices.

    Review Salesforce partner options.

    Create an implementation plan.

    Activities

    4.1 Know the what, when, and who to negotiate.

    4.2 Control the flow of communication.

    4.3 Assign the right people to manage the environment.

    4.4 Discuss Salesforce partner options.

    4.5 Discuss implementation strategy.

    4.6 Meet with stakeholders to discuss licensing options and budget allocation.

    Outputs

    Salesforce Negotiation Strategy

    Vendor Communication Management Plan

    RASCI Chart

    Info-Tech’s Core CRM Project Plan

    Salesforce Licensing Purchase Reference Guide

    CIO Priorities 2022

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}328|cart{/j2store}
    • member rating overall impact (scale of 10): 10.0/10 Overall Impact
    • member rating average dollars saved: $31,499 Average $ Saved
    • member rating average days saved: 9 Average Days Saved
    • Parent Category Name: Innovation
    • Parent Category Link: /innovation
    • Understand how to respond to trends affecting your organization.
    • Determine your priorities based on current state and relevant internal factors.
    • Assign the right amount of resources to accomplish your vision.
    • Consider what new challenges outside of your control will demand a response.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    A priority is created when external factors hold strong synergy with internal goals and an organization responds by committing resources to either avert risk or seize opportunity. These are the priorities identified in the report:

    1. Reduce Friction in the Hybrid Operating Model
    2. Improve Your Ransomware Readiness
    3. Support an Employee-Centric Retention Strategy
    4. Design an Automation Platform
    5. Prepare to Report on New Environmental, Social, and Governance Metrics

    Impact and Result

    Update your strategic roadmap to include priorities that are critical and relevant for your organization based on a balance of external and internal factors.

    CIO Priorities 2022 Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. CIO Priorities 2022 – A report on the key priorities for competing in the digital economy.

    Discover Info-Tech’s five priorities for CIOs in 2022.

    • CIO Priorities Report for 2022

    2. Listen to the podcast series

    Hear directly from our contributing experts as they discuss their case studies with Brian Jackson.

    • Frictionless hybrid working: How the Harvard Business School did it
    • Close call with ransomware: A CIO recounts a near security nightmare
    • How a financial services company dodged "The Great Resignation"
    • How Allianz took a blockchain platform from pilot to 1 million transactions
    • CVS Health chairman David Dorman on healthcare's hybrid future

    Infographic

    Further reading

    CIO Priorities 2022

    A jumble of business-related words. Info-Tech’s 2022 Tech Trends survey asked CIOs for their top three priorities. Cluster analysis of their open-ended responses shows four key themes:
    1. Business process improvements
    2. Digital transformation or modernization
    3. Security
    4. Supporting revenue growth or recovery

    Info-Tech’s annual CIO priorities are formed from proprietary primary data and consultation with our internal experts with CIO stature

    2022 Tech Trends Survey CIO Demographic N=123

    Info-Tech’s Tech Trends 2022 survey was conducted between August and September 2021 and collected a total of 475 responses from IT decision makers, 123 of which were at the C-level. Fourteen countries and 16 industries are represented in the survey.

    2022 IT Talent Trends Survey CIO Demographic N=44

    Info-Tech’s IT Talent Trends 2022 survey was conducted between September and October 2021 and collected a total of 245 responses from IT decision makers, 44 of which were at the C-level. A broad range of countries from around the world are represented in the survey.

    Internal CIO Panels’ 125 Years Of Combined C-Level IT Experience

    Panels of former CIOs at Info-Tech focused on interpreting tech trends data and relating it to client experiences. Panels were conducted between November 2021 and January 2022.

    CEO-CIO Alignment Survey Benchmark Completed By 107 Different Organizations

    Info-Tech’s CEO-CIO Alignment program helps CIOs align with their supervisors by asking the right questions to ensure that IT stays on the right path. It determines how IT can best support the business’ top priorities and address the gaps in your strategy. In 2021, the benchmark was formed by 107 different organizations.

    Build IT alignment

    IT Management & Governance Diagnostic Benchmark Completed By 320 Different Organizations

    Info-Tech’s Management and Governance Diagnostic helps IT departments assess their strengths and weaknesses, prioritize their processes and build an improvement roadmap, and establish clear ownership of IT processes. In 2021, the benchmark was formed by data from 320 different organizations.

    Assess your IT processes

    The CIO priorities are informed by Info-Tech’s trends research reports and surveys

    Priority: “The fact or condition of being regarded or treated as more important than others.” (Lexico/Oxford)

    Trend: “A general direction in which something is developing or changing.” (Lexico/Oxford)

    A sequence of processes beginning with 'Sensing', 'Hypothesis', 'Validation', and ending with 'Trends, 'Priorities'. Under Sensing is Technology Research, Interviews & Insights, Gathering, and PESTLE. Under Hypothesis is Near-Future Probabilities, Identify Patterns, Identify Uncertainties, and Identify Human Benefits. Under Validation is Test Hypothesis, Case Studies, and Data-Driven Insights. Under Trends is Technology, Talent, and Industry. Under Priorities is CIO, Applications, Infrastructure, and Security.

    Visit Info-Tech’s Trends & Priorities Research Center

    Image called 'Defining the CIO Priorities for 2022'. Image shows 4 columns, Implications, Resource Investment, Amplifiers, and Actions and Outcomes, with 2 dotted lines, labeled External Context and Internal Context, running through all 4 columns and leading to bottom-right label called CIO Priorities Formed

    The Five Priorities

    Priorities to compete in the digital economy

    1. Reduce Friction in the Hybrid Operating Model
    2. Improve Your Ransomware Readiness
    3. Support an Employee-Centric Retention Strategy
    4. Design an Automation Platform
    5. Prepare to Report on New Environmental, Social, and Governance Metrics

    Reduce friction in the hybrid operating model

    Priority 01 | APO07 Human Resources Management

    Deliver solutions that create equity between remote workers and office workers and make collaboration a joy.

    Hybrid work is here to stay

    CIOs must deal with new pain points related to friction of collaboration

    In 2020, CIOs adapted to the pandemic’s disruption to offices by investing in capabilities to enable remote work. With restrictions on gathering in offices, even digital laggards had to shift to an all-remote work model for non-essential workers.

    Most popular technologies already invested in to facilitate better collaboration

    • 24% Web Conferencing
    • 23% Instant Messaging
    • 20% Document Collaboration

    In 2022, the focus shifts to solving problems created by the new hybrid operating model where some employees are in the office and some are working remotely. Without the ease of collaborating in a central hub, technology can play a role in reducing friction in several areas:

    • Foster more connections between employees. Remote workers are less likely to collaborate with people outside of their department and less likely to spontaneously collaborate with their peers. CIOs should provide a digital employee experience that fosters collaboration habits and keeps workers engaged.
    • Prevent employee attrition. With more workers reevaluating their careers and leaving their jobs, CIOs can help employees feel connected to the overall purpose of the organization. Finding a way to maintain culture in the new context will require new solutions. While conference room technology can be a bane to IT departments, making hybrid meetings effortless to facilitate will be more important.
    • Provide new standards for mediated collaboration. Meeting isn’t as easy as simply gathering around the same table anymore. CIOs need to provide structure around how hybrid meetings are conducted to create equity between all participants. Business continuity processes must also consider potential outages for collaboration services so employees can continue the work despite a major outage.

    Three in four organizations have a “hybrid” approach to work. (Tech Trends 2022 Survey)

    In most organizations, a hybrid model is being implemented. Only 14.9% of organizations are planning for almost everyone to return to the office, and only 9.9% for almost everyone to work remotely.

    Elizabeth Clark

    CIO, Harvard Business School

    "I want to create experiences that are sticky. That keep people coming back and engaging with their colleagues."

    Photo of Elizabeth Clark, CIO, Harvard Business School.

    Listen to the Tech Insights podcast:
    Frictionless hybrid working: How the Harvard Business School did it

    Internal interpretation: Harvard Business School

    • March 2020
      The pandemic disrupts in-class education at Harvard Business School. Their case study method of instruction that depends on in-person, high-quality student engagement is at risk. While students and faculty completed the winter semester remotely, the Dean and administration make the goal to restore the integrity of the classroom experience with equity for both remote and in-person students.
    • May 2020
      A cross-functional task force of about 100 people work intensively, conducting seven formal experiments, 80 smaller tests, and hundreds of polling data points, and a technology and facilities solution is designed: two 4K video cameras capturing both the faculty and the in-class students, new ceiling mics, three 85-inch TV screens, and students joining the videoconference from their laptops. A custom Zoom room, combining three separate rooms, integrated all the elements in one place and integrated with the lecture capture system and learning management system.
    • October 2020
      Sixteen classrooms are renovated to install the new solution. Students return to the classroom but in lower numbers due to limits on in-room capacity, but students rotate between the in-person and remote experience.
    • September 2021
      Renovations for the hybrid solution are complete in 26 classrooms and HBS has determined this will be its standard model for the classroom. The case method of teaching is kept alive and faculty and students are thrilled with the results.
    • November 2021
      HBS is adapting its solution for the classroom to its conference rooms and has built out eight different rooms for a hybrid experience. The 4K cameras and TV screens capture all participants in high fidelity as well as the blackboard.

    Photo of a renovated classroom with Zoom participants integrated with the in-person students.
    The renovated classrooms integrate all students, whether they are participating remotely or in person. (Image courtesy of Harvard Business School.)

    Implications: Organization, Process, Technology

    External

    • Organization – About half of IT practitioners in the Tech Trends 2022 survey feel that IT leaders, infrastructure and operations teams, and security teams were “very busy” in 2021. Capacity to adapt to hybrid work could be constrained by these factors.
    • Process – Organizations that want employees to benefit from being back in the office will have to rethink how workers can get more value out of in-person meetings that also require videoconference participation with remote workers.
    • Technology – Fifty-four percent of surveyed IT practitioners say the pandemic raised IT spending compared to the projections they made in 2020. Much of that investment went into adapting to a remote work environment.

    Internal

    • Organization – HBS added 30 people to its IT staff on term appointments to develop and implement its hybrid classroom solutions. Hires included instructional designers, support technicians, coordinators, and project managers.
    • Process – Only 25 students out of the full capacity of 95 could be in the classroom due to COVID-19 regulations. On-campus students rotated through the classroom seats. An app was created to post last-minute seat availability to keep the class full.
    • Technology – A Zoom room was created that combines three rooms to provide the full classroom experience: a view of the instructor, a clear view of each student that enlarges when they are speaking, and a view of the blackboard.

    Resources Applied

    Appetite for Technology

    CIOs and their direct supervisors both ranked internal collaboration tools as being a “critical need to adopt” in 2021, according to Info-Tech’s CEO-CIO Alignment Benchmark Report.

    Intent to Invest

    Ninety-seven percent of IT practitioners plan to invest in technology to facilitate better collaboration between employees in the office and outside the office by the end of 2022, according to Info-Tech’s 2022 Tech Trends survey.

    “We got so many nice compliments, which you don’t get in IT all the time. You get all the complaints, but it’s a rare case when people are enthusiastic about something that was delivered.” (Elizabeth Clark, CIO, Harvard Business School)

    Harvard Business School

    • IT staff were reassigned from other projects to prioritize building a hybrid classroom solution. A cloud migration and other portfolio projects were put on pause.
    • The annual capital A/V investment was doubled. The amount of spend on conference rooms was tripled.
    • Employees were hired to the media services team at a time when other areas of the organization were frozen.

    Outcomes at Harvard Business School

    The new normal at Harvard Business School

    New normal: HBS has found its new default operating model for the classroom and is extending its solution to its operating environment.

    Improved CX: The high-quality experience for students has helped avoid attrition despite the challenges of the pandemic.

    Engaged employees: The IT team is also engaged and feels connected to the mission of the school.

    Photo of a custom Zoom room bringing together multiple view of the classroom as well as all remote students.
    A custom Zoom room brings together multiple different views of the classroom into one single experience for remote students. (Image courtesy of Harvard Business School.)

    From Priorities to Action

    Make hybrid collaboration a joy

    Align with your organization’s goals for collaboration and customer interaction, with the target of high satisfaction for both customers and employees. Invest in capital projects to improve the fidelity of conference rooms, develop and test a new way of working, and increase IT capacity to alleviate pressure points.

    Foster both asynchronous and synchronous collaboration approaches to avoid calendars filling up with videoconference meetings to get things done and to accommodate workers contributing from across different time zones.

    “We’ll always have hybrid now. It’s opened people’s eyes and now we’re thinking about the future state. What new markets could we explore?” (Elizabeth Clark, CIO, Harvard Business School)

    Take the next step

    Run Better Meetings
    Hybrid, virtual, or in person – set meeting best practices that support your desired meeting norms.

    Prepare People Leaders for the Hybrid Work Environment
    Set hybrid work up for success by providing people leaders with the tools they need to lead within the new model.

    Hoteling and Hot-Desking: A Primer
    What you need to know regarding facilities, IT infrastructure, maintenance, security, and vendor solutions for desk hoteling and hot-desking.

    “Human Resources Management” gap between importance and effectiveness
    Info-Tech Research Group Management and Governance Diagnostic Benchmark 2021

    A bar chart illustrating the Human Resources Management gap between importance and effectiveness. The difference is marked as Delta 2.3.

    Improve your ransomware readiness

    Priority 02 | APO13 Security Strategy

    Mitigate the damage of successful ransomware intrusions and make recovery as painless as possible.

    The ransomware crisis threatens every organization

    Prevention alone won’t be enough against the forces behind ransomware.

    Cybersecurity is always top of mind for CIOs but tends to be deprioritized due to other demands related to digital transformation or due to cost pressures. That’s the case when we examine our data for this report.

    Cybersecurity ranked as the fourth-most important priority by CIOs in Info-Tech’s 2022 Tech Trends survey, behind business process improvement, digital transformation, and modernization. Popular ways to prepare for a successful attack include creating offline backups, purchasing insurance, and deploying new solutions to eradicate ransomware.

    CIOs and their direct supervisors ranked “Manage IT-Related Security” as the third-most important top IT priority on Info-Tech’s CEO-CIO Alignment Benchmark for 2021, in support of business goals to manage risk, comply with external regulation, and ensure service continuity.

    Most popular ways for organizations to prepare for the event of a successful ransomware attack:

    • 25% Created offline backups
    • 18% Purchased cyberinsurance
    • 19% New tech to eradicate ransomware

    Whatever priority an organization places on cybersecurity, when ransomware strikes, it quickly becomes a red alert scenario that disrupts normal operations and requires all hands on deck to respond. Sophisticated attacks executed at wide scale demonstrate that security can be bypassed without creating an alert. After that’s accomplished, the perpetrators build their leverage by exfiltrating data and encrypting critical systems.

    CIOs can plan to mitigate ransomware attacks in several constructive ways:

    • Business impact analysis. Determine the costs of an outage for specific periods and the system and data recovery points in time.
    • Engage a partner for 24/7 monitoring. Gain real-time awareness of your critical systems.
    • Review your identity access management (IAM) policies. Use of multi-factor authentication and limiting access to only the roles that need it reduces ransomware risk.

    50% of all organizations spent time and money specifically to prevent ransomware in the past year. (Info-Tech Tech Trends 2022 Survey)

    John Doe

    CIO, mid-sized manufacturing firm in the US

    "I want to create experiences that are sticky. That keep people coming back and engaging with their colleagues."

    Blank photo.

    Listen to the Tech Insights podcast:
    Close call with ransomware: a CIO recounts a near security nightmare

    Internal interpretation: US-based, mid-sized manufacturing firm

    • May 1, 2021
      A mid-sized manufacturing firm (“The Firm”) CIO gets a call from his head of security about odd things happening on the network. A call is made to Microsoft for support. Later that night, the report is that an unwanted crypto-mining application is the culprit. But a couple of hours later, that assessment is proven wrong when it’s realized that hundreds of systems are staged for a ransomware attack. All the attacker has to do is push the button.
    • May 2, 2021
      The Firm disconnects all its global sites to cut off new pathways for the malware to infect. All normal operations cease for 24 hours. It launches its cybersecurity insurance process. The CIO engages a new security vendor, CrowdStrike, to help respond. Employees begin working from home if they can so they can make use of their own internet service. The Firm has cut off its public internet connectivity and is severed from cloud services such as Azure storage and collaboration software.
    • May 4, 2021
      The hackers behind the attack are revealed by security forensics experts. A state-sponsored agency in Russia set up the ransomware and left it ready to execute. It sold the staged attack to a cybercriminal group, Doppel Spider. According to CrowdStrike, the group uses malware to run “big game hunting operations” and targets 18 different countries including the US and multiple industries, including manufacturing.
    • May 10, 2021
      The Firm has totally recovered from the ransomware incident and avoided any serious breach or paying a ransom. The CIO worked more hours than at any other point in his career, logging an estimated 130 hours over the two weeks.
    • November 2021
      The Firm never previously considered itself a ransomware target but has now reevaluated that stance. It has hired a service provider to run a security operations center on a 24/7 basis. It's implemented a more sophisticated detection and response model and implemented multi-factor authentication. It’s doubled its security spend in 2021 and will invest more in 2022.

    “Now we take the approach that if someone does get in, we're going to find them out.” (John Doe, CIO, “The Firm”)

    Implications: Organization, Process, Technology

    External

    • Organization – Organizations must consider how their employees play a role in preventing ransomware and plan for training to recognize phishing and other common traps. They must make plans for employees to continue their work if systems are disrupted by ransomware.
    • Process – Backup processes across multiple systems should be harmonized to have both recent and common points to recover from. Work with the understanding IT will have to take systems offline if ransomware is discovered and there is no time to ask for permission.
    • Technology – Organizations can benefit from security services provided by a forensics-focused vendor. Putting cybersecurity insurance in place not only provides financial protection but also guidance in what to do and which vendors to work with to prevent and recover from ransomware.

    Internal

    • Organization – The Firm was prepared with a business continuity plan to allow many of its employees to work remotely, which was necessary because the office network was incapacitated for ten days during recovery.
    • Process – Executives didn’t seek to assign blame for the security incident but took it as a signal there were some new costs involved to stay in business. It initiated new outsource relationships and hired one more full-time employee to shore up security resources.
    • Technology – New ransomware eradication software was deployed to 2,000 computers. Scripted processes automated much of the work, but in some cases full system rebuilds were required. Backup systems were disconnected from the network as soon as the malware was discovered.

    Resources Applied

    Consider the Alternative

    Organizations should consider how much a ransomware attack on critical systems would cost them if they were down for a minimum of 24-48 hours. Plan to invest an amount at least equal to the costs of that downtime.

    Ask for ID

    Implementing across-the-board multi-factor authentication reduces chances of infection and is cheap, with enterprise solutions ranging from $2 to $5 per user on average. Be strict and deny access when connections don’t authenticate.

    “You'll never stop everything from getting into the network. You can still focus on stopping the bad actors, but then if they do make it in, make sure they don't get far.” (John Doe, CIO, “The Firm”)

    “The Firm” (Mid-Sized Manufacturer)

    • During the crisis, The Firm paused all activities and focused solely on isolating and eliminating the ransomware threat.
    • New outsourcing relationship with a vendor provides a 24/7 Security Operations Center.
    • One more full-time employee on the security team.
    • Doubled investment in security in 2021 and will spend more in 2022.

    Outcomes at “The Firm” (Mid-Sized Manufacturer)

    The new cost of doing business

    Real-time security: While The Firm is still investing in prevention-based security, it is also developing its real-time detection and response capabilities. When ransomware makes it through the cracks, it wants to know as soon as possible and stop it.

    Leadership commitment: The C-suite is taking the experience as a wake-up call that more investment is required in today’s threat landscape. The Firm rates security more highly as an overall organizational goal, not just something for IT to worry about.

    Stock photo of someone using their phone while sitting at a computer, implying multi-factor authentication.
    The Firm now uses multi-factor authentication as part of its employee sign-on process. For employees, authenticating is commonly achieved by using a mobile app that receives a secret code from the issuer.

    From Priorities to Action

    Cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility

    In Info-Tech’s CEO-CIO Alignment Benchmark for 2021, the business goal of “Manage Risk” was the single biggest point of disagreement between CIOs and their direct supervisors. CIOs rank it as the second-most important business goal, while CEOs rank it as sixth-most important.

    Organizations should align on managing risk as a top priority given the severity of the ransomware threat. The threat actors and nature of the attacks are such that top leadership must prepare for when ransomware hits. This includes halting operations quickly to contain damage, engaging third-party security forensics experts, and coordinating with government regulators.

    Cybersecurity strategies may be challenged to be effective without creating some friction for users. Organizations should look beyond multi-layer prevention strategies and lean toward quick detection and response, spending evenly across prevention, detection, and response solutions.

    Take the next step

    Create a Ransomware Incident Response Plan
    Don’t be the next headline. Determine your current readiness, response plan, and projects to close gaps.

    Simplify Identity and Access Management
    Select and implement IAM and produce vendor RFPs that will contain the capabilities you need, including multi-factor authentication.

    Cybersecurity Series Featuring Sandy Silk
    More from Info-Tech’s Senior Workshop Director Sandy Silk in this video series created while she was still at Harvard University.

    Gap between CIOs and CEOs in points allocated to “Manage risk” as a top business goal

    A bar chart illustrating the gap between CIOs and CEOs in points allocated to 'Manage risk' as a top business goal. The difference is marked as Delta 1.5.

    Support an employee-centric retention strategy

    Priority 03 | ITRG02 Leadership, Culture & Values

    Avoid being a victim of “The Great Resignation” by putting employees at the center of an experience that will engage them with clear career path development, purposeful work, and transparent feedback.

    Defining an employee-first culture that improves retention

    The Great resignation isn’t good for firms

    In 2021, many workers decided to leave their jobs. Working contexts were disrupted by the pandemic and that saw non-essential workers sent home to work, while essential workers were asked to continue to come into work despite the risks of COVID-19. These disruptions may have contributed to many workers reevaluating their professional goals and weighing their values differently. At the same time, 2021 saw a surging economy and many new job opportunities to create a talent-hungry market. Many workers could have been motivated to take a new opportunity to increase their salary or receive other benefits such as more flexibility.

    Annual turnover rate for all us employees on the rise

    • 20% – Jan.-Aug. 2020, Dipped from 22% in 2019
    • 25% Jan.-Aug. 2021, New record high
    • Data from Visier Inc.

    When you can’t pay them, develop them

    IT may be less affected than other departments by this trend. Info-Tech’s 2022 IT Talent Trends Report shows that on average, estimated turnover rate in IT is lower than the rest of the organization. Almost half of respondents estimated their organization’s voluntary turnover rate was 10% or higher. Only 30% of respondents estimate that IT’s voluntary turnover rate is in the same range. However, CIOs working in industries with the highest turnover rates will have to work to keep their workers engaged and satisfied, as IT skills are easily transferred to other industries.

    49% ranked “enabling learning & development within IT” as high priority, more than any other single challenge. (IT Talent Trends 2022 Survey, N=227)

    A bar chart of 'Industries with highest turnover rates (%)' with 'Leisure and Hospitality' at 6.4%, 'Trade, Transportation & Utilities' at 3.6%, 'Professional and Business' at 3.3%, and 'Other Services' at 3.1%. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2022.

    Jeff Previte

    Executive Vice-President of IT, CrossCountry Mortgage

    “We have to get to know the individual at a personal level … Not just talking about the business, but getting to know the person."

    Photo of Jeff Previte, Executive Vice-President of IT, CrossCountry Mortgage.

    Listen to the Tech Insights podcast:
    How a financial services company dodged ‘The Great Resignation’

    Internal interpretation: CrossCountry Mortgage

    • May 2019
      Jeff Previte joins Cleveland, Ohio-based CrossCountry Mortgage in the CIO role. The company faces a challenge with employee turnover, particularly in IT. The firm is a sales-focused organization and saw its turnover rate reach as high as 60%. Yet Previte recognized that IT had some meaningful goals to achieve and would need to attract – and retain – some higher caliber talent. His first objective in his new role was to meet with IT employees and business leadership to set priorities.
    • July 2019
      Previte takes a “people-first” approach to leadership and meets his staff face-to-face to understand their personal situations. He sets to work on defining roles and responsibilities in the organization, spending about a fifth of his time on defining the strategy.
    • June 2020
      Previte assigned his leadership team to McLean & Company’s Design an Impactful Employee Development Program. From there, the team developed a Salesforce tool called the Career Development Workbook. “We had some very passionate developers and admins that wanted to build a home-grown tool,” he says. It turns McLean & Company’s process into a digital tool employees can use to reflect on their careers and explore their next steps. It helps facilitate development conversations with managers.
    • January 2021
      CrossCountry Mortgage changes its approach to career development activities. Going to external conferences and training courses is reduced to just 30% of that effort. The rest is by doing hands-on work at the company. Previte aligned with his executives and road-mapped IT projects annually. Based on employee’s interests, opportunities are found to carve out time from usual day-to-day activities to spend time on a project in a new area. When there’s a business need, someone internally can be ready to transition roles.
    • June 2021
      In the two years since joining the company, Previte has reduced the turnover rate to just 12%. The IT department has grown to more adequately meet the needs of the business and employees are engaged with more opportunities to develop their careers. Instead of focusing on compensation, Previte focused more on engaging employees with a developmentally dedicated environment and continuous hands-on learning.

    “It’s come down to a culture shift. Folks have an idea of where we’re headed as an organization, where we’re headed as an IT team, and how their role contributes to that.” (Jeff Previte, EVP of IT, CrossCountry Mortgage)

    Implications: Organization, Process, Technology

    External

    • Organization – A high priority is being placed on improving IT’s maturity through its talent. Enabling learning and development in IT, enabling departmental innovation, and recruiting are the top three highest priorities according to IT Talent Trends 2022 survey responses.
    • Process – Recruiting is more challenging for industries that operate primarily onsite, according to McLean & Company's 2022 HR Trends Report. They face more challenges attracting applications, more rejected offers, and more candidate ghosting compared to remote-capable industries.
    • Technology – Providing a great employee experience through digital tools is more important as many organizations see a mix of workers in the office and at home. These tools can help connect colleagues, foster professional development, and improve the candidate experience.

    Internal

    • Organization – CrossCountry Mortgage faced a situation where IT employees did not have clarity on their roles and responsibilities. In terms of salary, it wasn’t offering at the high end compared to other employers in Cleveland.
    • Process – To foster a culture of growth and development, CrossCountry Mortgage put in place a performance assessment system that encouraged reflection and goal setting, aided by collaboration with a manager.
    • Technology – The high turnover rate was limiting CrossCountry Mortgage from achieving the level of maturity it needed to support the company’s goals. It ingrained its new PA process with a custom build of a Salesforce tool.

    Resources Applied

    Show me the money

    Almost six in ten Talent Trends survey respondents identified salary and compensation as the reason that employees resigned in the past year. Organizations looking to engage employees must first pay a fair salary according to market and industry conditions.

    Build me up

    Professional development and opportunity for innovative work are the next two most common reasons for resignations. Organizations must ensure they create enough capacity to allow workers time to spend on development.

    “Building our own solution created an element of engagement. There was a sense of ownership that the team had in thinking through this.” (Jeff Previte, CrossCountry Mortgage)

    CrossCountry Mortgage

    • Executive time: CIO spends 10-20% of his time on activities related to designing the approach.
    • Leveraged memberships with Info-Tech Research Group and McLean & Company to define professional development process.
    • Internal IT develops automated workflow in Salesforce.
    • Hired additional IT staff to build out overall capacity and create time for development activities.

    Outcomes at CrossCountry Mortgage

    Engaged IT workforce

    The Great Maturation: IT staff turnover rate dropped to 10-12% and IT talent is developing on the job to improve the department’s overall skill level. More IT staff on hand and more engaged workers mean IT can deliver higher maturity level results.

    Alignment achieved: Connecting IT’s initiatives to the vision of the C-suite creates a clear purpose for IT in its initiatives. Staff understand what they need to achieve to progress their careers and can grow while they work.

    Photo of employees from CrossCountry Mortgage assisting with a distribution event.
    Employees from CrossCountry Mortgage headquarters assist with a drive-thru distribution event for the Cleveland Food Bank on Dec. 17, 2021. (Image courtesy of CrossCountry Mortgage.)

    From Priorities to Action

    Staff retention is a leadership priority

    The Great Resignation trend is bringing attention to employee engagement and staff retention. IT departments are busier than ever during the pandemic as they work overtime to keep up with a remote workforce and new security threats. At the same time, IT talent is among the most coveted on the market.

    CIOs need to develop a people-first approach to improve the employee experience. Beyond compensation, IT workers need clarity in terms of their career paths, a direct connection between their work and the goals of the organization, and time set aside for professional development.

    Info-Tech’s 2021 benchmark for “Leadership, Culture & Values” shows that most organizations rate this capability very highly (9) but see room to improve on their effectiveness (6.9).

    Take the next step

    IT Talent Trends 2022
    See how IT talent trends are shifting through the pandemic and understand how themes like The Great Resignation has impacted IT.

    McLean & Company’s Modernize Performance Management
    Customize the building blocks of performance management to best fit organizational needs to impact individual and organizational performance, productivity, and engagement.

    Redesign Your IT Organizational Structure
    Define future-state work units, roles, and responsibilities that will enable the IT organization to complete the work that needs to be done.

    “Leadership, Culture & Values” gap between importance and effectiveness
    Info-Tech Research Group Management and Governance Diagnostic Benchmark 2021

    A bar chart illustrating the 'Leadership, Culture & Values' gap between importance and effectiveness. The difference is marked as Delta 2.1.

    Design an automation platform

    Priority 04 | APO04 Innovation

    Position yourself to buy or build a platform that will enable new automation opportunities through seamless integration.

    Build it or buy it, but platform integration can yield great benefits

    Necessity is the mother of innovation

    When it’s said that digital transformation accelerated during the pandemic, what’s really meant is that processes that were formerly done manually became automated through software. In responses to the Tech Trends survey, CIOs say digital transformation was more of a focus during the pandemic, and eight in ten CIOs also say they shifted more than 20% of their organization’s processes to digital during the pandemic. Automating tasks through software can be called digitalization.

    Most organizations became more digitalized during the pandemic. But how they pursued it depends on their IT maturity. For digital laggards, partnering with a technology services platform is the path of least resistance. For sophisticated innovators, they can consider building a platform to address the specific needs of their business process. Doing so requires the foundation of an existing “digital factory” or innovation arm where new technologies can be tested, proofs of concept developed, and external partnerships formed. Patience is key with these efforts, as not every investment will yield immediate returns and some will fail outright.

    Build it or buy it, platform participants integrate with their existing systems through application programming interfaces (APIs). Organizations should determine their platform strategies based on maturity, then look to integrate the business processes that will yield the most gains.

    What role should you play in the platform ecosystem?

    A table with levels on the maturity ladder laid out as a sprint. Column headers are maturity levels 'Struggle', 'Support', 'Optimize', 'Expand', and 'Transform', row headers are 'Maturity' and 'Role'. Roles are assigned to one or many levels. 'Improve' is solely under Struggle. 'Integrate' spans from Support to Transform. 'Buy' spans Support to Expand. 'Build' begins midway through Expand and all of Transform. 'Partner' spans from Optimize to halfway through Transform.

    68% of CIOs say digital transformation became much more of a focus for their organization during the pandemic (Info-Tech Tech Trends 2022 Survey)

    Bob Crozier

    Chief Architect, Allianz Technology & Global Head of Blockchain, Allianz Technology SE

    "Smart contracts are really just workflows between counterparties."

    Photo of Bob Crozier, Chief Architect, Allianz Technology & Global Head of Blockchain, Allianz Technology SE.

    Listen to the Tech Insights podcast:
    How Allianz took a blockchain platform from pilot to 1 million transactions

    Internal interpretation: Allianz Technology

    • 2015
      After smart contracts are demonstrated on the Ethereum blockchain, Allianz and other insurers recognize the business value. There is potential to use the capability to administer a complex, multi-party contract where the presence of the reinsurer in the risk transfer ecosystem is required. Manual contracts could be turned into code and automated. Allianz organized an early proof of concept around a theoretical pandemic excessive loss contract.
    • 2018
      Allianz Chief Architect Bob Crozier is leading the Global Blockchain Center of Competence for Allianz. They educate Allianz on the value of blockchain for business. They also partner with a joint venture between the Technology University of Munich and the state of Bavaria. A cohort of Masters students is looking for real business problems to solve with open-source distributed ledger technology. Allianz puts its problem statement in front of the group. A student team presents a proof of concept for an international motor insurance claims settlement and it comes in second place at a pitch day competition.
    • 2019
      Allianz brings the concept back in-house, and its business leaders return to the concept. Startup Luther Systems is engaged to build a minimum-viable product for the solution, with the goal being a pilot involving three or four subsidiaries in different countries. The Blockchain Center begins communicating with 25 Allianz subsidiaries that will eventually deploy the platform.
    • 2020
      Allianz is in build mode on its international motor insurance claims platform. It leverages its internal Dev/SecOps teams based in Munich and in India.
    • May 2021
      Allianz goes live with its new platform on May 17, decommissioning its old system and migrating all live claims data onto the new blockchain platform. It sees 400 concurrent users go live across Europe.
    • January 2022
      Allianz mines its one-millionth block to its ledger on Jan. 19, with each block representing a peer-to-peer transaction across its 25 subsidiaries in different countries. The platform has settled hundreds of millions of dollars.

    Stock photo of two people arguing over a car crash.

    Implications: Organization, Process, Technology

    External

    • Organization – To explore emerging technologies like blockchain, organizations need staff that are accountable for innovation and have leeway to develop proofs of concept. External partners are often required to bring in fresh ideas and move quickly towards an MVP.
    • Process – According to the Tech Trends 2022 survey, 84% of CIOs consider automation a high-value digital capability, and 77% say identity verification is a high-value capability. A blockchain platform using smart contracts can deliver those.
    • Technology – The Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger Fabric is an open-source blockchain technology that’s become popular in the financial industry for its method of forming consensus and its modular architecture. It’s been adopted by USAA, MasterCard, and PayPal. It also underpins the IBM Blockchain Platform and is supported by Azure Blockchain.

    Internal

    • Organization – Allianz is a holding company that owns Allianz Technology and 25 operating entities across Europe. It uses the technology arm to innovate on the business process and creates shared platforms that its entities can integrate with to automate across the value chain.
    • Process – Initial interest in smart contracts on blockchain were funneled into a student competition, where a proof of concept was developed. Allianz partnered with a startup to develop an MVP, then developed the platform while aligning with its business units ahead of launch.
    • Technology – Allianz built its blockchain platform on Hyperledger Fabric because it was a permissioned system, unlike other public permissionless blockchains such as Ethereum, and because its mining mechanism was much more energy efficient compared to other blockchains using Proof of Work consensus models.

    Resources Applied

    Time to innovate

    Exploring emerging technology for potential use cases is difficult for staff tasked with running day-to-day operations. Organizations serious about innovation create a separate team that can focus on “moonshot” projects and connect with external partners.

    Long-term ROI

    Automation of new business processes often requires a high upfront initial investment for a long-term efficiency gain. A proof of concept should demonstrate clear business value that can be repeated often and for a long period.

    “My next project has to deliver in the tens of millions of value in return. The bar is high and that’s what it should be for a business of our size.” (Bob Crozier, Allianz)

    Allianz

    • Several operating entities from different countries supplied subject matter expertise and helped with the testing process.
    • Allianz Technology team has eight staff members. It is augmented by Luther Systems and the team at industry group B3i.
    • Funding of less than $5 million to develop. Dev team continues to add improvements.
    • Operating requires just one full-time employee plus infrastructure costs, mostly for public cloud hosting.

    Outcomes at Allianz

    From insurer to platform provider

    Deliver your own SaaS: Allianz Technology built its blockchain-based claims settlement platform and its subsidiaries consume it as software as a service. The platform runs on a distributed architecture across Europe, with each node running the same version of the software. Operating entities can also integrate their own systems to the platform via APIs and further automate business processes such as billing.

    Ready to scale: After processing one million transactions, the international claims settlement platform is proven and ready to add more participants. Crozier sees auto repair shops and auto manufacturers as the next logical users.

    Stock photo of Blockchain.
    Allianz is a shareholder of the Blockchain Insurance Industry Initiative (B3i). It is providing a platform used by a group of insurance companies in the commercial and reinsurance space.

    When should we use blockchain? THREE key criteria:

    • Redundant processes
      Different entities follow the same process to achieve the desired outcome.
    • Audit trail
      Accountability in the decision making must be documented.
    • Reconciliation
      Parties need to be able to resolve disputes by tracing back to the truth.

    From Priorities to Action

    It’s a build vs. buy question for platforms

    Allianz was able to build a platform for its group of European subsidiaries because of its established digital factory and commitment to innovation. Allianz Technology is at the “innovate” level of IT maturity, allowing it to create a platform that subsidiaries can integrate with via APIs. For firms that are lower on the IT maturity scale, buying a platform solution is the better path to automation. These firms will be concerned with integrating their legacy systems to platforms that can reduce the friction of their operating environments and introduce modern new capabilities.

    From Info-Tech’s Build a Winning Business Process Automation Playbook

    An infographic comparing pros and cons of Build versus Buy. On the 'Build: High Delivery Capacity & Capability' side is 'Custom Development', 'Data Integration', 'AI/ML', 'Configuration', 'Native Workflow', and 'Low & No Code'. On the 'Buy: Low Delivery Capacity & Capability' side is 'Outsource Development', 'iPaaS', 'Chatbots', 'iBPMS & Rules Engines', 'RPA', and 'Point Solutions'.

    Take the next step

    Accelerate Your Automation Processes
    Integrate automation solutions and take the first steps to building an automation suite.

    Build Effective Enterprise Integration on the Back of Business Process
    From the backend to the frontlines – let enterprise integration help your business processes fly.

    Evolve Your Business Through Innovation
    Innovation teams are tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that their organizations are in the best position to succeed while the world is in a period of turmoil, chaos, and uncertainty.

    “Innovation” gap between importance and effectiveness Info-Tech Research Group Management and Governance Diagnostic Benchmark 2021

    A bar chart illustrating the 'Innovation' gap between importance and effectiveness. The difference is marked as Delta 2.1.

    Prepare to report on new environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics

    Priority 05 | ITRG06 Business Intelligence and Reporting

    Be ready to either lead or support initiatives to meet the criteria of new ESG reporting mandates and work toward disclosure reporting solutions.

    Time to get serious about ESG

    What does CSR or ESG mean to a CIO?

    Humans are putting increasing pressure on the planet’s natural environment and creating catastrophic risks as a result. Efforts to mitigate these risks have been underway for the past 30 years, but in the decade ahead regulators are likely to impose more strict requirements that will be linked to the financial value of an organization. Various voluntary frameworks exist for reporting on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) or corporate social responsibility (CSR) metrics. But now there are efforts underway to unify and clarify those standards.

    The most advanced effort toward a global set of standards is in the environmental area. At the United Nations’ COP26 summit in Scotland last November, the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) announced its headquarters (Frankfurt) and three other international office locations (Montreal, San Francisco, and London) and its roadmap for public consultations. It is working with an array of voluntary standards groups toward a consensus.

    In Info-Tech’s 2022 Tech Trends survey, two-thirds of CIOs say their organization is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, yet only 40% say their organizational leadership is very concerned with reducing those emissions. CIOs will need to consider how to align organizational concern with internal commitments and new regulatory pressures. They may investigate new real-time reporting solutions that could serve as a competitive differentiator on ESG.

    Standards informing the ISSB’s global set of climate standards

    A row of logos of organizations that inform ISSB's global set of climate standards.

    67% of CIOs say their organization is committed to reducing greenhouse gases, with one-third saying that commitment is public. (Info-Tech Tech Trends 2022 Survey)

    40% of CIOs say their organizational leadership is very concerned with reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

    David W. Dorman

    Chairman of the board, CVS Health

    “ESG is a question of what you do in the microcosm of your company to make sure there is a clear, level playing field – that there is a color-blind, gender-blind meritocracy available – that you are aware that not in every case can you achieve that without really focusing on it. It’s not going to happen on its own. That’s why our commitments have real dollars behind them and real focus behind them because we want to be the very best at doing them.”

    Photo of David W. Dorman, Chairman of the Board, CVS Health.

    Listen to the Tech Insights podcast:
    CVS Health chairman David Dorman on healthcare's hybrid future

    Internal interpretation: CVS Health

    CVS Health established a new steering committee of senior leaders in 2020 to oversee ESG commitments. It designs its corporate social responsibility strategy, Transform Health 2030, by aligning company activities in four key areas: healthy people, healthy business, healthy planet, and healthy community. The strategy aligns with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. In alignment with these goals, CVS identifies material topics where the company has the most ability to make an impact. In 2020, its top three topics were:

    1. Access to quality health care
    2. Patient and customer safety
    3. Data protection and privacy
    Material Topic
    Access to quality health care
    Material Topic
    Patient and customer safety
    Material Topic
    Data protection and privacy
    Technology Initiative
    MinuteClinic’s Virtual Collaboration for Nurses

    CVS provided Apple iPads compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to clinics in a phased approach, providing training to more than 700 providers in 26 states by February 2021. Nurses could use the iPads to attend virtual morning huddles and access clinical education. Nurses could connect virtually with other healthcare experts to collaborate on delivering patient care in real-time. The project was able to scale across the country through a $50,000 American Nurses Credentialing Center Pathway Award. (Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

    Technology Initiative
    MinuteClinic’s E-Clinic

    MinuteClinics launched this telehealth solution in response to the pandemic, rolling it out in three weeks. The solution complemented video visits delivered in partnership with the Teladoc platform. Visits cost $59 and are covered by Aetna insurance plans, a subsidiary of CVS Health. It hosted more than 20,000 E-Clinic visits through the end of 2020. CVS connected its HealthHUBs to the solution to increase capacity in place of walk-in appointments and managed patients via phone for medication adherence and care plans. CVS also helped behavioral health providers transition patients to virtual visits. (CVS Health)

    Technology Initiative
    Next Generation Authentication Platform

    CVS patented this solution to authenticate customers accessing digital channels. It makes use of the available biometrics data and contextual information to validate identity without the need for a password. CVS planned to extend the platform to voice channels as well, using voiceprint technology. The solution prevents unauthorized access to sensitive health data while providing seamless access for customers. (LinkedIn)

    Implications: Organization, Process, Technology

    External

    • Organization – Since the mid-2010s, younger investors have demonstrated reliance on ESG data when making investment decisions, resulting in the creation of voluntary standards that offered varied approaches. Organizations in ESG exchange-traded funds are outperforming the overall S&P 500 (S&P Global Market Intelligence).
    • Process – Organizations are issuing ESG reports today despite the absence of clear rules to follow for reporting results. With regulators expected to step in to establish more rigid guidelines, many organizations will need to revisit their approach to ESG reports.
    • Technology – Real-time reporting of ESG metrics will become a competitive advantage before 2030. Engineering a solution that can alert organizations to poor performance on ESG measures and allow them to respond could avert losing market value.

    Internal

    • Organization – CVS Health established an ESG Steering Committee in 2020 composed of senior leaders including its chief governance officers, chief sustainability officer, chief risk officer, and controller and SVP of investor relations. It is supported by the ESG Operating Committee.
    • Process – CVS conducts a materiality assessment in accordance with Global Reporting Initiative standards to determine the most significant ESG impacts it can make and what topics most influence the decisions of stakeholders. It engages with various stakeholder groups on CSR topics.
    • Technology – CVS technology initiatives during the pandemic focused on supporting patients and employees in collaborating on health care delivery using virtual solutions, providing rich digital experiences that are easily accessible while upholding high security and privacy standards.

    Resources Applied

    Lack of commitment

    While 83% of businesses state support for the Sustainable Development Goals outlined by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), only 40% make measurable commitments to their goals.

    Show your work

    The GRI recommends organizations not only align their activities with sustainable development goals but also demonstrate contributions to specific targets in reporting on the positive actions they carry out. (GRI, “State of Progress: Business Contributions to the SDGS.”)

    “We end up with a longstanding commitment to diversity because that’s what our customer base looks like.” (David Dorman, CVS Health)

    CVS Health

    • The MinuteClinic Virtual Collaboration solution was piloted in Houston, demonstrated success, and won additional $50,000 funding from the Pathway to Excellence Award to scale the program across the country (Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.).
    • The Next-Gen Authentication solution is provided by the vendor HYPR. It is deployed to ten million users and looking to scale to 30 million more. Pricing for enterprises is quoted at $1 per user, but volume pricing would apply to CVS (HYPR).

    Outcomes at CVS Health

    Delivering on hybrid healthcare solutions

    iPads for collaboration: Healthcare practitioners in the MinuteClinic Virtual Collaboration initiative agreed that it improved the use of interprofessional teams, working well virtually with others, and improved access to professional resources (Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

    Remote healthcare: Saw a 400% increase in MinuteClinic virtual visits in 2020 (CVS Health).

    Verified ID: The Next Generation Authentication platform allowed customers to register for a COVID-19 vaccination appointment. CVS has delivered more than 50 million vaccines (LinkedIn).

    Stock photo of a doctor with an iPad.
    CVS Health is making use of digital channels to connect its customers and health practitioners to a services platform that can supplement visits to a retail or clinic location to receive diagnostics and first-hand care.

    From Priorities to Action

    Become your organization’s ESG Expert

    The risks posed to organizations and wider society are becoming more severe, driving a transition from voluntary frameworks for ESG goals to a mandatory one that’s enforced by investors and governments. Organizations will be expected to tie their core activities to a defined set of ESG goals and maintain a balance sheet of their positive and negative impacts. CIOs should become experts in ESG disclosure requirements and recommend the steps needed to meet or exceed competitors’ efforts. If a leadership vacuum for ESG accountability exists, CIOs can either seek to support their peers that are likely to become accountable or take a leadership role in overseeing the area. CIOs should start working toward solutions that deliver real-time reporting on ESG goals to make reporting frictionless.

    “If you don’t have ESG oversight at the highest levels of the company, it won’t wind up getting the focus. That’s why we review it at the Board multiple times per year. We have an annual report, we compare how we did, what we intended to do, where did we fall short, where did we exceed, and where we can run for daylight to do more.” (David Dorman, CVS Health)

    Take the next step

    ESG Disclosures: How Will We Record Status Updates on the World We Are Creating?
    Prepare for the era of mandated environmental, social, and governance disclosures.

    Private Equity and Venture Capital Growing Impact of ESG Report
    Learn about how the growing impact of ESG affects both your organization and IT specifically, including challenges and opportunities, with expert assistance.

    “Business Intelligence and Reporting” gap between importance and effectiveness
    Info-Tech Research Group Management and Governance Diagnostic Benchmark 2021

    A bar chart illustrating the 'BI and Reporting' gap between importance and effectiveness. The difference is marked as Delta 2.4.

    The Five Priorities

    Priorities to compete in the digital economy

    1. Reduce Friction in the Hybrid Operating Model
    2. Improve Your Ransomware Readiness
    3. Support an Employee-Centric Retention Strategy
    4. Design an Automation Platform
    5. Prepare to Report on New Environmental, Social, and Governance Metrics

    Contributing Experts

    Elizabeth Clark

    CIO, Harvard Business School
    Photo of Elizabeth Clark, CIO, Harvard Business School.

    Jeff Previte

    Executive Vice-President of IT, CrossCountry Mortgage
    Photo of Jeff Previte, Executive Vice-President of IT, CrossCountry Mortgage.

    Bob Crozier

    Chief Architect, Allianz Technology & Global Head of Blockchain, Allianz Technology SE
    Photo of Bob Crozier, Chief Architect, Allianz Technology & Global Head of Blockchain, Allianz Technology SE.

    David W. Dorman

    Chairman of the Board, CVS Health
    Photo of David W. Dorman, Chairman of the Board, CVS Health.

    Info-Tech’s internal CIO panel contributors

    • Bryan Tutor
    • John Kemp
    • Mike Schembri
    • Janice Clatterbuck
    • Sandy Silk
    • Sallie Wright
    • David Wallace
    • Ken McGee
    • Mike Tweedie
    • Cole Cioran
    • Kevin Tucker
    • Angelina Atkins
    • Yakov Kofner
    Photo of an internal CIO panel contributor. Photo of an internal CIO panel contributor.Photo of an internal CIO panel contributor.
    Photo of an internal CIO panel contributor.Photo of an internal CIO panel contributor.Photo of an internal CIO panel contributor.Photo of an internal CIO panel contributor.
    Photo of an internal CIO panel contributor.Photo of an internal CIO panel contributor.Photo of an internal CIO panel contributor.

    Thank you for your support

    Logo for the Blockchain Research Institute.
    Blockchain Research Institute

    Bibliography – CIO Priorities 2022

    “2020 Corporate Social Responsibility Report.” CVS Health, 2020, p. 127. Web.

    “Adversary: Doppel Spider - Threat Actor.” Crowdstrike Adversary Universe, 2021. Accessed 29 Dec. 2021.

    “Aetna CVS Health Success Story.” HYPR, n.d. Accessed 6 Feb. 2022.

    Baig, Aamer. “The CIO agenda for the next 12 months: Six make-or-break priorities.” McKinsey Digital, 1 Nov. 2021. Web.

    Ball, Sarah, Kristene Diggins, Nairobi Martindale, Angela Patterson, Anne M. Pohnert, Jacinta Thomas, Tammy Todd, and Melissa Bates. “2020 ANCC Pathway Award® winner.” Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc., 2021. Accessed 6 Feb. 2022.

    “Canadian Universities Propose Designs for a Central Bank Digital Currency.” Bank of Canada, 11 Feb. 2021. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.

    “Carbon Sequestration in Wetlands.” MN Board of Water and Soil Resources, n.d. Accessed 15 Nov. 2021.

    “CCM Honored as a NorthCoast 99 Award Winner.” CrossCountry Mortgage, 1 Dec. 2021. Web.

    Cheek, Catherine. “Four Things We Learned About the Resignation Wave–and What to Do Next.” Visier Inc. (blog), 5 Oct. 2021. Web.

    “Companies Using Hyperledger Fabric, Market Share, Customers and Competitors.” HG Insights, 2022. Accessed 25 Jan. 2022.

    “IFRS Foundation Announces International Sustainability Standards Board, Consolidation with CDSB and VRF, and Publication of Prototype Disclosure Requirements.” IFRS, 3 Nov. 2021. Web.

    “IT Priorities for 2022: A CIO Report.” Mindsight, 28 Oct. 2021. Web.

    “Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.” Databases, Tables & Calculators by Subject, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2022. Accessed 9 Feb. 2022.

    Kumar, Rashmi, and Michael Krigsman. “CIO Planning and Investment Strategy 2022.” CXOTalk, 13 Sept. 2021. Web.

    Leonhardt, Megan. “The Great Resignation Is Hitting These Industries Hardest.” Fortune, 16 Nov. 2021. Accessed 7 Jan. 2022.

    “Most companies align with SDGs – but more to do on assessing progress.” Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), 17 Jan. 2022. Web.

    Navagamuwa, Roshan. “Beyond Passwords: Enhancing Data Protection and Consumer Experience.” LinkedIn, 15 Dec. 2020.

    Ojo, Oluwaseyi. “Achieving Digital Business Transformation Using COBIT 2019.” ISACA, 19 Aug. 2019. Web.

    “Priority.” Lexico.com, Oxford University Press, 2021. Web.

    Riebold, Jan, and Yannick Bartens. “Reinventing the Digital IT Operating Model for the ‘New Normal.’” Capgemini Worldwide, 3 Nov. 2020. Web.

    Samuels, Mark. “The CIO’s next priority: Using the tech budget for growth.” ZDNet, 1 Sept. 2021. Accessed 1 Nov. 2021.

    Sayer, Peter. “Exclusive Survey: CIOs Outline Tech Priorities for 2021-22.” CIO, 5 Oct. 2021. Web.

    Shacklett, Mary E. “Where IT Leaders Are Likely to Spend Budget in 2022.” InformationWeek, 10 Aug. 2021. Web.

    “Table 4. Quits Levels and Rates by Industry and Region, Seasonally Adjusted - 2021 M11 Results.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Economic News Release, 1 Jan. 2022. Accessed 7 Jan. 2022.

    “Technology Priorities CIOs Must Address in 2022.” Gartner, 19 Oct. 2021. Accessed 1 Nov. 2021.

    Thomson, Joel. Technology, Talent, and the Future Workplace: Canadian CIO Outlook 2021. The Conference Board of Canada, 7 Dec. 2021. Web.

    “Trend.” Lexico.com, Oxford University Press, 2021. Web.

    Vellante, Dave. “CIOs signal hybrid work will power tech spending through 2022.” SiliconANGLE, 25 Sept. 2021. Web.

    Whieldon, Esther, and Robert Clark. “ESG funds beat out S&P 500 in 1st year of COVID-19; how 1 fund shot to the top.” S&P Global Market Intelligence, April 2021. Accessed Dec. 2021.

    Select and Implement a Web Experience Management Solution

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}556|cart{/j2store}
    • member rating overall impact (scale of 10): N/A
    • member rating average dollars saved: N/A
    • member rating average days saved: N/A
    • Parent Category Name: Marketing Solutions
    • Parent Category Link: /marketing-solutions
    • A company’s web presence is its front face to the world. Ensuring you have the right suite of tools for web content management, experience design, and web analytics is critical to putting your best foot forward: failing to do so will result in customer attrition and lost revenue.
    • Web Experience Management (WEM) suites are a rapidly maturing and dynamic market, with a landscape full of vendors with cutting edge solutions and diverse offerings. As a result, finding a solution that is the best fit for your organization can be a complex process.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • WEM products are not a one-size-fits-all investment: unique evaluations and customization are required in order to deploy a solution that fits your organization.
    • WEM technology often complements core CRM and marketing management products – it does not supplant it, and must augment the rest of your customer experience management portfolio.
    • Phase your WEM implementation: Start with core capabilities such as content management, then add additional capabilities for site analytics and dynamic experience.

    Impact and Result

    • Align marketing needs with identified functional requirements.
    • Implement a best-fit WEM that increases customer acquisition and retention, and provides in-depth capabilities for site analysis.
    • Optimize procurement and operations costs for the WEM platform.

    Select and Implement a Web Experience Management Solution Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should select and implement a WEM solution, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Launch the WEM project and collect requirements

    Conduct a market overview, structure the project, and gather requirements.

    • Select and Implement a Web Experience Management Solution – Phase 1: Launch the WEM Project and Collect Requirements
    • WEM Project Charter Template
    • WEM Use-Case Fit Assessment Tool

    2. Select a WEM solution

    Analyze and shortlist vendors in the space and select a WEM solution.

    • Select and Implement a Web Experience Management Solution – Phase 2: Select a WEM Solution
    • WEM Vendor Shortlist & Detailed Feature Analysis Tool
    • WEM Vendor Demo Script Template
    • WEM RFP Template

    3. Plan the WEM implementation

    Plan the implementation and evaluate project metrics.

    • Select and Implement a Web Experience Management Solution – Phase 3: Plan the WEM Implementation
    • WEM Work Breakdown Structure Template
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Select and Implement a Web Experience Management Solution

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Launch of the WEM Selection Project

    The Purpose

    Discuss the general project overview for the WEM selection.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Launch of your WEM selection project.

    Development of your organization’s WEM requirements.

    Activities

    1.1 Facilitation of activities from the Launch the WEM Project and Collect Requirements phase, including project scoping and resource planning.

    1.2 Conduct overview of the WEM market landscape, trends, and vendors.

    1.3 Conduct process mapping for selected marketing processes.

    1.4 Interview business stakeholders.

    1.5 Prioritize WEM functional requirements.

    Outputs

    WEM Procurement Project Charter

    WEM Use-Case Fit Assessment

    2 Plan the Procurement and Implementation Process

    The Purpose

    Plan the procurement and the implementation of the WEM solution.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Selection of a WEM solution.

    A plan for implementing the selected WEM solution.

    Activities

    2.1 Complete marketing process mapping with business stakeholders.

    2.2 Interview IT staff and project team, identify technical requirements for the WEM suite, and document high-level solution requirements.

    2.3 Perform a use-case scenario assessment, review use-case scenario results, identify use-case alignment, and review the WEM Vendor Landscape vendor profiles and performance.

    2.4 Create a custom vendor shortlist and investigate additional vendors for exploration in the marketplace.

    2.5 Meet with project manager to discuss results and action items.

    Outputs

    Vendor Shortlist

    WEM RFP

    Vendor Evaluations

    Selection of a WEM Solution

    WEM projected work break-down

    Implementation plan

    Framework for WEM deployment and CRM/Marketing Management Suite Integration

    Business Value

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}7|cart{/j2store}
    • Related Products: {j2store}7|crosssells{/j2store}
    • Up-Sell: {j2store}7|upsells{/j2store}
    • member rating overall impact (scale of 10): N/A
    • member rating average dollars saved: N/A
    • member rating average days saved: N/A
    • Parent Category Name: Financial Management
    • Parent Category Link: /financial-management
    Maximize your ROI on IT through benefits realization

    Build a Better Manager

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}603|cart{/j2store}
    • member rating overall impact (scale of 10): N/A
    • member rating average dollars saved: N/A
    • member rating average days saved: N/A
    • Parent Category Name: Train & Develop
    • Parent Category Link: /train-and-develop
    • Management skills training is needed, but organizations are struggling to provide training that makes a long-term difference in the skills managers actually use in their day to day.
    • Many training programs are ineffective because they offer the wrong content, deliver it in a way that is not memorable, and are not aligned with the IT department’s business objectives.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • More of the typical manager training is not enough to solve the problem of underprepared first-time IT managers.
    • You must overcome the key pitfalls of ineffective training to deliver training that is better than the norm.
    • Offer tailored training that focuses on skill building and is aligned with measurable business goals to make your manager training a tangible success.

    Impact and Result

    Use Info-Tech’s tactical, practical training materials to deliver training that is:

    • Specifically tailored to first-time IT managers.
    • Designed around practical application of new skills.
    • Aligned with your department’s business goals.

    Build a Better Manager Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Build a Better Manager Capstone Deck – This deck will guide you through identifying the critical skills your managers need to succeed and planning out a training program tailored to your team and organization.

    This deck presents a behind-the-scenes explanation for the training materials, enabling a facilitator to deliver the training.

    • Build a Better Manager – Phases 1-3

    2. Facilitation Guides – These ready-to-deliver presentation decks span 8 modules. Each module covers a key management skill. The modules can be delivered independently or as a series.

    The modules are complete with presentation slides, speaker’s notes, and accompanying participant workbooks and provide everything you need to deliver the training to your team.

    • Accountability Facilitation Guide
    • Coaching and Feedback Facilitation Guide
    • Communicate Effectively Facilitation Guide
    • Manage Conflict Constructively Facilitation Guide
    • Your Role in Decision Making Facilitation Guide
    • Master Time Facilitation Guide
    • Performance Management Facilitation Guide
    • Your Role in the Organization Facilitation Guide

    3. Participant Workbooks and Supporting Materials – Each training module comes with a corresponding participant workbook to help trainees record insights and formulate individual skill development plans.

    Each workbook is tailored to the presentation slides in its corresponding facilitation guide. Some workbooks have additional materials, such as role play scenarios, to aid in practice. Every workbook comes with example entries to help participants make the most of their training.

    • Communicate Effectively Participant Workbook
    • Performance Management Participant Workbook
    • Coaching and Feedback Participant Workbook
    • Effective Feedback Training Role Play Scenarios
    • Your Role in the Organization Participant Workbook
    • Your Role in Decision Making Participant Workbook
    • Decision Making Case Study
    • Manage Conflict Constructively Participant Workbook
    • Conflict Resolution Role Play Scenarios
    • Master Time Participant Workbook
    • Accountability Participant Workbook
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Build a Better Manager

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Build a Better Manager

    The Purpose

    Attend training on the specific topics necessary for each individual management team.

    Each workshop consists of four days, one 3-hour training session per day. One module is delivered per day, selecting from the following pool of topics:

    Master Time

    Accountability

    Your Role in the Organization

    Your Role in Decision Making

    Manage Conflict Constructively

    Effective Communication

    Performance Management

    Coaching & Feedback

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Managers learn about best practices, practice their application, and formulate individual skill development plans.

    Activities

    1.1 Training on one topic per day, for four days (selected from a pool of eight possible topics)

    Outputs

    Completed workbook and action plan

    Further reading

    Build a Better Manager

    Support IT success with a solid management foundation.

    Analyst Perspective

    Training that delivers results.

    Jane Koupstova.

    Ninety-eight percent of managers say they need more training, but 93% of managers already receive some level of manager training. Unfortunately, the training typically provided, although copious, is not working. More of the same will never get you better outcomes.

    How many times have you sat through training that was so long, you had no hope of implementing half of it?

    How many times have you been taught best practices, with zero guidance on how to apply them?

    To truly support our managers, we need to rethink manager training. Move from fulfilling an HR mandate to providing truly trainee-centric instruction. Teach only the right skills – no fluff – and encourage and enable their application in the day to day.

    Jane Kouptsova
    Research Director, People & Leadership
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    Common Obstacles

    Info-Tech’s Approach

    IT departments often promote staff based on technical skill, resulting in new managers feeling unprepared for their new responsibilities in leading people.

    The success of your organization hinges on managers’ ability to lead their staff; by failing to equip new managers adequately, you are risking the productivity of your entire department.

    Despite the fact that $14 billion is spent annually on leadership training in the US alone (Freedman, 2016), only one in ten CIOs believe their department is very effective at leadership, culture, and values (Info-Tech, 2019).

    Training programs do not deliver results due to trainee overwhelm, ineffective skill development, and a lack of business alignment.

    Use Info-Tech’s tactical, practical approach to management training to deliver training that:

    • Is specifically tailored to first-time IT managers.
    • Is designed around practical application of new skills.
    • Is aligned with your department’s business goals.
    • Equips your new managers with essential skills and foundational competencies

    Info-Tech Insight

    When it comes to manager training, more is not more. Attending training is not equal to being trained. Even good information is useless when it doesn’t get applied. If your role hasn’t required you to use your training within 48 hours, you were not trained on the most relevant skills.

    Effective managers drive effective departments by engaging their teams

    The image contains a screenshot to demonstrate effective managers.

    Engaged teams are:

    • 52% more willing to innovate*
    • 70% more likely to be at the organization a year from now**
    • 57% more likely to exceed their role’s expectations**

    Engaged teams are driven by managers:

    • 70% of team-level engagement is accounted for by managers***
    *McLean & Company; N=3,395; **McLean & Company; N=5,902; ***Gallup, 2018

    Despite the criticality of their role, IT organizations are failing at supporting new managers

    87% of middle managers wish they had more training when they were first promoted

    98% of managers say they need more training

    Source: Grovo, 2016

    IT must take notice:

    IT as an industry tends to promote staff on the basis of technical skill. As a result, new managers find themselves suddenly out of their comfort zone, tasked with leading teams using management skills they have not been trained in and, more often than not, having to learn on the job. This is further complicated because many new IT managers must go from a position of team member to leader, which can be a very complex transition.

    The truth is, many organizations do try and provide some degree of manager training, it just is not effective

    99% of companies offer management training*

    93% of managers attend it*

    $14 billion spent annually in the US on leadership training**

    Fewer than one in ten CIOs believe their IT department is highly effective at leadership, culture, and values.

    The image contains a screenshot of a pie chart that demonstrates the effectiveness of the IT department at leadership, culture, and values.

    *Grovo, 2016; **Chief Executive, 2016
    Info-Tech’s Management & Governance Diagnostic, N=337 CIOs

    There are three key reasons why manager training fails

    1. Information Overload

    Seventy-five percent of managers report that their training was too long to remember or to apply in their day to day (Grovo, 2016). Trying to cover too much useful information results in overwhelm and does not deliver on key training objectives.

    2. Limited Implementation

    Thirty-three percent of managers find that their training had insufficient follow-up to help them apply it on the job (Grovo, 2016). Learning is only the beginning. The real results are obtained when learning is followed by practice, which turns new knowledge into reliable habits.

    3. Lack of departmental alignment

    Implementing training without a clear link to departmental and organizational objectives leaves you unable to clearly communicate its value, undermines your ability to secure buy-in from attendees and executives, and leaves you unable to verify that the training is actually improving departmental effectiveness.

    Overcome those common training pitfalls with tactical solutions

    MOVE FROM

    TO

    1. Information Overload

    Timely, tailored topics

    The more training managers attend, the less likely they are to apply any particular element of it. Combat trainee overwhelm by offering highly tactical, practical training that presents only the essential skills needed at the managers’ current stage of development.

    2. Limited Implementation

    Skills-focused framework

    Many training programs end when the last manager walks out of the last training session. Ensure managers apply their new knowledge in the months and years after the training by relying on a research-based framework that supports long-term skill building.

    3. Lack of Departmental Alignment

    Outcome-based measurement

    Setting organizational goals and accompanying metrics ahead of time enables you to communicate the value of the training to attendees and stakeholders, track whether the training is delivering a return on your investment, and course correct if necessary.

    This research combats common training challenges by focusing on building habits, not just learning ideas

    Manager training is only useful if the skills it builds are implemented in the day-to-day.

    Research supports three drivers of successful skill building from training:

    Habits

    Organizational Support

    The training modules include committing to implementing new skills on the job and scheduling opportunities for feedback.

    Learning Structure

    Training activities are customizable, flexible, and accompanied by continuous learning self-evaluation.

    Personal Commitment

    Info-Tech’s methodology builds in activities that foster accountability and an attitude of continuous improvement.

    Learning

    Info-Tech Insight

    When it comes to manager training, stop thinking about learning, and start thinking about practice. In difficult situations, we fall back on habits, not theoretical knowledge. If a manager is only as good as their habits, we need to support them in translating knowledge into practice.

    This research focuses on building good management habits to drive enterprise success

    Set up your first-time managers for success by leveraging Info-Tech’s training to focus on three key areas of management:

    • Managing people as a team
    • Managing people as individuals
    • Managing yourself as a developing leader

    Each of these areas:

    • Is immediately important for a first-time manager
    • Includes practical, tactical skills that can be implemented quickly
    • Translates to departmental and organizational benefits

    Info-Tech Insight

    There is no such thing as “effective management training.” Various topics will be effective at different times for different roles. Delivering only the highest-impact learning at strategic points in your leadership development program will ensure the learning is retained and translates to results.

    This blueprint covers foundational training in three key domains of effective management

    Effective Managers

    • Self
      • Conflict & Difficult Conversations
      • Your Role in the Organization
      • Your Role in Decisions
    • Team
      • Communication
      • Feedback & Coaching
      • Performance Management
    • People
      • Master Time
      • Delegate
      • Accountability

    Each topic corresponds to a module, which can be used individually or as a series in any order.

    Choose topics that resonate with your managers and relate directly to their day-to-day tasks. Training on topics that may be useful in the future, while interesting, is less likely to generate lasting skill development.

    Info-Tech Best Practice

    This blueprint is not a replacement for formal leadership or management certification. It is designed as a practical, tactical, and foundational introduction to key management capabilities.

    Info-Tech’s training tools guide participants through successful skill building

    Practical facilitation guides equip you with the information, activities, and speaker’s notes necessary to deliver focused, tactical training to your management team.

    The participant’s workbook guides trainees through applying the three drivers of skill building to solidify their training into habits.

    Measure the effectiveness of your manager training with outcomes-focused metrics

    Linking manager training with measurable outcomes allows you to verify that the program is achieving the intended benefits, course correct as needed, and secure buy-in from stakeholders and participants by articulating and documenting value.

    Use the metrics suggested below to monitor your training program’s effectiveness at three key stages:

    Program Metric

    Calculation

    Program enrolment and attendance

    Attendance at each session / Total number enrolled in session

    First-time manager (FTM) turnover rate

    Turnover rate: Number of FTM departures / Total number of FTMs

    FTM turnover cost

    Number of departing FTMs this year * Cost of replacing an employee

    Manager Effectiveness Metric

    Calculation

    Engagement scores of FTM's direct reports

    Use Info-Tech's Employee Engagement surveys to monitor scores

    Departures as a result of poor management

    Number of times "manager relationships" is selected as a reason for leaving on an exit survey / Total number of departures

    Cost of departures due to poor management

    Number of times "manager relationships" is selected as a reason for leaving on an exit survey * Cost associated with replacing an employee

    Organizational Outcome Metric

    Calculation

    On-target delivery

    % projects completed on-target = (Projects successfully completed on time and on budget / Total number of projects started) * 100

    Business stakeholder satisfaction with IT

    Use Info-Tech’s business satisfaction surveys to monitor scores

    High-performer turnover rate

    Number of permanent, high-performing employee departures / Average number of permanent, high-performing employees

    Info-Tech offers various levels of support to best suit your needs

    DIY Toolkit

    Guided Implementation

    Workshop

    Consulting

    “Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful.” “Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track.” “We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place.” “Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project.”

    Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options

    Guided Implementation

    What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

    Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3

    Call #1: Scope requirements, objectives, and your specific challenges.

    Call #2: Review selected modules and discuss training delivery.

    Call #3: Review training delivery, discuss lessons learned. Review long-term skill development plan.

    A Guided Implementation (GI) is a series

    of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization.

    A typical GI is 1 to 3 calls over the course of several months, depending on training schedule.

    Workshop Overview

    Contact your account representative for more information.
    workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889

    Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4

    3-Hour Training Session

    3-Hour Training Session

    3-Hour Training Session

    3-Hour Training Session

    Activities

    Training on topic 1 (selected from a pool of 8 possible topics)

    Training on topic 2 (selected from a pool of 8 possible topics)

    Training on topic 3 (selected from a pool of 8 possible topics)

    Training on topic 4 (selected from a pool of 8 possible topics)

    Deliverables

    Completed workbook and action plan

    Completed workbook and action plan

    Completed workbook and action plan

    Completed workbook and action plan

    Pool of topics:

    • Master Time
    • Accountability
    • Your Role in the Organization
    • Your Role in Decision Making
    • Manage Conflict Constructively
    • Effective Communication
    • Performance Management
    • Coaching & Feedback

    Phase 1

    Prepare to facilitate training

    Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3
    • Select training topics
    • Customize the training facilitation guide for your organization
    • Deliver training modules
    • Confirm skill development action plan with trainees
    • Secure organizational support from trainees' supervisors

    Outcomes of this phase:

    • Training facilitation deck customized to organizational norms
    • Training workbook distributed to participants
    • Training dates and facilitator finalized

    1.1 Select training modules

    1-3 hours

    1. Review the module descriptions on the following slides.
    2. Identify modules that will address managers’ most pressing development needs.
      To help make this decision, consult the following:
      • Trainees’ development plans
      • Trainees’ supervisors
    Input Output
    • Module descriptions
    • Trainees’ development goals and needs
    • Prioritized list of training modules
    Materials Participants
    • Prioritized list of training modules
    • Training sponsor
    • Trainees’ supervisors

    Effective Communication

    Effective communication is the cornerstone of good management

    Effective communication can make or break your IT team’s effectiveness and engagement and a manager’s reputation in the organization. Effective stakeholder management and communication has a myriad of benefits – yet this is a key area where IT leaders continue to struggle.


    There are multiple ways in which you communicate with your staff. The tactics you will learn in this section will help you to:

    1. Understand communication styles. Every staff member has a predisposition in terms of how they give, receive, and digest information. To drive effective communication new managers need to understand the profiles of each of their team members and adjust their communicate style to suit.
    2. Understand what your team members want communicated to them and how. Communication is highly personal, and a good manager needs to clearly understand what their team wants to be informed about, their desired interactions, and when they need to be involved in decision making. They also must determine the appropriate channels for communication exchanges.
    3. Make meetings matter. Many new managers never receive training on what differentiates a good and bad meeting. Effective meetings have a myriad of benefits, but more often than not meetings are ineffective, wasting both the participants’ and organizer’s time. This training will help you to ensure that every team meeting drives a solid outcome and gets results.

    Benefits:

    • Better buy-in, understanding, and communication.
    • Improved IT reputation with the organization.
    • Improved team engagement.
    • Improved stakeholder satisfaction.
    • Better-quality decision making.
    • Improved transparency, trust, and credibility.
    • Less waste and rework.
    • Greater ability to secure support and execute the agenda.
    • More effective cooperation on activities, better quality information, and greater value from stakeholder input.
    • Better understanding of IT performance and contribution.

    Effective Communication

    Effective manager communication has a direct impact on employee engagement

    35% Of organizations say they have lost an employee due to poor internal communication (project.co, 2021).

    59% Of business leaders lose work time to mistakes caused by poor communication (Grammarly, 2022).

    $1.2 trillion Lost to US organizations as a result of poor communication (Grammarly, 2022).

    Effective Communication

    Effective communication is crucial to all parts of the business

    Operations

    Human Resources

    Finance

    Marketing

    Increases production by boosting revenue.

    Reduces the cost of litigation and increases revenue through productivity improvements.

    Reduces the cost of failing to comply with regulations.

    Increases attraction and retention of key talent.

    Effective Communication

    The Communicate Effectively Facilitation Guide covers the following topics:

    • Understand Communication Styles
    • Tailor Communication Methods to Activities
    • Make Meetings Matter

    Learning outcomes:

    Main goal: Become a better communicator across a variety of personal styles and work contexts.

    Key objectives:

    • Reaffirm why effective communication matters.
    • Work with people with different communication styles.
    • Communicate clearly and effectively within a team.
    • Make meetings more effective.

    Info-Tech Insight

    First-time IT managers face specific communication challenges that come with managing people for the first time: learning to communicate a greater variety of information to different kinds of people, in a variety of venues. Tailored training in these areas helps managers focus and fast-track critical skill development.

    Performance Management

    Meaningful performance measures drive employee engagement, which in turn drives business success

    Meaningful performance measures help employees understand the rationale behind business decisions, help managers guide their staff, and clarify expectations for employees. These factors are all strong predictors of team engagement:

    The image contains a screenshot to demonstrate the relationship and success between performance measures and employee engagement.

    Performance Management

    Clear performance measures benefit employees and the organization

    Talent Management Outcomes

    Organizational Outcomes

    Performance measure are key throughout the talent management process.

    Candidates:

    • Want to know how they will be assessed
    • Rely on measures to become productive as soon as possible

    Employees:

    • Benefit from training centered on measures that are aligned with business outcomes
    • Are rewarded, recognized, and compensated based on measurable guidelines

    Promotions and Evaluations:

    • Are more effective when informed by meaningful performance measures that align with what leadership believes is important

    Performance measures benefit the organization by:

    • Helping employees know the steps to take to improve their performance
    • Ensuring alignment between team objectives and organizational goals
    • Providing a standardized way to support decision making related to compensation, promotions, and succession planning
    • Reducing “gaming” of metrics, when properly structured, thereby reducing risk to the organization
    • Affording legal defensibility by providing an objective basis for decision making

    Performance Management

    The Performance Management Facilitation Guide covers the following topics:

    • Develop Meaningful Goals
    • Set Meaningful Metrics

    Learning outcomes:

    Main goal: Become proficient in setting, tracking, and communicating around performance management goals.

    Key objectives:

    • Understand the role of managers and employees in the performance management process.
    • Learn to set SMART, business-aligned goals for your team.
    • Learn to help employees set useful individual goals.
    • Learn to set meaningful, holistic metrics to track goal progression.
    • Understand the relationship between goals, metrics, and feedback.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Goal and metric development holds special significance for first-time IT managers because it now impacts not only their personal performance, but that of their employees and their team collectively. Training on these topics with a practical team- and employee-development approach is a focused way to build these skills.

    Coaching & Feedback

    Coaching and feedback are effective methods to influence employees and drive business outcomes

    COACHING is a conversation in which a manager asks an employee questions to guide them to solve problems themselves, instead of just telling them the answer.

    Coaching increases employee happiness, and decreases turnover.1

    Coaching promotes innovation.2

    Coaching increases employee engagement, effort and performance.3

    FEEDBACK is information about the past, given in the present, with the goal of influencing behavior or performance for the future. It includes information given for reinforcement and redirection.

    Honest feedback enhances team psychological safety.4

    Feedback increases employee engagement.5

    Feedback boosts feelings of autonomy and drives innovation.6

    1. Administrative Sciences, 2022
    2. International Review of Management and Marketing, 2020
    3. Current Psychology, 2021
    4. Quantum Workplace, 2021
    5. Issues and Perspectives in Business and Social Sciences, 2022
    6. Sustainability, 2021

    Coaching & Feedback

    The Coaching & Feedback Facilitation Guide covers the following topics:

    • The 4 A’s of Coaching
    • Effective Feedback

    Learning outcomes:

    Main goal: Get prepared to coach and offer feedback to your staff as appropriate.

    Key objectives:

    • Understand the difference between coaching and feedback and when to apply each one.
    • Learn the importance of a coaching mindset.
    • Learn effective coaching via the 4 A’s framework.
    • Understand the actions that make up feedback and the factors that make it successful.
    • Learn to deal with resistance to feedback.

    Info-Tech Insight

    First-time managers often shy away from giving coaching and feedback, stalling their team’s performance. A focused and practical approach to building these skills equips new managers with the tools and confidence to tackle these challenges as soon as they arise.

    Your Role in the Organization

    IT managers who understand the business context provide more value to the organization

    Managers who don’t understand the business cannot effect positive change. The greater understanding that IT managers have of business context, the more value they provide to the organization as seen by the positive relationship between IT’s understanding of business needs and the business’ perception of IT value.

    The image contains a screenshot of a scatter plot grid demonstrating business satisfaction with IT Understanding of Needs across Overall IT Value.

    Source: Info-Tech Research Group

    Your Role in the Organization

    Knowing your stakeholders is key to understanding your role in the business and providing value to the organization

    To understand your role in the business, you need to know who your stakeholders are and what value you and your team provide to the organization. Knowing how you help each stakeholder meet their wants needs and goals means that you have the know-how to balance experience and outcome-based behaviors. This is the key to being an attentive leader.


    The tactics you will learn in this section will help you to:

    1. Know your stakeholders. There are five key stakeholders the majority of IT managers have: management, peers, direct reports, internal users, and external users or customers. Managers need to understand the goals, needs, and wants of each of these groups to successfully provide value to the organization.
    2. Understand the value you provide to each stakeholder. Stakeholder relationship management requires IT managers to exhibit drive and support behaviors based on the situation. By knowing how you drive and support each stakeholder, you understand how you provide value to the organization and support its mission, vision, and values.
    3. Communicate the value your team provides to the organization to your team. Employees need to understand the impact of their work. As an IT manager, you are responsible for communicating how your team provides value to the organization. Mission statements on how you provide value to each stakeholder is an easy way to clearly communicate purpose to your team.

    Benefits:

    • Faster and higher growth.
    • Improved team engagement.
    • Improved stakeholder satisfaction.
    • Better quality decision making.
    • More innovation and motivation to complete goals and tasks.
    • Greater ability to secure support and execute on goals and tasks.
    • More effective cooperation on activities, better quality information, and greater value from stakeholder input.
    • Better understanding of IT performance and contribution.

    Your Role in the Organization

    The Your Role in the Organization Facilitation Guide covers the following topics:

    • Know Your Stakeholders
    • Understand the Value You Provide to the Organization
    • Develop Learnings Into Habits

    Learning outcomes:

    Main goal: Understand how your role and the role of your team serves the business.

    Key objectives:

    • Learn who your stakeholders are.
    • Understand how you drive and support different stakeholder relationships.
    • Relate your team’s tasks back to the mission, vision, and values of the organization.
    • Create a mission statement for each stakeholder to bring back to your team.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Before training first-time IT managers, take some time as the facilitator to review how you will serve the wants and needs of those you are training and your stakeholders in the organization.

    Decision Making

    Bad decisions have tangible costs, so managers must be trained in how to make effective decisions

    To understand your role in the decision-making process, you need to know what is expected of you and you must understand what goes into making a good decision. The majority of managers report they have no trouble making decisions and that they are good decision makers, but the statistics say otherwise. This ease at decision making is due to being overly confident in their expertise and an inability to recognize their own ignorance.1


    The tactics you will learn in this section will help you to:

    1. Effectively communicate decisions. Often, first-time managers are either sharing their decision recommendations with their manager or they are communicating a decision down to their team. Managers need to understand how to have these conversations so their recommendations provide value to management and top-down decisions are successfully implemented.
    2. Provide valuable feedback on decisions. Evaluating decisions is just as critical as making decisions. If decisions aren’t reviewed, there is no data or feedback to discover why a decision was a success or failure. Having a plan in place before the decision is made facilitates the decision review process and makes it easier to provide valuable feedback.
    3. Avoid common decision-making mistakes. Heuristics and bias are common decision pitfalls even senior leaders are susceptible to. By learning what the common decision-making mistakes are and being able to recognize them when they appear in their decision-making process, first-time managers can improve their decision-making ability.

    20% Of respondents say their organizations excel at decision making (McKinsey, 2018).

    87% “Diverse teams are 87% better at making decisions” (Upskillist, 2022).

    86% of employees in leadership positions blame the lack of collaboration as the top reason for workplace failures (Upskillist, 2022).

    Decision Making

    A decision-making process is imperative, even though most managers don’t have a formal one

    1. Identify the Problem and Define Objectives
    2. Establish Decision Criteria
    3. Generate and Evaluate Alternatives
    4. Select an Alternative and Implement
    5. Evaluate the Decision

    Managers tend to rely on their own intuition which is often colored by heuristics and biases. By using a formal decision-making process, these pitfalls of intuition can be mitigated or avoided. This leads to better decisions.

    First-time managers are able to apply this framework when making decision recommendations to management to increase their likelihood of success, and having a process will improve their decisions throughout their career and the financial returns correlated with them.

    Decision Making

    Recognizing personal heuristics and bias in the decision-making process improves more than just decision results

    Employees are able to recognize bias in the workplace, even when management can’t. This affects everything from how involved they are in the decision-making process to their level of effort and productivity in implementing decisions. Without employee support, even good decisions are less likely to have positive results. Employees who perceive bias:

    Innovation

    • Hold back ideas and solutions
    • Intentionally fail to follow through on important projects and tasks

    Brand Reputation

    • Speak negatively about the company on social media
    • Do not refer open positions to qualified persons in their network

    Engagement

    • Feel alienated
    • Actively seek new employment
    • Say they are not proud to work for the company

    Decision Making

    The Decision Making Facilitation Guide covers the following topics:

    • Effectively Communicate Decisions
    • Provide Valuable Feedback on Decisions
    • Avoid Common Decision-Making Mistakes

    Learning outcomes:

    Main goal: Understand how to successfully perform your role in the decision process.

    Key objectives:

    • Understand the decision-making process and how to assess decisions.
    • Learn how to communicate with your manager regarding your decision recommendations.
    • Learn how to effectively communicate decisions to your team.
    • Understand how to avoid common decision-making errors.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Before training a decision-making framework, ensure it is in alignment with how decisions are made in your organization. Alternatively, make sure leadership is on board with making a change.

    Manage Conflict Constructively

    Enable leaders to resolve conflicts while minimizing costs

    If you are successful in your talent acquisition, you likely have a variety of personalities and diverse individuals within your IT organization and in the business, which means that conflict is inevitable. However, conflict does not have to be negative – it can take on many forms. The presence of conflict in an organization can actually be a very positive thing: the ability to freely express opinions and openly debate can lead to better, more strategic decisions being made.

    The effect that the conflict is having on individuals and the work environment will determine whether the conflict is positive or counterproductive.

    As a new manager you need to know how to manage potential negative outcomes of conflict by managing difficult conversations and understanding how to respond to conflict in the workplace.


    The tactics you will learn in this section will help you to:

    1. Apply strategies to prepare for and navigate through difficult conversations.
    2. Expand your comfort level when handling conflict, and engage in constructive conflict resolution approaches.

    Benefits:

    • Relieve stress for yourself and your co-workers.
    • Save yourself time and energy.
    • Positively impact relationships with your employees.
    • Improve your team dynamic.
    • Remove roadblocks to your work and get things done.
    • Save the organization money.
    • Improve performance.
    • Prevent negative issues from reoccurring.

    Manage Conflict Constructively

    Addressing difficult conversations is beneficial to you, your people, and the organization

    When you face a difficult conversation you…

    • Relieve stress on you and your co-workers.
    • Save yourself time and energy.
    • Positively impact relationships with your employees.
    • Improve your team dynamic.
    • Remove roadblocks to your work
    • Save the organization money.
    • Improve performance.
    • Prevent negative issues from reoccurring.

    40% Of employees who experience conflict report being less motivated as a result (Acas, 2021).

    30.6% Of employees report coming off as aggressive when trying to resolve a conflict
    (Niagara Institute, 2022).

    Manage Conflict Constructively

    The Manage Conflict Constructively Facilitation Guide covers the following topics:

    • Know Your Ideal Time Mix
    • Calendar Diligence
    • Effective Delegation
    • Limit Interruptions

    Learning outcomes:

    Main goal: Effectively manage your time and know which tasks are your priority and which tasks to delegate.

    Key objectives:

    • Understand common reasons for difficult conversations.
    • Learn Info-Tech’s six-step process to best to prepare for difficult conversations.
    • Follow best practices to approach difficult conversations.
    • Learn the five approaches to conflict management.
    • Practice conflict management skills.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Conflict does not have to be negative. The presence of conflict in an organization can actually be a very positive thing: the ability to freely express opinions and openly debate can lead to better, more strategic decisions being made.

    Master Time

    Effective leaders spend their time in specific ways

    How effective leaders average their time spent across the six key roles:

    Leaders with effective time management skills spend their time across six key manager roles: strategy, projects, management, operations, innovation, and personal. While there is no magic formula, providing more value to the business starts with little practices like:

    • Spending time with the right stakeholders and focusing on the right priorities.
    • Evaluating which meetings are important and productive.
    • Benchmarking yourself against your peers in the industry so you constantly learn from them and improve yourself.


    The keys to providing this value is time management and delegation. The tactics in this section will help first-time managers to:

    1. Discover your ideal time. By analyzing how you currently spend your time, you can see which roles you are under/over using and, using your job description and performance metrics, discover your ideal time mix.
    2. Practice calendar diligence. Time blocking is an effective way to use your time, see your week, and quickly understand what roles you are spending your time in. Scheduling priority tasks first gives insight into which tasks should be delegated.
    3. Effectively delegation. Clear expectations and knowing the strengths of your team are the cornerstone to effective delegation. By understanding the information you need to communicate and identifying the best person on your team to delegate to, tasks and goals will be successfully completed.
    4. Limit interruptions. By learning how to limit interruptions from your team and your manager, you are better able to control your time and make sure your tasks and goals get completed.

    Strategy

    23%

    Projects

    23%

    Management

    19%

    Operations

    19%

    Innovation

    13%

    Personal

    4%

    Source: Info-Tech, N=85

    Master Time

    Signs you struggle with time management

    Too many interruptions in a day to stay focused.

    Too busy to focus on strategic initiatives.

    Spending time on the wrong things.

    The image contains a screenshot of a bar graph that demonstrates struggle with time management.

    Master Time

    The Master Time Facilitation Guide covers the following topics:

    • Understand Communication Styles
    • Tailor Communication Methods to Activities
    • Make Meetings Matter

    Learning outcomes:

    Main goal: Become a better communicator across a variety of personal styles and work contexts.

    Key objectives:

    • Understand how you spend your time.
    • Learn how to use your calendar effectively.
    • Understand the actions to take to successfully delegate.
    • Learn how to successfully limit interruptions.

    Info-Tech Insight

    There is a right and wrong way to manage your calendar as a first-time manager and it has nothing to do with your personal preference.

    Accountability

    Accountability creates organizational and team benefits

    Improves culture and innovation

    Improves individual performance

    Increases employee engagement

    Increases profitability

    Increases trust and productivity

    Enables employees to see how they contribute

    Increases ownership employees feel over their work and outcomes

    Enables employees to focus on activities that drive the business forward

    Source: Forbes, 2019

    Accountability

    Accountability increases employee empowerment

    Employee empowerment is the number one driver of employee engagement. The extent to which you can hold employees accountable for their own actions and decisions is closely related to how empowered they are and how empowered they feel; accountability and empowerment go hand in hand. To feel empowered, employees must understand what is expected of them, have input into decisions that affect their work, and have the tools they need to demonstrate their talents.

    The image contains a screenshot to demonstrate how accountability increases employee empowerment.

    Source: McLean & Company Engagement Database, 2018; N=71,794

    Accountability

    The Accountability Facilitation Guide covers the following topics:

    • Create Clarity and Transparency
    • Articulate Expectations and Evaluation
    • Help Your Team Remove Roadblocks
    • Clearly Introduce Accountability to Your Team

    Learning outcomes:

    Main goal: Create a personal accountability plan and learn how to hold yourself and your team accountable.

    Key objectives:

    • Understand why accountability matters.
    • Learn how to create clarity and transparency.
    • Understand how to successfully hold people accountable through clearly articulating expectations and evaluation.
    • Know how to remove roadblocks to accountability for your team.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Accountability is about focusing on the results of a task, rather than just completing the task. Create team accountability by keeping the team focused on the result and not “doing their jobs.” First-time managers need to clearly communicate expectations and evaluation to successfully develop team accountability.

    Use the Build a Better Manager Participant Workbooks to help participants set accountabilities and track their progress

    A key feature of this blueprint is built-in guidance on transferring your managers’ new knowledge into practical skills and habits they can fall back on when their job requires it.

    The Participant Workbooks, one for each module, are structured around the three key principles of learning transfer to help participants optimally structure their own learning:

    • Track your learning. This section guides participants through conducting self-assessments, setting learning goals, recording key insights, and brainstorming relapse-prevention strategies
    • Establish your personal commitment. This section helps participants record the actions they personally commit to taking to continually practice their new skills
    • Secure organizational support. This section guides participants in recording the steps they will take to seek out support from their supervisor and peers.

    The image contains a screenshot of the Build a Better Manager Participant Workbooks.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Participants should use this workbook throughout their training and continue to review it for at least three months after. Practical skills take an extended amount of time to solidify, and using the workbook for several months will ensure that participants stay on track with regular practice and check-ins.

    Set your trainees up for success by reviewing these training best practices

    Cultural alignment

    It is critical that the department leadership team understand and agree with the best practices being presented. Senior team leads should be comfortable coaching first-time managers in implementing the skills developed through the training. If there is any question about alignment with departmental culture or if senior team leads would benefit from a refresher course, conduct a training session for them as well.

    Structured training

    Ensure the facilitator takes a structured approach to the training. It is important to complete all the activities and record the outputs in the workbook where appropriate. The activities are structured to ensure participants successfully use the knowledge gained during the workshop to build practical skills.

    Attendees

    Who should attend the training? Although this training is designed for first-time IT managers, you may find it helpful to run the training for the entire management team as a refresher and to get everyone on the same page about best practices. It is also helpful for senior leadership to be aware of the training because the attendees may come to their supervisors with requests to discuss the material or coaching around it.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Participants should use this workbook throughout their training and continue to review it for at least three months after. Practical skills take an extended amount of time to solidify, and using the workbook for several months will ensure that participants stay on track with regular practice and check-ins.

    1.2 Customize the facilitation guides

    1-3 hours

    Prior to facilitating your first session, ensure you complete the following steps:

    1. Read through all the module content, including the speaker’s notes, to familiarize yourself with the material and ensure the tactics presented align with your department’s culture and established best practices.
    2. Customize the slides with a pencil icon with information relevant to your organization.
    3. Ensure you are comfortable with all material to be presented and are prepared to answer questions. If you require clarification on any of the material, book a call with your Info-Tech analyst for guidance.
    4. Ensure you do not delete or heavily customize the self-assessment activities and the activities in the Review and Action Plan section of the module. These activities are structured around a skill building framework and designed to aid your trainees in applying their new knowledge in their day to day. If you have any concerns about activities in these sections, book a call with your Info-Tech analyst for guidance.
    Input Output
    • List of selected modules
    • Customized facilitation guides
    Materials Participants
    • Facilitation guides from selected modules
    • Training facilitator

    1.3 Prepare to deliver training

    1-3 hours

    Complete these steps in preparation for delivering the training to your first-time managers:

    1. Select a facilitator.
      • The right person to facilitate the meeting depends on the dynamics within your department. Having a senior IT leader can lend additional weight to the training best practices but may not be feasible in a large department. In these cases, an HR partner or external third party can be asked to facilitate.
    2. Distribute the workbooks to attendees before the first training session.
      • Change the header on the workbook templates to your own organization’s, if desired.
      • Email the workbooks to attendees prior to the first session. There is no pre-work to be completed.
    Input Output
    • List of selected modules
    • Facilitator selected
    • Workbook distributed
    Materials Participants
    • Workbooks from selected modules
    • Training sponsor
    • Training facilitator

    Phase 2

    Deliver training

    Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3
    • Select training topics
    • Customize the training facilitation guide for your organization
    • Deliver training modules
    • Confirm skill development action plan with trainees
    • Secure organizational support from trainees' supervisors

    Outcomes of this phase:

    • Training delivered
    • Development goals set by attendees
    • Action plan created by attendees

    2.1 Deliver training

    3 hours

    When you are ready, deliver the training. Ensure you complete all activities and that participants record the outcomes in their workbooks.

    Tips for activity facilitation:

    • Encourage and support participation from everyone. And be sure no one on the team dismisses anyone’s thoughts or opinions – they present the opportunity for further discussion and deeper insight.
    • Debrief after each activity, outlining any lessons learned, action items, and next steps.
    • Encourage participants to record all outcomes, key insights, and action plans in their workbooks.
    Input Output
    • Facilitation guides and workbooks for selected modules
    • Training delivered
    • Workbooks completed
    Materials Participants
    • Facilitation guides and workbooks for selected modules
    • Training facilitator
    • Trainees

    Phase 3

    Enable long-term skill development

    Phase 1Phase 2Phase 3
    • Select training topics
    • Customize the training facilitation guide for your organization
    • Deliver training modules
    • Confirm skill development action plan with trainees
    • Secure organizational support from trainees' supervisors

    Outcomes of this phase:

    • Attendees reminded of action plan and personal commitment
    • Supervisors reminded of the need to support trainees' development

    3.1 Email trainees with action steps

    0.5 hours

    After the training, send an email to attendees thanking them for participating and summarizing key next steps for the group. Use the template below, or write your own:

    “Hi team,

    I want to thank you personally for attending the Communicate Effectively training module. Our group led some great discussion.

    A reminder that the next time you will reconvene as a group will be on [Date] to discuss your progress and challenges to date.

    Additionally, your manager is aware and supportive of the training program, so be sure to follow through on the commitments you’ve made to secure the support you need from them to build your new skills.

    I am always open for questions if you run into any challenges.

    Regards,

    [Your name]”

    InputOutput
    • The date of participants’ next discussion meeting
    • Attendees reminded of next meeting date and encouraged to follow through on action plan
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Training facilitator

    3.2 Secure support from trainees’ supervisors

    0.5 hours

    An important part of the training is securing organizational support, which includes support from your trainees’ supervisors. After the trainees have committed to some action items to seek support from their supervisors, it is important to express your support for this and remind the supervisors of their role in guiding your first-time managers. Use the template below, or write your own, to remind your trainees’ supervisors of this at the end of training (if you are going through all three modules in a short period of time, you may want to wait until the end of the entire training to send this email):

    “Hi team,

    We have just completed Info-Tech’s first-time manager training with our new manager team. The trainees will be seeking your support in developing their new skills. This could be in the form of coaching, feedback on their progress, reviewing their development plan, etc.

    Supervisor support is a crucial component of skill building, so I hope I can count on all of you to support our new managers in their learning. If you are not sure how to handle these requests, or would like a refresher of the material our trainees covered, please let me know.

    I am always open for questions if you run into any challenges.

    Regards,

    [Your name]”

    InputOutput
    • List of trainees’ direct supervisors
    • Supervisors reminded to support trainees’ skill practice
    MaterialsParticipants
    • Training facilitator

    Contributors

    Brad Armstrong

    Brad Armstrong, Senior Engineering Manager, Code42 Software

    I am a pragmatic engineering leader with a deep technical background, now focused on building great teams. I'm energized by difficult, high-impact problems at scale and with the cloud technologies and emerging architectures that we can use to solve them. But it's the power of people and organizations that ultimately lead to our success, and the complex challenge of bringing all that together is the work I find most rewarding.

    We thank the expert contributors who chose to keep their contributions anonymous.

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    “State of the Modern Meeting 2015.” BlueJeans, Aug. 2015. Web.

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    Tal, David. “A 'Culture of Coaching' Is Your Company's Most Important Ingredient for Success.” Entrepreneur, 27 Sept. 2017. Web.

    Tenut, Jeff. “How Management Development Training Reduces Turnover.” DiscoverLink, 3 July 2018. Web.

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    Threat Preparedness Using MITRE ATT&CK®

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    • Parent Category Name: Security Strategy & Budgeting
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    • To effectively protect your business interests, you need to be able to address what the most pressing vulnerabilities in your network are. Which attack vectors should you model first? How do you adequately understand your threat vectors when attacks continually change and adapt?
    • Security can often be asked the world but given a minimal budget with which to accomplish it.
    • Security decisions are always under pressure from varying demands that pull even the most well-balanced security team in every direction.
    • Adequately modeling any and every possible scenario is ineffective and haphazard at best. Hoping that you have chosen the most pressing attack vectors to model will not work in the modern day of threat tactics.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Precision is critical to being able to successfully defend against threats.
      • Traditional threat modeling such as STRIDE or PASTA is based on a spray-and-pray approach to identifying your next potential threat vector. Instead, take a structured risk-based approach to understanding both an attacker’s tactics and how they may be used against your enterprise. Threat preparedness requires precision, not guesswork.
    • Knowing is half the battle.
      • You may be doing better than you think. Undoubtedly, there is a large surface area to cover with threat modeling. By preparing beforehand, you can separate what’s important from what’s not and identify which attack vectors are the most pressing for your business.
    • Be realistic and measured.
      • Do not try to remediate everything. Some attack vectors and approaches are nearly impossible to account for. Take control of the areas that have reasonable mitigation methods and act on those.
    • Identify blind spots.
      • Understand what is out there and how other enterprises are being attacked and breached. See how you stack up to the myriad of attack tactics that have been used in real-life breaches and how prepared you are. Know what you’re ready for and what you’re not ready for.
    • Analyze the most pressing vectors.
      • Prioritize the attack vectors that are relevant to you. If an attack vector is an area of concern for your business, start there. Do not cover the entire tactics list if certain areas are not relevant.
    • Detection and mitigation lead to better remediation.
      • For each relevant tactic and techniques, there are actionable detection and mitigation methods to add to your list of remediation efforts.

    Impact and Result

    Using the MITRE ATT&CK® framework, Info-Tech’s approach helps you understand your preparedness and effective detection and mitigation actions.

    • Learn about potential attack vectors and the techniques that hostile actors will use to breach and maintain a presence on your network.
    • Analyze your current protocols versus the impact of an attack technique on your network.
    • Discover detection and mitigation actions.
    • Create a prioritized series of security considerations, with basic actionable remediation items. Plan your next threat model by knowing what you’re vulnerable to.
    • Ensure business data cannot be leaked or stolen.
    • Maintain privacy of data and other information.
    • Secure the network connection points.
    • Mitigate risks with the appropriate services.

    This blueprint and associated tool are scalable for all types of organizations within various industry sectors, allowing them to know what types of risk they are facing and what security services are recommended to mitigate those risks.

    Threat Preparedness Using MITRE ATT&CK® Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why threat preparedness is a crucial first step in defending your network against any attack type. Review Info-Tech’s methodology and understand the ways we can support you in completing this project.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Attack tactics and techniques

    Review a breakdown of each of the various attack vectors and their techniques for additional context and insight into the most prevalent attack tactics.

    • Threat Preparedness Using MITRE ATT&CK® – Phase 1: Attack Tactics and Techniques

    2. Threat Preparedness Workbook mapping

    Map your current security protocols against the impacts of various techniques on your network to determine your risk preparedness.

    • Threat Preparedness Using MITRE ATT&CK® – Phase 2: Threat Preparedness Workbook Mapping
    • Enterprise Threat Preparedness Workbook

    3. Execute remediation and detective measures

    Use your prioritized attack vectors to plan your next threat modeling session with confidence that the most pressing security concerns are being addressed with substantive remediation actions.

    • Threat Preparedness Using MITRE ATT&CK® – Phase 3: Execute Remediation and Detective Measures
    [infographic]

    COVID-19 Work Status Tracking Guide

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    • Parent Category Name: Manage & Coach
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    • Keeping track of the multiple and frequently changing work arrangements on your team.
    • Ensuring you have a fast and easy way to keep an up-to-date record of where and how employees are working.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • During these critical times, keeping track of employees’ work status doesn’t have to be complicated – the right tool is one that does the job.
    • Keeping track of your employees is a health and safety issue – deployed well, it is an aid in keeping the business running and an additional communication channel, not a sign of lack of trust.

    Impact and Result

    • An Excel spreadsheet is all you need to ensure you have a way to record work arrangements that can change by the day.
    • An easy-to-use tool means minimal administrative overhead to ensuring you have this critical information at hand.

    COVID-19 Work Status Tracking Guide Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Work Status Tracking Guide

    Read our recommendations and use the accompanying tool to quickly get a handle on your team’s work arrangements.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    • COVID-19 Work Status Tracking Guide Storyboard
    • COVID-19 Work Status Tracking Tool
    [infographic]

    Build IT Capabilities to Enable Digital Marketing Success

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    • Parent Category Name: Marketing Solutions
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    • Misalignment: Even if IT builds the capabilities to pursue digital channels, the channels will underperform in realizing organizational goals if the channels and the goals are misaligned.
    • Ineffective analytics: Failure to integrate and analyze new data will undermine organizational success in influencer and sentiment identification.
    • Missed opportunity: If IT does not develop the capabilities to support these channels, then lead generation, brand promotion, and engagement opportunities will be lost.
    • Lack of control: Marketing is developing and depending on internal power users and agencies. This practice can isolate IT from digital marketing technology decision making.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Identify and understand the digital marketing channels that can benefit your organization.
    • Get stakeholder buy-in to facilitate collaboration between IT and product marketing groups to identify necessary IT capabilities.
    • Build IT capability by purchasing software, outsourcing, and training or hiring individuals with necessary skillsets.
    • Become transformational: use IT capabilities to support analytics that identify new customer segments, key influencers, and other invaluable insights.
    • Time is of the essence! It is easier to begin strengthening the relationship between marketing and IT today then it will be at any point in the future.
    • Being transformational means more than just enabling the channels marketing wants to pursue; IT must assist in identifying new segments and digital marketing opportunities, such as enabling influencer management.

    Impact and Result

    • IT is involved in decision making and has a complete understanding of the digital channels the organization is going to migrate to or phase out if unused.
    • IT has the necessary capabilities to support and enable success in all relevant digital channel management technologies.
    • IT is a key player in ensuring that all relevant data from new digital channels is managed and analyzed in order to maintain a 360 degree view of customers and feed real-time campaigns.
    • This enables the organization to not only target existing segments effectively, but also to identify and pursue new opportunities not presented before.
    • These opportunities include: identifying new segments among social networks, identifying key influencers as a new target, identifying proactive service and marketing opportunities from the public social cloud, and conducting new competitive analyses on the public social cloud.

    Build IT Capabilities to Enable Digital Marketing Success Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Make the case for building IT capabilities

    Identify the symptoms of inadequate IT support of digital marketing to diagnose the problems in your organization.

    • Storyboard: Build IT Capabilities to Enable Digital Marketing Success

    2. Identify digital marketing opportunities to understand the need for action in your organization

    Identify the untapped digital marketing value in your organization to understand where your organization needs to improve.

    • Digital Marketing Capability Builder Tool

    3. Mobilize for action: get stakeholder buy-in

    Develop a plan for communicating with stakeholders to ensure buy-in to the digital marketing capability building project.

    • Digital Marketing Communication Deck

    4. Identify the product/segment-specific digital marketing landscape to identify required IT capabilities

    Assess how well each digital channel reaches target segments. Identify the capabilities that must be built to enable digital channels.

    5. Create a roadmap for building capabilities to enable digital marketing

    Assess the people, processes, and technologies required to build required capabilities and determine the best fit with your organization.

    [infographic]

    Workshop: Build IT Capabilities to Enable Digital Marketing Success

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Identify Digital Marketing Opportunities

    The Purpose

    Determine the fit of each digital channel with your organizational goals.

    Determine the fit of digital channels with your organizational structure and business model.

    Compare the fit of digital channels with your organization’s current levels of use to:Identify missed opportunities your organization should capitalize on.Identify digital channels that your organization is wasting resources on.

    Identify missed opportunities your organization should capitalize on.

    Identify digital channels that your organization is wasting resources on.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    IT department achieves consensus around which opportunities need to be pursued.

    Understanding that continuing to pursue excellent-fit digital channels that your organization is currently active on is a priority.

    Identification of the channels that stopping activity on could free up resources for.

    Activities

    1.1 Define and prioritize organizational goals.

    1.2 Assess digital channel fit with goals and organizational characteristics.

    1.3 Identify missed opportunities and wasted resources in your digital channel mix.

    1.4 Brainstorm creative ways to pursue untapped digital channels.

    Outputs

    Prioritized list of organizational goals.

    Assigned level of fit to digital channels.

    List of digital channels that represent missed opportunities or wasted resources.

    List of brainstormed ideas for pursuing digital channels.

    2 Identify Your Product-Specific Digital Marketing Landscape

    The Purpose

    Identify the digital channels that will be used for specific products and segments.

    Identify the IT capabilities that must be built to enable digital channels.

    Prioritize the list of IT capabilities.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    IT and marketing achieve consensus around which digital channels will be pursued for specific product-segment pairings.

    Identification of the capabilities that IT must build.

    Activities

    2.1 Assess digital channel fit with specific products.

    2.2 Identify the digital usage patterns of target segments.

    2.3 Decide precisely which digital channels you will use to sell specific products to specific segments.

    2.4 Identify and prioritize the IT capabilities that need to be built to succeed on each digital channel.

    Outputs

    Documented channel fit with products.

    Documented channel usage by target segments.

    Listed digital channels that will be used for each product-segment pairing.

    Listed and prioritized capabilities that must be built to enable success on necessary digital channels.

    3 Enable Digital Marketing Capabilities and Leverage Analytics

    The Purpose

    Identification of the best possible way to build IT capabilities for all channels.

    Creation of a plan for leveraging transformational analytics to supercharge your digital marketing strategy.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    IT understanding of the costs and benefits of capability building options (people, process, and technology).

    Information about how specific technology vendors could fit with your organization.

    IT identification of opportunities to leverage transformational analytics in your organization.

    Activities

    3.1 Identify the gaps in your IT capabilities.

    3.2 Evaluate options for building capabilities.

    3.3 Identify opportunities for transformational analytics.

    Outputs

    A list of IT capability gaps.

    An action plan for capability building.

    A plan for leveraging transformational analytics.

    Don't try this at home

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    Brilliant little and very amusing way to deal with a scammer.

    But do not copy this method as it will actually reveal quite a bit and confirm that your email is valid and active.

    Click to watch Joe Lycett

     

    Create an Effective SEO Keyword Strategy

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    • Parent Category Name: Marketing Solutions
    • Parent Category Link: /marketing-solutions

    Digital Marketers working with an outdated or bad SEO strategy often see:

    • Declining keyword ranking and traffic
    • Poor keyword strategy
    • On-page errors

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    Most marketers fail in their SEO efforts because they focus on creating content for computers, not people.

    Impact and Result

    Using the SoftwareReviews methodology, digital marketers are able to break up their SEO project and data into bite-sized, actionable steps that focus on long-term improvement. Our methodology includes:

    • Competitive keyword research and identification of opportunities
    • On-page keyword strategy

    Create an Effective SEO Keyword Strategy Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Create an Effective SEO Keyword Strategy

    Update your on-page SEO strategy with competitively relevant keywords.

    • Create an Effective SEO Keyword Strategy Storyboard
    [infographic]

    Further reading

    Create an Effective SEO Keyword Strategy
    Update your on-page SEO strategy with competitively relevant keywords.

    Analyst Perspective

    Most marketers fail in their SEO efforts because they focus on creating content for computers, not people.

    Leading search engine optimization methods focus on creating and posting relevant keyword-rich content, not just increasing page rank. Content and keywords should move a buyer along their journey, close a sale, and develop long-term relationships. Unfortunately, many SEO specialists focus on computers, not the buyer. What's even more concerning is that up to 70% of SaaS businesses have already been impacted by outdated and inefficient SEO techniques. Poor strategies often focus on ballooning SEO metrics in the short-term instead of building the company's long-term PageRank.

    Best-in-class digital marketers stop chasing the short-term highs and focus on long-term growth. This starts with developing a competitive keyword strategy and updating website content with the new keywords.

    SEO is a large topic, so we have broken the strategy into small, easy-to-implement steps, taking the guesswork out of how to use the data from SEO tools and giving CMOs a solid path to increase their SEO results.

    This is a picture of Terra Higginson

    Terra Higginson
    Marketing Research Director
    SoftwareReviews

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    Digital marketers working with an outdated or bad SEO strategy often see:

    • Declining keyword ranking and traffic
    • Poor keyword strategy
    • On-page errors

    Search algorithms change all the time, which means that the strategy is often sitting on the sifting sands of technology, making SEO strategies quickly outdated.

    Common Obstacles

    Digital marketers are responsible for developing and implementing a competitive SEO strategy but increasingly encounter the following obstacles:

    • SEO practitioners that focus on gaming the system
    • Ever-changing SEO technology
    • Lack of understanding of the best SEO techniques
    • SEO techniques focus on the needs of computers, not people
    • Lack of continued investment

    SoftwareReviews' Approach

    Using the SoftwareReviews methodology, digital marketers are able to break up their SEO project and data into bite-sized, actionable steps that focus on long-term improvement. Our methodology includes:

    • Competitive keyword research and identification of opportunities
    • On-page keyword strategy

    Our methodology will take a focused step-by-step strategy in a series of phases that will increase PageRank and competitive positioning.

    SoftwareReviews' SEO Methodology

    In this blueprint, we will cover:

    Good SEO vs. Poor SEO Techniques

    The difference between good and bad SEO techniques.

    Common Good
    SEO Techniques

    Common Poor
    SEO Techniques

    • Writing content for people, not machines.
    • Using SEO tools to regularly adjust and update SEO content, keywords, and backlinks.
    • Pillar and content cluster strategy in addition to a basic on- and off-page strategy.
    • Keyword stuffing and content duplication.
    • A strategy that focuses on computers first and people second.
    • Low-quality or purchased backlinks.

    Companies With Great SEO…

    Keyword Strategy

    • Have identified a keyword strategy that carves out targets within the white space available between themselves and the competition.

    Error-Free Site

    • Have error-free sites without duplicate content. Their URLs and redirects are all updated. Their site is responsive, and every page loads in under two seconds.

    Pillar & Content Clusters

    • Employ a pillar and content cluster strategy to help move the buyer through their journey.

    Authentic Off-Page Strategy

    • Build an authentic backlink strategy that incorporates the right information on the right sites to move the buyer through their journey.

    SEO Terms Defined

    A glossary to define common Phase 1 SEO terms.

    Search Volume: this measures the number of times a keyword is searched for in a certain time period. Target keywords with a volume of between 100-100,000. A search volume greater than 100,000 will be increasingly difficult to rank (A Beginner's Guide to Keyword Search Volume, 2022, Semrush).

    Keyword Difficulty: the metric that quantifies how difficult it will be to rank for a certain keyword. The keyword difficulty percentage includes the number of competitors attempting to rank for the same keyword, the quality of their content, the search intent, backlinks, and domain authority (Keyword Difficulty: What Is It and Why Is It Important? 2022, Semrush).

    Intent: this metric focuses on the intent of the user's search. All search intent is categorized into Informational, Commercial, Navigational, and Transactional (What Is Search Intent? A Complete Guide, 2022, Semrush).

    On-Page SEO: refers to the practice of search engine optimizing elements of your site such as title tags, internal links, HTML code, URL optimization, on-page content, images, and user experience.

    Off-Page SEO: refers to the practice of optimizing brand awareness (What Is Off-Page SEO? A Comprehensive Guide, 2022, Semrush).

    H1: HTML code that tells a search engine the title of the page (neilpatel.com).

    SEO Tool: A subscription-based all-in-one search engine optimization MarTech tool.

    Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful… We believe Search should deliver the most relevant and reliable information available.
    – An excerpt from Google's mission statement

    Your Challenge

    Google makes over 4.5k algorithm changes per year1, directly impacting digital marketing search engine optimization efforts.

    Digital marketers with SEO problems will often see the following issues:

    • Keyword ranking – A decline in keyword ranking is alarming and results in decreased PageRank.
    • Bounce rate – Attracting the wrong audience to your site will increase the bounce rate because the H1 doesn't resonate with your audience.
    • Outdated keywords – Many companies are operating on a poor keyword strategy, or even worse, no keyword strategy. In addition, many marketers haven't updated their strategy to include pillar and cluster content.
    • Errors – Neglected sites often have a large number of errors.
    • Bad backlinks – Neglected sites often have a large number of toxic backlinks.

    The best place to hide a dead body is on page two of the search results.
    – Huffington Post

    Common Obstacles

    Digital marketers are responsible for developing and executing a competitive SEO strategy but increasingly encounter the following obstacles:

    • Inefficient and ineffective SEO practitioners.
    • Changing SEO technology and search engine algorithms.
    • Lack of understanding of the best-in-class SEO techniques.
    • Lack of a sustainable plan to manage the strategy and invest in SEO.

    SEO is a helpful activity when it's applied to people-first content. However, content created primarily for search engine traffic is strongly correlated with content that searchers find unsatisfying.
    – Google Search Central Blog

    Benefits of Proper SEO

    A good SEO keyword strategy will create long-term, sustainable SEO growth:

    • Write content for people, not algorithms – Good SEO prioritizes the needs of humans over the needs of computers, being ever thoughtful of the meaning of content and keywords.
    • Content that aligns with intent – Content and keyword intent will align with the buyer journey to help move prospects through the funnel.
    • Competitive keyword strategy – Find keyword white space for your brand. Keywords will be selected to optimize your ranking among competition with reasonable and sustainable targets.
    • Actionable and impactful fixes – By following the SoftwareReviews phases of SEO, you will be able to take a very large task and divide it into conquerable actions. Small improvements everyday lead to very large improvements over time.

    Digital Marketing SEO Stats

    61%
    61% of marketers believe that SEO is the key to online success.
    Source: Safari Digital

    437%
    Updating an existing title tag with an SEO optimised one can increase page clicks by more than 437%.
    Source: Safari Digital

    Good SEO Aligns With Search Intent

    What type of content is the user searching for? Align your keyword to the logical search objective.

    Informational

    This term categorizes search intent for when a user wants to inform or educate themselves on a specific topic.

    Commercial

    This term categorizes search intent for when a user wants to do research before making a purchase.

    Transactional

    This term categorizes search intent for when a user wants to purchase something.

    Navigational

    This term categorizes search intent for when a user wants to find a specific page.

    SoftwareReviews' Methodology toCreate an Effective SEO Strategy

    1. Competitive Analysis & Keyword Discovery 2. On-Page Keyword Optimization
    Phase Steps
    1. Make a list of keywords in your current SEO strategy – including search volume, keyword difficulty percentage, intent.
    2. Research the keywords of top competitors.
    3. Make a list of target keywords you would like to own – including the search volume, keyword difficulty percentage, and intent. Make sure that these keywords align with your buyer persona.
    1. List product and service pages, along with the URL and current ranking(s) for the keyword(s) for that URL.
    2. Create a new individual page strategy for each URL. Record the current keyword, rank, title tag, H1 tag, and meta description. Then, with keyword optimization in mind, develop the new title tag, new H1 tag, and new meta description. Build the target keywords into the pages and tags.
    3. Record the current ranking for the pages' keywords then reassess after three to six months.
    Phase Outcomes
    • Understanding of competitive landscape for SEO
    • A list of target new keywords
    • Keyword optimized product and service pages

    Guided Implementation

    What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

    Phase 1 Phase 2

    Call #1: Identify your current SEO keyword strategy.

    Call #2: Discuss how to start a competitive keyword analysis.

    Call #4: Discuss how to build the list of target keywords.

    Call #6: Discuss keyword optimization of the product & services pages.

    Call #8: (optional)

    Schedule a call to update every three to six months.

    Call #3: Discuss the results of the competitive keyword analysis.

    Call #5: Discuss which pages to update with new target keywords.

    Call #7: Review final page content and tags.

    Call #9: Schedule a call for SEO Phase 2: On-Page Technical Refinement.

    A Guided Implementation (GI) is a series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization.

    A typical GI is between 8 to 12 calls over the course of 1 to 2 months.

    Guided Implementation

    What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

    Phase 1 Phase 2

    Call #1: Identify your current SEO keyword strategy.

    Call #2: Discuss how to start a competitive keyword analysis.

    Call #4: Discuss how to build the list of target keywords.

    Call #6: Discuss keyword optimization of the product & services pages.

    Call #8: (optional)

    Schedule a call to update every three to six months.

    Call #3: Discuss the results of the competitive keyword analysis.

    Call #5: Discuss which pages to update with new target keywords.

    Call #7: Review final page content and tags.

    Call #9: Schedule a call for SEO Phase 2: On-Page Technical Refinement.

    A Guided Implementation (GI) is a series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization.

    A typical GI is between 8 to 12 calls over the course of 1 to 2 months.

    SoftwareReviews offers various levels of support to best suit your needs

    Included Within an Advisory Membership Optional Add-Ons
    DIY Toolkit Guided Implementation Workshop Consulting
    "Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful." "Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track." "We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place." "Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project."

    Insight Summary

    People-First Content

    Best-in-class SEO practitioners focus on people-first content, not computer-first content. Search engine algorithms continue to focus on how to rank better content first, and a strategy that moves your buyers through the funnel in a logical and cohesive way will beat any SEO trick over the long run.

    Find White Space

    A good SEO strategy uses competitive research to carve out white space and give them a competitive edge in an increasingly difficult ranking algorithm. An understanding of the ideal client profile and the needs of their buyer persona(s) sit as a pre-step to any good SEO strategy.

    Optimize On-Page Keywords

    By optimizing the on-page strategy with competitively relevant keywords that target your ideal client profile, marketers are able to take an easy first step at improving the SEO content strategy.

    Understand the Strategy

    If you don't understand the strategy of your SEO practitioner, you are in trouble. Marketers need to work hand in hand with their SEO specialists to quickly uncover gaps, create a strategy that aligns with the buyer persona(s), and execute the changes.

    Quality Trumps Quantity

    The quality of the prospect that your SEO efforts bring to your site is more important than the number of people brought to your site.

    Stop Here and Ask Yourself:

    • Do I have an updated (completed within the last two years) buyer persona and journey?
    • Do I know who the ICP (ideal client profile) is for my product or company?

    If not, stop here, and we can help you define your buyer persona and journey, as well as your ideal client profile before moving forward with SEO Phase 1.

    The Steps to SEO Phase 1

    The Keyword Strategy

    1. Current Keywords
      • Identify the keywords your SEO strategy is currently targeting.
    2. Competitive Analysis
      • Research the keywords of competitor(s). Identify keyword whitespace.
    3. New Target Keywords
      • Identify and rank keywords that will result in more quality leads and less competition.
    4. Product & Service Pages
      • Identify your current product and service pages. These pages represent the easiest content to update on your site.
    5. Individual Page Update
      • Develop an SEO strategy for each of your product and service pages, include primary target keyword, H1, and title tags, as well as keyword-rich description.

    Resources Needed for Search Engine Optimization

    Consider the working skills required for search engine optimization.

    Required Skills/Knowledge

    • SEO
    • Web development
    • Competitive analysis
    • Content creation
    • Understanding of buyer persona and journey
    • Digital marketing

    Suggested Titles

    • SEO Analyst
    • Competitive Intelligence Analyst
    • Content Marketing Manager
    • Website Developer
    • Digital Marketing Manager

    Digital Marketing Software

    • CMS that allows you to easily access and update your content

    SEO Software

    • SEO tool

    Step 1: Current Keywords

    Use this sheet to record your current keyword research.

    Use your SEO tool to research keywords and find the following:
    Use a quality tool like SEMRush to obtain SEO data.

    1. Keyword difficulty
    2. Search volume
    3. Search intent

    This is a screenshot of the SEO tool SEMRush, which can be used to identify current keywords.

    Step 2: Competitive Analysis

    Use this sheet to guide the research on your competitors' keywords.

    Use your SEO tool to find the following:

    1. Top organic keywords
    2. Ranking of keywords
    3. Domain authority and trust
    4. Position changes

    This is a screenshot of the SEO tool SEMRush, which can be used to perform an competitive analysis

    Step 3: New Target Keywords

    Use this sheet to record target keywords that have a good volume but are less competitive. The new target keywords should align with your buyer persona and their journey.

    Use your SEO tool to research keywords and find the following:
    Use a quality tool like SEMRush to obtain SEO data.

    1. Keyword difficulty
    2. Search volume
    3. Search intent

    This is a screenshot of the SEO tool SEMRush, which can be used to identify new target keywords.

    Step 4: Product & Service Pages

    Duplicate this page so that you have a separate page for each URL from Step 4

    Use this sheet to identify your current product and service pages.

    Use your SEO tool to find the following:

    1. Current rank
    2. Current keywords

    This is a screenshot of the SEO tool SEMRush, showing where you can display product and service pages.

    Step 5: Individual Page Strategy

    Develop a keyword strategy for each of your product and service pages. Use a fresh page for each URL.

    Date last optimized:
    mm/dd/yyyy

    This is a screenshot of the SEO tool SEMRush, with an example of how you can use an individual page strategy to develop a keyword strategy.

    Bibliography

    Council, Y. "Council Post: The Rundown On Black Hat SEO Techniques And Why You Should Avoid Them." Forbes, 2022. Accessed September 2022.

    "Our approach – How Google Search works." Google Search. Accessed September 2022.

    "The Best Place to Hide a Dead Body is Page Two of Google." HuffPost, 2022. Accessed September 2022.

    Patel, Neil. "How to Create the Perfect H1 Tag for SEO." neilpatel.com. Accessed September 2022.

    Schwartz, B. "Google algorithm updates 2021 in review: Core updates, product reviews, page experience and beyond." Search Engine Land, 2022. Accessed September 2022.

    Schwartz, B. "Google algorithm updates 2021 in review: Core updates, product reviews, page experience and beyond." Search Engine Land, 2022. Accessed September 2022.

    Develop a Targeted Flexible Work Program for IT

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}542|cart{/j2store}
    • member rating overall impact (scale of 10): 9.0/10 Overall Impact
    • member rating average dollars saved: $18,909 Average $ Saved
    • member rating average days saved: 13 Average Days Saved
    • Parent Category Name: Attract & Select
    • Parent Category Link: /attract-and-select
    • Workplace flexibility continues to be top priority for IT employees. Organizations who fail to offer flexibility will have a difficult time attracting, recruiting, and retaining talent.
    • When the benefits of remote work are not available to everyone, this raises fairness and equity concerns.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    IT excels at hybrid location work and is more effective as a business function when location flexibility is an option for its employees. But hybrid work is just a start. A comprehensive flex work program extends beyond flexible location, so organizations must understand the needs of unique employee groups to uncover the options that will attract and retain talent.

    Impact and Result

    • Uncover the needs of unique employee segments to shortlist flexible work options that employees want and will use.
    • Assess the feasibility of various flexible work options and select ones that meet employee needs and are feasible for the organization.
    • Equip leaders with the information and tools needed to implement and sustain a flexible work program.

    Develop a Targeted Flexible Work Program for IT Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Assess employee and organizational flexibility needs

    Identify prioritized employee segments, flexibility challenges, and the desired state to inform program goals.

    • Develop a Targeted Flexible Work Program for IT – Phases 1-3
    • Talent Metrics Library
    • Targeted Flexible Work Program Workbook
    • Fast-Track Hybrid Work Program Workbook

    2. Identify potential flex options and assess feasibility

    Review, shortlist, and assess the feasibility of common types of flexible work. Identify implementation issues and cultural barriers.

    • Flexible Work Focus Group Guide
    • Flexible Work Options Catalog

    3. Implement selected option(s)

    Equip managers and employees to adopt flexible work options while addressing implementation issues and cultural barriers and aligning HR programs.

    • Guide to Flexible Work for Managers and Employees
    • Flexible Work Time Policy
    • Flexible Work Time Off Policy
    • Flexible Work Location Policy

    Infographic

    Workshop: Develop a Targeted Flexible Work Program for IT

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Prepare to Assess Flex Work Feasibility

    The Purpose

    Gather information on organizational and employee flexibility needs.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Understand the flexibility needs of the organization and its employees to inform a targeted flex work program.

    Activities

    1.1 Identify employee and organizational needs.

    1.2 Identify employee segments.

    1.3 Establish program goals and metrics.

    1.4 Shortlist flexible work options.

    Outputs

    Organizational context summary

    List of shortlisted flex work options

    2 Assess Flex Work Feasibility

    The Purpose

    Perform a data-driven feasibility analysis on shortlisted work options.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    A data-driven feasibility analysis ensures your flex work program meets its goals.

    Activities

    2.1 Conduct employee/manager focus groups to assess feasibility of flex work options.

    Outputs

    Summary of flex work options feasibility per employee segment

    3 Finalize Flex Work Options

    The Purpose

    Select the most impactful flex work options and create a plan for addressing implementation challenge

    Key Benefits Achieved

    A data-driven selection process ensures decisions and exceptions can be communicated with full transparency.

    Activities

    3.1 Finalize list of approved flex work options.

    3.2 Brainstorm solutions to implementation issues.

    3.3 Identify how to overcome cultural barriers.

    Outputs

    Final list of flex work options

    Implementation barriers and solutions summary

    4 Prepare for Implementation

    The Purpose

    Create supporting materials to ensure program implementation proceeds smoothly.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Employee- and manager-facing guides and policies ensure the program is clearly documented and communicated.

    Activities

    4.1 Design employee and manager guide prototype.

    4.2 Align HR programs and policies to support flexible work.

    4.3 Create a communication plan.

    Outputs

    Employee and manager guide to flexible work

    Flex work roadmap and communication plan

    5 Next Steps and Wrap-Up

    The Purpose

    Put everything together and prepare to implement.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Our analysts will support you in synthesizing the workshop’s efforts into a cohesive implementation strategy.

    Activities

    5.1 Complete in-progress deliverables from previous four days.

    5.2 Set up review time for workshop deliverables and to discuss next steps.

    Outputs

    Completed flexible work feasibility workbook

    Flexible work communication plan

    Further reading

    Develop a Targeted Flexible Work Program for IT

    Select flexible work options that balance organizational and employee needs to drive engagement and improve attraction and retention.

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    • IT leaders continue to struggle with workplace flexibility, and it is a top priority for IT employees; as a result, organizations who fail to offer flexibility will have a difficult time attracting, recruiting, and retaining talent.
    • The benefits of remote work are not available to everyone, raising fairness and equity concerns for employees.

    Common Obstacles

    • A one-size-fits-all approach to selecting and implementing flexible work options fails to consider unique employee needs and will not reap the benefits of offering a flexible work program (e.g. higher engagement or enhanced employer brand).
    • Improper structure and implementation of flexible work programs exacerbates existing challenges (e.g. high turnover) or creates new ones.

    Info-Tech's Approach

    • Uncover the needs of unique employee segments to shortlist flexible work options that employees want and will use.
    • Assess the feasibility of various flexible work options and select ones that meet employee needs and are feasible for the organization.
    • Equip leaders with the information and tools needed to implement and sustain a flexible work program.

    Info-Tech Insight

    IT excels at hybrid location work and is more effective as a business function when location flexibility is an option for its employees. But hybrid work is just a start. A comprehensive flex work program extends beyond flexible location, so organizations must understand the needs of unique employee groups to uncover the options that will attract and retain talent.

    Flexible work arrangements are a requirement in today's world of work

    Flexible work continues to gain momentum…

    A 2022 LinkedIn report found that the following occurred between 2019 and 2021:

    +362%

    Increase in LinkedIn members sharing content with the term "flexible work."

    +83%

    Increase in job postings that mention "flexibility."
    (LinkedIn, 2022)

    In 2022, Into-Tech found that hybrid was the most commonly used location work model for IT across all industries.

    ("State of Hybrid Work in IT," Info-Tech Research Group, 2022)

    …and employees are demanding more flexibility

    90%

    of employees said they want schedule and location flexibility ("Global Employee Survey," EY, 2021).

    17%

    of resigning IT employees cited lack of flexible work options as a reason ("IT Talent Trends 2022," Info-Tech Research Group, 2022).

    71%

    of executives said they felt "pressure to change working models and adapt workplace policies to allow for greater flexibility" (LinkedIn, 2021).

    Therefore, organizations who fail to offer flexibility will be left behind

    Difficulty attracting and retaining talent

    98% of IT employees say flexible work options are important in choosing an employer ("IT Talent Trends 2022," Info-Tech Research Group, 2022).

    Worsening employee wellbeing and burnout

    Knowledge workers with minimal to no schedule flexibility are 2.2x more likely to experience work-related stress and are 1.4x more likely to suffer from burnout (Slack, 2022; N=10,818).

    Offering workplace flexibility benefits organizations and employees

    Higher performance

    IT departments that offer some degree of location flexibility are more effective at supporting the organization than those who do not.

    35% of service desk functions report improved service since implementing location flexibility.
    ("State of Hybrid Work in IT," Info-Tech Research Group, 2023).

    Enhanced employer brand

    Employees are 2.1x more likely to recommend their employer to others when they are satisfied with their organization's flexible work arrangements (LinkedIn, 2021).

    Improved attraction

    41% of IT departments cite an expanded hiring pool as a key benefit of hybrid work.

    Organizations that mention "flexibility" in their job postings have 35% more engagement with their posts (LinkedIn, 2022).

    Increased job satisfaction

    IT employees who have more control over their working arrangement experience a greater sense of contribution and trust in leadership ("State of Hybrid Work in IT," Info-Tech Research Group, 2023).

    Better work-life balance

    81% of employees say flexible work will positively impact their work-life balance (FlexJobs, 2021).

    Boosted inclusivity

    • Caregivers regardless of gender, supporting them in balancing responsibilities
    • Individuals with disabilities, enabling them to work from the comfort of their homes
    • Women who may have increased responsibilities
    • Women of color to mitigate the emotional tax experienced at work

    Info-Tech Insight

    Flexible work options are not a concession to lower productivity. Properly implemented, flex work enables employees to be more productive at reaching business goals.

    Despite the popularity of flexible work options, not all employees can participate

    IT organizations differ on how much flexibility different roles can have.

    IT employees were asked what percentage of IT roles were currently in a hybrid or remote work arrangement ("State of Hybrid Work in IT," Info-Tech Research Group, 2023).

    However, the benefits of remote work are not available to all, which raises fairness and equity concerns between remote and onsite employees.

    45%

    of employers said, "one of the biggest risks will be their ability to establish fairness and equity among employees when some jobs require a fixed schedule or location, creating a 'have and have not' dynamic based on roles" ("Businesses Suffering," EY, 2021).

    Offering schedule flexibility to employees who need to be fully onsite can be used to close the fairness and equity gap.

    When offered the choice, 54% of employees said they would choose schedule flexibility over location flexibility ("Global Employee Survey," EY, 2021).

    When employees were asked "What choice would you want your employer to provide related to when you have to work?" The top three choices were:

    68%

    Flexibility on when to start and finish work

    38%

    Compressed or four-day work weeks

    33%

    Fixed hours (e.g. 9am to 5pm)

    Disclaimer: "Percentages do not sum to 100%, as each respondent could choose up to three of the [five options provided]" ("Global Employee Survey," EY, 2021).

    Beware of the "all or nothing" approach

    There is no one-size-fits-all approach to workplace flexibility.

    Understanding the needs of various employee segments in the organization is critical to the success of a flexible work program.

    Working parents want more flexibility

    82%

    of working mothers desire flexibility in where they work.

    48%

    of working fathers "want to work remotely 3 to 5 days a week."

    Historically underrepresented groups value more flexibility

    38%

    "Thirty-eight percent of Black male employees and 33% of Black female employees would prefer a fully flexible schedule, compared to 25% of white female employees and 26% of white male employees."
    (Slack, 2022; N=10,818)

    33%

    Workplace flexibility must be customized to the organization to avoid longer working hours and heavy workloads that impact employee wellbeing

    84%

    of remote workers and 61% of onsite workers reported working longer hours post pandemic. Longer working hours were attributed to reasons such as pressure from management and checking emails after working hours (Indeed, 2021).

    2.6x

    Respondents who either agreed or strongly agreed with the statement "Generally, I find my workload reasonable" were 2.6x more likely to be engaged compared to those who stated they disagreed or strongly disagreed (McLean & Company Engagement Survey Database;2022; N=5,615 responses).

    Longer hours and unsustainable workloads can contribute to stress and burnout, which is a threat to employee engagement and retention. With careful management (e.g. setting clear expectations and establishing manageable workloads), flexible work arrangement benefits can be preserved.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Employees' lived experiences and needs determine if people use flexible work programs – a flex program that has limited use or excludes people will not benefit the organization.

    Develop a flexible work program that meets employee and organizational needs

    This is an image of a sample flexible work program which meets employee and organizational needs.

    Insight summary

    Overarching insight: IT excels at hybrid location work and is more effective as a business function when location, time, and time-off flexibility are an option for its employees.

    Introduction

    Step 1 insight

    Step 2 insight

    Step 3 insight

    • Flexible work options are not a concession to lower productivity. Properly implemented, flex work enables employees to be more productive at reaching business goals.
    • Employees' lived experiences and needs determine if people use flexible work programs – a flex program that has limited use or excludes people will not benefit the organization.
    • Flexible work benefits everyone. IT employees experience greater engagement, motivation, and company loyalty. IT organizations realize benefits such as better service coverage, reduced facilities costs, and increased productivity.
    • Hybrid work is a start. A comprehensive flex work program extends beyond flexible location to flexible time and time off. Organizations must understand the needs of unique employee groups to uncover the options that will attract and retain talent. Provide greater inclusivity to employees by broadening the scope to include flex location, flex time, and flex time off.
    • No two employee segments are the same. To be effective, flexible work options must align with the expectations and working processes of each segment.
    • Every role is eligible for hybrid location work. If onsite work duties prevent an employee group from participating, see if processes can be digitized or automated. Flexible work is an opportunity to go beyond current needs to future proofing your organization.
    • Flexible work options must balance organizational and employee needs. If an option is beneficial to employees but there is little or no benefit to the organization, or if the cost of the option is too high, it will not support the long-term success of the organization.
    • Prioritize flexible work options that employees want. Providing too many options often leads to information overload and results in employees not understanding what is available, lowering adoption of the flexible work program.
    • Leaders' collective support of the flexible program determines the program's successful adoption. Don't sweep cultural barriers under the rug; acknowledge and address them to overcome them.
    • Negative performance of a flexible work option does not necessarily mean failure. Take the time to evaluate whether the option simply needs to be tweaked or whether it truly isn't working for the organization.
    • A set of formal guidelines for IT ensures flexible work is:
      1. Administered fairly across all IT employees.
      2. Defensible and clear.
      3. Scalable to the rest of the organization.

    Case Study

    Expanding hybrid work at Info-Tech

    Challenge

    In 2020, Info-Tech implemented emergency work-from-home for its IT department, along with the rest of the organization. Now in 2023, hybrid work is firmly embedded in Info-Tech's culture, with plans to continue location flexibility for the foreseeable future.

    Adjusting to the change came with lessons learned and future-looking questions.

    Lessons Learned

    Moving into remote work was made easier by certain enablers that had already been put in place. These included issuing laptops instead of desktops to the user base and using an existing cloud-based infrastructure. Much support was already being done remotely, making the transition for the support teams virtually seamless.

    Continuing hybrid work has brought benefits such as reduced commuting costs for employees, higher engagement, and satisfaction among staff that their preferences were heard.

    Looking Forward

    Every flexible work implementation is a work in progress and must be continually revisited to ensure it continues to meet organizational and employee needs. Current questions being explored at Info-Tech are:

    • The concept of the "office as a tool" – how does use of the office change when it is used for specific collaboration-related tasks, rather than everything? How should the physical space change to support this?
    • What does a viable replacement for quick hallway meetings look like in a remote world where communication is much more deliberate? How can managers adjust their practices to ensure the benefits of informal encounters aren't lost?

    Info-Tech offers various levels of support to best suit your needs

    DIY Toolkit

    “Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful.”

    Guided Implementation

    “Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track.”

    Workshop

    “We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place.”

    Consulting

    “Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project.”

    Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options

    Guided Implementation

    What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

    Preparation

    Step 1

    Step 2

    Step 3

    Follow-up

    Call #1: Scope requirements, objectives, and your specific challenges.

    Call #2: Assess employee and organizational needs.

    Call #3: Shortlist flex work options and assess feasibility.

    Call #4: Finalize flex work options and create rollout plan.

    Call #5: (Optional) Review rollout progress or evaluate pilot success.

    A Guided Implementation (GI) is a series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization.

    A typical GI is 3 to 5 calls over the course of 4 to 6 months.

    Workshop Overview

    Contact your account representative for more information.
    workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889

    Day 1

    Day 2

    Day 3

    Day 4

    Day 5

    Activities

    Prepare to assess flex work feasibility

    Assess flex work feasibility

    Finalize flex work options

    Prepare for implementation

    Next Steps and Wrap-Up (offsite)

    1.1 Identify employee and organizational needs.

    1.2 Identify employee segments.

    1.3 Establish program goals and metrics.

    1.4 Shortlist flex work options.

    2.1 Conduct employee/manager focus groups to assess feasibility of flex work options.

    3.1 Finalize list of approved flex work options.

    3.2 Brainstorm solutions to implementation issues.

    3.2 Identify how to overcome cultural barriers.

    4.1 Design employee and manager guide prototype.

    4.2 Align HR programs and policies to support flexible work.

    4.3 Create a communication plan.

    5.1 Complete in-progress deliverables from previous four days.

    5.2 Set up review time for workshop deliverables and to discuss next steps.

    Deliverables

    1. Organizational context summary
    2. List of shortlisted flex work options
    1. Summary of flex work options' feasibility per employee segment
    1. 1.Final list of flex work options
    2. 2.Implementation barriers and solutions summary
    1. Employee and manager guide to flexible work
    2. Flex work roadmap and communication plan
    1. Completed flexible work feasibility workbook
    2. Flexible work communication plan

    Step 1

    Assess employee and organizational needs

    1. Assess employee and organizational flexibility needs
    2. Identify potential flex options and assess feasibility
    3. Implement selected option(s)

    After completing this step you will have:

    • Identified key stakeholders and their responsibilities
    • Uncovered the current and desired state of the organization
    • Analyzed feedback to identify flexibility challenges
    • Identified and prioritized employee segments
    • Determined the program goals
    • Identified the degree of flexibility for work location, timing, and deliverables

    Identify key stakeholders

    Organizational flexibility requires collaborative and cross-functional involvement to determine which flexible options will meet the needs of a diverse workforce. HR leads the project to explore flexible work options, while other stakeholders provide feedback during the identification and implementation processes.

    HR

    • Assist with the design, implementation, and maintenance of the program.
    • Provide managers and employees with guidance to establish successful flexible work arrangements.
    • Help develop communications to launch and maintain the program.

    Senior Leaders

    • Champion the project by modeling and promoting flexible work options
    • Help develop and deliver communications; set the tone for flexible work at the organization.
    • Provide input into determining program goals.

    Managers

    • Model flexible work options and encourage direct reports to request and discuss options.
    • Use flexible work program guidelines to work with direct reports to select suitable flexible work options.
    • Develop performance metrics and encourage communication between flexible and non-flexible workers.

    Flexible Workers

    • Indicate preferences of flexible work options to the manager.
    • Identify ways to maintain operational continuity and communication while working flexibly.
    • Flag issues and suggest improvements to the manager.
    • Develop creative ways to work with colleagues who don't work flexibly.

    Non-Flexible Workers

    • Share feedback on issues with flexible arrangements and their impact on operational continuity.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Flexible work is a holistic team effort. Leaders, flexible workers, teammates, and HR must clearly understand their roles to ensure that teams are set up for success.

    Uncover the current and desired state of flexibility in the organization

    Current State

    Target State

    Review:

    • Existing policies related to flexibility (e.g. vacation, work from anywhere)
    • Existing flexibility programs (e.g. seasonal hours) and their uptake
    • Productivity of employees
    • Current culture at the organization. Look for:
      • Employee autonomy
      • Reporting structure and performance management processes
      • Trust and psychological safety of employees
      • Leadership behavior (e.g. do leaders model work-life balance, or does the organization have a work 24/7 mentality?)

    Identify what is driving the need for flexible work options. Ask:

    • Why does the organization need flexible options?
      • For example, the introduction of flexibility for some employees has created a "have and have not" dynamic between roles that must be addressed.
    • What does the organization hope to gain from implementing flexible options? For example:
      • Improved retention
      • Increased attraction, remaining competitive for talent
      • Increased work-life balance for employees
      • Reduced burnout
    • What does the organization aspire to be?
      • For example, an organization that creates an environment that values output, not face time.

    These drivers identify goals for the organization to achieve through targeted flexible work options.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Hybrid work is a start. A comprehensive flex work program extends beyond flexible location, so organizations must understand the needs of unique employee groups to uncover the options that will attract and retain talent. Provide greater inclusivity to employees by broadening the scope to include flex location, flex time, and flex time off.

    Identify employee segments

    Using the data, feedback, and challenges analyzed and uncovered so far, assess the organization and identify employee segments.

    Identify employee segments with common characteristics to assess if they require unique flexible work options. Assess the feasibility options for the segments separately in Step 2.

    • Segments' unique characteristics include:
      • Role responsibilities (e.g. interacting with users, creating reports, development and testing)
      • Work location/schedule (e.g. geographic, remote vs. onsite, 9 to 5)
      • Work processes (e.g. server maintenance, phone support)
      • Group characteristics (e.g. specific teams, new hires)

    Identify employee segments and sort them into groups based on the characteristics above.

    Examples of segments:

    • Functional area (e.g. Service Desk, Security)
    • Job roles (e.g. desktop support, server maintenance)
    • Onsite, remote, or hybrid
    • Full-time or part-time
    • Job level (e.g. managers vs. independent contributors)
    • Employees with dependents

    Prioritize employee segments

    Determine whether the organization needs flexible work options for the entire organization or specific employee segments.
    For specific employee segments:

    • Answer the questions on the right to identify whether an employee segment is high, medium, or low priority. Complete slides 23 to 25 for each high-priority segment, repeating the process for medium-priority segments when resources allow.

    For the entire organization:

    • When identifying an option for the entire organization, consider all segments. The approach must create consistency and inclusion; keep this top of mind when identifying flexibility on slides 23 to 25. For example, the work location flexibility would be low in an organization where some segments can work remotely and others must be onsite due to machinery requirements.

    High priority: The employee segment has the lowest engagement scores or highest turnover within the organization. Segment sentiment is that current flexibility is nonexistent or not sufficiently meeting needs.
    Medium priority: The employee segment has low engagement or high turnover. Segment sentiment is that currently available flexibility is minimal or not sufficiently meeting needs.
    Low priority: The segment does not have the lowest engagement or the highest turnover rate. Segment sentiment is that currently available flexibility is sufficiently meeting needs.

    1. What is the impact on the organization if this segment's challenges aren't addressed (e.g. if low engagement and high turnover are not addressed)?
    2. How critical is flexibility to the segment's needs/engagement?
    3. How time sensitive is it to introduce flexibility to this segment (e.g. is the organization losing employees in this segment at a high rate)?
    4. Will providing flexibility to this segment increase organizational productivity or output

    Identify challenges to address with flexibility

    Uncover the lived experiences and expectations of employees to inform selection of segments and flexible options.

    1. Collect data from existing sources, such as:
      • Engagement surveys
      • New hire/exit surveys
      • Employee experience monitor surveys
      • Employee retention pulse surveys
      • Burnout surveys
      • DEI pulse surveys
    2. Analyze employee feedback on experiences with:
      • Work duties
      • Workload
      • Work-life balance
      • Operating processes and procedures
      • Achieving operational outcomes
      • Collaboration and communication
      • Individual experience and engagement
    3. Evaluate the data and identify challenges

    Example challenges:

    • Engagement: Low average score on work-life balance question; flexible work suggested in open-ended responses.
    • Retention: Exit survey indicating that lack of work-life balance is consistently a reason employees leave. Include the cost of turnover (e.g. recruitment, training, severance).
    • Burnout: Feedback from employees through surveys or HR business partner anecdotes indicating high burnout; high usage of wellness services or employee assistance programs.
    • Absenteeism: High average number of days employees were absent in the past year. Include the cost of lost productivity.
    • Operational continuity: Provide examples of when flexible work would have enabled operational continuity in the case of disaster or extended customer service coverage.
    • Program uptake: If the organization already has a flexible work program, provide data on the low proportion of eligible employees using available options.

    1.1 Prepare to evaluate flexible work options

    1-3 hours

    Follow the guidance on preceding slides to complete the following activities.
    Note: If you are only considering remote or hybrid work, use the Fast-Track Hybrid Work Program Workbook. Otherwise, proceed with the Targeted Flexible Work Program Workbook.

    1. Identify key stakeholders. Be sure to record the level of involvement and responsibility expected from each stakeholder. Use the "Stakeholders" tab of the workbook.
    2. Uncover current and desired state. Review and record your current state with respect to culture, productivity, and current flexible work options, if any. Next, record your desired future state, including reasons for implementing flexible work, and goals for the program. Record this in the "Current and Desired State" tab of the workbook.
    3. Identify and prioritize employee segments. Identify and record employee segments. Depending on the size of your department, you may identify a few or many. Be as granular as necessary to fully separate employee groups with different needs. If your resources or needs prevent you from rolling out flexible work to the entire department, record the priority level of each segment so you can focus on the highest priority first.
    4. Identify challenges with flexibility. With each employee segment in mind, analyze your available data to identify and record each segment's main challenges regarding flexible work. These will inform your program goals and metrics.

    Download the Targeted Flexible Work Program Workbook

    Download the Fast-Track Hybrid Work Program Workbook

    Input

    • List of departmental roles
    • Data on employee engagement, productivity, sentiment regarding flexible work, etc.

    Output

    • List of stakeholders and responsibilities
    • Flexible work challenges and aims
    • Prioritized list of employee segments

    Materials

    • Targeted Flexible Work Program Workbook
      Or
    • Fast-Track Hybrid Work Program Workbook

    Participants

    • IT department head
    • HR business partner
    • Flexible work program committee

    Determine goals and metrics for the flexible work program

    Sample program goals

    Sample metrics

    Increase productivity

    • Employee, team, and department key performance indicators (KPIs) before and after flexible work implementation
    • Absenteeism rate (% of lost working days due to all types of absence)

    Improve business satisfaction and perception of IT value

    Increase retention

    • % of exiting employees who cite lack of flexible work options or poor work-life balance as a reason they left
    • Turnover and retention rates

    Improve the employee value proposition (EVP) and talent attraction

    • # of responses on the new hire survey where flexible work options or work-life balance are cited as a reason for accepting an employment offer
    • # of views of career webpage that mentions flexible work program
    • Time-to-fill rates

    Improve engagement and work-life balance

    • Overall engagement score – deploy Info-Tech's Employee Engagement Diagnostics
    • Score for questions about work-life balance on employee engagement or pulse survey, including:
      • "I am able to maintain a balance between my work and personal life."
      • "I find my stress levels at work manageable."

    Info-Tech Insight

    Implementing flex work without solid performance metrics means you won't have a way of determining whether the program is enabling or hampering your business practices.

    1.2 Determine goals and metrics

    30 minutes

    Use the examples on the preceding slide to identify program goals and metrics:

    1. Brainstorm program goals. Be sure to consider both the business benefits (e.g. productivity, retention) and the employee benefits (work-life balance, engagement). A successful flexible work program benefits both the organization and its employees.
    2. Brainstorm metrics for each goal. Identify metrics that are easy to track accurately. Use Info-Tech's IT and HR metrics libraries for reference. Ideally, the metrics you choose should already exist in your organization so no extra effort will be necessary to implement them. It is also important to have a baseline measure of each one before flexible work is rolled out.
    3. Record your outputs on the "Goals and Metrics" tab of the workbook.

    Download the Targeted Flexible Work Program Workbook

    Download the IT Metrics Library

    Download the HR Metrics Library

    Input

    • Organizational and departmental strategy

    Output

    • List of program goals and metrics

    Materials

    • Targeted Flexible Work Program Workbook
      Or
    • Fast-Track Hybrid Work Program Workbook

    Participants

    • Flexible work program committee

    Determine work location flexibility for priority segments

    Work location looks at where a segment can complete all or some of their tasks (e.g. onsite vs. remote). For each prioritized employee segment, evaluate the amount of location flexibility available.

    Work Duties

    Processes

    Operational Outcomes

    High degree of flexibility

    • Low dependence on onsite equipment
    • Work easily shifts to online platforms
    • Low dependence on onsite external interactions (e.g. clients, customers, vendors)
    • Low interdependence of work duties internally (most work is independent)
    • Work processes and expectations are or can be formally documented
    • Remote work processes are sustainable long term

    Most or all operational outcomes can be achieved offsite (e.g. products/service delivery not impacted by WFH)

    • Some dependence on onsite equipment
    • Some work can shift to online platforms
    • Some dependence on onsite external interactions
    • Some interdependence of work duties internally (collaboration is critical)
    • Most work processes and expectations have been or can be formally documented
    • Remote work processes are sustainable (e.g. workarounds can be supported and didn't add work)

    Some operational outcomes can be achieved offsite (e.g. some impact of WFH on product/service delivery)

    Low degree of flexibility

    • High dependence on onsite equipment
    • Work cannot shift to online platforms
    • High dependence on onsite external interactions
    • High interdependence of work duties internally (e.g. line work)
    • Few work processes and expectations can be formally documented
    • Work processes cannot be done remotely, and workarounds for remote work are not sustainable long term

    Operational outcomes cannot be achieved offsite (e.g. significant impairment to product/service delivery)

    Note

    If roles within the segment have differing levels of location flexibility, use the lowest results (e.g. if role A in the segment has a high degree of flexibility for work duties and role B has a low degree of flexibility, use the results for role B).

    Identify work timing for priority segments

    Work timing looks at when work can or needs to be completed (e.g. Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm).

    Work Duties

    Processes

    Operational Outcomes

    High degree of flexibility

    • No need to be available to internal and/or external customers during standard work hours
    • Equipment is available at any time
    • Does not rely on synchronous (occurring at the same time) work duties internally
    • Work processes and expectations are or can be formally documented
    • Low reliance on collaboration
    • Work is largely asynchronous (does not occur at the same time)

    Most or all operational outcomes are not time sensitive

    • Must be available to internal and/or external customers during some standard work hours
    • Some reliance on synchronous work duties internally (collaboration is critical)
    • Most work processes and expectations have been or can be formally documented
    • Moderate reliance on collaboration
    • Some work is synchronous

    Some operational outcomes are time sensitive and must be conducted within set date or time windows

    Low degree of flexibility

    • Must be available to internal and/or external customers during all standard work hours (e.g. Monday to Friday 9 to 5)
    • High reliance on synchronous work duties internally (e.g. line work)
    • Few work processes and expectations can be formally documented
    • High reliance on collaboration
    • Most work is synchronous

    Most or all operational outcomes are time sensitive and must be conducted within set date or time windows

    Note

    With additional coordination, flex time or flex time off options are still possible for employee segments with a low degree of flexibility. For example, with a four-day work week, the segment can be split into two teams – one that works Monday to Thursday and one that works Tuesday to Friday – so that employees are still available for clients five days a week.

    Examine work deliverables for priority segments

    Work deliverables look at the employee's ability to deliver on their role expectations (e.g. quota or targets) and whether reducing the time spent working would, in all situations, impact the work deliverables (e.g. constrained vs. unconstrained).

    Work Duties

    Operational Outcomes

    High degree of flexibility

    • Few or no work duties rely on equipment or processes that put constraints on output (unconstrained output)
    • Employees have autonomy over which work duties they focus on each day
    • Most or all operational outcomes are unconstrained (e.g. a marketing analyst who builds reports and strategies for clients can produce more reports, produce better reports, or identify new strategies)
    • Work quota or targets are achievable even if working fewer hours
    • Some work duties rely on equipment or processes that put constraints on output
    • Employees have some ability to decide which work duties they focus on each day
    • Some operational outcomes are constrained or moderately unconstrained (e.g. an analyst build reports based on client data; while it's possible to find efficiencies and build reports faster, it's not possible to attain the client data any faster)
    • Work quota or targets may be achievable if working fewer hours

    Low degree of flexibility

    • Most or all work duties rely on equipment or processes that put constraints on output (constrained output)
    • Daily work duties are prescribed (e.g. a telemarketer is expected to call a set number of people per day using a set list of contacts and a defined script)
    • Most or all operational outcomes are constrained (e.g. a machine operator works on a machine that produces 100 parts an hour; neither the machine nor the worker can produce more parts)
    • Work quota or targets cannot be achieved if fewer hours are worked

    Note

    For segments with a low degree of work deliverable flexibility (e.g. very constrained output), flexibility is still an option, but maintaining output would require additional headcount.

    1.3 Determine flexibility needs and constraints

    1-2 hours

    Use the guidelines on the preceding slides to document the parameters of each work segment.

    1. Determine work location flexibility. Work location looks at where a segment can complete all or some of their tasks (e.g. onsite vs. remote). For each prioritized employee segment, evaluate the amount of location flexibility available.
    2. Identify work timing. Work timing looks at when work can or needs to be completed (e.g. Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm).
    3. Examine work deliverables. Work deliverables look at the employee's ability to deliver on their role expectations (e.g. quota or targets) and whether reducing the time spent working would, in all situations, impact the work deliverables (e.g. constrained vs. unconstrained).
    4. Record your outputs on the "Current and Desired State" tab of the workbook.

    Download the Targeted Flexible Work Program Workbook

    Input

    • List of employee segments

    Output

    • Summary of flexibility needs and constraints for each employee segment

    Materials

    • Targeted Flexible Work Program Workbook
      Or
    • Fast-Track Hybrid Work Program Workbook

    Participants

    • Flexible work program committee
    • Employee segment managers

    Step 2

    Identify potential flex options and assess feasibility

    1. Assess employee and organizational flexibility needs
    2. Identify potential flex options and assess feasibility
    3. Implement selected option(s)

    After completing this step you will have:

    • Created a shortlist of potential options for each prioritized employee segment
    • Evaluated the feasibility of each potential option
    • Determined the cost and benefit of each potential option
    • Gathered employee sentiment on potential options
    • Finalized options with senior leadership

    Prepare to identify and assess the feasibility of potential flexible work options

    First, review the Flexible Work Solutions Catalog

    Before proceeding to the next slide, review the Flexible Work Options Catalog to identify and shortlist five to seven flexible work options that are best suited to address the challenges faced for each of the priority employee segments identified in Step 1.

    Then, assess the feasibility of implementing selected options using slides 29 to 32

    Assess the feasibility of implementing the shortlisted solutions for the prioritized employee segments against the feasibility factors in this step. Repeat for each employee segment. Use the following slides to consult with and include leaders when appropriate.

    • Document your analysis in tabs 6 to 8 of the Targeted Flexible Work Program Workbook.
    • Note implementation issues throughout the assessment and record them in the tool. They will be addressed in Step 3: Implement Selected Program(s). Don't rule out an option simply because it presents some challenges; careful implementation can overcome many challenges.
    • At the end of this step, determine the final list of flexible work options and gain approval from senior leaders for implementation.

    Evaluate feasibility by reviewing the option's impact on continued operations and job performance

    Operational coverage

    Synchronous communication

    Time zones

    Face-to-face

    communication

    To what extent are employees needed to deliver products or services?

    • If constant customer service is required, stagger employees' schedules (e.g. one team works Monday-Thursday while another works Tuesday-Friday).

    To what extent do employees need to communicate with each other synchronously?

    • Break the workflow down and identify times when employees do and do not have to work at the same time to communicate with each other.

    To what extent do employees need to coordinate work across time zones?

    • If the organization already operates in different time zones, ensure that the option does not impact operations requiring continuous coverage.
    • When employees are located in different time zones, coordinate schedules based on the other operational factors.

    When do employees need to interact with each other or clients in person?

    • Examine the workflow closely to identify times when face-to-face communication is not required. Schedule "office days" for employees to work together when in-person interaction is needed.
    • When the interaction is only required with clients, determine whether employees are able to meet clients offsite.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Every role is eligible for hybrid location work. If onsite work duties prevent an employee group from participating, see if processes can be digitized or automated. Flexible work is an opportunity to go beyond current needs to future-proof your organization.

    Assess the option's alignment with organizational culture

    Symbols

    Values

    Behaviors

    How supportive of flexible work are the visible aspects of the organization's culture?

    • For example, the mission statement, newsletters, or office layout.
    • Note: Visible elements will need to be adapted to ensure they reinforce the value of the flexible work option.

    How supportive are both the stated and lived values of the organization?

    • When the flexible work option includes less direct supervision, assess how empowered employees feel to make decisions.
    • Assess whether all types of employees (e.g. virtual) are included, valued, and supported.

    How supportive are the attitudes and behaviors, especially of leaders?

    • Leaders set the expectations for acceptable behaviors in the organization. Determine how supportive leaders are toward flexible workers by examining their attitudes and perceptions.
    • Identify if employees are open to different ways of doing work.

    Determine the resources required for the option

    People

    Process

    Technology

    Do employees have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to adopt this option?

    • Identify any areas (e.g. process, technology) employees will need to be trained on and assess the associated costs.
    • Determine whether the option will require additional headcount to ensure operational continuity (e.g. two part-time employees in a job-sharing arrangement) and calculate associated costs (e.g. recruitment, training, benefits).

    How much will work processes need to change?

    • Interview organizational leaders with knowledge of the employee segment's core work processes. Determine whether a significant change will be required.
    • If a significant change is required, evaluate whether the benefits of the option outweigh the costs of the process and behavioral change (see the "net benefit" factor on slide 33).

    What new technologies will be required?

    • Identify the technology (e.g. that supports communication, work processes) required to enable the flexible work option.
    • Note whether existing technology can be used or additional technology will be required, and further investigate the viability and costs of these options.

    Examine the option's risks

    Data

    Health & Safety

    Legal

    How will data be kept secure?

    • Determine whether the organization's data policy and technology covers employees working remotely or other flexible work options.
    • If the employee segment handles sensitive data (e.g. personal employee information), consult relevant stakeholders to determine how data can be kept secure and assess any associated costs.

    How will employees' health and safety be impacted?

    • Consult your organization's legal counsel to determine whether the organization will be liable for the employees' health and safety while working from home or other locations.
    • Determine whether the organization's policies and processes will need to be modified.

    What legal risks might be involved?

    • Identify any policies in place or jurisdictional requirements to avoid any legal risks. Consult your organization's legal counsel about the situations below.
      • If the option causes significant changes to the nature of jobs, creating the risk of constructive dismissal.
      • If there are any risks to providing less supervision (e.g. higher chance of harassment).
      • When only some employee segments are eligible for the option, determine whether there is a risk of inequitable access.
      • If the option impacts any unionized employees or collective agreements.

    Determine whether the benefits of the option outweigh the costs

    Include senior leadership in the net benefit process to ensure any unfeasible options are removed from consideration before presenting to employees.

    1. Document the employee and employer benefits of the option from the previous feasibility factors on slides 29 to 32.
    • Include the benefits of reaching program goals identified in Step 1.
    • Quantify the benefits in dollar value where possible.
  • Document the costs and risks of the option, referring to the costs noted from previous feasibility factors.
    • Quantify the costs in dollar value where possible.
  • Compare the benefits and costs.
    • Add an option to your final list if the benefits are greater than the costs.
  • This is an image of a table with the main heading being Net Benefit, with the following subheadings: Benefits to organization; Benefits to employees; Costs.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Flexible work options must balance organizational and employee needs. If an option is beneficial to employees but there is little or no benefit to the organization as a whole, or if the cost of the option is too high, it will not support the long-term success of the organization.

    2.1a Identify and evaluate flexible work options

    30 minutes per employee segment per work option

    If you are only considering hybrid or remote work, skip to activity 2.1b. Use the guidelines on the preceding slides to conduct feasibility assessments.

    1. Shortlist flexible work options. Review the Flexible Work Options Catalog to identify and shortlist five to seven flexible work options that are best suited to address the challenges faced for each of the priority employee segments. Record these on the "Options Shortlist" tab of the workbook. Even if the decision is simple, ensure you record the rationale to help communicate your decision to employees. Transparent communication is the best way to avoid feelings of unfairness if desired work options are not implemented.
    2. Evaluate option feasibility. For each of the shortlisted options, complete one "Feasibility - Option" tab in the workbook. Make as many copies of this tab as needed.
      • When evaluating each option, consider each employee segment individually as you work through the prompts in the workbook. You may find that segments differ greatly in the feasibility of various types of flexible work. You will use this information to inform your overall policy and any exceptions to it.
      • You may need to involve each segment's management team to get an accurate picture of day-to-day responsibilities and flexible work feasibility.
    3. Weigh benefits and costs. At the end of each flexible work option evaluation, record the anticipated costs and benefits. Discuss whether this balance renders the option viable or rules it out.

    Download the Targeted Flexible Work Program Workbook

    Download the Flexible Work Options Catalog

    Input

    • List of employee segments

    Output

    • Shortlist of flexible work options
    • Feasibility analysis for each work option

    Materials

    • Targeted Flexible Work Program Workbook
    • Flexible Work Options Catalog

    Participants

    • Flexible work program committee
    • Employee segment managers

    2.1b Assess hybrid work feasibility

    30 minutes per employee segment

    Use the guidelines on the preceding slides to conduct a feasibility assessment. This exercise relies on having trialed hybrid or remote work before. If you have never implemented any degree of remote work, consider completing the full feasibility assessment in activity 2.1a.

    1. Evaluate hybrid work feasibility. Review the feasibility prompts on the "Work Unit Remote Work Assessment" tab and record your insight for each employee segment.
      • When evaluating each option, consider each employee segment individually as you work through the prompts in the workbook. You may find that segments differ greatly in their ability to accommodate hybrid work. You will use this information to inform your overall policy and any exceptions to it.
      • You may need to involve each segment's management team to get an accurate picture of day-to-day responsibilities and hybrid work feasibility.

    Download the Fast-Track Hybrid Work Program Workbook

    Input

    • List of employee segments

    Output

    • Feasibility analysis for each work option

    Materials

    • Fast-Track Hybrid Work Program Workbook

    Participants

    • Flexible work program committee
    • Employee segment managers

    Ask employees which options they prefer and gather feedback for implementation

    Deliver a survey and/or conduct focus groups with a selection of employees from all prioritized employee segments.

    Share

    • Present your draft list of options to select employees.
    • Communicate that the organization is in the process of assessing the feasibility of flexible work options and would like employee input to ensure flex work meets needs.
    • Be clear that the list is not final or guaranteed.

    Ask

    • Ask which options are preferred more than others.
    • Ask for feedback on each option – how could it be modified to meet employee needs better? Use this information to inform implementation in Step 3.

    Decide

    • Prioritize an option if many employees indicated an interest in it.
    • If employees indicate no interest in an option, consider eliminating it from the list, unless it will be required. There is no value in providing an option if employees won't use it.

    Survey

    • List the options and ask respondents to rate each on a Likert scale from 1 to 5.
    • Ask some open-ended questions with comment boxes for employee suggestions.

    Focus Group

    • Conduct focus groups to gather deeper feedback.
    • See Appendix I for sample focus group questions.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Prioritize flexible work options that employees want. Providing too many options often leads to information overload and results in employees not understanding what is available, lowering adoption of the flexible work program.

    Finalize options list with senior leadership

    1. Select one to three final options and outline the details of each. Include:
      • Scope: To what extent will the option be applied? E.g. work-from-home one or two days a week.
      • Eligibility: Which employee segments are eligible?
      • Cost: What investment will be required?
      • Critical implementation issues: Will any of the implementation issues identified for each feasibility factor impact whether the option will be approved?
      • Resources: What additional resources will be required (e.g. technology)?
    2. Present the options to stakeholders for approval. Include:
      • An outline of the finalized options, including what the option is and the scope, eligibility, and critical implementation issues.
      • The feasibility assessment results, including benefits, costs, and employee preferences. Have more detail from the other factors ready if leaders ask about them.
      • The investment (cost) required to implement the option.
    3. Proceed to Step 3 to implement approved options.

    Running an IT pilot of flex work

    • As a technology department, IT typically doesn't own flexible work implementation for the entire organization. However, it is common to trial flexible work options for IT first, before rolling out to the entire organization.
    • During a flex work pilot, ensure you are working closely with HR partners, especially regarding regulatory and compliance issues.
    • Keep the rest of the organizational stakeholders in the loop, especially regarding their agreement on the metrics by which the pilot's success will be evaluated.

    2.2a Finalize flexible work options

    2-3 hours + time to gather employee feedback

    If you are only considering hybrid or remote work, skip to activity 2.2b. Use the guidelines on the preceding slides to gather final feedback and finalize work option selections.

    1. Gather employee feedback. If employee preferences are already known, skip this step. If they are not, gather feedback to ascertain whether any of the shortlisted options are preferred. Remember that a successful flexible work program balances the needs of employees and the business, so employee preference is a key determinant in flexible work program success. Document this on the "Employee Preferences" tab of the workbook.
    2. Finalize flexible work options. Use your notes on the cost-benefit balance for each option, along with employee preferences, to decide whether the move forward with it. Record this decision on the "Options Final List" tab. Include information about eligible employee segments and any implementation challenges that came up during the feasibility assessments. This is the final decision summary that will inform your flexible program parameters and policies.

    Download the Targeted Flexible Work Program Workbook

    Input

    • Flexible work options shortlist

    Output

    • Final flexible work options list

    Materials

    • Targeted Flexible Work Program Workbook

    Participants

    • Flexible work program committee

    2.2b Finalize hybrid work parameters

    2-3 hours + time to gather employee feedback

    Use the guidelines on the preceding slides to gather final feedback and finalize work option selections.

    1. Summarize feasibility analysis. On the "Program Parameters" tab, record the main insights from your feasibility analysis. Finalize important elements, including eligibility for hybrid/remote work by employee segment. Additionally, record the standard parameters for the program (i.e. those that apply to all employee segments) and variable parameters (i.e. ones that differ by employee segment).

    Download the Fast-Track Hybrid Work Program Workbook

    Input

    • Hybrid work feasibility analysis

    Output

    • Final hybrid work program parameters

    Materials

    • Fast-Track Hybrid Work Program Workbook

    Participants

    • Flexible work program committee

    Step 3

    Implement selected option(s)

    1. Assess employee and organizational flexibility needs
    2. Identify potential flex options and assess feasibility
    3. Implement selected option(s)

    After completing this step, you will have:

    • Addressed implementation issues and cultural barriers
    • Equipped the organization to adopt flexible work options successfully
    • Piloted the program and assessed its success
    • Developed a plan for program rollout and communication
    • Established a program evaluation plan
    • Aligned HR programs to support the program

    Solve the implementation issues identified in your feasibility assessment

    1. Identify a solution for each implementation issue documented in the Targeted Flexible Work Program Workbook. Consider the following when identifying solutions:
      • Scope: Determine whether the solution will be applied to one or all employee segments.
      • Stakeholders: Identify stakeholders to consult and develop a solution. If the scope is one employee segment, work with organizational leaders of that segment. When the scope is the entire organization, consult with senior leaders.
      • Implementation: Collaborate with stakeholders to solve implementation issues. Balance the organizational and employee needs, referring to data gathered in Steps 1 and 2.

    Example:

    Issue

    Solution

    Option 1: Hybrid work

    Brainstorming at the beginning of product development benefits from face-to-face collaboration.

    Block off a "brainstorming day" when all team members are required in the office.

    Employee segment: Product innovation team

    One team member needs to meet weekly with the implementation team to conduct product testing.

    Establish a schedule with rotating responsibility for a team member to be at the office for product testing; allow team members to swap days if needed.

    Address cultural barriers by involving leaders

    To shift a culture that is not supportive of flexible work, involve leaders in setting an example for employees to follow.

    Misconceptions

    Tactics to overcome them

    • Flexible workers are less productive.
    • Flexible work disrupts operations.
    • Flexible workers are less committed to the organization.
    • Flexible work only benefits employees, not the organization.
    • Employees are not working if they aren't physically in the office.

    Make the case by highlighting challenges and expected benefits for both the organization and employees (e.g. same or increased productivity). Use data in the introductory section of this blueprint.

    Demonstrate operational feasibility by providing an overview of the feasibility assessment conducted to ensure operational continuity.

    Involve most senior leadership in communication.

    Encourage discovery and exploration by having managers try flexible work options themselves, which will help model it for employees.

    Highlight success stories within the organization or from competitors or similar industries.

    Invite input from managers on how to improve implementation and ownership, which helps to discover hidden options.

    Shift symbols, values, and behaviors

    • Work with senior leaders to identify symbols, values, and behaviors to modify to align with the selected flexible work options.
    • Validate that the final list aligns with your organization's mission, vision, and values.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Leaders' collective support of the flexible program determines the program's successful adoption. Don't sweep cultural barriers under the rug; acknowledge and address them to overcome them.

    Equip the organization for successful implementation

    Info-Tech recommends providing managers and employees with a guide to flexible work, introducing policies, and providing training for managers.

    Provide managers and employees with a guide to flexible work

    Introduce appropriate organization policies

    Equip managers with the necessary tools and training

    Use the guide to:

    • Familiarize employees and managers with the flexible work program.
    • Gain employee and manager buy-in and support for the program.
    • Explain the process and give guidance on selecting flexible work options and working with their colleagues to make it a success.

    Use Info-Tech's customizable policy templates to set guidelines, outline arrangements, and scope the organization's flexible work policies. This is typically done by, or in collaboration with, the HR department.

    Download the Guide to Flexible Work for Managers and Employees

    Download the Flex Location Policy

    Download the Flex Time-Off Policy

    Download the Flex Time Policy

    3.1 Prepare for implementation

    2-3 hours

    Use the guidelines on the preceding slides to brainstorm solutions to implementation issues and prepare to communicate program rollout to stakeholders.

    1. Solve implementation issues.
      • If you are working with the Targeted Flexible Work Program Workbook: For each implementation challenge identified on the "Final Options List" tab, brainstorm solutions. If you are working with the Fast-Track Hybrid Work Program Workbook: Work through the program enablement prompts on the "Program Enablement" tab.
      • You may need to involve relevant stakeholders to help you come up with appropriate solutions for each employee segment.
      • Ensure that any anticipated cultural barriers have been documented and are addressed during this step. Don't underestimate the importance of a supportive organizational culture to the successful rollout of flexible work.
    2. Prepare the employee guide. Modify the Guide to Flexible Work for Managers and Employees template to reflect your final work options list and the processes and expectations employees will need to follow.
    3. Create a communication plan. Use Info-Tech's Communicate Any IT Initiative blueprint and Appendix II to craft your messaging.

    Download the Guide to Flexible Work for Managers and Employees

    Download the Targeted Flexible Work Program Workbook

    Input

    • Flexible work options final list

    Output

    • Employee guide to flexible work
    • Flexible work rollout communication plan

    Materials

    • Guide to Flexible Work for Managers and Employees
    • Targeted Flexible Work Program Workbook
      Or
    • Fast-Track Hybrid Work Program Workbook

    Participants

    • Flexible work program committee
    • Employee segment managers

    Run an IT pilot for flexible work

    Prepare for pilot

    Launch Pilot

    Identify the flexible work options that will be piloted.

    • Refer to the final list of selected options for each priority segment to determine which options should be piloted.

    Select pilot participants.

    • If not rolling out to the entire IT department, look for the departments and/or team(s) where there is the greatest need and the biggest interest (e.g. team with lowest engagement scores).
    • Include all employees within the department, or team if the department is too large, in the pilot.
    • Start with a group whose managers are best equipped for the new flexibility options.

    Create an approach to collect feedback and measure the success of the pilot.

    • Feedback can be collected using surveys, focus groups, and/or targeted in-person interviews.

    The length of the pilot will greatly vary based on which flexible work options were selected (e.g. seasonal hours will require a shorter pilot period compared to implementing a compressed work week). Use discretion when deciding on pilot length and be open to extending or shortening the pilot length as needed.

    Launch pilot.

    • Launch the program through a town hall meeting or departmental announcement to build excitement and buy-in.
    • Develop separate communications for employee segments where appropriate. See Appendix II for key messaging to include.

    Gather feedback.

    • The feedback will be used to assess the pilot's success and to determine what modifications will be needed later for a full-scale rollout.
    • When gathering feedback, tailor questions based on the employee segment but keep themes similar. For example:
      • Employees: "How did this help your day-to-day work?"
      • Managers: "How did this improve productivity on your team?"

    Track metrics.

    • The success of the pilot is best communicated using your department's unique KPIs.
    • Metrics are critical for:
      • Accurately determining pilot success.
      • Getting buy-in to expand the pilot beyond IT.
      • Justifying to employees any changes made to the flexible work options.

    Assess the pilot's success and determine next steps

    Review the feedback collected on the previous slide and use this decision tree to decide whether to relaunch a pilot or proceed to a full-scale rollout of the program.

    This is an image of the flow chart used to assess the pilot's success and determine the next steps.  It will help you to determine whether you will Proceed to full-scale rollout on next slide, Major modifications to the option/launch (e.g. change operating time) – adjust and relaunch pilot or select a new employee segment and relaunch pilot, Minor modifications to the option/launch (e.g. introduce additional communications) – adjust and proceed to full scale rollout, or Return to shortlist (Step 2) and select a different option or launch pilot with a different employee segment.

    Prepare for full-scale rollout

    If you have run a team pilot prior to rolling out to all of IT, or run an IT pilot before an organizational rollout, use the following steps to transition from pilot to full rollout.

    1. Determine modifications
      • Review the feedback gathered during the pilot and determine what needs to change for a full-scale implementation.
      • Update HR policies and programs to support flexible work. Work closely with your HR business partner and other organizational leaders to ensure every department's needs are understood and compliance issues are addressed.
    2. Roll out and evaluate
      • Roll out the remainder of the program (e.g. to other employee segments or additional flexible work options) once there is significant uptake of the pilot by the target employee group and issues have been addressed.
      • Determine how feedback will be gathered after implementation, such as during engagement surveys, new hire and exit surveys, stay interviews, etc., and assess whether the program continues to meet employee and organizational needs.

    Rolling out beyond IT

    For a rollout beyond IT, HR will likely take over.

    However, this is your chance to remain at the forefront of your organization's flexible work efforts by continuing to track success and gather feedback within IT.

    Align HR programs and organizational policies to support flexible work

    Talent Management

    Learning & Development

    Talent Acquisition

    Reinforce managers' accountability for the success of flexible work in their teams:

    • Include "managing virtual teams" in the people management leadership competency.
    • Recognize managers who are modeling flexible work.

    Support flexible workers' career progression:

    • Monitor the promotion rates of flexible workers vs. non-flexible workers.
    • Make sure flexible workers are discussed during talent calibration meetings and have access to career development opportunities.

    Equip managers and employees with the knowledge and skills to make flexible work successful.

    • Provide guidance on selecting the right options and maintaining workflow.
    • If moving to a virtual environment, train managers on how to make it a success.

    Incorporate the flexible work program into the organization's employee value proposition to attract top talent who value flexible work options.

    • Highlight the program on the organization's career site and in job postings.

    Organizational policies

    Determine which organizational policies will be impacted as a result of the new flexible work options. For example, the introduction of flex time off can result in existing vacation policies needing to be updated.

    Plan to re-evaluate the program and make improvements

    Collect data

    Collect data

    Act on data

    Uptake

    Gather data on the proportion of employees eligible for each option who are using the option.

    If an option is tracking positively:

    • Maintain or expand the program to more of the organization.
    • Conduct a feasibility assessment (Step 2) for new employee segments.

    Satisfaction

    Survey managers and employees about their satisfaction with the options they are eligible for and provide an open box for suggestions on improvements.

    If an option is tracking negatively:

    • Investigate why. Gather additional data, interview organizational leaders, and/or conduct focus groups to gain deeper insight.
    • Re-assess the feasibility of the option (Step 2). If the costs outweigh the benefits based on new data, determine whether to cancel the option.
    • Take appropriate action based on the outcome of the evaluation, such as modifying or cancelling the option or providing employees with more support.
      • Note: Cancelling an option can impact the engagement of employees using the option. Ensure that the data, reasons for cancelling the option, and potential substitute options are communicated to employees in advance.

    Program goal progress

    Monitor progress against the program goals and metrics identified in Step 1 to evaluate the impact on issues that matter to the organization (e.g. retention, productivity, diversity).

    Career progression

    Evaluate flexible workers' promotion rates and development opportunities to determine if they are developing.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Negative performance of a flexible work option does not necessarily mean failure. Take the time to evaluate whether the option simply needs to be tweaked or whether it truly isn't working for the organization.

    Insight summary

    Overarching insight: IT excels at hybrid location work and is more effective as a business function when location, time, and time-off flexibility are an option for its employees.

    Introduction

    • Flexible work options are not a concession to lower productivity. Properly implemented, flex work enables employees to be more productive at reaching business goals.
    • Employees' lived experiences and needs determine if people use flexible work programs – a flex program that has limited use or excludes people will not benefit the organization.
    • Flexible work benefits everyone. IT employees experience greater engagement, motivation, and company loyalty. IT organizations realize benefits such as better service coverage, reduced facilities costs, and increased productivity.

    Step 1 insight

    • Hybrid work is a start. A comprehensive flex work program extends beyond flexible location to flexible time and time off. Organizations must understand the needs of unique employee groups to uncover the options that will attract and retain talent. Provide greater inclusivity to employees by broadening the scope to include flex location, flex time, and flex time off.
    • No two employee segments are the same. To be effective, flexible work options must align with the expectations and working processes of each segment.

    Step 2 insight

    • Every role is eligible for hybrid location work. If onsite work duties prevent an employee group from participating, see if processes can be digitized or automated. Flexible work is an opportunity to go beyond current needs to future proofing your organization.
    • Flexible work options must balance organizational and employee needs. If an option is beneficial to employees but there is little or no benefit to the organization, or if the cost of the option is too high, it will not support the long-term success of the organization.
    • Prioritize flexible work options that employees want. Providing too many options often leads to information overload and results in employees not understanding what is available, lowering adoption of the flexible work program.

    Step 3 insight

    • Leaders' collective support of the flexible program determines the program's successful adoption. Don't sweep cultural barriers under the rug; acknowledge and address them to overcome them.
    • Negative performance of a flexible work option does not necessarily mean failure. Take the time to evaluate whether the option simply needs to be tweaked or whether it truly isn't working for the organization.
    • A set of formal guidelines for IT ensures flexible work is:
      1. Administered fairly across all IT employees.
      2. Defensible and clear.
      3. Scalable to the rest of the organization.

    Research Contributors and Experts

    Quinn Ross
    CEO
    The Ross Firm Professional Corporation

    Margaret Yap
    HR Professor
    Ryerson University

    Heather Payne
    CEO
    Juno College

    Lee Nguyen
    HR Specialist
    City of Austin

    Stacey Spruell
    Division HR Director
    Travis County

    Don MacLeod
    Chief Administrative Officer
    Zorra Township

    Stephen Childs
    CHRO
    Panasonic North America

    Shawn Gibson
    Sr. Director
    Info Tech Research Group

    Mari Ryan
    CEO/Founder
    Advancing Wellness

    Sophie Wade
    Founder
    Flexcel Networks

    Kim Velluso
    VP Human Resources
    Siemens Canada

    Lilian De Menezes
    Professor of Decision Sciences
    Cass Business School, University of London

    Judi Casey
    WorkLife Consultant and former Director, Work and Family Researchers Network
    Boston College

    Chris Frame
    Partner – Operations
    LiveCA

    Rose M. Stanley, CCP, CBP, WLCP, CEBS
    People Services Manager
    Sunstate Equipment Co., LLC

    Shari Lava
    Director, Vendor Research
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Carol Cochran
    Director of People & Culture
    FlexJobs

    Kidde Kelly
    OD Practitioner

    Dr. David Chalmers
    Adjunct Professor
    Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University

    Kashmira Nagarwala
    Change Manager
    Siemens Canada

    Dr. Isik U. Zeytinoglu
    Professor of Management and Industrial Relations McMaster University, DeGroote School of Business

    Claire McCartney
    Diversity & Inclusion Advisor
    CIPD

    Teresa Hopke
    SVP of Client Relations
    Life Meets Work – www.lifemeetswork.com

    Mark Tippey
    IT Leader and Experienced Teleworker

    Dr. Kenneth Matos
    Senior Director of Research
    Families and Work Institute

    1 anonymous contributor

    Appendix I: Sample focus group questions

    See Info-Tech's Focus Group Guidefor guidance on setting up and delivering focus groups. Customize the guide with questions specific to flexible work (see sample questions below) to gain deeper insight into employee preferences for the feasibility assessment in Step 2 of this blueprint.

    Document themes in the Targeted Flexible Work Program Workbook.

    • What do you need to balance/integrate your work with your personal life?
    • What challenges do you face in achieving work-life balance/integration?
    • What about your job is preventing you from achieving work-life balance/integration?
    • How would [flexible work option] help you achieve work-life balance/integration?
    • How well would this option work with the workflow of your team or department? What would need to change?
    • What challenges do you see in adopting [flexible work option]?
    • What else would be helpful for you to achieve work-life balance/integration?
    • How could we customize [flexible work option] to ensure it meets your needs?
    • If this program were to fail, what do you think would be the top reasons and why?

    Appendix II: Communication key messaging

    1. Program purpose

    Start with the name and high-level purpose of the program.

    2. Business reasons for the program

    Share data you gathered in Step 1, illustrating challenges causing the need for the program and the benefits.

    3. Options selection process

    Outline the process followed to select options. Remember to share the involvement of stakeholders and the planning around employees' feedback, needs, and lived experiences.

    4. Options and eligibility

    Provide a brief overview of the options and eligibility. Specify that the organization is piloting these options and will modify them based on feedback.

    5. Approval not guaranteed

    Qualify that employees need to be "flexible about flexible work" – the options are not guaranteed and may sometimes be unavailable for business reasons.

    6. Shared responsibility

    Highlight the importance of everyone (managers, flexible workers, the team) working together to make flexible work achievable.

    7. Next steps

    Share any next steps, such as where employees can find the organization's Guide to Flexible Work for Managers and Employees, how to make flexible work a success, or if managers will be providing further detail in a team meeting.

    8. Ongoing communications

    Normalize the program and embed it in organizational culture by continuing communications through various media, such as the organization's newsletter or announcements in town halls.

    Works Cited

    Baziuk, Jennifer, and Duncan Meadows. "Global Employee Survey - Key findings and implications for ICMIF." EY, June 2021. Accessed May 2022.
    "Businesses suffering 'commitment issues' on flexible working," EY, 21 Sep. 2021. Accessed May 2022.
    "IT Talent Trends 2022". Info-Tech Research Group, 2022.
    "Jabra Hybrid Ways of Working: 2021 Global Report." Jabra, Aug. 2021. Accessed May 2022.
    LinkedIn Talent Solutions. "2022 Global Talent Trends." LinkedIn, 2022. Accessed May 2022.
    Lobosco, Mark. "The Future of Work is Flexible: 71% of Leaders Feel Pressure to Change Working Models." LinkedIn, 9 Sep. 2021. Accessed May 2022.
    Ohm, Joy, et al. "Covid-19: Women, Equity, and Inclusion in the Future of Work." Catalyst, 28 May 2020. Accessed May 2022.
    Pelta, Rachel. "Many Workers Have Quit or Plan to After Employers Revoke Remote Work." FlexJobs, 2021. Accessed May 2022.
    Slack Future Forum. "Inflexible return-to-office policies are hammering employee experience scores." Slack, 19 April 2022. Accessed May 2022.
    "State of Hybrid Work in IT: A Trend Report". Info-Tech Research Group, 2023.
    Threlkeld, Kristy. "Employee Burnout Report: COVID-19's Impact and 3 Strategies to Curb It." Indeed, 11 March 2021. Accessed March 2022.

    Develop a Project Portfolio Management Strategy

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    • Parent Category Name: Project Management Office
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    • As an IT leader, you oversee a project environment in which the organizational demand for new products, services, and enhancements far outweighs IT’s resource capacity to adequately deliver on everything.
    • As a result, project throughput suffers. IT starts a lot of projects, but has constant difficulties delivering the bulk of them on time, on budget, in scope, and of high quality. What’s more, many of the projects that consume IT’s time are of questionable value to the business.
    • You need a project portfolio management (PPM) strategy to help bring order to IT’s project activity. With the right PPM strategy, you can ensure that you’re driving the throughput of the best projects and maximizing stakeholder satisfaction with IT.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • IT leaders commonly conflate PPM and project management, falsely believing that they already have a PPM strategy via their project management playbook. While the tactical focus of project management can help ensure that individual projects are effectively planned, executed, and closed, it is no supplement for the insight into “the big picture” that a PPM strategy can provide.
    • Many organizations falter at PPM by mistaking a set of processes for a strategy. While processes are no doubt important, without an end in mind – such as that provided by a deliberate strategy – they inevitably devolve into inertia or confusion.
    • Executive layer buy-in is a critical prerequisite for the success of a PPM strategy. Without it, any efforts to reconcile supply and demand, and improve the strategic value of IT’s project activity, could be quashed by irresponsible, non-compliant stakeholders.

    Impact and Result

    • Manage the portfolio as more than just the sum of its parts. Create a coherent strategy to maximize the sum of values that projects deliver as a whole – as a project portfolio, rather than a collection of individual projects.
    • Get to value early. Info-Tech’s methodology tackles one of PPM’s most pressing challenges upfront by helping you to articulate a strategy and get executive buy-in for it before you define your process goals. When senior management understands why a PPM strategy is necessary and of value to them, the path to implementation is much more stable.
    • Create PPM processes you can sustain. Translate your PPM strategy into specific, tangible near-term and long-term goals, which are realized through a suite of project portfolio management processes tailored to your organization and its culture.

    Develop a Project Portfolio Management Strategy Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should develop a project portfolio management strategy, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    • Develop a Project Portfolio Management Strategy – Executive Brief
    • Develop a Project Portfolio Management Strategy – Phases 1-3

    1. Get executive buy-in for your PPM strategy

    Choose the right PPM strategy for your organization and get executive buy-in before you start to set PPM process goals.

    • Develop a Project Portfolio Management Strategy – Phase 1: Get Executive Buy-In for Your PPM Strategy
    • PPM High-Level Supply-Demand Calculator
    • PPM Strategic Plan Template
    • PPM Strategy-Process Goals Translation Matrix Template

    2. Align PPM processes to your strategic goals

    Use the advice and tools in this phase to align the PPM processes that make up the infrastructure around projects with your new PPM strategy.

    • Develop a Project Portfolio Management Strategy – Phase 2: Align PPM Processes to Your Strategic Goals
    • PPM Strategy Development Tool

    3. Complete your PPM strategic plan

    Refine your PPM strategic plan with inputs from the previous phases by adding a cost-benefit analysis and PPM tool recommendation.

    • Develop a Project Portfolio Management Strategy – Phase 3: Complete Your PPM Strategic Plan
    • Project Portfolio Analyst / PMO Analyst
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Develop a Project Portfolio Management Strategy

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Get Executive Buy-In for Your PPM Strategy

    The Purpose

    Choose the right PPM strategy for your organization and ensure executive buy-in.

    Set process goals to address PPM strategic expectations and steer the PPM strategic plan.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    A right-sized PPM strategy complete with executive buy-in for it.

    A prioritized list of PPM process goals.

    Activities

    1.1 Assess leadership mandate.

    1.2 Determine potential resource capacity.

    1.3 Create a project inventory.

    1.4 Prepare to communicate your PPM strategy to key stakeholders.

    1.5 Translate each strategic goal into process goals.

    1.6 Set metrics and preliminary targets for PPM process goals.

    Outputs

    Choice of PPM strategy and the leadership mandate

    Analysis of current project capacity

    Analysis of current project demand

    PPM Strategic Plan – Executive Brief

    PPM strategy-aligned process goals

    Metrics and long-term targets for PPM process goals

    2 Align PPM Processes to Your Strategic Goals

    The Purpose

    Examine your current-state PPM processes and create a high-level description of the target-state process for each of the five PPM processes within Info-Tech’s PPM framework.

    Build a sound business case for implementing the new PPM strategy by documenting roles and responsibilities for key PPM activities as well as the time costs associated with them.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Near-term and long-term goals as well as an organizationally specific wireframe for your PPM processes.

    Time cost assumptions for your proposed processes to ensure sustainability.

    Activities

    2.1 Develop and refine the project intake, prioritization, and approval process.

    2.2 Develop and refine the resource management process.

    2.3 Develop and refine the portfolio reporting process.

    2.4 Develop and refine the project closure process

    2.5 Develop and refine the benefits realization process.

    Outputs

    Process capability level

    Current-state PPM process description

    Retrospective examination of the current-state PPM process

    Action items to achieve the target states

    Time cost of the process at current and target states

    3 Complete Your PPM Strategic Plan

    The Purpose

    Perform a PPM tool analysis in order to determine the right tool to support your processes.

    Estimate the total cost-in-use of managing the project portfolio, as well as the estimated benefits of an optimized PPM strategy.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    A right-sized tool selection to help support your PPM strategy.

    A PPM strategy cost-benefit analysis.

    Activities

    3.1 Right-size the PPM tools for your processes.

    3.2 Conduct a cost-benefit analysis of implementing the new PPM strategy.

    3.3 Define roles and responsibilities for the new processes.

    3.4 Refine and consolidate the near-term action items into a cohesive plan.

    Outputs

    Recommendation for a PPM tool

    Cost-benefit analysis

    Roles and responsibilities matrix for each PPM process

    An implementation timeline for your PPM strategy

    Further reading

    Develop a Project Portfolio Management Strategy

    Drive IT project throughput by throttling resource capacity.

    Analyst Perspective

    “Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” – Sun Tzŭ

    "Organizations typically come to project portfolio management (PPM) with at least one of two misconceptions: (1) that PPM is synonymous with project management and (2) that a collection of PPM processes constitutes a PPM strategy.

    Both foundations are faulty: project management and PPM are separate disciplines with distinct goals and processes, and a set of processes do not comprise a strategy – they should flow from a strategy, not precede one. When built upon these foundations, the benefits of PPM go unrealized, as the means (i.e. project and portfolio processes) commonly eclipse the ends of a PPM strategy – e.g. a portfolio better aligned with business goals, improved project throughput, increased stakeholder satisfaction, and so on.

    Start with the end in mind: articulate a PPM strategy that is truly project portfolio in nature, i.e. focused on the whole portfolio and not just the individual parts. Then, let your PPM strategy guide your process goals and help to drive successful outcomes, project after project." (Barry Cousins, Senior Director of Research, PMO Practice, Info-Tech Research Group)

    Our understanding of the problem

    This Research Is Designed For:

    • CIOs who want to maximize IT’s fulfillment of both business strategic goals and operational needs.
    • CIOs who want to better manage the business and project sponsors’ expectations and satisfaction.
    • CIOs, PMO directors, and portfolio managers who want a strategy to set the best projects for the highest chance of success.

    This Research Will Help You:

    • Get C-level buy-in on a strategy for managing the project portfolio and clarify their expectations on how it should be managed.
    • Draft strategy-aligned, high-level project portfolio management process description.
    • Put together a strategic plan for improving PPM processes to reclaim wasted project capacity and increase business satisfaction of IT.

    This Research Will Also Assist:

    • Steering committee and C-suite management who want to maximize IT’s value to business.
    • Project sponsors who seek clarity and fairness on pushing their projects through a myriad of priorities and objectives.
    • CIOs, PMO directors, and portfolio managers who want to enable data-driven decisions from the portfolio owners.

    This Research Will Help Them:

    • Optimize IT’s added value to the business through project delivery.
    • Provide clarity on how IT’s project portfolio should be managed and the expectations for its management.
    • Improve project portfolio visibility by making trustworthy project portfolio data available, with which to steer the portfolio.

    Executive Summary

    Situation

    • As CIO, there are too many projects and not enough resource capacity to deliver projects on time, on budget, and in scope with high quality.
    • Prioritizing projects against one another is difficult in the face of conflicting priorities and agenda; therefore, projects with dubious value/benefits consume resource capacity.

    Complication

    • Not all IT projects carry a direct value to business; IT is accountable for keeping the lights on and it consumes a significant amount of resources.
    • Business and project sponsors approve projects without considering the scarcity of resource capacity and are frustrated when the projects fail to deliver or linger in the backlog.

    Resolution

    • Create a coherent strategy to maximize the total value that projects deliver as a whole portfolio, rather than a collection of individual projects.
    • Ensure that the steering committee or senior executive layer buys into the strategy by helping them understand why the said strategy is necessary, and more importantly, why the strategy is valuable to them.
    • Translate the strategic expectations to specific, tangible goals, which are realized through a suite of project portfolio management processes tailored to your organization and its culture.
    • Putting into place people, processes, and tools that are sustainable and manageable, plus a communication strategy to maintain the stakeholder buy-in.

    Info-Tech Insight

    1. Time is money; therefore, the portfolio manager is an accountant of time. It is the portfolio manager’s responsibility to provide the project portfolio owners with reliable data and close the loop on portfolio decisions.
    2. Business satisfaction is driven by delivering projects that align to and maximize business value. Use Info-Tech’s method for developing a PPM strategy and synchronize its definition of “best projects” with yours.

    Projects that deliver on strategic goals of the business is the #1 driver of business satisfaction for IT

    Info-Tech’s CIO Business Vision Survey (N=21,367) has identified a direct correlation between IT project success and overall business satisfaction with IT.

    Comparative rankings of IT services in two columns 'Reported Importance' and 'Actual Importance' with arrows showing where each service moved to in the 'Actual Importance' ranking. The highlighted move is 'Projects' from number 10 in 'Reported' to number 1 in 'Actual'. 'Reported' rankings from 1 to 12 are 'Network Infrastructure', 'Service Desk', 'Business Applications', 'Data Quality', Devices', 'Analytical Capability', 'Client-Facing Technology', 'Work Orders', 'Innovation Leadership', 'Projects', 'IT Policies', and 'Requirements Gathering'. 'Actual' rankings from 1 to 12 are 'Projects', 'Work Orders', 'Innovation Leadership', 'Business Applications', 'Requirements Gathering', 'Service Desk', 'Client-Facing Technology', 'Network Infrastructure', 'Analytical Capability', 'Data Quality', 'IT Policies', and 'Devices'.

    Reported Importance: Initially, when CIOs were asked to rank the importance of IT services, respondents ranked “projects” low on the list – 10 out of a possible 12.

    Actual Importance: Despite this low “reported importance,” of those organizations that were “satisfied” to “fully satisfied” with IT, the service that had the strongest correlation to high business satisfaction was “projects,” i.e. IT’s ability to help plan, support, and execute projects and initiatives that help the business achieve its strategic goals.

    On average, executives perceive IT as being poorly aligned with business strategy

    Info-Tech’s CIO Business Vision Survey data highlights the importance of IT projects in supporting the business achieve its strategic goals. However, Info-Tech’s CEO-CIO Alignment Survey (N=124) data indicates that CEOs perceive IT to be poorly aligned to business’ strategic goals:

    • 43% of CEOs believe that business goals are going unsupported by IT.
    • 60% of CEOs believe that improvement is required around IT’s understanding of business goals.
    • 80% of CIOs/CEOs are misaligned on the target role for IT.
    • 30% of business stakeholders* are supporters of their IT departments.
    • (Source: Info-Tech CIO/CEO Alignment Diagnostics, * N=32,536)

    Efforts to deliver on projects are largely hampered by causes of project failure outside a project manager’s control

    The most recent data from the Project Management Institute (PMI) shows that more projects are meeting their original goals and business intent and less projects are being deemed failures. However, at the same time, more projects are experiencing scope creep. Scope creeps result in schedule and cost overrun, which result in dissatisfied project sponsors, stakeholders, and project workers.

    Graph of data from Project Management Institute comparing projects from 2015 to 2017 that 'Met original goals/business intent', 'Experienced scope creep', and were 'Deemed failures'. Projects from the first two categories went up in 2017, while projects that were deemed failures went down.

    Meanwhile, the primary causes of project failures remain largely unchanged. Interestingly, most of these primary causes can be traced to sources outside of a project manager’s control, either entirely or in part. As a result, project management tactics and processes are limited in adequately addressing them.

    Relative rank

    Primary cause of project failure

    2015

    2016

    2017

    Trend

    Change in organization's priorities 1st 1st 1st Stable
    Inaccurate requirements gathering 2nd 3rd 2nd Stable
    Change in project objectives 3rd 2nd 3rd Stable
    Inadequate vision/goal for project 6th 5th 4th Rising
    Inadequate/poor communication 5th 7th 5th Stable
    Poor change management 11th 9th 6th Rising
    (Source: Project Management Institute, Pulse of the Profession, 2015-2017)

    Project portfolio management (PPM) can improve business alignment of projects and reduce chance of project failure

    PPM is about “doing the right things.”

    The PMI describes PPM as:

    Interrelated organizational processes by which an organization evaluates, selects, prioritizes, and allocates its limited internal resources to best accomplish organizational strategies consistent with its vision, mission, and values. (PMI, Standard for Portfolio Management, 3rd ed.)

    Selecting and prioritizing projects with the strongest alignment to business strategy goals and ensuring that resources are properly allocated to deliver them, enable IT to:

    1. Improve business satisfaction and their perception of IT’s alignment with the business.
    2. Better engage the business and the project customers.
    3. Minimize the risk of project failure due to changing organizational/ project vision, goals, and objectives.

    "In today’s competitive business environment, a portfolio management process improves the linkage between corporate strategy and the selection of the ‘right’ projects for investment. It also provides focus, helping to ensure the most efficient and effective use of available resources." (Lou Pack, PMP, Senior VP, ICF International (PMI, 2015))

    PPM is a common area of shortcomings for IT, with much room for improvement

    Info-Tech’s IT Management & Governance Survey (N=879) shows that PPM tends to be regarded as neither an effective nor an important process amongst IT organizations.

    Two deviation from median charts highlighting Portfolio Management's ranking compared to other IT processes in 'Effectiveness scores' and 'Importance scores'. PPM ranks 37th out of 45 in Effectiveness and 33rd out of 45 in Importance.

    55% ... of IT organizations believe that their PPM processes are neither effective nor important.

    21% ... of IT organizations reported having no one responsible or accountable for PPM.

    62% ... of projects in organizations effective in PPM met/exceeded the expected ROI (PMI, 2015).

    In addition to PPM’s benefits, improving PPM processes presents an opportunity for getting ahead of the curve in the industry.

    Info-Tech’s methodology for developing a PPM strategy delivers extraordinary value, fast

    Our methodology is designed to tackle your hardest challenge first to deliver the highest-value part of the deliverable. For developing a PPM strategy, the biggest challenge is to get the buy-in of the executive layer.

    "Without senior management participation, PPM doesn’t work, and the organization is likely to end up with, or return to, a squeaky-wheel-gets-the-grease mindset for all those involved." (Mark Price Perry, Business Driven Project Portfolio Management)

    In the first step of the blueprint, you will be guided through the following steps:

    1. Choose the right PPM strategy: driven by the executives, supported by management.
    2. Objectively assess your current project portfolio with minimal effort to build a case for the PPM strategy.
    3. Engage the executive layer to get the critical prerequisite of a PPM strategy: their buy-in.

    A PPM strategic plan is the end deliverable of this blueprint. In the first step, download the pre-filled template with content that represents the most common case. Then, throughout the blueprint, customize with your data.

    Use this blueprint to develop, or refine, a PPM strategy that works for your organization

    Get buy-in for PPM strategy from decision makers.

    Buy-in from the owners of project portfolio (Steering Committee, C-suite management, etc.) is a critical prerequisite for any PPM strategy. This blueprint will give you the tools and templates to help you make your case and win the buy-in of portfolio owners.

    Connect strategic expectations to PPM process goals.

    This blueprint offers a methodology to translate the broad aim of PPM to practical, tactical goals of the five core PPM processes, as well as how to measure the results. Our methodology is supported with industry-leading frameworks, best practices, and our insider research.

    Develop your PPM processes.

    This blueprint takes you through a series of steps to translate the process goals into a high-level process description, as well as a business case and a roadmap for implementing the new PPM processes.

    Refine your PPM processes.

    Our methodology is also equally as applicable for making your existing PPM processes better, and help you draft a roadmap for improvement with well-defined goals, roles, and responsibilities.

    Info-Tech’s PPM model consists of five core processes

    There are five core processes in Info-Tech’s thought model for PPM.

    Info-Tech's Process Model detailing the steps and their importance in project portfolio management. Step 3: 'Status and Progress Reporting' sits above the others as a process of importance throughout the model. In the 'Intake' phase of the model are Step 1: 'Intake, Approval, and Prioritization' and Step 2: 'Resource Management'. In the 'Execution' phase is 'Project Management', the main highlighted section, and a part of Step 3, the overarching 'Status and Progress Reporting'. In the 'Closure' phase of the model are Step 4: 'Project Closure' and Step 5: 'Benefits Tracking'.

    These processes create an infrastructure around projects, which aims to enable:

    1. Initiation of the “best” projects with the right resources and project information.
    2. Timely and trustworthy reporting to facilitate the flow of information for better decision making.
    3. Proper closure of projects, releasing resources, and managing benefits realization.

    PPM has many moving pieces. To ensure that all of these processes work in harmony, you need a PPM strategy.

    De-couple project management from PPM to break down complexity and create flexibility

    Tailor project management (PM) processes to fit your projects.

    Info-Tech’s PPM thought model enables you to manage your project portfolio independent of your PM methodology or capability. Projects interact with PPM via:

    • A project charter that authorizes the use of resources and defines project benefits.
    • Status reports that feed up-to-date, trustworthy data to your project portfolio.
    • Acceptance of deliverables that enable proper project closure and benefits reporting.

    Info-Tech’s PPM strategy is applicable whether you use Agile, waterfall, or anything in between for PM.

    The process model from the previous page but with project management processes overlaid. The 'Intake' phase is covered by 'Project Charter'. The 'Execution' phase, or 'Project Management' is covered by 'Status report'. The 'Closure' phase is covered by 'Deliverable Acceptance'.

    Learn about project management approach for small projects in Info-Tech’s Tailor PM Processes to Fit Your Projects blueprint.

    Sample of the Info-Tech blueprint 'Tailor PM Processes to Fit Your Projects'.

    Info-Tech’s approach to PPM is informed by industry best practices and rooted in practical insider research

    Info-Tech uses PMI and ISACA frameworks for areas of this research.

    Logo for 'Project Management Institute (PMI)'.' Logo for 'COBIT 5 an ISACA Framework'.
    PMI’s Standard for Portfolio Management, 3rd ed. is the leading industry framework, proving project portfolio management best practices and process guidelines. COBIT 5 is the leading framework for the governance and management of enterprise IT.

    In addition to industry-leading frameworks, our best-practice approach is enhanced by the insights and guidance from our analysts, industry experts, and our clients.

    Logo for 'Info-Tech Research Group'.

    33,000+ Our peer network of over 33,000 happy clients proves the effectiveness of our research.

    1000+ Our team conducts 1,000+ hours of primary and secondary research to ensure that our approach is enhanced by best practices.

    Re-position IT as the “facilitator of business projects” for PPM success

    CASE STUDY

    Industry: Construction
    Source: Info-Tech Client

    Chaos in the project portfolio

    At first, there were no less than 14 teams of developers, each with their own methodologies and processes. Changes to projects were not managed. Only 35% of the projects were completed on time.

    Business drives, IT facilitates

    Anyone had the right to ask for something; however, converting ideas to a formal project demand required senior leadership within a business division getting on board with the idea.

    The CIO and senior leadership decided that projects, previously assigned to IT, were to be owned and driven by the business, as the projects are undertaken to serve its needs and rarely IT’s own. The rest of the organization understood that the business, not IT, was accountable for prioritizing project work: IT was re-positioned as a facilitator of business projects. While it was a long process, the result speaks for itself: 75% of projects were now being completed on time.

    Balancing the target mix of the project portfolio

    What about maintaining and feeding the IT infrastructure? The CIO reserved 40% of IT project capacity for “keeping the lights on,” and 20% for reactive, unplanned activities, with an aim to lower this percentage. With the rest of the time, IT facilitated business projects

    Three key drivers of project priority

    1. Does the project meet the overall company goals and objectives?
      “If they don't, we must ask why we are bothering with it.”
    2. Does the project address a regulatory or compliance need?
      “Half of our business is heavily regulated. We must focus on it.”
    3. Are there significant savings to be had?
      “Not soft; hard savings. Can we demonstrate that, after implementing this, can we see good hard results? And, can we measure it?”

    "Projects are dumped on IT, and the business abdicates responsibility. Flip that over, and say ‘that's your project’ and ‘how can we help you?’"

    Use these icons to help direct you as you navigate this research

    Use these icons to help guide you through each step of the blueprint and direct you to content related to the recommended activities.

    A small monochrome icon of a wrench and screwdriver creating an X.

    This icon denotes a slide where a supporting Info-Tech tool or template will help you perform the activity or step associated with the slide. Refer to the supporting tool or template to get the best results and proceed to the next step of the project.

    A small monochrome icon depicting a person in front of a blank slide.

    This icon denotes a slide with an associated activity. The activity can be performed either as part of your project or with the support of Info-Tech team members, who will come onsite to facilitate a workshop for your organization.

    Info-Tech offers various levels of support to best suit your needs

    DIY Toolkit

    Guided Implementation

    Workshop

    Consulting

    "Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful." "Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track." "We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place." "Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project."

    Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options

    Develop a PPM strategy – project overview

    1. Get executive buy-in for your PPM strategy

    2. Align PPM processes to your strategic goals

    3. Complete your PPM strategic plan

    Supporting Tool icon

    Best-Practice Toolkit

    1.1 Choose the right PPM strategy for your organization

    1.2 Translate PPM strategy expectations to specific process goals

    2.1 Develop and refine project intake, prioritization, and resource management processes

    2.2 Develop and refine portfolio reporting, project closure, and benefits realization processes

    3.1 Select a right-sized PPM solution for supporting your new processes

    3.2 Finalize customizing your PPM Strategic Plan Template

    Guided Implementations

    • Scoping call: discuss current state of PPM and review strategy options.
    • How to wireframe realistic process goals, rooted in your PPM strategic expectations, that will be sustained by the organization.
    • Examine your current-state PPM process and create a high-level description of the target-state process for each of the five PPM processes (1-2 calls per each process).
    • Assess your PPM tool requirements to help support your processes.
    • Determine the costs and potential benefits of your PPM practice.
    Associated Activity icon

    Onsite Workshop

    Module 1:
    Set strategic expectations and realistic goals for the PPM strategy
    Module 2:
    Develop and refine strategy-aligned PPM processes
    Module 3:
    Compose your PPM strategic plan
    Phase 1 Outcome:
    • Analysis of the current state of PPM
    • Strategy-aligned goals and metrics for PPM processes
    Phase 2 Outcome:
    • PPM capability levels
    • High-level descriptions of near- and long-term target state
    Phase 3 Outcome:
    • PPM tool recommendations
    • Cost-benefit analysis
    • Customized PPM strategic plan

    Workshop overview

    Contact your account representative or email Workshops@InfoTech.com for more information.

    Workshop Day 1

    Workshop Day 2

    Workshop Day 3

    Workshop Day 4

    Workshop Day 5

    Get leadership buy-in for PPM strategy Set PPM process goals and metrics with strategic expectations Develop and Refine PPM processes Develop and Refine PPM processes Complete the PPM strategic plan

    Activities

    • 1.1 Assess leadership mandate.
    • 1.2 Determine potential resource capacity.
    • 1.3 Create a project inventory.
    • 1.4 Communicate your PPM strategy to key stakeholders.
    • 2.1 Translate each strategic goal into process goals.
    • 2.2 Set metrics and preliminary targets for PPM process goals.
    • 3.1 Develop and refine the project intake, prioritization, and approval process.
    • 3.2 Develop and refine the resource management process.
    • 4.1 Develop and refine the portfolio reporting process.
    • 4.2 Develop and refine the project closure process.
    • 4.3 Develop and refine the benefits realization process.
    • 5.1 Right-size the PPM tools for your processes.
    • 5.2 Conduct a cost-benefit analysis of implementing the new PPM strategy.
    • 5.3 Define roles and responsibilities for the new processes.

    Deliverables

    1. Choice of PPM strategy and the leadership mandate
    2. Analysis of current project capacity
    3. Analysis of current project demand
    4. PPM Strategic Plan – Executive Brief
    1. PPM strategy-aligned process goals
    2. Metrics and long-term targets for PPM process goals
      For each of the five PPM processes:
    1. Process capability level
    2. Current-state PPM process description
    3. Retrospective examination of the current-state PPM process
    4. Action items to achieve the target states
    5. Time cost of the process at current and target states
    1. Recommendation for a PPM tool
    2. Cost-benefit analysis
    3. Roles and responsibilities matrix for each PPM process

    Develop a Project Portfolio Management Strategy

    PHASE 1

    Get Executive Buy-In for Your PPM Strategy

    Phase 1 outline

    Associated Activity icon Call 1-888-670-8889 or email GuidedImplementations@InfoTech.com for more information.

    Complete these steps on your own, or call us to complete a guided implementation. A guided implementation is a series of 2-3 advisory calls that help you execute each phase of a project. They are included in most advisory memberships.

    Guided Implementation 1: Get executive buy-in for your PPM strategy

    Proposed Time to Completion: 2 weeks
    Step 1.1: Choose the right PPM strategy Step 1.2: Translate strategic expectations to process goals
    Start with an analyst kick-off call:
    • Scoping call to discuss the current state of PPM and review strategy options.
    Work with an analyst to:
    • Discuss how to wireframe realistic process goals, rooted in your PPM strategic expectations, that will be sustained by the organization.
    Then complete these activities…
    • Execute a leadership mandate survey.
    • Perform a high-level supply/demand analysis.
    • Prepare an executive presentation to get strategy buy-in.
    Then complete these activities…
    • Develop realistic process goals based in your PPM strategic expectations.
    • Set metrics and preliminary targets for your high-priority PPM process goals.
    With these tools & templates:
    • PPM High-Level Supply/Demand Calculator
    • PPM Strategic Plan Template
    With these tools & templates:
    • PPM Strategy-Process Translation Matrix

    Phase 1 Results & Insights

    • Executive layer buy-in is a critical prerequisite for the success of a top-down PPM strategy. Ensure your executives are onboard before proceeding to implement your PPM strategy.

    Prepare to get to value early with step 1.1 of this blueprint

    The first step of this blueprint will help you define your PPM strategy and get executive buy-in for it using section one of Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template.

    Where traditional models of consulting can take considerable amounts of time before delivering value to clients, Info-Tech’s methodology for developing a PPM strategy gets you to value fast.

    In the first step of this blueprint, you will define your PPM strategy and prepare an executive presentation to get buy-in for the strategy. The presentation can be prepared in just a few hours.

    • The activities in step 1.1 of this blueprint will help you customize the slides in section 1 of Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template.
    • Section one of the Template will then serve as your presentation document.

    Once you have received buy-in for your PPM strategy, the remainder of this blueprint will help you customize section 2 of the Template.

    • Section 2 of the Template will communicate:
      • Your processes and process goals.
      • Your near-term and long-term action items for implementing the strategy.
      • Your PPM tool requirements.
      • The costs and benefits of your PPM strategy.

    Download Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template.

    Sample of Info-Tech's 'PPM Strategic Plan Template.'

    Step 1.1: Choose the right PPM strategy for your organization

    PHASE 1

    PHASE 2

    PHASE 3

    1.1 1.2 2.1 2.2 3.1 3.2
    Choose the right PPM strategy Translate strategy into process goals Define intake & resource mgmt. processes Define reporting, closure, & benefits mgmt. processes Select a right-sized PPM solution Finalize your PPM strategic plan

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Perform a leadership mandate survey.
    • Choose your PPM strategy.
    • Calculate your resource capacity for projects.
    • Determine overall organizational demand for projects.
    • Prepare an executive presentation of the PPM strategy.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • CIO
    • PMO Director/Portfolio Manager
    • Project Managers
    • IT Managers

    Outcomes of this step

    • A PPM strategy
    • A resource supply/project demand analysis
    • An executive brief presentation
    • Executive buy-in for the PPM strategy

    “Too many projects, not enough resources” is the reality of most IT environments

    In today’s organizations, the desires of business units for new products and enhancements, and the appetites of senior leadership to approve more and more projects for those products and services, far outstrips IT’s ability to realistically deliver on everything.

    The vast majority of IT departments lack the resourcing to meet project demand – especially given the fact that day-to-day operational demands frequently trump project work.

    As a result, project throughput suffers – and with it, IT's reputation within the organization.

    A visualization of 'Project Demand' versus 'Resource supply' utilizing courtroom scales with numerous project titles weighing down the 'Project Demand' side and silhouettes of three little people raised aloft on the 'Resource supply' side.

    In these environments, a PPM strategy is required.

    A PPM strategy should enable executive decision makers to make sense of the excess of demand and give IT the ability to prioritize those projects that are of the most strategic value to the business.

    With the right PPM strategy, IT can improve project outcomes across its portfolio and drive business value – all while improving the workloads of IT project staff.

    Info-Tech has two PPM strategy options that you can start to deploy today

    This step will help you choose the most suitable option, depending on your project pain points and current level of executive engagement in actively steering the portfolio.

    Option A:
    Top-Down, Executive Driven Strategy

    Option B:
    Bottom-Up, Project Manager Driven Strategy

    Goals of this approach:
    • This approach is intended to assist decision makers in their job: choosing the right projects, committing to timelines for those projects, and monitoring/directing their progress.
    Goals of this approach:
    • This approach is primarily intended to ensure that projects are well managed in a standardized manner in order to provide project managers with clear direction.
    Who this approach is for:
    • IT departments looking to improve alignment of project demand and resource capacity.
    • IT departments wanting to prioritize strategically valuable work.
    • IT departments with sufficient executive backing and engagement with the portfolio.
    Who this approach is for:
    • IT departments that would not the get support for a top-down approach due to a disengaged executive layer.
    • IT departments that already have a top-down PPM strategy and feel they are sufficiently resourced to confront project demand.

    Each of these strategy options is driven by a set of specific strategic expectations to help communicate your PPM goals. See the following slides for an articulation of each strategy option.

    A top-down, executive driven strategy is the optimal route, putting leadership in a position to best conduct the portfolio

    Option A: Top-Down, Executive Driven Strategy

    Strategic Expectations:

    • Project Throughput: Maximize throughput of the best projects.
    • Portfolio Visibility: Ensure visibility of current and pending projects.
    • Portfolio Responsiveness: Make the portfolio responsive to executive steering when new projects and changing priorities need rapid action.
    • Resource Utilization: Minimize resource waste and optimize the alignment of skills to assignments.
    • Benefits Realization: Clarify accountability for post-project benefits attainment for each project, and facilitate the process of tracking/reporting those benefits.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Serve the executive with insight before you impede the projects with governance. This strategy option is where Info-Tech sees the most PPM success. A strategy focused at improving decision making at the executive layer will both improve project outcomes and help alleviate project workloads.

    A bottom-up strategy can help project managers and teams succeed where insight into the big picture is lacking

    Option B: Bottom-Up, Project Manager Driven Strategy

    Strategic Expectations:

    • Project Management Governance: All projects consuming IT resources will be continually validated in terms of best-practice process compliance.
    • Project Risk Management: Identify risks and related mitigation approaches for all high-risk areas.
    • Stakeholder Management: Ensure that project stakeholders are identified and involved.
    • Project Manager Resourcing: Provide project managers as needed.
    • Project-Level Visibility: Provide access to the details of project management processes (planning and progress) as needed.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Right-size governance to maximize success. Project management and governance success don’t necessarily equal project success. Project management processes should be a means to an end (i.e. successful project outcomes), and not an end in themselves. Ensure the ends justify the means.

    Most recurring project challenges require a top-down portfolio management approach

    While project management is a key ingredient to project success, tying to solve endemic project problems with project management alone won’t improve results over the long term.

    Why Top-Down is a better starting point than Bottom-Up.

    The most common IT project problems – schedule and budget overruns, scope creep, and poor quality – can ultimately, in the vast majority of cases, be traced back to bad decisions made at the portfolio level:

    • The wrong projects get greenlighted.
    • Shifting leadership priorities and operational demands make project plans and estimated delivery dates obsolete from the start.
    • Too many projects get approved when there are not enough resources to effectively work on them all.

    No amount of project management rigor can help alleviate these common root causes of project failure.

    With a top-down PPM strategy, however, you can make sure that leadership is informed and engaged in making the right project decisions and that project managers and teams are situated for success.

    "There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all." (Peter Drucker (quoted in Lessing))

    Info-Tech Insight

    Get Strategic About Project Success.

    The difference between project management and project portfolio management comes down to doing things right vs. doing the right things. Both are important, no doubt; but doing the wrong things well doesn’t provide much value to the business in the long run.

    Get insight into the big picture with a top-down strategy before imposing more administrative overhead on project managers and leads.

    Perform a leadership mandate assessment to gauge executive needs and expectations

    Associated Activity icon 1.1.1 – 15 to 30 minutes (prep time) 10 to 20 minutes (execution time)

    INPUT: Leadership expectations for portfolio and project management.

    OUTPUT: Leadership mandate bar chart

    Materials: Tab 6 of Info-Tech’s PPM High-Level Supply-Demand Calculator

    Participants: Portfolio manager (or equivalent), PPM strategy sponsor(s), CIO and other members of senior management

    Before choosing your strategy option, survey the organization’s leadership to assess what they’re expecting from the PPM strategy.

    Use the “Leadership Mandate Survey” (located on tab 6 of Info-Tech’s PPM High-Level Supply-Demand Calculator) to assess the degree to which your leadership expects the PPM strategy to provide outcomes across the following capabilities: portfolio reporting, project governance, and project management.

    • Deploy the 12-question survey via individual one-on-one meetings or group working sessions with your boss (the PPM strategy sponsor) as well as with the CIO and other senior managers from within IT and the business.
      • If you cannot connect with the executive layer for this survey, do your best to estimate their responses to complete the survey.
    • The survey should help distinguish if executives are looking for portfolio management or project management. It should be one input that informs your choice of strategy option A or B.
      • If leadership is looking primarily for project management, you should proceed to Info-Tech’s Tailor Project Management Processes that Fit Your Projects blueprint.

    Refer to the next slide for assistance analyzing the outputs in tab 6 and using them to inform your choice of strategy.

    How to make use of the results of the leadership survey

    Two possible result scenarios of the leadership survey. There are two bar graphs titled 'Leadership Mandate', each with an explanation of the scenario they belong to. In Scenario 1, the 'Leadership Mandate' graph has a descending trend with 'Portfolio Reporting' at the highest level, 'Project Governance' in the middle, and 'Project Management' at the lowest level. 'A result like this, with a higher portfolio reporting score, shows a higher need for a top-down approach and demonstrates well-balanced expectations for a PPM strategy from the leadership. There is greater emphasis put on the portfolio than there is project governance or project management.' In Scenario 2, the 'Leadership Mandate' graph has an ascending trend with 'Portfolio Reporting' at the lowest level, 'Project Governance' in the middle, and 'Project Management' at the highest level. 'If your graph looks like this, your executive leadership has placed greater importance on project governance and management. Completing a top-down PPM strategy may not meet their expectations at this time. In this situation, a bottom-up approach may be more applicable.'

    Customize Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template. Insert screenshots of the survey and the bar graph from tab 6 of the PPM High-Level Supply-Demand Calculator onto slides 7 and 8, “PPM Strategy Leadership Mandate,” of the PPM Strategic Plan Template.

    Proceed with the right PPM strategy for your organization

    Based upon the results of the “Leadership Mandate Survey,” and your assessment of each strategy option as described in the previous slides, choose the strategy option that is right for your IT department/PMO at this time.

    "Without a strategic methodology, project portfolio planning is frustrating and has little chance of achieving exceptional business success." (G Wahl (quoted in Merkhofer))

    Option A:

    Those proceeding with Option A should continue with remainder of this blueprint. Update your strategy statement on slide 3 of your PPM Strategic Plan Template to reflect your choice

    Option B:

    Those proceeding with Option B should exit this blueprint and refer to Info-Tech’s Tailor Project Management Processes to Fit Your Projects blueprint to help define a project management standard operating procedure.

    Customize Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template. If you’re proceeding with Option A, update slide 4, “Project Portfolio Management Strategy,” of your PPM Strategic Plan Template to reflect your choice of PPM strategy. If you’re proceeding with Option B, you may want to include your strategy statement in your Project Management SOP Template.

    The success of your top-down strategy will hinge on the quality of your capacity awareness and resource utilization

    A PPM strategy should facilitate alignment between project demand with resource supply. Use Info-Tech’s PPM High-Level Supply/Demand Calculator as a step towards this alignment.

    Info-Tech’s research shows that the ability to provide a centralized view of IT’s capacity for projects is one of the top PPM capabilities that contributes to overall project success.

    Accurate and reliable forecasts into IT’s capacity, coupled with an engaged executive layer making project approval and prioritization decisions based upon that capacity data, is the hallmark of an effective top-down PPM strategy.

    • Use Info-Tech’s PPM High-Level Supply/Demand Calculator to help improve visibility (and with it, organizational understanding) into project demand and IT resource supply.
    • The Calculator will help you determine IT’s actual capacity for projects and analyze organizational demand by taking an inventory of active and backlog projects.

    Download Info-Tech’s PPM High-Level Supply/Demand Calculator.

    Sample of Into-Tech's PPM High-Level Supply/Demand Calculator.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Where does the time go? The portfolio manager (or equivalent) should function as the accounting department for time, showing what’s available in IT’s human resources budget for projects and providing ongoing visibility into how that budget of time is being spent.

    Establish the total resource capacity of your portfolio

    Associated Activity icon 1.1.2 – 30 to 60 minutes

    INPUT: Staff resource types, Average work week, Estimated allocations

    OUTPUT: Breakdown of annual portfolio HR spend, Capacity pie chart

    Materials: PPM High-Level Supply/Demand Calculator, tab 3

    Participants: Portfolio manager (or equivalent), Resource and/or project managers

    Use tab 3 of the calculator to determine your actual HR portfolio budget for projects, relative to the organization’s non-project demands.

    • Tab 3 analyzes your resource supply asks you to consider how your staff spend their time weekly across four categories: out of office time, administrative time (e.g. meetings, training, checking email), keep-the-lights-on time (i.e. support and maintenance), and project time.
    • The screenshot below walks you through columns B to E of tab 3, which help calculate your potential capacity. This activity will continue on the next slide, where we will determine your realized capacity for project work from this potential capacity.
    Screenshot of tab 3 in the PPM High-Level Supply/Demand Calculator. It has 4 columns, 'Resource Type', '# People', 'Hours / Week', and 'Hours / Year', which are referred to in notes as columns B through E respectively. The note on 'Resource Type' reads '1. Compile a list of each of the roles within your department in column B'. The note on '# People' reads '2. In column C, provide the number of staff currently performing each role'. The note on 'Hours / Week' reads '3. In column D, provide a baseline for the number of hours in a typical work week for each role'. The note on 'Hours / Year' reads '4. Column E will auto-populate based on E and D. The total at the bottom of column E (row 26) constitutes your department’s total capacity'.

    Determine the project/non-project ratio for each role

    Associated Activity icon 1.1.2 (continued)

    The previous slide walked you through columns B to E of tab 3. This slide walks you through columns F to J, which ask you to consider how your potential capacity is spent.

    Screenshot of tab 3 in the PPM High-Level Supply/Demand Calculator. It has 6 columns, 'Hours / Year', 'Absence', 'Working Time / Year', 'Admin', 'KTLO', and 'Project Work', which, starting at 'Absence', are referred to in notes as columns F through J respectively. The note on 'Absence' reads '5. Enter the percentage of your total time across each role that is unavailable due to foreseeable out-of-office time (vacation, sick time, etc.) in column F. Industry standard runs anywhere from 12% to 16%, depending on your industry and geographical region'. The note on 'Working Time / Year' reads '6. Column G will auto-calculate to show your overall net capacity after out-of-office percentages have been taken off the top. These totals constitute your working time for the year'. The note on 'Admin' and 'KTLO' reads '6. Column G will auto-calculate to show your overall net capacity after out-of-office percentages have been taken off the top. These totals constitute your working time for the year'. The note on 'Project Work' reads '8. The project percentage in column J will auto-calculate based upon what’s leftover after your non-project working time allocations in columns H and I have been subtracted'.

    Review your annual portfolio capacity for projects

    Associated Activity icon 1.1.2 (continued)

    The previous slides walked you through the inputs for tab “3. Project Capacity.” This slide walks you through the outputs of the tab.

    Based upon the inputs from columns B to J, the rest of tab 3 analyzes how IT available time is spent across the time categories, highlighting how much of IT’s capacity is actually available for projects after admin work, support and maintenance work, and absences have been taken into account.

    A table and pie chart of output data from Tab 3 of the PPM High-Level Supply/Demand Calculator. Pie segments are labelled 'Admin', 'Absence', 'Project Capacity', and 'Keep The Lights On'.

    Customize Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template. Update slide 10, “Current Project Capacity,” of your PPM Strategic Plan Template to include the outputs from tab 3 of the Calculator.

    Create an inventory of active and backlog projects to help gauge overall project demand

    Associated Activity icon 1.1.3 – 15 to 30 minutes

    INPUT: Number of active and backlog projects across different sizes

    OUTPUT: Total project demand in estimated hours of work effort

    Materials: PPM High-Level Supply/Demand Calculator, tab 4

    Participants: Portfolio manager (or equivalent), Project managers

    Where tab 3 of the Calculator gave you visibility into your overall resource supply for projects, tab 4 will help you establish insight into the demand side.

    • Before starting on tab 4, be sure to enter the required project size data on the set-up tab.
    • Using a list of current active projects, categorize the items on the list by size: small, medium, large, and extra large. Enter the number of projects in each category of project in column C of tab 4.
    • Using a list of on-hold projects, or projects that have been approved but not started, categorize the list by size and enter the number of projects in each category in column D.
    • In column E, estimate the number of new requests and projects across each size that you anticipate being added to the portfolio/backlog in the next 12 months. Use historical data from the past 12 to 24 months to inform your estimates.
    • In column F, estimate the number of projects that you anticipate being completed in each size category in the next 12 months. Take the current state of active projects into account as you make your estimates, as well as throughput data from the previous 12 to 24 months.
    Screenshot of tab 4 in the PPM High-Level Supply/Demand Calculator. It has 5 columns labelled 'Project Types' with values Small to Extra-Large, 'Number of active projects currently in the portfolio', 'Number of projects currently in the portfolio backlog', 'Number of new requests anticipated to be added to the portfolio/backlog in the next 12 months', and 'Number of projects expected to be delivered within the next 12 months'.

    Make supply and demand part of the conversation as you get buy-in for your top-down strategy

    Tab 5 of the Calculator is an output tab, visualizing the alignment (or lack thereof) of project demand and resource supply.

    Once tabs 3 and 4 are complete, use tab 5 to analyze the supply/demand data to help build your case for a top-down PPM strategy and get buy-in for it.

    Screenshots of Tab 5 in the PPM High-Level Supply/Demand Calculator. A bar chart obscures a table with the note 'The bar chart shows your estimated total project demand in person hours (in black) relative to your estimated total resource capacity for projects (in green)'. Notes on the table are 'The table below the bar chart shows your estimated annual project throughput rate (based upon the number of projects you estimated you would complete this year) as well as the rate at which portfolio demand will grow (based upon the number of new requests and projects you estimated for the next 12 months)' and 'If the “Total Estimated Project Demand (in hours) in 12 Months Time” number is more than your current demand levels, then you have a supply-demand problem that your PPM strategy will need to address'.

    Customize Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template. Update slides 11 and 12, “Current Project Demand,” of your PPM Strategic Plan Template to include the outputs from tabs 4 and 5 of the Calculator.

    Recommended: Complete Info-Tech’s PPM Current State Scorecard to measure your resource utilization

    Associated Activity icon Contact your rep or call 1-888-670-8889

    This step is highly recommended but not required. Call 1-888-670-8889 to inquire about or request the PPM Diagnostics.

    Info-Tech’s PPM Current State Scorecard diagnostic provides a comprehensive view of your portfolio management strengths and weaknesses, including project portfolio management, project management, customer management, and resource utilization.

    Screenshots of Info-Tech's PPM Current State Scorecard diagnostic with a pie chart obscuring a table/key. The attached note reads 'In particular, the analysis of resource utilization in the PPM Current State Scorecard report, will help to complement the supply/demand analysis in the previous slides. The diagnostic will help you to analyze how, within that percentage of your overall capacity that is available for project work, your staff productively utilizes this time to successfully complete project tasks and how much of this time is lost within Info-Tech’s categories of resource waste.'

    Customize Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template. Update slides 14 and 15, “Current State Resource Utilization” of your PPM Strategic Plan Template to include the resource utilization outputs from your PPM Current State Scorecard.

    Finalize section one of the PPM Strategic Plan Template and prepare to communicate your strategy

    Associated Activity icon 1.1.4 – 10 to 30 minutes

    INPUT: The previous activities from this step

    OUTPUT: An presentation communication your PPM strategy

    Materials: PPM Strategic Plan Template, section 1

    Participants: Portfolio manager (or equivalent)

    By now, you should be ready to complete section one of the PPM Strategic Plan Template.

    The purpose of this section of the Template is to capture the outputs of this step and use them to communicate the value of a top-down PPM strategy and to get buy-in for this strategy from senior management before you move forward to develop your PPM processes in the subsequent phases of this blueprint.

    • Within section one, update any of the text that is (in grey) to reflect the specifics of your organization – i.e. the name of your organization and department – and the specific outcomes of step 1.2 activities. In addition, replace the placeholders for a company logo with the logo of your company.
    • Replace the tool screenshots with the outputs from your version of the PPM High-Level Supply/Demand Calculator.
    • Proofread all of the text to ensure the content accurately reflects your outcomes. Edit the content as needed to more accurately reflect your outcomes.
    • Determine the audience for the presentation of your PPM strategy and make a logistical arrangement. Include PPM strategy sponsors, senior management from within IT and the business, and other important stakeholders.

    Get executive buy-in for your top-down PPM strategy

    Executive layer buy-in is a critical prerequisite for the success of a top-down PPM strategy. Ensure your executives are on board before preceding.

    You’re now ready to communicate your PPM strategy to your leadership team and other stakeholders.

    It is essential that you get preliminary buy-in for this strategy from the executive layer before you move forward to develop your PPM processes in the subsequent phases of this blueprint. Lack of executive engagement is one of the top barriers to PPM strategy success.

    • If you have gone through the preceding activities in this step, section one of your PPM Strategic Plan Template should now be ready to present.
    • As explained in 1.1.4, you should present this section to an audience of PPM strategy sponsors, C-suite executives, and other members of the senior management team.
    • Allow at least 60 minutes for the presentation – around 20 minutes to deliver the slide presentation and 40 minutes for discussion.
    • If you get sufficient buy-in by the end of the presentation, proceed to the next step of this blueprint. If buy-in is lacking, now might not be the right time for a top-down PPM strategy. Think about adopting a bottom-up approach until leadership is more engaged in the portfolio.

    "Gaining executive sponsorship early is key…It is important for the executives in your organization to understand that the PPM initiatives and the PMO organization are there to support (but never hinder) executive decision making." (KeyedIn Projects)

    Info-Tech Best Practice

    Engage(d) sponsorship. According to Prosci, the top factor in contributing to the success of a change initiative is active and visible executive sponsorship. Use this meeting to communicate to your sponsor(s) the importance of their involvement in championing the PPM strategy.

    A PPM strategic plan elevates PMO’s status to a business strategic partner

    CASE STUDY

    Industry: Public Administration
    Source: IAG / Info-Tech Interview

    Challenge

    The PMO operated in a way that is, in their self-assessment, reactive; project requests and capacity were not effectively managed. Perhaps due to this, the leadership team was not always visible, or regularly available, to PM leaders. This, in turn, complicated efforts to effectively manage their projects.

    Solution

    Establishing a simple prioritization methodology enabled the senior leadership to engage and effectively steer the project portfolio by strategic importance. The criteria and tool also gave the business units a clear understanding to promote the strategic value of each of their project requests.

    Results

    PM leaders now have the support and confidence of the senior leadership team to both proactively manage and deliver on strategic projects. This new prioritization model brought the PM Leader and senior leadership team in direct access with each other.

    "By implementing this new project intake and prioritization framework, we drastically improved our ability to predict, meet, and manage project requests and unit workload. We adopted a client-focused and client-centric approach that enabled all project participants to see their role and value in successful project delivery. We created methodologies that were easy to follow from the client participation perspective, but also as PM leaders, provided us with the metrics, planning, and proactive tools to meet and anticipate client project demand. The response from our clients was extremely positive, encouraging, and appreciative."

    Step 1.2: Translate PPM strategic expectations to process goals

    PHASE 1

    PHASE 2

    PHASE 3

    1.11.22.12.23.13.2
    Choose the right PPM strategyTranslate strategy into process goalsDefine intake & resource mgmt. processesDefine reporting, closure, & benefits mgmt. processesSelect a right-sized PPM solutionFinalize your PPM strategic plan

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Determine process goals based upon your PPM strategy.
    • Set metrics and preliminary targets for your PPM processes.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • CIO
    • Steering Committee
    • Business Unit Leaders
    • PMO Director/Portfolio Manager

    Outcomes of this step

    • Stakeholder-prioritized PPM process goals
    • Metrics and targets for high-priority process goals

    Use the PPM strategy to set the direction for PPM processes that make up the infrastructure around projects

    PPM strategy enables you to answer any and all of these questions in a way that is consistent, cohesive, and aligned with one another.

    Info-Tech's PPM Process Model from earlier with notes overlaid asking a series of questions. The questions for '1. Intake, Approval, and Prioritization' are 'Who can request a project? How do you request a project? Who decides what to fund? What is the target investment mix? How will they decide?' The questions for '2. Resource Management' are 'Who assigns the resources? Who feeds the data on resources? How do we make sure it’s valid? How do we handle contingencies when projects are late, or if availability changes?' The questions for '3. Status and Progress Reporting' are 'What project information that should be reported? Who reports on project status? When? How?' The questions between 'Project Management' and '4. Project Closure' are 'Who declares that a project is done? Who validates it? Who is this reported to? Who terminates low-value projects? How will they decide?' The questions for '5. Benefits Tracking' are 'How do we validate the project benefits from the original business case? How do we track the benefits? Who reports it? When?'

    Set process goals to address PPM strategic expectations and steer the PPM strategic plan

    Associated Activity icon 1.2.1 – 2 hours

    INPUT: PPM strategy & expectations, Organizational strategy and culture

    OUTPUT: Prioritized list of strategy-aligned PPM process goals

    Materials: PPM Strategy-Process Translation Matrix

    Participants: CIO, Steering Committee, Business Unit Leaders, PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager

    This activity is designed for key departmental stakeholders to articulate how PPM processes should be developed or refined to meet the PPM strategic expectations.

    Participation of the key departmental stakeholders in this exercise is critical, e.g. CIO, Steering Committee, business unit leaders.

    Strategic Expectations x Processes = Process goals aligned to strategy
    Throughput Project Intake, Approval, & Prioritization
    Visibility Resource Management
    Responsiveness Status & Progress Reporting
    Resource Utilization Project Closure
    Benefits Benefits Realization

    Download Info-Tech’s PPM Strategy-Process Goals Translation Matrix Template.

    Use Info-Tech’s Translation Matrix to systematically articulate strategy-aligned PPM process goals

    Supporting Tool icon 1.2.1 – PPM Strategy-Process Translation Matrix, tab 2

    Formula: To answer “[question]” in a way that we can [strategic expectation], it will be important to [process goal].

    Example 1:
    To answer the question “who can request a project, and how?” in a way that we can maximize the throughput of the best projects, it will be important to standardize the project request process.

    Example 2:
    To answer the question “how will they decide what to fund?” in a way that we can maximize the throughput of the best projects, it will be important to reach a consensus on project prioritization criteria.

    Example 3:
    To answer the question “how will we track the projected benefits?” in a way that we can maximize the throughput of the best projects, it will be important to double-check the validity of benefits before projects are approved.

    Screenshot of Tab 2 in Info-Tech's PPM Strategy-Process Translation Matrix tool. There is a table with notes overlaid 'Enter the process goals in the appropriate question–strategic expectation slot' and 'Assign a priority, from the most important (1) to the least important (5)'.

    Set metrics and preliminary targets for your high-priority PPM process goals

    Associated Activity icon 1.2.2 – 1-2 hours

    INPUT: Prioritized list of strategy-aligned PPM process goals, Organizational strategy and culture

    OUTPUT: Metrics and targets for high-priority PPM process goals

    Materials: PPM Strategy-Process Translation Matrix

    Participants: CIO, Steering Committee, Business Unit Leaders, PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager

    Your highest-priority process goals and their corresponding strategy expectations are displayed in tab 3 of the PPM Strategy-Process Translation Matrix template (example below).

    Through a group discussion, document what will be measured to decide the achievement of each process goal, as well as your current estimate and the long-term target. If necessary, adjust the approximate target duration.

    Screenshot of Tab 3 in Info-Tech's PPM Strategy-Process Translation Matrix tool. There is a table with 6 columns 'PPM Process', 'High-priority Process Goals', 'Strategy Expectation', 'How will you measure success?', 'Current Estimate', and 'Long-Term Target'; they are referred to in notes as columns B through G respectively. Overlaid notes are 'Columns C and D will auto-populate based upon your inputs from tab 2. The five PPM process areas are arranged vertically in column B and your top-five process goals from each area appear in column C.' 'Use column E to brainstorm how you might measure the success of each process goal at your organization. These can be tentative for now and refined over time.' 'Determine current metrics for each process goals and long-term target metrics in columns F and G.'

    Project-client-centered approach to PPM process design improves client satisfaction and team confidence

    CASE STUDY

    Industry: Public Administration
    Source: IAG / Info-Tech Interview

    Challenge

    Reactive instead of proactive

    "We had no effective means of tracking project intake requests vs. capacity. We struggled using ad hoc processes and methods which worked to meet immediate needs, but we quickly realized that they were ineffective in tracking critical project metrics, key performance indicators (KPIs), or performance measures...In short, we were being reactive, instead of proactive."

    The result was a disorganized portfolio that led to low client satisfaction and team morale.

    Solution

    Examine processes “through the eyes of the client”

    With the guiding principle of “through the eyes of the client,” PPM processes and tools were developed to formalize project intake, prioritization, and capacity planning. All touchpoints between client and PPM processes were identified, and practices for managing client expectations were put in place. A client satisfaction survey was formulated as part of the post-project assessment and review.

    Results

    Client-centered processes improved client satisfaction and team confidence

    People, processes, and tools are now aligned to support client demand, manage client expectations, measure project KPIs, and perform post-project analysis. A standard for client satisfaction metrics was put in place. The overwhelmingly positive feedback has increased team confidence in their ability to deliver quality efforts.

    If you want additional support, have our analysts guide you through this phase as part of an Info-Tech Workshop Associated Activity icon

    Book a workshop with our Info-Tech analysts:

    Photo of Barry Cousins.
    • To accelerate this project, engage your IT team in an Info-Tech workshop with an Info-Tech analyst team.
    • Info-Tech analyst will join you and your team onsite at your location or welcome you to Info-Tech's historic Toronto office to participate in an innovative onsite workshop.
    • Contact your account manager (www.infotech.com/account), or email Workshops@InfoTech.com for more information.

    The following are sample activities that will be conducted by Info-Tech analysts with your team:

    Sample of activity 1.1.2 'Determine your actual resource capacity for projects'. Determine your actual resource capacity for projects

    Work with Info-Tech analysts to define your project vs. non-project ratio to help define how much of your overall resource capacity is actual available for projects.

    Sample of activity 1.2.1 'Set realistic PPM process goals'. Set realistic PPM process goals

    Leverage Info-Tech facilitators to help walk you through our PPM framework and define achievable process goals that are rooted in your current PPM maturity levels and organizational culture.

    Develop a Project Portfolio Management Strategy

    PHASE 2

    Align PPM Processes to Your Strategic Goals

    Phase 2 outline

    Associated Activity icon Call 1-888-670-8889 or email GuidedImplementations@InfoTech.com for more information.

    Complete these steps on your own, or call us to complete a guided implementation. A guided implementation is a series of 2-3 advisory calls that help you execute each phase of a project. They are included in most advisory memberships.

    Guided Implementation 2: Align PPM processes to your strategic goals

    Proposed Time to Completion: 2-4 weeks
    Step 2.1: Develop intake & resource mgmt. processes Step 2.2: Define reporting, closure, & benefits processes
    Work with an analyst to:
    • Assess your current intake, prioritization, and resource management processes and wireframe a sustainable target state for each capability.
    Work with an analyst to:
    • Analyze your current portfolio reporting, project closure, and benefits realization processes and wireframe a sustainable target state for each capability.
    Then complete these activities…
    • Set near-term and long-term goals.
    • Draft high-level steps within your target-state processes.
    • Document your process steps and roles and responsibilities.
    Then complete these activities…
    • Set near-term and long-term goals.
    • Draft high-level steps within your target-state processes.
    • Document your process steps and roles and responsibilities.
    With these tools & templates:
    • PPM Strategy Development Tool
    • PPM Strategic Plan Template
    With these tools & templates:
    • PPM Strategy Development Tool
    • PPM Strategic Plan Template

    Phase 2 Results & Insights

    • The means of project and portfolio management (i.e. processes) shouldn’t eclipse the ends – strategic goals. Root your process in your PPM strategic goals to realize PPM benefits (e.g. optimized portfolio value, improved project throughput, increased stakeholder satisfaction).

    Read first: Overview of the methodology for articulating new strategy-aligned PPM processes

    In the previous step of the blueprint, key department stakeholders established the PPM process goals, metrics, and targets in a way that aligns with the overall PPM strategy. In this phase, we draft a high-level description of the five PPM processes that reflect those goals using the following methodology:

    Methodology at a glance

    1. Articulate the current state of the process.
    2. Examine the process against the strategy-aligned goals.
    3. Create short- and long-term action items to refine the current process and meet the strategy-aligned targets.
    4. Develop a high-level target-state description of the PPM process.
    5. Estimate costs-in-use of the target-state process.

    Out-of-scope topics

    • Draft a detailed target-state description of the PPM process. Avoid falling into the “analysis paralysis” trap and keep the discussion focused on the overall PPM strategy.
    • PPM tools to support the process. This discussion will take place in the next phase of the blueprint.

    INPUT

    –›

    PROCESS

    –›

    OUTPUT

    • Strategy-aligned process goals, metrics, and targets (Activity 1.2.1)
    • Knowledge of current process
    • Knowledge of organizational culture and structure
    • Capability level assessment
    • Table-top design planning activity
    • Start-stop-continue retrospective
    • High-level description of the target state
    • PPM Strategy Development Tool
    • High-level descriptions of current and target states
    • Short- and long-term action items for improving the process
    • Cost-in-use of the current- and target-state processes

    Download Info-Tech’s PPM Strategy Development Tool

    Build a sound business case for implementing the new PPM strategy with realistic costs and benefits of managing your project portfolio.

    Time spent on managing the project portfolio is an investment. Like any other business endeavors, the benefits must outweigh the costs to be worth doing.

    As you draft a high-level description of the PPM processes in this phase of the blueprint, use Info-Tech’s PPM Strategy Development Tool to track the estimate the cost-in-use of the process. In the next phase, this information will be inform a cost-benefit analysis, which will be used to support your plan to implement the PPM strategy.

    Download Info-Tech’s PPM Strategy Development Tool.

    Screenshots of Info-Tech's PPM Strategy Development Tool including a Cost-Benefit Analysis with tables and graphs.

    Step 2.1: Develop and refine project intake, prioritization, and resource management processes

    PHASE 1

    PHASE 2

    PHASE 3

    1.11.22.12.23.13.2
    Choose the right PPM strategyTranslate strategy into process goalsDefine intake & resource mgmt. processesDefine reporting, closure, & benefits mgmt. processesSelect a right-sized PPM solutionFinalize your PPM strategic plan

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Determine your process maturity.
    • Benchmark current processes against strategy-aligned goals.
    • Set near- and long-term action items.
    • Draft a high-level description of your target state.
    • Document your new processes.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • PMO Director/Portfolio Manager
    • Project Managers
    • Resource Managers
    • Business Analysts

    Outcomes of this step

    • A definition of current and target state maturity levels for intake, prioritization, and resource management
    • Near-term and long-term process goals for intake, prioritization, and resource management
    • A high-level wireframe for your intake, prioritization, and resource management process steps

    Project intake, prioritization, and approval: Get projects with the highest value done first

    Give your organization the voice to say “no” (or “not yet”) to new projects.

    Questions

    • Who can request a project?
    • How do you request a project?
    • Who decides what to fund?
    • What is the target investment mix?
    • How will they decide?

    Benefits

    • Maximize value of time spent on project work by aligning projects with priorities and stakeholder needs.
    • Finish the projects you start by improving alignment of intake and prioritization with resource capacity.
    • Improve stakeholder satisfaction by managing expectations with consistent, streamlined processes.

    Challenges

    • Stakeholders who benefit from political or ad hoc prioritization processes will resist or circumvent formal intake processes.
    • Many organizations lack sufficient awareness of resource capacity necessary to align intake with availability.

    A graph highlighting the sweet spot of project intake decision making. The vertical axis is 'Rigor and Effort' increasing upward, and the horizontal axis is 'Quality and Effectiveness of Decisions' increasing to the right. The trend line starts at 'Gut Feel' with low 'Rigor and Effort', and gradually curves upward to 'Analysis Paralysis' at the top. A note with an arrow pointing to a midway point in the line reads 'The sweet spot changes between situations and types of decisions'.

    Info-Tech Insight

    This process aims to control the project demand. A balance between rigor and flexibility is critical in order to avoid the “analysis paralysis” as much as the “gut feel” approach.

    Funnel project requests into a triage system for project intake

    Info-Tech recommends following a four-step process for managing project intake.

    1. Requestor fills out form and submits the request into the funnel.
    2. Requests are triaged into the proper queue.
      1. Divert non-project request.
      2. Quickly assess value and urgency.
      3. Assign specialist to follow up on request.
      4. Inform the requestor.
    3. Business analyst starts to gather preliminary requirements.
      1. Follow up with sponsors to validate and define scope.
      2. Estimate size and determine project management rigor required.
      3. Start to develop an initial business case.
    4. Requestor is given realistic expectations for approval process.

    Info-Tech Best Practice

    An excess number of intake channels is the tell-tale sign of a project portfolio in distress. The PMO needs to exercise and enforce discipline on stakeholders. PMO should demand proper documentation and diligence from stakeholders before proceeding with requests.

    Maintain reliable resourcing data with a recurrent project intake, prioritization, and approval practice

    Info-Tech recommends following a five-step process for managing project intake, prioritization, and approval.

    A diagram of Info-Tech's five-step process for managing project intake. There are four groups that may be involved in any one step, they are laid out on the side as row headers that each step's columns may fall into, 'Resources', 'Business Analysts', 'PMO', and 'Governance Layer'. The first step is 'Collect project requests' which involves 'Resources'. Step 2 is 'Screen project requests' which involves 'Business Analysts' and 'PMO'. A part of the step that may be applicable to some organizations is 'Concept approval' involving 'Governance Layer'. Step 3 is 'Develop business case' which involves 'Business Analysts' and 'PMO'. A part of the step that may be applicable to some organizations is 'Get a project sponsor' involving 'Governance Layer'. Step 4 is 'Prioritize project' which involves 'Business Analysts' and 'PMO'. Step 5 is 'Approve (greenlight) project' which involves 'Business Analysts', 'PMO', and 'Governance Layer', with an attached note that reads 'Ensure that up-to-date project portfolio information is available (project status, resource forecast, etc.)'. All of these steps lead to 'Initiate project, commit resources, etc.'

    Info-Tech Insight

    “Approval” can be a dangerous word in project and portfolio management. Use it carefully. Clarify precisely what is being “approved” at each step in the process, what is required to pass each gate, and how long the process will take.

    Determine your project intake, prioritization, and approval process maturity

    Associated Activity icon 2.1.1a – 10 minutes

    INPUT: Organizational strategy and culture

    OUTPUT: Project intake, prioritization, and approval capability level

    Materials: PPM Strategy Development Tool

    Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Resource Managers, Business Analysts

    Kick-off the discussion about the project intake, prioritization, and approval process by reading the capability level descriptions below and discussing which level currently applies to you the most.

    Capability Level Descriptions

    Capability Level 5: Optimized We have effective intake processes with right-sized administrative overhead. Work is continuously prioritized to keep up with emerging challenges and opportunities.
    Capability Level 4: Aligned We have very strong intake processes. Project approvals are based on business cases and aligned with future resource capacity.
    Capability Level 3: Engaged Processes are in place to track project requests and follow up on them. Priorities are periodically re-evaluated, based largely on the best judgment of one or several executives.
    Capability Level 2: Defined Some processes are in place, but there is no capacity to say no to new projects. There is a backlog, but little or no method for grooming it.
    Capability Level 1: Unmanaged Our organization has no formal intake processes in place. Most work is done reactively, with little ability to prioritize project work proactively.

    Benchmark the current project intake, prioritization, and approval process against strategy-aligned goals

    Associated Activity icon 2.1.1b – 1-2 hours

    INPUT: Documentation describing the current process (e.g. standard operating procedures), Process goals from activity 1.2.1

    OUTPUT: Retrospective review of current process

    Materials: 4x6” recipe cards, Whiteboard

    Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Resource Managers, Business Analysts

    Conduct a table-top planning exercise to map out the process currently in place.

    1. Use white 4”x6” recipe cards to write unique steps of a process. Use the intake, prioritization, and approval process from the previous slides as a guide.
    2. Use green cards to write artifacts or deliverables that result from a step.
    3. Use pink cards to write issues, problems, or risks.
    4. Discuss how the process could better achieve the strategy-aligned goals from activity 1.2.1. Keep a list of possible changes in the form of a start-stop-continue retrospective (example below) on a whiteboard.
    Start Stop Continue
    • Simplify business cases
    • Send emails to requestor to manage expectations
    • Accept verbal project requests
    • Approve “pet projects”
    • Monthly prioritization meetings
    • Evaluate prioritization criteria

    Set near- and long-term action items for the project intake, prioritization, and approval process

    Associated Activity icon 2.1.1c – 30 minutes - 1 hour

    INPUT: Outcome of the retrospective review, Process goals and metrics from activity 1.2.1

    OUTPUT: Action items for evolving the process to a target state

    Materials: Whiteboard

    Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Resource Managers, Business Analysts

    Analyze each item in the start-stop-continue retrospective to compile a set of near-term and long-term action items.

    The near-term plan should include steps that are within the authority of the PMO and do not require approval or investment outside of that authority. The long-term plan should include steps that may require a longer approval process, buy-in of external stakeholders, and the investment of time and money.
    Near-Term Action Items Long-Term Action Items
    For example:
    • Limit the number of channels available to request new projects.
    • Revise the intake form.
    • Establish a regular triage process.
    For example:
    • Establish a comprehensive scorecard and business case scoring process at the steering committee level.
    • Limit the rate of approval to be aligned with resource capacity.

    Review and customize slide 23, “Project intake, prioritization, and approval: action items,” in Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template.

    Draft a high-level description of the intake, prioritization, and approval process at a target state

    Associated Activity icon 2.1.1d – 1-2 hours

    INPUT: Action items for evolving the process to a target state

    OUTPUT: High-level description of the process at the target state

    Materials: Whiteboard, PPM Strategy Development Tool

    Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Resource Managers, Business Analysts

    1. Break down the process into several tasks at a high level. Avoid getting into too much detail by limiting the number of steps.
    2. An example of high-level breakdown: project intake, prioritization, and approval
      Collect project requests –› Screen requests –› Develop business case –› Prioritize project –› Approve project

    3. Describe each task by answering the following questions. Document your response in the PPM Strategic Plan Template.
    4. Question

      Description

      Input What information do you need to perform the work?
      Output What artifacts/deliverables are produced as a result?
      Frequency/Timing How often, and when, will the work be performed?
      Responsibility Who will perform the work?
      Accountability Who will approve the work and assume the ownership of any decisions?

    5. Record the time cost of each process using the PPM Strategy Development Tool; see next slide for instructions.

    Use the PPM Strategy Development Tool to track the time cost of the process

    Supporting Tool icon 2.1.1 – PPM Strategy Development Tool, Tab 3: Costing Assumptions

    Record the time cost of each high-level process task from Activity 2.1.1d.

    Screenshot of tab 3 from Info-Tech's PPM Strategy Development Tool with notes overlaid. Columns are 'ID', 'Task Description', 'Who does the task?', a super-column titled 'Current State' which includes 'How many times per year?', 'How many people?', and 'For how long?', a super-column titled 'Near-Term Target State' with the same three sub columns, and a super-column titled 'Long-Term Target State' with the same three sub columns. Notes for 'Who does the task?' read 'Choose executive, management or resource' and 'If task is done by more than one party, duplicate the task'. Notes for the 3 recurring sub columns are 'Estimate how many times in a year the task is performed (e.g. 120 project requests per year)', 'Indicate the number of people needed to perform the task each time', 'Estimate the average work-hours for the task… either in minutes or in hours', 'If a task is not applicable to a state (e.g. currently PMO does not screen project requests), leave the row blank', and 'For meetings, remember to indicate the number of people'.

    Document the high-level description for the new intake, prioritization, and approval process

    Associated Activity icon 2.1.1e – 30 minutes - 1 hour

    INPUT: High-level description of the process at the target state

    OUTPUT: Updated PPM strategic plan

    Materials: Whiteboard, PPM Strategic Plan Template

    Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager

    Update your PPM strategic plan with the new high-level description for the new project intake, prioritization, and approval process. Depending on your current process capability level, you may wish to include additional information on your strategic document, for example:

    • Updated prioritization scorecard.
    • Roles and responsibility matrix, identifying consulted and informed parties.

    Info-Tech has a dedicated blueprint to help you develop the high-level process description into a fully operationalized process. Upon completion of this PPM strategy blueprint, speak to an Info-Tech account manager or analyst to get started.

    Read Info-Tech’s Optimize Project Intake, Prioritization, and Approval blueprint.

    Review and customize slide 24, “Project intake, prioritization, and approval: target state,” in Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template.

    Clarity in project prioritization process leads to enterprise-wide buy-in

    CASE STUDY

    Industry: Public Administration
    Source: IAG / Info-Tech Interview

    Challenge

    "Our challenge from the start was to better understand the strategic perspective and priorities of our client departments.

    In addition, much of the work requested was not aligned to corporate goals and efforts, and seemed to be contradictory, redundant, and lacking strategic focus."

    Complicating this challenge was the fact that work requests were being received via all means of communication, which made the monitoring and controlling of requests more difficult.

    Solution

    Client departments were consulted to improve the understanding of their strategic goals and priorities. Based on the consultation:

    • A new, enterprise-wide project prioritization criteria was developed.
    • Priority of project requests from all business areas are evaluated on a quarterly basis.
    • A prioritized list of projects are made available to the senior leadership team.

    Results

    "By creating and implementing a tool for departments to prioritize strategic efforts, we helped them consider the important overall project criteria and measure them uniformly, across all anticipated projects. This set a standard of assessment, prioritization, and ranking, which helped departments clearly see which efforts were supportive and matched their strategic goals."

    Resource management process ensures that projects get the resources they need

    Reclaim project capacity: properly allocate project work and establish more stable project timelines.

    Questions

    • Who assigns the resources?
    • Who feeds the data on resources?
    • How do we make sure it’s valid?
    • How do we handle contingencies when projects are late, or if availability changes?

    Benefits

    • Ensure that approved projects can be completed by aligning intake with real project capacity.
    • Reduce over-allocation of resources by allocating based on their proportion of project vs. non-project work.
    • Forecast future resource requirements by maintaining accurate resource capacity data.

    Challenges

    • Time tracking can be difficult when project workers balance project work with “keep the lights on” activities and other administrative work.
    • Continuous partial attention, interruptions, and distractions are a part of today’s reality that makes it very difficult to maximize productivity.
    A see-saw balancing 'Resource availability' on one side and 'Ongoing projects, Operational work, Administrative work, and Resource absence' on the other side.

    Maintain reliable resourcing data with a recurrent resource management practice

    Info-Tech recommends following a five-step process for resource management.

    A diagram of Info-Tech's five-step process for resource management. There are five groups that may be involved in any one step, they are laid out on the side as row headers that each step's columns may fall into, 'Resources', 'Resource Managers', 'Project Managers', 'PMO', and 'Governance Layer'. The first step is 'Collect resource availability' which involves 'Resources' and 'Resource Managers'. Step 2 is 'Collect resource demand' which involves 'Resource Managers', 'Project Managers' and 'PMO'. Step 3 is 'Identify need for reconciliation' which involves 'PMO'. Step 4 is 'Resolve conflicts and smoothen resource allocations' which involves 'Resource Managers', 'Project Managers' and 'PMO'. Step 5 is 'Report resource allocations and forecast' which involves all groups, with an attached note that reads 'Ensure that up-to-date information is available for project approval, portfolio reporting, closure, etc.'

    Info-Tech Insight

    This process aims to control the resource supply to meet the demand – project and non-project alike. Coordinate this process with the intake, approval, and prioritization process.

    Determine your resource management process capability level

    Associated Activity icon 2.1.2a – 10 minutes

    INPUT: Organizational strategy and culture

    OUTPUT: Resource management capability level

    Materials: PPM Strategy Development Tool

    Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Resource Managers, Business Analysts

    Kick-off the discussion about the resource management process by reading the capability level descriptions below and discussing which level currently applies to you the most.

    Capability Level Descriptions

    Capability Level 5: OptimizedOur organization has an accurate picture of project versus non-project work loads and allocates resources accordingly. We periodically reclaim lost capacity through organizational and behavioral change.
    Capability Level 4: AlignedWe have an accurate picture of how much time is spent on project versus non-project work. We allocate resources to these projects accordingly. We are checking in on project progress bi-weekly.
    Capability Level 3: PixelatedWe are allocating resources to projects and tracking progress monthly. We have a rough estimate of how much time is spent on project versus non-project work.
    Capability Level 2: OpaqueWe match resources teams to projects and check in annually, but we do not forecast future resource needs or track project versus non-project work.
    Capability Level 1: UnmanagedOur organization expects projects to be finished, but there is no process in place for allocating resources or tracking project progress.

    Benchmark the current resource management process against strategy-aligned goals

    Associated Activity icon 2.1.2b – 1-2 hours

    INPUT: Documentation describing the current process (e.g. standard operating procedures), Process goals from activity 1.2.1

    OUTPUT: Retrospective review of current process

    Materials: 4x6” recipe cards, Whiteboard

    Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Resource Managers, Business Analysts

    Conduct a table-top planning exercise to map out the process currently in place.

    1. Use white 4”x6” recipe cards to write unique steps of a process. Use the resource management process from the previous slides as a guide.
    2. Use green cards to write artifacts or deliverables that result from a step.
    3. Use pink cards to write issues, problems, or risks.
    4. Discuss how the process could better achieve the strategy-aligned goals from activity 1.2.1. Keep a list of possible changes in the form of a start-stop-continue retrospective (example below) on a whiteboard.
    Start Stop Continue
    • Collect project actuals
    • Make enhancements to the PPM tool in use
    • Over allocating resources
    • “Around the room” reporting at monthly meeting
    • Send project updates before resource management meetings

    Set near- and long-term action items for the resource management process

    Associated Activity icon 2.1.2c – 30 minutes - 1 hour

    INPUT: Outcome of the retrospective review, Process goals and metrics from activity 1.2.1

    OUTPUT: Action items for evolving the process to a target state

    Materials: Whiteboard

    Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Resource Managers, Business Analysts

    Analyze each item in the start-stop-continue retrospective to compile a set of near-term and long-term action items.

    The near-term plan should include steps that are within the authority of the PMO and do not require approval or investment outside of that authority. The long-term plan should include steps that may require a longer approval process, buy-in of external stakeholders, and the investment of time and money.
    Near-Term Action Items Long-Term Action Items
    For example:
    • Determine the percentage of project vs. non-project work through implementation of a weekly survey.
    For example:
    • Reduce resource waste to 6%.
    • Forecast resource requirements monthly.
    • Implement a mid-market PPM tool.

    Review and customize slide 26, “Resource management: action items,” in Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template.

    Draft a high-level description of the resource management process at a target state

    Associated Activity icon 2.1.2d – 1-2 hours

    INPUT: Action items for evolving the process to a target state

    OUTPUT: High-level description of the process at the target state

    Materials: Whiteboard, PPM Strategy Development Tool

    Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Resource Managers, Business Analysts

    1. Break down the process into several tasks at a high level. Avoid getting into too much detail by limiting the number of steps.
    2. An example of high-level breakdown: resource management
      Collect resource availability –› Collect resource demand –› Identify need for reconciliation –› Resolve conflicts and over-allocation –› Update resource forecast


    3. Describe each task by answering the following questions. Document your response in the PPM Strategic Plan Template.
    4. Question

      Description

      Input What information do you need to perform the work?
      Output What artifacts/deliverables are produced as a result?
      Frequency/Timing How often, and when, will the work be performed?
      Responsibility Who will perform the work?
      Accountability Who will approve the work and assume the ownership of any decisions?


    5. Record the time cost of each process using the PPM Strategy Development Tool.

    Document the high-level description for the new resource management process

    Associated Activity icon 2.1.2e – 30 minutes - 1 hour

    INPUT: High-level description of the process at the target state

    OUTPUT: Updated PPM strategic plan

    Materials: PPM Strategic Plan Template

    Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager

    Update your PPM strategic plan with the new high-level description for the new resource management process. Depending on your current process capability level, you may wish to include additional information on your strategic plan, for example:

    • Resource management meeting agenda template
    • Roles and responsibility matrix, identifying consulted and informed parties

    Info-Tech has a dedicated blueprint to help you develop the high-level process description into a fully operationalized process. Upon completion of this PPM strategy blueprint, speak to an Info-Tech account manager or analyst to get started.

    Read Info-Tech’s Develop a Resource Management for the New Reality blueprint.

    Review and customize slide 27, “Resource management: target state,” in Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template.

    Step 2.2: Develop and refine portfolio reporting, project closure, and benefits realization processes

    PHASE 1

    PHASE 2

    PHASE 3

    1.11.22.12.23.13.2
    Choose the right PPM strategyTranslate strategy into process goalsDefine intake & resource mgmt. processesDefine reporting, closure, & benefits mgmt. processesSelect a right-sized PPM solutionFinalize your PPM strategic plan

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Determine your process maturity.
    • Benchmark current processes against strategy-aligned goals.
    • Set near- and long-term action items.
    • Draft a high-level description of your target state.
    • Document your new processes.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • PMO Director/Portfolio Manager
    • Project Managers
    • Business Analysts

    Outcomes of this step

    • A definition of current and target state maturity levels for portfolio reporting, project closure, and benefits realization
    • Near-term and long-term process goals for portfolio reporting, project closure, and benefits realization
    • A high-level wireframe for your portfolio reporting, project closure, and benefits realization process steps

    Portfolio reporting process makes trustworthy data accessible for informing decisions

    Giving stakeholders the ability to make informed decisions is the most important function of managing the project portfolio.

    Questions

    • What project information should be reported?
    • Who reports on project status?
    • When and how do we report on the status of the project portfolio?

    Benefits

    • Reporting is the linchpin of any successful PPM strategy.
    • Timely and accurate status reports enable decision makers to address issues risks and issues before they create bigger problems.
    • Executive visibility can be achieved with or without a commercial tool using spreadsheets, a content management system such as SharePoint, or a combination of tools you already have.

    Challenges

    • Trying to increase detailed visibility too fast leads to difficulty gathering and maintaining data. As a result, reporting is rarely accurate and people quickly lose trust in the portfolio.
    • If you are planning to adopt a commercial tool, Info-Tech strongly recommends validating your organization’s ability to maintain a consistent reporting process using simple tools before investing in a more sophisticated system.

    Info-Tech Insight

    If you can only do one thing, establish frequently current reporting on project status. Reporting doesn’t have to be detailed or precise, as long as it’s accurate.

    Maintain reliable portfolio status data with a recurrent status and progress reporting practice

    Info-Tech recommends following a four-step process for portfolio status and progress reporting.

    A diagram of Info-Tech's four-step process for portfolio status and progress reporting. There are four groups that may be involved in any one step, they are laid out on the side as row headers that each step's columns may fall into, 'Resources', 'Project Managers', 'PMO', and 'Governance Layer'. The first step is 'Create project status reports' which involves 'Resources' and 'Project Managers'. Step 2 is 'Create a project portfolio status report' which involves 'Project Managers' and 'PMO', with a note that reads 'Ensure that up-to-date information is available for project approval, resource management, closure, etc.' Step 3 is 'Report on project portfolio status' which involves 'PMO' and 'Governance layer'. Step 4 is 'Act on portfolio steering decisions' which involves 'Resources', 'Project Managers' and 'PMO'.

    Start by establishing a regular reporting cadence with lightweight project status KPIs:

    Red Issue or risk that requires intervention For projects that are red or yellow, high-level status reports should be elaborated on with additional comments on budget, estimated hours/days until completion, etc.
    Yellow Issue or risk that stakeholders should be aware of
    Green No significant risks or issues

    Determine your resource management process capability level

    Associated Activity icon 2.2.1a – 10 minutes

    INPUT: Organizational strategy and culture

    OUTPUT: Portfolio reporting capability level

    Materials: PPM Strategy Development Tool

    Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers

    Kick-off the discussion about the portfolio reporting process by reading the capability level descriptions below and discussing which level currently applies to you the most.

    Capability Level Descriptions

    Capability Level 5: OptimizedWith the right tools, we can ensure that all projects are planned and maintained at a detailed task level with high-quality estimates, and that actual task progress is updated at least weekly.
    Capability Level 4: AlignedWe have the skills, knowledge, and resources needed to prepare a detailed cost-benefit analysis for all proposed projects. We track the progress throughout project execution.
    Capability Level 3: InterventionWith the right tools, we can ensure that project issues and risks are identified and addressed on a regular basis (e.g. at least monthly) for all projects.
    Capability Level 2: OversightWith the right tools, we can ensure that project status updates are revised on a regular basis (e.g. at least monthly) for all ongoing projects.
    Capability Level 1: ReactiveProject managers escalate issues directly with their direct supervisor or project sponsor because there is no formal PPM practice.

    Benchmark the current portfolio reporting process against strategy-aligned goals

    Associated Activity icon 2.2.1b – 1-2 hours

    INPUT: Documentation describing the current process (e.g. standard operating procedures), Process goals from activity 1.2.1

    OUTPUT: Retrospective review of current process

    Materials: 4x6” recipe cards, Whiteboard

    Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers

    Conduct a table-top planning exercise to map out the process currently in place.

    1. Use white 4”x6” recipe cards to write unique steps of a process. Use the portfolio reporting process from the previous slides as a guide.
    2. Use green cards to write artifacts or deliverables that result from a step.
    3. Use pink cards to write issues, problems, or risks.
    4. Discuss how the process could better achieve the strategy-aligned goals from activity 1.2.1. Keep a list of possible changes in the form of a start-stop-continue retrospective (example below) on a whiteboard.
    Start Stop Continue
    • Report on lightweight KPIs
    • Standardize the status reports
    • Project managers waiting too long before declaring a red status
    • Produce weekly project portfolio-wide report for senior leadership

    Set near- and long-term action items for the portfolio reporting process

    Associated Activity icon 2.2.1c – 30 minutes - 1 hour

    INPUT: Outcome of the retrospective review, Process goals and metrics from activity 1.2.1

    OUTPUT: Action items for evolving the process to a target state

    Materials: Whiteboard

    Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers

    Analyze each item in the start-stop-continue retrospective to compile a set of near-term and long-term action items.

    The near-term plan should include steps that are within the authority of the PMO and do not require approval or investment outside of that authority. The long-term plan should include steps that may require a longer approval process, buy-in of external stakeholders, and the investment of time and money.
    Near-Term Action Items Long-Term Action Items
    For example:
    • Establish a reporting process that can be consistently maintained using lightweight KPIs.
    • Provide a simple dashboard that stakeholders can use to see their project status reports at a high level.
    For example:
    • Adopt a commercial tool for maintaining consistent status reports.
    • Support the tool with training and a mandate of adoption among all users.

    Review and customize slide 29, “Portfolio reporting: action items,” in Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template.

    Draft a high-level description of the portfolio reporting process at a target state

    Associated Activity icon 2.2.1d – 1-2 hours

    INPUT: Action items for evolving the process to a target state

    OUTPUT: High-level description of the process at the target state

    Materials: Whiteboard, PPM Strategy Development Tool

    Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers

    1. Break down the process into several tasks at a high level. Avoid getting into too much detail by limiting the number of steps.
    2. An example of high-level breakdown: portfolio reporting
      Create project status reports –› Create a project portfolio status report –› Report on project portfolio status –› Act on portfolio steering decisions


    3. Describe each task by answering the following questions. Document your response in the PPM Strategic Plan Template.
    4. Question

      Description

      InputWhat information do you need to perform the work?
      OutputWhat artifacts/deliverables are produced as a result?
      Frequency/TimingHow often, and when, will the work be performed?
      ResponsibilityWho will perform the work?
      AccountabilityWho will approve the work and assume the ownership of any decisions?

    5. Record the time cost of each process using the PPM Strategy Development Tool.

    Document the high-level description for the new portfolio reporting process

    Associated Activity icon 2.2.1e – 30 minutes - 1 hour

    INPUT: High-level description of the process at the target state

    OUTPUT: Updated PPM strategic plan

    Materials: PPM Strategic Plan Template

    Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager

    Update your PPM strategic plan with the new high-level description for the new portfolio reporting process. Depending on your current process capability level, you may wish to include additional information on your strategic plan, for example:

    • Updated project status report template with new KPIs.
    • Documentation of requirements for improved PPM dashboards and reports.

    Info-Tech has a dedicated blueprint to help you develop the high-level process description into a fully operationalized process. Upon completion of this PPM strategy blueprint, speak to an Info-Tech account manager or analyst to get started.

    Read Info-Tech’s Enhance PPM Dashboards and Reports blueprint.

    Review and customize slide 30, “Portfolio reporting: target state,” in Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template.

    Streamlined status reporting improves portfolio visibility for executives, enabling data-driven steering of the portfolio

    CASE STUDY

    Industry: Public Administration
    Source: IAG / Info-Tech Interview

    Challenge

    The client had no effective real-time reporting in place to summarize their work efforts. In addition, the client struggled with managing existing resources against the ability to deliver on the requested project workload.

    Existing project reporting processes were manually intensive and lacked mature reporting capabilities.

    Solution

    Through a short and effective engagement, IAG conducted surveys and facilitated interviews to identify the information needed by each stakeholder. From this analysis and industry best practices, IAG developed scorecards, dashboards, and project summary reports tailored to the needs of each stakeholder group. This integrated reporting tool was then made available on a central portal for PPM stakeholders.

    Results

    Stakeholders can access project scorecard and dashboard reports that are available at any given time.

    Resource reporting enabled the PMO to better balance client demand with available project capacity and forecast any upcoming deficiencies in resourcing that affect project delivery.

    Project closure at the portfolio level controls throughput and responsiveness of the portfolio

    Take control over projects that linger on, projects that don’t provide value, and projects that do not align with changing organizational priority.

    Questions

    • Who declares that a project is done?
    • Who validates it?
    • Who is this reported to?
    • Who terminates low-value projects?
    • How will they decide that a project is too low value to continue?

    Benefits

    • Minimize post-implementation problems by ensuring clean handoffs, with clear responsibilities for ongoing support and maintenance.
    • Drive continuous improvement by capturing and applying lessons learned.
    • Increase the project portfolio’s responsiveness to change by responding to emerging opportunities and challenges.

    Challenges

    • Completion criteria and “definition of done” need to be well defined and done so at project initiation.
    • Scope changes need to be managed and documented throughout the project.
    • Portfolio responsiveness requires deep cultural changes that will be met with confusion and resistance from some stakeholders.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Although “change in organizational priority” is the most frequently cited cause of project failure (PMI Pulse of Profession, 2017), closing projects that don’t align with organizational priority ought to be a key PPM goal. Therefore, don’t think of it as project failure; instead, think of it as PPM success.

    Maintain the health of the project portfolio with a repeatable project closure process

    Info-Tech recommends following a four-step process for project closure.

    A diagram of Info-Tech's four-step process for project closure. There are five groups that may be involved in any one step, they are laid out on the side as row headers that each step's columns may fall into, 'Resources', 'Resource Managers', 'Project Managers', 'PMO', and 'Governance Layer'. The first steps are 'Complete project' which involves 'Project Managers', and 'Terminate low value projects' which involves 'PMO' and 'Governance layer'. Step 2 is 'Validate project closure' which involves 'Project Managers' and 'PMO', with a note that reads 'This includes facilitating the project sponsor sign-off, accepting and archiving lessons learned documents, etc.' The third steps are 'Conduct post-project work' which involves 'Project Managers' and 'PMO', and 'Update resource availability' which includes 'Resource Managers'. Step 4 is 'Conduct post-implementation review' which involves all groups.

    Info-Tech Best Practice

    Post-implementation review checks which benefits (including those set out in the business case) have been achieved and identifies opportunities for further improvement. Without it, it can be difficult to demonstrate that investment in a project was worthwhile.

    Determine your project closure process capability level

    Associated Activity icon 2.2.2a – 10 minutes

    INPUT: Organizational strategy and culture

    OUTPUT: Project closure capability level

    Materials: PPM Strategy Development Tool

    Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Business Analysts

    Kick-off the discussion about the project closure process by reading the capability level descriptions below and discussing which level currently applies to you the most.

    Capability Level Descriptions

    Capability Level 5: OptimizedProject closure is centrally managed and supports post-project benefits tracking.
    Capability Level 4: AlignedProject closure is centrally managed at the portfolio level to ensure completion/acceptance criteria are satisfied.
    Capability Level 3: EngagedProject closure is confirmed at the portfolio level, but with minimal enforcement of satisfaction of completion/acceptance criteria.
    Capability Level 2: EncouragedProject managers often follow handoff and closure procedures, but project closure is not confirmed or governed at the portfolio level.
    Capability Level 1: UnmanagedProject closure is not governed at either the project or portfolio level.

    Benchmark the current project closure process against strategy-aligned goals

    Associated Activity icon 2.2.2b – 1-2 hours

    INPUT: Documentation describing the current process (e.g. standard operating procedures), Process goals from activity 1.2.1

    OUTPUT: Retrospective review of current process

    Materials: 4x6” recipe cards, Whiteboard

    Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Business Analysts

    Conduct a table-top planning exercise to map out the process currently in place.

    1. Use white 4”x6” recipe cards to write unique steps of a process. Use the project closure process from the previous slides as a guide.
    2. Use green cards to write artifacts or deliverables that result from a step.
    3. Use pink cards to write issues, problems, or risks.
    4. Discuss how the process could better achieve the strategy-aligned goals from activity 1.2.1. Keep a list of possible changes in the form of a start-stop-continue retrospective (example below) on a whiteboard.
    Start Stop Continue
    • Conduct reprioritization of projects at a regular cadence
    • Prune projects every year
    • Waive post-implementation review for time-constrained projects
    • Collect project post-mortem reports and curate in PMO SharePoint

    Set near- and long-term action items for the project closure process

    Associated Activity icon 2.2.2c – 30 minutes - 1 hour

    INPUT: Outcome of the retrospective review, Process goals and metrics from activity 1.2.1

    OUTPUT: Action items for evolving the process to a target state

    Materials: Whiteboard

    Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Resource Managers, Business Analysts

    Analyze each item in the start-stop-continue retrospective to compile a set of near-term and long-term action items.

    The near-term plan should include steps that are within the authority of the PMO and do not require approval or investment outside of that authority. The long-term plan should include steps that may require a longer approval process, buy-in of external stakeholders, and the investment of time and money.
    Near-Term Action Items Long-Term Action Items
    For example:
    • Begin establishing project closure criteria in the project initiation process.
    • Manage and document scope changes throughout the project.
    For example:
    • Institute a formal process to ensure that all projects are closed at the portfolio level and properly handed off to support and maintenance teams.

    Review and customize slide 32, “Project closure: action items,” in Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template.

    Draft a high-level description of the project closure process at a target state

    Associated Activity icon 2.2.2d – 1-2 hours

    INPUT: Action items for evolving the process to a target state

    OUTPUT: High-level description of the process at the target state

    Materials: Whiteboard, PPM Strategy Development Tool

    Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Resource Managers, Business Analysts

    1. Break down the process into several tasks at a high level. Avoid getting into too much detail by limiting the number of steps.
    2. An example of high-level breakdown: project closure
      Complete or terminate projects –› Validate project closure –› Conduct post-project work –› Conduct post-implementation review


    3. Describe each task by answering the following questions. Document your response in the PPM Strategic Plan Template.
    4. Question

      Description

      Input What information do you need to perform the work?
      Output What artifacts/deliverables are produced as a result?
      Frequency/Timing How often, and when, will the work be performed?
      Responsibility Who will perform the work?
      Accountability Who will approve the work and assume the ownership of any decisions?


    5. Record the time cost of each process using the PPM Strategy Development Tool.

    Document the high-level description for the new project closure process

    Associated Activity icon 2.2.2e – 30 minutes - 1 hour

    INPUT: High-level description of the process at the target state

    OUTPUT: Updated PPM strategic plan

    Materials: PPM Strategic Plan Template

    Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager

    Update your PPM strategic plan with the new high-level description for the new project closure process. Depending on your current process capability level, you may wish to include additional information on your strategic plan, for example:

    • Updated project closure checklist.
    • Project value review meeting process document.
    • Post-implementation review process document.

    Info-Tech has several research notes that elaborate on aspects of project closure. Upon completion of this PPM strategy blueprint, speak to an Info-Tech account manager or analyst to get started.

    Read Info-Tech’s research notes on project closure:

    • The Importance of Conducting a Post Implementation Review
    • Five Key Steps to Mastering Project Closure
    • ‘Governance’ Will Kill Your Projects

    Review and customize slide 33, “Project closure: target state,” in Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template.

    Validate the time and effort spent on projects with a benefits realization process

    Maximizing benefits from projects is the primary goal of PPM. Tracking and reporting on benefits post-project closes the loop on benefits.

    Questions

    • How do validate the project benefits from the original business case?
    • How do we track the benefits?
    • Who reports it? When?

    Benefits

    • Maximize benefits realization by identifying and addressing unforeseen issues or limitations to success.
    • Improve project approval and prioritization by improving validity of the business case definition process.

    Challenges

    • Project sponsors need to be willing to invest time – months and years post-project completion – to validate benefits realization.
    • Portfolio management needs to proactively work with sponsors to facilitate benefits tracking.
    • Business cases need to be well developed and documented to reflect real anticipated benefits.

    Too many projects fail to achieve the originally proposed benefits, and too few organizations are able to identify and address the root causes of those shortfalls.

    Info-Tech Insight

    In reality, benefits realization process extends across the entire project life cycle: during intake, during the execution of the project, and after project completion. Be mindful of this extended scope when you discuss benefits realization in the following activity.

    Keep project benefits front and center with a repeatable benefits realization process

    Info-Tech recommends following a four-step process for benefits realization.

    A diagram of Info-Tech's four-step process for benefits realization. There are four groups that may be involved in any one step, they are laid out on the side as row headers that each step's columns may fall into, 'Business Analysts', 'Project Managers', 'PMO', and 'Governance Layer'. The first step is 'Quantify and validate benefits in business case' which happens 'Before Project' and involves 'Business Analysts' and 'Project Managers'. Step 2 is 'Update projected project benefits' which happens 'During Project' and involves 'Project Managers' and 'PMO'. Step 3 is 'Hand-off benefits realization ownership' which happens at the end of project and involves 'Project Managers', 'PMO' and 'Governance layer'. Step 4 is 'Monitor and report on benefits' which happens 'After Project' and involves 'PMO' and 'Governance layer'.

    Info-Tech Insight

    At the heart of benefits realization is accountability: who is held accountable for projects that don’t realize the benefits and how? Without the buy-in from the entire executive layer team, addressing this issue is very difficult.

    Determine your benefits realization process capability level

    Associated Activity icon 2.2.3a – 10 minutes

    INPUT: Organizational strategy and culture

    OUTPUT: benefits realization capability level

    Materials: PPM Strategy Development Tool

    Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Resource Managers, Business Analysts

    Kick-off the discussion about the benefits realization process by reading the capability level descriptions below and discussing which level currently applies to you the most.

    Capability Level Descriptions

    Capability Level 5: OptimizedProject sponsors and key stakeholders are accountable for stated project benefits before, during and after the project. There is a process to maximize the realization of project benefits.
    Capability Level 4: AlignedProject benefits are forecasted and taken into account for approval, updated when changes are made to the project, and monitored/reported after projects are completed.
    Capability Level 3: EngagedProject benefits are forecasted and taken into account for approval, and there is a loosely defined process to report on benefits realization.
    Capability Level 2: DefinedProject benefits are forecasted and taken into account for approval, but there is no process to monitor whether the said benefits are realized.
    Capability Level 1: UnmanagedProjects are approved and initiated without discussing benefits.

    Benchmark the current benefits realization process against strategy-aligned goals

    Associated Activity icon 2.2.3b – 1-2 hours

    INPUT: Documentation describing the current process (e.g. standard operating procedures), Process goals from activity 1.2.1

    OUTPUT: Retrospective review of current process

    Materials: 4x6” recipe cards, Whiteboard

    Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Resource Managers, Business Analysts

    Conduct a table-top planning exercise to map out the process currently in place.

    1. Use white 4”x6” recipe cards to write unique steps of a process. Use the benefits realization process from the previous slides as a guide.
    2. Use green cards to write artifacts or deliverables that result from a step.
    3. Use pink cards to write issues, problems, or risks.
    4. Discuss how the process could better achieve the strategy-aligned goals from activity 1.2.1. Keep a list of possible changes in the form of a start-stop-continue retrospective (example below) on a whiteboard.
    StartStopContinue
    • Require “hard monetary value” in business benefits
    • Send project updates before resource management meetings

    Set near- and long-term action items for the benefits realization process

    Associated Activity icon 2.2.3c – 30 minutes - 1 hour

    INPUT: Outcome of the retrospective review, Process goals and metrics from activity 1.2.1

    OUTPUT: Action items for evolving the process to a target state

    Materials: Whiteboard

    Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Resource Managers, Business Analysts

    Analyze each item in the start-stop-continue retrospective to compile a set of near-term and long-term action items.

    The near-term plan should include steps that are within the authority of the PMO and do not require approval or investment outside of that authority. The long-term plan should include steps that may require a longer approval process, buy-in of external stakeholders, and the investment of time and money.
    Near-Term Action Items Long-Term Action Items
    For example:
    • Create an “orientation for project sponsors” document.
    • Encourage project managers to re-validate project benefits on an ongoing basis and report any deviation.
    For example:
    • Recruit the finance department’s help in benefits tracking.
    • Require Finance’s sign-off on project benefits in business cases during intake.

    Review and customize slide 35, “Benefits realization: action items,” in Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template.

    Draft a high-level description of the benefits realization process at a target state

    Associated Activity icon 2.2.3d – 1-2 hours

    INPUT: Action items for evolving the process to a target state

    OUTPUT: High-level description of the process at the target state

    Materials: Whiteboard, PPM Strategy Development Tool

    Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Resource Managers, Business Analysts

    1. Break down the process into several tasks at a high level. Avoid getting into too much detail by limiting the number of steps.
    2. An example of high-level breakdown: benefits realization
      Validate benefits in business case –› Update project benefits during execution –› Hand-off benefits ownership –› Monitor and report on benefits


    3. Describe each task by answering the following questions. Document your response in the PPM Strategic Plan Template.
    4. Question

      Description

      InputWhat information do you need to perform the work?
      OutputWhat artifacts/deliverables are produced as a result?
      Frequency/TimingHow often, and when, will the work be performed?
      ResponsibilityWho will perform the work?
      AccountabilityWho will approve the work and assume the ownership of any decisions?

    5. Record the time cost of each process using the PPM Strategy Development Tool.

    Document the high-level description for the new benefits realization process

    Associated Activity icon 2.2.3e – 30 minutes - 1 hour

    INPUT: High-level description of the process at the target state

    OUTPUT: Updated PPM strategic plan

    Materials: PPM Strategic Plan Template

    Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager

    Update your PPM strategic plan with the new high-level description for the new benefits realization process. Depending on your current process capability level, you may wish to include additional information on your strategic plan, for example:

    • Updated business plan templates.
    • Communication plan for project sponsors.

    Info-Tech has a dedicated blueprint to help you develop the high-level process description into a fully operationalized process. Upon completion of this PPM strategy blueprint, speak to an Info-Tech account manager or analyst to get started.

    Read Info-Tech’s Establish the Benefits Realization Process blueprint.

    Review and customize slide 36, “Benefits realization: target state,” in Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template.

    If you want additional support, have our analysts guide you through this phase as part of an Info-Tech Workshop Associated Activity icon

    Book a workshop with our Info-Tech analysts:

    Photo of Barry Cousins.
    • To accelerate this project, engage your IT team in an Info-Tech workshop with an Info-Tech analyst team.
    • Info-Tech analyst will join you and your team onsite at your location or welcome you to Info-Tech's historic Toronto office to participate in an innovative onsite workshop.
    • Contact your account manager (www.infotech.com/account), or email Workshops@InfoTech.com for more information.

    The following are sample activities that will be conducted by Info-Tech analysts with your team:

    Sample of activity 2.1.1 'Align your project intake, prioritization, and approval process to the PPM strategy'. Align your project intake, prioritization, and approval process to the PPM strategy

    Examine the process at the current state and develop an action plan to improve it, with a high-level description of the process at a target state and its overhead costs. The outcome of this activity feeds into the overall PPM strategic plan.

    Sample of activity 2.1.2 'Align your resource management process to the PPM strategy'. Align your resource management process to the PPM strategy

    Examine the process at the current state and develop an action plan to improve it, with a high-level description of the process at a target state and its overhead costs. The outcome of this activity feeds into the overall PPM strategic plan.

    If you want additional support, have our analysts guide you through this phase as part of an Info-Tech Workshop Associated Activity icon

    Book a workshop with our Info-Tech analysts:

    Sample of activity 2.2.1 'Align your portfolio reporting process to the PPM strategy'.Align your portfolio reporting process to the PPM strategy

    Examine the process at the current state and develop an action plan to improve it, with a high-level description of the process at a target state and its overhead costs. The outcome of this activity feeds into the overall PPM strategic plan.

    Sample of activity 2.2.2 'Align your project closure process to the PPM strategy'.Align your project closure process to the PPM strategy

    Examine the process at the current state and develop an action plan to improve it, with a high-level description of the process at a target state and its overhead costs. The outcome of this activity feeds into the overall PPM strategic plan.

    Sample of activity 2.2.3 'Align your benefits realization process to the PPM strategy'.Align your benefits realization process to the PPM strategy

    Examine the process at the current state and develop an action plan to improve it, with a high-level description of the process at a target state and its overhead costs. The outcome of this activity feeds into the overall PPM strategic plan.

    Develop a Project Portfolio Management Strategy

    PHASE 3

    Complete Your PPM Strategic Plan

    Phase 2 outline

    Associated Activity icon Call 1-888-670-8889 or email GuidedImplementations@InfoTech.com for more information.

    Complete these steps on your own, or call us to complete a guided implementation. A guided implementation is a series of 2-3 advisory calls that help you execute each phase of a project. They are included in most advisory memberships.

    Guided Implementation 3: Complete your PPM strategic plan

    Proposed Time to Completion: 2 weeks
    Step 3.1: Select a right-sized PPM solutionStep 3.2: Finalize your PPM Strategic Plan Template
    Work with an analyst to:
    • Assess your PPM tool requirements to help support your processes.
    Review findings with analyst:
    • Determine the costs and potential benefits of your PPM strategy.
    Then complete these activities…
    • Determine the functionality requirements of the PPM solution.
    • Estimate your PPM tool budget.
    • Review the tool assessment.
    Then complete these activities…
    • Estimate the total cost-in-use of managing the project portfolio.
    • Estimate the benefits of the PPM strategy.
    • Refine and consolidate the near-term action items into a cohesive implementation plan.
    With these tools & templates:
    • PPM Strategy Development Tool
    With these tools & templates:
    • PPM Strategy Development Tool
    • PPM Strategic Plan Template

    Phase 3 Insight:

    • Approach PPM as an evolving discipline that requires adaptability and long-term organizational change. Near-term process improvements should create stakeholder desire for better portfolio visibility and agility over the long term.

    Step 3.1: Select a right-sized PPM solution for supporting your new processes

    PHASE 1

    PHASE 2

    PHASE 3

    1.11.22.12.23.13.2
    Choose the right PPM strategyTranslate strategy into process goalsDefine intake & resource mgmt. processesDefine reporting, closure, & benefits mgmt. processesSelect a right-sized PPM solutionFinalize your PPM strategic plan

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Determine the functionality requirements of a PPM solution in the near and long terms.
    • Estimate your PPM tool budget.
    • Review tool assessment.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • CIO
    • PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager
    • Project Managers
    • IT Managers

    Outcomes of this step

    • List of functional requirements for a PPM solution
    • An estimate budget and cost for supporting a PPM tool in the near and long terms
    • PPM tool requirements for the near and long terms

    Right-size your PPM solution/tool to fit your PPM processes

    Avoid a common pitfall: the disconnect between PPM processes and PPM tools.

    PPM tools act as both a receptacle for portfolio data generated by your processes and a source of portfolio data to drive your processes forward. Therefore, choosing a suitable PPM tool is critical to the success of your PPM strategy:

    • PPM tool inputs must match the type, level of detail, and amount of portfolio data generated by your PPM processes.
    • PPM tool outputs must be useful, insightful, easy to access, and easy to understand for people who engage in your PPM processes.

    User adoption is an often cited cause of failed PPM tool implementation:

    "The biggest problem is getting the team to work with the tool. We need to make sure that we’re not wasting time delving too far down into the tool, yet putting enough information to get useful information back." (IT Director, Financial Services)

    This final step of the blueprint will discuss the choice of PPM tools to ensure the success of PPM strategy by avoiding the process-tool disconnect.

    Common pitfalls for PPM tools

    • Purchasing and implementing a PPM tool before the process is defined and accepted.
    • Poor expectation setting: inability of tools to perform the necessary analysis.
    • Underleveraged: low user/process adoption.
    • Poor integration with the corporate finance function.
    • (WGroup, 2017)

    Leverage PPM tools to get the information you need

    An optimized PPM solution is the vehicle that provides decision makers with four key pieces of information they require when making decisions for your project portfolio:

    • Historical Insight – inform decision makers about how much time and resources have been spent to date, and benchmark the accuracy of prior project estimates and resource allocations.
    • Forecasting – provide a trustworthy estimate of demand on resources and current projects.
    • Portfolio Analytics – analyze portfolio data and generate easy-to-consume reports that provide answers to questions such as:
      • How big is our overall portfolio?
      • How much money/resource time is available?
      • How efficiently are we using our resources?
    • Project Visibility – provide a trustworthy report on the status of current projects and the resources working on them.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Without the proper information, decision makers are driving blind and are forced to make gut feel decisions as opposed to data-informed decisions. Implement a PPM solution to allocate projects properly and ensure time and money don’t vanish without being accounted for.

    Commercial PPM tools have more functionality but are more costly, complex, and difficult to adopt

    • Granular timesheet management
    • Workflow and team collaboration
    • Robust data and application integration
    • Advanced what-if planning
    • Mobile usability
    A map comparing commercial PPM tools by 'Functionality', 'Cost', and 'Difficulty to implement/adopt'. 'Functionality' and 'Difficulty to implement/adopt' share an axis and can be assumed to have a linear relationship. 'Spreadsheets' are low functionality and low cost. 'Google Sites' are low to middling functionality and low cost. 'SharePoint' is middling functionality with a slightly higher cost. The next three start at middling cost and above-average functionality and trend higher in both categories: 'Commercial Entry-Level PPM', 'Commercial Mid-Market PPM', and 'Commercial Enterprise PPM'.
    • Business case scoring and prioritization
    • Multi-user reporting and request portal
    • High-level resource management
    • Project status, cost, and risk tracking

    "Price tags [for PPM tools] vary considerably. Expensive products don't always provide more capability. Inexpensive products are generally low cost for good reason." (Merkhofer)

    Your PPM tool options are not limited to commercial offerings

    Despite the rapid growth in the commercial PPM tool market today, homegrown approaches like spreadsheets and intranet sites continue to be used as PPM tools.

    Kinds of PPM solutions used by Info-Tech clients

    A pie chart visualizing the kinds of PPM solutions that are used by Info-Tech clients. There are three sections, the largest of which is 'Spreadsheet-based, 46%', then 'Commercial, 33%', then 'No solution, 21%'. (Source: Info-Tech Research Group (2016), N=433)

    Category

    Characteristics

    PPM maturity

    Enterprise tool
    • Higher professional services requirements for enterprise deployment
    • Larger reference customers
    High
    Mid-market tool
    • Lower expectation of professional services engaged in initial deployment contract
    • Fewer globally recognizable reference clients
    • Faster deployments
    High
    Entry-level tool
    • Lower cost than mid-market & enterprise PPM tools
    • Limited configurability, reporting, and resource management functionalities
    • Compelling solutions to the organizations that wants to get a fast start to a trial deployment
    Intermediate
    Spreadsheet based
    • Little/no up-front cost, highly customizable to suit your organization’s needs
    • Varying degrees of sophistication
    • Few people in the organization may understand the logic behind the tool; knowledge may not be easily transferrable
    Intermediate Low

    Determine the functional requirements of the PPM solution

    Associated Activity icon 3.1.1 – 20 minutes

    INPUT: PPM strategic plan

    OUTPUT: Modified PPM strategic plan with a proposed choice of PPM tool

    Materials: PPM Strategy Development Tool

    Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, IT Managers

    Use the Tool Assessment tab (tab 4) of Info-Tech’s PPM Strategy Development Tool to rate and analyze functional requirements of your PPM solution.

    • Review the list of PPM features provided on column B of tab 4. You can add any desired features not listed.
    • Rate your near-term and long-term feature requirements using the drop-down menus in columns C and D. Your selections here will inform the tool selection bubble chart to the right of the features list.

    Screenshot showing the features list on tab 4 of the PPM Strategy Development Tool.

    Estimate your PPM tool budget

    Associated Activity icon 3.1.2 – 20 minutes

    INPUT: PPM strategic plan

    OUTPUT: Modified PPM strategic plan with a proposed choice of PPM tool

    Materials: PPM Strategy Development Tool

    Participants: CIO, PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, IT Managers

    Enter the PPM tool budget information on the Tool Assessment tab of Info-Tech’s PPM Strategy Development Tool.

    • As a starting point, it can help to know that low-priced PPM tools cost around $1,000 per user per year. High-priced PPM tools cost around $3,000 per user per year.
    • Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-based pricing for PPM solutions is increasingly popular. If you plan to purchase perpetual licensing, divide the total implementation and licensing cost by three years to be comparable with a three-year SaaS total cost of ownership analysis.

    Screenshot showing the tool assessment from the PPM Strategy Development Tool with 'Near-Term' and 'Long-Term' budget columns. Notes include 'Enter the number of fully licensed PPM users you expect to provision for and your estimated annual budget for a PPM tool', 'The tool assessment automatically calculates your annual budget per user, which is reflected in the bubble chart analysis (see next slide)'.

    Review the tool assessment graphic

    Associated Activity icon 3.1.3 – 20 minutes

    The map comparing commercial PPM tools from before, this time overlaid with 'Near-Term' and 'Long-Term' budgets as coloured circles. The vertical axis is 'Functionality Rating' and the horizontal axis is now 'Annual Cost/Budget per User'. 'Spreadsheets' are low functionality and low cost. 'Google Sites' are low to middling functionality and low cost. 'SharePoint' is middling functionality with a slightly higher cost. The 'Near-Term' budget circle covers those three tools. The next three start at middling cost and above-average functionality and trend higher in both categories: 'Commercial Entry-Level PPM', 'Commercial Mid-Market PPM', and 'Commercial Enterprise PPM'. The 'Long-Term' budget circle covers 'Commercial Mid-Market PPM'.

    If you are in one of the non-covered areas, consider revisiting your functional requirements and PPM strategy. You may need to lessen your expectations to be able to stay within your budget, or find a way to get more money.

    Keep in mind that the long-term goal can be to work towards a commercial tool, while the short-term goal would be to be able to maintain your portfolio in a simple spreadsheet first.

    Info-Tech Insight

    If you choose a commercial solution, you will need to gain executive buy-in in order to implement the tool; proceed to near-term and long-term plans to get the ball rolling on this decision.

    Review and customize slide 37, “Tools for PPM: proposed near- and long-term solutions,” in Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template.

    Grow your own, or select and implement, a PPM solution with Info-Tech

    Whether you choose spreadsheet-based or commercially available PPM solutions, use Info-Tech’s research for scoping, designing, and implementing them.

    Info-Tech’s Grow Your Own PPM Solution blueprint will help you implement a highly evolved spreadsheet-based PPM solution. It features the Portfolio Manager 2017, a Microsoft Excel-based workbook that leverages its business intelligence features to provide a basis for implementing a scalable, highly customizable PPM tool with useful and easy-to-manipulate analytics.

    Read Info-Tech’s Grow Your Own PPM Solution blueprint.

    Info-Tech’s Select and Implement a PPM Solution blueprint is part of our Vendor Landscape research. Make sense of the diversity of PPM solutions available in today’s market, and choose the most appropriate solutions for your organization’s size and level of PPM maturity.

    Read Info-Tech’s Select and Implement a PPM Solution blueprint.

    A right-sized PPM strategy leads to a right-sized portfolio management tool based on Info-Tech’s template

    CASE STUDY

    Industry: Energy
    Source: Info-Tech Client

    “The approach makes it easy to run the portfolio without taking time away from the project themselves.” (IT Manager, Energy Resources Firm)

    Situation

    • A small IT department struggled with balancing project work with ongoing operational management and support work.
    • The department includes experienced and successful project managers and a mature, skilled team.
    • However, the nature of the department’s role has evolved to the point where the project and operational work demands have exceeded the available time.
    • Prioritization needed to become more centralized and formalized while management control of the work assignments became increasingly decentralized.

    Complication

    • Agile projects offer clear advantages by lightening the requirement for proactive planning. However, getting the staff to adapt would be challenging because of the overall workload and competing priorities.
    • Some of the team’s time needed to be carefully tracked and reported for time & materials-based billing, but the time sheet system was unsuited to their portfolio management needs.
    • Commercial PPM systems were ruled out because strict task management seemed unlikely to gain adoption.

    Resolution

    • The team deployed Info-Tech’s Project Portfolio Workbook, based on a Microsoft Excel template, and the Grow Your Own PPM Solution blueprint.
    • For the first time, executive leadership was given a 12-month forecast of resource capacity based on existing and pending project commitments. The data behind the capacity forecast was based on allocating people to projects with a percentage of their time for each calendar month.
    • The data behind the forecast is high level but easily maintainable.

    Step 3.2: Finalize customizing your PPM Strategic Plan Template

    PHASE 1

    PHASE 2

    PHASE 3

    1.11.22.12.23.13.2
    Choose the right PPM strategyTranslate strategy into process goalsDefine intake & resource mgmt. processesDefine reporting, closure, & benefits mgmt. processesSelect a right-sized PPM solutionFinalize your PPM strategic plan

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Determine the costs of support your PPM strategic plan.
    • Estimate some of the benefits of your PPM strategic plan.
    • Perform a cost-benefit analysis.
    • Refine and consolidate the near-term action items into a cohesive plan.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • CIO
    • PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager
    • Project Managers
    • IT Managers

    Outcomes of this step

    • A cost/benefit analyst
    • An implementation action plan
    • A finalized PPM Strategic Plan Template

    Estimate the total cost-in-use of managing the project portfolio

    Supporting Tool icon 3.2.1 – PPM Strategy Development Tool, Tab 5: Costing Summary

    The time cost of PPM processes (tab 3) and PPM tool costs (tab 4) are summarized in this tab. Enter additional data to estimate the total PPM cost-in-use: the setup information and the current cost of PPM software tools.

    Screenshot of the PPM Strategy Development Tool, Tab 5: Costing Summary. Notes include 'If unknown, the overall HR budget of your project portfolio can be estimated as: (# FTEs) * (fully-loaded FTE cost per hour) * 1800', 'This is your total PPM cost-in-use'.

    Estimate the benefits of managing the project portfolio

    Supporting Tool icon 3.2.2 – PPM Strategy Development Tool, Tab 6: Benefits Assumptions

    The benefits of PPM processes are estimated by projecting the sources of waste on your resource capacity.

    1. Estimate the current extent of waste on your resource capacity. If you have completed Info-Tech’s PPM Current Score Scorecard, enter the data from the report.
    2. Screenshot of a Waste Assessment pie chart from the PPM Strategy Development Tool, Tab 6: Benefits Assumptions.
    3. Given your near- and long-term action items for improving PPM processes, estimate how each source of waste on your resource capacity will change.
    4. Screenshot of a Waste Assessment table titled 'These inputs represent the percentage of your overall portfolio budget that is wasted in each scenario' from the PPM Strategy Development Tool, Tab 6: Benefits Assumptions.

    Review the cost-benefit analysis results and update the PPM Strategic Plan Template

    Supporting Tool icon 3.2.3 – PPM Strategy Development Tool, Tab 7: Conclusion Screenshot of a 'PPM Strategy Cost-Benefit Analysis' from the PPM Strategy Development Tool, Tab 7: Conclusion. It has tables on top and bar charts underneath.

    This tab summarizes the costs and benefits of your PPM strategic plan.

    • Costs are estimated from wasted project capacity and time spent on PPM process work.
    • Benefits are estimated from the project capacity to be reclaimed as a result of improvements in PPM.
    • Return on investment is calculated by dividing the value of project capacity to be reclaimed by investment in PPM in addition to the current-state cost.

    Capture this summary in your PPM strategic plan.

    Customize slides 40 and 41, “Return on PPM investment,” in Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template.

    Determine who will be responsible for coordinating the flow, collection, and reporting of portfolio data

    Supporting Tool icon 3.2.3 – Project Portfolio/PMO Analyst Job Description

    You will need to determine responsibilities and accountabilities for portfolio management functions within your team.

    If you do not have a clearly identifiable portfolio manager at this time, you will need to clarify who will wear which hats in terms of facilitating intake and prioritization, high-level capacity awareness, and portfolio reporting.

    • Use Info-Tech’s Project Portfolio Analyst Job Description Template to help clarify some of the required responsibilities to support your PPM strategy.
      • If you need to bring in an additional staff member to help support the strategy, you can customize the job description template to help advertise the position. Simply edit the text in grey within the template.
    • If you have other PPM tasks that you need to define responsibilities for, you can use the RASCI chart on the final tab of the PPM Strategy Develop Tool.

    Download Info-Tech’s Project Portfolio Analyst Job Description Template.

    Sample of Info-Tech's Project Portfolio Analyst Job Description Template.

    Refine and consolidate the near-term action items into a cohesive plan

    Associated Activity icon 3.2.4 – 30 minutes

    INPUT: Near-term action items

    OUTPUT: Near-term action plan

    Materials: PPM Strategy Development Tool

    Participants: PMO Director/ Portfolio Manager, Project Managers, Resource Managers, Business Analysts

    Collect the near-term action items for each of the five PPM processes and arrange them into a table that outlines the near-term action plan. Once it is compiled, adjust the timeline and responsibility so that the plan is coherent and realistic as a whole.

    Example:

    Outcome

    Action required

    Timeline

    Responsibility

    Determine the percentage distribution of project vs. non-project work Run a time audit survey with all project resources 2 weeks Resource managers
    Test a simple dashboard for project status Pilot Info-Tech’s Portfolio Manager 2017 workbook 2 weeks PMO Director

    "There is a huge risk of taking on too much too soon, especially with the introduction of specific tools and tool sets. There is also an element of risk involved that can lead to failure and disappointment with PPM if these tools are not properly introduced and supported." (Jim Carse, Director of the Portfolio Office, Queen’s University)

    Review and customize slide 43, “Summary of near-term action plan,” in Info-Tech’s PPM Strategic Plan Template.

    Finalize and publish your PPM strategic plan

    Table of Contents

    Read over the document to ensure its completeness and consistency.

    At this point, you have a PPM strategic plan that is actionable and realistic, which addresses the goals set by the senior leadership.

    The executive brief establishes the need for PPM strategy, the goals and metrics are set by members of the senior leadership that gave the initial buy-in, and the target states of PPM processes that meet those goals are described. Finally, the costs and benefits of the improved PPM practice are laid out in a way that can be validated.

    The next step for your PPM strategy is to use this document as a foundation for implementing and operationalizing the target-state PPM processes.

    Review and publish the document for your executive layer and key project stakeholders. Solicit their feedback.

    Info-Tech has a library of blueprints that will guide you through each of the five processes. Contact your Info-Tech account manager or Info-Tech analyst to get started.

    • Project Portfolio Management Strategy
      • Strategic Expectations
      • Overview
    • Leadership Mandate
    • Project Demand and Resource Supply
    • The Current State of Resource Utilization
    • PPM Processes
      • Project intake, prioritization, and approval
      • Resource management
      • Portfolio reporting
      • Project closure
      • Benefits realization
      • Tools for PPM
    • The Economic Impact of PPM
    • PPM Strategy Next Steps

    If you want additional support, have our analysts guide you through this phase as part of an Info-Tech Workshop Associated Activity icon

    Book a workshop with our Info-Tech analysts:

    Photo of Barry Cousins.
    • To accelerate this project, engage your IT team in an Info-Tech workshop with an Info-Tech analyst team.
    • Info-Tech analyst will join you and your team onsite at your location or welcome you to Info-Tech's historic Toronto office to participate in an innovative onsite workshop.
    • Contact your account manager (www.infotech.com/account), or email Workshops@InfoTech.com for more information.

    The following are sample activities that will be conducted by Info-Tech analysts with your team:

    Sample of activity 3.1 'Scope the right-sized PPM solution for your PPM strategy'. Scope the right-sized PPM solution for your PPM strategy

    Use the PPM Strategy Development Tool to quickly determine our near- and long-term recommendation for your PPM solution.

    Sample of activity 3.2 'Conduct a cost-benefit analysis of your PPM strategic plan'. Conduct a cost-benefit analysis of your PPM strategic plan

    Using the time cost estimates of each process and the requirement for a PPM tool, Info-Tech helps you quantify the overhead costs of PPM and estimate the monetary benefits of reclaimed project capacity for your project portfolio.

    Insight breakdown

    Insight 1

    • Executive layer buy-in is a critical prerequisite for the success of a top-down PPM strategy. Ensure your executives are on board before preceding to implement your PPM strategy.

    Insight 2

    • The means of project and portfolio management (i.e. processes) shouldn’t eclipse the ends – strategic goals. Root your process in your PPM strategic goals to realize PPM benefits (e.g. optimized portfolio value, improved project throughput, increased stakeholder satisfaction).

    Insight 3

    • Without the proper information, decision makers are driving blind and are forced to make gut-feel decisions as opposed to data-informed decisions. Implement a PPM solution to allocate projects properly and ensure time and money don’t vanish without being accounted for.

    Summary of accomplishment

    Knowledge Gained

    • Info-Tech’s thought model on PPM processes that create an infrastructure around projects
    • Your current state of project portfolio: project capacity vs. project demand
    • Importance of gaining executive buy-in for installing the PPM practice

    Processes Optimized

    • Project intake, prioritization, and approval process
    • Resource management process
    • Portfolio reporting process
    • Project closure process
    • Benefits realization process

    Deliverables Completed

    • Choice of PPM strategy and the leadership mandate
    • Analysis of current project capacity and demand
    • PPM process goals and metrics, aligned to meet PPM strategic expectations
    • PPM process capability levels
    • Retrospective examination of current state, near/long-term action items for improvement, and high-level descriptions of the five PPM processes
    • Recommendation of PPM tools to support the processes
    • Estimate of PPM overhead costs
    • Cost-benefit analysis of PPM practice
    • PPM strategic plan

    Related Info-Tech Research

    • Develop a Project Portfolio Management Strategy
    • Grow Your Own PPM Solution
    • Optimize Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization
    • Develop a Resource Management Strategy for the New Reality
    • Manage a Minimum-Viable PMO
    • Establish the Benefits Realization Process
    • Manage an Agile Portfolio
    • Establish the Benefits Realization Process
    • Project Portfolio Management Diagnostic Program
      The Project Portfolio Management Diagnostic Program is a low-effort, high-impact program designed to help project owners assess and improve their PPM practices. Gather and report on all aspects of your PPM environment in order to understand where you stand and how you can improve.

    Research contributors and experts

    Photo of Kiron D. Bondale PMP, PMI-RMP, CDAP, CDAI, Senior Project Portfolio Management Professional Kiron D. Bondale PMP, PMI-RMP, CDAP, CDAI
    Senior Project Portfolio Management Professional

    Kiron has worked in the project management domain for more than fifteen years managing multiple projects, leading Project Management Offices (PMO) and providing project portfolio management consulting services to over a hundred clients across multiple industries. He has been an active member of the Project Management Institute (PMI) since 1999 and served as a volunteer director on the Board of the PMI Lakeshore Chapter for six years. Kiron has published articles on project and project portfolio management in multiple journals and has delivered over a hundred webinar presentations on a variety of PPM and PM topics and has presented at multiple industry conferences. Since 2009, Kiron has been blogging on a weekly basis on project management topics and responds to questions daily in the LinkedIn PMI Project, Program and Portfolio Management discussion group.

    Photo of Shaun Cahill, Project Manager, Queen’s University Shaun Cahill, Project Manager &
    Jim Carse, Director of the Project Portfolio Office
    Queen’s University

    Research contributors and experts

    Photo of Amy Fowler Stadler, Managing Partner, Lewis Fowler Amy Fowler Stadler, Managing Partner
    Lewis Fowler

    Amy has more than 20 years of experience in business and technology, most recently owning her own management consulting firm since 2002, focused on business transformation, technology enablement, and operational improvement. Prior to that, she was at CenturyLink (formerly Qwest) as an IT Director, Perot Systems in various roles, and Information Handling Services, Inc. as a Software Development Product Manager.

    Amy holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science with a minor in Business Communications and is also a 2015 Hall of Fame inductee to Illinois State University College of Applied Science and Technology.

    Photo of Rick Morris, President, R2 Consulting LLC Rick Morris, President
    R2 Consulting LLC

    Rick A. Morris, PMP, is a certified Scrum Agile Master, Human Behavior Consultant, best-selling author, mentor, and evangelist for project management. Rick is an accomplished project manager and public speaker. His appetite for knowledge and passion for the profession makes him an internationally sought after speaker delivering keynote presentations for large conferences and PMI events around the world. He holds the PMP (Project Management Professional), MPM (Masters of Project Management), Scrum Agile Master, OPM3, Six Sigma Green Belt, MCITP, MCTS, MCSE, TQM, ATM-S, ITIL, and ISO certifications, and is a John Maxwell Certified Speaker, Mentor, and Coach. Rick is the Owner of R2 Consulting, LLC and has worked for organizations such as GE, Xerox, and CA, and has consulted with numerous clients in a wide variety of industries including financial services, entertainment, construction, non-profit, hospitality, pharmaceutical, retail, and manufacturing.

    Research contributors and experts

    Photo of Terry Lee Ricci PgMP, PfMP, PMP, PPM Practice Lead, IAG Consulting Terry Lee Ricci PgMP, PfMP, PMP, PPM Practice Lead
    IAG Consulting

    Terry is passionate and highly skilled at PMO transformation, developing high-performing teams that sustain long-term business results. Terry has a reputation built upon integrity, resourcefulness, and respect. She has the vision to implement long and short-term strategies, meeting both current and evolving business needs.

    Change Management/Business transformation: Terry has extensive background in PMO strategy development aligned to corporate goals. Many years in the PMO organization integration/transformation building or overhauling programs and processes.

    Governance: Terry loves to monitor and measure performance and outcomes and uses her collaborative style to successfully bring simplicity to complexity (technology – people – process). Performance optimization results are easy to use and clearly define who is doing what across functions. End results consistently align to business strategy while mitigating risks effectively.

    Comprehensive: A “through the ranks” executive with a comprehensive understanding of PMO operations, high-performance teams, and the respective business units they support.

    Photo of Alana Ruckstuhl MSc, IT Project Officer, Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario Alana Ruckstuhl MSc, IT Project Officer
    Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario

    Research contributors and experts

    Photo of Jay Wardle, Director of the PMO, Red Wing Shoes Co. Jay Wardle, Director of the PMO
    Red Wing Shoes Co.
    Photo of Bob White, Vice President/Chief Information Officer, ALM Holding Company Bob White, Vice President/Chief Information Officer
    ALM Holding Company

    As vice president and chief information officer for ALM Holding Company, Bob White directs all technology activity and support for three main verticals: road construction, energy management, and delivery and transportation. He has been with ALM Holding Company for one and a half years, focusing on PPM process improvement, cybersecurity initiatives, and IT service management.

    Prior to joining ALM, Bob was executive vice president/chief information officer at Ashley Furniture Industries, Inc. where he led the strategic direction, implementation, and management of information technology throughout the company’s global operations. Bob has also held VP/CIO positions at the Stride Rite Corporation and Timex Corporation.

    Bob holds a Master’s degree in Operations Management from the University of Arkansas and a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Southern Illinois University.

    Bibliography

    Bersin, Josh. “Time to Scrap Performance Appraisals?” Forbes Magazine, 5 June 2013. Web. 30 Oct 2013.

    Cheese, Peter et al. “Creating an Agile Organization.” Accenture, Oct. 2009. Web. Nov. 2013.

    Croxon, Bruce et al. “Dinner Series: Performance Management with Bruce Croxon from CBC's 'Dragon's Den'” HRPA Toronto Chapter. Sheraton Hotel, Toronto, ON. 12 Nov. 2013. Panel discussion.

    Culbert, Samuel. “10 Reasons to Get Rid of Performance Reviews.” Huffington Post Business, 18 Dec. 2012. Web. 28 Oct. 2013.

    Denning, Steve. “The Case Against Agile: Ten Perennial Management Objections.” Forbes Magazine, 17 Apr. 2012. Web. Nov. 2013.

    Estis, Ryan. “Blowing up the Performance Review: Interview with Adobe’s Donna Morris.” Ryan Estis & Associates, 17 June 2013. Web. Oct. 2013.

    Gallup, Inc. “Gallup Study: Engaged Employees Inspire Company Innovation.” Gallup Management Journal, 12 Oct. 2006. Web. 12 Jan 2012.

    Gartside, David et al. “Trends Reshaping the Future of HR.” Accenture, 2013. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.

    KeyedIn Solutions. “Why PPM and PMOs Fail.” KeyedIn Projects, 2013. Ebook.

    Lessing, Lawrence. Free Culture. Lulu Press Inc.: 30 July 2016.

    Merkhofer, Lee. “Keys to Implementing Project Portfolio Management.” Lee Merkhofer Consulting, 2017.

    Perry, Mark Price. Business Driven Project Portfolio Management. J Ross Pub: 17 May 2011.

    Project Management Institute. “Pulse of the Profession 2015: Capturing the Value of Project Management.” PMI, Feb. 2015. Web.

    Project Management Institute. “Pulse of the Profession 2016: The High Cost of Low Performance.” PMI, 2016. Web.

    Project Management Institute. “Pulse of the Profession 2017: Success Rates Rise.” PMI, 2017. Web.

    Project Management Institute. The Standard for Portfolio Management – Third Edition. PMI: 1 Dec. 2012.

    WGroup. “Common Pitfalls in Project Portfolio Management – Part 2.” WGroup, 24 Jan. 2017. Web.

    Master M&A Cybersecurity Due Diligence

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    • Parent Category Name: Governance, Risk & Compliance
    • Parent Category Link: /governance-risk-compliance

    This research is designed to help organizations who are preparing for a merger or acquisition and need help with:

    • Understanding the information security risks associated with the acquisition or merger.
    • Avoiding the unwanted possibility of acquiring or merging with an organization that is already compromised by cyberattackers.
    • Identifying best practices for information security integration post merger.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    The goal of M&A cybersecurity due diligence is to assess security risks and the potential for compromise. To succeed, you need to look deeper.

    Impact and Result

    • A repeatable methodology to systematically conduct cybersecurity due diligence.
    • A structured framework to rapidly assess risks, conduct risk valuation, and identify red flags.
    • Look deeper by leveraging compromise diagnostics to increase confidence that you are not acquiring a compromised entity.

    Master M&A Cybersecurity Due Diligence Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out how to master M&A cyber security due diligence, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand how we can support you in completing this project.

    [infographic]

    Identify and Manage Strategic Risk Impacts on Your Organization

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    Moreso than any other time, our world is changing. As a result, organizations – and their vendors – need to be able to adapt their strategic plans to accommodate risk on an unprecedented level.

    A new global change will impact your organizational strategy at any given time. So, make sure your plans are flexible enough to manage the inevitable consequences.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Identifying and managing a vendor’s potential strategic impact on your organization requires multiple people in the organization across several functions. Those people all need coaching on the potential changes in the market and how these changes affect strategic plans.
    • Organizational leadership is often taken unaware during crises, and their plans lack the flexibility needed to adjust to significant market upheavals.

    Impact and Result

    • Vendor management practices educate organizations on the different potential risks to vendors in your market and suggest creative and alternative ways to avoid and help manage them.
    • Prioritize and classify your vendors with quantifiable, standardized rankings.
    • Prioritize focus on your high-risk vendors.
    • Standardize your processes for identifying and monitoring vendor risks to manage potential impacts on your strategic plan with our Strategic Risk Impact Tool.

    Identify and Manage Strategic Risk Impacts on Your Organization Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Identify and Manage Strategic Risk Impacts to Your Organization Deck – Use the research to better understand the negative impacts of vendor actions on your strategic plans.

    Use this research to identify and quantify the potential strategic impacts caused by vendors. Use Info-Tech’s approach to look at the strategic impact from various perspectives to better prepare for issues that may arise.

    • Identify and Manage Strategic Risk Impacts on Your Organization Storyboard

    2. What If Vendor Strategic Impact Tool – Use this tool to help identify and quantify the strategic impacts of negative vendor actions

    By playing the “what if” game and asking probing questions to draw out – or eliminate – possible negative outcomes, everyone involved adds their insight into parts of the organization to gather a comprehensive picture of potential impacts.

    • Strategic Risk Impact Tool
    [infographic]

    Further reading

    Identify and Manage Strategic Risk Impacts on Your Organization

    The world is in a perpetual state of change. Organizations need to build adaptive resiliency into their strategic plans to adjust to ever-changing market dynamics.

    Analyst perspective

    Organizations need to build flexible resiliency into their strategic plans to be able to adjust to ever-changing market dynamics.

    This is a picture of Frank Sewell, Research Director, Vendor Management at Info-Tech Research Group

    Like most people, organizations are poor at assessing the likelihood of risk. If the past few years have taught us anything, it is that the probability of a risk occurring is far more flexible in the formula Risk = Likelihood * Impact than we ever thought possible. The impacts of these risks have been catastrophic, and organizations need to be more adaptive in managing them to strengthen their strategic plans.

    Frank Sewell,
    Research Director, Vendor Management
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    Moreso than any other time, our world is changing. As a result, organizations – and their vendors – need to be able to adapt their strategic plans to accommodate risk on an unprecedented level.

    A new global change will impact your organizational strategy at any given time. So, make sure your plans are flexible enough to manage the inevitable consequences.

    Common Obstacles

    Identifying and managing a vendor’s potential strategic impact on your organization requires multiple people in the organization across several functions. Those people all need coaching on the potential changes in the market and how these changes affect strategic plans.

    Organizational leadership is often taken unaware during crises, and their plans lack the flexibility needed to adjust to significant market upheavals.

    Info-Tech’s Approach

    Vendor management practices educate organizations on the different potential risks to vendors in your market and suggest creative and alternative ways to avoid and help manage them.

    Prioritize and classify your vendors with quantifiable, standardized rankings.

    Prioritize focus on your high-risk vendors.

    Standardize your processes for identifying and monitoring vendor risks to manage potential impacts on your strategic plan with our Strategic Impacts Tool.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Organizations must evolve their strategic risk assessments to be more adaptive to respond to global changes in the market. Ongoing monitoring of the market and the vendors tied to company strategies is imperative to achieving success.

    Info-Tech’s multi-blueprint series on vendor risk assessment

    There are many individual components of vendor risk beyond cybersecurity.

    This image depicts a cube divided into six different coloured sections. The sections are labeled: Financial; Reputational; Operational; Strategic; Security; Regulatory & Compliance.

    This series will focus on the individual components of vendor risk and how vendor management practices can facilitate organizations’ understanding of those risks.

    Out of Scope:

    This series will not tackle risk governance, determining overall risk tolerance and appetite, or quantifying inherent risk.

    Strategic risk impacts

    Potential losses to the organization due to risks to the strategic plan

    • In this blueprint, we’ll explore strategic risks (risks to the Strategic Plans of the organization) and their impacts.
    • Identify potentially disruptive events to assess the overall impact on organizations and implement adaptive measures to correct strategic plans.
    This image depicts a cube divided into six different coloured sections. The section labeled Strategic is highlighted.

    The world is constantly changing

    The IT market is constantly reacting to global influences. By anticipating changes, leaders can set expectations and work with their vendors to accommodate them.

    When the unexpected happens, being able to adapt quickly to new priorities ensures continued long-term business success.

    Below are some things no one expected to happen in the last few years:

    62%

    of IT professionals are more concerned about being a victim of ransomware than they were a year ago.

    82%

    of Microsoft’s non-essential employees shifted to working from home in 2020, joining the 18% already remote.

    89%

    of organizations invested in web conferencing technology to facilitate collaboration.

    Source: Info-Tech Tech Trends Survey 2022

    Strategic risks on a global scale

    Odds are at least one of these is currently affecting your strategic plans

    • Vendor Acquisitions
    • Global Pandemic
    • Global Shortages
    • Gas Prices
    • Poor Vendor Performance
    • Travel Bans
    • War
    • Natural Disasters
    • Supply Chain Disruptions
    • Security Incidents

    Make sure you have the right people at the table to identify and plan to manage impacts.

    Identify & manage strategic risks

    Global Pandemic

    Very few people could have predicted that a global pandemic would interrupt business on the scale experienced today. Organizations should look at their lessons learned and incorporate adaptable preparations into their strategic planning moving forward.

    Vendor Acquisitions

    The IT market is an ever-shifting environment. Larger companies often gobble up smaller ones to control their sectors. Incorporating plans to manage those shifts in ownership will be key to many strategic plans that depend on niche vendor solutions for success. Be sure to monitor the potentially affected markets on an ongoing cadence.

    Global Shortages

    Organizations need to accept that shortages will recur periodically and that preparing for them will significantly increase the success potential of long-term strategic plans. Understand what your business needs to stock for project needs and where those supplies are located, and plan how to rapidly access and distribute them as required if supply chain disruptions occur.

    What to look for in vendors

    Identify strategic risk impacts

    • A vendor acquires many smaller, seemingly irrelevant IT products. Suddenly their revenue model includes aggressive license compliance audits.
      • Ensure that your installed software meets license compliance requirements with good asset management practices.
      • Monitor the market for such acquisitions or news of audits hitting companies.
    • A vendor changes their primary business model from storage and hardware to becoming a self-proclaimed “professional services guru,” relying almost entirely on their name recognition to build their marketing.
      • Be wary of self-proclaimed experts and review their successes and failures with other organizations before adopting them into your business strategy.
      • Review the backgrounds their “experts” have and make sure they have the industry and technical skill sets to perform the services to the required level.

    Not preparing for your growth can delay your goals

    Why can’t I get a new laptop?

    For example:

    • An IT professional services organization plans to take advantage of the growing work-from-home trend to expand its staff by 30% over the coming year.
    • Logically, this should include a review of the necessary tasks involved, including onboarding.
      • Suppose the company does not order enough equipment in preparation to cover the new staff plus routine replacement. In that case, this will delay the output of the new team members immeasurably as they wait for their company equipment and will delay existing staff whose equipment breaks, preventing them from getting back to work efficiently.

    Sometimes an organization has the right mindset to take advantage of the changes in the market but can fail to plan for the particulars.

    When your strategic plan changes, you need to revisit all the steps in the processes to ensure a successful outcome.

    Strategic risks

    Poor or uninformed business decisions can lead to organizational strategic failures

    • Supply chain disruptions and global shortages
      • Geopolitical disruptions and natural disasters have caused unprecedented interruptions to business. Incorporate forecasting of product and ongoing business continuity planning into your strategic plans to adapt as events unfold.
    • Poor vendor performance
      • Consider the impact of a vendor that fails to perform midway through the implementation. Organizations need to be able to manage the impact of replacing that vendor and cutting their losses rather than continuing to throw good money away after bad performance.
    • Vendor acquisitions
      • A lot of acquisition is going on in the market today. Large companies are buying competitors and either imposing new terms on customers or removing the competing products from the market. Prepare options for any strategy tied to a niche product.

    It is important to identify potential risks to strategic plans to manage the risk and be agile enough in planning to adapt to the changing environments.

    Info-Tech Insight
    Few organizations are good at identifying risks to their strategic plan. As a result, almost none realistically plan to monitor, manage, and adapt their strategies to those risks.

    Prepare your strategic risk management for success

    Due diligence will enable successful outcomes

    1. Obtain top-level buy-in; it is critical to success.
    2. Build enterprise risk management (ERM) through incremental improvement.
    3. Focus initial efforts on the “big wins” to prove the process works.
    4. Use existing resources.
    5. Build on any risk management activities that already exist in the organization.
    6. Socialize ERM throughout the organization to gain additional buy‑in.
    7. Normalize the process long term with ongoing updates and continuing education for the organization.

    (Adapted from COSO)

    How to assess strategic risk

    1. Review Organizational Strategy
      Understand the organizational strategy to prepare for the “What If” game exercise.
    2. Identify & Understand Potential Strategic Risks
      Play the “What If” game with the right people at the table.
    3. Create a Risk Profile Packet for Leadership
      Pull all the information together in a presentation document.
    4. Validate the Risks
      Work with leadership to ensure that the proposed risks are in line with their thoughts.
    5. Plan to Manage the Risks
      Lower the overall risk potential by putting mitigations in place.
    6. Communicate the Plan
      It is important not only to have a plan but also to socialize it in the organization for awareness.
    7. Enact the Plan
      Once the plan is finalized and socialized, put it in place with continued monitoring for success.

    Insight summary

    Insight 1

    Organizations build portions of their strategies around chosen vendors and should protect those plans against the risks of unforeseen acquisitions in the market.
    Is your vendor solvent? Does it have enough staff to accommodate your needs? Has its long-term planning been affected by changes in the market? Is it unique in its space?

    Insight 2

    Organizations’ strategic plans need to be adaptable to avoid vendors’ negative actions causing an expedited shift in priorities.
    For example, Philip's recall of ventilators impacted its products and the availability of its competitor’s products as demand overwhelmed the market.

    Insight 3

    Organizations need to become better at risk assessment and actively manage the identified risks to their strategic plans.
    Few organizations are good at identifying risks to their strategic plan. As a result, almost none realistically plan to monitor, manage, and adapt their strategies to those risks.

    Strategic risk impacts are often unanticipated, causing unforeseen downstream effects. Anticipating the potential changes in the global IT market and continuously monitoring vendors’ risk levels can help organizations modify their strategic alignment with the new norms.

    Identifying strategic risk

    Who should be included in the discussion

    • While it is true that executive-level leadership defines the strategy for an organization, it is vital for those making decisions to make informed decisions.
    • Getting input from operational experts at your organization will enhance the long-term potential for success of your strategies.
    • Involving those who directly manage vendors and understand the market will aid operational experts in determining the forward path for relationships with your current vendors and identifying new emerging potential strategic partners.

    Review your strategic plans for new risks and evolving likelihood on a regular basis.

    Keep in mind Risk = Likelihood x Impact (R=L*I).

    Impact (I) tends to remain the same, while Likelihood (L) is a very flexible variable.

    See the blueprint Build an IT Risk Management Program

    Managing strategic risk impacts

    What can we realistically do about the risks?

    • Review business continuity plans and disaster recovery testing.
    • Institute proper contract lifecycle management.
    • Re-evaluate corporate policies frequently.
    • Develop IT governance and change control.
    • Ensure strategic alignment in contracts.
    • Introduce continual risk assessment to monitor the relevant vendor markets.
      • Regularly review your strategic plans for new risks and evolving likelihood.
      • Risk = Likelihood x Impact (R=L*I)
        • Impact (I) tends to remain the same and be well understood, while Likelihood (L) turns out to be highly variable.
    • Be adaptable and allow for innovations that arise from the current needs.
      • Capture lessons learned from prior incidents to improve over time, and adjust your strategy based on the lessons.

    Organizations need to be reviewing their strategic risk plans considering the likelihood of incidents in the global market.

    Pandemics, extreme weather, and wars that affect global supply chains are a current reality, not unlikely scenarios.

    Ongoing Improvement

    Incorporating lessons learned

    • Over time, despite everyone’s best observations and plans, incidents will catch us off guard.
    • When it happens, follow your incident response plans and act accordingly.
    • An essential step is to document what worked and what did not – collectively known as the “lessons learned.”
    • Use the lessons learned document to devise, incorporate, and enact a better risk management process.

    Sometimes disasters occur despite our best plans to manage them.

    When this happens, it is important to document the lessons learned and improve our plans going forward.

    The “what if” game

    1-3 hours

    Vendor management professionals are in an excellent position to help senior leadership identify and pull together resources across the organization to determine potential risks. By playing the "what if" game and asking probing questions to draw out – or eliminate – possible adverse outcomes, everyone involved adds their insight into parts of the organization to gather a comprehensive picture of potential impacts.

    1. Break into smaller groups (or if too small, continue as a single group).
    2. Use the Strategic Risk Impact Tool to prompt discussion on potential risks. Keep this discussion flowing organically to explore all potentials but manage the overall process to keep the discussion pertinent and on track.
    3. Collect the outputs and ask the subject matter experts (SMEs) for management options for each one in order to present a comprehensive risk strategy. You will use this to educate senior leadership so that they can make an informed decision to accept or reject the solution.

    Download the Strategic Risk Impact Tool

    Input Output
    • List of identified potential risk scenarios scored by likelihood and financial impact
    • List of potential management of the scenarios to reduce the risk
    • Comprehensive strategic risk profile on the specific vendor solution
    Materials Participants
    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Strategic Risk Impact Tool to help drive discussion
    • Vendor Management – Coordinator
    • Organizational Leadership
    • Operations Experts (SMEs)
    • Legal/Compliance/Risk Manager

    Case Study

    Airline Industry Strategic Adaptation

    Industry: Airline

    Impact categories: Pandemic, Lockdowns, Travel Bans, Increased Fuel Prices

    • In 2019 the airline industry yielded record profits of $35.5 billion.
    • In 2020 the pandemic devastated the industry with losses around $371 billion.
    • The industry leaders engaged experts to conduct a study on how the pandemic impacted them and propose measures to ensure the survival of their industry in the future after the pandemic.
    • They determined that “[p]recise decision-making based on data analytics is essential and crucial for an effective Covid-19 airline recovery plan.”

    Results

    The pandemic prompted systemic change to the overall strategic planning of the airline industry.

    Summary

    Be vigilant and adaptable to change

    • Organizations need to learn how to assess the likelihood of potential risks in the changing global world.
    • Those organizations that incorporate adaptive risk management processes can prepare their strategic plans for greater success.
    • Bring the right people to the table to outline potential risks in the market.
    • Socialize the risk management process throughout the organization to heighten awareness and enable employees to help protect the strategic plan.
    • Incorporate lessons learned from incidents into your risk management process to build better plans for future issues.

    Organizations must evolve their strategic risk assessments to be more adaptive to respond to global changes in the market.

    Ongoing monitoring of the market and the vendors tied to company strategies is imperative to achieving success.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Identify and Manage Financial Risk Impacts on Your Organization

    This image contains a screenshot from Info-Tech's Identify and Manage Financial Risk Impacts on Your Organization.
    • Vendor management practices educate organizations on the different potential financial impacts that vendors may incur and suggest systems to help manage them.
    • Prioritize and classify your vendors with quantifiable, standardized rankings.
    • Prioritize focus on your high-risk vendors.
    • Standardize your processes for identifying and monitoring vendor risks to manage financial impacts with our Financial Risk Impact Tool.

    Identify and Reduce Agile Contract Risk

    This image contains a screenshot from Info-Tech's Identify and Reduce Agile Contract Risk
    • Customer maturity levels with Agile are low, with 67% of organizations using Agile for less than five years.
    • Customer competency levels with Agile are also low, with 84% of organizations stating they are below a high level of competency.
    • Contract disputes are the number one or two types of disputes faced by organizations across all industries.

    Build an IT Risk Management Program

    This image contains a screenshot from Info-Tech's Build an IT Risk Management Program
    • Transform your ad hoc IT risk management processes into a formalized, ongoing program, and increase risk management success.
    • Take a proactive stance against IT threats and vulnerabilities by identifying and assessing IT’s greatest risks before they occur.
    • Involve key stakeholders including the business senior management team to gain buy-in and to focus on IT risks most critical to the organization.

    Bibliography

    Olaganathan, Rajee. “Impact of COVID-19 on airline industry and strategic plan for its recovery with special reference to data analytics technology.” Global Journal of Engineering and Technology Advances, vol 7, no 1, 2021, pp. 033-046.

    Tonello, Matteo. “Strategic Risk Management: A Primer for Directors.” Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, 23 Aug. 2012.

    Frigo, Mark L., and Richard J. Anderson. “Embracing Enterprise Risk Management: Practical Approaches for Getting Started.” COSO, 2011.

    Research Contributors and Experts

    • Frank Sewell
      Research Director, Info-Tech Research Group
    • Steven Jeffery
      Principal Research Director, Info-Tech Research Group
    • Scott Bickley
      Practice Lead, Info-Tech Research Group
    • Donna Glidden
      Research Director, Info-Tech Research Group
    • Phil Bode
      Principal Research Director, Info-Tech Research Group
    • David Espinosa
      Senior Director, Executive Services, Info-Tech Research Group
    • Rick Pittman
      Vice President, Research, Info-Tech Research Group
    • Patrick Philpot
      CISSP
    • Gaylon Stockman
      Vice President, Information Security
    • Jennifer Smith
      Senior Director

    Get the Most Out of Your SAP

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}240|cart{/j2store}
    • member rating overall impact (scale of 10): 9.7/10 Overall Impact
    • member rating average dollars saved: $6,499 Average $ Saved
    • member rating average days saved: 11 Average Days Saved
    • Parent Category Name: Optimization
    • Parent Category Link: /optimization
    • SAP systems are changed rarely and changing them has significant impact on an organization.
    • Research shows that even newly installed systems often fail to realize their full potential benefit to the organization.
    • Business process improvement is rarely someone’s day job.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    A properly optimized SAP business process will reduce costs and increase productivity.

    Impact and Result

    • Build an ongoing optimization team to conduct application improvements.
    • Assess your SAP application(s) and the environment in which they exist. Take a business first strategy to prioritize optimization efforts.
    • Validate SAP capabilities, user satisfaction, issues around data, vendor management, and costs to build out an optimization strategy.
    • Pull this all together to develop a prioritized optimization roadmap.

    Get the Most Out of Your SAP Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Get the Most Out of Your SAP Storyboard – A guide to optimize your SAP.

    SAP is a core tool that the business leverages to accomplish its goals. Use this blueprint to strategically re-align business goals, identify business application capabilities, complete a process assessment, evaluate user adoption, and create an optimization plan that will drive a cohesive technology strategy that delivers results.

    • Get the Most Out of Your SAP – Phases 1-4

    2. Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook – A tool to document and assist with optimizing your SAP.

    The Get the Most out of Your SAP Workbook serves as the holding document for the different elements for the Get the Most out of Your SAP blueprint. Use each assigned tab to input the relevant information for the process of optimizing your SAP.

    • Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    Infographic

    Workshop: Get the Most Out of Your SAP

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Define Your SAP Application Vision

    The Purpose

    Get the most out of your SAP.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Develop an ongoing SAP optimization team.

    Re-align SAP and business goals.

    Understand your current system state capabilities and processes.

    Validate user satisfaction, application fit, and areas of improvement to optimize your SAP.

    Take a 360-degree inventory of your SAP and related systems.

    Realign business and technology drivers. Assess user satisfaction.

    Review the SAP marketplace.

    Complete a thorough examination of capabilities and processes.

    Manage your vendors and data.

    Pull this all together to prioritize optimization efforts and develop a concrete roadmap.

    Activities

    1.1 Determine your SAP optimization team.

    1.2 Align organizational goals.

    1.3 Inventory applications and interactions.

    1.4 Define business capabilities.

    1.5 Explore SAP-related costs.

    Outputs

    SAP optimization team

    SAP business model

    SAP optimization goals

    SAP system inventory and data flow

    SAP process list

    SAP and related costs

    2 Map Current-State Capabilities

    The Purpose

    Map current-state capabilities.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Complete an SAP process gap analysis to understand where the SAP is underperforming.

    Review the SAP application portfolio assessment to understand user satisfaction and data concerns.

    Undertake a software review survey to understand your satisfaction with the vendor and product.

    Activities

    2.1 Conduct gap analysis for SAP processes.

    2.2 Perform an application portfolio assessment.

    2.3 Review vendor satisfaction.

    Outputs

    SAP process gap analysis

    SAP application portfolio assessment

    ERP software reviews survey

    3 Assess SAP

    The Purpose

    Assess SAP.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Learn the processes that you need to focus on.

    Uncover underlying user satisfaction issues to address these areas.

    Understand where data issues are occurring so that you can mitigate this.

    Investigate your relationship with the vendor and product, including that relative to others.

    Identify any areas for cost optimization (optional).

    Activities

    3.1 Explore process gaps.

    3.2 Analyze user satisfaction.

    3.3 Assess data quality.

    3.4 Understand product satisfaction and vendor management.

    3.5 Look for SAP cost optimization opportunities (optional).

    Outputs

    SAP process optimization priorities

    SAP vendor optimization opportunities

    SAP cost optimization

    4 Build the Optimization Roadmap

    The Purpose

    Build the optimization roadmap.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Understanding where you need to improve is the first step, now understand where to focus your optimization efforts.

    Activities

    4.1 SAP process gap analysis

    4.2 SAP application portfolio assessment

    4.3 SAP software reviews survey

    Outputs

    ERP optimization roadmap

    Further reading

    Get the Most Out of Your SAP

    In today’s connected world, the continuous optimization of enterprise applications to realize your digital strategy is key.

    EXECUTIVE BRIEF

    Analyst Perspective

    Focus optimization on organizational value delivery.

    The image contains a picture of Chad Shortridge.

    Chad Shortridge

    Senior Research Director, Enterprise Applications

    Info-Tech Research Group

    The image contains a picture of Lisa Highfield.

    Lisa Highfield

    Research Director, Enterprise Applications

    Info-Tech Research Group

    Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a core tool that the business leverages to accomplish its goals. An ERP that is doing its job well is invisible to the business. The challenges come when the tool is no longer invisible. It has become a source of friction in the functioning of the business.

    SAP systems are expensive, benefits can be difficult to quantify, and issues with the products can be difficult to understand. Over time, technology evolves, organizational goals change, and the health of these systems is often not monitored. This is complicated in today’s digital landscape with multiple integrations points, siloed data, and competing priorities.

    Too often organizations jump into selecting replacement systems without understanding the health of their systems. We can do better than this.

    IT leaders need to take a proactive approach to continually monitor and optimize their enterprise applications. Strategically re-align business goals, identify business application capabilities, complete a process assessment, evaluate user adoption, and create an optimization plan that will drive a cohesive technology strategy that delivers results.

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    Common Obstacles

    Info-Tech’s Approach

    Your SAP ERP systems are critical to supporting the organization’s business processes. They are expensive. Direct benefits and ROI can be hard to measure.

    SAP application portfolios are often behemoths to support. With complex integration points and unique business processes, stabilization is the norm.

    Application optimization is essential to staying competitive and productive in today’s digital environment.

    Balancing optimization with stabilization is one of the most difficult decisions for ERP application leaders.

    Competing priorities and often unclear ERP strategies make it difficult to make decisions about what, how, and when to optimize.

    Enterprise applications involve large numbers of processes, users, and evolving vendor roadmaps.

    Teams do not have a framework to illustrate, communicate, and justify the optimization effort in the language your stakeholders understand.

    In today’s rapidly changing SAP landscape it is imperative to evaluate your applications for optimization, no matter what your strategy is moving forward.

    Assess your SAP applications and the environment in which they exist. Take a business-first strategy to prioritize optimization efforts.

    Validate ERP capabilities, user satisfaction, issues around data, vendor management, and costs to build out an overall roadmap and optimization strategy.

    Pull this all together to prioritize optimization efforts and develop a concrete roadmap.

    Info-Tech Insight

    SAP ERP environments are changing, but we cannot stand still on our optimization efforts. Understand your product(s), processes, user satisfaction, integration points, and the availability of data to business decision makers. Examine these areas to develop a personalized SAP optimization roadmap that fits the needs of your organization. Incorporate these methodologies into an ongoing optimization strategy aimed at enabling the business, increasing productivity, and reducing costs.

    The image contains an Info-Tech Thought model on get the most out of your ERP.

    Insight summary

    Continuous assessment and optimization of your SAP ERP systems is critical to the success of your organization.

    • Applications and the environments in which they live are constantly evolving.
    • This blueprint provides business and application managers with a method to complete a health assessment of their ERP systems to identify areas for improvement and optimization.
    • Put optimization practices into effect by:
      • Aligning and prioritizing key business and technology drivers.
      • Identifying ERP process classification and performing a gap analysis.
      • Measuring user satisfaction across key departments.
      • Evaluating vendor relations.
      • Understanding how data plays into the mix.
      • Pulling it all together into an optimization roadmap.

    SAP enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems facilitate the flow of information across business units. It allows for the seamless integration of systems and creates a holistic view of the enterprise to support decision making. In many organizations, the SAP system is considered the lifeblood of the enterprise. Problems with this key operational system will have a dramatic impact on the ability of the enterprise to survive and grow. ERP implementation should not be a one-and-done exercise. There needs to be ongoing optimization to enable business processes and optimal organizational results.

    SAP enterprise resource planning (ERP)

    The image contains a diagram of the SAP enterprise resource planning. The diagram includes a circle with smaller circles all around it. The inside of the circle contains SAP logos. The circles around the big circle are labelled: Human Resources Management, Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, Asset Management, Logistics, Supply Chain Management, Manufacturing, R&D and Engineering, and Finance.

    What is SAP?

    SAP ERP systems facilitate the flow of information across business units. They allow for the seamless integration of systems and create a holistic view of the enterprise to support decision making.

    In many organizations, the ERP system is considered the lifeblood of the enterprise. Problems with this key operational system will have a dramatic impact on the ability of the enterprise to survive and grow.

    An ERP system:

    • Automates processes, reducing the amount of manual, routine work.
    • Integrates with core modules, eliminating the fragmentation of systems.
    • Centralizes information for reporting from multiple parts of the value chain to a single point.

    SAP use cases:

    Product-Centric

    Suitable for organizations that manufacture, assemble, distribute, or manage material goods.

    Service-Centric

    Suitable for organizations that provide and manage field services and/or professional services.

    SAP Fast Facts

    Product Description

    • SAP has numerous ERP products. Products can be found under ERP, Finance, Customer Relations and Experience, Supply Chain Management, Human Resources, and Technology Platforms.
    • SAP offers on-premises and cloud solutions for its ERP. In 2011, SAP released the HANA in-memory database. SAP ECC 6.0 reaches the end of life in 2027 (2030 extended support).
    • Many organizations are facing mandatory transformation. This is an excellent opportunity to examine ERP portfolios for optimization opportunities.
    • Now is the time to optimize to ensure you are prepared for the journey ahead.
    The image contains a timeline of the evolution of SAP ERP. The timeline is ordered: SAP R1-R3 1972-1992, SAP ECC 2003-2006, ERP Business Suite 2000+, SAP HANA In-Memory Database 2011, S/4 2015.

    Vendor Description

    • SAP SE was founded in 1972 by five former IBM employees.
    • The organization is focused on enterprise software that integrates all business processes and enables data processing in real-time.
    • SAP stands for Systems, Applications, and Products in Data Processing.
    • SAP offers more than 100 solutions covering all business functions.
    • SAP operates 65 data centers at 35 locations in 16 countries.

    Employees

    105,000

    Headquarters

    Walldorf, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

    Website

    sap.com

    Founded

    1972

    Presence

    Global, Publicly Traded

    SAP by the numbers

    Only 72% of SAP S/4HANA clients were satisfied with the product’s business value in 2022. This was 9th out of 10 in the enterprise resource planning category.

    Source: SoftwareReviews

    As of 2022, 65% of SAP customers have not made the move to S/4HANA. These customers will continue to need to optimize the current ERP to meet the demanding needs of the business.

    Source: Statista

    Organizations will need to continue to support and optimize their SAP ERP portfolios. As of 2022, 42% of ASUG members were planning a move to S/4HANA but had not yet started to move.

    Source: ASUG

    Your challenge

    This research is designed to help organizations who need to:

    • Understand the multiple deployment models and the roadmap to successfully navigate a move to S/4HANA.
    • Build a business case to understand the value behind a move.
    • Map functionality to ensure future compatibility.
    • Understand the process required to commercially navigate a move to S/4HANA.
    • Avoid a costly audit due to missed requirements or SAP whiteboarding sessions.

    HANA used to be primarily viewed as a commercial vehicle to realize legacy license model discounts. Now, however, SAP has built a roadmap to migrate all customers over to S/4HANA. While timelines may be delayed, the inevitable move is coming.

    30-35% of SAP customers likely have underutilized assets. This can add up to millions in unused software and maintenance.

    – Upperedge

    SAP challenges and dissatisfaction

    Drivers of Dissatisfaction

    Organizational

    People and teams

    Technology

    Data

    Competing priorities

    Knowledgeable staff/turnover

    Integration issues

    Access to data

    Lack of strategy

    Lack of internal skills

    Selecting tools and technology

    Data hygiene

    Budget challenges

    Ability to manage new products

    Keeping pace with technology changes

    Data literacy

    Lack of training

    Update challenges

    One view of the customer

    Finance, IT, Sales, and other users of the ERP system can only optimize ERP with the full support of each other. The cooperation of the departments is crucial when trying to improve ERP technology capabilities and customer interaction.

    Info-Tech Insight

    While technology is the key enabler of building strong customer experiences, there are many other drivers of dissatisfaction. IT must stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the business to develop a technology framework for ERP.

    Where are applications leaders focusing?

    Big growth numbers

    Year-over-year call topic requests

    Other changes

    Year-over-year call topic requests

    The image contains a graph to demonstrate year-over-year call topic requests. Year 1 has 79%, Year 2 76%, Year 3 65% requests, and Year 4 has 124% requests. The image contains a graph to demonstrate other changes in year-over-year call topic requests. Year 1 has -25%, Year 2 has 4%, and Year 3 has 13%.

    We are seeing applications leaders’ priorities change year over year, driven by a shift in their approach to problem solving. Leaders are moving from a process-centric approach to a collaborative approach that breaks down boundaries and brings teams together.

    Software development lifecycle topics are tactical point solutions. Organizations have been “shifting left” to tackle the strategic issues such as product vision and Agile mindset to optimize the whole organization.

    The S/4HANA journey

    Optimization can play a role in your transition to S/4HANA.

    • The business does not stop. Satisfy ongoing needs for business enablement.
    • Build out a collaborative SAP optimization team across the business and IT.
    • Engage the business to understand requirements.
    • Discover applications and processes.
    • Explore current-state capabilities and future-state needs.
    • Evaluate optimization opportunities. Are there short-term wins? What are the long-term goals?
    • Navigate the path to S/4HANA and develop some timelines and stage gates.
    • Set your course and optimization roadmap.
    • Capitalize on the methodologies for an ongoing optimization effort that can be continued after the S/4HANA go-live date.

    Many organizations may be coming up against changes to their SAP ERP application portfolio.

    Some challenges organizations may be dealing with include:

    • Heavily customized instances
    • Large volumes of data
    • Lack of documentation
    • Outdated business processes
    • Looming end of life

    Application optimization is risky without a plan

    Avoid these common pitfalls:

    • Not pursuing optimization because you are migrating to S/4HANA.
    • Not considering how this plays into the short-, medium-, and long-term ERP strategy.
    • Not considering application optimization as a business and IT partnership, which requires the continuous formal engagement of all participants.
    • Not having a good understanding of your current state, including integration points and data.
    • Not adequately accommodating feedback and changes after digital applications are deployed and employed.
    • Not treating digital applications as a motivator for potential future IT optimization efforts and incorporating digital assets in strategic business planning.
    • Not involving department leads, management, and other subject-matter experts to facilitate the organizational change digital applications bring.

    “[A] successful application [optimization] strategy starts with the business need in mind and not from a technological point of view. No matter from which angle you look at it, modernizing a legacy application is a considerable undertaking that can’t be taken lightly. Your best approach is to begin the journey with baby steps.”

    – Medium

    Info-Tech’s methodology for getting the most out of your ERP

    1. Map Current-State Capabilities

    2. Assess Your Current State

    3. Identify Key Optimization Areas

    4. Build Your Optimization Roadmap

    Phase Steps

    1. Identify stakeholders and build your SAP optimization team.
    2. Build an SAP strategy model.
    3. Inventory current system state.
    4. Define business capabilities.
    1. Conduct a gap analysis for ERP processes.
    2. Assess user satisfaction.
    3. Review your satisfaction with the vendor and product.
    1. Identify key optimization areas.
    2. Evaluate product sustainability over the short, medium, and long term.
    3. Identify any product changes anticipated over short, medium, and long term.
    1. Prioritize optimization opportunities.
    2. Identify key optimization areas.
    3. Compile optimization assessment results.

    Phase Outcomes

    1. Stakeholder map
    2. SAP optimization team
    3. SAP business model
    4. Strategy alignment
    5. Systems inventory and diagram
    6. Business capabilities map
    7. Key SAP processes list
    1. Gap analysis for SAP-related processes
    2. Understanding of user satisfaction across applications and processes
    3. Insight into SAP data quality
    4. Quantified satisfaction with the vendor and product
    5. Understanding SAP costs
    1. List of SAP optimization opportunities
    1. SAP optimization roadmap

    Blueprint deliverables

    Each step of this blueprint is accompanied by supporting deliverables to help you accomplish your goals:

    Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    Identify and prioritize your SAP optimization goals.

    The image contains screenshots of the SAP Workbook.

    Application Portfolio Assessment

    Assess IT-enabled user satisfaction across your SAP portfolio.

    The image contains a screenshot of the Application Portfolio Assessment.

    Key deliverable:

    The image contains a screenshot of the SAP Organization Roadmap.

    SAP Optimization Roadmap

    Complete an assessment of processes, user satisfaction, data quality, and vendor management.

    The image contains screenshots further demonstrating SAP deliverables.

    Info-Tech offers various levels of support to best suit your needs

    DIY Toolkit

    Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful.

    Guided Implementation

    Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track.

    Workshop

    We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place.

    Consulting

    Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project.

    Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options

    Guided Implementation

    What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

    Phase 1

    Phase 2

    Phase 3 Phase 4

    Call #1: Scope requirements, objectives, and your specific challenge.

    Call #2:

    • Build the SAP team.
    • Align organizational goals.

    Call #3:

    • Map current state.
    • Inventory SAP capabilities and processes.
    • Explore SAP-related costs.

    Call #4: Understand product satisfaction and vendor management.

    Call #5: Review APA results.

    Call #6: Understand SAP optimization opportunities.

    Call #7: Determine the right SAP path for your organization.

    Call #8:

    Build out optimization roadmap and next steps.

    A Guided Implementation (GI) is series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization. A typical GI is 8 to 12 calls over the course of 4 to 6 months.

    Workshop Overview

    Contact your account representative for more information.
    workshops@infotech.com1-888-670-8889

    Day 1

    Day 2

    Day 3

    Day 4

    Day 5

    Define Your SAP Application Vision

    Map Current State

    Assess SAP

    Build Your Optimization Roadmap

    Next Steps and Wrap-Up (offsite)

    Activities

    1.1 Identify Stakeholders and Build Your Optimization Team

    1.2 Build an SAP Strategy Model

    1.3 Inventory Current System State

    1.4 Define Optimization Timeframe

    1.5 Understand SAP Costs

    2.1 Assess SAP Capabilities

    2.2 Review Your Satisfaction With the Vendor/Product and Willingness for Change

    3.1 Prioritize Optimization Opportunities

    3.2 Discover Optimization Initiatives

    4.1 Build Your Optimization Roadmap

    5.1 Complete in-progress deliverables from previous four days.

    5.2 Set up review time for workshop deliverables and to discuss next steps.

    Deliverables

    1. SAP optimization team
    2. SAP business model
    3. SAP optimization goals
    4. System inventory and data flow
    5. Application and business capabilities list
    6. SAP optimization timeline
    1. SAP capability gap analysis
    2. SAP user satisfaction (application portfolio assessment)
    3. SAP SoftwareReviews survey results
    4. SAP current costs
    1. Product and vendor satisfaction opportunities
    2. Capability and feature optimization opportunities
    3. Process optimization opportunities
    4. Integration optimization opportunities
    5. Data optimization opportunities
    6. SAP cost-saving opportunities
    1. SAP optimization roadmap

    Phase 1

    Map Current-State Capabilities

    Phase 1

    Phase 2

    Phase 3

    Phase 4

    1.1 Identify Stakeholders and Build Your Optimization Team

    1.2 Build an SAP Strategy Model

    1.3 Inventory Current System State

    1.4 Define Optimization Timeframe

    1.5 Understand SAP Costs

    2.1 Assess SAP Capabilities

    2.2 Review Your Satisfaction With the Vendor/Product and Willingness for Change

    3.1 Prioritize Optimization Opportunities

    3.2 Discover Optimization Initiatives

    4.1 Build Your Optimization Roadmap

    This phase will guide you through the following activities:

    • Align your organizational goals
    • Gain a firm understanding of your current state
    • Inventory ERP and related applications
    • Confirm the organization’s capabilities

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • CFO
    • Department Leads – Finance, Procurement, Asset Management
    • Applications Director
    • Senior Business Analyst
    • Senior Developer
    • Procurement Analysts

    Step 1.1

    Identify Stakeholders and Build Your Optimization Team

    Activities

    1.1.1 Identify stakeholders critical to success

    1.1.2 Map your SAP optimization stakeholders

    1.1.3 Determine your SAP optimization team

    This step will guide you through the following activities:

    • Identify ERP drivers and objectives
    • Explore ERP challenges and pain points
    • Discover ERP benefits and opportunities
    • Align the ERP foundation with the corporate strategy

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Stakeholders
    • Project sponsors and leaders

    Outcomes of this step

    • Stakeholder map
    • SAP Optimization Team

    ERP optimization stakeholders

    • Understand the roles necessary to get the most out of your SAP.
    • Understand the role of each player within your project structure. Look for listed participants on the activities slides to determine when each player should be involved.

    Title

    Role Within the Project Structure

    Organizational Sponsor

    • Owns the project at the management/C-suite level
    • Responsible for breaking down barriers and ensuring alignment with your organizational strategy
    • CIO, CFO, COO, or similar

    Project Manager

    • The IT individual(s) that oversee day-to-day project operations
    • Responsible for preparing and managing the project plan and monitoring the project team’s progress
    • Applications Manager or other IT Manager, Business Analyst, Business Process Owner, or similar

    Business Unit Leaders

    • Works alongside the IT Project Manager to ensure the strategy is aligned with business needs
    • In this case, likely to be a marketing, sales, or customer service lead
    • Sales Director, Marketing Director, Customer Care Director, or similar

    Optimization Team

    • Comprised of individuals whose knowledge and skills are crucial to project success
    • Responsible for driving day-to-day activities, coordinating communication, and making process and design decisions; can assist with persona and scenario development for ERP
    • Project Manager, Business Lead, ERP Manager, Integration Manager, Application SMEs, Developers, Business Process Architects, and/or similar SMEs

    Steering Committee

    • Comprised of the C-suite/management-level individuals that act as the project’s decision makers
    • Responsible for validating goals and priorities, defining the project scope, enabling adequate resourcing, and managing change
    • Project Sponsor, Project Manager, Business Lead, CFO, Business Unit SMEs, or similar

    Info-Tech Insight

    Do not limit project input or participation. Include subject-matter experts and internal stakeholders at stages within the project. Such inputs can be solicited on a one-off basis as needed. This ensures you take a holistic approach to create your ERP optimization strategy.

    1.1.1 Identify SAP optimization stakeholders

    1 hour

    1. Hold a meeting to identify the SAP optimization stakeholders.
    2. Use next slide as a guide.

    Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.

    The image contains a screenshot from the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.

    Download the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    Understand how to navigate the complex web of stakeholders in ERP

    Identify which stakeholders to include and what their level of involvement should be during requirements elicitation based on relevant topic expertise.

    Sponsor

    End User

    IT

    Business

    Description

    An internal stakeholder who has final sign-off on the ERP project.

    Front-line users of the ERP technology.

    Back-end support staff who are tasked with project planning, execution, and eventual system maintenance.

    Additional stakeholders that will be impacted by any ERP technology changes.

    Examples

    • CEO
    • CIO/CTO
    • COO
    • CFO
    • Warehouse personnel
    • Sales teams
    • HR admins
    • Applications manager
    • Vendor relationship manager(s)
    • Director, Procurement
    • VP, Marketing
    • Manager, HR

    Value

    Executive buy-in and support is essential to the success of the project. Often, the sponsor controls funding and resource allocation.

    End users determine the success of the system through user adoption. If the end user does not adopt the system, the system is deemed useless and benefits realization is poor.

    IT is likely to be responsible for more in-depth requirements gathering. IT possesses critical knowledge around system compatibility, integration, and data.

    Involving business stakeholders in the requirements gathering will ensure alignment between HR and organizational objectives.

    Large-scale ERP projects require the involvement of many stakeholders from all corners and levels of the organization, including project sponsors, IT, end users, and business stakeholders. Consider the influence and interest of stakeholders in contributing to the requirements elicitation process and involve them accordingly.

    EXAMPLE: Stakeholder involvement during selection

    The image contains an example of stakeholder involvement during selection. The graph is comparing influence and interest. In the lowest section of both influence and interest, it is labelled Monitor. With low interest but high influence that is labelled Keep Satisfied. In low influence but high interest it is labelled Keep Informed. The section that is high in both interest and influence that is labelled Involve closely.

    Activity 1.1.2 Map your SAP optimization stakeholders

    1 hour

    1. Use the list of SAP optimization stakeholders.
    2. Map each stakeholder on the quadrant based on their expected influence and involvement in the project.
    3. [Optional] Color code the users using the scale below to quickly identify the group that the stakeholder belongs to.

    The image contains an example of a colour scheme. Sponsor is coloured blue, End user is purple, IT is yellow, and Business is light blue.

    Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.

    The image contains a screenshot of an example map on organization's stakeholders.

    Download the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    Map the organization’s stakeholders

    The image contains a larger version of the image from the previous slide where there is a graph comparing influence and involvement and has a list of stakeholders in a legend on the side.

    The SAP optimization team

    Consider the core team functions when putting together the project team. Form a cross-functional team (i.e. across IT, Marketing, Sales, Service, Operations) to create a well-aligned ERP optimization strategy. Don’t let your project team become too large when trying to include all relevant stakeholders. Carefully limiting the size of the project team will enable effective decision making while still including functional business units such as Marketing, Sales, Service, and Finance as well as IT.

    Required Skills/Knowledge

    Suggested Project Team Members

    Business

    • Department leads
    • Business process leads
    • Business analysts
    • Subject matter experts
    • SMEs/Business process leads –All functional areas; example: Strategy, Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, Finance, HR

    IT

    • Application development
    • Enterprise integration
    • Business processes
    • Data management
    • Product owner
    • ERP application manager
    • Business process manager
    • Integration manager
    • Application developer
    • Data stewards

    Other

    • Operations
    • Administrative
    • Change management
    • COO
    • CFO
    • Change management officer

    1.1.3 Determine your SAP optimization team

    1 hour

    1. Have the project manager and other key stakeholders discuss and determine who will be involved in the SAP optimization project.
    • The size of the team will depend on the initiative and size of your organization.
    • Key business leaders in key areas and IT representatives should be involved.

    Note: Depending on your initiative and the size of your organization, the size of this team will vary.

    Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.

    The image contains a screenshot of the section ERP Optimization Team in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.

    Download the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    Step 1.2

    Build an SAP Strategy Model

    Activities

    1.2.1 Explore environmental factors and technology drivers

    1.2.2 Consider potential barriers and challenges

    1.2.3 Discuss enablers of success

    1.2.4 Develop your SAP optimization goals

    This step will guide you through the following activities:

    • Identify ERP drivers and objectives
    • Explore ERP challenges and pain points
    • Discover ERP benefits and opportunities
    • Align the ERP foundation with the corporate strategy

    This step involves the following participants:

    • SAP Optimization Team

    Outcomes of this step

    • ERP business model
    • Strategy alignment

    Align your SAP strategy with the corporate strategy

    Corporate Strategy

    Unified ERP Strategy

    IT Strategy

    Your corporate strategy:

    • Conveys the current state of the organization and the path it wants to take.
    • Identifies future goals and business aspirations.
    • Communicates the initiatives that are critical for getting the organization from its current state to the desired future state.
    • The ideal ERP strategy is aligned with overarching organizational business goals and with broader IT initiatives.
    • Include all affected business units and departments in these conversations.
    • The ERP optimization can be and should be linked, with metrics, to the corporate strategy and ultimate business objectives

    Your IT strategy:

    • Communicates the organization’s budget and spending on ERP.
    • Identifies IT initiatives that will support the business and key ERP objectives.
    • Outlines staffing and resourcing for ERP initiatives.

    ERP projects are more successful when the management team understands the strategic importance and the criticality of alignment. Time needs to be spent upfront aligning business strategies with ERP capabilities. Effective alignment between IT and the business should happen daily. Alignment doesn’t just need to occur just at the executive level but at each level of the organization.

    ERP Business Model Template

    The image contains a screenshot of a ERP Business Model Template.

    Conduct interviews to elicit the business context

    Stakeholder Interviews

    Begin by conducting interviews of your executive team. Interview the following leaders:

    1. Chief Information Officer
    2. Chief Executive Officer
    3. Chief Financial Officer
    4. Chief Revenue Officer/Sales Leader
    5. Chief Operating Officer/Supply Chain & Logistics Leader
    6. Chief Technology Officer/Chief Product Officer

    INTERVIEWS MUST UNCOVER

    1. Your organization’s top three business goals
    2. Your organization’s top ten business initiatives
    3. Your organization’s mission and vision

    Understand the ERP drivers and organizational objectives

    Business Needs

    Business Drivers

    Technology Drivers

    Environmental Factors

    Definition

    A business need is a requirement associated with a particular business process.

    Business drivers can be thought of as business-level goals. These are tangible benefits the business can measure such as customer retention, operation excellence, and financial performance.

    Technology drivers are technological changes that have created the need for a new ERP enablement strategy. Many organizations turn to technology systems to help them obtain a competitive edge.

    These external considerations are factors that take place outside of the organization and impact the way business is conducted inside the organization. These are often outside the control of the business.

    Examples

    • Audit tracking
    • Authorization levels
    • Business rules
    • Data quality
    • Customer satisfaction
    • Branding
    • Time-to-resolution
    • Deployment model (i.e. SaaS)
    • Integration
    • Reporting capabilities
    • Fragmented technologies
    • Economic and political factors
    • Competitive influencers
    • Compliance regulations

    Info-Tech Insight

    One of the biggest drivers for ERP adoption is the ability to make quicker decisions from timely information. This driver is a result of external considerations. Many industries today are highly competitive, uncertain, and rapidly changing. To succeed under these pressures, there needs to be timely information and visibility into all components of the organization.

    1.2.1 Explore environmental factors and technology drivers

    30 minutes

    1. Identify business drivers that are contributing to the organization’s need for ERP.
    2. Understand how the company is running today and what the organization’s future will look like. Try to identify the purpose for becoming an integrated organization. Use a whiteboard or flip charts and markers to capture key findings.
    3. Consider external considerations, organizational drivers, technology drivers, and key functional requirements.

    Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.

    The image contains a diagram on exploring the environmental factors and technology drivers.

    External Considerations

    Organizational Drivers

    Technology Considerations

    Functional Requirements

    • Funding constraints
    • Regulations
    • Compliance
    • Scalability
    • Operational efficiency
    • Data accuracy
    • Data quality
    • Better reporting
    • Information availability
    • Integration between systems
    • Secure data

    Download the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    Create a realistic ERP foundation by identifying the challenges and barriers the project will bestow

    There are several different factors that may stifle the success of an ERP implementation. Organizations that are creating an ERP foundation must scan their current environment to identify internal barriers and challenges.

    Common Internal Barriers

    Management Support

    Organizational Culture

    Organizational Structure

    IT Readiness

    Definition

    The degree of understanding and acceptance toward ERP systems.

    The collective shared values and beliefs.

    The functional relationships between people and departments in an organization.

    The degree to which the organization’s people and processes are prepared for a new ERP system.

    Questions

    • Is an ERP project recognized as a top priority?
    • Will management commit time to the project?
    • Are employees resistant to change?
    • Is the organization highly individualized?
    • Is the organization centralized?
    • Is the organization highly formalized?
    • Is there strong technical expertise?
    • Is there strong infrastructure?

    Impact

    • Funding
    • Resources
    • Knowledge sharing
    • User acceptance
    • Flow of knowledge
    • Quality of implementation
    • Need for reliance on consultants

    ERP Business Model

    Organizational Goals

    Enablers

    Barriers

    • Efficiency
    • Effectiveness
    • Integrity
    • One source of truth for data
    • One team
    • Customer service, external and internal
    • Cross-trained employees
    • Desire to focus on value-add activities
    • Collaborative
    • Top-level executive support
    • Effective change management process
    • Organizational silos
    • Lack of formal process documentation
    • Funding availability
    • What goes first? Organizational priorities

    What does success look like?

    Top 15 critical success factors for ERP system implementation

    The image contains a graph that demonstrates the top 15 critical success factors for ERP system implementation. The top 15 are: Top management support and commitment, Interdepartmental communication and cooperations throughout the institution, Commitment to business process re-engineering to do away with redundant processes, Implementation project management from initiation to closing, Change management program to ensure awareness and readiness for possible changes, Project team competence, Education and training for stakeholders, Project champion to lead implementation, Project mission and goals for the system with clear objectives agreed upon, ERP expert consultant use to guide the implementation process, Minimum level of customization to use ERP functionalities to maximum, Package selection, Understanding the institutional culture, Use involvement and participation throughout implementation, ERP vendor support and partnership.

    Source: Epizitone and Olugbara, 2020; CC BY 4.0

    Info-Tech Insight

    Complement your ability to deliver on your critical success factors with the capabilities of your implementation partner to drive a successful ERP implementation.

    “Implementation partners can play an important role in successful ERP implementations. They can work across the organizational departments and layers creating a synergy and a communications mechanism.” – Ayogeboh Epizitone, Durban University of Technology

    1.2.2 Consider potential barriers and challenges

    1-3 hours

    • Open tab “1.2 Strategy & Goals,” in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.
    • Identify barriers to ERP optimization success.
    • Review the ERP critical success factors and how they relate to your optimization efforts.
    • Discuss potential barriers to successful ERP optimization.

    Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.

    The image contains the same diagram as shown previously, where it demonstrated the environmental factors in relation to the ERP strategy. The same diagram is used and highlights the barriers section.

    Functional Gaps

    Technical Gaps

    Process Gaps

    Barriers to Success

    • No online purchase order for requisitions
    • Inconsistent reporting – data quality concerns
    • Duplication of data
    • Lack of system integration
    • Cultural mindset
    • Resistance to change
    • Lack of training
    • Funding

    Download the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    1.2.3 Discuss enablers of success

    1-3 hours

    1. Open tab “1.2 Strategy & Goals,” in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.
    2. Identify barriers to ERP optimization success.
    3. Review the ERP critical success factors and how they relate to your optimization efforts.
    4. Discuss potential barriers to successful ERP optimization.

    Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.

    The image contains the same diagram as shown previously, where it demonstrated the environmental factors in relation to the ERP strategy. The same diagram is used and highlights the enablers and organizational goals sections.

    Business Benefits

    IT Benefits

    Organizational Benefits

    Enablers of Success

    • Business-IT alignment
    • Compliance
    • Scalability
    • Operational efficiency
    • Data accuracy
    • Data quality
    • Better reporting
    • Change management
    • Training
    • Alignment with strategic objectives

    Download the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    The Business Value Matrix

    Rationalizing and quantifying the value of SAP

    Benefits can be realized internally and externally to the organization or department and have different drivers of value.

    • Financial benefits refer to the degree to which the value source can be measured through monetary metrics and are often quite tangible.
    • Human benefits refer to how an application can deliver value through a user’s experience.
    • Inward refers to value sources that have an internal impact and improve your organization’s effectiveness and efficiency in performing its operations.
    • Outward refers to value sources that come from your interaction with external factors, such as the market or your customers.

    Organizational Goals

    • Increased Revenue
    • Application functions that are specifically related to the impact on your organization’s ability to generate revenue and deliver value to your customers.

    • Reduced Costs
    • Reduction of overhead. The ways in which an application limits the operational costs of business functions.

    • Enhanced Services
    • Functions that enable business capabilities that improve the organization’s ability to perform its internal operations.

    • Reach Customers
    • Application functions that enable and improve the interaction with customers or produce market information and insights.

    Business Value Matrix

    The image contains a screenshot of a Business Value Matrix. It includes: Reach Customers, Increase Revenue or Deliver Value, Reduce Costs, and Enhance Services.

    Link SAP capabilities to organizational value

    The image contains screenshots that demonstrate linking SAP capabilities to organizational value.

    1.2.4 Define your SAP optimization goals

    30 minutes

    1. Discuss the ERP business model and ERP critical success factors.
    2. Through the lens of corporate goals and objectives think about supporting ERP technology. How can the ERP system bring value to the organization? What are the top things that will make this initiative a success?
    3. Develop five to ten optimization goals that will form the basis for the success of this initiative.

    Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.

    The image contains an example of the activity describe above on defining your SAP optimization goals.

    Download the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    Step 1.3

    Inventory Current System State

    Activities

    1.3.1 Inventory SAP applications and interactions

    1.3.2 Draw your SAP system diagram

    1.3.3 Inventory your SAP modules and business capabilities (or business processes)

    1.3.4 Define your key SAP optimization modules and business capabilities

    This step will guide you through the following activities:

    • Inventory of applications
    • Mapping interactions between systems

    This step involves the following participants:

    • SAP Optimization Team
    • Enterprise Architect
    • Data Architect

    Outcomes of this step

    • Systems inventory
    • Systems diagram

    1.3.1 Inventory SAP applications and interfaces

    1-3+ hours

    1. Enter your SAP systems, SAP extended applications, and integrated applications within scope.
    2. Include any abbreviated names or nicknames.
    3. List the application type or main function.
    4. List the modules the organization has licensed.
    5. List any integrations.

    Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.

    The image contains a screenshot of the SAP application inventory.

    Download the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    ERP Data Flow

    The image contains an example ERP Data Flow with a legend.

    Be sure to include enterprise applications that are not included in the ERP application portfolio. Popular systems to consider for POIs include billing, directory services, content management, and collaboration tools.

    ERP – enterprise resource planning

    Email – email system such as Microsoft Exchange

    Calendar – calendar system such as Microsoft Outlook

    WEM – web experience management

    ECM – enterprise content management

    When assessing the current application portfolio that supports your ERP, the tendency will be to focus on the applications under the ERP umbrella. These relate mostly to marketing, sales, and customer service. Be sure to include systems that act as input to, or benefit due to outputs from, ERP or similar applications.

    1.3.2 Draw your SAP system diagram

    1-3+ hours

    1. From the SAP application inventory, diagram your network.
    2. Include:

    • Any internal or external systems
    • Integration points
    • Data flow

    The image contains a screenshot of the example ERP Systems Diagram.

    Download the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    Sample SAP and integrations map

    The image contains a screenshot of a sample SAP and integrations map.

    Business capability map (Level 0)

    The image contains a screenshot of the business capability map, level 0. The capability map includes: Products and Services Development, Revenue Generation, Demand Fulfillment, and Enterprise Management and Planning.

    In business architecture, the primary view of an organization is known as a business capability map. A business capability defines what a business does to enable value creation, rather than how.

    Business capabilities:

    • Represent stable business functions.
    • Are unique and independent of each other.
    • Will typically have a defined business outcome.

    A business capability map provides details that help the business architecture practitioner direct attention to a specific area of the business for further assessment.

    ERP process mapping

    The image contains screenshots to demonstrate the ERP process mapping. One of the screenshots is of the business capability map, level 0, the second screenshot contains the objectives , value streams, capabilities, and processes. The third image contains a screenshot of the SAP screenshot with the circles around it as previously shown.

    The operating model

    An operating model is a framework that drives operating decisions. It helps to set the parameters for the scope of ERP and the processes that will be supported. The operating model will serve to group core operational processes. These groupings represent a set of interrelated, consecutive processes aimed at generating a common output. From your developed processes and your SAP license agreements you will be able to pinpoint the scope for investigation including the processes and modules.

    APQC Framework

    Help define your inventory of sales, marketing, and customer services processes.

    Operating Processes

    1. Develop vision and strategy 2. Develop and manage products and services 3. Market and sell products and services 4. Deliver physical products 5. Deliver services

    Management and Support Processes

    6.Manage customer service

    7. Develop and manage human capital

    8. Manage IT

    9. Manage financial resources

    10. Acquire, construct, and manage assets

    11. Manage enterprise risk, compliance, remediation, and resiliency

    12. Manage external relationships

    13. Develop and manage business capabilities

    Source: APQC

    If you do not have a documented process model, you can use the APQC Framework to help define your inventory of sales business processes. APQC’s Process Classification Framework is a taxonomy of cross-functional business processes intended to allow the objective comparison of organizational performance within and among organizations.

    APQC’s Process Classification Framework

    The value stream

    Value stream defined:

    Value Streams

    Design Product

    Produce Product

    Sell Product

    Customer Service

    • Manufacturers work proactively to design products and services that will meet consumer demand.
    • Products are driven by consumer demand and government regulations.
    • Production processes and labor costs are constantly analyzed for efficiencies and accuracies.
    • Quality of product and services are highly regulated through all levels of the supply chain.
    • Sales networks and sales staff deliver the product from the organization to the end consumer.
    • Marketing plays a key role throughout the value stream, connecting consumers’ wants and needs to the products and services offered.
    • Relationships with consumers continue after the sale of products and services.
    • Continued customer support and data mining is important to revenue streams.

    Value streams connect business goals to the organization’s value realization activities in the marketplace. Those activities are dependent on the specific industry segment in which an organization operates.

    There are two types of value streams: core value streams and support value streams.

    • Core value streams are mostly externally facing. They deliver value to either an external or internal customer and they tie to the customer perspective of the strategy map.
    • Support value streams are internally facing and provide the foundational support for an organization to operate.

    An effective method for ensuring all value streams have been considered is to understand that there can be different end-value receivers.

    Process mapping hierarchy

    The image contains a screenshot of the PCF levels explained. The levels are 1-5. The levels are: Category, Process Group, Process, Activity, and Task.

    Source: APQC

    APQC provides a process classification framework. It allows organizations to effectively define their processes and manage them appropriately.

    APQC’s Process Classification Framework

    Cross-industry classification framework

    Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4

    Market and sell products and services

    Understand markets, customers, and capabilities

    Perform customer and market intelligence analysis

    Conduct customer and market research

    Market and sell products and services

    Develop a sales strategy

    Develop a sales forecast

    Gather current and historic order information

    Deliver services

    Manage service delivery resources

    Manage service delivery resource demand

    Develop baseline forecasts

    ? ? ? ?

    Info-Tech Insight

    Focus your initial assessment on the level 1 processes that matter to your organization. This allows you to target your scant resources on the areas of optimization that matter most to the organization and minimize the effort required from your business partners. You may need to iterate the assessment as challenges are identified. This allows you to be adaptive and deal with emerging issues more readily and become a more responsive partner to the business.

    SAP modules and process enablement

    Cloud/Hardware

    Fiori

    Analytics

    Integrations

    Extended Solutions

    R&D Engineering

    • Enterprise Portfolio and Project Management
    • Product Development Foundation
    • Enterprise Portfolio and Project Management
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Product Compliance
    • Enterprise Portfolio and Project Management
    • Product Safety and Stewardship
    • Engineering Record

    Sourcing and Procurement

    • Procurement Analytics
    • Sourcing & Contract Management
    • Operational Procurement
    • Invoice Management
    • Supplier Management

    Supply Chain

    • Inventory
    • Delivery & Transportation
    • Warehousing
    • Order Promising

    Asset Management

    • Maintenance Operations
    • Resource Scheduling
    • Env, Health and Safety
    • Maintenance Management
    The image contains a diagram of the SAP enterprise resource planning. The diagram includes a circle with smaller circles all around it. The inside of the circle contains SAP logos. The circles around the big circle are labelled: Human Resources Management, Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, Asset Management, Logistics, Supply Chain Management, Manufacturing, R&D and Engineering, and Finance.

    Finance

    • Financial Planning and Analysis
    • Accounting and Financial Close
    • Treasury Management
    • Financial Operations
    • Governance, Risk & Compliance
    • Commodity Management

    Human Resources

    • Core HR
    • Payroll
    • Timesheets
    • Organization Management
    • Talent Management

    Sales

    • Sales Support
    • Order and Contract Management
    • Agreement Management
    • Performance Management

    Service

    • Service Operations and Processes
    • Basic Functions
    • Workforce Management
    • Case Management
    • Professional Services
    • Service Master Data Management
    • Service Management

    Beyond the core

    The image contains a screenshot of a diagram to demonstrate beyond the core. In the middle of the image is S/4 Core, and the BTP: Business Technology Platform. Surrounding it are: SAP Fieldglass, SAP Concur, SAP Success Factors, SAP CRM SAO Hybris, SAP Ariba. On the left side of the image are: Business Planning and Consolidations, Transportation Management System, Integrated Business Planning, Extended Warehouse Management.

    1.3.3 Inventory your SAP modules and business capabilities

    1-3+ hours

    1. Look at the major functions or processes within the scope of ERP.
    2. From the inventory of current systems, choose the submodules or processes that you want to investigate and are within scope for this optimization initiative.
    3. Use tab 1.3 “SAP Capabilities” in Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook for a list of common SAP Level 1 and Level 2 modules/business capabilities.
    4. List the top modules, capabilities, or processes that will be within the scope of this optimization initiative.

    Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.

    The image contains a screenshot of an example of what to do for the activity 1.3.3.

    Download the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    1.3.4 Define your key SAP optimization modules and business capabilities

    1-3+ hours

    1. Look at the major functions or processes within the scope of ERP.
    2. From the inventory of current systems, choose the submodules or processes for this optimization initiative. Base this on those that are most critical to the business, those with the lowest levels of satisfaction, or those that perhaps need more knowledge around them.

    Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.

    The image contains a screenshot of the Key SAP Optimization Capabilities.

    Download the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    Step 1.4

    Define Optimization Timeframe

    Activities

    1.4.1 Define SAP key dates and SAP optimization roadmap timeframe and structure

    This step will guide you through the following activities:

    • Defining key dates related to your optimization initiative
    • Identifying key building blocks for your optimization roadmap

    This step involves the following participants:

    • SAP Optimization Team
    • Vendor Management

    Outcomes of this step

    • Optimization Key Dates
    • Optimization Roadmap Timeframe and Structure

    1.4.1 Optimization roadmap timeframe and structure

    1-3+ hours

    1. Record key items and dates relevant to your optimization initiatives, such as any products reaching end of life or end of contract or budget proposal submission deadlines.
    2. Enter the expected Optimization Initiative Start Date.
    3. Enter the Roadmap Length. This is the total amount of time you expect to participate in the SAP optimization initiative.
    4. This includes short-, medium- and long-term initiatives.
    5. Enter your Roadmap Date markers: how you want dates displayed on the roadmap.
    6. Enter Column time values: what level of granularity will be helpful for this initiative?
    7. Enter the sprint or cycle timeframe; use this if following Agile.

    Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.

    The image contains a screenshot of the Optimization Roadmap Timeframe and Structure.

    Download the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    Step 1.5

    Understand SAP Costs

    Activities

    1.5.1 Document costs associated with SAP

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Define your SAP direct and indirect costs
    • List your SAP expense line items

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Finance Representatives
    • SAP Optimization Team

    Outcomes of this step

    • Current SAP and related costs

    1.5.1 Document costs associated with SAP

    1-3 hours

    Before you can make changes and optimization decisions, you need to understand the high-level costs associated with your current application architecture. This activity will help you identify the types of technology and people costs associated with your current systems.

    1. Identify the types of technology costs associated with each current system:
      1. System Maintenance
      2. Annual Renewal
      3. Licensing
    2. Identify the cost of people associated with each current system:
      1. Full-Time Employees
      2. Application Support Staff
      3. Help Desk Tickets

    Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.

    The image contains a screenshot of the activity 1.5.1 on documenting costs associated with SAP.

    Download the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    Phase 2

    Assess Your Current State

    Phase 1

    Phase 2

    Phase 3

    Phase 4

    1.1 Identify Stakeholders and Build Your Optimization Team

    1.2 Build an SAP Strategy Model

    1.3 Inventory Current System State

    1.4 Define Optimization Timeframe

    1.5 Understand SAP Costs

    2.1 Assess SAP Capabilities

    2.2 Review Your Satisfaction With the Vendor/Product and Willingness for Change

    3.1 Prioritize Optimization Opportunities

    3.2 Discover Optimization Initiatives

    4.1 Build Your Optimization Roadmap

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    • Determine process relevance
    • Perform a gap analysis
    • Perform a user satisfaction survey
    • Assess software and vendor satisfaction

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • SAP Optimization Team
    • Users across functional areas of your ERP and related technologies

    Step 2.1

    Assess SAP Capabilities

    Activities

    2.1.1 Rate capability relevance to organizational goals

    2.1.2 Complete an SAP application portfolio assessment

    2.1.3 (Optional) Assess SAP process maturity

    This step will guide you through the following activities:

    • Capability relevance
    • Process gap analysis
    • Application Portfolio Assessment

    This step involves the following participants:

    • SAP Users

    Outcomes of this step

    • SAP Capability Assessment

    Benefits of the Application Portfolio Assessment

    The image contains a screenshot of the activity of assessing the health of the application portfolio.

    Assess the health of the application portfolio

    • Get a full 360-degree view of the effectiveness, criticality, and prevalence of all relevant applications to get a comprehensive view of the health of the applications portfolio.
    • Identify opportunities to drive more value from effective applications, retire nonessential applications, and immediately address at-risk applications that are not meeting expectations.
    The image contains a screenshot of the activity on providing targeted department feedback.

    Provide targeted department feedback

    • Share end-user satisfaction and importance ratings for core IT services, IT communications, and business enablement to focus on the right end-user groups or lines of business, and ramp up satisfaction and productivity.
    The image contains a screenshot of the activity on gaining insight into the state of data quality.

    Gain insight into the state of data quality

    • Data quality is one of the key issues causing poor CRM user satisfaction and business results. This can include the relevance, accuracy, timeliness, or usability of the organization’s data.
    • Targeted, open-ended feedback around data quality will provide insight into where optimization efforts should be focused.

    2.1.1 Complete a current-state assessment (via the Application Portfolio Assessment)

    3 hours

    Option 1: Use Info-Tech’s Application Portfolio Assessment to generate your user satisfaction score. This tool not only measures application satisfaction but also elicits great feedback from users regarding the support they receive from the IT team around SAP.

    1. Download the ERP Application Inventory Tool.
    2. Complete the “Demographics” tab (tab 2).
    3. Complete the “Inventory” tab (tab 3).
      1. Complete the inventory by treating each module within your SAP system as an application.
      2. Treat every department as a separate column in the department section. Feel free to add, remove, or modify department names to match your organization.
      3. Include data quality for all applications applicable.

    Option 2: Create a survey manually.

    1. Use tab (Reference) 2.1 “APA Questions” as a guide for creating your survey.
    2. Send out surveys to end users.
    3. Modify tab 2.1, “SAP Assessment,” if required.

    Record Results

    Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.

    The image contains a screenshot of the Application Portfolio Assessment.

    Download the ERP Application Inventory Tool

    Download the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    Sample Report from Application Portfolio Assessment.

    The image contains a screenshot of a sample report from the Application Portfolio Assessment.

    2.1.2 (Optional) Assess SAP process and technical maturity

    1-3 hours

    1. As with any ERP system, the issues encountered may not be related to the system itself but processes that have developed over time.
    2. Use this opportunity to interview key stakeholders to learn about deeper capability processes.
    • Identify key stakeholders.
    • Hold sessions to document deeper processes.
    • Discuss processes and technical enablement in each area.

    Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.

    The image contains an example of the process maturity activity.

    Download the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    Process Maturity Assessment

    The image contains a screenshot of the Process Maturity Assessment.

    Step 2.2

    Review Your Satisfaction With the Vendor/Product and Willingness for Change

    Activities

    2.2.1 Rate your vendor and product satisfaction

    2.2.2 Review SAP product scores (if applicable)

    2.2.3 Evaluate your product satisfaction

    2.2.4 Check your business process change tolerance

    This step will guide you through the following activities:

    • Rate your vendor and product satisfaction
    • Compare with survey data from SoftwareReviews

    This step involves the following participants:

    • SAP Product Owner(s)
    • Procurement Representative
    • Vendor Contracts Manager

    Outcomes of this step

    • Quantified satisfaction with vendor and product

    2.2.1 Rate your vendor and product satisfaction

    30 minutes

    Use Info-Tech’s vendor satisfaction survey to identify optimization areas with your ERP product(s) and vendor(s).

    1. Option 1 (recommended): Conduct a satisfaction survey using SoftwareReviews. This option allows you to see your results in the context of the vendor landscape.
    2. Option 2: Use the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook to review your satisfaction with your SAP software.

    Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.

    The image contains a screenshot of the activity Vendor Optimization.

    SoftwareReviews’ Enterprise Resource Planning Category

    Download the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    2.2.2 Review SAP product scores (if applicable)

    30 minutes

    1. Download the scorecard for your SAP product from the SoftwareReviews website. (Note: Not all products are represented or have sufficient data, so a scorecard may not be available.)
    2. Use the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook tab 2.2 “Vend. & Prod. Sat” to record the scorecard results.
    3. Use your Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook to flag areas where your score may be lower than the product scorecard. Brainstorm ideas for optimization.

    Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.

    The image contains a screenshot of the activity 2.2.2 review SAP product scores.

    Download the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    SoftwareReviews’ Enterprise Resource Planning Category

    2.2.3 How does your satisfaction compare with your peers?

    Use SoftwareReviews to explore product features, vendor experience, and capability satisfaction.

    The image contains two screenshots of SoftwareReviews. One is of the ERP Mid-Market, and the second is of the ERP Enterprise.

    Source: SoftwareReviews ERP Mid-Market, April 2022

    Source: SoftwareReviews ERP Enterprise, April 2022

    2.2.4 Check your business process change tolerance

    1 hours

    1. As a group, review the level 0 business capabilities on the previous slide.
    2. Assess the department’s willingness for change and the risk of maintaining the status quo.
    3. Color-code the level 0 business capabilities based on:
    • Green – Willing to follow best practices
    • Yellow – May be challenging or unique business model
    • Red – Low tolerance for change
  • For clarity, move to level 1 if specific areas need to be called out and use the same color code.
  • Input Output
    • Business process capability map
    • Heat map of risk areas that require more attention for validating best practices or minimizing customization
    Materials Participants
    • Whiteboard/flip charts
    • Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook
    • Implementation team
    • CIO
    • Key stakeholders

    Download Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook for additional process levels

    Heat map representing desire for best practice or those having the least tolerance for change

    The image contains a screenshot of a heat map to demonstrate desire for best practice or those having the least tolerance for change.

    Determine the areas of risk to conform to best practice and minimize customization. These will be areas needing focus from the vendor supporting change and guiding best practice. For example: Must be able to support our unique process manufacturing capabilities and enhance planning and visibility to detailed costing.

    Phase 3

    Identify Key Optimization Opportunities

    Phase 1

    Phase 2

    Phase 3

    Phase 4

    1.1 Identify Stakeholders and Build Your Optimization Team

    1.2 Build an SAP Strategy Model

    1.3 Inventory Current System State

    1.4 Define Optimization Timeframe

    1.5 Understand SAP Costs

    2.1 Assess SAP Capabilities

    2.2 Review Your Satisfaction With the Vendor/Product and Willingness for Change

    3.1 Prioritize Optimization Opportunities

    3.2 Discover Optimization Initiatives

    4.1 Build Your Optimization Roadmap

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    • Identify key optimization areas
    • Create an optimization roadmap

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • SAP Optimization Team

    Assessing application business value

    In this context…business value is

    the value of the business outcome that the application produces. Additionally, it is how effective the application is at producing that outcome.

    Business value is not

    the user’s experience or satisfaction with the application.

    The image contains a screenshot of a Venn Diagram. In the left circle, labelled The Business it contains the following text: Keepers of the organization’s mission, vision, and value statements that define IT success. The business maintains the overall ownership and evaluation of the applications. In the right circle labelled IT, it contains the following text: Technical subject-matter experts of the applications they deliver and maintain. Each IT function works together to ensure quality applications are delivered to stakeholder expectations. The middle space is labelled: Business Value of Applications.

    First, the authorities on business value need to define and weigh their value drivers that describe the priorities of the organization. This will allow the applications team to apply a consistent, objective, and strategically aligned evaluation of applications across the organization.

    Brainstorm IT initiatives to enable high areas of opportunity to support the business

    Brainstorm ERP optimization initiatives in each area. Ensure you are looking for all-encompassing opportunities within the context of IT, the business, and SAP systems.

    Capabilities are what the system and business does that creates value for the organization. Optimization initiatives are projects with a definitive start and end date, and they enhance, create, maintain, or remove capabilities with the goal of increasing value.

    The image contains a Venn Diagram with 3 circles. The circles are labelled as: Process, Technology, and Organization.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Enabling a high-performing organization requires excellent management practices and continuous optimization efforts. Your technology portfolio and architecture are important, but we must go deeper. Taking a holistic view of ERP technologies in the environments in which they operate allows for the inclusion of people and process improvements – this is key to maximizing business results. Using a formal ERP optimization initiative will drive business-IT alignment, identify IT automation priorities, and dig deep into continuous process improvement.

    Address process gaps:

    • ERP and related technologies are invaluable to the goal of organizational enablement, but they must have supported processes driven by business goals.
    • Identify areas where capabilities need to be improved and work toward optimization.

    Support user satisfaction:

    • The best technology in the world won’t deliver business results if it’s not working for the users who need it.
    • Understand concerns, communicate improvements, and support users in all roles.

    Improve data quality:

    • Data quality is unique to each business unit and requires tolerance, not perfection.
    • Implement data quality initiatives that are aligned with overall business objectives and aimed at addressing data practices and the data itself.

    Proactively manage vendors:

    • Vendor management is a critical component of technology enablement and IT satisfaction.
    • Assess your current satisfaction against that of your peers and work toward building a process that is best fit for your organization.

    Step 3.1

    Prioritize Optimization Opportunities

    Activities

    3.1.1 Prioritize optimization capability areas

    This step will guide you through the following activities:

    • Explore existing process gaps
    • Identify the impact of processes on user satisfaction
    • Identify the impact of data quality on user satisfaction
    • Review your overall product satisfaction and vendor management

    This step involves the following participants:

    • SAP Optimization Team

    Outcomes of this step

    • Application optimization plan

    The Business Value Matrix

    Rationalizing and quantifying the value of SAP

    Benefits can be realized internally and externally to the organization or department and have different drivers of value.

    • Financial benefits refer to the degree to which the value source can be measured through monetary metrics and are often quite tangible.
    • Human benefits refer to how an application can deliver value through a user’s experience.
    • Inward refers to value sources that have an internal impact and improve your organization’s effectiveness and efficiency in performing its operations.
    • Outward refers to value sources that come from your interaction with external factors, such as the market or your customers.

    Organizational Goals

    • Increased Revenue
    • Application functions that are specifically related to the impact on your organization’s ability to generate revenue and deliver value to your customers.

    • Reduced Costs
    • Reduction of overhead. The ways in which an application limits the operational costs of business functions.

    • Enhanced Services
    • Functions that enable business capabilities that improve the organization’s ability to perform its internal operations.

    • Reach Customers
    • Application functions that enable and improve the interaction with customers or produce market information and insights.

    Business Value Matrix

    The image contains a screenshot of a Business Value Matrix. It includes: Reach Customers, Increase Revenue or Deliver Value, Reduce Costs, and Enhance Services.

    Prioritize SAP optimization areas that will bring the most value to the organization

    Review your ERP capability areas and rate them according to relevance to organizational goals. This will allow you to eliminate optimization ideas that may not bring value to the organization.

    The image contains a screenshot of a graph that compares satisfaction by relevance to organizational goals to demonstrate high priority.

    3.1.1 Prioritize and rate optimization capability areas

    1-3 hours

    1. From the SAP capabilities, discuss areas of scope for the SAP optimization initiative.
    2. Discuss the four areas of the business value matrix and identify how each module, along with organizational goals, can bring value to the organization.
    3. Rate each of your SAP capabilities for the level of importance to your organization. The levels of importance are:
    • Crucial
    • Important
    • Secondary
    • Unimportant
    • Not applicable

    Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.

    The image contains a screenshot of activity 3.1.1.

    Download the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    Step 3.2

    Discover Optimization Initiatives

    Activities

    3.2.1 Discover product and vendor satisfaction opportunities

    3.2.2 Discover capability and feature optimization opportunities

    3.2.3 Discover process optimization opportunities

    3.2.4 Discover integration optimization opportunities

    3.2.5 Discover data optimization opportunities

    3.2.6 Discover SAP cost-saving opportunities

    This step will guide you through the following activities:

    • Explore existing process gaps
    • Identify the impact of processes on user satisfaction
    • Identify the impact of data quality on user satisfaction
    • Review your overall product satisfaction and vendor management

    This step involves the following participants:

    • SAP Optimization Team

    Outcomes of this step

    • Application optimization plan

    Satisfaction with SAP product

    The image contains three screenshots to demonstrate satisfaction with sap product.

    Improving vendor management

    Create a right-size, right-fit strategy for managing the vendors relevant to your organization.

    The image contains a diagram to demonstrate lower strategic value, higher vendor spend/switching costs, higher strategic value, and lower vendor spend/switching costs.

    Info-Tech Insight

    A vendor management initiative (VMI) is an organization’s formalized process for evaluating, selecting, managing, and optimizing third-party providers of goods and services.

    The amount of resources you assign to managing vendors depends on the number and value of your organization’s relationships. Before optimizing your vendor management program around the best practices presented in Info-Tech’s Jump Start Your Vendor Management Initiative blueprint, assess your current maturity and build the process around a model that reflects the needs of your organization.

    Note: Info-Tech uses VMI interchangeably with the terms “vendor management office (VMO),” “vendor management function,” “vendor management process,” and “vendor management program.”

    Jump Start Your Vendor Management Initiative

    3.2.1 Discover product and vendor satisfaction

    1-2 hours

    1. Use tab 3.1 “Optimization Priorities” and tab 2.2 “Vend. & Prod. Sat” to review the capabilities and features of your SAP system.
    2. Answer the following questions:
      1. Document overall product satisfaction.
      2. How does your satisfaction compare with your peers?
      3. Is the overall system fit for use?
      4. Do you have a proactive vendor management strategy in place?
      5. Is the product dissatisfaction at the point that you need to evaluate if it is time to replace the product?
      6. Could your vendor or Systems Integrator help you achieve better results?
    3. Review the Value Effort Matrix for each initiative.

    Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.

    Download the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    Examples from Application Portfolio Assessment

    The image contains screenshots from the Application Portfolio Assessment.

    3.2.2 Discover capability and feature optimization opportunities

    1-2 hours

    1. Use tab 3.1 “Optimization Priorities” and tab 2.2 “Vend. & Prod. Sat” to review the capabilities and features of your SAP system.
    2. Answer the following questions:
      1. What capabilities and features are performing the worst?
      2. Do other organizations and users struggle with these areas?
      3. Why is it not performing well?
      4. Is there an opportunity for improvement?
      5. What are some optimization initiatives that could be undertaken?
    3. Review the Value Effort Matrix for each initiative.

    Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.

    Download the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    Process optimization: the hidden goldmine

    In ~90% of SAP business process analysis reports, SAP identified significant potential for improving the existing SAP implementation, i.e. the large majority of customers are not yet using their SAP Business Suite to the full extent.

    Goals of Process Improvement

    Process Improvement Sample Areas

    Improvement Possibilities

    • Optimize business and improve value drivers
    • Reduce TCO
    • Reduce process complexity
    • Eliminate manual processes
    • Increase efficiencies
    • Support digital transformation and enablement
    • Order to cash
    • Procure to pay
    • Order to replenish
    • Plan to produce
    • Request to settle
    • Make to order
    • Make to stock
    • Purchase to order
    • Increase number of process instances processed successfully end-to-end
    • Increase number of instances processed in time
    • Increase degree of process automation
    • Speed up cycle times of supply chain processes
    • Reduce number of process exceptions
    • Apply internal best practices across organizational units

    3.2.3 Discover process optimization opportunities

    1-2 hours

    1. Use exercise 2.13 and tab 2.1 “SAP Current State Assessment” to assess process optimization opportunities.
    2. List underperforming capabilities around process.
    3. Answer the following:
      1. What is the state of the current processes?
      2. Is there an opportunity for process improvement?
      3. What are some optimization initiatives that could be undertaken in this area?

    Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.

    Download the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    Integration provides long-term usability

    Balance the need for secure, compliant data availability with organizational agility.

    The Benefits of Integration

    The Challenges of Integration

    • The largest benefit is the extended use of data. The ERP data can be used in the enterprise-level business intelligence suite rather than the application-specific analytics.
    • Enhanced data security. Integrated approaches lend themselves to auditable processes such as sign-on and limiting the email movement of data.
    • Regulatory compliance. Large multi-site organizations have many layers of regulation. A clear understanding of where orders, deliveries, and payments were made streamlines the audit process.
    • Extending a single instance ERP to multiple sites. The challenge for data management is the same as any SaaS application. The connection and data replication present challenges.
    • Combining data from equally high-volume systems. For SAP it is recommended that one instance is set to primary and all other sites are read-only to maintain data integrity.
    • Incorporating data from the separate system(s). The proprietary and locked-in nature of the data collection and definitions for ERP systems often limit the movement of data between separate systems.

    Common integration and consolidation scenarios

    Financial Consolidation

    Data Backup

    Synchronization Across Sites

    Legacy Consolidation

    • Require a holistic view of data format and accounting schedules.
    • Use a data center as the main repository to ensure all geographic locations have equal access to the necessary data.
    • Set up synchronization schedules based on data usage, not site location.
    • Carefully define older transactions. Only active transactions should be brought in the ERP. Send older data to storage.
    • Problem: Controlling financial documentation across geographic regions.
      Most companies are required to report in each region where they maintain a presence. Stakeholders and senior management also need a holistic view. This leads to significant strain on the financial department to consolidate both revenue and budget allocations for cross-site projects across the various geographic locations on a regular basis.
    • Solution: For enterprises with a single vendor, SAP-only portfolios, SAP can offer integration tools. For those needing to integrate with other ERPs, the use of a connector may be required to send financial data to the main system. The format and accounting calendar for transactions should match the primary ERP system to allow consolidation. The local-specific format should be a role-based customization at the level of the site’s specific instance.
    • Problem: ERP systems generate high volumes of data. Most systems have a defined schedule of back-up during off-hours. Multi-instance brings additional issues through lack of defined off-hours, higher volume of data, and the potential for cross-site or instance data relationships. This leads to headaches for both the database administrator and business analysts.
    • Solution: The best solution is an off-site data center with high availability. This may include cloud storage or hosted data centers. Regardless of where the data is stored, centralize the data and replicate to each site. Ensure that the data center can mirror the database and binary large object (BLOB) storage that exists for each site.
    • Problem: Providing access to up-to-date transactions requires copying of both contextual information (permissions, timestamp, location, history) and the transaction itself across multiple sites to allow local copies to be used for analysis and audits. The sheer volume of information makes timely synchronization difficult.
    • Solution: Not all data needs to be synchronized in a timely fashion. In SAP, administrators can use NetWeaver to maintain and alter global data synchronization through the Master Data Management module. Permissions can be given to users to perform on-demand synchronization of data attached to that user.
    • The Problem: Subsidiaries and acquired companies often have a Tier 2 ERP product. Prior to fully consolidating the processes many enterprises will want to migrate data to their ERP system to build compliance and audit trails. Migration of data often breaks historical linkages between transactions.
    • Solution: SAP offers tools to integrate data across applications that can be used as part of a data migration strategy. The process of data migration should be combined with data warehousing to ensure a cost-effective process. For most enterprises, the lack of experience in data migration will necessitate the use of consultants and independent software vendors (ISV).

    For more information: Implement a Multi-site ERP

    3.2.4 Discover integration optimization opportunities

    1-2 hours

    1. Use tab 1.3.1 “SAP Application Inventory” to discuss integrations and how they are related to capability areas that are not performing well.
    2. List capabilities that might be affected by integration issues. Think about exercise 3.2.1 and discuss how integrations could be affecting overall product satisfaction.
    3. Answer the following:
      1. Are there some areas where integration could be improved?
      2. Is there an opportunity for process improvement?
      3. What are some optimization initiatives that could be undertaken in this area?

    Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.

    Download the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    System and data optimization

    Consolidating your business and technology requires an overall system and data migration plan.

    The image contains a screenshot of a diagram that demonstrates three different integrations: system, organization, and data.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Have an overall data migration plan before beginning your systems consolidation journey to S/4HANA.

    Use a data strategy that fixes the enterprise-wide data management issues

    Your data management must allow for flexibility and scalability for future needs.

    IT has several concerns around ERP data and wide dissemination of that data across sites. Large organizations can benefit from building a data warehouse or at least adopting some of the principles of data warehousing. The optimal way to deal with the issue of integration is to design a metadata-driven data warehouse that acts as a central repository for all ERP data. They serve as the storage facility for millions of transactions, formatted to allow analysis and comparison.

    Key considerations:

    • Technical: At what stage does data move to the warehouse? Can processes be automated to dump data or to do a scheduled data movement?
    • Process: Data integration requires some level of historical context for all data. Ensure that all data has multiple metadata tags to future-proof the data.
    • People: Who will be accessing the data and what are the key items that users will need to adapt to the data warehouse process?

    Info-Tech Insight

    Data warehouse solutions can be expensive. See Info-Tech’s Build a Data Warehouse on a Solid Foundation for guidance on what options are available to meet your budget and data needs.

    Optimizing SAP data, additional considerations

    Data Quality Management

    Effective Data Governance

    Data-Centric Integration Strategy

    Extensible Data Warehousing

    • Prevention is ten times cheaper than remediation. Stop fixing data quality with band-aid solutions and start fixing at the source of the problem.
    • Data quality is unique to each business unit and requires tolerance, not perfection. If the data allows the business to operate at the desired level, don’t waste time fixing data that may not need to be fixed.
    • Implement a set of data quality initiatives that are aligned with overall business objectives and aimed at addressing data practices and the data itself.
    • Develop a prioritized data quality improvement project roadmap and long-term improvement strategy.
    • Build related practices with more confidence and less risk after achieving an appropriate level of data quality.
    • Data governance enables data-driven insight. Think of governance as a structure for making better use of data.
    • Collaboration is critical. The business may own the data, but IT understands the data. Data governance will not work unless the business and IT work together.
    • Data governance powers the organization up the data value chain through policies and procedures, master data management, data quality, and data architecture.
    • Create a roadmap to prioritize initiatives and delineate responsibilities among data stewards, data owners, and the data governance steering committee.
    • Ensure buy-in from business and IT stakeholders. Communicate initiatives to end users and executives to reduce resistance.
    • Every enterprise application involves data integration. Any change in the application and database ecosystem requires you to solve a data integration problem.
    • Data integration is becoming more and more critical for downstream functions of data management and for business operations to be successful. Poor integration holds back these critical functions.
    • Build your data integration practice with a firm foundation in governance and a reference architecture. Ensure that your process is scalable and sustainable.
    • Support the flow of data through the organization and meet the organization’s requirements for data latency, availability, and relevancy.
    • Data availability must be frequently reviewed and repositioned to continue to grow with the business.
    • A data warehouse is a project, but successful data warehousing is a program. An effective data warehouse requires planning beyond the technology implementation.
    • Governance, not technology, needs to be the core support system for enabling a data warehouse program.
    • Leverage an approach that focuses on constructing a data warehouse foundation that can address a combination of operational, tactical, and ad hoc business needs.
    • Invest time and effort to put together pre-project governance to inform and guide your data warehouse implementation.
    • Select the most suitable architecture pattern to ensure the data warehouse is “built right” at the very beginning.

    Restore Trust in Your Data Using a Business-Aligned Data Quality Management Approach

    Establish Data Governance

    Build a Data Integration Strategy

    Build an Extensible Data Warehouse Foundation

    Data Optimization

    Organizations are faced with challenges associated with changing data landscapes.

    Data migrations should not be taken lightly. It requires an overall data governance to assure data integrity for the move to S/4HANA and beyond.

    Have a solid plan before engaging S/4HANA Migration Cockpit.

    Develop a Master Data Management Strategy and Roadmap

    • Master data management (MDM) is complex in practice and requires investments in governance, technology, and planning.
    • Develop a MDM strategy and initiative roadmap using Info-Tech’s MDM framework, which takes data governance, architecture, and other critical data capabilities into consideration.

    Establish Data Governance

    • Ensure your data governance program delivers measurable business value by aligning the associated data governance initiatives with the business architecture.
    • Data governance must continuously align with the organization’s enterprise governance function. It should not be perceived as a pet project of IT but rather as an enterprise-wide, business-driven initiative.
    The image contains a screenshot of the S/4HANA Migration Cockpit.

    3.2.5 Discover data optimization opportunities

    1-2 hours

    1. Use your APA or user satisfaction survey to understand issues related to data.
      Note: Data issues happen for a number of reasons:
    • Poor underlying data in the system
    • More than one source of truth
    • Inability to consolidate data
    • Inability to measure KPIs effectively
    • Reporting that is cumbersome or non-existent
  • List underperforming capabilities related to data.
  • Answer the following:
    1. What are some underlying issues?
    2. Is there an opportunity for data improvement?
    3. What are some optimization initiatives that could be undertaken in this area?

    Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.

    Download the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    SAP cost savings

    SAP cost savings does not have to be complicated.

    Look for quick wins:

    • Evaluate user licensing:
      • Ensure you are not double paying for employees or paying for employees who are no longer with the organization.
      • Verify user activity – if users are accessing the system very infrequently it does not make sense to license them as full users.
      • Audit your user classifications – ensure title positions and associated licenses are up to date.
    • Curb data sprawl.
    • Consolidate applications.

    30-35% of SAP customers likely have underutilized assets. This can add up to millions in unused software and maintenance.

    -Riley et al.

    20% Only 20 percent of companies manage to capture more than half the projected benefits from ERP systems.

    -McKinsey
    The image contains a screenshot of the Explore the Secrets of SAP Software Contracts to Optimize Spend and Reduce Compliance Risk.

    Explore the Secrets of SAP Software Contracts to Optimize Spend and Reduce Compliance Risk

    The image contains a screenshot of Secrets of SAP S/4HANA Licensing.

    Secrets of SAP S/4HANA Licensing

    License Optimization

    With the relatively slow uptake of the S/4HANA platform, the pressure is immense for SAP to maintain revenue growth.

    SAP’s definitions and licensing rules are complex and vague, making it extremely difficult to purchase with confidence while remaining compliant.

    Without having a holistic negotiation strategy, it is easy to hit a common obstacle and land into SAP’s playbook, requiring further spend.

    Price Benchmarking & Negotiation

    • Use price benchmarking and negotiation intelligence to secure a market-competitive price.
    • Understand negotiation tactics that can be used to better your deal.

    Secrets of SAP S/4HANA Licensing:

    • Build a business case to evaluate S/4HANA.
    • Understand the S/4HANA roadmap and map current functionality to ensure compatibility.

    SAP’s 2025 Support End of Life Date Delayed…As Predicted Here First

    • The math simply did not add up for SAP.
    • Extended support post 2027 is a mixed bag.

    3.2.6 Discover SAP cost-saving opportunities

    1-2 hours

    1. Use tab 1.5 “Current Costs” as an input for this exercise.
    2. Look for opportunities to cut SAP costs, both quick-wins and long-term strategy.
    3. Review Info-Tech’s SAP vendor management resources to understand cost-saving strategies:
    4. List cost-savings initiatives and opportunities.

    Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.

    Download the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    Other optimization opportunities

    There are many opportunities to improve your SAP portfolio. Choose the ones that are right for your business:

    • Artificial intelligence (AI) (and management of the AI lifecycle)
    • Machine learning (ML)
    • Augment business interactions
    • Automatically execute sales pipelines
    • Process mining
    • SAP application monitoring
    • Be aware of the SAP product roadmap
    • Implement and take advantage of SAP tools and product offerings

    Phase 4

    Build Your Optimization Roadmap

    Phase 1

    Phase 2

    Phase 3

    Phase 4

    1.1 Identify Stakeholders and Build Your Optimization Team

    1.2 Build an SAP Strategy Model

    1.3 Inventory Current System State

    1.4 Define Optimization Timeframe

    1.5 Understand SAP Costs

    2.1 Assess SAP Capabilities

    2.2 Review Your Satisfaction With the Vendor/Product and Willingness for Change

    3.1 Prioritize Optimization Opportunities

    3.2 Discover Optimization Initiatives

    4.1 Build Your Optimization Roadmap

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    • Review the different options to solve the identified pain points
    • Build out a roadmap showing how you will get to those solutions
    • Build a communication plan that includes the stakeholder presentation

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • Primary stakeholders in each value stream supported by the ERP
    • ERP applications support team

    Get the Most Out of Your SAP

    Step 4.1

    4.1 Build Your Optimization Roadmap

    Activities

    4.1.1 Pick your path

    4.1.2 Pick the right SAP migration path

    4.1.3 Build a roadmap

    4.1.4 Build a visual roadmap

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Review the different options to solve the identified pain points then build out a roadmap of how to get to that solution.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Primary stakeholders in each value stream supported by the ERP
    • ERP applications support team

    Outcomes of this step

    • A strategic direction is set
    • An initial roadmap is laid out

    Choose the right path for your organization

    There are several different paths you can take to achieve your ideal future state. Make sure to pick the one that suits your needs as defined by your current state.

    The image contains a diagram to demonstrate the different paths that can be taken. The pathways are: Optimize current system, augment current system, consolidate current systems, upgrade system, and replace system.

    Explore the options for achieving your ideal future state

    CURRENT STATE

    STRATEGY

    There is significant evidence of poor user satisfaction, inefficient processes, lack of data usage, poor integrations, and little vendor management. Look for opportunities to improve the system.

    OPTIMIZE CURRENT SYSTEM

    Your existing application is, for the most part, functionally rich but may need some tweaking. Spend time and effort building and enhancing additional functionalities or consolidating and integrating interfaces.

    AUGMENT CURRENT SYSTEM

    Your ERP application portfolio consists of multiple apps serving the same functions. Consolidating applications with duplicate functionality is more cost efficient and makes integration and data sharing simpler.

    CONSOLIDATE CURRENT SYSTEMS

    The current system is reaching end of life and the software vendor offers a fit-for-use upgrade or system to which you can migrate. Prepare your migration strategy to move forward on the product roadmap.

    UPGRADE SYSTEM

    The current SAP system and future SAP roadmap are not fit for use. Vendor satisfaction is at an all-time low. Revisit your ERP strategy as you move into requirements gathering and selection.

    REPLACE SYSTEM

    Option: Optimize your current system

    Look for process, workflow, data usage, and vendor relation improvements.

    MAINTAIN CURRENT SYSTEM

    Keep the system but look for optimization opportunities.

    Your existing application portfolio satisfies both functionality and integration requirements. The processes surrounding it likely need attention, but the system should be considered for retention.

    Maintaining your current system entails adjusting current processes and/or adding new ones and involves minimal cost, time, and effort.

    INDICATORS

    POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

    People

    • User satisfaction is in the mid-range
    • There is an opportunity to rectify problems
    • Contact vendor to inquire about employee training opportunities
    • Build a change management strategy

    Process

    • Processes are old and have not been optimized
    • There are many manual processes and workarounds
    • Low process maturity or undocumented inconsistent processes
    • Explore process reengineering and process improvement opportunities
    • Evaluate and standardize processes

    Technology

    • No major capability gaps
    • Supported for 5+ years
    • Explore opportunities outside of the core technology including workflows, integrations, and reporting

    Alternative 1: Optimize your current system

    MAINTAIN CURRENT SYSTEM

    • Keep your SAP system running
    • Invest in resolving current challenges
    • Automate manual processes where appropriate
    • Improve/modify current system
    • Evaluate current system against requirements/processes
    • Reimplement functionality

    Alternative Overview

    Initial Investment ($)

    Medium

    Risk

    Medium

    Change Management Required

    Medium

    Operating Costs ($)

    Low

    Alignment With Organizational Goals and ERP Strategy

    Medium-Low

    Key Considerations

    • Now that I know my needs, where is the current system underused?
    • Do we have specialized needs?
    • Which functions can best enable the business?

    Advantages

    • Less cost investment than upgrading or replacing the system
    • Less technology risk
    • The current system has several optimization initiatives that can be implemented
    • Familiarity with the system; IT and business users know the system well
    • Least amount of changes
    • Integrations will be able to be maintained and will mean less complexity
    • Will allow us to leverage current investments and build on our current confidence in the solution
    • Allow us to review processes and engineer some workflow and process improvements

    Disadvantages

    • The system may need some augmentation to handle some improvement areas
    • Build some items from scratch
    • Less user-friendly
    • Need to reimplement and reconfigure some modules
    • Lots of workarounds – more staff needed to support current processes
    • Increase customization (additional IT development investment)
    • System gaps would remain
    • System feels “hard” to use
    • Workarounds still needed
    • Hard to overcome “negative” experience with the current system
    • Some functional gaps will remain
    • Less system development and support from the vendor as the product ages.
    • May become a liability and risk area in the future

    For what time frame does this make sense?

    Short Term

    Medium Term

    Long Term

    Option: Augment your current system

    Use augmentation to resolve your existing technology and data pain points.

    AUGMENT CURRENT SYSTEM

    Add to the system.

    Your existing application is for the most part functionally rich but may need some tweaking. Spend time and effort enhancing your current system.

    You will be able to add functions by leveraging existing system features. Augmentation requires limited investment and less time and effort than a full system replacement.

    INDICATORS

    POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

    Technology Pain Points

    • Lack of reporting functions
    • Lacking functional depth in key process areas
    • Add point solutions or enable modules to address missing functionality

    Data Pain Points

    • Poor data quality
    • Lack of data for processing and reporting
    • Single-source data entry
    • Add modules or augment processes to capture data

    Alternative 2: Augment current solution

    AUGMENT CURRENT SYSTEM

    Maintain core system.

    Invest in SAP modules or extended functionality.

    Add functionality with bolt-on targeted “best of breed” solutions.

    Invest in tools to make the SAP portfolio and ecosystem work better.

    Alternative Overview

    Initial Investment ($)

    High

    Risk

    High

    Change Management

    High

    Operating Costs ($)

    High

    Alignment With Organizational Goals and ERP Strategy

    High

    Key Considerations

    • Now that I know my needs, where is the current system underused?
    • Do we have specialized needs?
    • Which functions can best enable the business?

    Advantages

    • Meet specific business needs – right solution for each component
    • Well-aligned to specific business needs
    • Higher morale – best solution with improved user interface
    • Allows you to find the right solution for the unique needs of the organization
    • Allows you to incorporate a light change management strategy that can include training for the end users and IT
    • Incorporate best practice processes
    • Leverage out-of-the-box functionality

    Disadvantages

    • Multiple technological solutions
    • Lots of integrations
    • Out-of-sync upgrades
    • Extra costs – potential less negotiation leverage
    • Multiple solutions to support
    • Multiple vendors
    • Less control over upgrades – including timing (potential out of sync)
    • More training – multiple products, multiple interfaces
    • Confusion – which system to use when
    • Need more HR specialization
    • More complexity in reporting
    • More alignment with JDE E1 information

    For what time frame does this make sense?

    Short Term

    Medium Term

    Long Term

    Option: Consolidate systems

    Consolidate and integrate your current systems to address your technology and data pain points.

    CONSOLIDATE AND INTEGRATE SYSTEMS

    Get rid of one system, combine two, or connect many.

    Your ERP application portfolio consists of multiple apps serving the same functions.

    Consolidating your systems eliminates the need to manage multiple pieces of software that provide duplicate functionality. Reducing the number of ERP applications makes integration and data sharing simpler.

    INDICATORS

    POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

    Technology Pain Points

    • Disparate and disjointed systems
    • Multiple systems supporting the same function
    • Unused software licenses
    • System consolidation
    • System and module integration
    • Assess usage and consolidate licensing

    Data Pain Points

    • Multiple versions of same data
    • Duplication of data entry in different modules or systems
    • Poor data quality
    • Centralize core records
    • Assign data ownership
    • Single-source data entry

    Alternative 3: Consolidate systems

    AUGMENT CURRENT SYSTEM

    Get rid of old disparate on-premise solutions.

    Consolidate into an up-to-date ERP solution.

    Standardize across the organization.

    Alternative Overview

    Initial Investment ($)

    High

    Risk

    Med

    Change Management

    Med

    Operating Costs ($)

    Med

    Alignment With Organizational Goals and ERP Strategy

    High

    Key Considerations

    • Now that I know my needs, where is the current system underused?
    • Do we have specialized needs?
    • Which functions can best enable the business?

    Advantages

    • Aligns the technology across the organization
    • Streamlining of processes
    • Opportunity for decreased costs
    • Easier to maintain
    • Modernizes the SAP portfolio
    • Easier to facilitate training
    • Incorporate best practice processes
    • Leverage out-of-the-box functionality

    Disadvantages

    • Unique needs of some business units may not be addressed
    • Will require change management and training
    • Deeper investment in SAP

    For what time frame does this make sense?

    Short Term

    Medium Term

    Long Term

    Option: Upgrade System

    Upgrade your system to address gaps in your existing processes and various pain points.

    REPLACE CURRENT SYSTEM

    Move to a new SAP solution

    You’re transitioning from an end-of-life legacy system. Your existing system offers poor functionality and poor integration. It would likely be more cost- and time-efficient to replace the application and its surrounding processes altogether. You are satisfied with SAP overall and want to continue to leverage your SAP relationships and investments.

    INDICATORS

    POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

    Technology Pain Points

    • Obsolete or end-of-life technology portfolio
    • Lack of functionality and poor integration
    • Not aligned with technology direction or enterprise architecture plans
    • Evaluate the ERP technology landscape
    • Determine if you need to replace the current system with a point solution or an all-in-one solution
    • Align ERP technologies with enterprise architecture

    Data Pain Points

    • Limited capability to store and retrieve data
    • Understand your data requirements

    Process Pains

    • Insufficient tools to manage workflow
    • Review end-to-end processes
    • Assess user satisfaction

    Alternative 4: Upgrade System

    UPGRADE SYSTEM

    Upgrade your current SAP systems with SAP product replacements.

    Invest in SAP with the appropriate migration path for your organization.

    Alternative Overview

    Initial Investment ($)

    High

    Risk

    Med

    Change Management

    Med

    Operating Costs ($)

    Med

    Alignment With Organizational Goals and ERP Strategy

    High

    Key Considerations

    • Now that I know my needs, where is the current system underused?
    • Do we have specialized needs?
    • Which functions can best enable the business?

    Advantages

    • Aligns the technology across the organization
    • Opportunity for business transformation
    • Allows you to leverage your SAP and SI relationships
    • Modernizes your ERP portfolio
    • May offer you advantages around business transformation and process improvement
    • Opportunity for new hosting options
    • May offer additional opportunities for consolidation or business enablement

    Disadvantages

    • Big initiative
    • Costly
    • Adds business risk during ERP upgrade
    • May require a high amount of change management
    • Organization will have to build resources to support the replacement and ongoing support of the new product
    • Training will be required across business and IT
    • Integrations with other applications may need to be rebuilt

    For what time frame does this make sense?

    Short Term

    Medium Term

    Long Term

    Option: Replace your current system

    Replace your system to address gaps in your existing processes and various pain points.

    REPLACE CURRENT SYSTEM

    Start from scratch.

    You’re transitioning from an end-of-life legacy system. Your existing system offers poor functionality and poor integration. It would likely be more cost and time efficient to replace the application and its surrounding processes all together.

    INDICATORS

    POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

    Technology Pain Points

    • Lack of functionality and poor integration
    • Obsolete technology
    • Not aligned with technology direction or enterprise architecture plans
    • Dissatisfaction with SAP and SI
    • Evaluate the ERP technology landscape
    • Determine if you need to replace the current system with a point solution or an all-in-one solution
    • Align ERP technologies with enterprise architecture

    Data Pain Points

    • Limited capability to store and retrieve data
    • Understand your data requirements

    Process Pains

    • Insufficient tools to manage workflow
    • Review end-to-end processes
    • Assess user satisfaction

    Alternative 5: Replace SAP with another ERP solution

    AUGMENT CURRENT SYSTEM

    Get rid of old disparate on-premises solutions.

    Consolidate into an up-to-date ERP solution.

    Standardize across the organization.

    Alternative Overview

    Initial Investment ($)

    High

    Risk

    Med

    Change Management

    Med

    Operating Costs ($)

    Med

    Alignment With Organizational Goals and ERP Strategy

    High

    Key Considerations

    • Do we have the appetite to walk away from SAP?
    • What opportunities are we looking for?
    • Are other ERP solutions better for our business?

    Advantages

    • Allows you to explore ERP options outside of SAP
    • Aligns the technology across the organization
    • Opportunity for business transformation
    • Allows you to move away from SAP
    • Modernizes your ERP portfolio
    • May offer you advantages around business transformation and process improvement
    • Opportunity for new hosting options
    • May offer additional opportunities for consolidation or business enablement

    Disadvantages

    • Big initiative
    • Costly
    • Adds business risk during ERP replacement
    • Relationships will have to be rebuilt with ERP vendor and SIs
    • May require a high amount of change management
    • Organization will have to build resources to support the replacement and ongoing support of the new product
    • Training will be required across business and IT
    • Integrations with other applications may need to be rebuilt

    For what time frame does this make sense?

    Short Term

    Medium Term

    Long Term

    Activity 4.1.1: Pick your path

    1.5 hours

    For each given path selected, identify:

    • Advantage
    • Disadvantages
    • Initial Investment ($)
    • Risk
    • Change Management
    • Operating Costs ($)
    • Alignment With ERP Objectives
    • Key Considerations
    • Timeframe

    Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.

    The image contains a screenshot of activity 4.1.1 pick your path.

    Download the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    Pick the right SAP migration path for your organization

    There are three S/4HANA paths you can take to achieve your ideal future state. Make sure to pick the one that suits your needs as defined by your current state and meets your overall long-term roadmap.

    The image contains a diagram of the pathways that can be take from current state to future state. The options are: BEST PRACTICE QUICK WIN
(Public Cloud), AUGMENT BEST PRACTICE (Private Cloud), OWN FULL SOLUTION (On Premise)

    SAP S/4 HANA offerings can be confusing

    The image contains a screenshot that demonstrates the SAP S/4 Offerings.

    What is the cloud, how is it deployed, and how is service provided?

    The image contains a screenshot from the National Institute of Standards and Technology that describes the Cloud Characteristics, Service Model, and Delivery Model.

    A workload-first approach will allow you to take full advantage of the cloud’s strengths

    • Under all but the most exceptional circumstances good cloud strategies will incorporate different service models. Very few organizations are “IaaS shops” or “SaaS shops,” even if they lean heavily in a one direction.
    • These different service models (including non-cloud options like colocation and on-premises infrastructure) each have different strengths. Part of your cloud strategy should involve determining which of the services makes the most sense for you.
    • Own the cloud by understanding which cloud (or non-cloud!) offering makes the most sense for you, given your unique context.

    See Info-Tech’s Define Your Cloud Vision for more information.

    Cloud service models

    • This research focuses on five key service models, each of which has its own strengths and weaknesses. Moving right from “on-prem” customers gradually give up more control over their environments to cloud service providers.
    • An entirely premises-based environment means that the customer is responsible for everything ranging from the dirt under the datacenter to application-level configurations. Conversely, in a SaaS environment, the provider is responsible for everything but those top-level application configurations.
    • A managed service provider or other third-party can manage any or of the components of the infrastructure stack. A service provider may, for example, build a SaaS solution on top of another provider’s IaaS or offer configuration assistance with a commercially available SaaS.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Not all workloads fit well in the cloud. Many environments will mix service models (e.g. SaaS for some workloads, some in IaaS, some on-premises) and this can be perfectly effective. It must be consistent and intentional, however.

    The image contains a screenshot of cloud service models: On-prem, CoLo, laaS, PaaS, and SaaS

    Option: Best Practice Quick Win

    S/4HANA Cloud, Essentials

    Updates

    4 times a year

    License Model

    Subscription

    Server Platform

    SAP

    Platform Management

    SAP only

    Pre-Set Templates (industries)

    Not allowed

    Single vs. Multi-Tenant

    Multi-client

    Maintenance ALM Tool

    SAP ALM

    New Implementation

    This is a public cloud solution for new clients adopting SAP that are mostly looking for full functionality within best practice.

    Consider a full greenfield approach. Even for mid-size existing customers looking for a best-practice overhaul.

    Functionality is kept to the core. Any specialties or unique needs would be outside the core.

    Regional localization is still being expanded and must be evaluated early if you are a global company.

    Option: Augment Best Practice

    S/4HANA Cloud, Extended Edition

    Updates

    Every 1-2 years or up to client’s schedule

    License Model

    Subscription

    Server Platform

    AZURE, AWS, Google

    Platform Management

    SAP only

    Pre-Set Templates (industries)

    Coded separately

    Single vs. Multi-Tenant

    Single tenant

    Maintenance ALM Tool

    SAP ALM or SAP Solution Manager

    New Implementation With Client Specifics

    No longer available to new customers from January 25, 2022, though available for renewals.

    Replacement is called SAP Extended Services for SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition.

    This offering is a grey area, and the extended offerings are being defined.

    New S/4HANA Cloud extensibility is being offered to early adopters, allowing for customization within a separate system landscape (DTP) and aiming for an SAP Central Business Configuration solution for the cloud. A way of fine-tuning to meet customer-specific needs.

    Option: Augment Best Practice (Cont.)

    S/4HANA Cloud, Private Edition

    Updates

    Every 1-5 years or up to client’s schedule

    License Model

    Subscription

    Server Platform

    AZURE, AWS, Google

    Platform Management

    SAP only

    Pre-Set Templates (industries)

    Allowed

    Single vs. Multi-Tenant

    Single tenant

    Maintenance ALM Tool

    SAP ALM or SAP Solution Manager

    New Implementation With Client Specifics

    This is a private cloud solution for existing or new customers needing more uniqueness, though still looking to adopt best practice.

    Still considered a new implementation with data migration requirements that need close attention.

    This offering is trying to move clients to the S/4HANA Cloud with close competition with the Any Premise product offering. Providing client specific scalability while allowing for standardization in the cloud and growth in the digital strategy. All customizations and ABAP functionality must be revisited or revamped to fit standardization.

    Option: Own Full Solution

    S/4HANA Any Premise

    Updates

    Client decides

    License Model

    Perpetual or subscription

    Server Platform

    AZURE, AWS, Google, partner's or own server room

    Platform Management

    Client and/or partner

    Pre-Set Templates (industries)

    Allowed

    Single vs. Multi-Tenant

    Single tenant

    Maintenance ALM Tool

    SAP Solution Manager

    Status Quo Migration to S/4HANA

    This is for clients looking for a quick transition to S/4HANA with minimal risks and without immediate changes to their operations.

    Though knowing the direction with SAP is toward its cloud solution, this may be a long costly path to getting the that end state.

    The Any Premise version carries over existing critical ABAP functionalities, and the SAP GUI can remain as the user interface.

    Activity 4.1.2 (Optional) Evaluate optimization initiatives

    1 hour

    1. If there is an opportunity to optimize the current SAP environment or prepare for the move to a new platform, continue with this step.
    2. Valuate your optimization initiatives from tab 3.2 “Optimization Initiatives.”

    Consider: relevance to achieving goals, number of users, importance to role, satisfaction with features, usability, data quality

    Value Opportunities: increase revenue, decrease costs, enhanced services, reach customers

    Additional Factors:

    • Current to Future Risk Profile
    • Number of Departments to Benefit
    • Importance to Stakeholder Relations
    • Resources: Do we have resources available and the skillset?
    • Cost
    • Overall Effort Rating
    • "Gut Check: Is it achievable? Have we done it or something similar before? Are we willing to invest in it?"

    Prioritize

    • Relative priority
    • Determine if this will be included in your optimization roadmap
    • Decision to proceed
    • Next steps

    Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.

    Download the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    Activity 4.1.3 Roadmap building blocks: SAP migration

    1 hour

    Migration paths: Determine your migration path and next steps using the Activity 4.1.1 “SAP System Options.”

    1. Identify initiatives and next steps.
    2. For each item on your roadmap, assign an owner who will be accountable to the completion of the roadmap item.
    3. Wherever possible, assign a start date, month, or quarter. The more specific you can be the better.
    4. Identify completion dates to create a sense of urgency. If you are struggling with start dates, it can help to start with a finish date and “back in” to a start date based on estimated efforts.
    5. Include periphery tasks such as communication strategy.

    Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.

    Note: Your roadmap should be treated as a living document that is updated and shared with the stakeholders on a regular schedule.

    The image contains a diagram of the pathways that can be take from current state to future state. The options are: BEST PRACTICE QUICK WIN
(Public Cloud), AUGMENT BEST PRACTICE (Private Cloud), OWN FULL SOLUTION (On Premise)

    Download the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    Activity 4.1.4 Roadmap building blocks: SAP optimization

    1 hour

    Optimization initiatives: Determine which if any to proceed with.

    1. Identify initiatives.
    2. For each item on your roadmap, assign an owner who will be accountable to the completion of the roadmap item.
    3. Wherever possible, assign a start date, month, or quarter. The more specific you can be the better.
    4. Identify completion dates to create a sense of urgency. If you are struggling with start dates, it can help to start with a finish date and “back in” to a start date based on estimated efforts.
    5. Include periphery tasks such as communication strategy.

    Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.

    Note: Your roadmap should be treated as a living document that is updated and shared with the stakeholders on a regular schedule.

    The image contains a screenshot of activity 4.1.4 SAP optimization.

    Download the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    SAP optimization roadmap

    Initiative

    Owner

    Start Date

    Completion Date

    Create final workshop deliverable

    Info-Tech

    16 September 2021

    Review final deliverable

    Workshop sponsor

    Present to executive team

    October 2021

    Build business case

    CFO, CIO, Directors

    3 weeks to build

    3-4 weeks process time

    Build an RFI for initial costings

    1-2 weeks

    Stage 1 approval for requirements gathering

    Executive committee

    Milestone

    Determine and acquire BA support for next step

    1 week

    Requirements gathering – level 2 processes

    Project team

    1 week

    Build RFP (based on informal approval)

    CFO, CIO, Directors

    4th calendar quarter 2022

    Possible completion: January 2023

    2-4 weeks

    Data strategy optimization

    The image contains a graph to demonstrate the data strategy optimization.

    Activity 4.1.5 (Optional) Build a visual SAP roadmap

    1 hour

    1. For some, a visual representation of a roadmap is easier to comprehend. Consider taking the roadmap built in 4.1.4 and creating a visual.
    2. Record this information in the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook.

      The image contains a screenshot of activity 4.1.5 build a visual SAP roadmap.

    Download the Get the Most Out of Your SAP Workbook

    SAP strategy roadmap

    The image contains a screenshot of the SAP strategy roadmap.

    Implementations Partners

    • Able to consult, migrate, implement, and manage the SAP S/4HANA business suite across industries.
    • Able to transform the enterprise’s core business system to achieve the desired outcome.
    • Capable in strategic planning, building business cases, developing roadmaps, cost and time analysis, deployment model (on-prem, cloud, hybrid model), database conversion, database and operational support, and maintenance services.

    Info-Tech Insight

    It is becoming a common practice for implementation partners to engage in a two- to three-month Discovery Phase or Phase 0 to prepare an implementation roadmap. It is important to understand how this effort is tied to the overall service agreement.

    The image contains several logos of the implementation partners: Atos, Accenture, Cognizant, EY, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, LTI, Capgemini, Wipro, IBM, tos.

    Summary of Accomplishment

    Get the Most Out of Your SAP

    ERP technology is critical to facilitating an organization’s flow of information across business units. It allows for seamless integration of systems and creates a holistic view of the enterprise to support decision making. ERP implementation should not be a one-and-done exercise. There needs to be an ongoing optimization to enable business processes and optimal organizational results.

    Get the Most Out of Your SAP allows organizations to proactively implement continuous assessment and optimization of their enterprise resource planning system, including:

    • Alignment and prioritization of key business and technology drivers.
    • Identification of processes, including classification and gap analysis.
    • Measurement of user satisfaction across key departments.
    • Improved vendor relations.
    • Data quality initiatives.

    This formal SAP optimization initiative will drive business-IT alignment, identify IT automation priorities, and dig deep into continuous process improvement.

    If you would like additional support, have our analysts guide you through other phases as part of an Info-Tech workshop.

    Contact your account representative for more information.

    workshops@infotech.com

    1-888-670-8889

    Research Contributors

    The image contains a picture of Ben Dickie.

    Ben Dickie

    Research Practice Lead

    Info-Tech Research Group

    Ben Dickie is a Research Practice Lead at Info-Tech Research Group. His areas of expertise include customer experience management, CRM platforms, and digital marketing. He has also led projects pertaining to enterprise collaboration and unified communications.

    The image contains a picture of Scott Bickley.

    Scott Bickley

    Practice Lead and Principal Research Director

    Info-Tech Research Group

    Scott Bickley is a Practice Lead and Principal Research Director at Info-Tech Research Group focused on vendor management and contract review. He also has experience in the areas of IT asset management (ITAM), software asset management (SAM), and technology procurement along with a deep background in operations, engineering, and quality systems management.

    The image contains a picture of Andy Neil.

    Andy Neil

    Practice Lead, Applications

    Info-Tech Research Group

    Andy is a Senior Research Director, Data Management and BI, at Info-Tech Research Group. He has over 15 years of experience in managing technical teams, information architecture, data modeling, and enterprise data strategy. He is an expert in enterprise data architecture, data integration, data standards, data strategy, big data, and the development of industry standard data models.

    Bibliography

    Armel, Kate. "New Article: Data-Driven Estimation, Management Lead to High Quality." QSM: Quantitative Software Management, 14 May 2013. Accessed 4 Feb. 2021.

    Enterprise Resource Planning. McKinsey, n.d. Accessed 13 Apr. 2022.

    Epizitone, Ayogeboh. Info-Tech Interview, 10 May 2021.

    Epizitone, Ayogeboh, and Oludayo O. Olugbara. “Principal Component Analysis on Morphological Variability of Critical Success Factors for Enterprise Resource Planning.” International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications (IJACSA), vol. 11, no. 5, 2020. Web.

    Gheorghiu, Gabriel. "The ERP Buyer’s Profile for Growing Companies." Selecthub, 2018. Accessed 21 Feb. 2021.

    Karlsson, Johan. "Product Backlog Grooming Examples and Best Practices." Perforce, 18 May 2018. Accessed 4 Feb. 2021.

    Lichtenwalter, Jim. “A look back at 2021 and a look ahead to 2022.” ASUG, 23 Jan. 2022. Web.

    “Maximizing the Emotional Economy: Behavioral Economics." Gallup, n.d. Accessed 21 Feb. 2021.

    Mell, Peter, and Timothy Grance. “The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing.” National Institute of Standards and Technology. Sept. 2011. Web.

    Norelus, Ernese, Sreeni Pamidala, and Oliver Senti. "An Approach to Application Modernization: Discovery and Assessment Phase," Medium, 24 Feb 2020. Accessed 21 Feb. 2021.

    “Process Frameworks." APQC, n.d. Accessed 21 Feb. 2021.

    “Quarterly number of SAP S/4HANA subscribers worldwide, from 2015 to 2021.” Statista, n.d. Accessed 13 Apr. 2022.

    Riley, L., C.Hanna, and M. Tucciarone. “Rightsizing SAP in these unprecedented times.” Upperedge, 19 May 2020.

    Rubin, Kenneth S. Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process. Pearson Education, 2012.

    “SAP S/4HANA Product Scorecard Report.” SoftwareReviews, n.d. Accessed 18 Apr. 2022.

    Saxena, Deepak, and Joe Mcdonagh. "Evaluating ERP Implementations: The Case for a Lifecycle-based Interpretive Approach." The Electronic Journal of Information Systems Evaluation, vol. 22, no. 1, 2019, pp. 29-37. Accessed 21 Feb. 2021.

    Smith, Anthony. "How To Create A Customer-Obsessed Company Like Netflix." Forbes, 12 Dec. 2017. Accessed 21 Feb. 2021.

    Pandemic Preparation – The People Playbook

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    • Parent Category Name: Lead
    • Parent Category Link: /lead
    • Keeping employees safe – limiting exposure of employees to the virus and supporting them in the event they become ill.
    • Reducing potential disruption to business operations through employee absenteeism and travel restrictions.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Communication of facts and definitive action plans from credible leaders is the key to maintaining some stability during a time of uncertainty.
    • Remote work is no longer a remote possibility – implementing alternative temporary work arrangements that keep large groups of employees from congregating reduce risk of employee exposure and operational downtime.
    • Pandemic travel protocols are necessary to support staff and their continuation of work while traveling for business and/or if stuck in a high-risk, restricted area.

    Impact and Result

    • Assign accountability of key planning decisions to members of a pandemic response team.
    • Craft key messages in preparation for communicating to employees.
    • Cascade communications from credible sources in a way that will establish pandemic travel protocols.

    Pandemic Preparation – The People Playbook Research & Tools

    Start here. Read the Pandemic Preparation: The People Playbook

    Read our concise Playbook to find out how you can immediately prepare for the people side of pandemic planning.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    • Pandemic Preparation: The People Playbook
    [infographic]

    Modernize Your Applications

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    • member rating average days saved: Read what our members are saying
    • Parent Category Name: Architecture & Strategy
    • Parent Category Link: /architecture-and-strategy
    • Application modernization is essential to stay competitive and productive in today’s digital environment. Your stakeholders have outlined their digital business goals that IT is expected to meet.
    • Your application portfolio cannot sufficiently support the flexibility and efficiency the business needs because of legacy challenges.
    • Your teams do not have a framework to illustrate, communicate, and justify the modernization effort and organizational changes in the language your stakeholders understand.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Build your digital applications around continuous modernization. End-user needs, technology, business direction, and regulations rapidly change in today’s competitive and fast-paced industry. This reality will quickly turn your modern applications into shelfware. Build continuous modernization at the center of your digital application vision to keep up with evolving business, end-user, and IT needs.
    • Application modernization is organizational change management. If you build and modernize it, they may not come. The crux of successful application modernization is centered on the strategic, well-informed, and onboarded adoption of changes in key business areas, capabilities, and processes. Organizational change management must be front and center so that applications are fit for purpose and are something that end users want and need to use.
    • Business-IT collaboration is not optional. Application modernization will not be successful if your lines of business (LOBs) and IT are not working together. IT must empathize how LOBs operate and proactively support the underlying operational systems. LOBs must be accountable for all products leveraging modern technologies and be able to rationalize the technical feasibility of their digital application vision.

    Impact and Result

    • Establish the digital application vision. Gain a grounded understanding of the digital application construct and prioritize these attributes against your digital business goals.
    • Define your modernization approach. Obtain a thorough view of your business and technical complexities, risks, and impacts. Employ the right modernization techniques based on your organization’s change tolerance.
    • Build your roadmap. Clarify the organizational changes needed to support modernization and adoption of your digital applications.

    Modernize Your Applications Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should strategically modernize your applications, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Set your vision

    Describe your application vision and set the right modernization expectations with your stakeholders.

    • Modernize Your Applications – Phase 1: Set Your Vision

    2. Identify your modernization opportunities

    Focus your modernization efforts on the business opportunities that your stakeholders care about.

    • Modernize Your Applications – Phase 2: Identify Your Modernization Opportunities

    3. Plan your modernization

    Describe your modernization initiatives and build your modernization tactical roadmap.

    • Modernize Your Applications – Phase 3: Plan Your Modernization
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Modernize Your Applications

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Set Your Vision

    The Purpose

    Discuss the goals of your application modernization initiatives

    Define your digital application vision and priorities

    List your modernization principles

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Clear application modernization objectives and high priority value items

    Your digital application vision and attributes

    Key principles that will guide your application modernization initiatives

    Activities

    1.1 State Your Objectives

    1.2 Characterize Your Digital Application

    1.3 Define Your Modernization Principles

    Outputs

    Application modernization objectives

    Digital application vision and attributes definitions

    List of application modernization principles and guidelines

    2 Identify Your Modernization Opportunities

    The Purpose

    Identify the value streams and business capabilities that will benefit the most from application modernization

    Conduct a change tolerance assessment

    Build your modernization strategic roadmap

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Understanding of the value delivery improvements modernization can bring

    Recognizing the flexibility and tolerance of your organization to adopt changes

    Select an approach that best fits your organization’s goals and capacity

    Activities

    2.1 Identify the Opportunities

    2.2 Define Your Modernization Approach

    Outputs

    Value streams and business capabilities that are ideal modernization opportunities

    Your modernization strategic roadmap based on your change tolerance and modernization approach

    3 Plan Your Modernization

    The Purpose

    Identify the most appropriate modernization technique and the scope of changes to implement your techniques

    Develop an actionable tactical roadmap to complete your modernization initiatives

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Clear understanding of what must be changed to the organization and application considering your change tolerance

    An achievable modernization plan

    Activities

    3.1 Shortlist Your Modernization Techniques

    3.2 Roadmap Your Modernization Initiatives

    Outputs

    Scope of your application modernization initiatives

    Your modernization tactical roadmap

    Get the Best Discount Possible With a Data-Driven Negotiation Approach

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    • Parent Category Name: Selection & Implementation
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    • Vendors have well-honed negotiation strategies that don’t prioritize the customer’s best interest, and they will take advantage of your weaknesses to extract as much money as they can from the deal.
    • IT teams are often working with time pressure and limited resources or experience in negotiation. Even those with an experienced procurement team aren’t evenly matched with the vendor when it comes to the ins and outs of the product.
    • As a result, many have a poor negotiation experience and fail to get the discount they wanted, ultimately leading to dissatisfaction with the vendor.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Requirements should always come first, but IT leaders are under pressure to get discounts and cost ends up playing a big role in decision making.
    • Cost is one of the top factors influencing satisfaction with software and the decision to leave a vendor.
    • The majority of software customers are receiving a discount. If you’re in the minority who are not, there are strategies you can and should be using to improve your negotiating skills. Discounts of up to 40% off list price are available to those who enter negotiations prepared.

    Impact and Result

    • SoftwareReviews data shows that there are multiple benefits to taking a concerted approach to negotiating a discount on your software.
    • The most common ways of getting a discount (e.g. volume purchasing) aren’t necessarily the best methods. Choose a strategy that is appropriate for your organization and vendor relationship and that focuses on maximizing the value of your investment for the long term. Optimizing usage or licenses as a discount strategy leads to the highest software satisfaction.
    • Using a vendor negotiation service or advisory group was one of the most successful strategies for receiving a discount. If your team doesn’t have the right negotiation expertise, Info-Tech can help.

    Get the Best Discount Possible With a Data-Driven Negotiation Approach Research & Tools

    Prepare to negotiate

    Leverage insights from SoftwareReviews data to best position yourself to receive a discount through your software negotiations.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    • Get the Best Discount Possible with a Data-Driven Negotiation Approach Storyboard
    [infographic]

    Navigate the Digital ID Ecosystem to Enhance Customer Experience

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    • Parent Category Name: IT Strategy
    • Parent Category Link: /it-strategy
    • Amid the pandemic-fueled surge in online services, organizations require secure solutions to safeguard digital interactions. These solutions must be uniform, interoperable, and fortified against security threats.
    • Although the digital identity ecosystem has garnered significant attention and investment, many organizations remain uncertain about its potential for authentication and the authorization required for B2B and B2C transactions, and in turn reducing their cost of operations and transferring their data risks.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Limited / lack of understanding of the global digital ID ecosystem and its varying approaches across countries handicaps businesses in defining the benefits digital ID can bring to customer interactions and overall business management.
    • In addition, key obstacles exist in balancing customer privacy, data security, and regulatory requirements while pursuing excellent end-user experience and high customer adoption.
    • Info-Tech Insight: Focusing on customer touchpoints and transforming them are key to excellent experience and increasing their life-time value (LTV) to them and to your organization. Digital ID is that tool of transformation.

    Impact and Result

    • Digital ID has many dimensions, and its ecosystem's sustainability lies in the key principles it is built on. Understanding the digital identity ecosystem and its responsibilities is crucial to formulating an approach to adopt it. Also, focusing on key success factors drives digital ID adoption.
    • Before embarking on the digital identity adoption journey, it is essential to assess your readiness. It is also necessary to understand the risks and challenges. Specific steps to digital ID adoption can help realize the potential of digital identity and enhance the customers' experience.

    Navigate the Digital ID Ecosystem to Enhance Customer Experience Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Navigate the Digital ID Ecosystem to Enhance Customer Experience Storyboard – Learn how to adopt Digital ID to drive benefits, enhance customer experience, improve efficiency, manage data risks, and uncover new opportunities.

    This research focuses on verified digital identity ecosystems and explores risks, opportunities, and challenges of relying on verified digital IDs and also how adopting digital identity initiatives can improve customer experience and operational efficiency. It covers:

  • Definition and dimensions of digital identity
  • Key responsibilities and principles of digital identity ecosystem
  • Success factors for digital identity adoption
  • Global evolution and unique approaches in Estonia, India, Canada, UK, and Australia
  • Industries that benefit most from digital ID development
  • Key use cases of digital ID
  • Benefits to governments, ID providers, ID consumers, and end users
  • Readiness checklist and ten steps to digital ID adoption
  • Risks and challenges of digital identity adoption
  • Key recommendations to realize potential of digital identity
  • Taxonomy and definitions of terms in the digital identity ecosystem
    • Navigate the Digital ID Ecosystem to Enhance Customer Experience Storyboard
    • Familiarize Yourself With the Digital ID Ecosystem Taxonomy
    • Assess Your Digital ID Adoption Readiness

    Infographic

    Further reading

    Navigate the Digital ID Ecosystem to Enhance Customer Experience

    Beyond the hype: How it can help you become more customer-focused?

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    Common Obstacles

    Info-Tech’s Approach

    Amid the pandemic-fueled surge of online services, organizations require secure solutions to safeguard digital interactions. These solutions must be uniform, interoperable, and fortified against security threats.

    Although the digital identity ecosystem has garnered significant attention and investment, many organizations remain uncertain about its potential for authentication and authorization required for B2B and B2C transactions.

    They still wonder if digital ID can help reduce cost of operations and transfer data risks.

    Limited or lack of understanding of the global Digital ID ecosystem and its varying approaches across countries handicap businesses in defining the potential benefits Digital ID can bring to customer interactions and overall business management.

    In addition, key obstacles exist in balancing customer privacy (including the right to be forgotten), data security, and regulatory requirements while pursuing desired end-user experience and high customer adoption.

    Digital ID has many dimensions, and its ecosystem's sustainability lies in the key principles it is built on. Understanding the digital identity ecosystem and its responsibilities is crucial to formulate an approach to adopt it. Also, focusing on key success factors drives digital ID adoption.

    Before embarking on the digital identity adoption journey, it is essential to assess your readiness. It is also necessary to understand the risks and challenges. Specific steps to digital ID adoption can help realize the potential of digital identity and enhance the customers' experience.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Focusing on customer touchpoints and transforming them is key to excellent user experience and increasing their lifetime value (LTV) to them and to your organization. Digital ID is that tool of transformation.

    Analyst Perspective

    Manish Jain.

    Manish Jain

    Principal Research Director

    Analyst Profile

    “I just believed. I believed that the technology would change people's lives. I believed putting real identity online - putting technology behind real identity - was the missing link.”

    - Sheryl Sandberg (Brockes, Emma. “Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg: who are you calling bossy?” The Guardian, 5 April 2014)

    Sometimes dismissed as mere marketing gimmicks, digital identity initiatives are anything but. While some argue that any online credential is a "Digital ID," rendering the hype around it pointless, the truth is that a properly built digital ID ecosystem has the power to transform laggard economies into global digital powerhouses. Moreover, digital IDs can help businesses transfer some of their cybersecurity risks and unlock new revenue channels by enabling a foundation for secure and efficient value delivery.

    In addition, digital identity is crucial for digital and financial inclusion, simplifying onboarding processes and opening up new opportunities for previously underserved populations. For example, in India, the Aadhaar digital ID ecosystem brought over 481 million1 people into the formal economy by enabling access to financial services. Similarly, in Indonesia, the e-KIP digital ID program paved the way for 10 million new bank accounts, 94% of which were for women2.

    However, digital identity initiatives also come with valid concerns, such as the risk of a single point of failure and the potential to widen the digital divide.

    This research focuses on the verified digital identity ecosystem, exploring the risks, opportunities, and challenges organizations face relying on these verified digital IDs to know their customers before delivering value. By understanding and adopting digital identity initiatives, organizations can unlock their full potential and provide a seamless customer experience while ensuring operational efficiency.

    1 India Aadhaar PMJDY (https://pmjdy.gov.in/account)
    2 Women’s World Banking, 2020.

    Digital Identity Ecosystem and vital ingredients of adoption

    Digital Identity Ecosystem.

    What is digital identity?

    Definitions may vary, depending on the focus.

    “Digital identity (ID) is a set of attributes that links a physical person with their online interactions. Digital ID refers to one’s online persona - an online footprint. It touches important aspects of one’s everyday life, from financial services to health care and beyond.” - DIACC Canada

    “Digital identity is a digital representation of a person. It enables them to prove who they are during interactions and transactions. They can use it online or in person.” - UK Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework

    “Digital identity is an electronic representation of an entity (person or other entity such as a business) and it allows people and other entities to be recognized online.” - Australia Trusted Digital Identity Framework

    A digital identity is primarily an electronic form of identity representing an entity uniquely , while abstracting all other identity attributes of the entity. In addition to an electronic form, it may also exist in a physical form (identity certificate), linked through an identifier representing the same entity.

    Digital identity has many dimensions*, and in turn categories

    Trust

    • Verified (Govt. issued IDs)
    • Unverified (Email Id)

    Subject

    • Individual
    • Organization
    • Device
    • Service

    Usability

    • Single-purpose (Disposable)
    • Multi-purpose (Reusable)

    Provider

    • Sovereign Government
    • Provincial Government
    • Local Government
    • Public Organization
    • Private Organization
    • Self

    Jurisdiction

    • Global (Passport)
    • National (DL)
    • State/Provincial (Health Card)
    • Local (Voting Card)
    • Private (Social)

    Form

    • Physical Card
    • Virtual Identifier
    • Online/App Account
    • PKI Keys
    • Tokens

    Governance

    • Sovereign
    • Federated
    • Decentralized
    • Trust Framework -based
    • Self-sovereign

    Expiry

    • Permanent (Lifetime, Years)
    • Temporary (Minutes, Hours)
    • Revocable

    Usage Mode

    • online only
    • offline only
    • Online/offline

    Purpose

    • Authorization (driver’s license, passport, employment)
    • Authentication (birth certificate, social security number)
    • Activity Linking (preferences, habits, and priorities)
    • Historical Record (Resume, educational financial, health history)
    • Social Interactions (Social Media)
    • Machine Connectivity

    Info-Tech Insight

    Digital ID has taken different meanings for different people, serving different purposes in different environments. Based on various aspects of Digital Identification, it can be categorized in several types. However, most of the time when people refer to a form of identification as Digital ID, they refer to a verified id with built-in trust either from the government OR the eco-system.

    * Please refer to Taxonomy for the definition of each of the dimensions

    Understanding a digital identity ecosystem is key to formulating your approach to adopt it

    The image contains a screenshot of a digital identity ecosystem diagram.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Digital identity ecosystems comprise many entities playing different roles, and sometimes more than one. In addition, variations in approach by jurisdictions drive how many active players are in the ecosystem for that jurisdiction.

    For example, in countries like Estonia and India, government plays the role of trust and governance authority as well as ID provider, but didn’t start with any Digital ID wallet. In contrast, in Ukraine, Diia App is primarily a Digital ID Wallet. Similarly, in the US, different states are adopting private Digital ID Wallet providers like Apple.

    Digital ID ecosystem’s sustainability lies in the key principles it is built on

    Social, economic, and legal alignment with target stakeholders
    Transparent governance and operation
    Legally auditable and enforceable
    Robust and Resilient – High availability
    Security – At rest, in progress, and in transit
    Privacy and Control with users
    Omni-channel Convenience – User and Operations
    Minimum data transfer between entities
    Technical interoperability enabled through open standards and protocol
    Scalable and interoperable at policy level
    Cost effective – User and operations
    Inclusive and accessible

    Info-Tech Insight

    A transparent, resilient, and auditable digital ID system must be aligned with socio-economic realities of the target stakeholders. It not only respects their privacy and security of their data by minimizing the data transfer between entities, but also drives desired customer experience by providing an omni-channel, interoperable, scalable, and inclusive ecosystem while still being cost-effective for the collaborators.

    Source: Adapted from Canada PCTF, UK Trust framework, European Commission, Australia TDIF, and others

    Focus on key success factors to drive the digital ID adoption

    Digital ID success factors

    Legislative regulatory framework – Removes uncertainty
    Security & Privacy Assurance- builds trust
    Smooth user experience – Drives preferences
    Transparent ecosystem – Drives inclusivity
    Multi-channel – Drive consistent experience online / offline
    Inter-operability thorough open standards
    Digital literacy – Education and awareness
    Multi-purpose & reusable – Reduce consumer burden
    Collaborative ecosystem –Build network effect

    Source: Adapted from Canada PCTF, UK digital identity & attributes trust framework , European eIDAS, and others

    Info-Tech Insight

    Driving adoption of Digital ID requires affirmative actions from all ecosystem players including governing authorities, identity providers, and identity consumers (relying parties).

    These nine success factors can help drive sustainable adoption of the Digital ID.

    Among many responsibilities the ecosystem players have, identity governance is the key to sustainability

    • Digital identity provision
      • Creating identity attributes
      • Create a reusable identity and attribute service
      • Create a digital identity
      • Assess and manage quality of an identity and attributes
      • Making identity provision inclusive and accessible
    • Digital identity resolution
      • Enabling inclusive access to products and services through digital identity
      • Authenticate and authorize identity subjects before permitting access to their identity and attributes
    • Digital identity governance
      • Manage digital identity and attributes
      • Make Identity service interoperable, and sharable
      • Recover digital identity and attribute accounts
      • Notifying users on accessing identity or making changes on more attributes
      • Report and audit – exclusion, accessibility
      • Retiring an identity or attribute service
      • Respond to complaints and disputes
    • Enterprise risk management and governance
    The image contains a screenshot of a diagram to demonstrate how identity governance is the key to sustainability.
    • Privacy and security
      • Use encryption
      • Privacy compliance framework
      • Consumer Privacy Protection laws (CPPA, GDPR etc.)
      • Acquiring and managing user consents & agreements
      • Prohibited processing of personal data
      • Security controls and governance
    • Information management
      • Record management
      • Archival
      • Disposal (on expiry or to comply with regulations)
      • CIA (confidentiality, integrity, availability)
    • Fraud management
      • Fraud monitoring and reporting
      • Fraud intelligence and analysis
      • Sharing threat indicators
      • Legal, policies and procedures for fraud management
    • Incident response
      • Respond to fraud incidents
      • Respond to a service delivery incident
      • Responding to data breaches
      • Performing and participating in investigation

    Global evolution of digital ID is following the socio-economic aspirations of countries

    The image contains a screenshot of a graph that demonstrates global evolution of digital ID.

    Source: Adapted from the book: Identification Revolution: Can Digital ID be harnessed for Development? (Gelb & Metz), 2018

    Info-Tech Insight

    The world became global a long time ago; however, it sustained economic progress without digital IDs for most of the world's population.

    With the pandemic, when political rhetoric pointed to the demand for localized supply chains, economies became irreversibly digital. In this digital economy, the digital ID ecosystem is the fulcrum of sustainable growth.

    At a time in overlapping jurisdictions, multiple digital IDs can exist. For example, one is issued by a local municipality, one by the province, and another by the national government.

    Global footprint of digital ID is evolving rapidly, but varies in approach

    The image contains a screenshot of a Global footprint of digital ID.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Countries’ approach to the digital ID is rooted in their socio-economic environment and global aspirations.

    Emerging economies with large underserved populations prioritize fast implementation of digital ID through centralized systems.

    Developed economies with smaller populations, low trust in government, and established ID systems prioritize developing trust frameworks to drive decentralized full-scale implementation.

    There is no right way except the one which follows Digital ID principles and aligns with a country’s and its people’s aspirations.

    Estonia's e-identity is the key to its digital agenda 2030

    • Regulatory Body and Operational Governance: Estonian Information System Authority (RIA).
    • Identity Providers: Government of Estonia; Private sector doesn’t issue IDs but can leverage Digital ID ecosystem.
    • Decentralized Approach: Permissioned Blockchain Architecture with built-in data traceability implemented on KSI (Keyless Signature Infrastructure).
    • X-Road – Secure, interoperable open-source data exchange platform between collection point where Data is stored.
    • Digital Identity Form: e-ID
    • Key Use cases:
      • Financial, Telecom: e-KYC, e-Banking
      • Digital Authentication: ID Card, Mobile ID, Smart ID, Digital Signatures
      • E-governance: e-Voting, e-Residency, e-Services Registries, e-Business Register
      • Smart City and mobility: Freight Transportation, Passenger Mobility
      • Healthcare: e-Health Record, e-Prescription, e-Ambulance
    • ID-card
    • Smart ID
    • Mobile ID
    • e-Residency

    Uniqueness

    Estonia pioneered the digital ID implementation with a centralized approach and later transitioned to a decentralized ecosystem driving trust to attract non-citizens into Estonia’s digital economy.

    99% Of Estonian residents have an ID card enabling use of electronic ID

    1.4 B Digital signatures given (2021)

    99% Public Services available as e-Services

    17K+ Productive years saved (five working days/citizen/year saved accessing public services)

    25K E-resident companies contributed more than €32 million in tax

    *Source: https://e-estonia.com/wp-content/uploads/e-estonia-211022_eng.pdf ;

    https://www.e-resident.gov.ee/dashboard

    The image contains a timeline of events from 2001-2020 for Estonia..

    India’s Aadhaar is the foundation of its digital journey through “India stack”

    • Regulatory Accountability and Operational Governance: Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).
    • Identity Provider: Govt. of India.
    • Digital Identity Form: Physical and electronic ID Card; Online (Identifier + OTP), and offline (identifier + biometric) usage; mAadhaar App & Web Portal
    • India Stack: a set of open APIs and digital assets to leverage Aadhaar in identity, data, and payments at scale.
    • Key Use cases:
      • Financial, Telecom: eKYC, Unified Payments Interface (UPI)
      • Digital Wallet: Digi Locker
      • Digital Authentication: eSign, and Aadhaar Auth.
      • Public Welfare: Public Distribution of Service, Social Pension, Employment Guarantee
      • Public service access: Enrollment to School, Healthcare

    1.36B People enrolled

    80% Beneficiaries feel Aadhaar has made PDS, employment guarantee and social pensions more reliable

    91.6% Are very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with Aadhaar

    14B eKYC transactions done by 218 eKYC authentication agencies (KUA)

    Source: https://uidai.gov.in/aadhaar_dashboard/india.php; https://www.stateofaadhaar.in/

    World Bank Report on Private Sector Impacts from ID

    Uniqueness

    “The Aadhaar digital identity system could reduce onboarding costs for Indian firms from 1,500 rupees to as low as an estimated 10 rupees.”

    -World Bank Report on Private Sector Impacts from ID

    With lack of public trust in private sector, government brought in private sector executives in public ecosystem to lead the largest identity program globally and build the India stack to leverage the power of Digital Identity.

    The image contains a screenshot of India's Aadhaar timeline from 2009-2022.

    Ukraine’s Diia is a resilient act to preserve their identities during threat to their existence

    Regulatory Accountability and Operational Governance: Ministry of Digital Transformation.

    Identity provider: Federated govt. agencies.

    Digital identity form: Diia App & Portal as a digital wallet for all IDs including digital driving license.

    • Key use cases:
      • eGovernance – Issuing license and permits, business registration, vaccine certificates.
      • Public communication: air-raid alerts, notifications, court decisions and fines.
      • Financial, Telecom: KYC compliance, mobile donations.
      • eBusiness: Diia City legal framework for IT industry, Diia Business Portal for small and medium businesses.
      • Digital sharing and authentication: Diia signature and Diia QR.
      • Public service access: Diia Education Portal for digital education and digital skills development, healthcare.

    18.5M People downloaded the Diia app.

    14 Digital IDs provided by other ID providers are available through Diia.

    70 Government services are available through Diia.

    ~1M Private Entrepreneurs used Diia to register their companies.

    1300 Tons of paper estimated to be saved by reducing paper applications for new IDs and replacements.

    Source:

    • Ukraine Govt. Website for Invest and trade
    • Diia Case study prepared for the office of Canadian senator colin deacon.

    Uniqueness

    “One of the reasons for the Diia App's popularity is its focus on user experience. In September 2022, the Diia App simplified 25 public services and digitized 16 documents. The Ministry of Digital Transformation aims to make 100% of all public services available online by 2024.”

    - Vladyslava Aleksenko

    Project Lead—digital Identity, Ukraine

    The image contains a screenshot of the timeline for Diia.

    Canada’s PCTF (Pan Canadian Trust Framework) driving the federated digital identity ecosystem

    • Regulatory Accountability: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS); Canadian Digital Service (CDS); Office of CIO
    • Standard Setting: Digital Identification and Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC)
    • Frameworks:
      • Treasury Board Directive on Identity Management
      • Pan Canadian Trust Framework (PCTF)
      • Voilà Verified Trustmark Program: ISO aligned compliance certification program on PCTF
      • Governing / Certificate Authority: Trustmark Oversight Board (TOB) and DIACC accredited assessor
      • Operational Governance: Federated between identity providers and identity consumers
      • Identity Providers: Public and Private Sector
      • Other entities involved: Digital ID Lab (Voila Verified Auditor); Kuma (Accredited Assessor)
    The image contains a screenshot of PCTF Components.

    82% People supportive of Digital ID.

    2/3 Canadians prefer public-private partnership for Pan-Canadian digital ID framework.

    >40% Canadians prefer completing various tasks and transactions digitally.

    75% Canadians are willing to share personal information for better experience.

    >80% Trust government, healthcare providers, and financial institutions with their personal information.

    Source: DIACC Survey 2021

    Uniqueness

    Although a few provinces in Canada started their Digital ID journey already, federally, Canada lacked an approach.

    Now Canada is developing a federated Digital ID ecosystem driven through the Pan-Canadian Trust Framework (PCTF) led by a non-profit (DIACC) formed with public and private partnership.

    The image contains a screenshot of Canada's PCTF timeline from 2002-2025.

    Australia’s digital id is pivotal to its vision to become one of the Top-3 digital governments globally by 2025*

    * Australia Digital Government Strategy 2021
    • Regulatory responsibility and standard: Digital Transformation Agency (DTA)’s Digital Identity
    • Operational support and oversight: Service Australia, Interim Oversight Authority (IOA).
    • Accredited identity providers (by 2022): Australian Taxation Office (ATO)’s myGovID, Australia Post’s Digital ID, MasterCard’s ID, OCR Labs App
    • Framework: Trusted Digital Identity Framework (TDIF)
      • Digital Identity Exchange
      • Identity Service Providers and Attribute Verification Service
      • Attribute Service Providers
      • Credential Service Providers
      • Relying Parties
    • Others: States such as NSW, Victoria, and Queensland have their own digital identity programs

    8.6M People using myGovID by Jun-2022

    117 Services accessible through Digital Id System

    The image contains a screenshot diagram of Digital Identity.

    Uniqueness

    Australia started its journey of Digital ID with a centralized Digital ID ecosystem.

    However, now it preparing to transition to a centrally governed Trust framework-based ecosystem expanding to private sector.

    The image contains a screenshot of Australia's Digital id timeline from 2014-2022.

    UK switches gear to the Trust Framework approach to build a public-private digital ID ecosystem

    • Government: Ministry of Digital Infrastructure / Department of Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport
    • Governing Body / Certificate Authority / Operational Governance: TBD
    • Approach: Trust Framework-based UK Digital Identity and attributes trust framework (UKDIATF)
    • Identity providers: Transitioning from “GOV.UK Verify” to a federated digital identity system aligned with “Trust Framework” – enabling both government (“One Login for Government”) and private sector identity providers.
    The image contains a screenshot of the Trust Framework.

    Uniqueness

    UK embarked its Digital ID journey through Gov.UK Verify but decided to scrap it recently.

    It is now preparing to build a trust framework-based federated digital ID ecosystem with roles like schema-owners and orchestration service providers for private sector and drive the collaboration between industry players.

    The image contains a screenshot of UK timeline from 2011-2023.

    Digital ID will transform all industries, though financial services and e-governance will gain most

    Cross Industry

    Financial Services

    Insurance

    E-governance

    Healthcare & Lifesciences

    Travel and Tourism

    E-Commerce

    • Onboarding (customer, employee, patient, etc.)
    • Fraud-prevention (identity theft)
    • Availing restricted services (buying liquor)
    • Secure-sharing of credentials and qualifications (education, experience, gig worker)
    • For businesses, customer 360
    • For businesses, reliable data-driven decision making with lower frequency of ‘astroturfing’ (false identities) and ‘ballot-stuffing’ (duplicate identities)
    • Account opening
    • Asset transfer
    • Payments
    • For businesses, risk management - know your customer (KYC), anti-money laundering (AML), customer due diligence (CDD)
    • Insurance history
    • Insurance claim
    • Public distribution schemes (PDS)
    • Subsidy payments (direct to consumer)
    • Obtain government benefits (maternity, pension, employment guarantee / insurance payments)
    • Tax filing
    • Issuing credentials (birth certificate, passport)
    • Voting
    • For businesses, availing governments supports
    • For SMB businesses, easier regulatory compliance
    • Digital health
    • Out of state public healthcare
    • Secure access to health and diagnostic records
    • For businesses, data sharing between providers and with payers
    • Travel booking
    • Cross-border travel
    • Car rental
    • Secure peer-to-peer sales
    • Secure peer-to-peer sales

    USE CASE

    Car rental

    INDUSTRY: Travel & Tourism

    Source: Info-Tech Research Group

    Challenge

    Solution

    Results

    Verifying the driver’s license (DL) is the first step a car rental company takes before handing over the keys.

    While the rental company only need to know the validity of the DL and if it belongs to the presenter, is bears the liability of much more data presented to them through the DL.

    For customers, it is impossible to rent a car if they forget their DL. If the customer has their driver’s license, they compromise their privacy and security as they hand over their license to the representative.

    The process is not only time consuming, it also creates unnecessary risks to both the business and the renter.

    A digital id-based rental process allows the renter to present the digital id online or in person.

    As the customer approaches the car rental they present their digital id on the mobile app, which has already authenticated the presenter though the biometrics or other credentials.

    The customer selects the purpose of the business as “Car Rental”, and only the customer’s name, photo, and validity of the DL appear on the screen for the representative to see (selective disclosures).

    If the car pick-up is online, only this information is shared with the car rental company, which in turn shares the car and key location with the renter.

    A digital identity-based identity verification can ensure a rental company has access to the minimum data it needs to comply with local laws, which in turn reduces its data leak risk.

    It also reduces customer risks linked to forgetting the DL, and data privacy.

    Digital identity also reduces the risk originated from identity fraud leading to stolen cars.

    USE CASE

    e-Governance public distribution service

    INDUSTRY: Government

    Source: Info-Tech Research Group

    Challenge

    Solution

    Results

    In both emerging and developed economies, public distribution of resources – food, subsidies, or cash – is a critical process through which many people (especially from marginalized sections) survive on.

    They often either don’t have required valid proof of identity or fall prey to low-level corruption when someone defrauds them by claiming the benefit.

    As a result, they either completely miss out on claiming government-provided social benefits OR only receive a part of what they are eligible for.

    A Digital ID based public distribution can help created a Direct Benefit Transfer ecosystem.

    Here beneficiaries register (manually OR automatically from other government records) for the benefits they are eligible for.

    On the specific schedule, they receive their benefit – monetary benefit in their bank accounts, and non-cash benefits, in person from authorized points-of-sales (POS), without any middleman with discretionary decision powers on the distribution.

    India launched its Financial Inclusion Program (Prime Minister's Public Finance Scheme) in 2014.

    The program was linked with India’s Digital Id Aadhaar to smoothen the otherwise bureaucratic and discretionary process for opening a bank account.

    In last eight years, ~481M (Source: PMJDY) beneficiaries have opened a bank account and deposited ~ ₹1.9Trillion (USD$24B), a part of which came as social benefits directly deposited to these accounts from the government of India.

    USE CASE

    Real-estate investment and sale

    INDUSTRY: Asset Management

    Source: Info-Tech Research Group

    Challenge

    Solution

    Results

    “Impersonators posing as homeowners linked to 32 property fraud cases in Ontario and B.C.” – Global News Canada1

    “The level of fraud in the UK is such that it is now a national security threat” – UK Finance Lobby Group2

    Real estate is the most expensive investment people make in their lives. However, lately it has become a soft target for title fraud. Fraudsters steal the title to one’s home and sell it or apply for a new mortgage against it.

    At the root cause of these fraud are usually identity theft when a fraudster steals someone’s identity and impersonates them as the title owner.

    Digital identity tagged to the home ownership / title record can reduce the identity fraud in title transfer.

    When a person wants to sell their house OR apply for a new mortgage on house, multiple notifications will be triggered to their contact attributes on digital ID – phone, email, postal address, and digital ID Wallet, if applicable.

    The homeowner will be mandated to authorize the transaction on at least two channels they had set as preferred, to ensure that the transaction has the consent of the registered homeowner.

    This process will stop any fraud transactions until at least two modes are compromised.

    Even if two modes are compromised, the real homeowner will receive the notification on offline communication modes, and they can then alert the institution or lawyer to block the transaction.

    It will especially help elderly people, who are more prone to fall prey to identity frauds when somebody uses their IDs to impersonate them.

    1 Global News (https://globalnews.ca/news/9437913/homeowner-impersonators-lined-32-fraud-cases-ontario-bc/)

    2 UK Finance Lobby Group (https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/system/files/Half-year-fraud-update-2021-FINAL.pdf)

    Adopting digital ID benefits everybody – governments, id providers, id consumers, and end users

    Governments & identity providers

    (public & private)

    Customers and end users

    (subjects)

    Identity consumer

    (relying parties)

    • Growth in GDP
    • Save costs of providing identity
    • Unlock new revenue source by economic expansion
    • Choice and convenience
    • Control of what data is shared
    • Experience driven by simplicity and data minimalization
    • Reduced cost of availing services
    • Operational efficiency
    • Overall cost efficiency of delivering service and products
    • Reduce risk of potential litigation
    • Reduce risk of fraud
    • Enhanced customer experience leading to increased lifetime value
    • Streamlined storage and access
    • Encourage innovation

    Digital ID will transform all industries, though financial services and e-governance will gain most

    Governments and identity providers (public and private)

    • Growth in GDP by reducing bureaucracy and discretion from the governance processes.
      • As per a McKinsey report, digital ID could unlock the economic value equivalent of 3%-13% of GDP across seven focus countries (Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, China, UK, USA) in 2030.
      • “Estonia saves two percent of GDP by signing things digitally; imagine if it could go global.” - aavi Rõivas, Prime Minister of the Republic of Estonia (International Peace Institute)
    • Unlock new revenue source by economic expansion.
      • Estonia earned €32 million in tax revenue from e-resident companies (e-Estonia).
    • Save costs of providing identity in collaboration with 3rd parties and reduce fraud.
      • Canada estimates savings of $482 million for provincial and federal governments, and $4.5 billion for private sector organizations through digital id adoption (2022 Budget Statement).

    Digital ID brings end users choice, convenience, control, and cost-saving, driving overall experience

    Customers and end users (subjects)

    • Choice: Citizens have the choice and convenience to interact safely and conveniently online and offline.
    • Convenience: No compulsion to make physical trips to access service, as end users can identify themselves safely and reliably online, as they do offline.
    • Control: A decentralized, privacy enhancing solution – neither government nor private companies control your digital ID. How and when you use digital ID is entirely up to you.
    • Cost Saving: Save costs of availing service by reducing the offline documentation.
    • Experience: Improved experience while availing service without a need to present multiple documents every time.

    Digital id benefits identity consumers by enhancing multiple dimensions of their value streams

    Identity consumer (relying parties)

    • Operational efficiency: Eliminating unnecessary steps and irrelevant data from the value stream increases overall operational efficiency.
    • Cost efficiency: Helps businesses to reduce overall cost of operations like regulatory requirements.
      • World Bank estimated that the Aadhaar could reduce onboarding costs for Indian firms from ₹1,500/- ($23) to as low as an estimated ₹10/- ($0.15) (*World Bank ID4D)
    • Reduce risk of potential litigation issues: Encourage data minimization.
    • Privacy and security: Businesses can reduce the risk of fraud to organizations and users and can significantly boost the privacy and security of their IT assets.
    • Enhanced customer experience: The decrease in the number of touchpoints and faster turnaround.
    • Streamlined storage and access: Store all available data in a single place, and when required.
    • Encourage innovation: Reduce efforts required in authentication and authorization of users.

    Before embarking on the digital identity adoption journey, assess your readiness

    Legislative coverage

    Does your target jurisdiction have adequate legislative framework to enable uses of digital identities in your industry?

    Trust framework

    If the Digital ID ecosystem in your target jurisdiction is trust framework-based, do you have adequate understanding of it?

    Customer touch-points

    Do you have exact understanding of value stream and customer touch-points where you interact with user identity?

    Relevant identity attributes

    Do you have exact understanding of the identity attributes that your business processes need to deliver customer value?

    Regulatory compliance

    Do you have required systems to ensure your compliance with industry regulations around customer PII and identity?

    Interoperability with IMS

    Is your existing identity management system interoperable with Open-source Digital Identity ecosystem?

    Enterprise governance

    Have you established an integrated enterprise governance framework covering business processes, technical systems, and risk management?

    Communication strategy

    Do have a clear strategy (mode, method, means) to communicate with your target customer and persuade them to adopt digital identity?

    Security operations center

    Do you have security operations center coordinating detection, response, resolution, and communication of potential data breaches?

    Ten steps to adopt to enhance the customer experience

    Considering the complexity of digital identity adoption, and its impact on customer experience, it is vital to assess the ecosystem and adopt an MVP approach before a big-bang launch.

    Diagram to help assess the ecosystem.

    1. Define the use case and identify the customer touchpoint in the value stream which can be improved with a verified digital identity.
    2. Ensure your organization is ready to adopt digital identity (Refer to Digital identity adoption readiness),
    3. Identify an Identity Service Provider (Government, private sector), if there are options.
    4. Understand its technical requirements and assess, to the finer detail, your technical landscape for interoperability.
    5. Set-up a business contract for terms of usages and liabilities.
    6. Create and execute a Minimum Viable Program (MVP) of integration which can be tested with real customers.
    7. Extend MVP to the complete solution and define key success metrics.
    8. Canary-launch with a segment of target customers before a full launch.
    9. Educate customers on the usages and benefits, and adapt your communication plan taking feedback
    10. Monitor and continuously improve the solution based on the feedback from ecosystem partners and end-customers, and regulatory changes.

    Understand and manage the risks and challenges of digital identity adoption

    Digital ID adoption is a major change for everyone in the ecosystem.

    Manage associated risks to avoid the derailing of integration with your business processes and a negative impact on customer experience.

    Manage Risks.

    1. Privacy and security risks – Customer’s sensitive data may get centralized with the identity provider.
    2. Single point of failure while relying a specific IDs; it also increases the impact of identity theft and fraud risk.
    3. Centralization and control risks – Identity provider or identity service broker / orchestrator may control who can participate.
    4. Not universal, interoperability risks – if purpose-specific.
    5. Impact omni-channel experience - Not always available (legal / printable) for offline use.
    6. Exclusion and discrimination risks – Specific data requirements may exclude a group of people.
    7. Scope for misuse and misinterpretation if compromised and not reclaimed in timely manner.
    8. Adoption and usability risks – Subjects / relying parties may not see benefit due to lack of awareness or suspicion.
    9. Liability Agreement gaps between identity provider and identity consumer (relying party).

    Recommendations to help you realize the potential of digital identity into your value streams

    1

    Customer-centricity

    Digital identity initiative should prioritize customer experience when evaluating its fit in the value stream. Adopting it should not sacrifice end-user experience to gain a few brownie points.

    See Info-Tech’s Adopt Design Thinking in Your Organization blueprint, to ensure customer remains at the center of your Digital Adoption initiative.

    2

    Privacy and security

    Adopting digital identity reduces data risk by minimizing data transfer between providers and consumers. However, securing identity attributes in value streams still requires strengthening enterprise security systems and processes.

    See Info-Tech’s Assess and Govern Identity Security blueprint for the actions you may take to secure and govern digital identity.

    3

    Inclusion and awareness

    Adopting digital identity may alter customer interaction with an organization. To avoid excluding target customer segments, design digital identity accordingly. Educating and informing customers about the changes can facilitate faster adoption.

    See Info-Tech’s Social Media blueprint and IT Diversity & Inclusion Tactics to make inclusion and awareness part of digital adoption

    4

    Quantitative success metrics

    To measure the success of a digital ID adoption program, it's essential to use quantitative metrics that align with business KPIs. Some measurable KPIs may include:

    • Reduction in number of IDs business used to serve 90% of customers
    • Reduction in overall cost of operation
      • Reduction in cost of user authentication
    • Reduction in process cycle time (less time required to complete a task – e.g. KYC)

    Taxonomy – Digital ID ecosystem

    (Alphabetical order)

    Continues..

    Attributes: An identity attribute is a statement or information about a specific aspect of entity’s identity ,substantiating they are who they claim to be, own, or have.

    Attribute (or Credential) provider: An attribute or credential provider could be an organization which issues the primary attribute or credential to a subject or entity. They are also responsible for identity-attribute binding, credential maintenance, suspension, recovery, and authentication.

    Attribute (or Credential) service provider: An attribute service provider could be an organization which originally vetted user’s credentials and certified a specific attribute of their identity. It could also be a software, such as digital wallet, which can store and share a user’s attribute with a third party once consented by the user. (Source: UK Govt. Trust Framework)

    Attribute binding: This is a process an attribute service providers uses to link the attributes they created to a person or an organization through an identifier. This process makes attributes useful and valuable for other entities using these attributes. For example, when a new employee joins a company, they are given a unique employee number (an identifier), which links the person with their job title and other aspects (attributes) of his job. (Source: UK Govt. Trust Framework)

    Authentication service provider: An organization which is responsible for creating and managing authenticators and their lifecycle (issuance, suspension, recovery, maintenance, revocation, and destruction of authenticators). (Source: DIACC)

    Authenticator: Information or biometric characteristics under the control of an individual that is a specific instance of something the subject has, knows, or does. E.g. private signing keys, user passwords, or biometrics like face, fingerprints. (Source: Canada PCTF)

    Authentication (identity verification): The process of confirming or denying that the identity presented relates to the subject who is making the claim by comparing the credentials presented with the ones presented during identity proofing.

    Authorization: The process of validating if the authenticated entity has permission to access a resource (service or product).

    Biometrics attributes: Human attributes like retina (iris), fingerprint, heartbeat, facial, handprint, thumbprint, voice print.

    Centralized identity: Digital identities which are fully governed by a centralized government entity. It may have enrollment or registration agencies, private or public sector, to issue the identities, and the technical system may still be decentralized to keep data federated.

    Certificate Authority (CA or accredited assessors): An organization or an entity that conducts assessments to validate the framework compliance of identity or attribute providers (such as websites, email addresses, companies, or individual persons) serving other users, and binding them to cryptographic keys through the issuance of electronic documents known as digital certificates.

    Taxonomy – Digital ID ecosystem

    (Alphabetical order)

    Continues..

    Collective (non-resolvable) attributes: Nationality, domicile, citizenship, immigration status, age group, disability, income group, membership, (outstanding) credit limit, credit score range.

    Contextual identity: A type of identity which establishes an entity’s existence in a specific context – real or virtual. These can be issued by public or private identity providers and are governed by the organizational policies. E.g. employee ID, membership ID, social media ID, machine ID.

    Credentials: A physical or a digital representation of something that establishes an entity’s eligibility to do something for which it is seeking permission, or an association/affiliation with another, generally well-known entity. E.g. Passport, DL, password. In the context of Digital Identity, every identity needs to be attached with a credential to ensure that the subject of the identity can control how and by whom that identity can be used.

    Cryptographic hash function: A hash function is a one-directional mathematical operation performed on a message of any length to get a unique, deterministic, and fixed size numerical string (the hash) which can’t be reverse engineered to get the input data without deploying disproportionate resources. It is the foundation of modern security solutions in DLT / blockchain as they help in verifying the integrity and authenticity of the message.

    Decentralized identity (DID) or self-sovereign identity: This is a way to give back the control of identity to the subject whose identity it is, using an identity wallet in which they collect verified information about themselves from certified issuers (such as the government). By controlling what information is shared from the wallet to requesting third parties (e.g. when registering for a new online service), the user can better manage their privacy, such as only presenting proof that they’re over 18 without needing to reveal their date of birth. Source: (https://www.gsma.com/identity/decentralised-identity)

    Digital identity wallet: A type of digital wallet refers to a secure, trusted software applications (native mobile app, mobile web apps, or Rivas-hosted web applications) based on common standards, allowing a user to store and use their identity attributes, identifiers, and other credentials without loosing or sharing control of them. This is different than Digital Payment Wallets used for financial transactions. (Source: https://www.worldbank.org/content/dam/photos/1440x300/2022/feb/eID_WB_presentation_BS.pdf)

    Digital identity: A digital identity is primarily an electronic form of identity representing an entity uniquely , while abstracting all other identity attributes of the entity. In addition to an electronic form, it may also exist in a physical form (identity certificate), linked through an identifier representing the same entity. E.g. Estonia eID , India Aadhar, digital citizenship ID.

    Digital object architecture: DOA is an open architecture for interoperability among various information systems, including ID wallets, identity providers, and consumers. It focuses on digital objects and comprises three core components: the identifier/resolution system, the repository system, and the registry system. There are also two protocols that connect these components. (Source: dona.net)

    Digital signature: A digital signature is an electronic, encrypted stamp of authentication on digital information such as email messages, macros, or electronic documents. A signature confirms that the information originated from the signer and has not been altered. (Source: Microsoft)

    Taxonomy – Digital ID ecosystem

    (Alphabetical order)

    Continues..

    Entity (or Subject): In the context of identity, an entity is a person, group, object, or a machine whose claims need to be ascertained and identity needs to be established before his request for a service or products can be fulfilled. An entity can also be referred to as a subject whose identity needs to be ascertained before delivering a service.

    Expiry: This is another dimension of an identity and determines the validity of an ID. Most of the identities are longer term, but there can be a few like digital tokens and URLs which can be issued for a few hours or even minutes. There are some which can be revoked after a pre-condition is met.

    Federated identity: Federated identity is an agreement between two organizations about the definition and use of identity attributes and identifiers of a consumer entity requesting a service. If successful, it allows a consumer entity to get authenticated by one organization (identity provider) and then authorized by another organization. E.g. accessing a third-party website using Google credentials.

    Foundational identity: A type of identity which establishes an entity’s existence in the real world. These are generally issued by public sector / government agencies, governed by a legal farmwork within a jurisdiction, and are widely accepted at least in that jurisdiction. E.g. birth certificate, citizenship certificate.

    Governance: This is a dimension of identity that covers the governance model for a digital ID ecosystem. While traditionally it has been under the sovereign government or a federated structure, in recent times, it has been decentralized through DLT technologies or trust-framework based. It can also be self-sovereign, where individuals fully control their data and ID attributes.

    Identifier: A digital identifier is a string of characters that uniquely represents an entity’s identity in a specific context and scope even if one or more identity attributes of the subject change over time. E.g. driver’s license, SSN, SIN, email ID, digital token, user ID, device ID, cookie ID.

    Identity: An identity is an instrument used by an entity to provide the required information about itself to another entity in order to avail a service, access a resource, or exercise a privilege. An identity formed by 1-n identity attributes and a unique identifier.

    Identity and access management (IAM): IAM is a set of frameworks, technologies, and processes to enable the creation, maintenance, and use of digital identity, ensuring that the right people gain access to the right materials and records at the right time. (Source: https://iam.harvard.edu/)

    Identity consumer (Relying party): An organization, or an entity relying on identity provider to mitigate IT risks around knowing its customers before delivering the end-user value (product/service) without deteriorating end-user experience. E.g. Canada Revenue Agency using SecureKey service and relying on Banking institutions to authenticate users; Telecom service providers in India relying on Aadhaar identity system to authenticate the customer's identity.

    Identity form: A dimension of identity that defines its forms depending on the scope it wants to serve. It can be a physical card for offline uses, a virtual identifier like a number, or an app/account with multiple identity attributes. Cryptographic keys and tokens can also be forms of identity.

    Taxonomy – Digital ID ecosystem

    (Alphabetical order)

    Continues...

    Identity infrastructure provider: Organizations involved in creating and maintaining technological infrastructure required to manage the lifecycle of digital identities, attributes, and credentials. They implement functions like security, privacy, resiliency, and user experience as specified in the digital identity policy and trust framework.

    Identity proofing: A process of asserting the identification of a subject at a useful identity assurance level when the subject provides evidence to a credential service provider (CSP), reliably identifying themselves. (Source: NIST Special Publication 800-63A)

    Identity provider (Attestation authority): An organization or an entity validating the foundation or contextual claims of a subject and establishing identifier(s) for a subject. E.g. DMV (US) and MTA (Canada) issuing drivers’ licenses; Google / Facebook issuing authentication tokens for their users logging in on other websites.

    Identity validation: The process of confirming or denying the accuracy of identity information of a subject as established by an authorized party. It doesn’t ensure that the presenter is using their own identity.

    Identity verification (Authentication): The process of confirming or denying that the identity presented relates to the subject who is making the claim by comparing the credentials presented with the ones presented during identity proofing.

    Internationalized resource identifier (IRI): IRIs are equivalent to URIs except that IRIs also allow non-ascii characters in the address space, while URIs only allow us-ascii encoding. (Source: w3.org)

    Jurisdiction: A dimension of identity that covers the physical area or virtual space where an identity is legally acceptable for the purpose defined under law. It can be global, like it is for passport, or it can be local within a municipality for specific services. For unverified digital IDs, it can be the social network.

    Multi-factor Authentication (MFA): Multi-factor authentication is a layered approach to securing digital assets (data and applications), where a system requires a user to present a combination of two or more credentials to verify a user’s identity for login. These factors can be a combination of (i) something you know like a password/PIN; (ii) something you have like a token on mobile device; and (iii) something you are like a biometric. (Adapted from https://www.cisa.gov/publication/multi-factor-authentication-mfa)

    Oauth (Open authorization): OAuth is a standard authorization protocol and used for access delegation. It allows internet users to access websites by using credentials managed by a third-party authorization server / Identity Provider. It is designed for HTTP and allows access tokens to be issued by an authorization server to third-party websites. E.g. Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn use Oauth to delegate access.

    OpenID: OpenID is a Web Authentication Protocol and implements reliance authentication mechanism. It facilitates the functioning of federated identity by allowing a user to use an existing account (e.g. Google, Facebook, Yahoo) to sign into third-party websites without needing to create new credentials. (Source: https://openid.net/).

    Taxonomy – Digital ID ecosystem

    (Alphabetical order)

    Continues...

    Personally identifiable information (PII): PII is a set of attributes which can be used, through direct or indirect means, to infer the real-world identity of the individual whose information is input. E.g. National ID (SSN/SIN/Aadhar) DL, name, date of birth, age, address, age, identifier, university credentials, health condition, email, domain name, website URI (web resolvable) , phone number, credit card number, username/password, public key / private key. (Source: https://www.dol.gov)

    Predicates: The mathematical or logical operations such as equality or greater than on attributes (e.g. prove your salary is greater than x or your age is greater than y) to prove a claim without sharing the actual values.

    Purpose: This dimension of a digital id defines for what purpose digital id can be used. It can be one or many of these – authentication, authorization, activity linking, historical record keeping, social interactions, and machine connectivity for IoT use cases.

    Reliance authentication: Relying on a third-party authentication before providing a service. It is a method followed in a federated entity system.

    Risk-based authentication: A mechanism to protect against account compromise or identity theft. It correlates an authentication request with transitional facts like requester’s location, past frequency of login, etc. to reduce the risk of potential fraud.

    Scheme in trust framework: A specific set of rules (standard and custom) around the use of digital identities and attributes as agreed by one or more organizations. It is useful when those organizations have similar products, services, business processes. (Source: UK Govt. Trust Framework). E.g. Many credit unions agree on how they will use the identity in loan origination and servicing.

    Selective disclosure (Assertion): A way to present one’s identity by sharing only a limited amount information that is critical to make an authentication / authorization decision. E.g. when presenting your credentials, you could share something proving you are 18 years or above, but not share your name, exact age, address, etc.

    Trust: A dimension of an identity, which essentially is a belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of that identity. While in the physical world all acceptable form of identities come with a verified trust, in online domain, it can be unverified. Also, where an identity is only acceptable as per the contract between two entities, but not widely.

    Trust framework: The trust framework is a set of rules that different organizations agree to follow to deliver one or more of their services. This includes legislation, standards, guidance, and the rules in this document. By following these rules, all services and organizations using the trust framework can describe digital identities and attributes they’ve created in a consistent way. This should make it easier for organizations and users to complete interactions and transactions or share information with other trust framework participants. (Source: UK Govt. Trust Framework)

    Taxonomy – Digital ID ecosystem

    (Alphabetical order)

    Continues...

    Uniform resource identifier (URI): A universal name in registered name spaces and addresses referring to registered protocols or name spaces.

    Uniform resource locator (URL): A type of URI which expresses an address which maps onto an access algorithm using network protocols. (Source: https://www.w3.org/)

    Uniform resource name (URN): A type of URI that includes a name within a given namespace but may not be accessible on the internet.

    Usability: A dimension of identity that defines how many times it can be used. While most of the identities are multi-use, a few digital identities are in token form and can be used only once to authenticate oneself.

    Usage mode: A dimension of identity that defines the service mode in which a digital ID can be used. While all digital IDs are made for online usage, many can also be used in offline interactions.

    Verifiable credentials: This W3C standard specification provides a standard way to express credentials on the Web in a way that is cryptographically secure, privacy-respecting, and machine-verifiable. (Source: https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-data-model/)

    X.509 Certificates: X.509 certificates are standard digital documents that represent an entity providing a service to another entity. They're issued by a certification authority (CA), subordinate CA, or registration authority. These certificates play an important role in ascertaining the validity of an identity provider and in turn the identities issued by it. (Source: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/iot-hub/reference-x509-certificates)

    Zero-knowledge proofs: A method by which one party (the prover) can prove to another party (the verifier) that something is true, without revealing any information apart from the fact that this specific statement is true. (Source: 1989 SIAM Paper)

    Zero-trust security: A cybersecurity paradigm focused on resource protection and the premise that trust is never granted implicitly but must be continually evaluated. It evaluates each access request as if it is a fraud attempt, and grants access only if it passes the authentication and authorization test. (Source: Adapted from NIST, SP 800-207: Zero Trust Architecture, 2020)

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Build a Zero Trust Roadmap
    Leverage an iterative and repeatable process to apply zero trust to your organization.

    Assess and Govern Identity Security
    Strong identity security and governance are the keys to the zero-trust future.

    Adopt Design Thinking in Your Organization
    Innovation needs design thinking to ensure customer remains at the center of everything the organization does.

    Social Media
    Leveraging Social Media to connect with your customers and educate them to drive the value proposition of your efforts.

    IT Diversity & Inclusion Tactics
    Equip your teams to create an inclusive environment and mobilize inclusion efforts across the organization.


    Research Contributors and Experts

    David Wallace

    David Wallace
    Executive Counselor

    Erik Avakian

    Erik Avakian
    Technical Counselor, Data Architecture and Governance

    Matthew Bourne

    Matthew Bourne
    Managing Partner, Public Sector Global Services

    Mike Tweedie

    Mike Tweedie
    Practice Lead, CIO Research Development

    Aaron Shum

    Aaron Shum
    Vice President, Security & Privacy

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    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/iot-hub/reference-x509-certificates

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    • Parent Category Link: /customer-relationship-management
    • Text messaging services and applications (such as SMS, iMessage, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger) have seen explosive growth over the last decade. They are an entrenched part of consumers’ daily lives. For many demographics, text messaging rather than audio calls is the preferred medium of communication via smartphone.
    • Despite the popularity of text messaging services and applications with consumers, organizations have been slow to adequately incorporate these channels into their customer service strategy.
    • The result is a major disconnect between the channel preferences of consumers and the customer service options being offered by businesses.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • IT must work with their counterparts in customer service to build a technology roadmap that incorporates text messaging services and apps as a core channel for customer interaction. Doing so will increase IT’s stature as an innovator in the eyes of the business, while allowing the broader organization to leapfrog competitors that have not yet added text-based support to their repertoire of service channels. Incorporating text messaging as a customer service channel will increase customer satisfaction, improve retention, and reduce cost-to-serve.
    • A prudent strategy for text-based customer service begins with defining the value proposition and creating objectives: is there a strong fit with the organization’s customers and service use cases? Next, organizations must create a technology enablement roadmap for text-based support that incorporates the right tools and applications to deliver it. Finally, the strategy must address best practices for text-based customer service workflows and appropriate resourcing.

    Impact and Result

    • Understand the value and use cases for text-based customer support.
    • Create a framework for enabling technologies that will support scalable text-based customer service.
    • Improve underlying business metrics such as customer satisfaction, retention, and time to resolution by having a plan for text-based support.
    • Better align IT with customer service and support needs.

    Drive Customer Convenience by Enabling Text-Based Customer Support Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should be leveraging text-based services for customer support, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Create the business case for text-based customer support

    Understand the use cases and benefits of using text-based services for customer support, and establish how they align to the organization’s current service strategy.

    • Drive Customer Convenience by Enabling Text-Based Customer Support – Phase 1: Create the Business Case for Text-Based Customer Support
    • Text-Based Customer Support Strategic Summary Template
    • Text-Based Customer Support Project Charter Template
    • Text-Based Customer Support Business Case Assessment

    2. Create a technology enablement framework for text-based customer support

    Identify the right applications that will be needed to adequately support a text-based support strategy.

    • Drive Customer Convenience by Enabling Text-Based Customer Support – Phase 2: Create a Technology Enablement Framework for Text-Based Customer Support
    • Text-Based Customer Support Requirements Traceability Matrix

    3. Create customer service workflows for text-based support

    Create repeatable workflows and escalation policies for text-centric support.

    • Drive Customer Convenience by Enabling Text-Based Customer Support – Phase 3: Create Customer Service Workflows for Text-Based Support
    • Text-Based Customer Support TCO Tool
    • Text-Based Customer Support Acceptable Use Policy
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Drive Customer Convenience by Enabling Text-Based Customer Support

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Create the Business Case for Text-Based Support

    The Purpose

    Create the business case for text-based support.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    A clear direction on the drivers and value proposition of text-based customer support for your organization.

    Activities

    1.1 Identify customer personas.

    1.2 Define business and IT drivers.

    Outputs

    Identification of IT and business drivers.

    Project framework and guiding principles for the project.

    2 Create a Technology Enablement Framework for Text-Based Support

    The Purpose

    Create a technology enablement framework for text-based support.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Prioritized requirements for text-based support and a vetted shortlist of the technologies needed to enable it.

    Activities

    2.1 Determine the correct migration strategy based on the current version of Exchange.

    2.2 Plan the user groups for a gradual deployment.

    Outputs

    Exchange migration strategy.

    User group organization by priority of migration.

    3 Create Service Workflows for Text-Based Support

    The Purpose

    Create service workflows for text-based support.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Customer service workflows and escalation policies, as well as risk mitigation considerations.

    Present final deliverable to key stakeholders.

    Activities

    3.1 Review the text channel matrix.

    3.2 Build the inventory of customer service applications that are needed to support text-based service.

    Outputs

    Extract requirements for text-based customer support.

    4 Finalize Your Text Service Strategy

    The Purpose

    Finalize the text service strategy.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Resource and risk mitigation plan.

    Activities

    4.1 Build core customer service workflows for text-based support.

    4.2 Identify text-centric risks and create a mitigation plan.

    4.3 Identify metrics for text-based support.

    Outputs

    Business process models assigned to text-based support.

    Formulation of risk mitigation plan.

    Key metrics for text-based support.

    Infrastructure & Operations Priorities 2022

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    • Parent Category Name: Disruptive & Emerging Technologies
    • Parent Category Link: /disruptive-emerging-technologies
    • The expectation amongst IT professionals for permanent transformational change has gone up 30% year over year. Further, 47% expect a lot of permanent change in 2022.
    • We are experiencing a great rate of change concurrent with a low degree of predictability.
    • How do you translate a general trend into a specific priority you can work on?

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Trends don’t matter but pressure does: Trends can be analyzed based on the pressure they exert (or not) on your I&O practice. Organizing trends into categories based on source makes for a more successful and contextual analysis.
    • Different prioritization is being demanded in 2022. For the foreseeable future prioritization is about drawing a line, below which you can ignore items with a clean conscience.
    • The priorities you choose to advocate for will be how your leadership is evaluated in the upcoming year.

    Impact and Result

    • By reading through this publication, you will begin to address the age-old problem “You don’t know what you don’t know.”
    • More importantly you will have a framework to dive deeper into the trends most relevant to you and your organization.
    • Info-Tech can help you turn your strong opinion into a compelling case for your stakeholders.

    Infrastructure & Operations Priorities 2022 Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Infrastructure & Operations Priorities 2022 – A framework to dive deeper into the trends most relevant to you and your organization

    Discover Info-Tech's four trends for Infrastructure & Operations leaders.

    • Infrastructure & Operations Priorities Report for 2022

    Infographic

    Manage End-User Devices

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    • member rating overall impact (scale of 10): 10.0/10 Overall Impact
    • member rating average dollars saved: $45,499 Average $ Saved
    • member rating average days saved: 10 Average Days Saved
    • Parent Category Name: End-User Computing Devices
    • Parent Category Link: /end-user-computing-devices
    • Desktop and mobile device management teams use separate tools and different processes.
    • People at all levels of IT are involved in device management.
    • Vendors are pushing unified endpoint management (UEM) products, and teams struggling with device management are hoping that UEM is their savior.
    • The number and variety of devices will only increase with the continued advance of mobility and emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT).

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Many problems can be solved by fixing roles, responsibilities, and process. Standardize so you can optimize.
    • UEM is not a silver bullet. Your current solution can image computers in less than 4 hours if you use lean images.
    • Done with, not done to. Getting input from the business will improve adoption, avoid frustration, and save everyone time.

    Impact and Result

    • Define the benefits that you want to achieve and optimize based on those benefits.
    • Take an evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, approach to merging end-user support teams. Process and tool unity comes first.
    • Define the roles and responsibilities involved in end-user device management, and create a training plan to ensure everyone can execute their responsibilities.
    • Stop using device management practices from the era of Windows XP. Create a plan for lean images and app packages.

    Manage End-User Devices Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should optimize end-user device management, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Identify the business and IT benefits of optimizing endpoint management

    Get your desktop and mobile device support teams out of firefighting mode by identifying the real problem.

    • Manage End-User Devices – Phase 1: Identify the Business and IT Benefits
    • End-User Device Management Standard Operating Procedure
    • End-User Device Management Executive Presentation

    2. Improve supporting teams and processes

    Improve the day-to-day operations of your desktop and mobile device support teams through role definition, training, and process standardization.

    • Manage End-User Devices – Phase 2: Improve Supporting Teams and Processes
    • End-User Device Management Workflow Library (Visio)
    • End-User Device Management Workflow Library (PDF)

    3. Improve supporting technologies

    Stop using management tools and techniques from the Windows XP era. Save yourself, and your technicians, from needless pain.

    • Manage End-User Devices – Phase 3: Improve Supporting Technologies
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Manage End-User Devices

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Identify the Business and IT Benefits of Optimizing End-User Device Management

    The Purpose

    Identify how unified endpoint management (UEM) can improve the lives of the end user and of IT.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Cutting through the vendor hype and aligning with business needs.

    Activities

    1.1 Identify benefits you can provide to stakeholders.

    1.2 Identify business and IT goals in order to prioritize benefits.

    1.3 Identify how to achieve benefits.

    1.4 Define goals based on desired benefits.

    Outputs

    Executive presentation

    2 Improve the Teams and Processes That Support End-User Device Management

    The Purpose

    Ensure that your teams have a consistent approach to end-user device management.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Developed a standard approach to roles and responsibilities, to training, and to device management processes.

    Activities

    2.1 Align roles to your environment.

    2.2 Assign architect-, engineer-, and administrator-level responsibilities.

    2.3 Rationalize your responsibility matrix.

    2.4 Ensure you have the necessary skills.

    2.5 Define Tier 2 processes, including patch deployment, emergency patch deployment, device deployment, app deployment, and app packaging.

    Outputs

    List of roles involved in end-user device management

    Responsibility matrix for end-user device management

    End-user device management training plan

    End-user device management standard operating procedure

    Workflows and checklists of end-user device management processes

    3 Improve the Technologies That Support End-User Device Management

    The Purpose

    Modernize the toolset used by IT to manage end-user devices.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Saving time and resources for many standard device management processes.

    Activities

    3.1 Define the core image for each device/OS.

    3.2 Define app packages.

    3.3 Gather action items for improving the support technologies.

    3.4 Create a roadmap for improving end-user device management.

    3.5 Create a communication plan for improving end-user device management.

    Outputs

    Core image outline

    Application package outline

    End-user device management roadmap

    End-user device management communication plan

    Select a Marketing Management Suite

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    • Parent Category Name: Customer Relationship Management
    • Parent Category Link: /customer-relationship-management
    • Time, money, and effort are wasted on channels and campaigns that are not resonating with your customer base.
    • Email marketing, social marketing, and/or lead management alone are often not enough to meet more sophisticated marketing needs.
    • Many organizations struggle with taking a systematic approach to selection that pairs functional requirements with specific marketing workflows, and as a result they choose a marketing management suite (MMS) that is not well aligned to their needs, wasting resources and causing end-user frustration.
    • For IT managers or marketing professionals, the task to incorporate MMS technology into the organization requires not only receiving the buy-in for the MMS investment but also determining the vendor and solution that best fit the organization’s particular marketing management needs.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • An MMS enables complex campaigns across many channels, product lines, customer segments, and marketing groups throughout the enterprise.
    • Selecting an MMS has become increasingly difficult because the number of players in the marketplace has ballooned. Moreover, picking the wrong marketing solution has a direct impact on revenue.
    • Determine whether the investment in an MMS is worthwhile or the funds are better allocated elsewhere. For organizations with a large audience or varied product offerings, an MMS enables complex campaigns across many channels, product lines, customer segments, and marketing groups throughout the enterprise.

    Impact and Result

    • Maximize your success and credibility with a proposal that emphasizes the areas relevant to your situation.
    • Perform more effective customer targeting and campaign management. Having an MMS equips marketers with the tools they need to make informed decisions around campaign execution, resulting in better targeting, acquisition, and customer retention. This means more revenue.
    • Maximize marketing impact with analytics-based decision making. Understanding users’/customers’ behaviors and preferences will allow you to run effective marketing initiatives.

    Select a Marketing Management Suite Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out how to approach selecting an MMS, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Launch the MMS project and collect requirements

    Assess the organization’s fit for MMS technology and structure the MMS selection project.

    • Select a Marketing Management Suite – Phase 1: Launch the MMS Project and Collect Requirements
    • MMS Readiness Assessment Checklist

    2. Shortlist marketing management suites

    Produce a vendor shortlist for your MMS.

    • Select a Marketing Management Suite – Phase 2: Shortlist Marketing Management Suites

    3. Select vendor and communicate decision to stakeholders

    Evaluate RFPs, conduct vendor demonstrations, and select an MMS.

    • Select a Marketing Management Suite – Phase 3: Select Vendor and Communicate Decision to Stakeholders
    • MMS Requirements Picklist Tool
    • MMS Request for Proposal Template
    • MMS Vendor Demo Script
    • MMS Selection Executive Presentation Template
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Select a Marketing Management Suite

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Launch the MMS Project and Collect Requirements

    The Purpose

    Determine a “right-size” approach to marketing enablement applications.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Confirmation of the goals, objectives, and direction of the organization is marketing application strategy.

    Activities

    1.1 Assess the value and identify the organization’s fit for MMS technology.

    1.2 Understand the art of the possible.

    1.3 Understand CXM strategy and identify your fit for MMS technology.

    1.4 Build procurement team and project customer experience management (CXM) strategy.

    1.5 Identify your MMS requirements.

    Outputs

    Project team list.

    Preliminary requirements list.

    2 Shortlist Marketing Management Suites

    The Purpose

    Enumerate relevant marketing management suites and point solutions.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    List of marketing enablement applications based on requirements articulated in the preliminary requirements list strategy.

    Activities

    2.1 Identify relevant use cases.

    2.2 Discuss the vendor landscape.

    Outputs

    Vendor shortlist.

    3 Select Vendor and Communicate Decision to Stakeholders

    The Purpose

    Develop a rationale for selecting a specific MMS vendor.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    MMS Vendor decision.

    A template to communicate the decision to executives.

    Activities

    3.1 Create a procurement strategy.

    3.2 Discuss the executive presentation.

    3.3 Plan the procurement process.

    Outputs

    Executive/stakeholder PowerPoint presentation.

    Selection of an MMS.

    Further reading

    Select a Marketing Management Suite

    A best-fit solution balances needs, cost, and capability.

    Table of contents

    1. Project Rationale
    2. Execute the Project/DIY Guide
    3. Appendices

    ANALYST PERSPECTIVE

    Navigate the complexity of a vast ecosystem by taking a structured approach to marketing management suite (MMS) selection.

    Marketing applications are in high demand, but it is difficult to select a suite that is right for your organization. Market offerings have grown from 50 vendors to over 800 in the past five years. Much of the process of identifying an appropriate vendor is not about the vendor at all, but rather about having a comprehensive understanding of internal needs. There are instances where a smaller-point solution is necessary to satisfy requirements and a full marketing management suite is an overinvestment.

    Likewise, a partner with differentiating features such as AI-driven workflows and a mobile software development kit can act as a powerful extension of an overall customer experience management strategy. It is crucial to make the right decision; missing the mark on an MMS selection will have a direct impact on the business’ bottom line.

    Ben Dickie
    Research Director, Enterprise Applications
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Phase milestones

    Launch the MMS Project and Collect Requirements — Phase 1

    • Understand the MMS market space.
    • Assess organizational and project readiness for MMS selection.
    • Structure your MMS selection and implementation project by refining your MMS roadmap.
    • Align organizational use-case fit with market use cases.
    • Collect, prioritize, and document MMS requirements.

    Shortlist MMS Tool — Phase 2

    • Review MMS market leaders and players within your aligned use case.
    • Review MMS vendor profiles and capabilities.
    • Shortlist MMS vendors based on organizational fit.

    Select an MMS — Phase 3

    • Submit request for proposal (RFP) to shortlisted vendors.
    • Evaluate vendor responses and develop vendor demonstration scripts.
    • Score vendor demonstrations and select the final product.

    Stop! Are you ready for this project?

    This Research Is Designed For:
    • IT applications directors and business analysts supporting their marketing teams in selecting and implementing a robust marketing solution.
    • Any organization looking to procure an MMS tool that will allow it to automate its marketing processes or learn more about the MMS vendor landscape.
    This Research Will Help You:
    • Understand today’s MMS market, specific to marketing automation, marketing intelligence, and social marketing use-case scenarios.
    • Understand MMS functionality as well as marketing terminology.
    • Follow best practices to prepare for and execute on selection, including requirements gathering and vendor evaluation.
    This Research Will Also Assist:
    • Marketing managers, brand managers, and any marketing professional looking to build a cohesive marketing platform.
    • MMS project teams or working groups tasked with managing an RFP process for vendor selection.
    This Research Will Help Them
    • Assess organizational and project readiness for embarking on MMS selection.
    • Draft an RFP, manage the vendor and product review process, and select a vendor.

    Executive summary

    Situation

    The MMS market is a landscape of vendors offering campaign management, multichannel support, analytics, and publishing tools. Many vendors specialize in some of these areas but not all. Sometimes multiple products are necessary – but determining which feature sets the organization truly needs can be a challenging task. The right technology stack is critical in order to bring automation to marketing initiatives.

    Complication

    • The first challenge is deciding whether to implement a full marketing suite or a point solution.
    • The number of marketing suites and point solutions has increased from 50 to more than 800 just in the past five years.
    • IT is receiving a growing number of marketing analytics requests and must be prepared to speak intelligently about marketing management vendor selection.

    Resolution

    • Leverage Info-Tech’s comprehensive three-phase approach to MMS selection projects: assess your organization’s preparedness to go into the selection stage, move through technology selection, and present decisions to stakeholders.
    • Conduct an MMS project preparedness assessment to ensure you maximize the value of your time, effort, and spend.
    • Determine whether your organization’s needs will best be met by a marketing management suite or a point solution.
    • Determine which use case your organization fits into and review the relevant vendor landscape, common capability, and areas of product differentiation. Consult Info-Tech’s market analysis to shortlist vendors for your RFP process.
    • Take advantage of traceable and auditable selection tools to run an effective evaluation and selection process. Be prepared to answer the retroactive question “Why this MMS?” with documentation of your selection process and outputs.

    Info-Tech Insight

    1. The new MMS market. Selecting a marketing management solution has become increasingly difficult, with the number of players in the marketplace ballooning to meet buyer demand.
    2. Direct translation to revenue. Picking the wrong marketing solution has a direct impact on the bottom line. However, the right MMS can lead to a 7.3x greater year-over-year increase in annual revenue.
    3. Don’t buy best-of-breed; buy best-for-you. Base your vendor selection on your requirements and use case, not on the vendor’s overall performance.

    MMS is a key piece of the CRM puzzle

    In order to optimize cross-sell opportunities and marketing effectiveness, there needs to be a master customer database, which belongs in the customer relationship management (CRM) suite.

    When it comes to marketing automation capabilities, using CRM is like building a car from a kit. All the parts are there, but you need the time and skill to put it all together. Using marketing automation is like buying the car you want or need, with all the features you want already installed and some gas in the tank, ready to drive. In either case, you still need to know how to drive and where you want to go.” (Mac McIntosh, Marketo Inc.) 'CRM' surrounded by its components with 'MMS' highlighted. A master database – the central place where all up-to-the-minute data on a customer profile is stored – is essential for MMS success. This is particularly true for real-time capability effectiveness and to minimize customer fatigue.

    Understand what an MMS can do for you

    Take time to learn the capabilities of modern marketing applications. Understanding the “art of the possible” will help you to get the most out of your MMS.

    MMS helps marketers in two primary ways:
    1. It allows them to efficiently execute and manage campaigns across dozens of channels and products.
    2. It allows them to analyze the outcomes of campaigns.
    Marketing suites accomplish these tasks by:
    • Leveraging workflow automation to reduce the amount of time spent creating marketing campaigns
    • Using internal or third-party data to increase conversion effectiveness from customer databases across the organization
    A strong MMS provides marketers with the data they need for actionable insights about their customers.
    A marketing automation solution delivers essentially all the benefits of an email marketing solution along with integrated capabilities that would otherwise need to be cobbled together using various standalone technologies.” (Marketo Inc.)

    Review Info-Tech’s vendor profiles of the MMS market to identify vendors that meet your requirements

    Logos of multiple vendors including 'Hubspot', 'IBM', 'Salesforce marketing cloud', etc.

    Use Info-Tech’s MMS implementation methodology as a starting point for your organization’s MMS selection

    Info-Tech’s implementation methodology is not a step-by-step approach to vendor selection, but rather it highlights the pertinent considerations for MMS selection at each of the five steps outlined below.

    1

    2

    3

    4

    5

    Establish Resources Gather Requirements Write and Assemble RFP Exercise Due Diligence Evaluate Candidate Solutions
    • Determine work initiative dependencies and project milestones.
    • Establish the project timeline.
    • Designate project resources.
    • Prioritize rollout of functionality.
    • Link business goals with the MMS selection project.
    • Determine user roles and profiles.
    • Conduct stakeholder interviews.
    • Build communication and change management plan.
    • Draft an RFP.
    • Make a plan for soliciting feedback and publishing the RFP.
    • Customize a vendor demo script and scorecard.
    • Conduct vendor demos.
    • Speak with vendor references.
    • Evaluate nonfunctional requirements.
    • Understand upgrade schedules.
    • Define a vendor evaluation framework.
    • Prepare the final evaluation.
    • Prepare a presentation for management.

    Contact your account representative or email Workshops@InfoTech.com for more information.

    Professional services provider engages Info-Tech to guide it through its MMS selection journey

    CASE STUDY

    Industry: Professional Services | Source: Info-Tech Consulting

    Challenge

    A large professional services firm specializing in knowledge development was looking to modernize an outdated marketing services stack.

    Previous investments in marketing tools ranging from email automation to marketing analytics led to system fragmentation. As a result, there was no 360-degree overview of marketing operations and no way to run campaigns at scale.

    To satisfy the organization’s aspirations, a comprehensive marketing management suite had to be selected that met needs for the foreseeable future.

    Solution

    The Info-Tech consulting team was brought in to assist in the MMS selection process.

    After meeting with several stakeholders, MMS requirements were developed and weighted. An RFP was then created from these requirements.

    Following a market scan, four vendors were selected to complete the organization’s RFP. Demonstration scripts were then developed as the RFPs were completed by vendors.

    Shortlisted vendors progressed to the demonstration phase.

    Results

    Vendor scorecards were utilized during the two-day demonstrations with the core project team to score each vendor.

    During the scoring process the team also identified the need to replace the organization’s core customer repository (a legacy CRM).

    The decision was made to select a CRM before finalizing the MMS selection. Doing so ensured uniform system architecture and strong interoperability between the firm’s MMS and its CRM.

    Info-Tech offers various levels of support to best suit your needs

    DIY Toolkit

    Guided Implementation

    Workshop

    Consulting

    "Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful." "Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track." "We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place." "Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project."

    Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options

    Select a Marketing Management Suite – project overview

    1. Launch the MMS Project and Collect Requirements 2. Shortlist Marketing Management Suites 3. Select Vendor and Communicate Decision to Stakeholders
    Supporting Tool icon

    Best-Practice Toolkit

    1.1 Assess the value and identify your organization’s fit for MMS technology.

    1.2 Build your procurement team and project customer experience management (CXM) strategy.

    1.3 Identify your MMS requirements.

    2.1 Produce your shortlist

    3.1 Select your MMS

    3.2 Present selection

    Guided Implementations

    • Understand CXM strategy and identify your fit for MMS technology.
    • Identify staffing needs.
    • Plan requirements gathering steps.
    • Discuss use-case fit assessment results.
    • Discuss vendor landscape.
    • Create a procurement strategy.
    • Discuss executive presentation.
    • Conduct a proposal review.
    Associated Activity icon

    Onsite Workshop

    Module 1:
    Launch Your MMS Selection Project
    Module 2:
    Analyze MMS Requirements and Shortlist Vendors
    Module 3:
    Plan Your Procurement Process
    Phase 1 Outcome:
    • Launch of MMS selection project
    Phase 2 Outcome:
    • Shortlist of vendors
    Phase 3 Outcome:
    • Selection of MMS

    Use these icons to help direct you as you navigate this research

    Use these icons to help guide you through each step of the blueprint and direct you to content related to the recommended activities.

    A small monochrome icon of a wrench and screwdriver creating an X.

    This icon denotes a slide where a supporting Info-Tech tool or template will help you perform the activity or step associated with the slide. Refer to the supporting tool or template to get the best results and proceed to the next step of the project.

    A small monochrome icon depicting a person in front of a blank slide.

    This icon denotes a slide with an associated activity. The activity can be performed either as part of your project or with the support of Info-Tech team members who will come onsite to facilitate a workshop for your organization.

    A small monochrome icon depicting a descending bar graph.

    This icon denotes a slide that pertains directly to the Info-Tech vendor profiles on marketing management technology. Use these slides to support and guide your evaluation of the MMS vendors included in the research.

    Select a Marketing Management Suite

    PHASE 1

    Launch the MMS Project and Collect Requirements

    Phase 1 outline

    Associated Activity icon Call 1-888-670-8889 or email GuidedImplementations@InfoTech.com for more information.

    Complete these steps on your own, or call us to complete a guided implementation. A guided implementation is a series of 2-3 advisory calls that help you execute each phase of a project. They are included in most advisory memberships.

    Guided Implementation 1: Launch Your MMS Project and Collect Requirements

    Proposed Time to Completion: 3 weeks
    Step 1.2: Structure the Project Step 1.3: Gather Requirements
    Start with an analyst kick-off call:
    • Review readiness requirements for an MMS project.
    • Understand the work initiatives involved in MMS selection.
    Review findings with analyst:
    • Determine use case based on your organizational alignment.
    • Discuss core MMS requirements.
    Then complete these activities…
    • Conduct an organizational MMS readiness assessment.
    Then complete these activities…
    • Identify best-fit use case.
    • Elicit, capture, and prioritize requirements.
    With these tools & templates:
    • MMS Readiness Assessment Checklist
    With these tools & templates:
    • MMS Requirements Picklist Tool
    Phase 1 Results:
    • Completed readiness assessment.
    • Refined project plan to incorporate selection and implementation.

    Phase 1 milestones

    Launch the MMS Project and Collect Requirements — Phase 1

    • Understand the MMS market space.
    • Assess organizational and project readiness for MMS selection.
    • Structure your MMS selection and implementation project by refining your MMS roadmap.
    • Align organizational use-case fit with market use cases.
    • Collect, prioritize, and document MMS requirements.

    Shortlist MMS Tool — Phase 2

    • Review MMS market leaders and players within your aligned use case.
    • Review MMS vendor profiles and capabilities.
    • Shortlist MMS vendors based on organizational fit.

    Select an MMS — Phase 3

    • Submit request for proposal (RFP) to shortlisted vendors.
    • Evaluate vendor responses and develop vendor demonstration scripts.
    • Score vendor demonstrations and select the final product.

    Step 1.1: Understand the MMS market

    1.1

    1.2

    1.3

    Understand the MMS Market Structure the Project Gather MMS Requirements

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • MMS market overview

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Project team
    • Project manager
    • Project sponsor

    Outcomes of this step

    • An understanding of the evolution of the MMS market space and how it helps today’s organizations.
    • An evaluation of new and upcoming trends sought by MMS clients.
    • Verification of whether an MMS is a fit with your organization.

    Speak the same language as the marketing department to deliver the most business value

    Marketing Management Suite Glossary

    Analytics The practice of measuring marketing performance to improve return on investment (ROI). It is often carried out through the visualization of meaningful patterns in data as a result of marketing initiatives.
    Channels The different places where marketers can reach customers (e.g. social media, print mail, television).
    Click-through rate The percentage of individuals who proceed (click-through) from one part of a marketing campaign to the next.
    Content management Curating, creating, editing, and keeping track of content and client-facing assets.
    Customer relationship management (CRM) A core enterprise application that provides a broad feature set for supporting customer interaction processes. The CRM frequently serves as a core customer data repository.
    Customer experience management (CXM) The holistic management of customer interaction processes across marketing, sales, and customer service to create valuable, mutually beneficial customer experiences.
    Engagement rate A social media metric used to describe the amount of likes, comments, shares, etc., that a piece of content receives.
    Lead An individual or organization who has shown interest in the product or service being marketed.
    Omnichannel The portfolio of interaction channels you use.

    MMS is a key piece of the customer experience ecosystem

    Within the broader CXM ecosystem, an MMS typically lives within the CRM platform. Interfacing with the CRM’s master customer database allows an MMS to optimize cross-sell opportunities and marketing effectiveness.

    A master database – the central place where all up-to-the-minute data on a customer profile is stored – is essential for MMS success. This is particularly true for real-time capability effectiveness and to minimize customer fatigue.

    If you have customer records in multiple places, you risk missing customer opportunities and potentially upsetting clients. For example, if a client has communicated preferences or disinterest through one channel, and this is not effectively recorded throughout the organization, another representative is likely to contact them in the same method again – possibly alienating the customer for good.

    A master database requires automatic synchronization with all point solutions, POS, billing systems, agencies, etc. If you don’t have up-to-the-minute information, you can’t score prospects effectively and you lose out on the benefits of the MMS.

    'CRM' surrounded by its components with 'MMS' highlighted.
    Focus on the fundamentals before proceeding. Secure organizational readiness to reduce project risk using Info-Tech’s Build a Strong Technology Foundation for CXM and Select and Implement a CRM Platform blueprints.

    Understanding the “art of the possible”

    The world of marketing technology changes rapidly! Understand how modern marketing management suites are used in most organizations.

    An MMS helps marketers in two primary ways:

    1. It allows them to efficiently execute and manage campaigns across dozens of channels and products.
    2. It allows them to analyze the outcomes of campaigns.

    Marketing suites accomplish these tasks by:

    • Leveraging workflow automation to reduce the amount of time spent creating marketing campaigns.
    • Using internal or third-party data to increase conversion effectiveness from customer databases across the organization.

    A strong MMS provides marketers with the data they need for actionable insights about their customers.

    A marketing automation solution delivers essentially all the benefits of an email marketing solution along with integrated capabilities that would otherwise need to be cobbled together using various standalone technologies.” (Marketo Inc.)

    Inform your way of thinking by understanding the capabilities of modern marketing applications.

    A tree with icons related to knowledge.

    Expect the marketing department to drive suite adoption, but don’t count out the benefits MMS will also provide to IT

    MMS adoption is driven by the need for better campaign execution and marketing intelligence. MMS technologies are adopted to create faster, easier, more intelligent, and more measurable campaigns and make managing complex channels easy and repeatable.

    Top Drivers for Adopting Marketing Management Technologies

    Bar chart of top drivers for adopting marketing management technology. The first four bars are highlighted and the largest, they are labelled 'Campaign Measurement & Effectiveness', 'Execute Multi-channel Campaigns', 'Shorten Marketing Campaign Cycle', and 'Reduce Manual Campaign Creation'.
    (Source: Info-Tech Research Group; N=23)

    The key drivers for MMS are business-related, not IT-related. However, this does not mean that there are no benefits to IT. In fact, the IT department will see numerous benefits, including time and resource savings. Further, not having an MMS creates more work for your IT department. IT must serve as a valued partner for selection and implementation.

    Additional benefits to IT driven by MMS

    Marketing management suites are ideal for large organizations with multiple product lines in complex marketing environments. IT is often more centralized than its counterparts in the business, making it uniquely positioned to encourage greater coordination by helping the business units understand the shared goals and the benefits of working together to roll out suites for marketing workflow management, intelligence, and channel management.

    Cross-Segmentation Additional Revenue Generation Real-Time Capabilities Lead Growth/ Conversion Rate
    Business Value
    • Share resources between brands and product lines.
    • Increase database size with populated client data.
    • Track customer lifetime value.
    • Increase average deal size.
    • Decrease time to execute campaigns.
    • Decrease lead acquisition costs while collecting higher quality leads.
    • Improve retention rates.
    • Reduce cost to serve.
    • Increase customer retention due to effective service.
    • Higher campaign and response rates.
    • Track, measure, and prove the value of marketing activities.
    • Broaden reach through social channels.
    IT Value
    • Reduce reliance on IT for routine tasks such as list creation and data cleansing.
    • Free up IT resources for the sectors of the business where the ROI is greatest.
    • Reduce need for IT to cleanse, modify, or merge data lists because most suites include CRM connectors.
    • Reduce need for constant customization on status reports on lead value and campaign success.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Don’t forget that MMS technologies deliver on the overarching suite value proposition: a robust solution within one integrated offering. Without an MMS in play, organizations in need of this functionality are forced to piece together point solutions (or ad hoc management). This not only increases costs but also is an integration nightmare for IT.

    Step 1.2: Structure the project

    1.1

    1.2

    1.3

    Understand the MMS MarketStructure the ProjectGather MMS Requirements

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Determine if you are ready to kick off the MMS selection project.
    • Align project goals with CXM strategy and business goals.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Core project team
    • Project manager
    • Project sponsor

    Outcomes of this step

    • Assurance that you have completed adequate preparation, obtained stakeholder and sponsor buy-in, secured sufficient resources, and completed strategy and planning activities to move forward with selection.
    • An approach to remedy organizational readiness to prepare for MMS selection.
    • An understanding of stakeholder goals.

    Identify the scope and purpose of your MMS selection process

    Vendor Profiles icon

    Sample Project Overview

    [Organization] plans to select and implement a marketing management suite in order to introduce better campaign management to the business’ processes. This procurement and implementation of an MMS tool will enable the business to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of marketing campaign execution.

    This project will oversee the assessment and shortlisting of MMS vendors, selection of an MMS tool, the configuration of the solution, and the implementation of the technology into the business environment.

    Rationale Behind the Project

    Consider the business drivers behind the interest in MMS technology.

    Be specific to business units impacted and identify key considerations (both opportunities and risks).

    Business Drivers

    • Organizational productivity
    • Customer satisfaction
    • Marketing management costs
    • Risk management

    Info-Tech Insights

    Creating repeatable and streamlined marketing processes is a common overarching business objective that is driven by multiple factors. To ensure this objective is achieved, confirm that the primary drivers are following the implementation of the first automated marketing channels.

    Activity: Understand your business’ goals for MMS by parsing your formal CXM strategy

    Associated Activity icon 1.2.1 1 hour

    INPUT: Stakeholder user stories

    OUTPUT: Understanding of ideal outcomes from MMS implementation

    MATERIALS: Whiteboard and marker or sticky notes

    PARTICIPANTS: Project sponsor, Project stakeholders, Business analysts, Business unit reps

    Instructions

    1. Outline the purpose of the future MMS tool and the drivers behind this business decision with the project’s key stakeholders.
    2. Document plans to ensure that these drivers are taken into consideration and realized following implementation. Example:
      Improve Reduce/Eliminate KPIs
      Multichannel marketing Duplication of effort Number of customer interaction channels supported
      Social integration Process inefficiencies Number of social signals received (likes, shares, etc.)

    If you do not have a well-defined CXM strategy, leverage Info-Tech’s research to Build a Strong Technology Foundation for Customer Experience Management.

    Understanding marketing suites

    Vendor Profiles icon

    This blueprint focuses on complete, integrated marketing management suites

    An integrated suite is a single product that is designed to assist with multiple marketing processes. Information from these suites is deeply connected to the core CRM. Changing a piece of information for one process will update all affected.

    'MMS' surrounded by its integrated processes, including 'Marketing Operations Management', 'Breadth of Channel Support', 'Marketing Asset Management', etc.

    Understanding marketing point solutions

    Vendor Profiles icon

    A point solution typically interfaces with a single customer interaction channel with minimal CRM integration.

    Why use a marketing point solution?

    1. A marketing point solution is a standalone application used to manage a unique process.
    2. Point solutions can be implemented and updated relatively quickly.
    3. They cost less than full-feature, integrated marketing suites.
    4. Some point solutions integrate with CRM platforms or MMS platforms.

    Refer to Phase 2 for a bird’s-eye view of the point solution marketplace.

    Marketing Point Solutions

    • Twitter Analytics
    • Search Engine Optimization
    • Customer Portals
    • Livechat
    • Marketing Attribution
    • Demand Side Platform

    Determine if MMS is right for your organization

    Vendor Profiles icon

    Adopt an MMS if:

    1. Your organization is actively pursuing a multichannel marketing strategy, particularly if its marketing campaigns are complex and multifaceted, involving consumer-specific conditional messaging.
    2. Your enterprise serves a high volume of customers and marketing needs extend to formally managing budgets and resources, lead generation and segmentation, and measuring channel effectiveness.
    3. Your organizations has multiple product lines and is interested in increasing cross-sale opportunities.

    Bypass an MMS if:

    • Your organization does not participate in multichannel campaigns and is primarily using email or web channels to generate leads. You may find the advanced features and capabilities of an MMS to be overkill and should consider lead marketing automation (LMA) or email marketing services first.
    • You are a small to midsize business (SMB) with a limited budget or fewer than five marketing professionals. Don’t buy what you don’t need; organizations with fewer than five people in the marketing department are unlikely to need an MMS.
    • Sales generation is not a priority for the business or a primary goal for the marketing department.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Using an MMS is ideal for organizations with multiple brands and product portfolios (e.g. consumer packaged goods). Ad hoc management and email marketing services are best for small organizations with a client base that requires only bare bones engagement.

    Determine if you are ready to kick off your MMS selection and implementation project

    Supporting Tool icon 1.2.2 MMS Readiness Assessment Checklist
    Use Info-Tech’s MMS Readiness Assessment Checklist to determine if your organization has sufficient process and campaign maturity to warrant the investment in a consolidated marketing management suite.

    Sections of the Tool:

    1. Goals & Objectives
    2. Project Team
    3. Current State Understanding
    4. Future State Vision
    5. Business Process Improvement
    6. Project Metrics
    7. Executive Sponsorship
    8. Stakeholder Buy-In & Change Management
    9. Risk Management
    10. Cost & Budget

    INFO-TECH DELIVERABLE

    Sample of Info-Tech's MMS Readiness Assessment Checklist.

    Complete the MMS Readiness Assessment Checklist by following the instructions in Activity 1.2.3.

    Activity: Determine if you are ready to kick off your MMS selection project

    Associated Activity icon 1.2.3 30 minutes

    INPUT: MMS foundation, MMS strategy

    OUTPUT: Readiness remediation approach, Validation of MMS project readiness

    MATERIALS: Info-Tech’s MMS Readiness Assessment Checklist

    PARTICIPANTS: Project sponsor, Core project team

    Instructions

    1. Download the MMS Readiness Assessment Checklist.
    2. Review Section 1 of the checklist with the core project team and/or project sponsor, item by item. For completed items, tick the relative checkbox.
    3. Once the whole checklist has been reviewed, document all incomplete items in the table under Section 1 in the first table column (“Incomplete Readiness Item”).
    4. For each incomplete item, use your discretion to determine whether its completion is critical in preparation for MMS selection and implementation. This may vary given the complexity of your MMS project. If the item is critical to the project, indicate this with “Y” in the second column (“Criticality (Y/N)”).
    5. For each critical item, reflect on the barriers that have prevented or are preventing its completion. Possible barriers include incomplete task dependencies, low value-to-effort determination, lack of organizational knowledge or resources, pressure of deadlines, etc. Document these barriers in the third column (“Barriers to Completion”).
    6. Based on the barriers determined in Step 5, determine a remediation approach for each item. Document the approach in the fourth column (“Remediation Approach”).
    7. For each remediation activity, designate a due date and remediation owner. Document this in the fifth column (“Due Date & Owner”).
    8. Carry out the remediation of critical tasks and return to this blueprint to kickstart your selection and implementation project.

    Step 1.3: Gather MMS requirements

    1.1

    1.2

    1.3

    Understand the MMS MarketStructure the ProjectGather MMS Requirements

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Understand your MMS use case.
    • Elicit and capture your MMS requirements.
    • Prioritize your solution requirements.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Core project team
    • Project manager
    • Business analysts
    • Procurement subject-matter experts (SMEs)

    Outcomes of this step

    • Project alignment with MMS market use case.
    • Inventory of categorized and prioritized MMS business requirements.

    Understand the dominant use-case scenarios for MMS across organizations

    Vendor Profiles icon

    USE CASES

    While an organization may be product- or service-centric, most fall into one of the three use cases described on this slide.

    1) Marketing Automation

    Workflow Management

    Managing complex marketing campaigns and building and tracking marketing workflows are the mainstay responsibilities of brand managers and other senior marketing professionals. In this category, we evaluated vendors that provide marketers with comprehensive tools for marketing campaign automation, workflow building and tracking, lead management, and marketing resource planning for campaigns that need to reach a large segment of customers.

    Omnichannel Management

    The proliferation of marketing channels has created significant challenges for many organizations. In this use case, we executed a special evaluation of vendors that are well suited for the intricacies of juggling multiple channels, particularly mobile, social, and email marketing.

    2) Marketing Intelligence

    Sifting through data from a myriad of sources and coming up with actionable intelligence and insights remains a critical activity for marketing departments, particularly for market researchers. In this category, we evaluated solutions that aggregate, analyze, and visualize complex marketing data from multiple sources to allow decision makers to execute informed decisions.

    3) Social Marketing

    The proliferation of social networks, customer data, and use cases has made ad hoc social media management challenging. In this category we evaluated vendors that bring uniformity to an organization’s social media capabilities and contribute to a 360-degree customer view.

    Activity: Understand which type of MMS you need

    Associated Activity icon 1.3.1 30 minutes

    INPUT: Use-case breakdown

    OUTPUT: Project use-case alignments

    Materials: Whiteboard, markers

    Participants: Project manager, Core project team (optional)

    Instructions

    1. Familiarize your team with Info-Tech’s MMS use-case breakdown from the previous slide.
    2. Determine which use case is best aligned with your organization’s MMS project objectives. If you need assistance with this, consider the relevance of the cases studies and statements on the following slides.
    3. If your team agrees with most or all statements under a given use case, this indicates strong alignment towards that use case. It is possible for an organization to align with more than one use case. Your use-case alignment will guide you in creating a vendor shortlist later in this project.

    Use Info-Tech’s vendor research and use-case scenarios to support your organization’s vendor analysis

    The use-case view of vendor and product performance provides multiple opportunities for vendors to fit into your application architecture depending on their product and market performance. The use cases selected are based on market research and client demand.

    Determining your use case is crucial for:

    1. Selecting an application that is the right fit
    2. Establishing a business case for MMS

    The following slides illustrate how the three most common use cases (marketing automation, marketing intelligence, and social marketing) align with business needs. As shown by the case studies, the right MMS can result in great benefits to your organization.

    Use-case alignment and business need

    Vendor Profiles icon

    Marketing Automation

    Marketing Need Manage customer experience across multiple channels Manage multiple campaigns simultaneously Integrate web-enabled devices (IoT) into marketing campaigns Run and track email marketing campaigns
    A line of arrows pointing down.
    Corresponding Feature End-to-end management of email marketing Visual workflow editor Customer journey mapping Business rules engine A/B tracking

    The Portland Trail Blazers utilize an MMS to amplify their message with marketing automation technology

    CASE STUDY

    Industry: Entertainment | Source: Marketo

    Challenge

    The Portland Trail Blazers, an NBA franchise, were looking to expand their appeal beyond the city of Portland and into the greater Pacific Northwest Region.

    The team’s management group also wanted to showcase the full range of events that were hosted in the team’s multipurpose stadium.

    The Trail Blazers were looking to engage fans in a more targeted fashion than their CRM allowed for. Ultimately, they hoped to move from “batch and blast” email campaigns to an automated and targeted approach.

    Solution

    The Trail Blazers implemented an MMS that allowed it to rapidly build different types of campaigns. These campaigns could be executed across a variety of channels and target multiple demographics at various points in the fan journey.

    Contextual ads were implemented using the marketing suite’s automated customer journey mapping feature. Targeted ads were served based on a fan’s location in the journey and interactions with the Trail Blazers’ online collateral.

    Results

    The automated campaigns led to a 75% email open rate, which contributed to a 96% renewal rate for season ticket holders – a franchise record.

    Other benefits resulting from the improved conversion rate included an increased cohesion between the Trail Blazers’ marketing, analytics, and ticket sales operations.

    Use-case alignment and business need

    Vendor Profiles icon

    Marketing Intelligence

    Marketing Need Capture marketing- and customer-related data from multiple sources Analyze large quantities of marketing data Visualize marketing-related data in a manner that is easy for decision makers to consume Perform trend and predictive analysis
    A line of arrows pointing down.
    Corresponding Feature Integrate data across customer segments Analysis through machine learning Assign attributers to unstructured data Displays featuring data from external sources Create complex customer data visualizations

    Chico’s FAS uses marketing intelligence to drive customer loyalty

    CASE STUDY

    Industry: Retail | Source: SAS

    Challenge

    Women’s apparel retailer Chico’s FAS was looking to capitalize on customer data from in-store and online experiences.

    Chico’s hoped to consolidate customer data from multiple online and brick-and-mortar retail channels to get a complete view of the customer.

    Doing so would satisfy Chico’s need to create more highly segmented, cost-effective marketing campaigns

    Solution

    Chico’s selected an MMS with strong marketing intelligence, analysis, and data visualization capability.

    The MMS could consolidate and analyze customer and transactional information. The suite’s functionality enabled Chico’s marketing team to work directly with the data, without help from statisticians or IT staff.

    Results

    The approach to marketing indigence led to customers getting deals on products that were actually relevant to them, increasing sales and brand loyalty.

    Moreover, the time it took to perform data consolidation decreased dramatically, from 17 hours to two hours, allowing the process to be performed daily instead of weekly.

    Use-case alignment and business need

    Vendor Profiles icon

    Social Marketing

    Marketing Need Understand customers' likes and dislikes Manage and analyze social media channels like Facebook and Twitter Foster a conversation around specific products Engage international audiences through regional messaging apps
    A line of arrows pointing down.
    Corresponding Feature Social listening capabilities Tools for curating customer community content Ability to aggregate social data Integration with popular social networks Ability to conduct trend reporting

    Bayer leverages MMS technology to cultivate a social presence

    CASE STUDY

    Industry: Life Sciences | Source: Adobe

    Challenge

    Bayer, a Fortune 500 health and life sciences company, was looking for a new way to communicate its complex medical breakthroughs to the general public.

    The decision was made to share the science behind its products via social channels in order to generate excitement.

    Bayer needed tools to publish content across a variety of social media platforms while fostering conversations that were more focused on the science behind products.

    Solution

    Based on the requirements, Bayer decided that an MMS would be the best fit.

    After conducting a market scan, the company selected an MMS with a comprehensive social media suite.

    The suite included tools for social listening and moderation and tools to guide conversations initiated by both marketers and customers.

    Results

    The MMS provided Bayer with the toolkit to engage its audience.

    Bayer took control of the conversation about its products by serving potential customers with relevant video content on social media.

    Its social strategy coupled with advanced engagement tools resulted in new business opportunities and more than 65,000 views on YouTube and more than 87,000 Facebook views in a single month.

    Leverage Info-Tech’s requirements gathering framework to serve as the basis for capturing your MMS requirements

    An important step in selecting an MMS that will have widespread user adoption is creating archetypal customer personas. This will enable you to talk concretely about them as consumers of the application you select and allow you to build buyer scenarios around them.
    REQUIREMENTS GATHERING
    Info-Tech’s requirements gathering framework is a comprehensive approach to requirements management that can be scaled to any size of project or organization. This framework ensures that the application created will capture the needs of all stakeholders and deliver business value. Develop and right-size a proven standard operating procedure for requirements gathering with Info-Tech’s blueprint Build a Strong Approach to Business Requirements Gathering.
    Stock photo of a Jenga tower with title: Build a Strong Approach to Business Requirements Gathering
    KEY INPUTS TO MMS REQUIREMENTS GATHERING
    Requirements Gathering Methodology

    Sample of Requirements Gathering Blueprint.

    Requirements Gathering Blueprint Slide 25: Understand the best-practice framework for requirements gathering for enterprise applications projects.

    Requirements Gathering SOP

    Sample of Requirements Gathering Blueprint.

    Requirements Gathering Blueprint Activities 1.2.2-1.2.5, 2.1.1, 2.1.2, 3.1.1, 3.2.1, 4.1.1-4.1.3, 4.2.2: Consolidate outputs to right-size a best-practice SOP for your organization.

    Project Level Selection Tool

    Sample of Requirements Gathering Blueprint.

    Requirements Gathering Blueprint Activity 1.2.4: Determine project-level selection guidelines to inform the due diligence required in your MMS requirements gathering.

    Activity: Elicit and capture your MMS requirements

    Associated Activity icon 1.3.2 Varies

    INPUT: MMS tool user expertise, MMS Requirements Picklist Tool

    OUTPUT: A list of needs from the MMS tool user perspective

    Materials: Note-taking materials, Whiteboard or flip chart, markers

    Participants: MMS users in the organization, MMS selection committee

    Instructions

    1. Identify stakeholders for the requirements gathering exercise. Consider holding one-on-one sessions or large focus groups with key stakeholders or the project sponsor to gather business requirements for an MMS.
    2. Use the MMS Requirements Picklist Tool as a starting point for conducting the requirements elicitation session(s).
    3. Begin by reading the instructions in the template and then move to the “Requirements” worksheet. Read each defined requirement in the worksheet and indicate in the “Requirement Status” column whether the requirement is a “Must,” “High,” or “Low.” Confirming the status is an important part of the exercise. The status will help filter vendors for final selection later on in the process.
    4. Decide whether additional requirements are necessary by asking the MMS tool users. If so, add the requirements to the bottom of the “Requirements” worksheet and indicate their “Requirement Status.”

    Download the MMS Requirements Picklist Tool to help with completing this activity.

    Show the measurable benefits of MMS with metrics

    The return on investment (ROI) and perceived value of the organization’s marketing solution will be a critical indication of the likelihood of success of the suite’s selection and implementation.

    EXAMPLE
    METRICS

    MMS and Technology Adoption

    Marketing Performance Metrics
    Average revenue gain per campaign Quantity and quality of marketing insights
    Average time to execute a campaign Customer acquisition rates
    Savings from automated processes Marketing cycle times
    User Adoption and Business Feedback Metrics
    User satisfaction feedback User satisfaction survey with the technology
    Business adoption rates Application overhead cost reduction

    Info-Tech Insight

    Even if marketing metrics are difficult to track right now, the implementation of an MMS brings access to valuable customer intelligence from data that was once kept in silos.

    If you want additional support, have our analysts guide you through this phase as part of an Info-Tech Workshop Associated Activity icon

    Book a workshop with our Info-Tech analysts:

    Photo of an Info-Tech analyst.
    • To accelerate this project, engage your IT team in an Info-Tech workshop with an Info-Tech analyst team.
    • Info-Tech analyst will join you and your team onsite at your location or welcome you to Info-Tech's historic Toronto office to participate in an innovative onsite workshop.
    • Contact your account manager (www.infotech.com/account), or email Workshops@InfoTech.com for more information.

    The following are sample activities that will be conducted by Info-Tech analysts with your team:

    1.2.1

    Sample of activity 1.2.1 'Understand your business' goals for MMS by parsing your formal CXM strategy'. Align the CXM strategy value proposition to MMS capabilities

    Our facilitator will help your team identify the IT CXM strategy and marketing goals. The analyst will then work with the team to map the strategy to technological drivers available in the MMS market.

    1.3.2

    Sample of activity 1.3.2 'Elicit and capture your MMS requirements'. Define the needs of MMS users

    Our facilitator will work with your team to identify user requirements for the MMS Requirements Picklist Tool. The analyst will facilitate a discussion with your team to prioritize identified requirements.

    Select a Marketing Management Suite

    PHASE 2

    Shortlist Marketing Management Suites

    Phase 2 outline

    Associated Activity icon Call 1-888-670-8889 or email GuidedImplementations@InfoTech.com for more information.

    Complete these steps on your own, or call us to complete a guided implementation. A guided implementation is a series of 2-3 advisory calls that help you execute each phase of a project. They are included in most advisory memberships.

    Guided Implementation 2: Shortlist Marketing Management Suites

    Proposed Time to Completion: 1-3 months
    Step 2.1: Analyze and Shortlist MMS Vendors
    Start with an analyst kick-off call:
    • Review requirements gathering findings.
    • Review the MMS market space.
    Then complete these activities…
    • Review vendor profiles and analysis.
    • Weigh the evaluation criteria’s importance in product capabilities and vendor characteristics.
    • Shortlist MMS vendors.
    With these tools & templates:
    Phase 2 Results:
    • Shortlist of MMS tools

    Phase 2 milestones

    Launch the MMS Project and Collect Requirements — Phase 1

    • Understand the MMS market space.
    • Assess organizational and project readiness for MMS selection.
    • Structure your MMS selection and implementation project by refining your MMS roadmap.
    • Align organizational use-case fit with market use cases.
    • Collect, prioritize, and document MMS requirements.

    Shortlist MMS Tool — Phase 2

    • Review MMS market leaders and players within your aligned use case.
    • Review MMS vendor profiles and capabilities.
    • Shortlist MMS vendors based on organizational fit.

    Select an MMS — Phase 3

    • Submit request for proposal (RFP) to shortlisted vendors.
    • Evaluate vendor responses and develop vendor demonstration scripts.
    • Score vendor demonstrations and select the final product.

    Step 2.1: Analyze and shortlist MMS vendors

    2.1

    Analyze and Shortlist MMS Vendors

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Review MMS vendor landscape.
    • Take note of relevant point solutions.
    • Shortlist vendors for the RFP process.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Core project team

    Outcomes of this step

    • Understanding of Info-Tech’s use-case scenarios for MMS: marketing automation, marketing intelligence, and social marketing.
    • Familiarity with the MMS vendor landscape.
    • Shortlist of MMS vendors for RFP process.

    Familiarize yourself with the MMS market: How it got here

    Vendor Profiles icon

    Loosely Tied Together

    Originally the sales and marketing enterprise application space was highly fragmented, with disparate best-of-breed point solutions patched together. Soon after, vendors in the late 1990s started bundling automation technologies into a single suite offering. Marketing capabilities of CRM suites were minimal at best and often restricted to web and email only.

    Limited to Large Enterprises

    Many vendors started to combine all marketing tools into a single, comprehensive marketing suite, but cost and complexity limited them to large enterprises and marketing agencies.

    Best-of-breed solutions targeting new channels and new goals, like closed-loop sales and marketing, continued driving new marketing software genres, like dedicated lead management suites.

    In today’s volatile business environment, judgment built from past experience is increasingly unreliable. With consumer behaviors in flux, once-valid assumptions (e.g. ‘older consumers don’t use Facebook or send text messages’) can quickly become outdated.” (SAS Magazine)

    Info-Tech Insight

    As the market evolves, capabilities that were once cutting edge become default and new functionality becomes differentiating. Some features, like basic CRM integration, have become table stakes capabilities. Focus on advanced analytics features and omnichannel integration capabilities to get the best fit for your requirements.

    Familiarize yourself with the MMS market: Where it’s going

    Vendor Profiles icon

    AI and Machine Learning

    Vendors are beginning to offer AI capabilities across MMS for data-driven customer engagement scoring and social listening insights. Machine learning capability is being leveraged to determine optimal customer journey and suggest next steps to users.

    Marketplace Fragmentation

    The number of players in the marketing application space has grown exponentially. The majority of these new vendors offer point solutions rather than full-blown marketing suites. Fragmentation is leading to tougher choices when looking to augment an existing platform with specific functionality.

    Improving Application Integration

    MMS vendors are fostering deeper integrations between their marketing products and core CRM products, leading to improved data hygiene. At the same time, vendors are improving flexibility in the marketing suite so that new channels can be added easily.

    Greater Self-Service

    Vendors have an increased emphasis on application usability. Their goal is to enable marketers to execute campaigns without relying on specialists.

    There’s a firehose of customer data coming at marketers today, and with more interconnected devices emerging (wearables, smart watches, etc.), cultivating a seamless customer experience is likely to grow even more challenging.

    Building out a data-driven marketing strategy and technology stack that enables you to capture behaviors across channels is key.” (IBM, Ideas for Exceeding Customer Expectations)

    Review Info-Tech’s vendor profiles of the MMS market to identify vendors that meet your requirements

    Vendors & Products Evaluated

    Vendor logos including 'Adobe', 'ORACLE', and 'IBM'.

    VENDOR PROFILES

    Review the MMS Vendor Evaluation

    Large icon of a descending bar graph for vendor profiles title page.

    Table stakes are the minimum standard; without these, a product doesn’t even get reviewed

    Vendor Profiles icon

    TABLE STAKES

    Feature Table Stake Functionality
    Basic Workflow Automation Simple automation of common marketing tasks (e.g. handling inbound leads).
    Basic Channel Integration Integration with minimum two or more marketing channels (e.g. email and direct mail).
    Customizable User Interface A user interface that can be changed and optimized to users’ preferences. This includes customizable dashboards for displaying relevant marketing metrics.
    Basic Mobile UX Accessible from a mobile device in some fashion.
    Cloud Compatibility Able to offer integration within pre-existing or proprietary cloud server. Many vendors only have SaaS products.

    What does this mean?

    The products assessed in these vendor profiles meet, at the very least, the requirements outlined as table stakes.

    Many of the vendors go above and beyond the outlined table stakes; some even do so in multiple categories. This section aims to highlight the products’ capabilities in excess of the criteria listed here.

    Info-Tech Insight

    If table stakes are all you need from your MMS, determine whether your existing CRM platform already satisfies your requirements. Otherwise, dig deeper to find the best price-to-value ratio for your needs.

    Take a holistic approach to vendor and product evaluation

    Almost – or equally – as important as evaluating vendor feature capabilities is the need to evaluate vendor viability and non-functional aspects of the MMS. Include an evaluation of the following criteria in your vendor scoring methodology:

    Vendor Attribute Description
    Vendor Stability and Variability The vendor’s proven ability to execute on constant product improvement, deliberate strategic direction, and overall commitment to research and development efforts in responding to emerging trends.
    Security Model The potential to integrate the application to existing security models and the vendor's approach to handling customer data.
    Deployment Style The choice to deploy a single or multi-tenant SaaS environment via a perpetual license.
    Ease of Customization The relative ease with which a system can be customized to accommodate niche or industry-specific business or functional needs.
    Vendor Support Options The availability of vendor support options, including selection consulting, application development resources, implementation assistance, and ongoing support resources.
    Size of Partner Ecosystem The quantity of enterprise applications and third-party add-ons that can be linked to the MMS, as well as the number of system integrators available.
    Ease of Data Integration The relative ease with which the system can be integrated with an organization’s existing application environment, including legacy systems, point solutions, and other large enterprise applications.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Evaluate vendor capabilities, not just product capabilities. An MMS is typically a long-term commitment; ensure that your organization is teaming up with a vendor or provider that you feel you can work well with and depend on.

    Advanced features are the capabilities that allow for granular differentiation of market players and use-case performance

    Vendor Profiles icon

    Evaluation Methodology

    These product features were assessed as part of the classification of vendors into use cases. In determining use-case leaders and players, select features were considered based on best alignment with the use case.

    Feature Advanced Functionality
    Advanced Campaign Management End-to-end marketing campaign management: customer journey mapping, campaign initiation, monitoring, and dynamic reporting and adjustment.
    Marketing Asset Management Content repository functionality (or tight ECM integration) for marketing assets and campaign collateral (static, multimedia, e-commerce–related, etc.).
    Marketing Analytics
    • Predictive analytics; machine learning; capabilities for data ingestion and visualization across various marketing research/marketing intelligence categories (demographic, psychographic, etc.).
    • Data segmentation; drill-down ability to assign attributes to unstructured data; ability to construct complex customer/competitive data visualizations from segmented data.
    Breadth of Channel Support Ability to support and manage a wide range of marketing channels (e-commerce, SEO/SEM, paid advertising, email, traditional [print, multimedia], etc.).
    Marketing Workflow Management Visual workflow editors and business rules engine creation.

    Advanced features are the capabilities that allow for granular differentiation of market players and use-case performance

    Vendor Profiles icon

    Evaluation Methodology

    These product features were assessed as part of the classification of vendors into use cases. In determining use-case leaders and players, select features were considered based on best alignment with the use case.

    Feature Advanced Functionality
    Community Marketing Management Branded customer communities (e.g. community support forums) and DMB/DSP.
    Email Marketing Automation End-to-end management of email marketing: email templates, email previews, spam testing, A/B tracking, multivariate testing, and email metrics tracking.
    Social Marketing Ability to integrate with popular social media networks and manage social properties and to aggregate and analyze social data for trend reporting.
    Mobile Marketing Ability to manage SMS, push, and mobile application marketing.
    Marketing Operations Management Project management tools for marketers (timelines, performance indicators, budgeting/resourcing tools, etc.).

    Use the information in the MMS vendor profiles to streamline your vendor analysis process

    Vendor Profiles icon This section includes profiles of the vendors evaluated against the previously outlined framework.
    Review the use-case scenarios relevant to your organization’s use case to identify a vendor’s fit to your organization’s MMS needs.
    • L = Use-case leader
    • P = Use-case player
    Three column headers: 'Marketing Automation', 'Marketing Intelligence', and 'Social Media Marketing'.
    Understand your organization’s size and whether it falls within the product’s market focus.
    • Large enterprise: 2,000+ employees and revenue of $250M+
    • Small-medium enterprise: 30-2,000 employees and revenue of $25M-$250M
    Column header 'MARKET FOCUS' with row headers 'Small-Medium' and 'Large Enterprise'.
    Review the differentiating features to identify where the application performs best. A list of features.
    Colors signify a feature’s performance. A key for color-coding: Blue - 'Best of Breed', Green - 'Present: Competitive Strength', Yellow-Green - 'Present: Competitive Parity', Yellow - 'Semi-Present', Grey - 'Absent'.

    Adobe Marketing Cloud

    Vendor Profiles icon
    Logo for Adobe. FUNCTIONAL SPOTLIGHT

    Creative Cloud Integration: To make for a more seamless cross-product experience, projects can be sent between Marketing Cloud and Creative Cloud apps such as Photoshop and After Effects.

    Sensei: Adobe has revamped its machine learning and AI platform in an effort to integrate AI into all of its marketing applications. Sensei includes data from Microsoft in a new partnership program.

    Anomaly Detection: Adobe’s Anomaly Detection contextualizes data and provides a statistical method to determine how a given metric has changed in relation to previous metrics.

    USE-CASE PERFORMANCE
    Marketing
    Automation
    Marketing
    Intelligence
    Social
    Marketing

    L

    L

    P

    MARKET FOCUS
    Small-Medium
    Large Enterprise
    Adobe’s goal with Marketing Cloud is to help businesses provide customers with cohesive, seamless experiences by surfacing customer profiles in relevant situations quickly. Adobe Marketing Cloud has traditionally been used in the B2C space but has seen an increase in B2C use cases driven by the finance and technology sectors. FEATURES
    Color-coded ranking of each feature for Adobe.
    Employees (2018): 17,000 Presence: Global Founded: 1982 NASDAQ: ADBE

    HubSpot

    Vendor Profiles icon

    Logo for Hubspot.FUNCTIONAL SPOTLIGHT

    Content Optimization System (COS): The fully integrated system stores assets and serves them to their designated channels at relevant times. The COS is integrated into HubSpot's marketing platform.

    Email Automation: HubSpot provides basic email that can be linked to a specific part of an organization’s marketing funnel. These emails can also be added to pre-existing automated workflows.

    Email Deliverability Tool: HubSpot identifies HTML or content that will be flagged by spam filters. It also validates links and minimizes email load times.

    USE-CASE PERFORMANCE
    Marketing
    Automation
    Marketing
    Intelligence
    Social
    Marketing

    P

    P

    P

    MARKET FOCUS
    Small-Medium
    Large Enterprise
    Hubspot’s primary focus has been on email marketing campaigns. It has put effort into developing solid “click not code” email marketing capabilities. Also, Hubspot has an official integration with Salesforce for expanded operations management and analytics capabilities. FEATURES
    Color-coded ranking of each feature for Hubspot.
    Employees (2018): 1,400 Presence: Global Founded: 2006 NYSE: HUBS

    IBM Marketing Cloud

    Vendor Profiles icon

    Logo for IBM.FUNCTIONAL SPOTLIGHT

    Watson: IBM is leveraging its popular Watson AI brand to generate marketing insights for automated campaigns.

    Weather Effects: Set campaign rules based on connections between weather conditions and customer behavior relative to zip code made by Watson.

    Real-Time Personalization: IBM has made efforts to remove campaign interaction latency and optimize live customer engagement by acting on information about what customers are doing in the current moment.

    USE-CASE PERFORMANCE
    Marketing
    Automation
    Marketing
    Intelligence
    Social
    Marketing

    L

    L

    P

    MARKET FOCUS
    Small-Medium
    Large Enterprise
    IBM has remained ahead of the curve by incorporating its well-known AI technology throughout Marketing Cloud. The application’s integration with the wide array of IBM products makes it a powerful tool for users already in the IBM ecosystem. FEATURES
    Color-coded ranking of each feature for IBM.
    Employees (2018): 380,000 Presence: Global Founded: 1911 NYSE: IBM

    Marketo

    Vendor Profiles icon

    Logo for Marketo.FUNCTIONAL SPOTLIGHT

    Content AI: Marketo has leveraged its investments in machine learning to intelligently fetch marketing assets and serve them to customers based on their interactions with a campaign.

    Email A/B Testing: To improve lead generation from email campaigns, Marketo features the ability to execute A/B testing for customized campaigns.

    Partnership with Google: Marketo is now hosted on Google’s cloud platform, enabling it to provide support for larger enterprise clients and improve GDPR compliance.

    USE-CASE PERFORMANCE
    Marketing
    Automation
    Marketing
    Intelligence
    Social
    Marketing

    P

    P

    P

    MARKET FOCUS
    Small-Medium
    Large Enterprise
    Marketo has strong capabilities for lead management but has recently bolstered its analytics capabilities. Marketo is hoping to capture some of the analytics application market share by offering tools with varying complexity and to cater to firms with a wide range of analytics needs. FEATURES
    Color-coded ranking of each feature for Marketo.
    Employees (2018): 1,000 Presence: Global Founded: 2006 Private Corporation

    Oracle Marketing Cloud

    Vendor Profiles icon

    Logo for Oracle.FUNCTIONAL SPOTLIGHT

    Data Visualization: To make for a more seamless cross-product experience, marketing projects can be sent between Marketing Cloud and Creative Cloud apps such as Dreamweaver.

    ID Graph: Use ID Graph to unite disparate data sources to form a singular profile of leads, making the personalization and contextualization of campaigns more efficient.

    Interest-Based Messaging: Pause a campaign to update a segment or content based on aggregated customer activity and interaction data.

    USE-CASE PERFORMANCE
    Marketing
    Automation
    Marketing
    Intelligence
    Social
    Marketing

    P

    P

    P

    MARKET FOCUS
    Small-Medium
    Large Enterprise
    Oracle Marketing Cloud is known for its balance between campaigns and analytics products. Oracle has taken the lead on expanding its marketing channel mix to include international options such as WeChat. Users already using Oracle’s CRM/CEM products will derive the most value from Marketing Cloud. FEATURES
    Color-coded ranking of each feature for Oracle.
    Employees (2018): 138,000 Presence: Global Founded: 1977 NYSE: ORCL

    Salesforce Marketing Cloud

    Vendor Profiles icon

    Logo for Salesforce Marketing Cloud.FUNCTIONAL SPOTLIGHT

    Einstein: Salesforce is putting effort into integrating AI into all of its applications. The Einstein AI platform provides marketers with predictive analytics and insights into customer behavior.

    Mobile Studio: Salesforce has a robust mobile marketing offering that encompasses SMS/MMS, in-app engagement, and group messaging platforms.

    Journey Builder: Salesforce created Journey Builder, which is a workflow automation tool. Its user-friendly drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to automate responses to customer actions.

    USE-CASE PERFORMANCE
    Marketing
    Automation
    Marketing
    Intelligence
    Social
    Marketing

    L

    P

    L

    MARKET FOCUS
    Small-Medium
    Large Enterprise
    Salesforce Marketing Cloud is primarily used by organizations in the B2C space. It has strong Sales Cloud CRM integration. Pardot is positioning itself as a tool for sales teams in addition to marketers. FEATURES
    Color-coded ranking of each feature for Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
    Employees (2018): 1,800 Presence: Global Founded: 2000 NYSE: CRM

    Salesforce Pardot

    Vendor Profiles icon

    Logo for Salesforce Pardot.FUNCTIONAL SPOTLIGHT

    Engagement Studio: Salesforce is putting marketing capabilities in the hands of sales reps by giving them access to a team email engagement platform.

    Einstein: Salesforce’s Einstein AI platform helps marketers and sales reps identify the right accounts to target with predictive lead scoring.

    Program Steps: Salesforce developed a distinct own workflow building tool for Pardot. Workflows are made of “Program Steps” that have the functionality to initiate campaigns based on insights from Einstein.

    USE-CASE PERFORMANCE
    Marketing
    Automation
    Marketing
    Intelligence
    Social
    Marketing

    P

    P

    -

    MARKET FOCUS
    Small-Medium
    Large Enterprise
    Pardot is Salesforce’s B2B marketing solution. Pardot has focused on developing tools that enable sales teams and marketers to work in lockstep in order to achieve lead-generation goals. Pardot has deep integration with Salesforce’s CRM and customer service management products. FEATURES
    Color-coded ranking of each feature for Salesforce Pardot.
    Employees (2018): 1,800 Presence: Global Founded: 2000 NYSE: CRM

    SAP Hybris Marketing

    Vendor Profiles icon

    Logo for SAP.FUNCTIONAL SPOTLIGHT

    CMO Dashboard: The specialized dashboard is aimed at providing overviews for the executive level. It includes the ability to coordinate marketing activities and project budgets, KPIs, and timelines.

    Loyalty Management: SAP features in-app tools to manage campaigns specifically geared toward customer loyalty with digital coupons and iBeacons.

    Customer Segmentation: SAP’s predictive capabilities dynamically suggest relevant customer profiles for new campaigns.

    USE-CASE PERFORMANCE
    Marketing
    Automation
    Marketing
    Intelligence
    Social
    Marketing

    P

    L

    P

    MARKET FOCUS
    Small-Medium
    Large Enterprise
    SAP Hybris Marketing Cloud optimizes marketing strategies in real time with accurate attribution and measurements. SAP’s operations management capabilities are robust, including the ability to view consolidated data streams from ongoing marketing plans, performance targets, and budgets. FEATURES
    Color-coded ranking of each feature for SAP.
    Employees (2018): 84,000 Presence: Global Founded: 1972 NYSE: SAP

    SAS Marketing Intelligence

    Vendor Profiles icon

    Logo for SAS.FUNCTIONAL SPOTLIGHT

    Activity Map: A user-friendly workflow builder that can be used to execute campaigns. Multiple activities can be simultaneously A/B tested within the Activity Map UI. The outcome of the test can automatically adjust the workflow.

    Spots: A native digital asset manager that can store property that is part of existing and future campaigns.

    Viya: A framework for fully integrating third-party data sources into SAS Marketing Intelligence. Viya assists with pairing on-premises databases with a cloud platform for use with the SAS suite.

    USE-CASE PERFORMANCE
    Marketing
    Automation
    Marketing
    Intelligence
    Social
    Marketing

    P

    L

    MARKET FOCUS
    Small-Medium
    Large Enterprise
    SAS has been a leading BI and analytics provider for more than 35 years. Rooted in statistical analysis of data, SAS products provide forward-looking strategic insights. Organizations that require extensive customer intelligence capabilities and the ability to “slice and dice” segments should have SAS on their shortlist. FEATURES
    Color-coded ranking of each feature for SAS.
    Employees (2018): 14,000 Presence: Global Founded: 1976 Private Corporation

    Consider alternative MMS vendors not included in Info-Tech’s vendor profiles

    Info-Tech evaluated only a portion of vendors in the MMS market. In order for a vendor to be included in this landscape, the company needed to meet three baseline criteria:
    1. Our clients must be talking about the solution.
    2. Our analysts must believe the solution will play well within the evaluation.
    3. The vendor must meet table stakes criteria.
    Below is a list of notable vendors in the space that did not meet all of Info-Tech’s inclusion requirements.

    Additional vendors in the MMS market:

    Logo for act-on. Logo for SharpSpring.

    See the next slides for suggested point solutions.

    Leverage Info-Tech’s WXM and SMMP vendor landscapes to select platforms that fit with your CXM strategy

    Web experience management (WXM) and social media management platforms (SMMP) act in concert with your MMS to execute complex campaigns.

    Social Media Management

    Info-Tech’s SMMP selection guide enables you to find a solution that satisfies your objectives across marketing, sales, public relations, HR, and customer service. Create a unified framework for driving successful implementation and adoption of your SMMP that fully addresses CRM and marketing automation integration, end-user adoption, and social analytics with Info-Tech’s blueprint Select and Implement a Social Media Management Platform.

    Stock image with the title Select and Implement a Social Media Management Platform.
    Web Experience Management

    Info-Tech’s approach to WXM ensures you have the right suite of tools for web content management, experience design, and web analytics. Put your best foot forward by conducting due diligence as the selection project advances. Ensure that your organization will see quick results with Info-Tech’s blueprint Select and Implement a Web Experience Management Solution.

    Stock image with the title Select and Implement a Web Experience Management Solution.

    POINT SOLUTION PROFILES

    Review this cursory list of point solutions by use case

    Consider point solutions if a full suite is not required

    Large icon of a target for point solution profiles title page.

    Consider point solutions if a full suite is not required

    Email Marketing

    Logos of companies for Email Marketing including MailChimp and emma.

    Consider point solutions if a full suite is not required

    Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

    Logos of companies for Search Engine Optimization including SpyFu and SerpStat.

    Consider point solutions if a full suite is not required

    Demand-Side Platform (DSP)

    Logos of companies for Demand-Side Platform including MediaMath and rocketfuel.

    Consider point solutions if a full suite is not required

    Customer Portal Software

    Logos of companies for Customer Portal Software including LifeRay and lithium.

    Select a Marketing Management Suite

    PHASE 3

    Select Vendor and Communicate Decision to Stakeholders

    Phase 3 outline

    Associated Activity icon Call 1-888-670-8889 or email GuidedImplementations@InfoTech.com for more information.

    Complete these steps on your own, or call us to complete a guided implementation. A guided implementation is a series of 2-3 advisory calls that help you execute each phase of a project. They are included in most advisory memberships.

    Guided Implementation 3: Plan Your MMS Implementation

    Proposed Time to Completion: 2 weeks
    Step 3.1: Select Your MMS Step 3.2: Communicate the Decision to Stakeholders
    Start with an analyst kick-off call:
    • Review the MMS shortlist.
    • Discuss how to link RFP questions and demo script scenarios to gathered requirements.
    Review findings with analyst:
    • Review the alignment between MMS capability and the business’ CXM strategy.
    • Discuss how to present the decision to stakeholders.
    Then complete these activities…
    • Build a vendor response template.
    • Evaluate RFP responses from vendors.
    • Build demo scripts and set up product demonstrations.
    • Establish evaluation criteria.
    • Select MMS product and vendor.
    Then complete these activities…
    • Present decision rationale to stakeholders.
    With these tools & templates:
    • MMS Request for Proposal Template
    • MMS Vendor Demo Script
    With these tools & templates:
    • MMS Selection Executive Presentation Template
    Phase 3 Results
    • Select an MMS that meets requirements and is approved by stakeholders.

    Phase 3 milestones

    Launch the MMS Project and Collect Requirements — Phase 1

    • Understand the MMS market space.
    • Assess organizational and project readiness for MMS selection.
    • Structure your MMS selection and implementation project by refining your MMS roadmap.
    • Align organizational use-case fit with market use cases.
    • Collect, prioritize, and document MMS requirements.

    Shortlist MMS Tool — Phase 2

    • Review MMS market leaders and players within your aligned use case.
    • Review MMS vendor profiles and capabilities.
    • Shortlist MMS vendors based on organizational fit.

    Select an MMS — Phase 3

    • Submit request for proposal (RFP) to shortlisted vendors.
    • Evaluate vendor responses and develop vendor demonstration scripts.
    • Score vendor demonstrations and select the final product.

    Step 2.1: Analyze and shortlist MMS vendors

    3.1

    3.2

    Select Your MMS Communicate Decision to Stakeholders

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Build a response template to standardize potential vendor responses and streamline your evaluation process.
    • Evaluate the RFPs you receive with a clear scoring process and evaluation framework.
    • Build a demo script to evaluate product demonstrations by vendors.
    • Select your solution.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Core project team
    • Procurement SMEs
    • Project sponsor

    Outcomes of this step

    • Completed MMS RFP vendor response template
    • Completed MMS demo script(s)
    • Established product and vendor evaluation criteria
    • Final MMS selection

    Activity: Shortlist vendors for the RFP process

    Associated Activity icon 3.1.1 30 minutes

    INPUT: Organizational use-case fit

    OUTPUT: MMS vendor shortlist

    Materials: Info-Tech’s MMS use cases, Info-Tech’s vendor profiles, Whiteboard, markers

    Participants: Core project team

    Instructions

    1. Collectively with the core project team, determine any knock-out criteria for shortlisting MMS vendors. For example, if your team is executing on a strategy that favors mobile deployment, vendors who do not have a mobile offering may be off the table.
    2. Based on the results in Activity 1.3.2, write a longlist of vendors. In most cases, this list will consist of all the vendors that fall into your organization’s use-case scenario. If your organization fits into more than one use case (e.g. your organization has both product-centric and service-centric MMS needs), look for the overlap of vendors between the use cases.
    3. Review the profiles of the vendors that fall into your use-case scenario. Based on your knock-out criteria established in Step 1, eliminate any vendors as applicable.
    4. Finalize and record your shortlist of MMS vendors.

    Use Info-Tech’s MMS Request for Proposal Template to document and communicate your requirements to vendors

    Supporting Tool icon 3.1.2 MMS Request for Proposal Template

    Use the MMS Request for Proposal Template as a step-by-step guide on how to request interested vendors to submit written proposals that meet your set of requirements.

    If interested in bidding for your project, vendors will respond with a description of the techniques they would employ to address your organizational challenges and meet your requirements, along with a plan of work and detailed budget for the project.

    The RFP is an important piece of setting and aligning your expectations with the vendors’ product offerings. Make sure to address the following elements in the RFP:

    Sections of the Tool:

    1. Statement of work
    2. General information
    3. Proposal preparation instructions
    4. Scope of work, specifications, and requirements
    5. Vendor qualifications and references
    6. Budget and estimated pricing
    7. Additional terms and conditions
    8. Vendor certification

    INFO-TECH DELIVERABLE

    Sample of Info-Tech's MMS Request Proposal Template.

    Complete the MMS Request for Proposal Template by following the instructions in Activity 3.1.3.

    Activity: Create an RFP to submit to MMS vendors

    Associated Activity icon 3.1.3 1-2 hours

    INPUT: Business requirements document, Procurement procedures

    OUTPUT: MMS RFP

    Materials: Internal RFP tools or templates (if available), Info-Tech’s MMS Request for Proposal Template (optional)

    Participants: Procurement SMEs, Project manager, Core project team (optional)

    Instructions

    1. Download Info-Tech’s MMS Request for Proposal Template or prepare internal best-practice RFP tools.
    2. Build your RFP:
      1. Complete the statement of work and general information sections to provide organizational context to your longlisted vendors.
      2. Outline the organization’s procurement instructions for vendors, including due diligence, assessment criteria, and dates.
      3. Input the business requirements document as created in Activity 1.3.2.
      4. Create a scenario overview to provide vendors with an opportunity to give an estimate price.
    3. Obtain approval for your RFP. Each organization has a unique procurement process; follow your own organization’s process as you submit your RFPs to vendors. Ensure compliance with your organization’s standards and gain approval for submitting your RFP.

    Establish vendor evaluation criteria

    Vendor demonstrations are an integral part of the selection process. Having clearly defined selection criteria will help with setting up relevant demos as well as inform the vendor scorecards.

    EXAMPLE EVALUATION CRITERIAPie chart indicating the weight of each 'Vendor Evaluation Criteria': 'Functionality, 30%', 'Ease of Use, 25%', 'Cost, 15%', 'Vendor, 15%', and 'Technology, 15%'.
    Functionality (30%)
    • Breadth of capability
    • Tactical capability
    • Operational capability
    Ease of Use (25%)
    • End-user usability
    • Administrative usability
    • UI attractiveness
    • Self-service options
    Cost (15%)
    • Maintenance
    • Support
    • Licensing
    • Implementation (internal and external costs)
    Vendor (15%)
    • Support model
    • Customer base
    • Sustainability
    • Product roadmap
    • Proof of concept
    • Implementation model
    Technology (15%)
    • Configurability options
    • Customization requirements
    • Deployment options
    • Security and authentication
    • Integration environment
    • Ubiquity of access (mobile)

    Info-Tech Insight

    Base your vendor evaluations not on the capabilities of the solutions but instead on how the solutions align with your organization’s process automation requirements and considerations.

    Vendor demonstrations

    Examine how the vendor’s solution performs against your evaluation framework.

    What is the value of a vendor demonstration?

    Vendor demonstrations create a valuable opportunity for your organization to confirm that the vendor’s claims in the RFP are actually true.

    A display of the vendor’s functional capabilities and its execution of the scenarios given in your demo script will help to support your assessment of whether a vendor aligns with your MMS requirements.

    What should be included in a vendor demonstration?

    1. Vendor’s display of its solution for the scenarios provided in the demo script.
    2. Display of functional capabilities of the tool.
    3. Briefing on integration capabilities.

    Activity: Invite top performing vendors for product demonstrations

    Associated Activity icon 3.1.4 1-2 hours

    INPUT: Business requirements document, Logistical considerations, Usage scenarios by functional area

    OUTPUT: MMS demo script

    Materials: Info-Tech’s MMS Vendor Demo Script

    Participants: Procurement SMEs, Core project team

    Instructions

    1. Have your evaluation team (selected at the onset of the project) present to evaluate each vendor’s presentation. In some cases you may choose to bring in a subject matter expert (SME) to evaluate a specific area of the tool.
    2. Outline the logistics of the demonstration in the Introduction section of the template. Be sure to outline the total length of the demo and the amount of time that should be dedicated to the following:
      • Product demonstration in response to the demo script
      • Showcase of unique product elements, not reflective of the demo script
      • Question and answer session
      • Breaks and other potential interruptions
    3. Provide prompts for the vendor to display the capabilities by listing and describing usage scenarios by functional area. For example, when asking a vendor to demo financial and accounting management capabilities, you may break scenarios out by task (e.g. general ledger, accounts payable) or user role (e.g. finance manager, administrator).

    Info-Tech Insight

    Challenge vendor project teams during product demonstrations. Asking the vendor to make adjustments or customizations on the fly will allow you to get an authentic feel of product capability and flexibility, as well as of the degree of adaptability of the vendor project team. Ask the vendor to demonstrate how to do things not listed in your user scenarios, such as change system visualizations or design, change underlying data, add additional datasets, demonstrate analytics capabilities, or channel specific automation.

    Use Info-Tech’s MMS Vendor Demo Script template to set expectations for vendor product demonstration

    Vendor Profiles icon MMS Vendor Demo Script

    Customize and use Info-Tech’s MMS Vendor Demo Script to help identify how a vendor’s solution will fit your organization’s particular business capability needs.

    This tool assists with outlining logistical considerations for the demo itself and the scenarios with which the vendors should script their demonstration.

    Sections of the Tool:

    1. Introduction
    2. Demo scenarios by functional area

    Info-Tech Best Practice

    Avoid providing vendors with a rigid script for product demonstration; instead, provide user scenarios. Part of the value of a vendor demonstration is the opportunity to assess whether or not the vendor project team has a solid understanding of your organization’s MMS challenges and requirements and can work with your team to determine the best solution possible. A rigid script may result in your inability to assess whether the vendor will adjust for and scale with your project and organization as a technology partner.

    INFO-TECH DELIVERABLE

    Sample of Info-Tech's MMS Vendor Demo Script.

    Use the MMS Vendor Demo Script by following the instructions in Activity 3.1.4.

    Leverage Info-Tech’s vendor selection and negotiation models as the basis for a streamlined MMS selection process

    Design a procurement process that is robust, ruthless, and reasonable. Rooting out bias during negotiation is vital to making unbiased vendor selections.

    Vendor Selection

    Info-Tech’s approach to vendor selection gets you to design a procurement process that is robust, ruthless, and reasonable. This approach enables you to take control of vendor communications. Implement formal processes with an engaged team to achieve the right price, the right functionality, and the right fit for the organization with Info-Tech's blueprint Implement a Proactive and Consistent Vendor Selection Process.

    Stock image with the title Implement a Proactive and Consistent Vendor Selection Process.
    Vendor Negotiation

    Info-Tech’s SaaS negotiation strategy focuses on taking control of implementation from the beginning. The strategy allows you to work with your internal stakeholders to make sure they do not team up with the vendor instead of you. Reach an agreement with your vendor that takes into account both parties’ best interests with Info-Tech’s blueprint Negotiate SaaS Agreements That Are Built to Last.

    Stock image with the title Negotiate SaaS Agreements That Are Built to Last.

    Step 3.2: Communicate decision to stakeholders

    3.1

    3.2

    Select Your MMS Communicate Decision to Stakeholders

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Collect project rationale documentation.
    • Create a presentation to communicate your selection decision to stakeholders.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Core project team
    • Procurement SMEs
    • Project sponsor
    • Business stakeholders
    • Relevant management

    Outcomes of this step

    • Completed MMS Selection Executive Presentation Template
    • Affirmation of MMS selection by stakeholders

    Inform internal stakeholders of the final decision

    Ensure traceability from the selected tool to the needs identified in the first phase. Internal stakeholders must understand the reasoning behind the final selection and see the alignment to their defined requirements and needs.

    Document the selection process to show how the selected tool aligns to stakeholder needs:

    A large arrow labelled 'Application Benefits', underlaid beneath two smaller arrows labelled 'MMS stakeholder needs' and 'MMS technology needs', all pointing to the right.

    Documentation will assist with:

    1. Adopting the selected MMS.
    2. Demonstrating that proper due diligence was performed during the selection process.
    3. Providing direct traceability between the selected applications and internal stakeholder needs.

    Activity: Prepare a presentation deck to communicate the selection process and decision to internal stakeholders

    Associated Activity icon 3.2.1 1 week

    INPUT: MMS tool selection committee expertise

    OUTPUT: Decision to invest or not invest in an MMS tool

    Materials: Note-taking materials, Whiteboard or flip chart, markers

    Participants: MMS tool selection committee

    Instructions

    1. Download Info-Tech’s MMS Selection Executive Presentation Template.
    2. Read the instructions on slide 2 of the template. Then, on slide 3, decide if any portion of the selection process should be removed from the communication. Discuss with the team and make adjustments to slide 3 as necessary.
    3. Work with the MMS selection committee to populate the slides that remain after the adjustments. Follow the instructions on each slide to help complete the content.
    4. Refer to the square brackets on each slide (e.g. [X.X]) to identify the activity numbers in this storyboard that correspond to the slide in the MMS Selection Executive Presentation Template. Use the outputs produced from the corresponding activities in this deck and populate each slide in the MMS Selection Executive Presentation Template.
    5. Use the completed template to present to internal stakeholders.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Documenting the process of how the selection decision was made will avoid major headaches down the road. Without a documented process, internal stakeholders and even vendors can challenge and discredit the selection process.

    Vendor participation

    Vendors Who Briefed with Info-Tech Research Group

    Logos of vendors who participated in this blueprint: Salesforce Pardot, SAS, Adobe, Marketo, and Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

    Professionals Who Contributed to Our Evaluation and Research

    • Sara Camden, Digital Change Agent, Equifax
    • Caren Carrasco, Lifecycle Marketing and Automation, Benjamin David Group
    • 10 anonymous contributors participated in the vendor briefings

    Works cited

    Adobe Systems Incorporated. “Bayer builds understanding, socially.” Adobe.com, 2017. Web.

    IBM Corporation, “10 Key Marketing Trends for 2017.” IBM.com, 2017. Web.

    Marketo, Inc. “The Definitive Guide to Marketing Automation.” Marketo.com, 2013. Web.

    Marketo, Inc. “NBA franchise amplifies its message with help from Marketo’s marketing automation technology.” Marketo.com, 2017. Web.

    Salesforce Pardot. “Marketing Automation & Your CRM: The Dynamic Duo.” Pardot.com, 2017. Web.

    SAS Institute Inc. “Marketing Analytics: How, why and what’s next.” SAS Magazine, 2013. Web.

    SAS Institute Inc. “Give shoppers offers they’ll love.” SAS.com, 2017. Web.

    Drive Digital Transformation With Platform Strategies

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    • Parent Category Name: IT Strategy
    • Parent Category Link: /it-strategy
    • Enterprise is grappling with the challenges of existing business models and strategies not leading to desired outcomes.
    • Enterprise is struggling to remain competitive.
    • Enterprise wants to understand how to leverage platform strategies and a digital platform.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    To remain competitive enterprises must renew and refresh their business model strategies and design/develop digital platforms – this requires enterprises to:

    • Understand how digital-native enterprises are using platform business models and associated strategies.
    • Understand their core assets and strengths and how these can be leveraged for transformation.
    • Understand the core characteristics and components of a digital platform so that they can design digital platform(s) for their enterprise.
    • Ask if the client’s digital transformation (DX) strategy is aligned with a digital platform enablement strategy.
    • Ask if the enterprise has paid attention to the structure, culture, principles, and practices of platform teams.

    Impact and Result

    Organizations that implement this project will gain benefits in five ways:

    • Awareness and understanding of various platform strategies.
    • Application of specific platform strategies within the context of the enterprise.
    • Awareness of their existing business mode, core assets, value proposition, and strengths.
    • Alignment between DX themes and platform enablement themes so enterprises can develop roadmaps that gauge successful DX.
    • Design of a digital platform, including characteristics, components, and team characteristics, culture, principles, and practices.

    Drive Digital Transformation With Platform Strategies Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should consider the platform business model and a digital platform to remain competitive.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Set goals for your platform business model

    Understand the platform business model and strategies and then set your platform business model goals.

    • Drive Digital Transformation With Platform Strategies – Phase 1: Set Goals for Your Platform Business Model
    • Business Platform Playbook

    2. Configure digital platform

    Define design goals for your digital platform. Align your DX strategy with digital platform capabilities and understand key components of the digital platform.

    • Drive Digital Transformation With Platform Strategies – Phase 2: Configure Your Digital Platform
    • Digital Platform Playbook
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Drive Digital Transformation With Platform Strategies

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Understand Platform Business Model and Strategies

    The Purpose

    Understand existing business model, value proposition, and key assets.

    Understand platform business model and strategies.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Understanding the current assets helps with knowing what can be leveraged in the new business model/transformation.

    Understanding the platform strategies can help the enterprise renew/refresh their business model.

    Activities

    1.1 Document the current business model along with value proposition and key assets (that provide competitive advantage).

    1.2 Transformation narrative.

    1.3 Platform model canvas.

    1.4 Document the platform strategies in the context of the enterprise.

    Outputs

    Documentation of current business model along with value proposition and key assets (that provide competitive advantage).

    Documentation of the selected platform strategies.

    2 Planning for Platform Business Model

    The Purpose

    Understand transformation approaches.

    Understand various layers of platforms.

    Ask fundamental and evolutionary questions about the platform.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Understanding of the transformational model so that the enterprise can realize the differences.

    Understanding of the organization’s strengths and weaknesses for a DX.

    Extraction of strategic themes to plan and develop a digital platform roadmap.

    Activities

    2.1 Discuss and document decision about DX approach and next steps.

    2.2 Discuss and document high-level strategic themes for platform business model and associated roadmap.

    Outputs

    Documented decision about DX approach and next steps.

    Documented high-level strategic themes for platform business model and associated roadmap.

    3 Digital Platform Strategy

    The Purpose

    Understand the design goals for the digital platform.

    Understand gaps between the platform’s capabilities and the DX strategy.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Design goals set for the digital platform that are visible to all stakeholders.

    Gap analysis performed between enterprise’s digital strategy and platform capabilities; this helps understand the current situation and thus informs strategies and roadmaps.

    Activities

    3.1 Discuss and document design goals for digital platform.

    3.2 Discuss DX themes and platform capabilities – document the gaps.

    3.3 Discuss gaps and strategies along with timelines.

    Outputs

    Documented design goals for digital platform.

    Documented DX themes and platform capabilities.

    DX themes and platform capabilities map.

    4 Digital Platform Design: Key Components

    The Purpose

    Understanding of key components of a digital platform, including technology and teams.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Understanding of the key components of a digital platform and designing the platform.

    Understanding of the team structure, culture, and practices needed for successful platform engineering teams.

    Activities

    4.1 Confirmation and discussion on existing UX/UI and API strategies.

    4.2 Understanding of microservices architecture and filling of microservices canvas.

    4.3 Real-time stream processing data pipeline and tool map.

    4.4 High-level architectural view.

    4.5 Discussion on platform engineering teams, including culture, structure, principles, and practices.

    Outputs

    Filled microservices canvas.

    Documented real-time stream processing data pipeline and tool map.

    Documented high-level architectural view.

    Exploit Disruptive Infrastructure Technology

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    • Parent Category Name: Disruptive & Emerging Technologies
    • Parent Category Link: /disruptive-emerging-technologies
    • New technology can hit like a meteor. Not only disruptive to IT, technology provides opportunities for organization-wide advantage.
    • Your role is endangered. If you don’t prepare for the most disruptive technologies, you could be overshadowed. Don’t let the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) set the technological innovation agenda
    • Predicting the future isn’t easy. Most IT leaders fail to realize how quickly technology increases in capability. Even for the tech savvy, predicting which specific technologies will become disruptive is difficult.
    • Communication is difficult when the sky is falling. Even forward-looking IT leaders struggle with convincing others to devote time and resources to monitoring technologies with a formal process.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Establish the core working group, select a leader, and select a group of visionaries to help brainstorm emerging technologies.
    • Brainstorm about creating a better future, begin brainstorming an initial longlist.
    • Train the group to think like futurists.
    • Evaluate the shortlist.
    • Define your PoC list and schedule.
    • Finalize, present the plan to stakeholders and repeat.

    Impact and Result

    • Create a disruptive technology working group.
    • Produce a longlist of disruptive technologies.
    • Evaluate the longlist to produce a shortlist of disruptive technologies.
    • Develop a plan for a proof-of-concept project for each shortlisted technology.

    Exploit Disruptive Infrastructure Technology Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Exploit Disruptive Infrastructure Technology – A guide to help IT leaders make the most of disruptive impacts.

    As a CIO, there is a need to move beyond day-to-day technology management with an ever-increasing need to forecast technology impacts. Not just from a technical perspective but to map out the technical understandings aligned to potential business impacts and improvements. Technology transformation and innovation is moving more quickly than ever before and as an innovation champion, the CIO or CTO should have foresight in specific technologies with the understanding of how the company could be disrupted in the near future.

    • Exploit Disruptive Infrastructure Technology – Phases 1-3

    2. Disruptive Technology Exploitation Plan Template – A guide to develop the plan for exploiting disruptive technology.

    The Disruptive Technology Exploitation Plan Template acts as an implementation plan for developing a long-term strategy for monitoring and implementing disruptive technologies.

    • Disruptive Technology Exploitation Plan Template

    3. Disruptive Technology Look to the Past Tool – A tool to keep track of the missed technology disruption from previous opportunities.

    The Disruptive Technology Look to the Past Tool will assist you to collect reasonability test notes when evaluating potential disruptive technologies.

    • Disruptive Technology Look to the Past Tool

    4. Disruptive Technology Research Database Tool – A tool to keep track of the research conducted by members of the working group.

    The Disruptive Technology Research Database Tool will help you to keep track of the independent research that is conducted by members of the disruptive technology exploitation working group.

    • Disruptive Technology Research Database Tool

    5. Disruptive Technology Shortlisting Tool

    The Disruptive Technology Shortlisting Tool will help you to codify the results of the disruptive technology working group's longlist winnowing process.

    • Disruptive Technology Shortlisting Tool

    6. Disruptive Technology Value-Readiness and SWOT Analysis Tool – A tool to systematize notional evaluations of the value and readiness of potential disruptive technologies.

    The Disruptive Technology Value Readiness & SWOT Analysis Tool will assist you to systematize notional evaluations of the value and readiness of potential disruptive technologies.

    • Disruptive Technology Value-Readiness and SWOT Analysis Tool

    7. Proof of Concept Template – A handbook to serve as a reference when deciding how to proceed with your proposed solution.

    The Proof of Concept Template will guide you through the creation of a minimum-viable proof-of-concept project.

    • Proof of Concept Template

    8. Disruptive Technology Executive Presentation Template – A template to help you create a brief progress report presentation summarizing your project and program progress.

    The Disruptive Technology Executive Presentation Template will assist you to present an overview of the disruptive technology process, outlining the value to your company.

    • Disruptive Technology Executive Presentation Template

    Infographic

    Workshop: Exploit Disruptive Infrastructure Technology

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Pre-work: Establish the Disruptive Tech Process

    The Purpose

    Discuss the general overview of the disruptive technology exploitation process.

    Develop an initial disruptive technology exploitation plan.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Stakeholders are on board, the project’s goals are outlined, and the working group is selected.

    Activities

    1.1 Get execs and stakeholders on board.

    1.2 Review the process of analyzing disruptive tech.

    1.3 Select members for the working group.

    1.4 Choose a schedule and time commitment.

    1.5 Select a group of visionaries.

    Outputs

    Initialized disruptive tech exploitation plan

    Meeting agenda, schedule, and participants

    2 Hold the Initial Meeting

    The Purpose

    Understand how disruption will affect the organization, and develop an initial list of technologies to explore.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Knowledge of how to think like a futurist.

    Understanding of organizational processes vulnerable to disruption.

    Outline of potentially disruptive technologies.

    Activities

    2.1 Start the meeting with introductions.

    2.2 Train the group to think like futurists.

    2.3 Brainstorm about disruptive processes.

    2.4 Brainstorm a longlist.

    2.5 Research and brainstorm separate longlists.

    Outputs

    List of disruptive organizational processes

    Initial longlist of disruptive tech

    3 Create a Longlist and Assess Shortlist

    The Purpose

    Evaluate the specific value of longlisted technologies to the organization.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Defined list of the disruptive technologies worth escalating to the proof of concept stage.

    Activities

    3.1 Converge the longlists developed by the team.

    3.2 Narrow the longlist to a shortlist.

    3.3 Assess readiness and value.

    3.4 Perform a SWOT analysis.

    Outputs

    Finalized longlist of disruptive tech

    Shortlist of disruptive tech

    Value-readiness analysis

    SWOT analysis

    Candidate(s) for proof of concept charter

    4 Create an Action Plan

    The Purpose

    Understand how the technologies in question will impact the organization.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Understanding of the specific effects of the new technology on the business processes it is intended to disrupt.

    Business case for the proof-of-concept project.

    Activities

    4.1 Build a problem canvas.

    4.2 Identify affected business units.

    4.3 Outline and map the business processes likely to be disrupted.

    4.4 Map disrupted business processes.

    4.5 Recognize how the new technology will impact business processes.

    4.6 Make the case.

    Outputs

    Problem canvas

    Map of business processes: current state

    Map of disrupted business processes

    Business case for each technology

    Further reading

    Analyst Perspective

    The key is in anticipation.

    “We all encounter unexpected changes and our responses are often determined by how we perceive and understand those changes. We react according to the unexpected occurrence. Business organizations are no different.

    When a company faces a major technology disruption in its markets – one that could fundamentally change the business or impact its processes and technology – the way its management perceive and understand the disruption influences how they describe and plan for it. In other words, the way management sets the context of a disruption – the way they frame it – shapes the strategy they adopt. Technology leaders can vastly influence business strategy by adopting a proactive approach to understanding disruptive and innovative technologies by simply adopting a process to review and evaluate technology impacts to the company’s lines of business.”

    This is a picture of Troy Cheeseman

    Troy Cheeseman
    Practice Lead, Infrastructure & Operations Research
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    • New technology can hit like a meteor. Not only disruptive to IT, technology provides opportunities for organization-wide advantage.
    • Your role is endangered. If you don’t prepare for the most disruptive technologies, you could be overshadowed. Don’t let the chief marketing officer (CMO) set the technological innovation agenda.

    Common Obstacles

    • Predicting the future isn’t easy. Most IT leaders fail to realize how quickly technology increases in capability. Even for the tech savvy, predicting which specific technologies will become disruptive is difficult.
    • Communication is difficult when the sky is falling. Even forward-looking IT leaders struggle with convincing others to devote time and resources to monitoring technologies with a formal process.

    Info-Tech’s Approach

    • Identify, resolve, and evaluate. Use an annual process as described in this blueprint: a formal evaluation of new technology that turns analysis into action.
    • Lead the analysis from IT. Establish a team to carry out the annual process as a cure for the causes of “airline magazine syndrome” and to prevent it from happening in the future.
    • Train your team on the patterns of progress, track technology over time in a central database, and read Info-Tech’s analysis of upcoming technology.
    • Create your KPIs. Establish your success indicators to create measurable value when presenting to your executive.
    • Produce a comprehensive proof-of-concept plan that will allow your company to minimize risk and maximize reward when engaging with new technology.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Proactively monitoring, evaluating, and exploiting disruptive tech isn’t optional.
    This will protect your role, IT’s role, and the future of the organization.

    A diverse working group maximizes the insight brought to bear.
    An IT background is not a prerequisite.

    The best technology is only the best when it brings immediate value.
    Good technology might not be ready; ready technology might not be good.

    Review

    We help IT leaders make the most of disruptive impacts.

    This research is designed for:

    Target Audience: CIO, CTO, Head of Infrastructure

    This research will help you:

    • Develop a process for anticipating, analyzing, and exploiting disruptive technology.
    • Communicate the business case for investing in disruptive technology.
    • Categorize emerging technologies to decide what to do with them.
    • Develop a plan for taking action to exploit the technology that will most affect your organization.

    Problem statement:

    As a CIO, there is a need to move beyond day-to-day technology management with an ever-increasing need to forecast technology impacts. Not just from a technical perspective but to map out the technical understandings aligned to potential business impacts and improvements. Technology transformation and innovation is moving more quickly than ever before and as an innovation champion, the CIO or CTO should have foresight in specific technologies with the understanding of how the company could be disrupted in the near future. Foresight + Current Technology + Business Understanding = Understanding the Business Disruption. This should be a repeatable process, not an exception or reactionary response.

    Insight Summary

    Establish the core working group, select a leader, and select a group of visionaries to help brainstorm emerging technologies.

    The right team matters. A core working group will keep focus through the process and a leader will keep everyone accountable. Visionaries are out-of-the-box thinkers and once they understand how to think like a "futurists," they will drive the longlist and shortlist actions.

    Train the group to think like futurists

    To keep up with exponential technology growth you need to take a multi-threaded approach.

    Brainstorm about creating a better future; begin brainstorming an initial longlist

    Establish the longlist. The longlist helps create a holistic view of most technologies that could impact the business. Assigning values and quadrant scoring will shortlist the options and focus your PoC option.

    Converge everyone’s longlists

    Long to short...that's the short of it. Using SWOT, value readiness, and quadrant mapping review sessions will focus the longlist, creating a shortlist of potential POC candidates to review and consider.

    Evaluate the shortlist

    There is no such thing as a risk-free endeavor. Use a systematic process to ensure that the risks your organization takes have the potential to produce significant rewards.

    Define your PoC list and schedule

    Don’t be afraid to fail! Inevitably, some proof-of-concept projects will not benefit the organization. The projects that are successful will more than cover the costs of the failed projects. Roll out small scale and minimize losses.

    Finalize, present the plan to stakeholders, and repeat!

    Don't forget the C-suite. Effectively communicate and present the working group’s finding with a well-defined and succinct presentation. Start the process again!

    This is a screenshot of the Thought map for Exploit disruptive infrastructure Technology.
    1. Identify
      • Establish the core working group and select a leader; select a group of visionaries
      • Train the group to think like futurists
      • Hold your initial meeting
    2. Resolve
    • Create and winnow a longlist
    • Assess and create the shortlist
  • Evaluate
    • Create process maps
    • Develop proof of concept charter
  • The Key Is in Anticipation!

    Use Info-Tech’s approach for analyzing disruptive technology in your own disruptive tech working group

    Phase 1: Identify Phase 2: Resolve Phase 3: Evaluate

    Phase Steps

    1. Establish the disruptive technology working group
    2. Think like a futurist (Training)
    3. Hold initial meeting or create an agenda for the meeting
    1. Create and winnow a longlist
    2. Assess shortlist
    1. Create process maps
    2. Develop proof of concept charter

    Phase Outcomes

    • Establish a team of subject matter experts that will evaluate new, emerging, and potentially disruptive technologies.
    • Establish a process for including visionaries from outside of the working group who will provide insight and direction.
    • Introduce the core working group members.
    • Gain a better understanding of how technology advances.
    • Brainstorm a list of organizational processes.
    • Brainstorm an initial longlist.
    • Finalized longlist
    • Finalized shortlist
    • Initial analysis of each technology on the shortlist
    • Finalized shortlist
    • Initial analysis of each technology on the shortlist
    • Business process maps before and after disruption
    • Proof of concept charter
    • Key performance indicators
    • Estimation of required resources
    • Executive presentation

    Four key challenges make it essential for you to become a champion for exploiting disruptive technology

    1. New technology can hit like a meteor. It doesn’t only disrupt IT; technology provides opportunities for organization-wide advantage.
    2. Your role is endangered. If you don’t prepare for the most disruptive technologies, you could be overshadowed. Don’t let the CMO rule technological innovation.
    3. Predicting the future isn’t easy. Most IT leaders fail to realize how quickly technology increases in capability. Even for the tech savvy, predicting which specific technologies will become disruptive is difficult.
    4. Communication is difficult when the sky is falling. Even forward-looking IT leaders struggle with convincing others to devote time and resources to monitoring emerging technologies with a formal process.

    “Look, you have never had this amount of opportunity for innovation. Don’t forget to capitalize on it. If you do not capitalize on it, you will go the way of the dinosaur.”
    – Dave Evans, Co-Founder and CTO, Stringify

    Technology can hit like a meteor

    “ By 2025:

    • 38.6 billion smart devices will be collecting, analyzing, and sharing data.
    • The web hosting services market is to reach $77.8 billion in 2025.
    • 70% of all tech spending is expected to go for cloud solutions.
    • There are 1.35 million tech startups.
    • Global AI market is expected to reach $89.8 billion.”

    – Nick Gabov

    IT Disruption

    Technology disrupts IT by:

    • Affecting the infrastructure and applications that IT needs to use internally.
    • Affecting the technology of end users that IT needs to support and deploy, especially for technologies with a consumer focus.
    • Allowing IT to run more efficiently and to increase the efficiency of other business units.
    • Example: The rise of the smartphone required many organizations to rethink endpoint devices.

    Business Disruption

    Technology disrupts the business by:

    • Affecting the viability of the business.
    • Affecting the business’ standing in relation to competitors that better deal with disruptive technology.
    • Affecting efficiency and business strategy. IT should have a role in technology-related business decisions.
    • Example: BlackBerry failed to anticipate the rise of the apps ecosystem. The company struggled as it was unable to react with competitive products.

    Senior IT leaders are expected to predict disruptions to IT and the business, while tending to today’s needs

    You are expected to be both a firefighter and a forecaster

    • Anticipating upcoming disruptions is part of your job, and you will be blamed if you fail to anticipate future business disruptions because you are focusing on the present.
    • However, keeping IT running smoothly is also part of your job, and you will be blamed if today’s IT environment breaks down because you are focusing on the future.

    You’re caught between the present and the future

    • You don’t have a process that anticipates future disruptions but runs alongside and integrates with operations in the present.
    • You can’t do it alone. Tending to both the present and the future will require a team that can help you keep the process running.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Be prepared when disruptions start coming down, even though it isn’t easy. Use this research to reduce the effort to a simple process that can be performed alongside everyday firefighting.

    Make disruptive tech analysis and exploitation part of your innovation agenda

    A scatter plot graph is depicted, plotting IT Innovative Leadership (X axis), and Satisfaction with IT(Y axis). IT innovative leadership explains 75% of variation in satisfaction with IT

    Organizations without high satisfaction with IT innovation leadership are only 20% likely to be highly satisfied with IT

    “You rarely see a real-world correlation of .86!”
    – Mike Battista, Staff Scientist, Cambridge Brain Sciences, PhD in Measurement

    There is a clear relationship between satisfaction with IT and the IT department’s innovation leadership.

    Prevent “airline magazine syndrome” by proactively analyzing disruptive technologies

    “The last thing the CIO needs is an executive saying ‘I don’t what it is or what it does…but I want two of them!”
    – Tim Lalonde

    Airline magazine syndrome happens to IT leaders caught between the business and IT. It usually occurs in this manner:

    1. While on a flight, a senior executive reads about an emerging technology that has exciting implications for the business in an airline magazine.
    2. The executive returns and approaches IT, demanding that action be taken to address the disruptive technology – and that it should have been (ideally) completed already.

    Without a Disruptive Technology Exploitation Plan:

    “I don’t know”

    With a Disruptive Technology Exploitation Plan:

    “Here in IT, we have already considered that technology and decided it was overhyped. Let me show you our analysis and invite you to join our working group.”

    OR

    “We have already considered that technology and have started testing it. Let me show you our testing lab and invite you to join our working group.”

    Info-Tech Insight

    Airline magazine syndrome is a symptom of a wider problem: poor CEO-CIO alignment. Solve this problem with improved communication and documentation. Info-Tech’s disruptive tech iterative process will make airline magazine syndrome a thing of the past!

    IT leaders who do not keep up with disruptive technology will find their roles diminished

    “Today’s CIO dominion is in a decaying orbit with CIOs in existential threat mode.”
    – Ken Magee

    Protect your role within IT

    • IT is threatened by disruptive technology:
      • Trends like cloud services, increased automation, and consumerization reduce the need for IT to be involved in every aspect of deploying and using technology.
      • In the long term, machines will replace even intellectually demanding IT jobs, such as infrastructure admin and high-level planning.
    • Protect your role in IT by:
      • Anticipating new technology that will disrupt the IT department and your place within it.
      • Defining new IT roles and responsibilities that accurately reflect the reality of technology today.
      • Having a process for the above that does not diminish your ability to keep up with everyday operations that remain a priority today.

    Protect your role against other departments

    • Your role in the business is threatened by disruptive technology:
      • The trends that make IT less involved with technology allow other executives – such as the CMO – to make IT investments.
      • As the CMO gains the power and data necessary to embrace new trends, the CIO and IT managers have less pull.
    • Protect your role in the business by:
      • Being the individual to consult about new technology. It isn’t just a power play; IT leaders should be the ones who know technology thoroughly.
      • Becoming an indispensable part of the entire business’ innovation strategy through proposing and executing a process for exploiting disruptive technology.

    IT leaders who do keep up have an opportunity to solidify their roles as experts and aggregators

    “The IT department plays a critical role in [innovation]. What they can do is identify a technology that potentially might introduce improvements to the organization, whether it be through efficiency, or through additional services to constituents.”
    – Michael Maguire, Management Consultant

    The contemporary CIO is a conductor, ensuring that IT works in harmony with the rest of the business.

    The new CIO is a conductor, not a musician. The CIO is taking on the role of a business engineer, working with other executives to enable business innovation.

    The new CIO is an expert and an aggregator. Conductor CIOs increasingly need to keep up on the latest technologies. They will rely on experts in each area and provide strategic synthesis to decide if, and how, developments are relevant in order to tune their IT infrastructure.

    The pace of technological advances makes progress difficult to predict

    “An analysis of the history of technology shows that technological change is exponential, contrary to the common-sense ‘intuitive linear’ view. So we won’t experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century – it will be more like 20,000 years of progress (at today’s rate).”
    – Ray Kurzweil

    Technology advances exponentially. Rather than improving by the same amount of capability each year, it multiplies in capability each year.

    Think like a futurist to anticipate technology before it goes mainstream.

    Exponential growth happens much faster than linear growth, especially when it hits the knee of the curve. Even those who acknowledge exponential growth underestimate how capabilities can improve.

    To predict new advances, turn innovation into a process

    “We spend 70 percent of our time on core search and ads. We spend 20 percent on adjacent businesses, ones related to the core businesses in some interesting way. Examples of that would be Google News, Google Earth, and Google Local. And then 10 percent of our time should be on things that are truly new.”
    – Eric Schmidt, Google

    • Don’t get caught in the trap of refining your core processes to the exclusion of innovation. You should always be looking for new processes to improve, new technology to pilot, and where possible, new businesses to get into.
    • Devote about 10% of your time and resources to exploring new technology: the potential rewards are huge.

    You and your team need to analyze technology every year to predict where it’s going.

    A bar graph is shown which depicts the proportion of technology use from 2018-2022. the included devices are: Tablets; PCs; TVs; Non-smartphones; Smartphones; M2M
    • Foundational technologies, such as computing power, storage, and networks, are improving exponentially.
    • Disruptive technologies are specific manifestations of foundational advancements. Advancements of greater magnitude give rise to more manifestations; therefore, there will be more disruptive technologies every year.
    • There is a lot of noise to cut through. Remember Google Glasses? As technology becomes ubiquitous and consumerization reigns, everybody is a technology expert. How do you decide which technologies to focus on?

    Protect IT and the business from disruption by implementing a simple, repeatable disruptive technology exploitation process

    “One of the most consistent patterns in business is the failure of leading companies to stay at the top of their industries when technologies or markets change […] Managers must beware of ignoring new technologies that can’t initially meet the needs of their mainstream customers.”
    – Joseph L. Bower and Clayton M. Christensen

    Challenge

    Solution

    New technology can hit like a meteor, but it doesn’t have to leave a crater:

    Use the annual process described in this blueprint to create a formal evaluation of new technology that turns analysis into action.

    Predicting the future isn’t easy, but it can be done:

    Lead the analysis from the office of the CIO. Establish a team to carry out the annual process as a cure for airline magazine syndrome.

    Your role is endangered, but you can survive:

    Train your team on the patterns of progress, track technology over time in a central database, and read Info-Tech’s analysis of upcoming technology.

    Communication is difficult when the sky is falling, so have a simple way to get the message across:

    Track metrics that communicate your progress, and summarize the results in a single, easy-to-read exploitation plan.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Use Info-Tech’s tools and templates, along with this storyboard, to walk you through creating and executing an exploitation process in six steps.

    Create measurable value by using Info-Tech’s process for evaluating the disruptive potential of technology

    This image contains a bar graph with the following Title: Which are the primary benefits you've either realized or expect to realize by deploying hyperconverged infrastructure in the near term.

    No business process is perfect.

    • Use Info-Tech’s Proof of Concept Template to create a disruptive technology proof of concept implementation plan.
    • Harness your company’s internal wisdom to systematically vet new technology. Engage only in calculated risk and maximize potential benefit.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Inevitably, some proof of concept projects will not benefit the organization. The projects that are successful will more than cover the costs of the failed projects. Roll out small scale and minimize losses.

    Establish your key performance indicators (KPIs)

    Key performance indicators allow for rigorous analysis, which generates insight into utilization by platform and consumption by business activity.

    • Brainstorm metrics that indicate when process improvement is actually taking place.
    • Have members of the group pitch KPIs; the facilitator should record each suggestion on a whiteboard.
    • Make sure to have everyone justify the inclusion of each metric: how does it relate to the improvement that the proof of concept project is intended to drive? How does it relate to the overall goals of the business?
    • Include a list of KPIs, along with a description and a target (ensuring that it aligns with SMART metrics).
    Key Performance Indicator Description Target Result

    Number of Longlist technologies

    Establish a range of Longlist technologies to evaluate 10-15
    Number of Shortlist technologies Establish a range of Shortlist technologies to evaluate 5-10
    number of "look to the past" likes/dislikes Minimum number of testing characteristics 6
    Number of POCs Total number of POCs Approved 3-5

    Communicate your plan with the Disruptive Technology Exploitation Plan Template

    Use the Disruptive Technology Exploitation Plan Template to summarize everything that the group does. Update the report continuously and use it to show others what is happening in the world of disruptive technology.

    Section Title Description
    1 Rationale and Summary of Exploitation Plan A summary of the current efforts that exist for exploring disruptive technology. A summary of the process for exploiting disruptive technology, the resources required, the team members, meeting schedules, and executive approval.
    2 Longlist of Potentially Disruptive Technologies A summary of the longlist of identified disruptive technologies that could affect the organization, shortened to six or less that have the largest potential impact based on Info-Tech’s Disruptive Technology Shortlisting Tool.
    3 Analysis of Shortlist Individually analyze each technology placed on the shortlist using Info-Tech’s Disruptive Technology Value-Readiness and SWOT Analysis Tool.
    4 Proof of Concept Plan Use the results from Section 3 to establish a plan for moving forward with the technologies on the shortlist. Determine the tasks required to implement the technologies and decide who will complete them and when.
    5 Hand-off Pass the project along to identified stakeholders with significant interest in its success. Continue to track metrics and prepare to repeat the disruptive technology exploitation process annually.

    Whether you need a process for exploiting disruptive technology, or an analysis of current trends, Info-Tech can help

    Two sets of research make up Info-Tech’s disruptive technology coverage:

    This image contains four screenshots from each of the following Info-Tech Blueprints: Exploit disruptive Infrastructure Technology; Infrastructure & operations priorities 2022

    This storyboard, and the associated tools and templates, will walk you through creating a disruptive technology working group of your own.

    Blueprint deliverables

    Each step of this blueprint is accompanied by supporting deliverables to help you accomplish your goals:

    Key deliverable:

    Disruptive Technology Exploitation Plan Template

    The Disruptive Technology Exploitation Plan Template acts as an implementation plan for developing a long-term strategy for monitoring and implementing disruptive technologies.

    Proof of Concept Template

    The Proof of Concept Template will guide you through the creation of a minimum-viable proof-of-concept project.

    Executive Presentation

    The Disruptive Technology Executive Presentation Template will assist you to present an overview of the disruptive technology process, outlining the value to your company.

    Disruptive Technology Value Readiness & SWOT Analysis Tool

    The Disruptive Technology Value Readiness & SWOT Analysis Tool will assist you to systematize notional evaluations of the value and readiness of potential disruptive technologies.

    Disruptive Technology Research Database Tool

    The Disruptive Technology Research Database Tool will help you to keep track of the independent research that is conducted by members of the disruptive technology exploitation working group.

    Disruptive Technology Shortlisting Tool

    The Disruptive Technology Shortlisting Tool will help you to codify the results of the disruptive technology working group's longlist winnowing process.

    Disruptive Technology Look to the Past Tool

    The Disruptive Technology Look to the Past Tool will assist you to collect reasonability test notes when evaluating potential disruptive technologies.

    Info-Tech offers various levels of support to best suit your needs

    DIY Toolkit

    “Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful.”

    Guided Implementation

    “Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track.”

    Workshop

    “We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place.”

    Consulting

    “Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project.”

    Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options

    Guided Implementation

    What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

    Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3

    Call #1: Explore the need for a disruptive technology working group.

    Call #3: Review the agenda for the initial meeting.

    Call #5: Review how you’re brainstorming and your sources of information.

    Call #7: Review the final shortlist and assessment.

    Call #9: Review the progress of your team.

    Call #2: Review the team name, participants, and timeline.

    Call #4: Assess the results of the initial meeting.

    Call #6: Review the final longlist and begin narrowing it down.

    Call #8: Review the next steps.

    Call #10: Review the communication plan.

    A Guided Implementation (GI) is a series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization.

    A typical GI is 8 to 12 calls over the course of 4 to 6 months.

    Workshop Overview

    Contact your account representative for more information.
    workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889

    Pre-Work Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4
    Establish the Disruptive Tech Process Hold Your Initial Meeting Create a Longlist and Assess Shortlist Create Process Maps Develop a Proof of Concept Charter

    Activities

    1.1.a Get executives and stakeholders on board.

    1.1.b Review the process of analyzing disruptive tech.

    1.1.c Select members for the working group.

    1.1.d Choose a schedule and time commitment.

    1.1.e Select a group of visionaries.

    1.2.a Start the meeting with introductions.

    1.2.b Train the group to think like futurists.

    1.2.c Brainstorm about disruptable processes.

    1.2.d Brainstorm a longlist.

    1.2.e Research and brainstorm separate longlists.

    2.1.a Converge the longlists developed by the team.

    2.2.b Narrow the longlist to a shortlist.

    2.2.c Assess readiness and value.

    2.2.d Perform a SWOT analysis.

    3.1.a Build a problem canvas.

    3.1.b Identify affected business units.

    3.1.c Outline and map the business processes likely to be disrupted.

    3.1.d Map disrupted business processes.

    3.1.e Recognize how the new technology will impact business processes.

    3.1.f Make the case.

    3.2.a Develop key performance indicators (KPIs).

    3.2.b Identify key success factors.

    3.2.c Outline project scope.

    3.2.d Identify responsible team.

    3.2.e Complete resource estimation.

    Deliverables

    1. Initialized Disruptive Tech Exploitation Plan
    1. List of Disruptable Organizational Processes
    2. Initial Longlist of Disruptive Tech
    1. Finalized Longlist of Disruptive Tech
    2. Shortlist of Disruptive Tech
    3. Value-Readiness Analysis
    4. SWOT Analysis
    5. Candidate(s) for Proof of Concept Charter
    1. Problem Canvas
    2. Map of Business Processes: Current State
    3. Map of Disrupted Business Processes
    4. Business Case for Each Technology
    1. Completed Proof of Concept Charter

    Exploit Disruptive Infrastructure Technology

    Disrupt or be disrupted.

    Identify

    Create your working group.

    PHASE 1

    Use Info-Tech’s approach for analyzing disruptive technology in your own disruptive tech working group

    1. Identify
      1. Establish the core working group and select a leader; select a group of visionaries
      2. Train the group to think like futurists
      3. Hold your initial meeting
    2. Resolve
      1. Create and winnow a longlist
      2. Assess and create the shortlist
    3. Evaluate
      1. Create process maps
      2. Develop proof of concept charter

    The Key Is in Anticipation!

    Phase 1: Identify

    Create your working group.

    Activities:

    Step 1.1: Establish the core working group and select a leader; select a group of visionaries
    Step 1.2: Train the group to think like futurists
    Step 1.3: Hold the initial meeting

    This step involves the following participants:

    IT Infrastructure Manager

    CIO or CTO

    Potential members and visionaries of the working group

    Outcomes of this step:

    • Establish a team of subject matter experts that will evaluate new, emerging, and potentially disruptive technologies.
    • Establish a process for including visionaries from outside of the working group who will provide insight and direction.
    • Introduce the core working group members.
    • Gain a better understanding of how technology advances.
    • Brainstorm a list of organizational processes.
    • Brainstorm an initial longlist.

    Step 1.1

    Establish the core working group and select a leader; select a group of visionaries.

    Activities:

    • Articulate the long- and short-term benefits and costs to the entire organization
    • Gain support by articulating the long- and short-term benefits and costs to the IT department
    • Gain commitment from key stakeholders and executives
    • Help stakeholders understand what goes into formally exploiting disruptive tech by reviewing this process
    • Establish the core working group and select a leader
    • Create a schedule with a time commitment appropriate to your organization’s size; it doesn’t need to take long
    • Select a group of visionaries external to IT to help the working group brainstorm disruptive technologies

    This step involves the following participants:

    • IT Infrastructure Manager
    • CIO or CTO
    • Potential members and visionaries of the working group

    Outcomes of this step

    • Establish a team of subject matter experts that will evaluate new, emerging, and potentially disruptive technologies.
    • Establish a process for including visionaries from outside of the working group that will provide insight and direction.

    1.1.A Articulate the long- and short-term benefits and costs to the entire organization

    A cost/benefit analysis will give stakeholders a picture of how disruptive technology could affect the business. Use the chart as a starting point and customize it based on your organization.

    Disruptive Technology Affects the Organization

    Benefits Costs

    Short Term

    • First-mover advantage from implementing new technology in the business before competitors – and before start-ups.
    • Better brand image as an organization focused on innovation.
    • Increased overall employee satisfaction by implementing new technology that increases employee capabilities or lowers effort.
    • Possibility of increased IT budget for integrating new technology.
    • Potential for employees to reject wide-scale use of unfamiliar technology.
    • Potential for technology to fail in the organization if it is not sufficiently tested.
    • Executive time required for making decisions about technology recommended by the team.

    Long Term

    • Increased internal business efficiencies from the integration of new technology (e.g. energy efficiency, fewer employees needed due to automation).
    • Better services or products for customers, resulting in increased long-term revenue.
    • Lowered costs of services or products and potential to grow market share.
    • Continued relevance of established organizations in a world changed by disruptive technologies.
    • Technology may not reach the capabilities initially expected, requiring waiting for increased value or readiness.
    • Potential for customers to reject new products resulting from technology.
    • Lack of focus on current core capabilities if technology is massively disruptive.

    1.1.B Gain support by articulating the long- and short-term benefits and costs to the IT department

    A cost/benefit analysis will give stakeholders a picture of how disruptive technology could affect the business. Use the chart as a starting point and customize it based on your organization.

    Disruptive Technology Affects IT

    BenefitsCosts

    Short Term

    • Perception of IT as a core component of business practices.
    • Increase IT’s capabilities to better serve employees (e.g. faster network speeds, better uptime, and storage and compute capacity that meet demands).
    • Cost for acquiring or implementing new technology and updating infrastructure to integrate with it.
    • Cost for training IT staff and end users on new IT technology and processes.
    • Minor costs for initial setup of disruptive technology exploitation process and time taken by members.

    Long Term

    • More efficient and powerful IT infrastructure that capitalizes on emerging trends at the right time.
    • Lower help desk load due to self-service and automation technology.
    • Increased satisfaction with IT due to implementation of improved enterprise technology and visible IT influence on improvements.
    • Increased end-user satisfaction with IT due to understanding and support of consumer technology that affects their lives.
    • New technology may result in lower need for specific IT roles. Cultural disruptions due to changing role of IT.
    • Perception of failure if technology is tested and never implemented.
    • Expectation that IT will continue to implement the newest technology available, even when it has been dismissed as not having value.

    1.1.C Gain commitment from key stakeholders and executives

    Gaining approval from executives and key stakeholders is the final obstacle. Ensure that you cover the following items to have the best chance for project approval.

    • Use a sample deck similar to this section for gaining buy-in, ensuring that you add/remove information to make it specific to your organization. Cover this section, including:
      • Who: Who will lead the team and who will be on it (working group)?
      • What: What resources will be required by the team (costs)?
      • Where/When: How often and where will the team meet (meeting schedule)?
      • Why: Why is there a need to exploit disruptive technology (benefits and examples)?
      • How: How is the team going to exploit disruptive technology (the process)?
    • Go through this blueprint prior to presenting the plan to stakeholders so that you have a strong understanding of the details behind each process and tool.
    • Frame the first iteration of the cycle as a pilot program. Use the completed results of the pilot to establish exploiting disruptive technology as a necessary company initiative.

    Insert the resources required by the disruptive tech exploitation team into Section 1.5 of the Disruptive Technology Exploitation Plan Template. Have executives sign-off on the project in Section 1.6.

    Disruption has undermined some of the most successful tech companies

    “The IT department plays a critical role in [innovation]. What they can do is identify a technology that potentially might introduce improvements to the organization, whether it be through efficiency or through additional services to constituents.”
    - Michael Maguire, Management Consultant

    VoIP’s transformative effects

    Disruptive technology:
    Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a modern means of making phone calls through the internet by sending voice packets using data, as opposed to the traditional circuit transmissions of the PSTN.

    Who won:
    Organizations that realized the cost savings that VoIP provided for businesses with a steady internet connection saved as much as 60% on telephony expenses. Even in the early stages, with a few more limitations, organizations were able to save a significant amount of money and the technology has continued to improve.

    Who lost?
    Telecom-related companies that failed to realize VoIP was a potential threat to their market, and organizations that lacked the ability to explore and implement the disruptive technology early.

    Digital photography — the new norm

    Disruptive technology:
    Digital photography refers to the storing of photographs in a digital format, as opposed to traditional photography, which exposes light to sensitive photographic film.

    Who won:
    Photography companies and new players that exploited the evolution of data storage and applied it to photography succeeded. Those that were able to balance providing traditional photography and exploiting and introducing digital photography, such as Nikon, left competitors behind. Smartphone manufacturers also benefited by integrating digital cameras.

    Who lost?
    Photography companies, such as Kodak, that failed to respond to the digital revolution found themselves outcompeted and insolvent.

    1.1.D Help stakeholders understand what goes into formally exploiting disruptive tech by reviewing this process

    There are five steps to formally exploiting disruptive technology, each with its own individual outputs and tools to take analysis to the next level.

    Step 1.2:
    Hold Initial Meeting

    Output:

    • Initial list of disruptable processes;
    • Initial longlist

    Step 2.1:

    Brainstorm Longlist

    Output:

    • Finalized longlist;
    • Shortlist

    Step 2.2:

    Assess Shortlist

    Output:

    • Final shortlist;
    • SWOT analysis;
    • Tech categorization

    Step 3.1:
    Create Process Maps

    Output:

    • Completed process maps

    Step 3.2:
    Develop a proof of concept charter

    Output:

    • Proof-of-concept template with KPIs

    Info-Tech Insight

    Before going to stakeholders, complete the entire blueprint to better understand the tools and outputs of the process.

    1.1.E Establish the core working group and select a leader

    • Selecting your core membership for the working group is a critical step to the group’s success. Ensure that you satisfy the following criteria:
      • This is a team of subject matter experts. They will be overseeing the learning and piloting of disruptive technologies. Their input will also be valuable for senior executives and for implementing these technologies.
      • Choose members that can take time away from firefighting tasks to dedicate time to meetings.
      • It may be necessary to reach outside of the organization now or in the future for expertise on certain technologies. Use Info-Tech as a source of information.
    Organization Size Working Group Size
    Small 02-Jan
    Medium 05-Mar
    Large 10-May
    • Once the team is established, you must decide who will lead the group. Ensure that you satisfy the following criteria:
      • A leader should be credible, creative, and savvy in both technology and business.
      • The leader should facilitate, acting as both an expert and an aggregator of the information gathered by the team.

    Choose a compelling name

    The working group needs a name. Be sure to select one with a positive connotation within your organization.

    Section 1.3 of the Disruptive Technology Exploitation Plan Template

    1.1.F Create a schedule with a time commitment appropriate to your organization’s size; it doesn’t need to take long

    Time the disruptive technology working group’s meetings to coincide and integrate with your organization’s strategic planning — at least annually.

    Size Meeting Frequency Time per Meeting Example Meeting Activities
    Small Annually One day A one-day meeting to run through phase 2 of the project (SWOT analysis and shortlist analysis).
    Medium Two days A two-day meeting to run through the project. The additional meeting involves phase 3 of this deck, developing a proof-of-concept plan.
    Large Two+ days Two meetings, each two days. Two days to create and winnow the longlist (phase 2), and two further days to develop a proof of concept plan.

    “Regardless of size, it’s incumbent upon every organization to have some familiarity of what’s happening over the next few years, [and to try] to anticipate what some of those trends may be. […] These trends are going to accelerate IT’s importance in terms of driving business strategy.”
    – Vern Brownell, CEO, D-Wave

    Section 1.4 of the Disruptive Technology Exploitation Plan Template

    1.1.G Select a group of visionaries external to IT to help the working group brainstorm disruptive technologies

    Selecting advisors for your group is an ongoing step, and the roster can change.

    Ensure that you satisfy the following criteria:

    • Look beyond IT to select a team representing several business units.
    • Check for self-professed “geeks” and fans of science fiction that may be happy to join.
    • Membership can be a reward for good performance.

    This group does not have to meet as regularly as the core working group. Input from external advisors can occur between meetings. You can also include them on every second or third iteration of the entire process.

    However, the more input you can get into the group, the more innovative it can become.

    “It is … important to develop design fictions based on engagement with directly or indirectly implicated publics and not to be designed by experts alone.”
    – Emmanuel Tsekleves, Senior Lecturer in Design Interactions, University of Lancaster

    Section 1.3 of the Disruptive Technology Exploitation Plan Template

    The following case study illustrates the innovative potential that is created when you include a diverse group of people

    INDUSTRY - Chip Manufacturing
    SOURCE - Clayton Christensen, Intel

    To achieve insight, you need to collaborate with people from outside of your department.

    Challenge

    • Headquartered in California, through the 1990s, Intel was the largest microprocessor chip manufacturer in the world, with revenue of $25 billion in 1997.
    • All was not perfect, however. Intel faced a challenge from Cyrix, a manufacturer of low-end chips. In 18 months, Cyrix’s share of the low-margin entry-level chip manufacturing business mushroomed from 10% to 70%.

    Solution

    • Troubled by the potential for significant disruption of the microprocessor market, Intel brought in external consultants to hold workshops to educate managers about disruptive innovation.
    • Managers would break into groups and discuss ways Intel could facilitate the disruption of its competitors. In one year, Intel hosted 18 workshops, and 2,000 managers went through the process.

    Results

    • Intel launched the Celeron chip to serve the lower end of the PC market and win market share back from Cyrix (which no longer exists as an independent company) and other competitors like AMD.
    • Within one year, Intel had captured 35% of the market.

    “[The models presented in the workshops] gave us a common language and a common way to frame the problem so that we could reach a consensus around a counterintuitive course of action.” – Andy Grove, then-CEO, Intel Corporation

    Phase 1: Identify

    Create your working group.

    Activities:

    Step 1.1: Establish the core working group and select a leader; select a group of visionaries
    Step 1.2: Train the group to think like futurists
    Step 1.3: Hold the initial meeting

    This step involves the following participants:

    • IT Infrastructure Manager
    • CIO or CTO
    • Potential members and visionaries of the working group

    Outcomes of this phase:

    • Establish a team of subject matter experts that will evaluate new, emerging, and potentially disruptive technologies.
    • Establish a process for including visionaries from outside of the working group who will provide insight and direction.
    • Introduce the core working group members.
    • Gain a better understanding of how technology advances.
    • Brainstorm a list of organizational processes.
    • Brainstorm an initial longlist.

    Step 1.2

    Train the group to think like futurists

    Activities:

    1. Look to the past to predict the future:
      • Step 1: Review the technology opportunities you missed
      • Step 2: Review and record what you liked about the tech
      • Step 3: Review and record your dislikes
      • Step 4: Record and test the reasonability
    2. Crash course on futurology principles
    3. Peek into the future

    This step involves the following participants:

    • IT Infrastructure Manager
    • CIO or CTO
    • Core working group members
    • Visionaries

    Outcomes of this step

    • Team members thinking like futurists
    • Better understanding of how technology advances
    • List of past examples and characteristics

    Info-Tech Insight

    Business buy-in is essential. Manage your business partners by providing a summary of the EDIT methodology and process. Validate the process value, which will allow you create a team of IT and business representatives.

    1.2 Train the group to think like futurists

    1 hour

    Ensure the team understands how technology advances and how they can identify patterns in upcoming technologies.

    1. Lead the group through a brainstorming session.
    2. Follow the next phases and steps.
    3. This session should be led by someone who can facilitate a thought-provoking discussion.
    4. This training deck finishes with a video.

    Input

    • Facilitated creativity
    • Training deck [following slides]

    Output

    • Inspiration
    • Anonymous ideas

    Materials

    • Futurist training “steps”
    • Pen and paper

    Participants

    • Core working group
    • Visionaries
    • Facilitator

    1.2.A Look to the past to predict the future

    30 minutes

    Step 1

    Step 2 Step 3 Step 4

    Review what you missed.

    What did you like?

    What did you dislike?

    Test the reasonability.

    Think about a time you missed a technical disruptive opportunity.

    Start with a list of technologies that changed your business and processes.

    Consider those specifically you could have identified with a repeatable process.

    What were the most impactful points about the technology?

    Define a list of “characteristics” you liked.

    Create a shortlist of items.

    Itemize the impact to process, people, and technology.

    Why did you pass on the tech?

    Define a list of “characteristics” you did not like.

    Create a shortlist of items.

    Itemize the impact to process, people, and technology.

    Avoid the “arm chair quarterback” view.

    Refer to the six positive and negative points.

    Check against your data points at the end of each phase.

    Record the list of missed opportunities

    Record 6 characteristics

    Record 6 characteristics

    Completed “Think like a Futurists” tool

    Use the Disruptive Technology Research Look to the Past Tool to record your output.

    Input

    • Facilitated creativity
    • Speaker’s notes

    Output

    • Inspiration
    • Anonymous ideas
    • Recorded missed opportunities
    • Recorded positive points
    • Recorded dislikes
    • Reasonability test list

    Materials

    • Futurist training “steps”
    • Pen and paper
    • “Look to the Past” tool

    Participants

    • Core working group
    • Visionaries
    • Facilitator

    Understand how the difference between linear and exponential growth will completely transform many organizations in the next decade

    “The last ten years have seen exponential growth in research on disruptive technologies and their impact on industries, supply chains, resources, training, education and employment markets … The debate is still open on who will be the winners and losers of future industries, but what is certain is that change has picked up pace and we are now in a new technology revolution whose impact is potentially greater than the industrial revolution.”
    – Gary L. Evans

    Exponential advancement will ensure that life in the next decade will be very different from life today.

    • Linear growth happens one step at a time.
    • The difference between linear and exponential is hard to notice, at first.
    • We are now at the knee of the curve.

    What about email?

    • Consider the amount of email you get daily
    • Double it
    • Triple it

    Exponential growth happens much faster than linear growth, especially when it hits the knee of the curve. Technology grows exponentially, and we are approaching the knee of the curve.

    This graph is adapted from research by Ray Kurzweil.

    Growth: Linear vs. Exponential

    This image contains a graph demonstrating examples of exponential and linear trends.

    1.2.B Crash course on futurology principles

    1 hour

    “An analysis of the history of technology shows that technological change is exponential, contrary to the common-sense ‘intuitive linear’ view. So we won’t experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century — it will be more like 20,000 years of progress (at today’s rate).”
    - Ray Kurzweil

    Review the differences between exponential and linear growth

    The pace of technological advances makes progress difficult to predict.

    Technology advances exponentially. Rather than improving by the same amount of capability each year, it multiplies in capability each year.

    Think like a futurist to anticipate technology before it goes mainstream.

    Exponential growth happens much faster than linear growth, especially when it hits the knee of the curve. Even those who acknowledge exponential growth underestimate how capabilities can improve.

    The following case study illustrates the rise of social media providers

    “There are 7.7 billion people in the world, with at least 3.5 billion of us online. This means social media platforms are used by one in three people in the world and more than two-thirds of all internet users.”
    – Esteban Ortiz-Ospina

    This graph depicts the trend of the number of people using social media platforms between 2005 and 2019

    The following case study illustrates the rapid growth of Machine to Machine (M2M) connections

    A bar graph is shown which depicts the proportion of technology use from 2018-2022. the included devices are: Tablets; PCs; TVs; Non-smartphones; Smartphones; M2M

    Ray Kurzweil’s Law of Accelerating Returns

    “Ray Kurzweil has been described as ‘the restless genius’ by The Wall Street Journal, and ‘the ultimate thinking machine’ by Forbes. He was ranked #8 among entrepreneurs in the United States by Inc Magazine, calling him the ‘rightful heir to Thomas Edison,’ and PBS included Ray as one of 16 ‘revolutionaries who made America,’ along with other inventors of the past two centuries.”
    Source: KurzweilAI.net

    Growth is linear?

    “Information technology is growing exponentially. That’s really my main thesis, and our intuition about the future is not exponential, it’s really linear. People think things will go at the current pace …1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 30 steps later, you’re at 30.”

    Better IT strategy enables future business innovation

    “The reality of information technology like computers, like biological technologies now, is it goes exponentially … 2, 4, 8, 16. At step 30, you’re at a billion, and this is not an idle speculation about the future.” [emphasis added]

    “When I was a student at MIT, we all shared a computer that cost tens of millions of dollars. This computer [pulling his smartphone out of his pocket] is a million times cheaper, a thousand times more powerful — that’s a billion-fold increase in MIPS per dollar, bits per dollar… and we’ll do it again in 25 years.”
    Source: “IT growth and global change: A conversation with Ray Kurzweil,” McKinsey & Company

    1.2.C Peak into the future

    1 hour

    Leverage industry roundtables and trend reports to understand the art of the possible

    • Uncover important business and industry trends that can inform possibilities for technology disruption.
    • Market research is critical in identifying factors external to your organization and identifying technology innovation that will provide a competitive edge. It’s important to evaluate the impact each trend or opportunity will have in your organization and market.

    Visit Info-Tech’s Trends & Priorities Research Center

    Visit Info-Tech’s Industry Coverage Research to get started.

    Phase 1: Identify

    Create your working group

    Activities:

    Step 1.1: Establish the core working group and select a leader; select a group of visionaries
    Step 1.2: Train the group to think like futurists
    Step 1.3: Hold the initial meeting

    This step involves the following participants:

    • IT Infrastructure Manager
    • CIO or CTO
    • Potential members and visionaries of the working group

    Outcomes of this phase:

    • Establish a team of subject matter experts that will evaluate new, emerging, and potentially disruptive technologies.
    • Establish a process for including visionaries from outside of the working group who will provide insight and direction.
    • Introduce the core working group members.
    • Gain a better understanding of how technology advances.
    • Brainstorm a list of organizational processes.
    • Brainstorm an initial longlist.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Establish the longlist. The longlist help create a holistic view of most technologies that could impact the business. Assigning values and quadrant scoring will shortlist the options and focus your PoC option.

    Step 1.3

    Hold the initial meeting

    Activities:

    1. Create an agenda for the meeting
    2. Start the kick-off meeting with introductions and a recap
    3. Brainstorm about creating a better future
    4. Begin brainstorming an initial longlist
    5. Have team members develop separate longlists for their next meeting

    This step involves the following participants:

    • IT Infrastructure Manager
    • CIO or CTO
    • Core working group members
    • Visionaries

    Outcomes of this step

    • Introduce the core working group members
    • Gain a better understanding of how technology advances
    • Brainstorm a list of organizational processes
    • Brainstorm an initial longlist

    1.3.A Create an agenda for the meeting

    1 hour

    Kick-off this cycle of the disruptive technology process by welcoming your visionaries and introducing your core working group.

    The purpose of the initial meeting is to brainstorm where new technology will be the most disruptive within the organization. You’ll develop two longlists: one of business processes and one of disruptive technology. These longlists are in addition to the independent research your core working group will perform before Phase 2.

    • Find an outgoing facilitator. Sitting back will let you focus more on ideating, and an engaging presenter will help bring out ideas from your visionaries.
    • The training deck (see step 1.2c) includes presenting a video. We’ve included some of our top choices for you to choose from.
      • Feel free to find your own video or bring in a keynote speaker.
      • The object of the video is to get the group thinking about the future.
      • Customize the training deck as needed.
    • If a cycle has been completed, present your findings and all of the group’s completed deliverables in the first section.
    • This session is the only time you have with your visionaries. Get their ideas on what technologies will be disruptive to start forming a longlist.

    Info-Tech Insight

    The disruptive tech team is prestigious. If your organization is large enough or has the resources, consider having this meeting in an offsite location. This will drive excitement to join the working group if the opportunity arises and incentivize good work.

    Meeting Agenda (Sample)

    Time

    Activity

    8:00am-8:30am Introductions and previous meeting recap
    8:30am-9:30am Training deck
    9:30 AM-10:00am Brainstorming
    10:00am-10:15am Break
    10:15am-10:45am Develop good research techniques
    10:45am-12:00pm Begin compiling your longlist

    Info-Tech Insight

    The disruptive tech team is prestigious. If your organization is large enough or has the resources, consider having this meeting in an offsite location. This will drive excitement to join the working group if the opportunity arises and incentivize good work.

    1.3.B Start the kick-off meeting with introductions and a summary of what work has been done so far

    30 minutes

    1. Start the meeting off with an icebreaker activity. This isn’t an ordinary business meeting – or even group – so we recommend starting off with an activity that will emphasize this unique nature. To get the group in the right mindset, try this activity:
      1. Go around the group and have people present:
      2. Their names and roles
      3. Pose some or all of the following questions/prompts to the group:
        • “Tell me about something you have created.”
        • “Tell me about a time you created a process or program considered risky.”
        • “Tell me about a situation in which you had to come up with several new ideas in a hurry. Were they accepted? Were they successful?”
        • “Tell me about a time you took a risk.”
        • “Tell me about one of your greatest failures and what you learned from it.”
    2. Once everyone has been introduced, present any work that has already been completed.
      1. If you have already completed a cycle, give a summary of each technology that you investigated and the results from any piloting.
      2. If this is the first cycle for the working group, present the information decided in Step 1.1.

    Input

    • Disruptive technology exploitation plan

    Output

    • Networking
    • Brainstorming

    Materials

    • Meeting agenda

    Participants

    • Core working group
    • Visionaries
    • Facilitator

    1.3.C Brainstorm about creating a better future for the company, the stakeholders, and the employees

    30 minutes

    Three sticky notes are depicted, at the top of each note are the following titles: What can we do better; How can we make a better future; How can we continue being successful

    1. Have everyone put up at least two ideas for each chart paper.
    2. Go around the room and discuss their ideas. You may generate some new ideas here.

    These generated ideas are organizational processes that can be improved or disrupted with emerging technologies. This list will be referenced throughout Phases 2 and 3.

    Input

    • Inspiration
    • Anonymous ideas

    Output

    • List of processes

    Materials

    • Chart paper and markers
    • Pen and paper

    Participants

    • Core working group
    • Visionaries

    1.3.D Begin brainstorming a longlist of future technology, and discuss how these technologies will impact the business

    30 minutes

    • Use the Disruptive Technology Research Database Tool to organize technologies and ideas. Longstanding working groups can track technologies here over the course of several years, updating the tool between meetings.
    • Guide the discussion with the following questions, and make sure to focus on the processes generated from Step 1.2.d.

    Focus on

    The Technology

    • What is the technology and what does it do?
    • What processes can it support?

    Experts and Other Organizations

    • What are the vendors saying about the technology?
    • Are similar organizations implementing the technology?

    Your Organization

    • Is the technology ready for wide-scale distribution?
    • Can the technology be tested and implemented now?

    The Technology’s Value

    • Is there any indication of the cost of the technology?
    • How much value will the technology bring?

    Download the Disruptive Technology Database Tool

    Input

    • Inspiration
    • List of processes

    Output

    • Initial longlist

    Materials

    • Chart paper and markers
    • Pen and paper
    • Disruptive Technology Research Database Tool

    Participants

    • Core working group
    • Visionaries

    1.3.E Explore these sources to generate your disruptive technology longlist for the next meeting

    30 Minutes

    There are many sources of information on new and emerging technology. Explore as many sources as you can.

    Science fiction is a valid source of learning. It drives and is influenced by disruptive technology.

    “…the inventor of the first liquid-fuelled rocket … was inspired by H.G. Wells’ science fiction novel War of the Worlds (1898). More recent examples include the 3D gesture-based user interface used by Tom Cruise’s character in Minority Report (2002), which is found today in most touch screens and the motion sensing capability of Microsoft’s Kinect. Similarly, the tablet computer actually first appeared in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and the communicator – which we’ve come to refer today as the mobile phone – was first used by Captain Kirk in Star Trek (1966).”
    – Emmanuel Tsekleves, senior lecturer, University of Lancaster

    Right sources: blogs, tech news sites, tech magazines, the tech section of business sites, popular science books about technology, conferences, trade publications, and vendor announcements

    Quantity over quality: early research is not the time to dismiss ideas.

    Discuss with your peers: spark new and innovative ideas

    Insert a brief summary of how independent research is conducted in Section 2.1 of the Disruptive Technology Exploitation Plan Template.

    1.3.E (Cont.) Explore these sources to generate your disruptive technology longlist for the next meeting

    30 Minutes

    There are many sources of information on new and emerging technology. Use this list to kick-start your search.

    Connect with practitioners that are worth their weight in Reddit gold. Check out topic-based LinkedIn groups and subreddits such as r/sysadmin and r/tech. People experienced with technology frequent these groups.

    YouTube is for more than cat videos. Many vendors use YouTube for distributing their previous webinars. There are also videos showcasing various technologies that are uploaded by lecturers, geeks, researchers, and other technology enthusiasts.

    Test your reasonability. Check your “Think Like a Futurist” Tool

    Resolve

    Evaluate Disruptive Technologies

    PHASE 2

    Phase 2: Resolve

    Evaluate disrupted technologies

    Activities:

    Step 2.1: Create and Winnow a Longlist
    Step 2.2: Assess Shortlist

    Info-Tech Insight

    Long to short … that’s the short of it. Using SWOT, value readiness, and quadrant mapping review sessions will focus the longlist, creating a shortlist of potential PoC candidates to review and consider.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Core working group
    • Infrastructure Management

    Outcomes of this step:

    • Finalized longlist
    • Finalized shortlist
    • Initial analysis of each technology on the shortlist

    Step 2.1

    Create and winnow a longlist

    Activities:

    1. Converge everyone’s longlists
    2. Narrow technologies from the longlist down to a shortlist using Info-Tech’s Disruptive Technology Shortlisting Tool
    3. Use the shortlisting tool to help participants visualize the potential
    4. Input the technologies on your longlist into the Disruptive Technology Shortlisting Tool to produce a shortlist

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Core working group members

    Outcomes of this step:

    • Finalized longlist
    • Finalized shortlist
    • Initial analysis of each technology on the shortlist

    2.1 Organize a meeting with the core working group to combine your longlists and create a shortlist

    1 hour

    Plan enough time to talk about each technology on the list. Each technology was included for a reason.

    • Start with the longlist. Review the longlist compiled at the initial meeting, and then have everyone present the lists that they independently researched.
    • Focus on the company’s context. Make sure that the working group analyzes these disruptive technologies in the context of the organization.
    • Start to compile the shortlist. Begin narrowing down the longlist by excluding technologies that are not relevant.

    Meeting Agenda (Sample)

    TimeActivity
    8:00am-9:30amConverge longlists
    9:30am-10:00amBreak
    10:00am-10:45amDiscuss tech in organizational context
    10:45am-11:15amBegin compiling the shortlist

    Disruptive Technology Exploitation Plan Template

    2.1.A Converge the longlists developed by your team

    90 minutes

    • Start with the longlist developed at the initial meeting. Write this list on the whiteboard.
    • If applicable, have a member present the longlist that was created in the last cycle. Remove technologies that:
      • Are no longer disruptive (e.g. have been implemented or rejected).
      • Have become foundational.
    • Eliminate redundancy: remove items that are very similar.
    • Have members “pitch” items on their lists:
      • Explain why their technologies will be disruptive (2-5 minutes maximum)
      • Add new technologies to the whiteboard
    • Record the following for metrics:
      • Each presented technology
      • Reasons the technology could be disruptive
      • Source of the information
    • Use Info-Tech’s Disruptive Technology Research Database Tool as a starting point.

    Insert the final longlist into Section 2.2 of your Disruptive Technology Exploitation Plan Template.

    Input

    • Longlist developed at first meeting
    • Independent research
    • Previous longlist

    Output

    • Finalized longlist

    Materials

    • Disruptive Technology Research Database Tool
    • Whiteboard and markers
    • Virtual whiteboard

    Participants

    • Core working group

    Review the list of processes that were brainstormed by the visionary group, and ask for input from others

    • IT innovation is most highly valued by the C-suite when it improves business processes, reduces costs, and improves core products and services.
    • By incorporating this insight into your working group’s analysis, you help to attract the attention of senior management and reinforce the group’s necessity.
    • Any input you can get from outside of IT will help your group understand how technology can be disruptive.
      • Visionaries consulted in Phase 1 are a great source for this insight.
    • The list of processes that they helped to brainstorm in Step 1.2 reflects processes that can be impacted by technology.
    • Info-Tech’s research has shown time and again that both CEOs and CIOs want IT to innovate around:
      • Improving business processes
      • Improving core products and services
      • Reducing costs

    Improved business processes

    80%

    Core product and service improvement

    48%

    Reduced costs

    48%

    Increased revenues

    23%

    Penetration into new markets

    21%

    N=364 CXOs & CIOs from the CEO-CIO Alignment Diagnostic Questions were asked on a 7-point scale of 1 = Not at all to 7 = Very strongly. Results are displayed as percentage of respondents selecting 6 or 7.

    Info-Tech Insight

    The disruptive tech team is prestigious. If your organization is large enough or has the resources, consider having this meeting in an offsite location. This will drive excitement to join the working group if the opportunity arises and incentivize good work.

    2.1.B Narrow technologies from the longlist down to a shortlist using Info-Tech’s Disruptive Technology Shortlisting Tool

    90 minutes

    To decide which technology has potential for your organization, have the working group or workshop participants evaluate each technology:

    1. Record each potentially disruptive technology in the longlist on a whiteboard.
    2. Making sure to carefully consider the meaning of the terms, have each member of the group evaluate each technology as “high” or “low” along each of the axes, innovation and transformation, on a piece of paper.
    3. The facilitator collects each piece of paper and inputs the results by technology into the Disruptive Technology Shortlisting Tool.
    Technology Innovation Transformation
    Conversational Commerce High High

    Insert the final shortlist into Section 2.2 of your Disruptive Technology Exploitation Plan Template.

    Input

    • Longlist
    • Futurist brainstorming

    Output

    • Shortlist

    Materials

    • Disruptive Technology Research Database Tool
    • Whiteboard and markers
    • Virtual whiteboard

    Participants

    • Core working group

    Disruptive technologies are innovative and transformational

    Innovation

    Transformation

    • Elements:
      • Creative solution to a problem that is relatively new on the scene.
      • It is different, counterintuitive, or insightful or has any combination of these qualities.
    • Questions to Ask:
      • How new is the technology?
      • How different is the technology?
      • Have you seen anything like it before? Is it counterintuitive?
      • Does it offer an insightful solution to a persistent problem?
    • Example:
      • The sharing economy: Today, simple platforms allow people to share rides and lodgings cheaply and have disrupted traditional services.
    • Elements:
      • Positive change to the business process.
      • Highly impactful: impacts a wide variety of roles in a company in a nontrivial way or impacts a smaller number of roles more significantly.
    • Questions to Ask:
      • Will this technology have a big impact on business operations?
      • Will it add substantial value? Will it change the structure of the company?
      • Will it impact a significant number of employees in the organization?
    • Example:
      • Flash memory improved storage technology incrementally by building on an existing foundation.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Technology can be transformational but not innovative. Not every new technology is disruptive. Even where technology has improved the efficiency of the business, if it does this in an incremental way, it might not be worth exploring using this storyboard.

    2.1.C Use the shortlisting tool to help participants visualize the potential

    1 hour

    Use the Disruptive Technology Shortlisting Tool, tabs 2 and 3.

    Assign quadrants

    • Input group members’ names and the entire longlist (up to 30 technologies) into tab 2 of the Disruptive Technology Shortlisting Tool.
    • On tab 3 of the Disruptive Technology Shortlisting Tool, input the quadrant number that corresponds to the innovation and transformation scores each participant has assigned to each technology.

    Note

    This is an assessment meant to serve as a guide. Use discretion when moving forward with a proof-of-concept project for any potentially disruptive technology.

    Participant Evaluation Quadrant
    High Innovation, High Transformation 1
    High Innovation, Low Transformation 2
    Low Innovation, Low Transformation 3
    Low Innovation, High Transformation 4

    four quadrants are depicted, labeled 1-4. The quadrants are coloured as follows: 1- green; 2- yellow; 3; red; 4; yellow

    2.1.D Use the Disruptive Technology Shortlisting Tool to produce a shortlist

    1 hour

    Use the Disruptive Technology Shortlisting Tool, tabs 3 and 4.

    Use the populated matrix and the discussion list to arrive at a shortlist of four to six potentially disruptive technologies.

    • The tool populates each quadrant based on how many votes it received in the voting exercise.
    • Technologies selected for a particular quadrant by a majority of participants are placed in the quadrant on the graph. Where there was no consensus, the technology is placed in the discussion list.
    • Technologies in the upper right quadrant – high transformation and high innovation – are more likely to be good candidates for a proof-of-concept project. Those in the bottom left are likely to be poor candidates, while those in the remaining quadrants are strong on one of the axes and are unlikely candidates for further systematic evaluation.

    This image contains a screenshot from tab 3 of the Disruptive Technology Shortlisting Tool.

    Input the results of the vote into tab 3 of the Disruptive Technology Shortlisting Tool.

    This image contains a screenshot from tab 4 of the Disruptive Technology Shortlisting Tool.

    View the results on tab 4.

    Phase 2: Resolve

    Evaluate disrupted technologies

    Activities:

    Step 2.1: Create and Winnow a Longlist
    Step 2.2:- Assess Shortlist

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Core working group
    • Infrastructure Management

    Outcomes of this step:

    • Finalized longlist
    • Finalized shortlist
    • Initial analysis of each technology on the shortlist

    Assess Shortlist

    Activities:

    1. Assess the value of each technology to your organization by breaking it down into quality and cost
    2. Investigate the overall readiness of the technologies on the shortlist
    3. Interpret each technology’s value score
    4. Conduct a SWOT analysis for each technology on the shortlist
    5. Use Info-Tech’s disruptive technology shortlist analysis to visualize the tool’s outputs
    6. Select the shortlisted technologies you would like to move forward with

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Core working group members
    • IT Management

    Outcomes of this step:

    • Finalized shortlist
    • Initial analysis of each technology on the shortlist

    2.2 Evaluate technologies based on their value and readiness, and conduct a SWOT analysis for each one

    Use the Disruptive Technology Value-Readiness and SWOT Analysis Tool

    • A technology monitor diagram prioritizes investment in technology by analyzing its readiness and value.
      • Readiness: how close the technology is to being practical and implementable in your industry and organization.
      • Value: how worthwhile the technology is, in terms of its quality and its cost.
    • Value and readiness questionnaires are included in the tool to help determine current and future values for each, and the next four slides explain the ratings further.
    • Categorize technology by its value-readiness score, and evaluate how much potential value each technology has and how soon your company can realize that value.
    • Use a SWOT analysis to qualitatively evaluate the potential that each technology has for your organization in each of the four categories (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats).

    The technology monitor diagram appears in tab 9 of the Disruptive Technology Value-Readiness and SWOT Analysis Tool

    This image depicts tab 9 of the Disruptive Technology Value-Readiness and SWOT Analysis Tool

    2.2.A Assess the value of each technology to your organization by breaking it down into quality and cost

    1 hour

    Update the Disruptive Technology Value-Readiness and SWOT Analysis Tool, tab 4.

    Populate the chart to produce a score for each technology’s overall value to the company conceptualized as the interaction of quality and cost.

    Overall Value

    Quality Cost

    Each technology, if it has a product associated with it, can be evaluated along eight dimensions of quality. Consider how well the product performs, its features, its reliability, its conformance, its durability, its serviceability, its aesthetics, and its perceived quality.

    IT budgets are broken down into capital and operating expenditures. A technology that requires a significant investment along either of these lines is unlikely to produce a positive return. Also consider how much time it will take to implement and operate each technology.

    The value assessment is part of the Disruptive Technology Value-Readiness and SWOT Analysis Tool

    This image contains a screenshot from tab 4 of the Disruptive Technology Value-Readiness and SWOT Analysis Tool.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Watch your costs: Technology that seems cheap at first can actually be expensive over time. Be sure to account for operational and opportunity costs as well.

    2.2.B Investigate the overall readiness of the technologies on the shortlist

    1 hour

    Update the Disruptive Technology Value-Readiness and SWOT Analysis Tool, tab 4.

    Overall Readiness

    Age

    How much time has the technology had to mature? Older technology is more likely to be ready for adoption.

    Venture Capital

    The amount of venture capital gathered by important firms in the space is an indicator of market faith.

    Market Size

    How big is the market for the technology? It is more difficult to break into a giant market than a niche market.

    Market Players

    Have any established vendors (Microsoft, Facebook, Google, etc.) thrown their weight behind the technology?

    Fragmentation

    A large number of small companies in the space indicates that the market has yet to reach equilibrium.

    The readiness assessment is part of the Disruptive Technology Value-Readiness and SWOT Analysis Tool

    This image contains a screenshot of the Readiness Scoring tab of the Disruptive Technology Value-Readiness and SWOT Analysis Tool.

    Use a variety of sources to populate the chart

    Google is your friend: search each shortlisted technology to find details about its development and important vendors.

    Websites like Crunchbase, VentureBeat, and Mashable are useful sources for information on the companies involved in a space and the amount of money they have each raised.

    2.2.C Interpret each technology’s value score

    1 hour

    Insert the result of the SWOT analysis into tab 7 of Info-Tech’s Disruptive Technology Value-Readiness and SWOT Analysis Tool.

    Visualize the results of the quality-cost analysis

    • Quality and cost are independently significant; it is essential to understand how each technology stacks up on the axes.
    • Use tab 6 of the Disruptive Technology Value-Readiness and SWOT Analysis Tool for an illustration of how quality and cost interact to produce each technology’s final position on the tech monitor graph.
    • Remember: the score is notional and reflects the values that you have assigned. Be sure to treat it accordingly.

    This image contains a screenshot of the Value Analysis tab of the Disruptive Technology Value-Readiness and SWOT Analysis Tool

    Green represents a technology that scores extremely high on one axis or the other, or quite high on both. These technologies are the best candidates for proof-of-concept projects from a value perspective.

    Red represents a technology that has scored very low on both axes. These technologies will be expensive, time consuming, and of poor quality.

    Yellow represents the fuzzy middle ground. These technologies score moderately on both axes. Be especially careful when considering the SWOT analysis of these technologies.

    2.2.D Conduct a SWOT analysis for each technology on the shortlist

    1 hour

    Use tab 6 of the Disruptive Technology Value-Readiness and SWOT Analysis Tool.

    A formal process for analyzing disruptive technology is the only way to ensure that it is taken seriously.

    Write each technology as a heading on a whiteboard. Spend 10-15 minutes on each technology conducting a SWOT analysis together.

    Consider four categories for each technology:

    • Strengths: Current uses of the technology or supporting technology and ways in which it helps your organization.
    • Weaknesses: Current limitations of the technology and challenges or barriers to adopting it in your organization.
    • Opportunities: Potential uses of the technology, especially as it advances or improves.
    • Threats: Potential negative disruptions resulting from the technology, especially as it advances or improves.

    The list of processes generated at the cycle’s initial meeting is a great source for opportunities and threats.

    Disruptive Technology Value-Readiness and SWOT Analysis Tool

    This image contains screenshots of the technology tab of the Disruptive Technology Value-Readiness and SWOT Analysis Tool.

    2.2.E Use Info-Tech’s disruptive technology shortlist analysis to visualize the tool’s outputs

    1 hour

    Disruptive Technology Value-Readiness and SWOT Analysis Tool, tab 9

    The tool’s final tab displays the results of the value-readiness analysis and the SWOT analysis in a single location.

    This image contains a screenshot from tab 9 of the Disruptive Technology Value-Readiness and SWOT Analysis Tool

    Insert the shortlist analysis report into Section 3 of your Disruptive Technology Exploitation Plan Template.

    2.2.F Select the shortlisted technologies you would like to move forward with

    1 hour

    Present your findings to the working group.

    • The Disruptive Technology Value-Readiness and SWOT Analysis Tool aggregates your inputs in an easy-to-read, consistent way.
    • Present the tool’s outputs to members of the core working group.
    • Explain the scoring and present the graphic to the group. Go over each technology’s strengths and weaknesses as well as the opportunities and threats it presents/poses to the organization.
    • Go through the proof-of-concept planning phase before striking any technologies from the list.

    This image contains a screenshot of the disruptive technology shortlist analysis from the Disruptive Technology Value-Readiness and SWOT Analysis Tool

    Info-Tech Insight

    A technology’s exceptional value and immediate usability make it the best. A technology can be promising and compelling, but it is unsuitable unless it can bring immediate and exceptional value to your organization. Don’t get caught up in the hype.

    Evaluate

    Create an Action Plan to Exploit Disruptive Technologies

    PHASE 3

    Phase 3: Evaluate

    Create an Action Plan to Exploit Disruptive Technologies

    Activities:

    Step 3.1: Create Process Maps
    Step 3.2: Develop Proof of Concept Charter

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Core working group
    • Infrastructure Management
    • Working group leader
    • CIO

    Outcomes of this step:

    • Business process maps before and after disruption
    • Proof of concept charter
    • Key performance indicators
    • Estimation of required resources

    Step 3.1

    Create Process Maps

    Activities:

    1. Creating a problem canvas by identifying stakeholders, jobs, pains, and gains
    2. Clarify the problem the proof-of-concept project will solve
    3. Identify jobs and stakeholders
    4. Outline how disruptive technology will solve the problem
    5. Map business processes
    6. Identify affected business units
    7. Outline and map the business processes likely to be disrupted
    8. Recognize how the new technology will impact business processes
    9. Make the case: Outline why the new business process is superior to the old

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Working group leader
    • CIO

    Outcomes of this step:

    • Business process maps before and after disruption

    3.1 Create an action plan to exploit disruptive technologies

    Clarify the problem in order to make the case. Fill in section 1.1 of Info-Tech’s Proof of Concept Template to clearly outline the problem each proof of concept is designed to solve.

    Establish roles and responsibilities. Use section 1.2 of the template to outline the roles and responsibilities that fall to each member of the team. Ensure that clear lines of authority are delineated and that the list of stakeholders is exhaustive: include the executives whose input will be required for project approval, all the way to the technicians on the frontline responsible for implementing it.

    Outline the solution to the problem. Demonstrate how each proof-of-concept project provides a solution to the problem outlined in section 1.1. Be sure to clarify what makes the particular technology under investigation a potential solution and record the results in section 1.3.

    This image contains a screenshot of the Proof of concept project template

    Use the Proof of Concept Project Template to track the information you gather throughout Phase 3.

    3.1.A Creating a problem canvas by identifying stakeholders, jobs, pains, and gains

    2 hours

    Instructions:

    1. On a whiteboard, draw the visual canvas supplied below.
    2. Select your issue area, and list jobs, pains, and gains in the associated sections.
    3. Record the pains, jobs, and gains in sections 1.1-1.3 of the Proof of Concept Template.

    Gains

    1. More revenue

    2. Job security

    3. ……

    Jobs

    1. Moving product

    2. Per sale value

    3. ……

    Pains

    1. Clunky website

    2. Bad site navigation

    3. ……

    Input

    • Inspiration
    • Anonymous ideas

    Output

    • List of processes

    Materials

    • Chart paper and markers
    • Pen and paper

    Participants

    • Core working group
    • Visionaries

    3.1.B Clarify the problem the proof-of-concept project will solve

    2 hours

    What is the problem?

    • Every technology is designed to solve a problem faced by somebody somewhere. For each technology that your team has decided to move forward with, identify and clearly state the problem it would solve.
    • A clear problem statement is a crucial part of a new technology’s business case. It is impossible to earn buy-in from the rest of the organization without demonstrating the necessity of a solution.
    • Perfection is impossible to achieve: during the course of their work, everyone encounters pain points. Identify those pain points to arrive at the problem that needs to be solved.

    Example:

    List of pains addressed by conversational commerce:

    • Search functions can be clunky and unresponsive.
    • Corporate websites can be difficult to navigate.
    • Customers are uncomfortable in unfamiliar internet environments.
    • Customers do not like waiting in a long queue to engage with customer service representatives when they have concerns.

    “If I were given one hour to solve a problem, I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute resolving it.”
    – Albert Einstein

    Input the results of this exercise into Section 1.1 of the Proof of Concept Template.

    3.1.C Identify jobs and stakeholders

    1 hour

    Jobs

    Job: Anything that the “customer” (the target of the solution) needs to get done but that is complicated by a pain.

    Examples:
    The job of the conversational commerce interface is to make selling products easier for the company.
    From the customer perspective, the job of the conversational interface is to make the act of purchasing a product simpler and easier.

    Stakeholders

    Stakeholder: Anyone who is impacted by the new technology and who will end up using, approving, or implementing it.

    Examples:
    The executive is responsible for changing the company’s direction and approving investment in a new sales platform.
    The IT team is responsible for implementing the new technology.
    Marketing will be responsible for selling the change to customers.
    Customers, the end users, will be the ones using the conversational commerce user interface.

    Input the results of this exercise into Section 1.2 of the Proof of Concept Template.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Process deconstruction reveals strengths and weaknesses. Promising technology should improve stakeholders’ abilities to do jobs.

    3.1.D Outline how disruptive technology will solve the problem

    1 hour

    How will the technology in question make jobs easier?

    • How will the disruptive technology you have elected to move forward with create gains for the organization?
    • First, identify the gains that are supposed to come with the project. Consider the benefits that the various stakeholders expect to derive from the jobs identified.
    • Second, make note of how the technology in question facilitates the gains you have noted. Be sure to articulate the exclusive features of the new technology that make it an improvement over the current state.

    Note: The goal of this exercise is to make the case for a particular technology. Sell it!

    Expected Gain: Increase in sales.

    Conversational Commerce’s Contribution: Customers are more likely to purchase products using interfaces they are comfortable with.

    Expected Gain: Decrease in costs.

    Conversational Commerce’s Contribution: Customers who are satisfied with the conversational interface are less likely to interact with live agents, saving labor costs.

    Input the results of this exercise into Section 1.3 of the Proof of Concept Template.

    3.1.E Map business processes

    1 hour

    Map the specific business processes the new technology will impact.

    • Disruptive technologies will impact a wide variety of business processes.
    • Map business processes to visualize what parts of your organization (departments, silos, divisions) will be impacted by the new technology, should it be adopted after the proof of concept.
    • Identify how the disruption will take place.
    • Demonstrate the value of each technology by including the results of the Disruptive Technology Value-Readiness and SWOT Analysis Tool with your process map.

    This image contains a screenshot of the Proof of concept project template

    Use the Proof of Concept Project Template to track the information you gather throughout Phase 3.

    3.1.F Identify affected business units

    30 minutes per technology

    Disruptive technology will impact business units.

    • Using the stakeholders identified earlier in the project, map each technology to the business units that will be affected.
    • Make your list exhaustive. While some technologies will have a limited impact on the business as a whole, others will have ripple effects throughout the organization.
    • Examine affected units at all scales: How will the technology impact operations at the team level? The department level? The division level?

    “The disruption is not just in the technology. Sometimes a good business model can be the disruptor.”
    – Jason Hong, Associate Professor, Carnegie Mellon

    Example:

    • Customer service teams: Conversational commerce will replace some of the duties of the customer service representative. They will have to reorganize to account for this development.
    • IT department: The IT department will be responsible for building/maintaining the conversational interface (or, more likely, they will be responsible for managing the contract with the vendor).
    • Sales analytics: New data from customers in natural language might provide a unique opportunity for the analytics team to develop new initiatives to drive sales growth.

    Input the results of this exercise into Section 2.1 of the Proof of Concept Template.

    3.1.G Outline and map the business processes likely to be disrupted

    15 minutes per technology

    Leverage the insights of the diverse working group.

    • Processes are designed to transform inputs into outputs. All business activities can be mapped into processes.
    • A process map illustrates the sequence of actions and decisions that transform an input into an output.
    • Effective mapping gives managers an “aerial” view of the company’s processes, making it easier to identify inefficiencies, reduce waste, and ultimately, streamline operations.
    • To identify business processes, have group members familiar with the affected business units identify how jobs are typically accomplished within those units.

    “To truly understand a business process, we need information from both the top-down and bottom-up points of view. Informants higher in the organizational hierarchy with a strategic focus are less likely to know process details or problems. But they might advocate and clearly articulate an end-to-end, customer-oriented philosophy that describes the process in an idealized form. Conversely, the salespeople, customer service representatives, order processors, shipping clerks, and others who actually carry out the processes will be experts about the processes, their associated documents, and problems or exception cases they encounter.”
    – Robert J. Glushko, Professor at UC Berkeley and Tim McGrath, Business Consultant

    Info-Tech Insight

    Opinions gathered from a group that reflect the process in question are far more likely to align with your organization’s reality. If you have any questions about a particular process, do not be afraid to go outside of the working group to ask someone who might know.

    3.1.G Outline and map the business processes likely to be disrupted (continued)

    15 minutes per technology

    Create a simple diagram of identified processes.

    • Use different shapes to identify different points in the process.
    • Rectangles represent actions, diamonds represent decisions.
    • On a whiteboard, map out the actions and decisions that take place to transform an input into an output.
    • Input the result into section 2.2 of the Proof of Concept Template.

    This image contains a screenshot of the Software Service Cross-Function Process tab from Edraw Visualization Solutions.

    Source: Edraw Visualization Solutions

    Example: simplified process map

    1. User: visits company website
    2. User: engages search function or browses links
    3. User: selects and purchases product from a menu
    4. Company: ships product to customer

    3.1.H Recognize how the new technology will impact business processes

    15 minutes per technology

    Using the information gleaned from the previous activities, develop a new process map that takes the new technology into account.

    Identify the new actions or decisions that the new technology will affect.

    User: visits company website; User: engages conversational; commerce platform; User: engages search function or browses links; User: makes a natural language query; User: selects and purchases product from a menu</p data-verified=

    User: selects and purchases product from a menu; Company: ships product to customer; Company: ships product to customer">

    Info-Tech Insight

    It’s ok to fail! The only way to know you’re getting close to the “knee of curve" is from multiple failed PoC tests. The more PoC options you have, the more likely it will be that you will have two to three successful results.

    3.1.I Make the case: Outline why the new business process is superior to the old

    15 minutes per technology

    Articulate the main benefits of the new process.

    • Using the revised process map, make the case for each new action.
    • Questions to consider: How does the new technology relieve end-user/customer pains? How does the new technology contribute to the streamlining of the business process? Who will benefit from the new action? What are the implications of those benefits?
    • Record the results of this exercise in section 2.4 of the Proof of Concept Template.

    This image contains an example of an outline comparing the benefits of new and the old business processes.

    Info-Tech Insight

    If you cannot articulate how a new technology will benefit a business process, reconsider moving forward with the proof-of-concept project.

    Phase 3: Evaluate

    Create an Action Plan to Exploit Disruptive Technologies

    Activities:

    Step 3.1: Create Process Maps
    Step 3.2: Develop Proof of Concept Charter

    Develop Proof of Concept Charter

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Core working group
    • Infrastructure Management
    • Working group leader
    • CIO

    Outcomes of this step:

    • Business process maps before and after disruption
    • Proof of concept charter
    • Key performance indicators
    • Estimation of required resources

    Step 3.2

    Develop Proof of Concept Charter

    Activities:

    1. Use SMART success metrics to define your objectives
    2. Develop key performance indicators (KPIs)
    3. Identify key success factors for the project
    4. Outline the project’s scope
    5. Identify the structure of the team responsible for the proof-of-concept project
    6. Estimate the resources required by the project
    7. Be aware of common IT project concerns
    8. Communicate your working group’s findings and successes to a wide audience
    9. Hand off the completed proof-of-concept project plan
    10. Disruption is constant: Repeat the evaluation process regularly to protect the business

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Working group leader
    • CIO

    Outcomes of this step:

    • Proof of concept charter
    • Key performance indicators
    • Estimation of required resources

    3.2 Develop a proof of concept charter

    Keep your proof of concept on track by defining five key dimensions.

    1. Objective: Giving an overview of the planned proof of concept will help to focus and clarify the rest of this section. What must the proof of concept achieve? Objectives should be: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time bound. Outline and track key performance indicators.
    2. Key Success Factors: These are conditions that will positively impact the proof of concept’s success.
    3. Scope: High-level statement of scope. More specifically, state what is in scope and what is out of scope.
    4. Project Team: Identify the team’s structure, e.g. sponsors, subject-matter experts.
    5. Resource Estimation: Identify what resources (time, materials, space, tools, expertise, etc.) will be needed to build and socialize your prototype. How will they be secured?

    Input the results of this exercise into Section 3.0 of the Proof of Concept Template.

    3.2.A Use SMART success metrics to define your objectives

    Specific

    Measurable

    Actionable

    Realistic

    Time Bound

    Make sure the objective is clear and detailed.

    Objectives are measurable if there are specific metrics assigned to measure success. Metrics should be objective.

    Objectives become actionable when specific initiatives designed to achieve the objective are identified.

    Objectives must be achievable given your current resources or known available resources.

    An objective without a timeline can be put off indefinitely. Furthermore, measuring success is challenging without a timeline.

    Who, what, where, why?

    How will you measure the extent to which the goal is met?

    What is the action-oriented verb?

    Is this within my capabilities?

    By when: deadline, frequency?

    Examples:

    1. Increase in sales by $40,000 per month by the end of next quarter.
    2. Immediate increase in web traffic by 600 unique page views per day.
    3. Number of pilots approved per year.
    4. Number of successfully deployed solutions per year.

    Input the results of this exercise into Section 3.0 of the Proof of Concept Template.

    3.2.B Develop key performance indicators (KPIs)

    30 minutes per technology

    Key performance indicators allow for rigorous analysis, which generates insight into utilization by platform and consumption by business activity.

    • Use the process improvements identified in step 3.1 to brainstorm metrics that indicate when process improvement is actually taking place.
    • Have members of the group pitch KPIs; the facilitator should record each suggestion on a whiteboard.
    • Make sure to have everyone justify the inclusion of each metric: How does it relate to the improvement that the proof of concept project is intended to drive? How does it relate to the overall goals of the business?
    • Include a list of KPIs, along with a description and a target (ensuring that it aligns with SMART metrics) in section 3.1 of the Proof of Concept Template.

    “An estimated 70% of performance measurement systems fail after implementation. Carefully select your KPIs and avoid this trap!”
    Source: Collins et al. 2016

    Key Performance Indicator Description Target

    Result

    Conversion rate What percentage of customers who visit the site/open the conversational interface continue on to make a purchase? 40%
    Average order value

    How much does each customer spend per visit to the website?

    $212
    Repeat customer rate What percentage of customers have made more than one purchase over time? 65%
    Lifetime customer value Over the course of their interaction with the company, what is the typical value each customer brings? $1566

    Input the results of this exercise into Section 3.1 of the Proof of Concept Template.

    3.2.C Identify key success factors for the project

    30 minutes per technology

    Effective project management involves optimizing four key success factors (Clarke, 1999)

    • Communication: Communicate the expected changes to stakeholders, making sure that everyone who needs to know does know. Example: Make sure customer service representatives know their duties will be impacted by the conversational UI well before the proof-of-concept project begins.
    • Clarity: All involved in the project should be apprised of what the project is intended to accomplish and what the project is not intended to accomplish. Example: The conversational commerce project is not intended to be rolled out to the entire customer base all at once; it is not intended to disrupt normal online sales.
    • Compartmentalization: The working group should suggest some ways that the project can be broken down to facilitate its effective implementation. Example: Sales provides details of customers who might be amenable to a trial, IT secures a vendor, customer service writes a script.
    • Flexibility: The working group’s final output should not be treated as gospel. Ensure that the document can be altered to account for unexpected events. Example: The conversational commerce platform might drive sales of a particular product more than others, necessitating adjustments at the warehouse and shipping level.

    Input the results of this exercise into Section 3.0 of the Proof of Concept Template.

    3.2.D Outline the project’s scope

    10 minutes per technology

    Create a high-level outline of the project’s scope.

    • Questions to consider: Broadly speaking, what are the project’s goals? What is the desired future state? Where in the company will the project be rolled out? What are some of the company’s goals that the project is not designed to cover?
    • Be sure to avoid scope creep! Remember: The goal of the proof-of-concept project is to produce a minimum case for viability in a carefully defined area. Reserve a detailed accounting of costs and benefits for the post-proof-of-concept stage.
    • Example: The conversational user interface will only be rolled out in an e-commerce setting. Other business units (HR, for example) are beyond the scope of this particular project.

    “Although scope creep is not the only nemesis a project can have, it does tend to have the farthest reach. Without a properly defined project and/or allowing numerous changes along the way, a project can easily go over budget, miss the deadline, and wreak havoc on project success.”
    – University Alliance, Villanova University

    Input the results of this exercise into Section 3.0 of the Proof of Concept Template.

    3.2.E Identify the structure of the team responsible for the proof-of-concept project

    10 minutes per technology

    Brainstorm who will be involved in project implementation.

    • Refer back to the list of stakeholders identified in 3.1.a. Which stakeholders should be involved in implementing the proof-of-concept plan?
    • What business units do they represent?
    • Who should be accountable for the project? At a high level, sketch the roles of each of the participants. Who will be responsible for doing the work? Who will approve it? Who needs to be informed at every stage? Who are the company’s internal subject matter experts?

    Example

    Name/Title Role
    IT Manager Negotiate the contract for the software with vendor
    CMO Promote the conversational interface to customers

    Input the results of this exercise into Section 3.0 of the Proof of Concept Template.

    3.2.F Estimate the resources required by the project

    10 minutes per technology

    Time and Money

    • Recall: Costs can be operational, capital, or opportunity.
    • Revisit the Disruptive Technology Value-Readiness and SWOT Analysis Tool. Record the capital and operational expenses expected to be associated with each technology, and add detail where possible (use exact figures from particular vendors instead of percentages).
    • Write the names and titles of each expected participant in the project on a whiteboard. Next to each name, write the number of hours they are expected to devote to the project and include a rough estimate of the cost of their participation to the company. Use full-time employee equivalent (FTE measures) as a base.
    • Outline how other necessary resources (space, tools, expertise, etc.) will be secured.

    Example: Conversational Commerce

    • OpEx: $149/month + 2.9¢/transaction* (2,000 estimated transactions)
    • CapEx: $0!
    • IT Manager: 5 hours at $100/hour
    • IT Technician: 40 hours at $45/hour
    • CMO: 1 hour at $300/hour
    • Customer Service Representative: 10 hours at $35/hour
    • *Estimated total cost for a one-month proof-of-concept project: $3,157

    *This number is a sample taken from the vendor Rhombus

    Input the results of this exercise into Section 3.0 of the Proof of Concept Template.

    3.2.G Be aware of common IT project concerns

    Of projects that did not meet business expectations or were cancelled, how significant were the following issues?

    A bar graph is depicted, comparing small, medium, and large businesses for the following datasets: Over budget; Project failed to be delivered on time; Breach of scope; Low quality; Failed to deliver expected benefit or value

    This survey data did not specifically address innovation projects.

    • Disruptive technology projects will be under increased scrutiny in comparison to other projects.
    • Be sure to meet deadlines and stay within budget.
    • Be cognizant that your projects can go out of scope, and there will be projects that may have to be cancelled due to low quality. Remember: Even a failed test is a learning opportunity!

    Info-Tech’s CIO-CEO Alignment Survey, N=225

    Organization size was determined by the number of IT employees within the organization

    Small = 10 or fewer IT staff, medium = 11 to 25 IT staff, and large/enterprise = 26 or greater IT staff

    3.2.H Communicate your working group’s findings and successes to a wide audience

    Advertise the group’s successes and help prevent airline magazine syndrome from occurring.

    • Share your group’s results internally:
      • Run your own analysis by senior management and then share it across the organization.
      • Maintain a list of technologies that the working group has analyzed and solicit feedback from the wider organization.
      • Post summaries of the technologies in a publicly available repository. The C-suite may not read it right away, but it will be easy to provide when they ask.
      • If senior management has declined to proceed with a certain technology, avoid wasting time and resources on it. However, include notes about why the technology was rejected.
    • These postings will also act as an advertisement for the group. Use the garnered interest to attract visionaries for the next cycle.
    • These postings will help to reiterate the innovative value of the IT department and help bring you to the decision-making table.

    “Some CIOs will have to battle the bias that they belong in the back office and shouldn’t be included in product architecture planning. CIOs must ‘sell’ IT’s strength in information architecture.”
    – Chris Curran, Chief Technologist, PwC (Curran, 2014)

    Info-Tech Insight

    Cast a wide net. By sharing your results with as many people as possible within your organization, you’ll not only attract more attention to your working group, but you will also get more feedback and ideas.

    3.2.I Hand off the completed proof-of-concept project plan

    The proof of concept template is filled out – now what?

    • The core working group is responsible for producing a vision of the future and outlining new technology’s disruptive potential. The actual implementation of the proof of concept (purchasing the hardware, negotiating the SLA with the vendor) is beyond the working group’s responsibilities.
    • If the proof of concept goes ahead, the facilitator should block some time to evaluate the completed project against the key performance indicators identified in the initial plan.
    • A cure for airline magazine syndrome: Be prepared when executives ask about new technology. Present them with the results of the shortlist analysis and the proof-of-concept plan. A clear accounting of the value, readiness, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats posed by each technology, along with its impact on business processes, is an invaluable weapon against poor technology choices.

    Use section 3.2.b to identify the decision-making stakeholder who has the most to gain from a successful proof-of-concept project. Self-interest is a powerful motivator – the project is more likely to succeed in the hands of a passionate champion.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Set a date for the first meeting of the new iteration of the disruptive technology working group before the last meeting is done. Don’t risk pushing it back indefinitely.

    3.2.J Hand off the completed proof-of-concept project plan

    Record the results of the proof of concept. Keep track of what worked and what didn’t.

    Repeat the process regularly.

    • Finalize the proof of concept template, but don’t stop there: Keep your ear to the ground; follow tech developments using the sources identified in step 1.2.
    • Continue expanding the potential longlist with independent research: Be prepared to expand your longlist. Remember, the more technologies you have on the longlist, the more potential airline magazine syndrome cures you have access to.
    • Have the results of the previous session’s proof of concept plan on hand: At the start of each new iteration, conduct a review. What technologies were successful beyond the proof of concept phase? Which parts of the process worked? Which parts did not? How could they be improved?

    Info-Tech Insight

    The key is in anticipation. This is not a one-and-done exercise. Technology innovation operates at a faster pace than ever before, well below the Moores Law "18 month" timeline as an example. Success is in making EDIT a repeatable process.

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    Research contributors and experts

    Nitin Babel

    Nitin Babel, Co-Founder, niki.ai

    Nitin Babel, MSc, co-created conversational commerce platform niki.ai in early 2015. Since then, the technology has been featured on the front page of the Economic Times, and has secured the backing of Ratan Tata, former chairman of the Tata Group, one of the largest companies in the world.

    Mark Hubbard

    Mark Hubbard, Senior Vice President, FirstOnSite

    Mark is the SVP for Information Technology in Canada with FirstOnSite, a full service disaster recovery and property restoration company. Mark has over 25 years of technology leadership guiding global organizations through the development of strategic and tactical plans to strengthen their technology platforms and implement business aligned technology strategies.

    Chris Green

    Chris Green, Enterprise Architect, Boston Private
    Chris is an IT architect with over 15 years’ experience designing, building, and implementing solutions. He is a results-driven leader and contributor, skilled in a broad set of methods, tools, and platforms. He is experienced with mobile, web, enterprise application integration, business process, and data design.

    Andrew Kope

    Andrew Kope, Head of Data Analytics
    Big Blue Bubble
    Andrew Kope, MSc, oversees a team that develops and maintains a user acquisition tracking solution and a real-time metrics dashboard. He also provides actionable recommendations to the executive leadership of Big Blue Bubble – one of Canada’s largest independent mobile game development studios.

    Jason Hong

    Jason Hong, Associate Professor, School of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University

    Jason Hong is a member of the faculty at Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science. His research focus lies at the intersection of human-computer interaction, privacy and security, and systems. He is a New America National Cyber Security Fellow (2015-2017) and is widely published in academic and industry journals.

    Tim Lalonde

    Tim Lalonde, Vice President, Mid-Range

    Tim Lalonde is the VP of Technical Operations at Mid-Range. He works with leading-edge companies to be more competitive and effective in their industries. He specializes in developing business roadmaps leveraging technology that create and support change from within — with a focus on business process re-engineering, architecture and design, business case development and problem-solving. With over 30 years of experience in IT, Tim’s guiding principle remains simple: See a problem, fix a problem.

    Jon Mavor

    Jon Mavor, Co-Founder and CTO, Envelop VR
    Jon Mavor is a programmer and entrepreneur, whose past work includes writing the graphics engine for the PC game Total Annihilation. As Chief Technology Officer of Envelop VR, a virtual reality start-up focused on software for the enterprise, Jon has overseen the launch of Envelop for Windows’s first public beta.

    Dan Pitt

    Dan Pitt, President, Palo Alto Innovation Advisors
    Dan Pitt is a network architect who has extensive experience in both the academy and industry. Over the course of his career, Dan has served as Executive Director of the Open Networking Foundation, Dean of Engineering at Santa Clara University, Vice President of Technology and Academic Partnerships at Nortel, Vice President of the Architecture Lab at Bay Networks, and, currently, as President of Palo Alto Innovation Advisors, where he advises and serves as an executive for technology start-ups in the Palo Alto area and around the world.

    Courtney Smith

    Courtney Smith, Co-Founder, Executive Creative Director
    PureMatter

    Courtney Smith is an accomplished creative strategist, storyteller, writer, and designer. Under her leadership, PureMatter has earned hundreds of creative awards and been featured in the PRINT International Design Annual. Courtney has juried over 30 creative competitions, including Creativity International. She is an invited member of the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts.

    Emmanuel Tsekleves

    Emmanuel Tsekleves, Senior Lecturer in Design Interactions, University of Lancaster
    Dr. Emmanuel Tsekleves is a senior lecturer and writer based out of the United Kingdom. Emmanuel designs interactions between people, places, and products by forging creative design methods along with digital technology. His design-led research in the areas of health, ageing, well-being, and defence has generated public interest and attracted media attention by the national press, such as the Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, The Times, the Daily Mail, Discovery News, and several other international online media outlets.

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    Denecken, Sven. Conquering Disruption Through Digital Transformation: Technologies, Leadership Strategies, and Best Practices to Create Opportunities for Innovation. SAP, 2014. Web.

    DHL Trend Research and Cisco Consulting Services. Internet of Things in Logistics: A Collaborative Report by DHL and Cisco on Implications and Use Cases for the Logistics Industry, 2015. Web.

    Dirican, Cüneyt. “The Impacts of Robotics, Artificial Intelligence on Business and Economics.” Procedia: Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 195, 2015, pp. 564-573. Web.

    Edraw Visualization Solutions. Examples of Flowcharts, Org Charts and More. “Cross-Function Flowchart Examples – Service Flowchart.”

    Emerson. Data Center 2025: Exploring the Possibilities, 2014. Web.

    Ericsson. Next-Generation Data Center Infrastructure, Feb. 2015. Web.

    Eurotech. Connecting M2M Applications to the Cloud to Bolster Hardware Sales, 2014. Web.

    Evans Gary, Llewellyn. “Disruptive Technology and the Board: The Tip of the Iceberg”. Economics and Business Review, n.d. Web.

    Evans Gary, Llewellyn. “Disruptive Technology and the Board: The Tip of the Iceberg”. Economics and Business Review, n.d. Web.

    Gage, Deborah. “The Venture Capital Secret: 3 Out of 4 Start-Ups Fail.” Wall Street Journal, 20 Sept. 2012. Web.

    Garvin, David A. “Competing on the Eight Dimensions of Quality.” Harvard Business Review, November 1987. Web.

    Gibbs, Colin. Augmented Reality in the Enterprise: Opportunities and Challenges. Gigaom Research, 26 Jan. 2015. Web.

    Glushko, Robert J. and Tim McGrath. Document Engineering: Analyzing and Designing Documents for Business Informatics and Web Services. MIT Press, 2005.

    Hadfield, Tom. “Facebook’s Messenger Bot Store could be the most important launch since the App Store.” TechCrunch, 17 March 2016. Web.

    Healey, Nic. “Microsoft's mixed reality vision: 80 million devices by 2020.” CNET, 1 June 2016. Web.

    Hewlett-Packard. Go Beyond Cost Reduction: Use Robotic Process Automation, Oct. 2015. Web.

    Hewlett-Packard. HP Composable Infrastructure: Bridging Traditional IT with the New Style of Business, June 2015. Web.

    Hewlett-Packard. HP Labs, n.d. Web.

    Hong, Jason. “Inside the Great Wall.” Communications of the ACM, 25 May 2016. Web.

    IBM Institute for Value. Your Cognitive Future: How Next-Gen Computing Changes the Way We Live and Work, 2015. Web.

    IBM. A New Way to Work: Futurist Insights to 2025 and Beyond, Jan. 2015. Web.

    Infinity. The Evolution of the Data Centre [sic], 2015. Web.

    Intel Corporation. Intel Annual Report, 1997. Web.

    Isaac, Mike. “Facebook Bets on Bots for its Messenger App.” New York Times, 12 April 2016. Web.

    ISACA. COBIT 5: Enabling Processes. ISACA, 2012. Print.

    K-12 Blueprint. “Planning a Proof of Concept.” 2014. Web.

    Kaushik Rukmini, Meenakshi. “The Impact of Pandemic COVID -19 in Workplace.” European Journal of Business Management and Research, May 2020. Web.

    Knight, Will. “Conversational Interfaces Powerful speech technology from China’s leading Internet company makes it much easier to use a smartphone.” MIT Technology Review, n.d. Web.

    Kostoff, Ronald N., Robert Boylan, and Gene R. Simons. “Disruptive Technology Roadmaps.” Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2004. Vol. 71. Web.

    Kurzweil, Ray. “The Accelerating Power of Technology.” TED, Feb. 2005. Web.

    Kurzweil, Ray. Kurzweil: Accelerating Intelligence, 2015. Web.

    MacFarquhar, Larissa. “When Giants Fall: What Business Has Learned From Clayton Christensen,” New Yorker, 14 May 2012. Web.

    McClintock, Cat. “2016: The Year for Augmented Reality in the Enterprise.” PTC, n.d. Web.

    McKinsey & Company. IT Growth and Global Change: A Conversation with Ray Kurzweil. 29 Feb. 2012, YouTube. Web.

    Messina, Chris. “2016 Will be the Year of Conversational Commerce.” Medium, 19 Jan 2016. Web.

    Microsoft. Microsoft Research, n.d. Web.

    Miller, Ron. “Forget the Apple Watch, Think Drones in the Enterprise.” TechCrunch, 10 Sep. 2015. Web.

    Nokia Networks. FutureWorks [sic]: Teaching Networks to be Self-Aware: Technology Vision 2020. 2014. Web.

    Nokia Networks. Internet of Things. n.d. Web.

    O’Reilly, Charles, and Andrew J. M. Binns, “The Three Stages of Disruptive Innovation: Idea Generation, Incubation, and Scaling”. Sage Journals, n.d. Web.

    Pew Research Center. AI, Robotics, and the Future of Jobs: Experts Envision Automation and Intelligent Digital Agents Permeating Vast Areas of Our Work and Personal Lives by 2025, but they are Divided on Whether these Advances will Displace More Jobs than they Create. Aug. 2014. Web.

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    United States Department of Transportation. “National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey: Report to Congress.” National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, July 2008. Web.

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    Yu Dan and Hang Chang Chieh, "A reflective review of disruptive innovation theory," PICMET '08 - 2008 Portland International Conference on Management of Engineering & Technology, 2008, pp. 402-414, doi: 10.1109/PICMET.2008.4599648.

    The Essential COVID-19 Childcare Policy for Every Organization, Yesterday

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    • Parent Category Name: Manage & Coach
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    • Helping employees navigate personal and business responsibilities to find solutions that ensure both are taken care of.
    • Reducing potential disruption to business operations through employee absenteeism due to increased care-provider responsibilities.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Remote work is complicated by children at home with school closures. Implement alternative temporary work arrangements that allow and support employees to balance work and personal obligations.
    • Adjustments to work arrangements and pay may be necessary. Temporary work arrangements while caring for dependents over a longer-term pandemic may require adjustments to the duties carried out, number of hours worked, and adjustments to employee pay.
    • Managing remotely is more than staying in touch by phone. As a leader you will need to provide clear options that provide solutions to your employees to avoid them getting overwhelmed while taking care of the business to ensure there is a business long term.

    Impact and Result

    • Develop a policy that provides parameters around mutually agreed adjustments to performance levels while balancing dependent care with work during a pandemic.
    • Take care of the business through clear guidelines on compensation while taking care of the health and wellness of your people.
    • Develop detailed work-from-home plans that lessen disruption to your work while taking care of children or aged parents.

    The Essential COVID-19 Childcare Policy for Every Organization, Yesterday Research & Tools

    Start here. Read The Essential COVID-19 Childcare Policy for Every Organization, Yesterday

    Read our recommendations and follow the steps to develop a policy that will help your employees work productively while managing care-provider responsibilities at home.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    • The Essential COVID-19 Childcare Policy for Every Organization, Yesterday Storyboard
    • Pandemic Dependent Care Policy
    • COVID-19 Dependent Care Policy Manager Action Toolkit
    • COVID-19 Dependent Care Policy Employee Guide
    • Dependent-Flextime Agreement Template
    • Workforce Planning Tool
    • Nine Ways to Support Working Caregivers Today
    • Employee Resource Group (ERG) Charter Template
    [infographic]

    10 Secrets for Successful Disaster Recovery in the Cloud

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    • Parent Category Name: DR and Business Continuity
    • Parent Category Link: /business-continuity
    • The pay-per-use pricing structure of cloud services make it a cheaper DR option, but there are gotchas you need to avoid, ranging from unexpected licensing costs to potential security vulnerabilities.
    • You likely started on the path to cloud DR with consideration of cloud storage for offsite retention of backups. Systems recovery in the cloud can be a real value-add to using cloud as a backup target.
    • Your cloud-based DR environment has to be secure and compliant, but performance also has to be “good enough” to operate the business.
    • Location still matters, and selecting the DR site that optimizes latency tolerance and geo-redundancy can be difficult.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Keep your systems dormant until disaster strikes. Prepare as much of your environment as possible without tapping into compute resources. Enjoy the low at-rest costs, and leverage the reliability of the cloud in your failover.
    • Avoid failure on the failback! Bringing up your systems in the cloud is a great temporary solution, but an expensive long-term strategy. Make sure you have a plan to get back on premises.
    • Leverage cloud DR as a start for cloud migration. Cloud DR provides a gateway for broader infrastructure lift and shift to cloud IaaS, but this should only be the first phase of a longer-term roadmap that ends in multi-service hybrid cloud.

    Impact and Result

    • Calculate the cost of your DR solution with a cloud vendor. Test your systems often to build out more accurate budgets and to define failover and failback action plans to increase confidence in your capabilities.
    • Define “good enough” performance by consulting with the business and setting correct expectations for the recovery state.
    • Dig deeper into the various flavors of cloud-based DR beyond backup and restore, including pilot light, warm standby, and multi-site recovery. Each of these has unique benefits and challenges when done in the cloud.

    10 Secrets for Successful Disaster Recovery in the Cloud Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out the 10 secrets for success in cloud-based DR deployment, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    [infographic]

    Get Started With IT Project Portfolio Management

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    • Parent Category Name: Portfolio Management
    • Parent Category Link: /portfolio-management
    • Most companies are struggling to get their project work done. This is due in part to the fact that many prescribed remedies are confusing, disruptive, costly, or ineffective.
    • While struggling to find a solution, within the organization, project requests never stop and all projects continue to all be treated the same. Resources are requested for multiple projects without any visibility into their project capacity. Projects lack proper handoffs from closure to ongoing operational work. And the benefits are never tracked.
    • If you have too many projects, limited resources, ineffective communications, or low post-project adoption, keep reading. Perhaps you should spend a bit more on project, portfolio, and organizational change management.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Successful project outcomes are not built by rigorous project processes: Projects may be the problem, but project management rigor is not the solution.
    • Don’t fall into the common trap of thinking high-rigor project management should be every organization’s end goal.
    • Instead, understand that it is better to spend time assessing the portfolio to determine what projects should be prioritized.

    Impact and Result

    Begin by establishing a few foundational practices that will work to drive project throughput.

    • Capacity Estimation: Understand what your capacity is to do projects by determining how much time is allocated to doing other things.
    • Book of Record: Establish a basic but sustainable book of record so there is an official list of projects in flight and those waiting in a backlog or funnel.
    • Simple Project Management Processes: Align the rigor of your project management process with what is required, not what is prescribed by the PMP designation.
    • Impact Assessment: Address the impact of change at the beginning of the project and prepare stakeholders with the right level of communication.

    Get Started With IT Project Portfolio Management Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Begin by establishing a few foundational practices that will work to drive project throughput. Most project management problems are resolved with portfolio level solutions. This blueprint will address the eco-system of project, portfolio, and organizational change management.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Project portfolio management

    Estimate project capacity, determine what needs to be tracked on an ongoing basis, and determine what criteria is necessary for prioritizing projects.

    • Project Portfolio Supply-Demand Analysis Tool
    • Project Value Scorecard Development Tool
    • Project Portfolio Book of Record

    2. Project management

    Develop a process to inform the portfolio of the project status, create a plan that can be maintained throughout the project lifecycle, and manage the scope through a change request process.

    • Light Project Change Request Form Template

    3. Organizational change management

    Perform a change impact assessment and identify the obvious and non-obvious stakeholders to develop a message canvas accordingly.

    • Organizational Change Management Triage Tool

    4. Develop an action plan

    Develop a roadmap for how to move from the current state to the target state.

    • PPM Wireframe
    • Project Portfolio Management Foundations Stakeholder Communication Deck
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Get Started With IT Project Portfolio Management

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Project Portfolio Management

    The Purpose

    Establish the current state of the portfolio.

    Organize the portfolio requirements.

    Determine how projects are prioritized.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Understand project capacity supply-demand.

    Build a portfolio book of record.

    Create a project value scorecard.

    Activities

    1.1 Conduct capacity supply-demand estimation.

    1.2 Determine requirements for portfolio book of record.

    1.3 Develop project value criteria.

    Outputs

    Clear project capacity

    Draft portfolio book of record

    Project value scorecard

    2 Project Management

    The Purpose

    Feed the portfolio with the project status.

    Plan the project work with a sustainable level of granularity.

    Manage the project as conditions change.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Develop a process to inform the portfolio of the project status.

    Create a plan that can be maintained throughout the project lifecycle and manage the scope through a change request process.

    Activities

    2.1 Determine necessary reporting metrics.

    2.2 Create a work structure breakdown.

    2.3 Document your project change request process.

    Outputs

    Feed the portfolio with the project status

    Plan the project work with a sustainable level of granularity

    Manage the project as conditions change

    3 Organizational Change Management

    The Purpose

    Discuss change accountability.

    Complete a change impact assessment.

    Create a communication plan for stakeholders.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Complete a change impact assessment.

    Identify the obvious and non-obvious stakeholders and develop a message canvas accordingly.

    Activities

    3.1 Discuss change accountability.

    3.2 Complete a change impact assessment.

    3.3 Create a communication plan for stakeholders.

    Outputs

    Assign accountability for the change

    Assess the change impact

    Communicate the change

    4 Develop an Action Plan

    The Purpose

    Summarize current state.

    Determine target state.

    Create a roadmap.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Develop a roadmap for how to move from the current state to the target state.

    Activities

    4.1 Summarize current state and target state.

    4.2 Create a roadmap.

    Outputs

    Stakeholder Communication Deck

    MS Project Wireframe

    Stabilize Release and Deployment Management

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    • Parent Category Name: Operations Management
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    Lack of control over the release process, poor collaboration between teams, and manual deployments lead to poor quality releases at a cost to the business.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Manage risk. Release management should stabilize the IT environment. A poorly designed release can take down the whole business. Rushing releases out the door leads to increased risk for the business.
    • Quality processes are key. Standardized process will enable your release and deployment management teams to have a framework to deploy new releases with minimal chance of costly downtime further down the production chain.
    • Business must own the process. Release managers need oversight of the business to remain good stewards of the release management process.

    Impact and Result

    • Be prepared with a release management policy. With vulnerabilities discovered and published at an alarming pace, organizations have to build a plan to address and fix them quickly. A detailed release and patch policy should map out all the logistics of the deployment in advance, so that when necessary, teams can handle rollouts like a well-oiled machine.
    • Automate your software deployment and patch management strategy. Replace tedious and time-consuming manual processes with the use of automated release and patch management tools. Some organizations have a variety of release tools for various tasks and processes to ensure all or most of the required processes are covered across a diverse development environment.
    • Test deployments and monitor your releases. Larger organizations may have the luxury of a test environment prior to deployment, but that may be cost prohibitive for smaller organizations. If resources are a constraint, roll out the patch gradually and closely monitor performance to be able to quickly revert in the event of an issue.

    Stabilize Release and Deployment Management Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should control and stabilize your release and deployment management practice while improving the quality of releases and deployments, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Analyze current state

    Begin improving release management by assessing the current state and gaining a solid understanding of how core operational processes are actually functioning within the organization.

    • Stabilize Release and Deployment Management – Phase 1: Analyze Current State
    • Release Management Maturity Assessment
    • Release Management Project Roadmap Tool
    • Release Management Workflow Library (Visio)
    • Release Management Workflow Library (PDF)
    • Release Management Standard Operating Procedure
    • Patch Management Policy
    • Release Management Policy
    • Release Management Deployment Tracker
    • Release Management Build Procedure Template

    2. Plan releases and deployments

    Plan releases to gather all the pieces in one place and define what, why, when, and how a release will happen.

    • Stabilize Release and Deployment Management – Phase 2: Release and Deployment Planning

    3. Build, test, deploy

    Take a holistic and comprehensive approach to effectively designing and building releases. Get everything right the first time.

    • Stabilize Release and Deployment Management – Phase 3: Build, Test, Deploy

    4. Measure, manage, improve

    Determine desired goals for release management to ensure both IT and the business see the benefits of implementation.

    • Stabilize Release and Deployment Management – Phase 4: Measure, Manage, Improve
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Stabilize Release and Deployment Management

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Analyze Current State

    The Purpose

    Release management improvement begins with assessment of the current state.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    A solid understanding of how core operational processes are actually functioning within the organization.

    Activities

    1.1 Evaluate process maturity.

    1.2 Assess release management challenges.

    1.3 Define roles and responsibilities.

    1.4 Review and rightsize existing policy suite.

    Outputs

    Maturity Assessment

    Release Management Policy

    Release Management Standard Operating Procedure

    Patch Management Policy

    2 Release Management Planning

    The Purpose

    In simple terms, release planning puts all the pertinent pieces in one place.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    It defines the what, why, when, and how a release will happen.

    Activities

    2.1 Design target state release planning process.

    2.2 Define, bundle, and categorize releases.

    2.3 Standardize deployment plans and models.

    Outputs

    Release Planning Workflow

    Categorization and prioritization schemes

    Deployment models aligned to release types

    3 Build, Test, and Deploy

    The Purpose

    Take a holistic and comprehensive approach to effectively designing and building releases.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Standardize build and test procedures to begin to drive consistency.

    Activities

    3.1 Standardize build procedures for deployments.

    3.2 Standardize test plans aligned to release types.

    Outputs

    Build procedure for hardware and software releases

    Test models aligned to deployment models

    4 Measure, Manage, and Improve

    The Purpose

    Determine and define the desired goals for release management as a whole.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Agree to key metrics and success criteria to start tracking progress and establish a post-deployment review process to promote continual improvement.

    Activities

    4.1 Determine key metrics to track progress.

    4.2 Establish a post-deployment review process.

    4.3 Understand and define continual improvement drivers.

    Outputs

    List of metrics and goals

    Post-deployment validation checklist

    Project roadmap

    Maximize the Benefits from Enterprise Applications with a Center of Excellence

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    • Parent Category Name: Optimization
    • Parent Category Link: /optimization
    • Processes pertaining to managing the application are inconsistent and do not drive excellence.
    • There is a lack of interdepartmental collaboration between different teams pertaining to the application.
    • There are no formalized roles and responsibilities for governance and support around enterprise applications.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Scale the Center of Excellence (CoE) based on business needs. There is flexibility in how extensively the CoE methodology is applied and rigidity in how consistently it should be used.
    • The CoE is a refinery. It takes raw inputs from the business and produces an enhanced product, removing waste and isolating it from re-entering day-to-day operations.
    • Excellence is about people as much as it is about process. Documented best practices should include competencies, key resources, and identified champions to advocate the CoE practice.

    Impact and Result

    • Formalize roles and responsibilities for all application initiatives.
    • Develop a standard process of governance and oversight surrounding the application.
    • Develop a comprehensive support network that consists of IT, the business, and external stakeholders to address issues and problem areas surrounding the application.

    Maximize the Benefits from Enterprise Applications with a Center of Excellence Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should establish a Center of Excellence for your enterprise application, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Create a vision for the CoE

    Understand the importance of developing an enterprise application CoE, define its scope, and identify key stakeholders.

    • Maximize the Benefits from Enterprise Applications with a Center of Excellence – Phase 1: Create a Vision for the Center of Excellence
    • Enterprise Application Center of Excellence Project Charter

    2. Design the CoE future state

    Gather high-level requirements to determine the ideal future state.

    • Maximize the Benefits from Enterprise Applications with a Center of Excellence – Phase 2: Design the Center of Excellence Future State
    • Center of Excellence Refinery Model Template

    3. Develop a CoE roadmap

    Assess the required capabilities to reach the ideal state CoE.

    • Maximize the Benefits from Enterprise Applications with a Center of Excellence – Phase 3: Develop a Center of Excellence Roadmap
    • Center of Excellence Exceptions Report
    • Track and Measure Benefits Tool
    • Enterprise Application Center of Excellence Stakeholder Presentation Template
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Maximize the Benefits from Enterprise Applications with a Center of Excellence

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Create a Vision for the CoE

    The Purpose

    Understand the importance of developing a CoE for enterprise applications.

    Determine how to best align the CoE mandate with business objectives.

    Complete a CoE project charter to gain buy-in, build a project team, and track project success. 

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Key stakeholders identified.

    Project team created with defined roles and responsibilities.

    Project charter finalized to gain buy-in.

    Activities

    1.1 Evaluate business needs and priorities.

    1.2 Identify key stakeholders and the project team.

    1.3 Align CoE with business priorities.

    1.4 Map current state CoE.

    Outputs

    Project vision

    Defined roles and responsibilities

    Strategic alignment of CoE and the business

    CoE current state schematic

    2 Design the CoE Future State

    The Purpose

    Gain a thorough understanding of pains related to the lack of application governance.

    Identify and recycle existing CoE practices.

    Visualize the CoE enhancement process.

    Visualize your ideal state CoE. 

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Requirements to strengthen the case for the enterprise application CoE.

    CoE value-add refinery.

    Future potential of the CoE.

    Activities

    2.1 Gather requirements.

    2.2 Map the CoE enhancement process.

    2.3 Sketch future state CoE.

    Outputs

    Classified pains, opportunities, and existing practices

    CoE refinery model

    Future state CoE sketch

    3 Develop a CoE Roadmap

    The Purpose

    Assess required capabilities and resourcing.

    List and prioritize CoE initiatives.

    Track and monitor CoE performance. 

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Next steps for the enterprise application CoE.

    CoE resourcing plan.

    CoE benefits realization tracking.

    Activities

    3.1 Build CoE capabilities.

    3.2 Identify risks and mitigation efforts.

    3.3 Prioritize and track CoE initiatives.

    3.4 Finalize stakeholder presentation.

    Outputs

    CoE potential capabilities

    Risk management plan

    CoE initiatives roadmap

    CoE stakeholder presentation

    Take the First Steps to Embrace Open-Source Software

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    • Parent Category Name: Development
    • Parent Category Link: /development

    Your organization is looking to invest in new software or a tool to solve key business and IT problems. They see open source as a viable option given the advertised opportunities and the popularity of many open-source projects, but they have concerns:

    • Despite the longevity and broad adoption of open-source software, stakeholders are hesitant about its long-term viability and the costs of ongoing support.
    • A clear direction and strategy are needed to align the expected value of open source to your stakeholders’ priorities and gain the funding required to select, implement, and support open-source software.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Position open source in the same light as commercial software. The continuous improvement and evolution of popular open-source software and communities have established a reputation for reliability in the industry.
    • Consider open source as another form of outsource development. Open source is externally developed software where the code is accessible and customizable. Code quality may not align to your organization’s standards, which can require extensive testing and optimization.
    • Treat open source as any internally developed solution. Configurations, integrations, customizations, and orchestrations of open-source software are often done at the code level. While some community support is provided, most of the heavy lifting is done by the applications team.

    Impact and Result

    • Outline the value you expect to gain. Discuss current business and IT priorities, use cases, and value opportunities to determine what to expect from open-source versus commercial software.
    • Define your open-source selection criteria. Clarify the driving factors in your evaluation of open-source and commercial software using your existing IT procurement practices as a starting point.
    • Assess the readiness of your team. Clarify the roles, processes, and tools needed for the implementation, use, and maintenance of open-source software.

    Take the First Steps to Embrace Open-Source Software Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Take the First Steps to Embrace Open-Source Software Storyboard – A guide to learn the fit, value, and considerations of open-source software.

    This research walks you through the misconceptions about open source, factors to consider in its selection, and initiatives to prepare your teams for its adoption.

    • Take the First Steps to Embrace Open-Source Software Storyboard

    2. Open-Source Readiness Assessment – A tool to help you evaluate your readiness to embrace open-source software in your environment.

    Use this tool to identify key gaps in the people, processes, and technologies needed to support open source in your organization. It also contains a canvas to facilitate discussions about expectations with your stakeholders and applications teams.

    • Open-Source Readiness Assessment
    [infographic]

    Further reading

    Take the First Steps to Embrace Open-Source Software

    Begin to understand what is required to embrace open-source software in your organization.

    Analyst Perspective

    With great empowerment comes great responsibilities.

    Open-source software promotes enticing technology and functional opportunities to any organization looking to modernize without the headaches of traditional licensing. Many organizations see the value of open source in its ability to foster innovation, be flexible to various use cases and system configurations, and give complete control to the teams who are using and managing it.

    However, open source is not free. While the software is freely and easily accessible, its use and sharing are bound by its licenses, and its implementation requires technical expertise and infrastructure investments. Your organization must be motivated and capable of taking on the various services traditionally provided and managed by the vendor.

    Photo of Andrew Kum-Seun

    Andrew Kum-Seun
    Research Director,
    Application Delivery and Application Management
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    Your organization is looking to invest in new software or a tool to solve key business and IT problems. They see open source as a viable option because of the advertised opportunities and the popularity of many open-source projects.

    Despite the longevity and the broad adoption of open-source software, stakeholders are hesitant about its adoption, its long-term viability, and the costs of ongoing support.

    A clear direction and strategy is needed to align the expected value of open source to your stakeholders’ priorities and gain the funding required to select, implement, and support open-source software.

    Common Obstacles

    Your stakeholders’ fears, uncertainties, and doubts about open source may be driven by misinterpretation or outdated information. This hesitancy can persist despite some projects being active longer than their proprietary counterparts.

    Certain software features, support capabilities, and costs are commonly overlooked when selecting open-source software because they are often assumed in the licensing and service costs of commercial software.

    Open-source software is often technically complicated and requires specific skill sets and knowledge. Unfortunately, current software delivery capability gaps impede successful adoption and scaling of open-source software.

    Info-Tech’s Approach

    Outline the value you expect to gain. Discuss current business and IT priorities, use cases, and value opportunities to determine what to expect from open-source versus commercial software.

    Define your open-source selection criteria. Clarify the driving factors in your evaluation of open-source and commercial software using your existing IT procurement practices as a starting point.

    Assess the readiness of your team. Clarify the roles, processes, and tools needed for the implementation, use, and maintenance of open-source software.

    Insight Summary

    Overarching Info-Tech Insight

    Open source is as much about an investment in people as it is about technology. It empowers applications teams to take greater control over their technology and customize it as they see fit. However, teams need the time and funding to conduct the necessary training, management, and ongoing community engagement that open-source software and its licenses require.

    • Position open source in the same light as commercial software.
      The continuous improvement and evolution of popular open-source software and communities have established a trusting and reliable reputation in the industry. Open-source software quality and community support can rival similar vendor capabilities given the community’s maturity and contributions in the technology.
    • Consider open source another form of outsource development.
      Open source is externally developed software where the code is accessible and customizable. Code quality may not align to your organization’s standards, which can require extensive testing and optimization. A thorough analysis of change logs, code repositories, contributors, and the community is recommended – much to the same degree as one would do with prospective outsourcing partners.
    • Treat open source as any internally developed solution.
      Configurations, integrations, customizations, and orchestrations of open-source software are often done at the code level. While some community support is provided, most of the heavy lifting is done by the applications team. Teams must be properly resourced, upskilled, and equipped to meet this requirement. Otherwise, third-party partners are needed.

    What is open source?

    According to Synopsys, “Open source software (OSS) is software that is distributed with its source code, making it available for use, modification, and distribution with its original rights. … Programmers who have access to source code can change a program by adding to it, changing it, or fixing parts of it that aren’t working properly. OSS typically includes a license that allows programmers to modify the software to best fit their needs and control how the software can be distributed.”

    What are the popular use cases?

    1. Programming languages and frameworks
    2. Databases and data technologies
    3. Operating systems
    4. Git public repos
    5. Frameworks and tools for AI/ML/DL
    6. CI/CD tooling
    7. Cloud-related tools
    8. Security tools
    9. Container technology
    10. Networking

    Source: OpenLogic, 2022

    Common Attributes of All Open-Source Software

    • Publicly shared repository that anyone can access to use the solution and contribute changes to the design and functionality of the project.
    • A community that is an open forum to share ideas and solution enhancements, discuss project direction and vision, and seek support from peers.
    • Project governance that sets out guidelines, rules, and requirements to participate and contribute to the project.
    • Distribution license that defines the terms of how a solution can be used, assessed, modified, and distributed.

    Take the first steps to embrace open-source software

    Begin to understand what is required to embrace open-source software in your organization.

    A diagram of open-source community.

    State the Value of Open Source: Discuss current business and IT priorities, use cases, and value opportunities to determine what to expect from open-source versus commercial software.

    Select Your Open-Source Software: Clarify the driving factors in your evaluation of open-source and commercial software using your existing IT procurement practices as a starting point.

    Prepare for Open Source: Clarify the roles, processes, and tools needed for the implementation, use, and maintenance of open-source software.

    Step 1.1: State the Value of Open Source

    Diagram of step 1.1

    Activities

    1.1.1 Outline the value you expect to gain from open-source software

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Applications team
    • Product owner

    Outcomes of this step:

    • Value proposition for open source
    • Potential open-source use cases

    Use a canvas to frame your open-source evaluation

    A photo of open-source canvas

    This canvas is intended to provide a single pane of glass to start collecting your thoughts and framing your future conversations on open-source software selection and adoption.

    Record the results in the “Open-Source Canvas” tab in the Open-Source Readiness Assessment.

    Open source presents unique software and tooling opportunities

    Innovation

    Many leading-edge and bleeding-edge technologies are collaborated and innovated in open-source projects, especially in areas that are beyond the vision and scope of vendor products and priorities.

    Niche Solutions

    Open-source projects are focused. They are designed and built to solve specific business and technology problems.

    Flexible & Customizable

    All aspects of the open-source software are customizable, including source code and integrations. They can be used to extend, complement, or replace internally developed code. Licenses define how open-source code should be and must be used, productized, and modified.

    Brand & Recognition

    Open-source communities encourage contribution and collaboration among their members to add functionality and improve quality and adoption.

    Cost

    Open-source software is accessible to everyone, free of charge. Communities do not need be consulted prior to acquisition, but the software’s use, configurations, and modifications may be restricted by its license.

    However, myths continue to challenge adoption

    • Open source is less secure or poorer quality than proprietary solutions.
    • Open source is free from risk of intellectual property (IP) infringement.
    • Open source is cheaper than proprietary solutions.

    What are the top perceived barriers to using enterprise open source?

    • Concerns about the level of support
    • Compatibility concerns
    • Concerns about inherent security of the code
    • Lack of internal skills to manage and support it

    Source: Red Hat, 2022

    Create a Holistic IT Dashboard

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    • Parent Category Name: Performance Measurement
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    • IT leaders do not have a single holistic view of how their 45 IT processes are operating.
    • Expecting any single individual to understand the details of all 45 IT processes is unrealistic.
    • Problems in performance only become evident when the process has already failed.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Mature your IT department by measuring what matters.
    • Don’t measure things just because you can; change what you measure as your organization matures.

    Impact and Result

    • Use Info-Tech’s IT Metrics Library to review typical KPIs for each of the 45 process areas and select those that apply to your organization.
    • Configure your IT Management Dashboard to record your selected KPIs and start to measure performance.
    • Set up the cadence for review of the KPIs and develop action plans to improve low-performing indicators.

    Create a Holistic IT Dashboard Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out how to develop your KPI program that leads to improved performance.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Choose the KPIs

    Identify the KPIs that matter to your organization’s goals.

    • Create a Holistic IT Dashboard – Phase 1: Choose the KPIs
    • IT Metrics Library

    2. Build the Dashboard

    Use the IT Management Dashboard on the Info-Tech website to display your chosen KPIs.

    • Create a Holistic IT Dashboard – Phase 2: Build the Dashboard

    3. Create the Action Plan

    Use the review of your KPIs to build an action plan to drive performance.

    • Create a Holistic IT Dashboard – Phase 3: Build the Action Plan
    [infographic]

    Workshop: Create a Holistic IT Dashboard

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Identify What to Measure (Offsite)

    The Purpose

    Determine the KPIs that matter to your organization.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Identify organizational goals

    Identify IT goals and their organizational goal alignment

    Identify business pain points

    Activities

    1.1 Identify organizational goals.

    1.2 Identify IT goals and organizational alignment.

    1.3 Identify business pain points.

    Outputs

    List of goals and pain points to create KPIs for

    2 Configure the Dashboard Tool (Onsite)

    The Purpose

    Learn how to configure and use the IT Management Dashboard.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Configured IT dashboard

    Initial IT scorecard report

    Activities

    2.1 Review metrics and KPI best practices.

    2.2 Use the IT Metrics Library.

    2.3 Select the KPIs for your organization.

    2.4 Use the IT Management Dashboard.

    Outputs

    Definition of KPIs to be used, data sources, and ownership

    Configured IT dashboard

    3 Review and Develop the Action Plan

    The Purpose

    Learn how to review and plan actions based on the KPIs.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Lead KPI review to actions to improve performance

    Activities

    3.1 Create the scorecard report.

    3.2 Interpret the results of the dashboard.

    3.3 Use the IT Metrics Library to review suggested actions.

    Outputs

    Initial IT scorecard report

    Action plan with initial actions

    4 Improve Your KPIs (Onsite)

    The Purpose

    Use your KPIs to drive performance.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Improve your metrics program to drive effectiveness

    Activities

    4.1 Develop your action plan.

    4.2 Execute the plan and tracking progress.

    4.3 Develop new KPIs as your practice matures.

    Outputs

    Understanding of how to develop new KPIs using the IT Metrics Library

    5 Next Steps and Wrap-Up (Offsite)

    The Purpose

    Ensure all documentation and plans are complete.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Documented next steps

    Activities

    5.1 Complete IT Metrics Library documentation.

    5.2 Document decisions and next steps.

    Outputs

    IT Metrics Library

    Action plan

    Further reading

    Create a Holistic IT Dashboard

    Mature your IT department by measuring what matters.

    Executive Brief

    Analyst Perspective

    Measurement alone provides only minimal improvements

    It’s difficult for CIOs and other top-level leaders of IT to know if everything within their mandate is being managed effectively. Gaining visibility into what’s happening on the front lines without micromanaging is a challenge most top leaders face.

    Understanding Info-Tech’s Management and Governance Framework of processes that need to be managed and being able to measure what’s important to their organization's success can give leaders the ability to focus on their key responsibilities of ensuring service effectiveness, enabling increased productivity, and creating the ability for their teams to innovate.

    Even if you know what to measure, the measurement alone will lead to minimal improvements. Having the right methods in place to systematically collect, review, and act on those measurements is the differentiator to driving up the maturity of your IT organization.

    The tools in this blueprint can help you identify what to measure, how to review it, and how to create effective plans to improve performance.

    Tony Denford

    Research Director, Info-Tech Research Group

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    • IT leaders do not have a single holistic view of how their IT processes are operating.
    • Expecting any single individual to understand the details of all IT processes is unrealistic.
    • Problems in performance only become evident when the process has already failed.

    Common Obstacles

    • Business changes quickly, and what should be measured changes as a result.
    • Most measures are trailing indicators showing past performance.
    • Measuring alone does not result in improved performance.
    • There are thousands of operational metrics that could be measured, but what are the right ones for an overall dashboard?

    Info-Tech's Approach

    • Use Info-Tech’s IT Metrics Library to review typical KPIs for each of the process areas and select those that apply to your organization.
    • Configure your IT Management Dashboard to record your selected KPIs and start to measure performance.
    • Set up the cadence for review of the KPIs and develop action plans to improve low-performing indicators.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Mature your IT department by aligning your measures with your organizational goals. Acting early when your KPIs deviate from the goals leads to improved performance.

    Your challenge

    This research is designed to help organizations quickly choose holistic measures, review the results, and devise action plans.

    • The sheer number of possible metrics can be overwhelming. Choose metrics from our IT Metrics Library or choose your own, but always ensure they are in alignment with your organizational goals.
    • Ensure your dashboard is balanced across all 45 process areas that a modern CIO is responsible for.
    • Finding leading indicators to allow your team to be proactive can be difficult if your team is focused on the day-to-day operational tasks.
    • It can be time consuming to figure out what to do if an indicator is underperforming.

    Build your dashboard quickly using the toolset in this research and move to improvement actions as soon as possible.

    The image is a bar graph, titled KPI-based improvements. On the X-axis are four categories, each with one bar for Before KPIs and another for After KPIs. The categories are: Productivity; Fire Incidents; Request Response Time; and Savings.

    Productivity increased by 30%

    Fire/smoke incidents decreased by 25% (high priority)

    Average work request response time reduced by 64%

    Savings of $1.6 million in the first year

    (CFI, 2013)

    Common obstacles

    These barriers make this challenge difficult to address for many organizations:

    • What should be measured can change over time as your organization matures and the business environment changes. Understanding what creates business value for your organization is critical.
    • Organizations almost always focus on past result metrics. While this is important, it will not indicate when you need to adjust something until it has already failed.
    • It’s not just about measuring. You also need to review the measures often and act on the biggest risks to your organization to drive performance.

    Don’t get overwhelmed by the number of things you can measure. It can take some trial and error to find the measures that best indicate the health of the process.

    The importance of frequent review

    35% - Only 35% of governing bodies review data at each meeting. (Committee of University Chairs, 2008)

    Common obstacles

    Analysis paralysis

    Poor data can lead to incorrect conclusions, limit analysis, and undermine confidence in the value of your dashboard.

    Achieving perfect data is extremely time consuming and may not add much value. It can also be an excuse to avoid getting started with metrics and analytics.

    Data quality is a struggle for many organizations. Consider how much uncertainty you can tolerate in your analysis and what would be required to improve your data quality to an acceptable level. Consider cost, technological resources, people resources, and time required.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Analytics are only as good as the data that informs it. Aim for just enough data quality to make informed decisions without getting into analysis paralysis.

    Common obstacles

    The problem of surrogation

    Tying KPIs and metrics to performance often leads to undesired behavior. An example of this is the now infamous Wells Fargo cross-selling scandal, in which 3.5 million credit card and savings accounts were opened without customers’ consent when the company incented sales staff to meet cross-selling targets.

    Although this is an extreme example, it’s an all-too-common phenomenon.

    A focus on the speed of closure of tickets often leads to shortcuts and lower-quality solutions.

    Tying customer value to the measures can align the team on understanding the objective rather than focusing on the measure itself, and the team will no longer be able to ignore the impact of their actions.

    Surrogation is a phenomenon in which a measure of a behavior replaces the intent of the measure itself. People focus on achieving the measure instead of the behavior the measure was intended to drive.

    Info-Tech’s thought model

    The Threefold Role of the IT Executive Core CIO Objectives
    IT Organization - Manager A - Optimize the Effectiveness of the IT Organization
    Enterprise - Partner B - Boost the Productivity of the Enterprise
    Market - Innovator C - Enable Business Growth Through Technology

    Low-Maturity Metrics Program

    Trailing indicators measure the outcomes of the activities of your organization. Hopefully, the initiatives and activities are aligned with the organizational goals.

    High-Maturity Metrics Program

    The core CIO objectives align with the organizational goals, and teams define leading indicators that show progress toward those goals. KPIs are reviewed often and adjustments are made to improve performance based on the leading indicators. The results are improved outcomes, greater transparency, and increased predictability.

    The image is a horizontal graphic with multiple text boxes. The first (on the left) is a box that reads Organizational Goals, second a second box nested within it that reads Core CIO Objectives. There is an arrow pointing from this box to the right. The arrow connects to a text box that reads Define leading indicators that show progress toward objectives. To the right of that, there is a title Initiatives & activities, with two boxes beneath it: Processes and Projects. Below this middle section, there is an arrow pointing left, with the text: Adjust behaviours. After this, there is an arrow pointing right, to a box with the title Outcomes, and the image of an unlabelled bar graph.

    Info-Tech’s approach

    Adopt an iterative approach to develop the right KPIs for your dashboard

    Periodically: As appropriate, review the effectiveness of the KPIs and adjust as needed.

    Frequently: At least once per month, but the more frequent, the more agility your organization will have.

    The image shows a series of steps in a process, each connected by an arrow. The process is iterative, so the steps circle back on themselves, and repeat. The process begins with IT Metrics Library, then Choose or build KPIs, then Build Dashboard, then Review KPIs and Create action plan. Review KPIs and Create action plan are steps that the graphic indicates should be repeated, so the arrows are arranged in a circle around these two items. Following that, there is an additional step: Are KPIs and action plans leading to improved results? After this step, we return to the Choose or build KPIs step.

    The Info-Tech difference:

    1. Quickly identify the KPIs that matter to your organization using the IT Metrics Library.
    2. Build a presentable dashboard using the IT Management Dashboard available on the Info-Tech website.
    3. When indicators show underperformance, quickly get them back on track using the suggested research in the IT Metrics Library.
    4. If your organization’s needs are different, define your own custom metrics using the same format as the IT Metrics Library.
    5. Use the action plan tool to keep track of progress

    Info-Tech’s methodology for creating a holistic IT dashboard

    1. Choose the KPIs 2. Build the Dashboard 3. Create the Action Plan
    Phase Steps
    1. Review available KPIs
    2. Select KPIs for your organization
    3. Identify data sources and owners
    1. Understand how to use the IT Management Dashboard
    2. Build and review the KPIs
    1. Prioritize low-performing indicators
    2. Review suggested actions
    3. Develop your action plan
    Phase Outcomes A defined and documented list of the KPIs that will be used to monitor each of the practice areas in your IT mandate A configured dashboard covering all the practice areas and the ability to report performance in a consistent and visible way An action plan for addressing low-performing indicators

    Insight summary

    Mature your IT department by aligning your measures with your organizational goals. Acting early when your KPIs deviate from the goals leads to improved performance.

    Don’t just measure things because you can. Change what you measure as your organization becomes more mature.

    Select what matters to your organization

    Measure things that will resolve pain points or drive you toward your goals.

    Look for indicators that show the health of the practice, not just the results.

    Review KPIs often

    Ease of use will determine the success of your metrics program, so keep it simple to create and review the indicators.

    Take action to improve performance

    If indicators are showing suboptimal performance, develop an action plan to drive the indicator in the right direction.

    Act early and often.

    Measure what your customers value

    Ensure you understand what’s valued and measure whether the value is being produced. Let front-line managers focus on tactical measures and understand how they are linked to value.

    Look for predictive measures

    Determine what action will lead to the desired result and measure if the action is being performed. It’s better to predict outcomes than react to them.

    Blueprint deliverables

    Each step of this blueprint is accompanied by supporting deliverables to help you accomplish your goals:

    IT Metrics Library

    Customize the KPIs for your organization using the IT Metrics Library

    IT Metrics Library Action Plan

    Keep track of the actions that are generated from your KPI review

    Key deliverable:

    IT Management Dashboard and Scorecard

    The IT Overall Scorecard gives a holistic view of the performance of each IT function

    Blueprint benefits

    IT Benefits

    • An IT dashboard can help IT departments understand how well they are performing against key indicators.
    • It can allow IT teams to demonstrate to their business partners the areas they are focusing on.
    • Regular review and action planning based on the results will lead to improved performance, efficiency, and effectiveness.
    • Create alignment of IT teams by focusing on common areas of performance.

    Business Benefits

    • Ensure alignment and transparency between the business and IT.
    • Understand the value that IT brings to the operation and strategic initiatives of your organization.
    • Understand the contribution of the IT team to achieving business outcomes.
    • Focus IT on the areas that are important to you by requesting new measures as business needs change.

    Measure the value of this blueprint

    Utilize the existing IT Metrics Library and IT Dashboard tools to quickly kick off your KPI program

    • Developing the metrics your organization should track can be very time consuming. Save approximately 120 hours of effort by choosing from the IT Metrics Library.
    • The need for a simple method to display your KPIs means either developing your own tool or buying one off the shelf. Use the IT Management Dashboard to quickly get your KPI program up and running. Using these tools will save approximately 480 hours.
    • The true value of this initiative comes from using the KPIs to drive performance.

    Keeping track of the number of actions identified and completed is a low overhead measure. Tracking time or money saved is higher overhead but also higher value.

    The image is a screen capture of the document titled Establish Baseline Metrics. It shows a table with the headings: Metric, Current, Goal.

    The image is a chart titled KPI benefits. It includes a legend indicating that blue bars are for Actions identified, purple bars are for Actions completed, and the yellow line is for Time/money saved. The graph shows Q1-Q4, indicating an increase in all areas across the quarters.

    Executive Brief Case Study

    Using data-driven decision making to drive stability and increase value

    Industry: Government Services

    Source: Info-Tech analyst experience

    Challenge

    A newly formed application support team with service desk responsibilities was becoming burned out due to the sheer volume of work landing on their desks. The team was very reactive and was providing poor service due to multiple conflicting priorities.

    To make matters worse, there was a plan to add a major new application to the team’s portfolio.

    Solution

    The team began to measure the types of work they were busy doing and then assessed the value of each type of work.

    The team then problem solved how they could reduce or eliminate their low-value workload.

    This led to tracking how many problems were being resolved and improved capabilities to problem solve effectively.

    Results

    Upon initial data collection, the team was performing 100% reactive workload. Eighteen months later slightly more than 80% of workload was proactive high-value activities.

    The team not only was able to absorb the additional workload of the new application but also identified efficiencies in their interactions with other teams that led to a 100% success rate in the change process and a 92% decrease in resource needs for major incidents.

    Info-Tech offers various levels of support to best suit your needs

    DIY Toolkit

    "Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful."

    Guided Implementation

    "Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track."

    Workshop

    "We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place."

    Consulting

    "Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project."

    Diagnostic and consistent frameworks are used throughout all four options.

    Guided Implementation

    What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

    Phase 1 - Choose the KPIs

    Call #1: Scope dashboard and reporting needs.

    Call #2: Learn how to use the IT Metrics Library to select your metrics.

    Phase 2 – Build the Dashboard

    Call #3: Set up the dashboard.

    Call #4: Capture data and produce the report.

    Phase 3 – Create the Action Plan

    Call #5: Review the data and use the metrics library to determine actions.

    Call #6: Improve the KPIs you measure.

    A Guided Implementation (GI) is series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization.

    A typical GI is between 5 and 8 calls over the course of 2 to 3 months.

    Workshop Overview

    Contact your account representative for more information.

    workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889

    Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5
    Identify What to Measure Configure the Dashboard Tool Review and Develop the Action Plan Improve Your KPIs Compile Workshop Output
    Activities

    1.1 Identify organizational goals.

    1.2 Identify IT goals and organizational alignment.

    1.3 Identify business pain points.

    2.1 Determine metrics and KPI best practices.

    2.2 Learn how to use the IT Metrics Library.

    2.3 Select the KPIs for your organization.

    2.4 Configure the IT Management Dashboard.

    3.1 Create the scorecard report.

    3.2 Interpret the results of the dashboard.

    3.3 Use the IT Metrics Library to review suggested actions.

    4.1 Develop your action plan.

    4.2 Execute the plan and track progress.

    4.3 Develop new KPIs as your practice matures.

    5.1 Complete the IT Metrics Library documentation.

    5.2 Document decisions and next steps.

    Outcomes 1. List of goals and pain points that KPIs will measure

    1. Definition of KPIs to be used, data sources, and ownership

    2. Configured IT dashboard

    1. Initial IT scorecard report

    2. Action plan with initial actions

    1. Understanding of how to develop new KPIs using the IT Metrics Library

    1. IT Metrics Library documentation

    2. Action plan

    Phase 1

    Choose the KPIs

    Phase 1

    1.1 Review Available KPIs

    1.2 Select KPIs for Your Org.

    1.3 Identify Data Sources and Owners

    Phase 2

    2.1 Understand the IT Management Dashboard

    2.2 Build and Review the KPIs

    Phase 3

    3.1 Prioritize Low-Performing Indicators

    3.2 Review Suggested Actions

    3.3 Develop the Action Plan

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    Reviewing and selecting the KPIs suggested in the IT Metrics Library.

    Identifying the data source for the selected KPI and the owner responsible for data collection.

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • Senior IT leadership
    • Process area owners
    • Metrics program owners and administrators

    Step 1.1

    Review Available KPIs

    Activities

    1.1.1 Download the IT Metrics Library and review the KPIs for each practice area.

    Choose the KPIs

    Step 1.1 – Review Available KPIs

    Step 1.2 – Select KPIs for Your Org.

    Step 1.3 – Identify Data Sources and owners

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Downloading the IT Metrics Library

    Understanding the content of the tool

    Reviewing the intended goals for each practice area

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Senior IT leadership
    • Process area owners
    • Metrics program owners and administrators

    Outcomes of this step

    Downloaded tool ready to select the KPIs for your organization

    Using the IT Metrics Library

    Match the suggested KPIs to the Management and Governance Framework

    The “Practice” and “Process” columns relate to each of the boxes on the Info-Tech Management and Governance Framework. This ensures you are measuring each area that needs to be managed by a typical IT department.

    The image shows a table on the left, and on the right, the Info-Tech Management and Governance Structure. Sections from the Practice and Process columns of the table have arrows emerging from them, pointing to matching sections in the framework.

    Using the IT Metrics Library

    Content for each entry

    KPI - The key performance indicator to review

    CSF - What needs to happen to achieve success for each goal

    Goal - The goal your organization is trying to achieve

    Owner - Who will be accountable to collect and report the data

    Data Source (typical) - Where you plan to get the data that will be used to calculate the KPI

    Baseline/Target - The baseline and target for the KPI

    Rank - Criticality of this goal to the organization's success

    Action - Suggested action if KPI is underperforming

    Blueprint - Available research to address typical underperformance of the KPI

    Practice/Process - Which practice and process the KPI represents

    1.1.1 Download the IT Metrics Library

    Input

    • IT Metrics Library

    Output

    • Ideas for which KPIs would be useful to track for each of the practice areas

    Materials

    • Whiteboard/flip charts

    Participants

    • IT senior leadership
    • Process area owners
    • Metrics program owners and administrators

    4 hours

    1. Click the link below to download the IT Metrics Library spreadsheet.
    2. Open the file and select the “Data Entry” tab.
    3. The sheet has suggested KPIs for each of the 9 practice areas and 45 processes listed in the Info-Tech Management and Governance Framework. You can identify this grouping in the “Practice” and “Process” columns.
    4. For each practice area, review the suggested KPIs and their associated goals and discuss as a team which of the KPIs would be useful to track in your organization.

    Download the IT Metrics Library

    Step 1.2

    Select KPIs for Your Organization

    Activities

    1.2.1 Select the KPIs that will drive your organization forward

    1.2.2 Remove unwanted KPIs from the IT Metrics Library

    Choose the KPIs

    Step 1.1 – Review Available KPIs

    Step 1.2 – Select KPIs for Your Org.

    Step 1.3 – Identify Data Sources and Owners

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    • Selecting the KPIs for your organization and removing unwanted KPIs from IT Metrics Library

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Senior IT leadership
    • Process area owners
    • Metrics program owners and administrators

    Outcomes of this step

    A shortlist of selected KPIs

    1.2.1 Select the KPIs that will drive your organization forward

    Input

    • IT Metrics Library

    Output

    • KPIs would be useful to track for each of the practice areas

    Materials

    • IT Metrics Library

    Participants

    • Senior IT leadership
    • Process area owners
    • Metrics program owners and administrators

    4 hours

    1. Review the suggested KPIs for each practice area and review the goal.
    2. Some suggested KPIs are similar, so make sure the goal is appropriate for your organization.
    3. Pick up to three KPIs per practice.

    1.2.2 Remove unwanted KPIs

    Input

    • IT Metrics Library

    Output

    • KPIs would be useful to track for each of the practice areas

    Materials

    • IT Metrics Library

    Participants

    • Senior IT leadership
    • Process area owners
    • Metrics program owners and administrators

    0.5 hours

    1. To remove unwanted KPIs from the IT Metric Library Tool, select the unwanted row, right-click on the row, and delete it.
    2. The result should be up to three KPIs per practice area left on the spreadsheet.

    Step 1.3

    Identify data sources and owners

    Activities

    1.3.1 Document the data source

    1.3.2 Document the owner

    1.3.3 Document baseline and target

    Choose the KPIs

    Step 1.1 – Review Available KPIs

    Step 1.2 – Select KPIs for Your Org.

    Step 1.3 – Identify Data Sources and Owners

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Documenting for each KPI where you plan to get the data, who is accountable to collect and report the data, what the current baseline is (if available), and what the target is

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Senior IT leadership
    • Process area owners
    • Metrics program owners and administrators

    Outcomes of this step

    A list of KPIs for your organization with appropriate attributes documented

    1.3 Identify data sources, owners, baseline, and target

    Input

    • IT Metrics Library

    Output

    • Completed IT Metrics Library

    Materials

    • IT Metrics Library

    Participants

    • Process area owners
    • Metrics program owners and administrators

    2 hours

    1. For each selected KPI, complete the owner, data source, baseline, and target if the information is available.
    2. If the information is not available, document the owner and assign them to complete the other columns.

    Phase 2

    Build the Dashboard

    Phase 1

    1.1 Review Available KPIs

    1.2 Select KPIs for Your Org.

    1.3 Identify Data Sources and Owners

    Phase 2

    2.1 Understand the IT Management Dashboard

    2.2 Build and Review the KPIs

    Phase 3

    3.1 Prioritize Low-Performing Indicators

    3.2 Review Suggested Actions

    3.3 Develop the Action Plan

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    Understanding the IT Management Dashboard

    Configuring the IT Management Dashboard and entering initial measures

    Produce thing IT Scorecard from the IT Management Dashboard

    Interpreting the results

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • Senior IT leadership
    • Process area owners
    • Metrics program owners and administrators

    Step 2.1

    Understand the IT Management Dashboard

    Activities

    2.1.1 Logging into the IT Management Dashboard

    2.1.2 Understanding the “Overall Scorecard” tab

    2.1.3 Understanding the “My Metrics” tab

    Build the Dashboard

    Step 2.1 – Understand the IT Management Dashboard

    Step 2.2 – Build and review the KPIs

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Accessing the IT Management Dashboard

    Basic functionality of the tool

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Senior IT leadership
    • Process area owners
    • Metrics program owners and administrators

    Outcomes of this step

    Understanding of how to administer the IT Management Dashboard

    2.1.1 Logging into the IT Management Dashboard

    Input

    • Info-Tech membership

    Output

    • Access to the IT Management Dashboard

    Materials

    • Web browser

    Participants

    • Metrics program owners and administrators

    0.5 hours

    1. Using your web browser, access your membership at infotech.com.
    2. Log into your Info-Tech membership account.
    3. Select the “My IT Dashboard” option from the menu (circled in red).
    4. If you cannot gain access to the tool, contact your membership rep.

    The image is a screen capture of the Info-Tech website, with the Login button at the top right of the window circled in red.

    2.1.2 Understanding the “Overall Scorecard” tab

    0.5 hours

    1. Once you select “My IT Dashboard,” you will be in the “Overall Scorecard” tab view.
    2. Scrolling down reveals the data entry form for each of the nine practice areas in the Info-Tech Management and Governance Framework, with each section color-coded for easy identification.
    3. Each of the section headers, KPI names, data sources, and data values can be updated to fit the needs of your organization.
    4. This view is designed to show a holistic view of all areas in IT that are being managed.

    2.1.3 Understanding the “My Metrics” tab

    0.5 hours

    1. On the “My Metrics” tab you can access individual scorecards for each of the nine practice areas.
    2. Below the “My Metrics” tab is each of the nine practice areas for you to select from. Each shows a different subset of KPIs specific to the practice.
    3. The functionality of this view is the same as the overall scorecard. Each title, KPI, description, and actuals are editable to fit your organization’s needs.
    4. This blueprint does not go into detail on this tab, but it is available to be used by practice area leaders in the same way as the overall scorecard.

    Step 2.2

    Build and review the KPIs

    Activities

    2.2.1 Entering the KPI descriptions

    2.2.2 Entering the KPI actuals

    2.2.3 Producing the IT Overall Scorecard

    Build the Dashboard

    Step 2.1 – Understand the IT Management Dashboard

    Step 2.2 – Build and review the KPIs

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Entering the KPI descriptions

    Entering the actuals for each KPI

    Producing the IT Overall Scorecard

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Senior IT leadership
    • Process area owners
    • Metrics program owners and administrators

    Outcomes of this step

    An overall scorecard indicating the selected KPI performance

    2.2.1 Entering the KPI descriptions

    Input

    • Access to the IT Management Dashboard
    • IT Metrics Library with your organization’s KPIs selected

    Output

    • KPI descriptions entered into tool

    Materials

    • Web browser

    Participants

    • Metrics program owners and administrators

    1 hour

    1. Navigate to the IT Management Dashboard as described in section 2.1.1 and scroll down to the practice area you wish to complete.
    2. If needed, modify the section name to match your organization’s needs.
    3. Select “Add another score.”

    2.2.1 Entering the KPI descriptions

    1 hour

    1. Select if your metric is a custom metric or a standard metric available from one of the Info-Tech diagnostic tools.
    2. Enter the metric name you selected from the IT Metrics Library.
    3. Select the value type.
    4. Select the “Add Metric” button.
    5. The descriptions only need to be entered when they change.

    Example of a custom metric

    The image is a screen capture of the Add New Metric function. The metric type selected is Custom metric, and the metric name is Employee Engagement. There is a green Add Metric button, which is circled in red.

    Example of a standard metric

    The image is a screen capture of the Add New Metric function. The metric type selected is Standard Metric. The green Add Metric button at the bottom is circled in red.

    2.2.2 Entering the KPI actuals

    Input

    • Actual data from each data source identified

    Output

    • Actuals recorded in tool

    Materials

    • Web browser

    Participants

    • Metrics program owners and administrators

    1 hour

    1. Select the period you wish to create a scorecard for by selecting “Add New Period” or choosing one from the drop-down list.
    2. For each KPI on your dashboard, collect the data from the data source and enter the actuals.
    3. Select the check mark (circled) to save the data for the period.

    The image is a screen capture of the My Overall Scorecard Metrics section, with a button at the bottom that reads Add New Period circled in red

    The image has the text People and Resources at the top. It shows data for the KPI, and there is a check mark circled in red.

    2.2.3 Producing the IT Overall Scorecard

    Input

    • Completed IT Overall Scorecard data collection

    Output

    • IT Overall Scorecard

    Materials

    • Web browser

    Participants

    • Metrics program owners and administrators

    0.5 hours

    1. Select the period you wish to create a scorecard for by selecting from the drop-down list.
    2. Click the “Download as PDF” button to produce the scorecard.
    3. Once the PDF is produced it is ready for review or distribution.

    Phase 3

    Create the Action Plan

    Phase 1

    1.1 Review Available KPIs

    1.2 Select KPIs for Your Org.

    1.3 Identify Data Sources and Owners

    Phase 2

    2.1 Understand the IT Management Dashboard

    2.2 Build and Review the KPIs

    Phase 3

    3.1 Prioritize Low-Performing Indicators

    3.2 Review Suggested Actions

    3.3 Develop the Action Plan

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    Prioritizing low-performing indicators

    Using the IT Metrics Library to review suggested actions

    Developing your team’s action plan to improve performance

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • Senior IT leadership
    • Process area owners
    • Metrics program owners and administrators

    Step 3.1

    Prioritize low-performing indicators

    Activities

    3.1.1 Determine criteria for prioritization

    3.1.2 Identify low-performing indicators

    3.1.3 Prioritize low-performing indicators

    Create the action plan

    Step 3.1 – Prioritize low-performing indicators

    Step 3.2 – Review suggested actions

    Step 3.3 – Develop the action plan

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Determining the criteria for prioritization of low-performing indicators

    Identifying low-performing indicators

    Prioritizing the low-performing indicators

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Senior IT leadership
    • Process area owners
    • Metrics program owners and administrators

    Outcomes of this step

    A prioritized list of low-performing indicators that need remediation

    3.1.1 Determine criteria for prioritization

    Often when metrics programs are established, there are multiple KPIs that are not performing at the desired level. It’s easy to expect the team to fix all the low-performing indicators, but often teams are stretched and have conflicting priorities.

    Therefore it’s important to spend some time to prioritize which of your indicators are most critical to the success of your business.

    Also consider, if one area is performing well and others have multiple poor indicators, how do you give the right support to optimize the results?

    Lastly, is it better to score slightly lower on multiple measures or perfect on most but failing badly on one or two?

    3.1.1 Determine criteria for prioritization

    Input

    • Business goals and objectives
    • IT goals and objectives
    • IT organizational structure

    Output

    • Documented scorecard remediation prioritization criteria

    Materials

    • Whiteboard or flip charts

    Participants

    • Senior IT leadership
    • Process area owners
    • Metrics program owners and administrators

    1 hour

    1. Identify any KPIs that are critical and cannot fail without high impact to your organization.
    2. Identify any KPIs that cannot fail for an extended period and document the time period.
    3. Rank the KPIs from most critical to least critical in the IT Metrics Library.
    4. Look at the owner accountable for the performance of each KPI. If there are any large groups, reassess the ownership or rank.
    5. Periodically review the criteria to see if they’re aligned with meeting current business goals.

    3.1.2 Identify low-performing indicators

    Input

    • Overall scorecard
    • Overall scorecard (previous period)
    • IT Metrics Library

    Output

    • List of low-performing indicators that need remediation
    • Planned actions to improve performance

    Materials

    • Whiteboard or flip charts

    Participants

    • Senior IT leadership
    • Process area owners
    • Metrics program owners and administrators

    1 hour

    1. Review the overall scorecard for the current period. List any KPIs that are not meeting the target for the current month in the “Action Plan” tab of the IT Metrics Library.
    2. Compare current month to previous month. List any KPIs that are moving away from the long-term target documented in the tool IT Metrics Library.
    3. Revise the target in the IT Metrics Library as business needs change.

    3.1.3 Prioritize low-performing indicators

    Input

    • IT Metrics Library

    Output

    • Prioritized list of planned actions for low-performing indicators

    Materials

    • IT Metrics Library

    Participants

    • Senior IT leadership
    • Process area owners
    • Metrics program owners and administrators
    • Task owners

    1 hour

    1. Look through the list of new and outstanding planned actions in the “Action Plan” tab of the IT Metrics Library, review progress, and prioritize outstanding items.
    2. Compare the list that needs remediation with the rank in the data entry tab.
    3. Adjust the priority of the outstanding and new actions to reflect the business needs.

    Step 3.2

    Review suggested actions

    Activities

    3.2.1 Review suggested actions in the IT Metrics Library

    Create the Action Plan

    Step 3.1 – Prioritize low-performing indicators

    Step 3.2 – Review suggested actions

    Step 3.3 – Develop the action plan

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Reviewing the suggested actions in the IT Metrics Library

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Senior IT leadership
    • Process area owners
    • Metrics program owners and administrators

    Outcomes of this step

    An idea of possible suggested actions

    Take Action

    Knowing where you are underperforming is only half the battle. You need to act!

    • So far you have identified which indicators will tell you whether or not your team is performing and which indicators are most critical to your business success.
    • Knowing is the first step, but things will not improve without some kind of action.
    • Sometimes the action needed to course-correct is small and simple, but sometimes it is complicated and may take a long time.
    • Utilize the diverse ideas of your team to find solutions to underperforming indicators.
    • If you don’t have a viable simple solution, leverage the IT Metrics Library, which suggests high-level action needed to improve each indicator. If you need additional information, use your Info-Tech membership to review the recommended research.

    3.2.1 Review suggested actions in the IT Metrics Library

    Input

    • IT Metrics Library

    Output

    • Suggested actions

    Materials

    • IT Metrics Library

    Participants

    • Process area owners
    • Metrics program owners and administrators
    • Task owners

    0.5 hours

    1. For each of your low-performing indicators, review the suggested action and related research in the IT Metrics Library.

    Step 3.3

    Develop the action plan

    Activities

    3.3.1 Document planned actions

    3.3.2 Assign ownership of actions

    3.3.3 Determine timeline of actions

    3.3.4 Review past action status

    Create the action plan

    Step 3.1 – Prioritize low- performing indicators

    Step 3.2 – Review suggested actions

    Step 3.3 – Develop the action plan

    This step will walk you through the following activities:

    Using the action plan tool to document the expected actions for low-performing indicators

    Assigning an owner and expected due date for the action

    Reviewing past action status for accountability

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Senior IT leadership
    • Process area owners
    • Metrics program owners and administrators

    Outcomes of this step

    An action plan to invoke improved performance

    3.3.1 Document planned actions

    Input

    • IT Metrics Library

    Output

    • Planned actions

    Materials

    • IT Metrics Library

    Participants

    • Process area owners
    • Metrics program owners and administrators
    • Task owners

    1 hour

    1. Decide on the action you plan to take to bring the indicator in line with expected performance and document the planned action in the “Action Plan” tab of the IT Metrics Library.

    Info-Tech Insight

    For larger initiatives try to break the task down to what is likely manageable before the next review. Seeing progress can motivate continued action.

    3.3.2 Assign ownership of actions

    Input

    • IT Metrics Library

    Output

    • Identified owners for each action

    Materials

    • IT Metrics Library

    Participants

    • Process area owners
    • Metrics program owners and administrators
    • Task owners

    0.5 hours

    1. For each unassigned task, assign clear ownership for completion of the task.
    2. The task owner should be the person accountable for the task.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Assigning clear ownership can promote accountability for progress.

    3.3.3 Determine timeline of actions

    Input

    • IT Metrics Library

    Output

    • Expected timeline for each action

    Materials

    • IT Metrics Library

    Participants

    • Process area owners
    • Metrics program owners and administrators
    • Task owners

    0.5 hours

    1. For each task, agree on an estimated target date for completion.

    Info-Tech Insight

    If the target completion date is too far in the future, break the task into manageable chunks.

    3.3.4 Review past action status

    Input

    • IT Metrics Library

    Output

    • Complete action plan for increased performance

    Materials

    • IT Metrics Library

    Participants

    • Process area owners
    • Metrics program owners and administrators
    • Task owners

    0.5 hours

    1. For each task, review the progress since last review.
    2. If desired progress is not being made, adjust your plan based on your organizational constraints.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Seek to understand the reasons that tasks are not being completed and problem solve for creative solutions to improve performance.

    Measure the value of your KPI program

    KPIs only produce value if they lead to action

    • Tracking the performance of key indicators is the first step, but value only comes from taking action based on this information.
    • Keep track of the number of action items that come out of your KPI review and how many are completed.
    • If possible, keep track of the time or money saved through completing the action items.

    Keeping track of the number of actions identified and completed is a low overhead measure.

    Tracking time or money saved is higher overhead but also higher value.

    The image is a chart titled KPI benefits. It includes a legend indicating that blue bars are for Actions identified, purple bars are for Actions completed, and the yellow line is for Time/money saved. The graph shows Q1-Q4, indicating an increase in all areas across the quarters.

    Establish Baseline Metrics

    Baseline metrics will be improved through:

    1. Identifying actions needed to remediate poor-performing KPIs
    2. Associating time and/or money savings as a result of actions taken
    Metric Current Goal
    Number of actions identified per month as a result of KPI review 0 TBD
    $ saved through actions taken due to KPI review 0 TBD
    Time saved through actions taken due to KPI review 0 TBD

    Summary of Accomplishment

    Problem Solved

    Through this project we have identified typical key performance indicators that are important to your organization’s effective management of IT.

    You’ve populated the IT Management Dashboard as a simple method to display the results of your selected KPIs.

    You’ve also established a regular review process for your KPIs and have a method to track the actions that are needed to improve performance as a result of the KPI review. This should allow you to hold individuals accountable for improvement efforts.

    You can also measure the effectiveness of your KPI program by tracking how many actions are identified as a result of the review. Ideally you can also track the money and time savings.

    If you would like additional support, have our analysts guide you through other phases as part of an Info-Tech workshop.

    Contact your account representative for more information.

    workshops@infotech.com

    1-888-670-8889

    Additional Support

    If you would like additional support, have our analysts guide you through other phases as part of an Info-Tech Workshop.

    Contact your account representative for more information.

    workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889

    To accelerate this project, engage your IT team in an Info-Tech Workshop with an Info-Tech analyst team.

    Info-Tech analysts will join you and your team at your location or welcome you to Info-Tech’s historic Toronto office to participate in an innovative onsite workshop.

    The following are sample activities that will be conducted by Info-Tech analysts with your team:

    Select the KPIs for your organization

    Examine the benefits of the KPIs suggested in the IT Metrics Library and help selecting those that will drive performance for your maturity level.

    Build an action plan

    Discuss options for identifying and executing actions that result from your KPI review. Determine how to set up the discipline needed to make the most of your KPI review program.

    Research Contributors and Experts

    Valence Howden

    Principal Research Director, CIO – Service Management Info-Tech Research Group

    • Valence has extensive experience in helping organizations be successful through optimizing how they govern themselves, how they design and execute strategies, and how they drive service excellence in all work.

    Tracy-Lynn Reid

    Practice Lead, CIO – People & Leadership Info-Tech Research Group

    • Tracy-Lynn covers key topics related to People & Leadership within an information technology context.

    Fred Chagnon

    Practice Lead, Infrastructure & Operations Info-Tech Research Group

    • Fred brings extensive practical experience in all aspects of enterprise IT Infrastructure, including IP networks, server hardware, operating systems, storage, databases, middleware, virtualization and security.

    Aaron Shum

    Practice Lead, Security, Risk & Compliance Info-Tech Research Group

    • With 20+ years of experience across IT, InfoSec, and Data Privacy, Aaron currently specializes in helping organizations implement comprehensive information security and cybersecurity programs as well as comply with data privacy regulations.

    Cole Cioran

    Practice Lead, Applications and Agile Development Info-Tech Research Group

    • Over the past twenty-five years, Cole has developed software; designed data, infrastructure, and software solutions; defined systems and enterprise architectures; delivered enterprise-wide programs; and managed software development, infrastructure, and business systems analysis practices.

    Barry Cousins

    Practice Lead, Applications – Project and Portfolio Mgmt. Info-Tech Research Group

    • Barry specializes in Project Portfolio Management, Help/Service Desk, and Telephony/Unified Communications. He brings an extensive background in technology, IT management, and business leadership.

    Jack Hakimian

    Vice President, Applications Info-Tech Research Group

    • Jack has close to 25 years of Technology and Management Consulting experience. He has served multi-billion-dollar organizations in multiple industries, including Financial Services and Telecommunications. Jack also served several large public sector institutions.

    Vivek Mehta

    Research Director, CIO Info-Tech Research Group

    • Vivek publishes on topics related to digital transformation and innovation. He is the author of research on Design a Customer-Centric Digital Operating Model and Create Your Digital Strategy as well as numerous keynotes and articles on digital transformation.

    Carlos Sanchez

    Practice Lead, Enterprise Applications Info-Tech Research Group

    • Carlos has a breadth of knowledge in enterprise applications strategy, planning, and execution.

    Andy Neill

    Practice Lead, Enterprise Architecture, Data & BI Info-Tech Research Group

    • Andy has extensive experience in managing technical teams, information architecture, data modeling, and enterprise data strategy.

    Michael Fahey

    Executive Counselor Info-Tech Research Group

    • As an Executive Counselor, Mike applies his decades of business experience and leadership, along with Info-Tech Research Group’s resources, to assist CIOs in delivering outstanding business results.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Develop Meaningful Service Metrics to Ensure Business and User Satisfaction

    • Reinforce service orientation in your IT organization by ensuring your IT metrics generate value-driven resource behavior.

    Use Applications Metrics That Matter

    • It all starts with quality and customer satisfaction.

    Take Control of Infrastructure Metrics

    • Master the metrics maze to help make decisions, manage costs, and plan for change.

    Bibliography

    Bach, Nancy. “How Often Should You Measure Your Organization's KPIs?” EON, 26 June 2018. Accessed Jan. 2020.

    “The Benefits of Tracking KPIs – Both Individually and for a Team.” Hoopla, 30 Jan. 2017. Accessed Jan. 2020.

    Chepul, Tiffany. “Top 22 KPI Examples for Technology Companies.” Rhythm Systems, Jan. 2020. Accessed Jan. 2020.

    Cooper, Larry. “CSF's, KPI's, Metrics, Outcomes and Benefits” itSM Solutions. 5 Feb. 2010. Accessed Jan 2020.

    “CUC Report on the implementation of Key Performance Indicators: case study experience.” Committee of University Chairs, June 2008. Accessed Jan 2020.

    Harris, Michael, and Bill Tayler. “Don’t Let Metrics Undermine Your Business.” HBR, Sep.–Oct 2019. Accessed Jan. 2020.

    Hatari, Tim. “The Importance of a Strong KPI Dashboard.” TMD Coaching. 27 Dec. 2018. Accessed Jan. 2020.

    Roy, Mayu, and Marian Carter. “The Right KPIs, Metrics for High-performing, Cost-saving Space Management.” CFI, 2013. Accessed Jan 2020.

    Schrage, Michael, and David Kiron. “Leading With Next-Generation Key Performance Indicators.” MIT Sloan Management Review, 26 June 2018. Accessed Jan. 2020.

    Setijono, Djoko, and Jens J. Dahlgaard. “Customer value as a key performance indicator (KPI) and a key improvement indicator (KII)” Emerald Insight, 5 June 2007. Accessed Jan 2020.

    Skinner, Ted. “Balanced Scorecard KPI Examples: Comprehensive List of 183 KPI Examples for a Balanced Scorecard KPI Dashboard (Updated for 2020).” Rhythm Systems, Jan. 2020. Accessed Jan 2020.

    Wishart, Jessica. “5 Reasons Why You Need The Right KPIs in 2020” Rhythm Systems, 1 Feb. 2020. Accessed Jan. 2020.

    Effective IT Communications

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}429|cart{/j2store}
    • member rating overall impact (scale of 10): N/A
    • member rating average dollars saved: N/A
    • member rating average days saved: N/A
    • Parent Category Name: Lead
    • Parent Category Link: /lead

    IT communications are often considered ineffective. This is demonstrated by:

    • A lack of inclusion or time to present in board meetings.
    • Confusion around IT priorities and how they align to organizational objectives.
    • Segregating IT from the rest of the organization.
    • The inability to secure the necessary funding for IT-led initiatives.
    • IT employees not feeling supported or engaged.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • No one is born a good communicator. Every IT employee needs to spend the time and effort to grow their communication skills; with constant change and worsening IT crises, IT cannot afford to communicate poorly anymore.
    • The skills needed to communicate effectively as a front=line employee or CIO are the same. It is important to begin the development of these skills from the beginning of one's career.
    • Time is a non-renewable resource. Any communication needs to be considered valuable and engaging by the audience or they will be unforgiving.

    Impact and Result

    Communications is a responsibility of all members of IT. This is demonstrated through:

    • Engaging in two-way communications that are continuous and evolving.
    • Establishing a communications strategy – and following the plan.
    • Increasing the skills of all IT employees when it comes to communications.
    • Identifying audiences and their preferred means of communication.

    Effective IT Communications Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Effective IT Communications Capstone Deck – A resource center to ensure you never start communications from a blank page again.

    This capstone blueprint highlights the components, best practices, and importance of good communication for all IT employees.

    • Effective IT Communications Storyboard

    2. IT Townhall Template – A ready-to-use template to help you engage with IT employees and ensure consistent access to information.

    IT town halls must deliver value to employees, or they will withdraw and miss key messages. To engage employees, use well-crafted communications in an event that includes crowd-sourced contents, peer involvement, recognition, significant Q&A time allotment, organizational discussions, and goal alignment.

    • IT Townhall Template

    3. IT Year in Review Template – A ready-to-use template to help communicate IT successes and future objectives.

    This template provides a framework to build your own IT Year In Review presentation. An IT Year In Review presentation typically covers the major accomplishments, challenges, and initiatives of an organization's information technology (IT) department over the past year.

    • IT Year in Review Template

    Infographic

    Further reading

    Effective IT Communications

    Empower IT employees to communicate well with any stakeholder across the organization.

    Analyst perspective

    There has never been an expectation for IT to communicate well.

    Brittany Lutes

    Brittany Lutes
    Research Director
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Diana MacPherson

    Diana MacPherson
    Senior Research Analyst
    Info-Tech Research Group

    IT rarely engages in proper communications. We speak at, inform, or tell our audience what we believe to be important. But true communications seldom take place.

    Communications only occur when channels are created to ensure the continuous opportunity to obtain two-way feedback. It is a skill that is developed over time, with no individual having an innate ability to be better at communications. Each person in IT needs to work toward developing their personal communications style. The problem is we rarely invest in development or training related to communications. Information and technology fields spend time and money developing hard skills within IT, not soft ones.

    The benefits associated with communications are immense: higher business satisfaction, funding for IT initiatives, increased employee engagement, better IT to business alignment, and the general ability to form ongoing partnerships with stakeholders. So, for IT departments looking to obtain these benefits through true communications, develop the necessary skills.

    Executive summary

    Your Challenge Common Obstacles Info-Tech’s Approach
    IT communications are often considered ineffective. This is demonstrated by:
    • A lack of inclusion or time to present in board meetings.
    • Confusion around IT priorities and how they align to organizational objectives.
    • Segregating IT from the rest of the organization.
    • An inability to secure the necessary funding for IT-led initiatives.
    • IT employees not feeling supported or engaged.
    Frequently, these barriers have prevented IT communications from being effective:
    • Using technical jargon when a universal language is needed.
    • Speaking at organization stakeholders rather than engaging through dialogue.
    • Understanding the needs of the audience.
    Overall, IT has not been expected to engage in good communications or taken a proactive approach to communicate effectively.
    Communications is a responsibility of all members of IT. This is demonstrated through:
    • Engaging in two-way communications that are continuous and evolving.
    • Establishing a communications strategy – and following the plan.
    • Increasing the skills of all IT employees when it comes to communications.
    • Identifying audiences and their preferred means of communication.

    Info-Tech Insight
    No one is born a good communicator. Every IT employee needs to spend the time and effort to grow their communication skills as constant change and worsening IT crises mean that IT cannot afford to communicate poorly anymore.

    Your challenge

    Overall satisfaction with IT is correlated to satisfaction with IT communications

    Chart showing satisfaction with it and communications

    The bottom line? For every 10% increase in communications there 8.6% increase in overall IT satisfaction. Therefore, when IT communicates with the organization, stakeholders are more likely to be satisfied with IT overall.

    Info-Tech Diagnostic Programs, N=330 organizations

    IT struggles to communicate effectively with the organization:

    • CIOs are given minimal time to present to the board or executive leaders about IT’s value and alignment to business goals.
    • IT initiatives are considered complicated and confusing.
    • The frequency and impact of IT crises are under planned for, making communications more difficult during a major incident.
    • IT managers do not have the skills to communicate effectively with their team.
    • IT employees do not have the skills to communicate effectively with one another and end users.

    Common obstacles

    IT is prevented from communicating effectively due to these barriers:

    • Difficulty assessing the needs of the audience to inform the language and means of communication that should be used.
    • Using technical jargon rather than translating the communication into commonly understood terms.
    • Not receiving the training required to develop communication skills across IT employees.
    • Frequently speak at organization stakeholders rather than engaging through dialogue.
    • Beginning many communications from a blank page, especially crisis communications.
    • Difficulty presenting complex concepts in a short time to an audience in a digestible and concise manner without diluting the point.

    Effective IT communications are rare:

    53% of CXOs believe poor communication between business and IT is a barrier to innovation.
    Source: Info-Tech CEO-CIO Alignment Survey, 2022

    69% of those in management positions don’t feel comfortable even communicating with their staff.”
    Source: TeamStage, 2022

    Info-Tech’s approach

    Effective communications is not a broadcast but a dialogue between communicator and audience in a continuous feedback loop.

    Continuous loop of dialogue

    The Info-Tech difference:

    1. Always treat every communication as a dialogue, enabling the receiver of the message to raise questions, concerns, or ideas.
    2. Different audiences will require different communications. Be sure to cater the communication to the needs of the receiver(s).
    3. Never assume the communication was effective. Create measures and adjust the communications to get the desired outcome.

    Common IT communications

    And the less common but still important communications

    Communicating Up to Board or Executives

    • Board Presentations
    • Executive Leadership Committee Meetings
    • Technology Updates
    • Budget Updates
    • Risk Updates
    • Year in Review

    Communicating Across the Organization

    • Townhalls – external to IT
    • Year in Review
    • Crisis Email
    • Intranet Communication
    • Customer/Constituent Requests for Information
    • Product Launches
    • Email
    • Watercooler Chat

    Communicating Within IT

    • Townhalls – internal to IT
    • Employee 1:1s
    • Team Meetings
    • Project Updates
    • Project Collaboration Sessions
    • Year in Review
    • All-Hands Meeting
    • Employee Interview
    • Onboarding Documentation
    • Vendor Negotiation Meetings
    • Vendor Product Meetings
    • Email
    • Watercooler Chat

    Insight Summary

    Overarching insight
    IT cannot afford to communicate poorly given the overwhelming impact and frequency of change related to technology. Learn to communicate well or get out of the way of someone who can.

    Insight 1: The skills needed to communicate effectively as a frontline employee or a CIO are the same. It’s important to begin the development of these skills from the beginning of one’s career.
    Insight 2: Time is a non-renewable resource. Any communication needs to be considered valuable and engaging by the audience or they will be unforgiving.
    Insight 3: Don’t make data your star. It is a supporting character. People can argue about the collection methods or interpretation of the data, but they cannot argue the story you share.
    Insight 4: Measure if the communication is being received and resulting in the desired outcome. If not, modify what and how the message is being expressed.
    Insight 5: Messages are also non-verbal. Practice using your voice and body to set the right tone and impact your audience.

    Communication principles

    Follow these principles to support all IT communications.

    Two-Way

    Incorporate feedback loops into your communication efforts. Providing stakeholders with the opportunity to voice their opinions and ideas will help gain their commitment and buy-in.

    Timely

    Frequent communications mitigate rumors and the spread of misinformation. Provide warning before the implementation of any changes whenever possible. Communicate as soon as possible after decisions have been made.

    Consistent

    Make sure the messaging is consistent across departments, mediums, and presenters. Provide managers with key phrases to support the consistency of messages.

    Open & Honest

    Transparency is a critical component of communication. Always tell employees that you will share information as soon as you can. This may not be as soon as you receive the information but as soon as sharing it is acceptable.

    Authentic

    Write messages in a way that embodies the personality of the organization. Don’t spin information; position it within the wider organizational context.

    Targeted

    Use your target audience profiles to determine which audiences need to consume which messages and what mediums should be employed.

    Importance of IT being a good communicator

    Don’t pay the price for poor communication.

    IT needs to communicate well because:

    • IT risk mitigation and technology initiative funding are dependent on critical stakeholders comprehending the risk impact and initiative benefit in easy-to-understand terms.
    • IT employees need clear and direct information to feel empowered and accountable to do their jobs well.
    • End users who have a good experience engaging in communications with IT employees have an overall increase in satisfaction with IT.
    • Continuously demonstrating IT’s value to the organization comes when those initiatives are clearly aligned to overall objectives.
    • Communication prevents assumptions and further miscommunication from happening among IT employees who are usually impacted and fear change the most.

    “Poor communication results in employee misunderstanding and errors that cost approximately $37 billion.”
    – Intranet Connections, 2019

    Effective communication enables organizational strategy and facilitates a two-way exchange

    Effective communication facilitates a two-way exchange

    What makes internal communications effective?

    To be effective, internal communications must be strategic. They should directly support organizational objectives, reinforce key messages to make sure they drive action, and facilitate two-way dialogue, not just one-way messaging.

    Measure the value of the communication

    Communication effectiveness can be measured through a variety of metrics:

    • Increase in Productivity
    • “When employees are offered better communication technology and skills, productivity can increase by up to 30%” (Expert Market, 2022).
    • Increase in Understanding Decision Rationale
    • Employees who report understanding the rationale behind the business decisions made by the executive leadership team (ELT) are 3.6x more likely to be engaged, compared to those who were not (McLean & Company Engagement Survey Database, 2022; N=133,167 responses, 187 organizations).
    • Increase in Revenue
    • Collaboration amongst C-suite executives led to a 27% increase in revenue compared to low collaborating C-suites (IBM, 2021).
    • Increase in End-User Satisfaction
    • 80.9% of end users are satisfied with IT’s ability to communicate with them regarding the information they need to perform their job (Info-Tech’s End-User Satisfaction Survey Database, N=20,617 end users from 126 organizations).

    Methods to determine effectiveness:

    • CIO Business Vision Survey
    • Engagement surveys
    • Focus groups
    • Suggestion boxes
    • Team meetings
    • Random sampling
    • Informal feedback
    • Direct feedback
    • Audience body language
    • Repeating the message back

    How to navigate the research center

    This research center is intended to ensure that IT never starts their communications from a blank page again:

    Tools to help IT be better communicators

    “‘Effectiveness’ can mean different things, and effectiveness for your project is going to look different than it would for any other project.”
    – Gale McCreary in WikiHow, 2022

    Audience: Organizational leadership

    Speaking with Board and executive leaders about strategy, risk, and value

    Keep in mind:

    1 2 3
    Priorities Differ Words Matter The Power of Three
    What’s important to you as CIO is very different from what is important to a board or executive leadership team or even the individual members of these groups. Share only what is important or relevant to the stakeholder(s). Simplify the message into common language whenever possible. A good test is to ensure that someone without any technical background could understand the message. Keep every slide to three points with no more than three words. You are the one to translate this information into a worth-while story to share.

    “Today’s CIOs have a story to tell. They must change the old narrative and describe the art of the (newly) possible. A great leader rises to the occasion and shares a vision that inspires the entire organization.”
    – Dan Roberts, CIO, 2019

    Communications for board presentations

    Secure funding and demonstrate IT as a value add to business objectives.

    DEFINING INSIGHT

    Stop presenting what is important to you as the CIO and present to the board what is important to them.

    Why does IT need to communicate with the board?

    • To get their buy-in and funding for critical IT initiatives.
    • To ensure that IT risks are understood and receive the funding necessary to mitigate.
    • To change the narrative of IT as a service provider to a business enabler.

    FRAMEWORK

    Framework for board presentations

    CHECKLIST

    Do’s & Don’ts of Communicating Board Presentations:

    Do: Ensure you know all the members of the board and their strengths/areas of focus.

    Do: Ensure the IT objectives and initiatives align to the business objectives.

    Do: Avoid using any technical jargon.

    Do: Limit the amount of data you are using to present information. If it can’t stand alone, it isn’t a strong enough data point.

    Do: Avoid providing IT service metrics or other operational statistics.

    Do: Demonstrate how the organization’s revenue is impacted by IT activities.

    Do: Tell a story that is compelling and excited.

    OUTCOME

    Organization Alignment

    • Approved organization objectives and IT objectives are aligned and supporting one another.

    Stakeholder Buy-In

    • Board members all understand what the future state of IT will look like – and are excited for it!

    Awareness on Technology Trends

    • It is the responsibility of the CIO to ensure the board is aware of critical technology trends that can impact the future of the organization/industry.

    Risks

    • Risks are understood, the impact they could have on the organization is clear, and the necessary controls required to mitigate the risk are funded.

    Communications for business updates

    Continuously build strong relationships with all members of business leadership.

    DEFINING INSIGHT

    Business leaders care about themselves and their goals – present ideas and initiatives that lean into this self-interest.

    Why does IT need to communicate business updates?

    • The key element here is to highlight how IT is impacting the organization’s overall ability to meet goals and targets.
    • Ensure all executive leaders know about and understand IT’s upcoming initiatives – and how they will be involved.

    FRAMEWORK

    Framework for business updates

    CHECKLIST

    Do’s & Don’ts of Communicating Business Updates:

    Do: Ensure IT is given sufficient time to present with the rest of the business leaders.

    Do: Ensure the goals of IT are clear and can be depicted visually.

    Do: Tie every IT goal to the objectives of different business leaders.

    Do: Avoid using any technical jargon.

    Do: Reinforce the positive benefits business leaders can expect.

    Do: Avoid providing IT service metrics or other operational statistics.

    Do: Demonstrate how IT is driving the digital transformation of the organization.

    OUTCOME

    Better Reputation

    • Get other business leaders to see IT as a value add to any initiative, making IT an enabler not an order taker.

    Executive Buy-In

    • Executives are concerned about their own budgets; they want to embrace all the innovation but within reason and minimal impact to their own finances.

    Digital Transformation

    • Indicate and commit to how IT can help the different leaders deliver on their digital transformation activities.

    Relationship Building

    • Establish trust with the different leaders so they want to engage with you on a regular basis.

    Audience: Organization wide

    Speaking with all members of the organization about the future of technology – and unexpected crises.

    1 2 3
    Competing to Be Heard Measure Impact Enhance the IT Brand
    IT messages are often competing with a variety of other communications simultaneously taking place in the organization. Avoid the information-overload paradox by communicating necessary, timely, and relevant information. Don’t underestimate the benefit of qualitative feedback that comes from talking to people within the organization. Ensure they read/heard and absorbed the communication. IT might be a business enabler, but if it is never communicated as such to the organization, it will only be seen as a support function. Use purposeful communications to change the IT narrative.

    Less than 50% of internal communications lean on a proper framework to support their communication activities.
    – Philip Nunn, iabc, 2020

    Communications for strategic IT initiatives

    Communicate IT’s strategic objectives with all business stakeholders and users.

    DEFINING INSIGHT

    IT leaders struggle to communicate how the IT strategy is aligned to the overall business objectives using a common language understood by all.

    Why does IT need to communicate its strategic objectives?

    • To ensure a clear and consistent view of IT strategic objectives can be understood by all stakeholders within the organization.
    • To demonstrate that IT strategic objectives are aligned with the overall mission and vision of the organization.

    FRAMEWORK

    Framework for IT strategic initiatives

    CHECKLIST

    Do’s & Don’ts of Communicating IT Strategic Objectives:

    Do: Ensure all IT leaders are aware of and understand the objectives in the IT strategy.

    Do: Ensure there is a visual representation of IT’s goals.

    Do: Ensure the IT objectives and initiatives align to the business objectives.

    Do: Avoid using any technical jargon.

    Do: Provide metrics if they are relevant, timely, and immediately understandable.

    Do: Avoid providing IT service metrics or other operational statistics.

    Do: Demonstrate how the future of the organization will benefit from IT initiatives.

    OUTCOME

    Organization Alignment

    • All employees recognize the IT strategy as being aligned, even embedded, into the overall organization strategy.

    Stakeholder Buy-In

    • Business and IT stakeholders alike understand what the future state of IT will look like – and are excited for it!

    Role Clarity

    • Employees within IT are clear on how their day-to-day activities impact the overall objectives of the organization.

    Demonstrate Growth

    • Focus on where IT is going to be maturing in the coming one to two years and how this will benefit all employees.

    Communications for crisis management

    Minimize the fear and chaos with transparent communications.

    DEFINING INSIGHT

    A crisis communication should fit onto a sticky note. If it’s not clear, concise, and reassuring, it won’t be effectively understood by the audience.

    Why does IT need to communicate when a crisis occurs?

    • To ensure all members of the organization have an understanding of what the crisis is, how impactful that crisis is, and when they can expect more information.
    • “Half of US companies don’t have a crisis communication plan” (CIO, 2017).

    FRAMEWORK

    Framework for crisis management

    CHECKLIST

    Do’s & Don’ts of Communicating During a Crisis:

    Do: Provide timely and regular updates about the crisis to all stakeholders.

    Do: Involve the Board or ELT immediately for transparency.

    Do: Avoid providing too much information in a crisis communication.

    Do: Have crisis communication statements ready to be shared at any time for possible or common IT crises.

    Do: Highlight that employee safety and wellbeing is top priority.

    Do: Work with members of the public relations team to prepare any external communications that might be required.

    OUTCOME

    Ready to Act

    • Holding statements for possible crises will eliminate the time and effort required when the crisis does occur.

    Reduce Fears

    • Prevent employees from spreading concerns and not feeling included in the crisis.

    Maintain Trust

    • Ensure Board and ELT members trust IT to respond in an appropriate manner to any crisis or major incident.

    Eliminate Negative Reactions

    • Any crisis communication should be clear and concise enough when done via email.

    Audience: IT employees

    IT employees need to receive and obtain regular transparent communications to better deliver on their expectations.

    Keep in mind:

    1 2 3
    Training for All Listening Is Critical Reinforce Collaboration
    From the service desk technician to CIO, every person within IT needs to have a basic ability to communicate. Invest in the training necessary to develop this skill set. It seems simple, but as humans we do an innately poor job at listening to others. It’s important you hear employee concerns, feedback, and recommendations, enabling the two-way aspect of communication. IT employees will reflect the types of communications they see. If IT leaders and managers cannot collaborate together, then teams will also struggle, leading to productivity and quality losses.

    “IT professionals who […] enroll in communications training have a chance to both upgrade their professional capabilities and set themselves apart in a crowded field of technology specialists.”
    – Mark Schlesinger, Forbes, 2021

    Communications for IT activities and tactics

    Get IT employees aligned and clear on their daily objectives.

    DEFINING INSIGHT

    Depending on IT goals, the structure might need to change to support better communication among IT employees.

    Why does IT need to communicate IT activities?

    • To ensure all members of the project team are aligned with their tasks and responsibilities related to the project.
    • To be able to identify, track, and mitigate any problems that are preventing the successful delivery of the project.

    FRAMEWORK

    Framework for IT activities & tactics

    CHECKLIST

    Do’s & Don’ts of Communicating IT Activities:

    Do: Provide metrics that define how success of the project will be measured.

    Do: Demonstrate how each project aligns to the overarching objectives of the organization.

    Do: Avoid having large meetings that include stakeholders from two or more projects.

    Do: Consistently create a safe space for employees to communicate risks related to the project(s).

    Do: Ensure the right tools are being leveraged for in-office, hybrid, and virtual environments to support project collaboration.

    Do: Leverage a project management software to reduce unnecessary communications.

    OUTCOME

    Stakeholder Adoption

    • Create a standard communication template so stakeholders can easily find and apply communications.

    Resource Allocation

    • Understand what the various asks of IT are so employees can be adequately assigned to tasks.

    Meet Responsibly

    • Project status meetings are rarely valuable or insightful. Use meetings for collaboration, troubleshooting, and knowledge sharing.

    Encourage Engagement

    • Recognize employees and their work against critical milestones, especially for projects that have a long timeline.

    Communications for everyday IT

    Engage employees and drive results with clear and consistent communications.

    DEFINING INSIGHT

    Employees are looking for empathy to be demonstrated by those they are interacting with, from their peers to managers. Yet, we rarely provide it.

    Why does IT need to communicate on regularly with itself?

    • Regular communication ensures employees are valued, empowered, and clear about their expectations.
    • 97% of employees believe that their ability to perform their tasks efficiently is impacted by communication (Expert Market, 2022).

    FRAMEWORK

    Framework for everyday IT

    CHECKLIST

    Do’s & Don’ts of Communicating within IT:

    Do: Have responses for likely questions prepared and ready to go.

    Do: Ensure that all leaders are sharing the same messages with their teams.

    Do: Avoid providing irrelevant or confusing information.

    Do: Speak with your team on a regular basis.

    Do: Reinforce the messages of the organization every chance possible.

    Do: Ensure employees feel empowered to do their jobs effectively.

    Do: Engage employees in dialogue. The worst employee experience is when they are only spoken at, not engaged with.

    OUTCOME

    Increased Collaboration

    • Operating in a vacuum or silo is no longer an option. Enable employees to successfully collaborate and deliver holistic results.

    Role Clarity

    • Clear expectations and responsibilities eliminate confusion and blame game. Engage employees and create a positive work culture with role clarity.

    Prevent Rumors

    • Inconsistent communication often leads to information sharing and employees spreading an (in)accurate narrative.

    Organizational Insight

    • Employees trust the organization’s direction because they are aware of the different activities taking place and provided with a rationale about decisions.

    Case Study

    Amazon

    INDUSTRY
    E-Commerce

    SOURCE
    Harvard Business Review

    Jeff Bezos has definitely taken on unorthodox approaches to business and leadership, but one that many might not know about is his approach to communication. Some of the key elements that he focused on in the early 2000s when Amazon was becoming a multi-billion-dollar empire included:

    • Banning PowerPoint for all members of the leadership team. They had to learn to communicate without the crutch of the most commonly used presentation tool.
    • Leveraging memos that included specific action steps and clear nouns
    • Reducing all communication to an eighth-grade reading level, including pitches for new products (e.g. Kindle).

    Results

    While he was creating the Amazon empire, 85% of Jeff Bezos’ communication was written in a way that an eighth grader could read. Communicating in a way that was easy to understand and encouraging his leadership team to do so as well is one of the many reasons this business has grown to an estimated value of over $800B.

    “If you cannot simplify a message and communicate it compellingly, believe me, you cannot get the masses to follow you.”
    – Indra Nooyi, in Harvard Business Review, 2022

    Communication competency expectations

    Communication is a business skill; not a technical skill.

    Demonstrated Communication Behavior
    Level 1: Follow Has sufficient communication skills for effective dialogue with others.
    Level 2: Assist Has sufficient communication skills for effective dialogue with customers, suppliers, and partners.
    Level 3: Apply Demonstrates effective communication skills.
    Level 4: Enable Communicates fluently, orally, and in writing and can present complex information to both technical and non-technical audiences.
    Level 5: Ensure, Advise Communicates effectively both formally and informally.
    Level 6: Initiate, Influence Communicates effectively at all levels to both technical and non-technical audiences.
    Level 7: Set Strategy, Inspire, Mobilize Understands, explains, and presents complex ideas to audiences at all levels in a persuasive and convincing manner.

    Source: Skills Framework for the Information Age, 2021

    Key KPIs for communication with any stakeholder

    Measuring communication is hard; use these to determine effectiveness.

    Goal Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Related Resource
    Obtain board buy-in for IT strategic initiatives X% of IT initiatives that were approved to be funded. Number of times technical initiatives were asked to be explained further. Using our Board Presentation Review service
    Establish stronger relationships with executive leaders X% of business leadership satisfied with the statement “IT communicates with your group effectively.” Using the CIO Business Vision Diagnostic
    Organizationally, people know what products and services IT provides X% of end users who are satisfied with communications around changing services or applications. Using the End-User Satisfaction Survey
    Organizational reach and understanding of the crisis. Number of follow-up tickets or requests related to the crisis after the initial crisis communication was sent. Using templates and tools for crisis communications
    Project stakeholders receive sufficient communication throughout the initiative. X% overall satisfaction with the quality of the project communications. Using the PPM Customer Satisfaction Diagnostic
    Employee feedback is provided, heard, and acted on X% of satisfaction employees have with managers or IT leadership to act on employee feedback. Using the Employee Engagement Diagnostic Program

    Standard workshop communication activities

    Introduction
    Communications overview.

    Plan
    Plan your communications using a strategic tool.

    Compose
    Create your own message.

    Deliver
    Practice delivering your own message.

    Contact your account representative for more information. workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889

    Research contributors and experts

    Anuja Agrawal, National Communications Director, PwC

    Anuja Agrawal
    National Communications Director
    PwC

    Anuja is an accomplished global communications professional, with extensive experience in the insurance, banking, financial, and professional services industries in Asia, the US, and Canada. She is currently the National Communications Director at PwC Canada. Her prior work experience includes communication leadership roles at Deutsche Bank, GE, Aviva, and Veritas. Anuja works closely with senior business leaders and key stakeholders to deliver measurable results and effective change and culture building programs. Anuja has experience in both internal and external communications, including strategic leadership communication, employee engagement, PR and media management, digital and social media, and M&A/change and crisis management. Anuja believes in leveraging digital tools and technology-enabled solutions, combined with in-person engagement, to help improve the quality of dialogue and increase interactive communication within the organization to help build an inclusive culture of belonging.

    Nastaran Bisheban, Chief Technology Officer, KFC Canada

    Nastaran Bisheban
    Chief Technology Officer
    KFC Canada

    A passionate technologist, and seasoned transformational leader. A software engineer and computer scientist by education, a certified Project Manager that holds an MBA in Leadership with Honors and Distinction from University of Liverpool. A public speaker on various disciplines of technology and data strategy with a Harvard Business School executive leadership program training to round it all. Challenges status quo and conventional practices; is an advocate for taking calculated risk and following the principle of continuous improvement. With multiple computer software and project management publications she is a strategic mentor and board member on various non-profit organizations. Nastaran sees the world as a better place only when everyone has a seat at the table and is an active advocate for diversity and inclusion.

    Heidi Davidson, Co-Founder & CEO, Galvanize Worldwide and Galvanize On Demand

    Heidi Davidson
    Co-Founder & CEO
    Galvanize Worldwide and Galvanize On Demand

    Dr. Heidi Davidson is the co-founder and CEO of Galvanize Worldwide, the largest distributed network of marketing and communications experts in the world. She also is the co-founder and CEO of Galvanize On Demand, a tech platform that matches marketing and communications freelancers with client projects. Now with 167 active experts, the Galvanize team delivers startup advisory work, outsourced marketing, training, and crisis communications to organizations of all sizes. Before Galvanize, Heidi spent four years as part of the turnaround team at BlackBerry as the Chief Communications Officer and SVP of Corporate Marketing, where she helped the company move from a device manufacturer to a security software provider.

    Eli Gladstone, Co-Founder, Speaker Labs

    Eli Gladstone
    Co-Founder
    Speaker Labs

    Eli is a co-founder of Speaker Labs. He has spent over six years helping countless individuals overcome their public speaking fears and communicate with clarity and confidence. When he’s not coaching others on how to build and deliver the perfect presentation, you’ll probably find him reading some weird books, teaching his kids how to ski or play tennis, or trying to develop a good-enough jumpshot to avoid being a liability on the basketball court.

    Francisco Mahfuz, Keynote Speaker & Storytelling Coach

    Francisco Mahfuz
    Keynote Speaker & Storytelling Coach

    Francisco Mahfuz has been telling stories in front of audiences for a decade and even became a National Champion of public speaking. Today, Francisco is a keynote speaker and storytelling coach and offers communication training to individuals and international organizations and has worked with organizations like Pepsi, HP, the United Nations, Santander, and Cornell University. He’s the author of Bare: A Guide to Brutally Honest Public Speaking and the host of The Storypowers Podcast, and he’s been part of the IESE MBA communications course since 2020. He’s received a BA in English Literature from Birkbeck University in London.

    Sarah Shortreed, EVP & CTO, ATCO Ltd.

    Sarah Shortreed
    EVP & CTO
    ATCO Ltd.

    Sarah Shortreed is ATCO’s Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. Her responsibilities include leading ATCO’s Information Technology (IT) function as it continues to drive agility and collaboration throughout ATCO’s global businesses and expanding and enhancing its enterprise IT strategy, including establishing ATCO’s technology roadmap for the future. Ms. Shortreed’s skill and expertise are drawn from her more than 30-year career that spans many industries and includes executive roles in business consulting, complex multi-stakeholder programs, operations, sales, customer relationship management, and product management. She was recently the Chief Information Officer at Bruce Power and has previously worked at BlackBerry, IBM, and Union Gas. She sits on the Board of Governors for the University of Western Ontario and is the current Chair of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) Committee at the Conference Board of Canada.

    Eric Silverberg, Co-Founder, Speaker Labs

    Eric Silverberg
    Co-Founder
    Speaker Labs

    Eric is a co-founder of Speaker Labs and has helped thousands of people build their public speaking confidence and become more dynamic and engaging communicators. When he’s not running workshops to help people grow in their careers, there’s a good chance you’ll find him with his wife and dog, drinking Diet Coke, and rewatching iconic episodes of the reality TV show Survivor! He’s such a die-hard fan, that you’ll probably see him playing the game one day.

    Stephanie Stewart, Communications Officer & DR Coordinator, Info Security Services Simon Fraser University

    Stephanie Stewart
    Communications Officer & DR Coordinator
    Info Security Services Simon Fraser University

    Steve Strout, President, Miovision Technologies

    Steve Strout
    President
    Miovision Technologies

    Mr. Strout is a recognized and experienced technology leader with extensive experience in delivering value. He has successfully led business and technology transformations by leveraging many dozens of complex global SFDC, Oracle, and SAP projects. He is especially adept at leading what some call “Project Rescues” – saving people’s careers where projects have gone awry; always driving “on-time and on-budget.” Mr. Strout is the current President of Miovision Technologies and the former CEO and board member of the Americas’ SAP Users” Group (ASUG). His wealth of practical knowledge comes from 30 years of extensive experience in many CxO and executive roles at some prestigious organizations such as Vonage, Sabre, BlackBerry, Shred-it, The Thomson Corporation (now Thomson Reuters), and Morris Communications. He has served on boards including Customer Advisory Boards of Apple, AgriSource Data, Dell, Edgewise, EMC, LogiSense, Socrates.ai, Spiro Carbon Group, and Unifi.

    Info-Tech Research Group Contributors:

    Sanchia Benedict, Research Lead
    Antony Chan Executive Counsellor
    Janice Clatterbuck, Executive Counsellor
    Ahmed Jowar, Research Specialist
    Dave Kish, Practice Lead
    Nick Kozlo, Senior Research Analyst
    Heather Leier Murray, Senior Research Analyst
    Amanda Mathieson, Research Director
    Carlene McCubbin, Practice Lead
    Joe Meier, Executive Counsellor
    Andy Neill, AVP Research
    Thomas Randall, Research Director

    Plus an additional two contributors who wish to remain anonymous.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Boardroom Presentation Review

    • You will come away with a clear, concise, and compelling board presentation that IT leaders can feel confident presenting in front of their board of directors.
    • Add improvements to your current board presentation in terms of visual appeal and logical flow to ensure it resonates with your board of directors.
    • Leverage a best-of-breed presentation template.

    Build a Better Manager

    • Management skills training is needed, but organizations are struggling to provide training that makes a long-term difference in the skills managers actually use in their day to day.
    • Many training programs are ineffective because they offer the wrong content, deliver it in a way that is not memorable, and are not aligned with the IT department’s business objectives.

    Crisis Communication Guides

    During a crisis it is important to communicate to employees through messages that convey calm and are transparent and tailored to your audience. Use the Crisis Communication Guides to:

    • Draft a communication strategy.
    • Tailor messages to your audience.
    • Draft employee crisis communications.
    Use this guide to equip leadership to communicate in times of crisis.

    Bibliography

    “Communication in the Workplace Statistics: Importance and Effectiveness in 2022.” TeamStage, 2022.

    Gallo, Carmine. “How Great Leaders Communicate.” Harvard Business Review, 23 November 2022

    Guthrie, Georgina. “Why Good Internal Communications Matter Now More than Ever.” Nulab, 15 December 2021.

    Lambden, Duncan. “The Importance of Effective Workplace Communication – Statistics for 2022.” Expert Market, 13 June 2022.

    “Mapping SFIA Levels of Responsibilities to Behavioural Factors.” Skills Framework for the Information Age, 2021.

    McCreary, Gale. “How to Measure the Effectiveness of Communication: 14 Steps.” WikiHow, 31 March 2023.

    Nowak, Marcin. “Top 7 Communication Problems in the Workplace.” MIT Enterprise Forum CEE, 2021.

    Nunn, Philip. “Messaging That Works: A Unique Framework to Maximize Communication Success.” iabc, 26 October 2020.

    Picincu, Andra. “How to Measure Effective Communications.” Small Business Chron. 12 January 2021.

    Price. David A. “Pixar Story Rules.” Stories From the Frontiers of Knowledge, 2011.

    Roberts, Dan. “How CIOs Become Visionary Communicators.” CIO, 2019.

    Schlesinger, Mark. “Why building effective communication skill in IT is incredibly important.” Forbes, 2021.

    Stanten, Andrew. “Planning for the Worst: Crisis Communications 101.” CIO, 25 May 2017.

    State of the American Workplace Report. Gallup, 6 February 2020.

    “The CIO Revolution.” IBM, 2021.

    “The State of High Performing Teams in Tech 2022.” Hypercontex, 2022.

    Walters, Katlin. “Top 5 Ways to Measure Internal Communication.” Intranet Connections, 30 May 2019.

    Master the Secrets of VMware Licensing to Maximize Your Investment

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}138|cart{/j2store}
    • member rating overall impact (scale of 10): N/A
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    • Parent Category Name: Licensing
    • Parent Category Link: /licensing
    • A lack of understanding around VMware’s licensing models, bundles, and negotiation tactics makes it difficult to negotiate from a position of strength.
    • Unfriendly commercial practices combined with hyperlink-ridden agreements have left organizations vulnerable to audits and large shortfall payments.
    • Enterprise license agreements (ELAs) come in several purchasing models and do not contain the EULA or various VMware product guide documentation that governs license usage rules and can change monthly.
    • Without a detailed understanding of VMware’s various purchasing models, shelfware often occurs.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Contracts are typically overweighted with a discount at the expense of contractual T&Cs that can restrict license usage and expose you to unpleasant financial surprises and compliance risk.
    • VMware customers almost always have incomplete price information from which to effectively negotiate a “best in class” ELA.
    • VMware has a large lead in being first to market and it realizes that running dual virtualization stacks is complex, unwieldy, and expensive. To further complicate the issues, most skill sets in the industry are skewed towards VMware.

    Impact and Result

    • Negotiate desired terms and conditions at the start of the agreement, and prioritize which use rights may be more important than an additional discount percentage.
    • Gather data points and speak with licensing partners to determine if the deal being offered is in fact as great as VMware says it is.
    • Beware of out-year pricing and ELA optimization reviews that may provide undesirable surprises and more spend than was planned.

    Master the Secrets of VMware Licensing to Maximize Your Investment Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Manage Your VMware Agreements – Use the Info-Tech tools capture your existing licenses and prepare for your renewal bids.

    Use Info-Tech’s licensing best practices to avoid shelfware with VMware licensing and remain compliant in case of an audit.

    • Master the Secrets of VMware Licensing to Maximize Your Investment Storyboard

    2. Manage your VMware agreements

    Use Info-Tech’s licensing best practices to avoid shelfware with VMware licensing and remain compliant in case of an audit.

    • VMware Business as Usual – Install Base SnS Renewal Only Tool
    • VMware ELA RFQ Template

    3. Transition to the VMWare Cloud – Use these tools to evaluate your ELA and vShpere requirements and make an informed choice.

    Manage your renewals and transition to the cloud subscription model.

    • VPP Transactional Purchase Tool
    • VMware ELA Analysis Tool
    • vSphere Edition 7 Features List

    Infographic

    Further reading

    Master the Secrets of VMware Licensing to Maximize Your Investment

    Learn the essential steps to avoid overspending and to maximize negotiation leverage with VMware.

    EXECUTIVE BRIEF

    Analyst Perspective

    Master the Secrets of VMware Licensing to Maximize Your Investment.

    The image contains a picture of Scott Bickley.

    The mechanics of negotiating a deal with VMware may seem simple at first as the vendor is willing to provide a heavy discount on an enterprise license agreement (ELA). However, come renewal time, when a reduction in spend or shelfware is needed, or to exit the ELA altogether, the process can be exceedingly frustrating as VMware holds the balance of power in the negotiation.

    Negotiating a complete agreement with VMware from the start can save you from an immense headache and unforeseen expenditures. Many VMware customers do not realize that the terms and conditions in the Volume Purchasing Program (VPP) and Enterprise Purchasing Program (EPP) agreements limit how and where they are able to use their licenses.

    Furthermore, after the renewal is complete, organizations must still worry about the management of various license types, accurate discovery of what has been deployed, visibility into license key assignments, and over and under use of licenses.

    Preventive and proactive measures enclosed within this blueprint will help VMware clients mitigate this minefield of challenges.

    Scott Bickley
    Practice Lead, Vendor Management
    Info-Tech Research Group

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    Common Obstacles

    Info-Tech’s Approach

    VMware's dominant position in the virtualization space can create uncertainty to your options in the long term as well as the need to understand:

    • The hybrid cloud model.
    • Hybrid VM security and management.
    • New subscription license model and how it affects renewals.

    Make an informed decision with your VMware investments to allow for continued ROI.

    There are several hurdles that are presented when considering a VMware ELA:

    • Evolving licensing and purchasing models
    • Understanding potential ROI in the cloud landscape
    • Evolving door of corporate ownership

    Overcoming these and other obstacles are key to long-term satisfaction with your VMware infrastructure.

    Info-Tech has a two-phase approach:

    • Manage your VMware agreements.
    • Plan a transition to the cloud.

    A tactical roadmap approach to VMware ELA and the cloud will ensure long-term success and savings.

    Info-Tech Insight

    VMware customers almost always have incomplete price information from which to effectively negotiate a “best in class” ELA.

    Your challenge

    VMware's dominant position in the virtualization space can create uncertainty to your options in the long term driven by:

    • VMware’s dominant market position and ownership of the virtualization market, which is forcing customers to focus on managing capacity demand to ensure a positive ROI on every license.
    • The trend toward a hybrid cloud for many organizations, especially those considering using VMware in public clouds, resulting in confusion regarding licensing and compliance scenarios.

    ELAs and EPPs are generally the only way to get a deep discount from VMware.

    The image contains a pie chart to demonstrate that 85% have answered yes to being audited by VMware for software license compliance.

    Common obstacles

    There are several hurdles that are presented when considering a VMware ELA.

    • A lack of understanding around VMware’s licensing models, bundles, and negotiation tactics makes it difficult to negotiate from a position of strength.
    • Unfriendly commercial practices combined with hyperlink-ridden agreements have left organizations vulnerable to audits and large shortfall payments.
    • ELAs come in several purchasing models and do not contain the EULA or various VMware product guide documentation that govern license usage rules and can change monthly.

    Competition is a key driver of price

    The image contains a screenshot of a bar graph to demonstrate virtualization market share % 2022.

    Source: Datanyze

    Master the Secrets of VMware Licensing to Maximize your Investment

    The image contains a screenshot of the Thought model on Master the secrets of VMware Licensing to Maximize your Investment.

    Info-Tech’s methodology for Master the Secrets of VMware Licensing to Maximize Your Investment

    1. Manage Your VMware Agreements

    2. Transition to the VMware Cloud

    Phase Steps

    1.1 Establish licensing requirements

    1.2 Evaluate licensing options

    1.3 Evaluate agreement options

    1.4 Purchase and manage licenses

    1.5 Understand SnS renewal management

    2.1 Understand the VMware subscription model

    2.2 Migrate workloads and licenses

    2.3 Manage SnS and cloud subscriptions

    Phase Outcomes

    Understanding of your licensing requirements and what agreement option best fits your needs for now and the future.

    Knowledge of VMware’s sales model and how to negotiate the best deal.

    Knowledge of the evolving cloud subscription model and how to plan your cloud migration and transition to the new licensing.

    Insight summary

    Overarching insight

    With the introduction of the subscription licensing model, VMware licensing and renewals are becoming more complex and require a deeper understanding of the license program options to best manage renewals and cloud deployments as well as to maximize legacy ROI.

    Phase 1 insight

    Contracts are typically overweighted with a discount at the expense of contractual T&Cs that can restrict license usage and expose you to unpleasant financial surprises and compliance risk.

    Phase 1 insight

    VMware has a large lead in being first to market and it realizes running dual virtualization stacks is complex, unwieldy, and expensive. To further complicate the issues, most skill sets in the industry are skewed toward VMware.

    Phase 2 insight

    VMware has purposefully reduced a focus on the actual license terms and conditions; most customers focus on the transactional purchase or the ELA document, but the rules governing usage are on a website and can be changed by VMware regularly.

    Tactical insight

    Beware of out-year pricing and ELA optimization reviews that may provide undesirable surprises and more spend than was planned.

    Tactical insight

    Negotiate desired terms and conditions at the start of the agreement, and prioritize which use rights may be more important than an additional discount percentage.

    Blueprint deliverables

    Each step of this blueprint is accompanied by supporting deliverables to help you accomplish your goals:

    VMware ELA Analysis Tool

    VMware ELA RFQ Template Tool

    VPP Transaction Purchase Tool

    VMware ELA Analysis Tool

    Use this tool as a template for an RFQ with VMware ELA contracts.

    Use this tool to analyze cost breakdown and discount based on your volume purchasing program (VPP) level.

    The image contains screenshots of the VMware ELA Analysis Tool. The image contains a screenshot of the VMware ELA RFQ template tool. The image contains a screenshot of the VPP Transaction Purchase Tool.

    Key deliverable:

    VMware Business as Usual SnS Renewal Only Tool

    Use this tool to analyze discounts from a multi-year agreement vs. prepay. See how you can get the best discount.

    The image contains screenshots of the VMware Business as Usual SnS Renewal Only Tool.

    Blueprint Objectives

    The aim of this blueprint is to provide a foundational understanding of VMware’s licensing agreement and best practices to manage them.

    Why VMware

    What to Know

    The Future

    VMware is the leader in OS virtualization, however, this is a saturated market, which is being pressured by public and hybrid cloud as a competitive force taking market share.

    There are few viable alternatives to VMware for virtualization due to vendor lock-in of existing IT infrastructure footprint. It is too difficult and cost prohibitive to make a shift away from VMware even when alternative solutions are available.

    ELAs are the preferred method of contracting as it sets the stage for a land-and-expand product strategy; once locked into the ELA model, customers must examine VMware alternatives with preference or risk having Support and Subscription Services (SnS) re-priced at retail.

    VMware does not provide a great deal of publicly available information regarding its enterprise license agreement (ELA) options, leaving a knowledge gap that allows the sales team to steer the customer.

    VMware is taking countermeasures against increasing competition.

    Recent contract terms changed to eliminate perpetual caps on SnS renewals; they are now tied to a single year of discounted SnS, then they go to list price.

    Migration of list pricing to a website versus contract, where pricing can now be changed, reducing discount percentage effectiveness.

    Increased audits of customers, especially those electing to not renew an ELA.


    Examining VMware’s vendor profile

    Turbonomics conducted a vendor profile on major vendors, focusing on licensing and compliance. It illustrated the following results:

    The image contains a pie graph to demonstrate that the majority of companies say yes to using license enterprise software from VMware.

    The image contains a bar graph to demonstrate what license products organizations use of VMware products.

    Source: Turbonomics
    N-sample size

    Case Study

    The image contains a logo for ADP.

    INDUSTRY: Finance

    SOURCE: VMware.com

    “We’ll have network engineers, storage engineers, computer engineers, database engineers, and systems engineers all working together as one intact team developing and delivering goals on specific outcomes.” – Vipul Nagrath, CIO, ADP

    Improving developer capital management

    Constant innovation helped ADP keep ahead of customer needs in the human resources space, but it also brought constant changes to the IT environment. Internally, the company found it was spending too long working on delivering the required infrastructure and system updates. IT staff wanted to improve velocity for refreshes to better match the needs of ADP developers and encourage continued development innovation.

    Business needs

    • Improve turnaround time on infrastructure refreshes to better meet developer roadmaps.
    • Establish an IT culture that works at the global scale of ADP and empowers individual team members.
    • Streamline approach toward infrastructure resource delivery to reduce need for manual management.

    Impact

    • Infrastructure resource delivery reduced from 100+ days to minutes, improving ADP developer efficiency.
    • VMware Cloud™ on AWS establishes seamless private and public cloud workflows, fostering agility and innovation.
    • Automating IT management redirects resources to R&D, boosting time to market for new services.

    Info-Tech offers various levels of support to best suit your needs

    DIY Toolkit

    Guided Implementation

    Workshop

    Consulting

    “Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful.” “Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track.” “We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place.” “Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project.”

    Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options

    Guided Implementation

    What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

    Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3

    Call #1: Discuss scope requirements, objectives, and your specific challenges.

    Call #2: Assess the current state.

    Determine licensing position.

    Call #3: Complete a deployment count, needs analysis, and internal audit.

    Call #4: Review findings with analyst:

    • Review licensing options.
    • Review licensing rules.
    • Review contract option types.

    Call #5: Select licensing option. Document forecasted costs and benefits.

    Call #6: Review final contract:

    • Discuss negotiation points.
    • Plan a roadmap for SAM.

    Call #7: Negotiate final contract. Evaluate and develop a roadmap for SAM.

    A Guided Implementation (GI) is a series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization.

    A typical GI is between 2 to 6 calls over the course of 1 to 2 months.

    Phase # 1

    Manage Your VMware Agreements

    Phase 1

    Phase 2

    1.1 Establish licensing requirements

    1.2 Evaluate licensing options

    1.3 Evaluate agreement options

    1.4 Purchase and manage licenses

    2.1 Understand the VMware subscription model

    2.2 Migrate workloads and licenses

    2.3 Discuss the VMware sales approach

    2.4 Manage SnS and cloud subscriptions

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    • Understanding the VMware licensing model
    • Understanding the license agreement options
    • Understanding the VMware sales approach

    This phase will take you thorough:

    • The new VMware subscription movement to the cloud
    • How to prepare and migrate
    • Manage your subscriptions efficiently

    1.1 Establish licensing requirements

    VMware has greatly improved the features of vSphere over time.

    vSphere Main Editions Overview

    • vSphere Standard – Provides the basic features for server consolidation. A support and subscription contract (SnS) is mandatory when purchasing the vSphere Standard.
    • vSphere Enterprise Plus – Provides the full range of vSphere features. A support and subscription contract (SnS) is mandatory when purchasing the Enterprise Plus editions.
    • vSphere Essentials kit – The Essentials kit is an all-in-one solution for small environments with up to three hosts (2 CPUs on each host). Support is optional when purchasing the Essentials kit and is available on a per-incident basis.
    • vSphere Essentials Plus kit – This is similar to the Essentials kit and provides additional features such as vSphere vMotion, vSphere HA, and vSphere replication. A support and subscription contract (SnS) is sold separately, and a minimum of one year of SnS is required.

    Review vSphere Edition Features

    The image contains a screenshot to review the vSphere Edition Features.

    Download the vSphere Edition 7 Features List

    1.2 Evaluate licensing options

    VMware agreement types

    Review purchase options to align with your requirements.

    Transactional VPP EPP ELA

    Transactional

    Entry-level volume license purchasing program

    Mid-level purchasing program

    Highest-level purchasing program

    • Purchasing in this model is not recommended for business purposes unless very infrequent and low quantities.
    • 250 points minimum
    • Four tiers of discounts
    • Rolling eight-quarter points accumulation period
    • Discounts on license only

    Deal size of initial purchase typically is:

    • US$250K MSRP License + SnS (2,500 tokens)
    • Exceptions do exist with purchase volume

    Minimum deal size of top-up purchase:

    • US$50K MSRP License + SnS (500 tokens)
    • Initial purchase determines token level
    • Three-year term

    Minimum deal size of initial purchase:

    • US$150K-$250K
    • Discounted licenses and SnS through term of contract
    • Single volume license key
    • No final true-up
    • Global deployment rights and consolidation of multiple agreements

    1.2.1 The Volume Purchasing Program (VPP)

    This is the entry-level purchasing program aimed at small/mid-sized organizations.

    How the program works

    • The threshold to be able to purchase from the VPP program is 250 points minimum, equivalent to $25,000.
    • Discounts attained can only be applied to license purchases. They do not apply to service and support/renewals. Discounts range from 4% to 12%.
    • For the large majority of products 1 VPP point = ~$100.
      • Point values will be the same globally.
      • Point ratios may vary over time as SKUs are changed.
      • Points are valid for two years.

    Benefits

    • Budget predictability for two years.
    • Simple license purchase process.
    • Receive points on qualifying purchases that accumulate over a rolling eight-quarter period.
    • Online portal for tracking purchases and eligible discounts.
    • Global program where affiliates can purchase from existing contract.

    VPP Point & Discount Table

    Level

    Point Range

    Discount

    1

    250-599

    4%

    2

    600-999

    6%

    3

    1,000-1,749

    9%

    4

    1,750+

    12%

    Source: VMware Volume Purchasing Program

    1.2.2 Activity VPP Transactional Purchase Tool

    1-3 hours

    Instructions:

    1. Use the tool to analyze the cost breakdown and discount based on your Volume Purchasing Program level.
    2. On tab 1, Enter SnS install base renewal units and or new license details.
    3. Review tab 2 for Purchase summary.

    The image contains a screenshot of the VPP Transactional Purchase Tool.

    Input Output
    • SnS renewal details
    • New license requirements and pricing
    • Transaction purchase summary
    • Estimated VPP purchase level
    Materials Participants
    • Current VMware purchase orders
    • Any SnS renewal requirements
    • Transaction Purchase Tool
    • Procurement
    • Vendor Management
    • Licensing Admin

    Download the VPP Transactional Purchase Tool

    1.3 Evaluate agreement options

    Introduction to EPP and ELA

    What to know when using a token/credit-based agreement.

    Token/credit-based agreements carry high risk as customers are purchasing a set number of tokens/credits to be redeemed during the ELA term for licenses.

    • Tokens/credits that are not used during the ELA term expire and become worthless.
    • By default in most agreements (negotiation dependent), tokens/credits are tied to pricing maintained by VMware on its website that is subject to change (increase usually), resulting in a reduced value for the tokens/credits.
      • Therefore, it is necessary to negotiate to have current list prices for all products/versions included in the ELA to prevent price increases while in the current ELA term.
    • Token-based agreements may come with a lower overall discount level as VMware is granting more flexibility in terms of the wider product selection offered, vendor cost of overhead to manage the redemption program, currency exchange risks, and more complex revenue recognition headaches.

    1.3.1 The Enterprise Purchasing Program (EPP)

    This is aimed at mid-tier customers looking for flexibility with deeper discounting.

    How the program works

    • Token-based program in which tokens are redeemed for licenses and/or SnS.
      • Tokens can be added at any time to active fund.
      • Token usage is automatically tracked and reported.
    • Minimum order of 2,500 tokens, equivalent to $250,000 (1 token=$100).
      • Exceptions have been made, allowing for lower minimum spends.
    • Restricted to specific regions, not a global agreement.
    • Self-service portal for access to license keys and support entitlements.
    • Deeper discounting than the VMware Volume Purchase Program.
    • EPP initial purchase gets VPP L4 for four years.

    Benefits

    • Able to mix and match VMware products, manage licenses, and adjust deployment strategy.
    • Prices are protected for term of the EPP agreement.
    • Number of tokens needed to obtain a product or SnS are negotiated at the start of the contract and fixed for the term.
    • SnS is co-termed to the EPP term.
    • Ability to purchase new products that become available at a future date and are listed on the EPP Eligibility Matrix.

    EPP Level & Point Table

    Level

    Point Range

    7

    2,500-3,499

    8

    3,500-4,499

    9

    4,500-5,999

    10

    6,000+

    Source: VMware Volume Purchasing Program

    1.3.2 The ELA is aimed at large global organizations, offering the deepest discounts with operational benefits and flexibility

    What is an ELA?

    • The ELA agreement provides the best vehicle for global enterprises to obtain maximum discounts and price-hold protection for a set period of time. Discounts and price holds are removed once an ELA has expired.
    • The ELA minimum spend previously was $500,000. Purchase volume now generally starts at $250K total spend with exceptions and, depending on VMware, it may be possible to attain for $150K in net-new license spend.

    Key things to know

    • Customers pay up front for license and SnS rights, but depending on the deployment plans, the value of the licenses is not realized and/or recognized for up to two years after point of purchase.
    • License and SnS is paid up front for a three-year period in most ELAs, although a one- or two-year term can be negotiated.
    • Licenses not deployed in year one should be discounted in value and drive a re-evaluation of the ELA ROI, as even heavily discounted licenses that are not used until year three may not be such a great deal in retrospect.
      • Use a time value of money calculation to arrive at a realistic ROI.
      • Partner with Finance and Accounting to ensure the ROI also clears any Internal Hurdle Rate (IHR).
      • Share and strategically position your IHR with VMware and resellers to ensure they understand the minimum value an ELA deal must bring to the table.
    • Organizational changes, such as merger, acquisition, and divestiture (MAD) activities, may result in the customer paying for license rights that can no longer be used and/or require a renegotiated ELA.

    Info-Tech Insight

    If a legacy ELA exists that has “deploy or lose” language, engage VMware to recapture any lost license rights as VMware has changed this language effective with 2016 agreements and there is an “appeals” process for affected customers.

    1.3.3 Select the best ELA variant to match your specific demand profile and financial needs

    The advantages of an ELA are:

    • Maximum discount level + price protection
    • SnS discounted at % of net license fee
    • Sole option for global use territory rights

    General disadvantages are:

    • Term lock-in with SnS for three years
    • Pay up front and if defer usage, ROI drops
    • Territory rights priced at a premium versus domestic use rights

    Type of ELAs

    ELA Type

    Description

    Pros and Cons

    Capped (max quantities)

    Used to purchase a specific quantity and type of license.

    Pro – Clarity on what will be purchased

    Pro – Lower risk of over licensing

    Con – Requires accurate forecasting

    All you can eat or unlimited

    Used to purchase access to specified products that can be deployed in unlimited quantities during the ELA term.

    Pro – Acquire large quantity of licenses

    Pro – Accurate forecasting not critical

    Con – Deployment can easily exceed forecast, leading to high renewal costs

    Burn-down

    A form of capped ELA purchase that uses prepaid tokens that can be used more flexibly to acquire a variety of licenses or services. This can include the hybrid purchasing program (HPP) credits. However, the percentage redeemable for VMware subscription services may be limited to 10% of the MSRP value of the HPP credit.

    Pro – Accurate demand forecast not critical

    Pro – Can be used for products and services

    Con – Unused tokens or credits are forfeited

    True-up

    Allows for additional purchases during the ELA term on a determined schedule based on the established ELA pricing.

    Pro – Consumption payments matched after initial purchase

    Pro – Accurate demand forecast not critical

    Con – Potentially requires transaction throughout term

    1.4 Purchase and manage licenses

    Negotiating ELA terms and conditions

    Editable copies of VMware’s license and governance documentation are a requirement to initiate the dialogue and negotiation process over T&Cs.

    VMware’s licensing is complex and although documentation is publicly available, it is often hidden on VMware’s website.

    Many VMware customers often overlook reviewing the license T&Cs, leaving them open to compliance risks.

    It is imperative for customers to understand:

    • Product definition for licensing of each acquired product
    • Products included by bundle
    • Use restrictions:
      • The VMware Product Guide, which includes information about:
        • ELA Order Forms, Amendments, Exhibits, EULA, Support T&Cs, and other policies that add dozens of pages to a contractual agreement.
        • All of these documents are web based and can change monthly; URL links in the contract do not take the user to the actual document but a landing page from which customers must find the applicable documents.
      • Obtain copies of ALL current documents at the time of your order and keep as a reference in the CLM and SAM systems.

    Build in time to obtain, review, and negotiate these documents (easily weeks to months).

    1.4.1 Negotiating ELA terms and conditions specifics

    License and Deployment

    • Review perpetual use rights for all licenses purchased under the ELA (exception being subscription services).
    • Carefully scrutinize contract language for clearly defined deployment rights.
      • Some agreements contain language that terminates the use rights for licenses not deployed by the end of the ELA term.
    • While older contracts would frequently contain clearly defined token values and product prices for the ELA term, VMware has moved away from this process and now refers to URL links for current MSRP pricing.

    Use Rights

    • The customer’s legal entities and territories listed in the contract are hard limits on the license usage via the VMware Product Guide definitions. Global use rights are not a standard license grant with VMware license agreement by default. Global rights are usually tied to an ELA.
    • VMware audits most aggressively against violations of territory use rights and will use the non-compliance events to resolve the issue via a commercial transaction.
      • Negotiate for assignment rights with no strings attached in terms of fees or multi-party consent by future affiliates or successors to a surviving entity.
    • Extraordinary Corporate Transaction clause: VMware’s standard language prevents customers from using licenses within the ELA for any third party that becomes part of customer’s business by way of acquisition, merger, consolidation, change of control, reorganization, or other similar transaction.
      • Request VMware to drop this language.
    • Include any required language pertaining to MAD events as default language will not allow for transfer or assignment of license rights.

    Checklist of necessary information to negotiate the best deal

    Product details that go beyond the sales pitch

    • Product family
    • Unique product SKU for license renewal
    • Part description
    • Current regional or global price list
    • One and three-year proposal for SnS renewals including new license and SnS detail
    • SnS term dates
    • Discount or offered prices for all line items (global pricing is generally ~20% higher than US pricing)

    Different support levels (e.g. basic, enterprise, per incident)

    • Standard pricing:
      • Basic Support = 21% of current list price (12x5)
      • Production Support = 25% of current list price (24x7 for severity 1 issues) – defined in VMware Support and Subscription Services T&Cs; non-severity 1 issues are 12x5

    Details to ensure the product being purchased matches the business needs

    • Realizing after the fact the product is insufficient with respect to functional requirements or that extra spend is required can be frustrating and extend expected timelines

    SnS renewals pricing is based on the (1) year SnS list price

    • This can be bundled for a multi-year discounted SnS rate (can result in 12%+ under VPP)

    Governing agreements, VPP program details

    • Have a printed copy of documents that are URL links, which VMware can change, allowing for surprises or unexpected changes in rules

    1.4.2 Activity VMware ELA Analysis Tool

    2-4 hours

    Instructions:

    1. As a group, review the various RFQ responses. Identify top three proposals and start to enter proposal details into the VPP Prepay or ELA tabs of the analysis tool.
    2. Review savings in the ELA Offer Analysis tab.

    The image contains screenshots of the VMware ELA Analysis Tool.

    Input Output
    • RFQ requirements data
    • RFQ response data
    • Analysis of ELA proposals
    • ELA savings analysis
    Materials Participants
    • RFQ response documents
    • ELA Analysis Tool
    • IT Leadership
    • Procurement
    • Vendor Management

    Download the VMware ELA Analysis Tool

    1.4.3 Negotiating ELA terms and conditions specifics: pricing, renewal, and exit

    VMware does not offer price protection on future license consumption by default.

    Securing “out years” pricing for SnS or the cost of SnS is critical or it will default to a set percentage (25%) of MSRP, removing the ELA discount.

    Typically, the out year is one year; maximum is two years.

    Negotiate the “go forward” SnS pricing post-ELA term as part of the ELA negotiations when you have some leverage.

    Default after (1) out year is to rise to 25% of current MSRP versus as low as 20% of net license price within the ELA.

    Carefully incorporate the desired installed-base licenses that were acquired pre-ELA into the agreement, but ensure unwanted licenses are removed.

    Ancillary but binding support policies, online terms and conditions, and other hyperlinked documentation should be negotiated and incorporated as part of the agreement whenever possible.

    1.4.4 Find the best reseller partner

    Seek out a qualified VMware partner that will work with you and with your interest as a priority:

    1. Resellers, at minimum, should have achieved an enterprise-level rating, as these partners can offer the deepest discounts and have more clout with VMware.
    2. Select your reseller prior to engaging in any RFX acquisition steps. Verify they are enterprise level or higher AND secure their written commitment to maximum pass-through of the discounting provided to them by VMware.
    3. Document and prioritize key T&Cs for your ELA and submit to your sales team along with a requirement and timeline for their formal response. Essentially, this escalates outside of the VMware process and disrupts the status quo. Ideally this will occur in advance of being presented a contract by VMware and be pre-emptive in nature.
    4. If applicable and of benefit or a high priority, seek out a reseller that is willing to finance the VMware upfront payment cost at a low or no interest rate.
    5. It will be important to have ELA-level deals escalated to higher levels of authority to obtain “best in class” discount levels, above and beyond those prescribed in the VMware sales playbook.
    6. VMware’s standard process is to “route” customers through a pre-defined channel and “deal desk” process. Preferred pricing of up to an additional 10% discount is reserved for the first reseller that registers the deal with VMware, with larger discounts reserved for the Enterprise and Premium partners. Additional discounts can be earned if the deal closes within specified time periods (First Deal Registration).

    1.4.5 Activity VMware ELA RFQ Template

    1-3 hours

    Use this tool for as a template for an RFQ with VMware ELA contracts.

    1. For SnS renewals that contain no new licenses, state that the requirement for award consideration is the provisioning of all details for each itemized SnS renewal product code corresponding to all the licenses of your installed base. The details for the renewals are to be placed in Section 1 of the template.
    2. SnS Renewal Options: Info-Tech recommends that you ask for one- and three-year SnS renewal proposals, assuming these terms are realistic for your business requirements. Then compare your SnS BAU costs for these two options against ELA offers to determine the best choice for your renewal.

    The image contains a screenshot of the VMware ELA RFQ Template.

    Input Output
    • Renewing SnS data
    • Agreement type options
    • Detailed list of required licenses
    • Summary list of SnS requirements
    Materials Participants
    • RFQ Template
    • SnS renewal summary
    • New license/subscription details
    • IT Leadership
    • Vendor Management
    • Procurement

    Download the VMware ELA RFQ Template

    1.4.6 Consider your path forward

    Consider your route forward as contract commitments, license compliance, and terms and conditions differ in structure to perpetual models previously used.

    • Are you able to accurately discover VMware licensing within your environment?
    • Is licensing managed for compliance? Are internal audits conducted so you have accurate results?
    • Have the product use rights been examined for terms and conditions such as geographic rights? Some T&Cs may change over time due to hyperlinked references within commercial documents.
    • How are Oracle and SQL being used within your VMware environment? This may affect license compliance with Oracle and Microsoft in virtualized environments.
    • Prepare for the Subscription model; it’s here now and will be the lead discussion with all VMware reps going forward.

    Shift to Subscription

    1. With the $64bn takeover by Broadcom, there will be a significant shift and pressure to the subscription model.
    2. Broadcom has significant growth targets for its VMware acquisition that can only be achieved through a strong press to a SaaS model.

    Info-Tech Insight

    VMware has a license cost calculator and additional licensing documents that can be used to help determine what spend should be.

    Phase # 2

    Transition to the VMware Cloud

    Phase 1

    Phase 2

    1.1 Establish licensing requirements

    1.2 Evaluate licensing options

    1.3 Evaluate agreement options

    1.4 Purchase and manage licenses

    2.1 Understand the VMware subscription model

    2.2 Migrate workloads and licenses

    2.3 Discuss the VMware sales approach

    2.4 Manage SnS and cloud subscriptions

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    • Understand the VMware licensing model
    • Understand the license agreement options
    • Understand the VMware sales approach

    This phase will take you thorough:

    • The new VMware subscription movement to the cloud
    • How to prepare and migrate
    • Manage your subscriptions efficiently

    2.1 Understand the VMware subscription model

    VMware Cloud Universal

    • VMware Cloud Universal unifies compute, network, and storage capabilities across infrastructures, management, and applications.
    • Take advantage of financial and cloud management flexibility by combining on-premises and SaaS capabilities for automation, operations, log analytics, and network visibility across your infrastructure.
    • Capitalize on VMware knowledge by integrating proven migration methods and plans across your transformation journey such as consumption strategies, business outcome workshops, and more.
    • Determine your eligibility to earn a one-time discount with this exclusive benefit designed to offset the value of your current unamortized VMware on-premises license investments and then reallocate toward your multi-cloud initiatives.

    2.2 Migrate workloads and licenses to the cloud

    There are several cloud migration options and solutions to consider.

    • VMware Cloud offers solutions that can provide a low-cost path to the cloud that will help accelerate modernization.
    • There are also many third-party solution providers who can be engaged to migrate workloads and other infrastructure to VMware Cloud and into other public cloud providers.
    • VMware Cloud can be deployed on many IaaS providers such as AWS, Azure, Google, Dell, and IBM.

    VMware Cloud Assist

    1. Leverage all available transition funding opportunities and any IaaS migration incentives from VMware.
    2. Learn and understand the value and capabilities of VMware vRealize Cloud Universal to help you transition and manage hybrid infrastructure.

    2.2.1 Manage your VMware cloud subscriptions

    Use VMware vRealize to manage private, public, and local environments.

    Combine SaaS and on-premises capabilities for automation, operations, log analytics, network visibility, security, and compliance into one license.

    The image contains a screenshot of a diagram to demonstrate VMware cloud subscriptions.

    2.3 The VMware sales approach

    Understand the pitch before entering the discussion

    1. VMware will present a PowerPoint presentation proposal comparing a Business-as-Usual (BAU) scenario versus the ELA model.
    2. Critical factors to consider if considering the proposed ELA are growth rate projections, deployment schedule, cost of non-ELA products/options, shelf-ware, and non-ELA discounts (e.g. VPP, multi-year, or pre-paid).
    3. Involving VMware’s direct account team along with your reseller in the negotiations can be beneficial. Keep in mind that VMware ultimately decides on the final price in terms of the discount that is passed through. Ensure you have a clear line of sight into how pricing is determined.
    4. Explore reseller incentives and promotional programs that may provide for deeper than normal discount opportunities.

    INFO-TECH TIP: Create your own assumptions as inputs into the BAU model and then evaluate the ELA value proposition instead of depending on VMware’s model.

    2.4 Manage SnS and cloud subscriptions

    The new subscription model is making SnS renewal more complex.

    • Start renewal planning four to six months prior to anniversary.
    • Work closely with your reseller on your SnS renewal options.
    • Request “as is” versus subscription renewal proposal from reseller or VMware with a “savings” component.
    • Consider and review multi-year versus annual renewal; savings will differ.
    • For the Subscription transition renewal model, ensure that credits for legacy licensing is provided.
    • Negotiate cloud transition investments and incentives from VMware.

    What information to collect and how to analyze it

    • Negotiating toward preferred terms on SnS is critical, more so than when new license purchases are made, as approximately 75-80% of server virtualization are at x86 workloads, where maintenance revenue is a larger source of revenue for VMware than new license sales.
    • All relevant license and SnS details must be obtained from VMware to include Product Family, Part Description, Product Code (SKU), Regional/Global List Price, SnS Term Dates, and Discount Price for all new licenses.
    • VMware has all costs tied to the US dollar; you must calculate currency conversion into ROI models as VMware does not adjust token values of products across geographies or currency of purchase. The token to dollar value by product SKU is locked for the three-year term. This translates into a variable cost model depending on how local currency fluctuates against the US dollar; time the initial purchase to take this into consideration, if applicable.
    • Products purchased based on MSRP price with each token contains a value of US$100. Under the Hybrid Purchasing Program (HPP) credit values and associated buying power will fluctuate over the term as VMware reserves the right to adjust current list prices. Consider locking in a set product list and pricing versus HPP.
    • Take a structured approach to discover true discounts via the use of a tailored RFQ template and options model to compare and contrast VMware ELA proposals.

    Use Info-Tech Research Group’s customized RFQ template to discover true discount levels and model various purchase options for VMware ELA proposals.

    The image contains a screenshot of the VMware RFQ Template Tool.

    Summary of accomplishment

    Knowledge Gained

    • The key pieces of licensing information that should be gathered about the current state of your own organization.
    • An in-depth understanding of the required licenses across all of your products.
    • Clear methodology for selecting the most effective contract type.
    • Development of measurable, relevant metrics to help track future project success and identify areas of strength and weakness within your licensing program.

    Processes Optimized

    • Senior leaders in IT now have a clear understanding of the importance of licensing in relation to business objectives.
    • Understanding of the various licensing considerations that need to be made.
    • Contract negotiation.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Prepare for Negotiations More Effectively

    • IT budgets are increasing, but many CIOs feel their budgets are inadequate to accomplish what is being asked of them.
    • Eighty percent of organizations don’t have a mature, repeatable, scalable negotiation process.
    • Training dollars on negotiations are often wasted or ineffective.

    Price Benchmarking & Negotiation

    You need to achieve an objective assessment of vendor pricing in your IT contracts, but you have limited knowledge about:

    • Current price benchmarking on the vendor.
    • Pricing and negotiation intelligence.
    • How to secure a market-competitive price.
    • Vendor pricing tiers, models, and negotiation tactics.

    VMware vRealize Cloud Management

    VMware vCloud Suite is an integrated offering that brings together VMware’s industry-leading vSphere hypervisor and VMware vRealize Suite multi-vendor hybrid cloud management platform. VMware’s new portable licensing units allow vCloud Suite to build and manage both vSphere-based private clouds and multi-vendor hybrid clouds.

    Bibliography

    Barrett, Alex. “vSphere and vCenter licensing and pricing explained -- a VMware license guide.” TechTarget, July 2010. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Bateman, Kayleigh. “VMware licensing, pricing and features mini guide.” Computer Weekly, May 2011. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Blaisdell, Rick. “What Are The Common Business Challenges The VMware Sector Faces At This Point In Time?” CIO Review, n.d. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    COMPAREX. “VMware Licensing Program.” COMPAREX, n.d. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Couesbot, Erwann. “Using VMware? Oracle customers hate this licensing pitfall.” UpperEdge, 17 October 2016. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Crayon. “VMware Licensing Programs.” Crayon, n.d. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Datanyze." Virtualization Software Market Share.” Datanyze, n.d. Web.
    Demers, Tom. “Top 18 Tips & Quotes on the Challenges & Future of VMware Licensing.” ProfitBricks, 1 September 2015. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Fenech, J. “A quick look at VMware vSphere Editions and Licensing.” VMware Hub by Altaro, 17 May 2017. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Flexera. “Challenges of VMware Licensing.” Flexera, n.d. Accessed 5 February 2018.
    Fraser, Paris. “A Guide for VMware Licensing.” Sovereign, 11 October 2016. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Haag, Michael. “IDC Data Shows vSAN is the Largest Share of Total HCI Spending.” VMware Blogs, 1 December 2017. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Kealy, Victoria. “VMware Licensing Quick Guide 2015.” The ITAM Review, 17 December 2015. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Kirsch, Brian. “A VMware licensing guide to expanding your environment.” TechTarget, August 2017. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Kirupananthan, Arun. “5 reasons to get VMware licensing right.” Softchoice, 16 April 2018. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Knorr, Eric. “VMware on AWS: A one-way ticket to the cloud.” InfoWorld, 17 October 2016. Accessed 7 May 2018
    Leipzig. “Help, an audit! License audits by VMware. Are you ready?” COMPAREX Group, 2 May 2016. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Mackie, Kurt. “VMware Rips Microsoft for Azure “Bare Metal” Migration Solution.” Redmond Magazine, 27 November 2017. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Micromail. “VMware vSphere Software Licensing.” Micromail, n.d. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Microsoft Corportation. “Migrating VMware to Microsoft Azure” Microsoft Azure, November 2017. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Peter. “Server Virtualization and OS Trends.” Spiceworks, 30 August 2016. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Rich. “VMware running on Azure.” The ITAM Review, 28 November 2017. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Robb, Drew. “Everything you need to know about VMware’s licensing shake up.” Softchoice, 4 March 2016. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Rose, Brendan. “How to determine which VMware licensing option is best.” Softchoice, 28 July 2015. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Scholten, Eric. “New VMware licensing explained.” VMGuru, 12 July 2011. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Sharwood, Simon. “Microsoft to run VMware on Azure, on bare metal. Repeat. Microsoft to run VMware on Azure.” The Register, 22 November 2017. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Siebert, Eric. “Top 7 VMware Management Challenges.” Veeam, n.d. Web.
    Smith, Greg. “Will The Real HCI Market Leader Please Stand Up?” Nutanix, 29 September 2017. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    Spithoven, Richard. “Licensing Oracle software in VMware vCenter 6.0.” LinkedIn, 2 May 2016. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    VMTurbo, Inc. “Licensing, Compliance & Audits in the Cloud Era.” Turbonomics, November 2015. Web.
    VMware. “Aug 1st – Dec 31st 2016 Solution Provider Program Requirements & Incentives & Rewards.” VMware, n.d. Web.
    VMware. “Global Support and Subscription Services “SnS” Renewals Policy.” VMware, n.d. Web.
    VMware. “Support Policies.” VMware, n.d. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    VMware. “VMware Cloud Community.” VMware Cloud, n.d. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    VMware. “VMware Cloud on AWS” VMware Cloud, n.d. Accessed 7 May 2018.
    VMware. “VMware Enterprise Purchasing Program.” VMware, 2013. Web.
    VMware. “VMware Product Guide.” VMware, May 2018. Web.
    VMware. “VMware Volume Purchasing Program.” VMware, April 2019. Web.
    VMware. "VMware Case Studies." VMware, n.d. Web.
    Wiens, Rob. “VMware Enterprise Licensing – What You Need To Know. House of Brick, 14 April 2017. Accessed 7 May 2018

    IT Diversity & Inclusion Tactics

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}517|cart{/j2store}
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    • Parent Category Name: Engage
    • Parent Category Link: /engage
    • Although inclusion is key to the success of a diversity and inclusion (D&I) strategy, the complexity of the concept makes it a daunting pursuit.
    • This is further complicated by the fact that creating inclusion is not a one-and-done exercise. Rather, it requires the ongoing commitment of employees and managers to reassess their own behaviors and to drive a cultural shift.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    Realize the benefits of a diverse workforce by embedding inclusion into work practices, behaviors, and values, ensuring accountability throughout the department.

    Impact and Result

    Understand what it means to be inclusive: reassess work practices and learn how to apply leadership behaviors to create an inclusive environment

    IT Diversity & Inclusion Tactics Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Mobilize inclusion efforts

    Learn, evaluate, and understand what it means to be inclusive, examine biases, and apply inclusive leadership behaviors.

    • Diversity & Inclusion Initiatives Catalog
    • Inclusive IT Work Practices Examples
    • Inclusive Work Practices Template
    • Equip Managers to Adopt Inclusive Leadership Behaviors
    • Workbook: Equip Managers to Adopt Inclusive Leadership Behaviors
    • Standard Focus Group Guide
    [infographic]

    IT Organizational Design

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    • member rating overall impact (scale of 10): 9.1/10
    • member rating average dollars saved: $83,392
    • member rating average days saved: 21
    • Parent Category Name: People and Resources
    • Parent Category Link: /people-and-resources

    The challenge

    • IT can ensure full business alignment through an organizational redesign.
    • Finding the best approach for your company is difficult due to many frameworks and competing priorities.
    • External competitive influences and technological trends exacerbate this.

    Our advice

    Insight

    • Your structure is the critical enabler of your strategic direction. Structure dictates how people work together and how they can fill in their roles to create the desired business value. 
    • Constant change is killing for an organization. You need to adapt, but you need a stable baseline and make sure the change is in line with the overall strategy and company context.
    • A redesign is only successful if it really happens. Shifting people into new positions is not enough to implement a redesign. 

    Impact and results 

    • Define your redesign principles. They will act as a manifesto to your change. It also provides for a checklist, ensuring that the structure does not deviate from the business strategy.
    • Visualize the new design with a customized operating model for your company. It must demonstrate how IT creates value and supports the business value creation chains.
    • Define the future-state roles, functions, and responsibilities to enable your IT department to support the business effectively.

    The roadmap

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    Get started

    Our concise executive brief explains to you the challenges associated with the organizational redesign. We'll show you our methodology and the ways we can help you in completing this.

    Define your organizational design principles and select your operating model

    The design principles will govern your organizational redesign; Align the principles with your business strategy.

    • Redesign Your IT Organizational Structure – Phase 1: Craft Organizational Design Principles and Select an IT Operating Model (ppt)
    • Organizational Design Communications Deck (ppt)

    Customize the selected IT operating model to your company

    Your operating model must account for the company's nuances and culture.

    • Redesign Your IT Organizational Structure – Phase 2: Customize the IT Operating Model (ppt)
    • Operating Models and Capability Definition List (ppt)

    Design the target-state of your IT organizational structure

    Go from an operating model to the structure fit for your company.

    • Redesign Your IT Organizational Structure – Phase 3: Architect the Target-State IT Organizational Structure (ppt)
    • Organizational Design Capability RACI Chart (xls)
    • Work Unit Reference Structures (Visio)
    • Work Unit Reference Structures (pdf)

    Communicate the benefits of the new structure

    Change does not come easy. People will be anxious. Craft your communications to address critical concerns and obtain buy-in from the organization. If the reorganization will be painful, be up-front on that, and limit the time in which people are uncertain.

    • Redesign Your IT Organizational Structure – Phase 4: Communicate the Benefits of the New Organizational Structure (ppt)

     

    z-Series Modernization and Migration

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    Under the best of circumstances, mainframe systems are complex, expensive, and difficult to scale. In today’s world, applications written for mainframe legacy systems also present significant operational challenges to customers compounded by the dwindling pool of engineers who specialize in these outdated technologies. Many organizations want to migrate their legacy applications to the cloud but to do so they need to go through a lengthy migration process that is made more challenging by the complexity of mainframe applications.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    The most common tactic is for the organization to better realize their z/Series options and adopt a strategy built on complexity and workload understanding. To make the evident, obvious, the options here for the non-commodity are not as broad as with commodity server platforms and the mainframe is arguably the most widely used and complex non-commodity platform on the market.

    Impact and Result

    This research will help you:

    • Evaluate the future viability of this platform.
    • Assess the fit and purpose, and determine TCO
    • Develop strategies for overcoming potential challenges.
    • Determine the future of this platform for your organization.

    z/Series Modernization and Migration Research & Tools

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. z/Series Modernization and Migration Guide – A brief deck that outlines key migration options and considerations for the z/Series platform.

    This blueprint will help you assess the fit, purpose, and price; develop strategies for overcoming potential challenges; and determine the future of z/Series for your organization.

    • z/Series Modernization and Migration Storyboard

    2. Scale Up vs. Scale Out TCO Tool – A tool that provides organizations with a framework for TCO.

    Use this tool to play with the pre-populated values or insert your own amounts to compare possible database decisions, and determine the TCO of each. Note that common assumptions can often be false; for example, open-source Cassandra running on many inexpensive commodity servers can actually have a higher TCO over six years than a Cassandra environment running on a larger single expensive piece of hardware. Therefore, calculating TCO is an essential part of the database decision process.

    • Scale Up vs. Scale Out TCO Tool
    [infographic]

    Further reading

    z/Series Modernization and Migration

    The biggest migration is yet to come.

    Executive Summary

    Info-Tech Insight

    “A number of market conditions have coalesced in a way that is increasingly driving existing mainframe customers to consider running their application workloads on alternative platforms. In 2020, the World Economic Forum noted that 42% of core skills required to perform existing jobs are expected to change by 2022, and that more than 1 billion workers need to be reskilled by 2030.” – Dale Vecchio

    Your Challenge

    It seems like anytime there’s a new CIO who is not from the mainframe world there is immediate pressure to get off this platform. However, just as there is a high financial commitment required to stay on System Z, moving off is risky and potentially more costly. You need to truly understand the scale and complexity ahead of the organization.

    Common Obstacles

    Under the best of circumstances, mainframe systems are complex, expensive, and difficult to scale. In today’s world, applications written for mainframe legacy systems also present significant operational challenges to customers compounded by the dwindling pool of engineers who specialize in these outdated technologies. Many organizations want to migrate their legacy applications to the cloud, but to do so they need to go through a lengthy migration process that is made more challenging by the complexity of mainframe applications.

    Info-Tech Approach

    The most common tactic is for the organization to better realize its z/Series options and adopt a strategy built on complexity and workload understanding. To make the evident, obvious: the options here for the non-commodity are not as broad as with commodity server platforms and the mainframe is arguably the most widely used and complex non-commodity platform on the market.

    Review

    We help IT leaders make the most of their z/Series environment

    Problem statement:

    The z/Series remains a vital platform for many businesses and continues to deliver exceptional reliability and performance and play a key role in the enterprise. With the limited and aging resources at hand, CIOs and the like must continually review and understand their migration path with the same regard as any other distributed system roadmap.

    This research is designed for:

    IT strategic direction decision makers.

    IT managers responsible for an existing z/Series platform.

    Organizations evaluating platforms for mission critical applications.

    This research will help you:

    1. Evaluate the future viability of this platform.
    2. Assess the fit and purpose, and determine TCO.
    3. Develop strategies for overcoming potential challenges.
    4. Determine the future of this platform for your organization.

    Analyst Perspective

    Good Luck.

    Darin Stahl.

    Modernize the mainframe … here we go again.

    Prior to 2020, most organizations were muddling around in “year eleven of the four-year plan” to exit the mainframe platform where a medium-term commitment to the platform existed. Since 2020, it appears the appetite for the mainframe platform changed. Again. Discussions mostly seem to be about what the options are beyond hardware outsourcing or re-platforming to “cloud” migration of workloads – mostly planning and strategy topics. A word of caution: it would appear unwise to stand in front of the exit door for fear of being trampled.

    Hardware expirations between now and 2025 are motivating hosting deployments. Others are in migration activities, and some have already decommissioned and migrated but now are trying to rehab the operations team now lacking direction and/or structure.

    There is little doubt that modernization and “digital transformation” trends will drive more exit traffic, so IT leaders who are still under pressure to get off the platform need to assess their options and decide. Being in a state of perpetually planning to get off the mainframe handcuffs your ability to invest in the mainframe, address deficiencies, and improve cost-effectiveness.

    Darin Stahl
    Principal Research Advisor, Infrastructure & Operations Research
    Info-Tech Research Group

    The mainframe “fidget spinner”

    Thinking of modernizing your mainframe can cause you angst so grab a fidget spinner and relax because we have you covered!

    External Business Pressures:

    • Digital transformation
    • Modernization programs
    • Compliance and regulations
    • TCO

    Internal Considerations:

    • Reinvest
    • Migrate to a new platform
    • Evaluate public and vendor cloud alternatives
    • Hosting versus infrastructure outsourcing

    Info-Tech Insight

    With multiple control points to be addressed, care must be taken to simplify your options while addressing all concerns to ease operational load.

    The analyst call review

    “Who has Darin talked with?” – Troy Cheeseman

    Dating back to 2011, Darin Stahl has been the primary z/Series subject matter expert within the Infrastructure & Operations Research team. Below represents the percentage of calls, per industry, where z/Series advisory has been provided by Darin*:

    37% - State Government

    19% - Insurance

    11% - Municipality

    8% - Federal Government

    8% - Financial Services

    5% - Higher Education

    3% - Retail

    3% - Hospitality/Resort

    3% - Logistics and Transportation

    3% - Utility

    Based on the Info-Tech call history, there is a consistent cross section of industry members who not only rely upon the mainframe but are also considering migration options.

    Note:

    Of course, this only represents industries who are Info-Tech members and who called for advisory services about the mainframe.

    There may well be more Info-Tech members with mainframes who have no topic to discuss with us about the mainframe specifically. Why do we mention this?

    We caution against suggesting things like, ”somewhat less than 50% of mainframes live in state data centers” or any other extrapolated inference from this data.

    Our viewpoint and discussion is based on the cases and the calls that we have taken over the years.

    *37+ enterprise calls were reviewed and sampled.

    Scale out versus scale up

    For most workloads “scale out" (e.g. virtualized cloud or IaaS ) is going to provide obvious and quantifiable benefits.

    However, with some workloads (extremely large analytics or batch processing ) a "scale up" approach is more optimal. But the scale up is really limited to very specific workloads. Despite some assumptions, the gains made when moving from scale up to scale out are not linear.

    Obviously, when you scale out from a performance perspective you experience a drop in what a single unit of compute can do. Additionally, there will be latency introduced in the form of network overhead, transactions, and replication into operations that were previously done just bypassing object references within a single frame.

    Some applications or use cases will have to be architected or written differently (thinking about the high-demand analytic workloads at large scale). Remember the “grid computing” craze that hit us during the early part of this century? It was advantageous for many to distribute work across a grid of computing devices for applications but the advantage gained was contingent on the workload able to be parsed out as work units and then pulled back together through the application.

    There can be some interesting and negative consequences for analytics or batch operations in a large scale as mentioned above. Bottom line, as experienced previously with Microfocus mainframe ports to x86, the batch operations simply take much longer to complete.

    Big Data Considerations*:

    • Value: Data has no inherent value until it’s used to solve a business problem.
    • Variety: The type of data being produced is increasingly diverse and ranges from email and social media to geo-spatial and photographic data. This data may be difficult to process using a structured data model.
    • Volume: The sheer size of the datasets is growing exponentially, often ranging from terabytes to petabytes. This is complicating traditional data management strategies.
    • Velocity: The increasing speed at which data is being collected and processed is also causing complications. Big data is often time sensitive and needs to be captured in real time as it is streaming into the enterprise.

    *Build a Strategy for Big Data Platforms

    Consider your resourcing

    Below is a summary of concerns regarding core mainframe skills:

    1. System Management (System Programmers): This is the most critical and hard-to-replace skill since it requires in-depth low-level knowledge of the mainframe (e.g. at the MVS level). These are skills that are generally not taught anymore, so there is a limited pool of experienced system programmers.
    2. Information Management System (IMS) Specialists: Requires a combination of mainframe knowledge and data analysis skills, which makes this a rare skill set. This is becoming more critical as business intelligence takes on an ever-increasing focus in most organizations.
    3. Application Development: The primary concern here is a shortage of developers skilled in older languages such as COBOL. It should be noted that this is an application issue; for example, this is not solved by migrating off mainframes.
    4. Mainframe Operators: This is an easier skill set to learn, and there are several courses and training programs available. An IT person new to mainframes could learn this position in about six weeks of on-the-job training.
    5. DB2 Administration: Advances in database technology have simplified administration (not just for DB2 but also other database products). As a result, as with mainframe operators, this is a skill set that can be learned in a short period of time on the job.

    The Challenge

    An aging workforce, specialized skills, and high salary expectations

    • Mainframe specialists, such as system programmers and IMS specialists, are typically over 50, have a unique skill set, and are tasked with running mission-critical systems.

    The In-House Solution:

    Build your mentorship program to create a viable succession plan

    • Get your money’s worth out of your experienced staff by having them train others.
    • Operator skills take about six weeks to learn. However, it takes about two years before a system programmer trainee can become fully independent. This is similar to the learning curve for other platforms; however, this is a more critical issue for mainframes since organizations have far fewer mainframe specialists to fall back on when senior staff retire or move on.

    Understand your options

    Migrate to another platform

    Use a hosting provider

    Outsource

    Re-platform (cloud/vendors)

    Reinvest

    There are several challenges to overcome in a migration project, from finding an appropriate alternative platform to rewriting legacy code. Many organizations have incurred huge costs in the attempt, only to be unsuccessful in the end, so make this decision carefully.

    Organizations often have highly sensitive data on their mainframes (e.g. financial data), so many of these organizations are reluctant to have this data live outside of their four walls. However, the convenience of using a hosting provider makes this an attractive option to consider.

    The most common tactic is for the organization to adopt some level of outsourcing for the non-commodity platform, retaining the application support/development in-house.

    A customer can “re-platform” the non-commodity workload into public cloud offerings or in a few offerings
    “re-host.”

    If you’re staying with the mainframe and keeping it in-house, it’s important to continue to invest in this platform, keep it current, and look for opportunities to optimize its value.

    Migrate

    Having perpetual plans to migrate handcuffs your ability to invest in your mainframe, extend its value, and improve cost effectiveness.

    If this sounds like your organization, it’s time to do the analysis so you can decide and get clarity on the future of the mainframe in your organization.

    1. Identify current performance, availability, and security requirements. Assess alternatives based on this criteria.
    2. Review and use Info-Tech’s Mainframe TCO Comparison Tool to compare mainframe costs to the potential alternative platform.
    3. Assess the business risks and benefits. Can the alternative deliver the same performance, reliability, and security? If not, what are the risks? What do you gain by migrating?
    4. If migration is still a go, evaluate the following:
    • Do you have the expertise or a reliable third party to perform the migration, including code rewrites?
    • How long will the migration take? Can the business function effectively during this transition period?
    • How much will the migration cost? Is the value you expect to gain worth the expense?

    *3 of the top 4 challenges related to shortfalls of alternative platforms

    The image contains a bar graph that demonstrates challenges related to shortfalls of alternative platforms.

    *Source: Maximize the Value of IBM Mainframes in My Business

    Hosting

    Using a hosting provider is typically more cost-effective than running your mainframe in-house.

    Potential for reduced costs

    • Hosting enables you to reduce or eliminate your mainframe staff.
    • Economies of scale enable hosting providers to reduce software licensing costs. They also have more buying power to negotiate better terms.
    • Power and cooling costs are also transferred to the hosting provider.

    Reliable infrastructure and experienced staff

    • A quality hosting provider will have 24/7 monitoring, full redundancy, and proven disaster recovery capabilities.
    • The hosting provider will also have a larger mainframe staff, so they don’t have the same risk of suddenly being without those advanced critical skills.

    So, what are the risks?

    • A transition to a hosting provider usually means eliminating or significantly reducing your in-house mainframe staff. With that loss of in-house expertise, it will be next to impossible to bring the mainframe back in-house, and you become highly dependent on your hosting provider.

    Outsourcing

    The most common tactic is for the organization to adopt some level of outsourcing for the non-commodity platform, retaining the application support/development in-house.

    The options here for the non-commodity (z/Series, IBM Power platforms, for example) are not as broad as with commodity server platforms. More confusingly, the term “outsourcing” for these can include:

    Traditional/Colocation – A customer transitions their hardware environment to a provider’s data center. The provider can then manage the hardware and “system.”

    Onsite Outsourcing – Here a provider will support the hardware/system environment at the client’s site. The provider may acquire the customer’s hardware and provide software licenses. This could also include hiring or “rebadging” staff supporting the platform. This type of arrangement is typically part of a larger services or application transformation. While low risk, it is not as cost-effective as other deployment models.

    Managed Hosting – A customer transitions their legacy application environment to an off-prem hosted multi-tenanted environment. It will provide the most cost savings following the transition, stabilization, and disposal of existing environment. Some providers will provide software licensing, and some will also support “Bring Your Own,” as permitted by IBM terms for example.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Technical debt for non-commodity platforms isn’t only hardware based. Moving an application written for the mainframe onto a “cheaper” hardware platform (or outsourced deployment) leaves the more critical problems and frequently introduces a raft of new ones.

    Re-platform – z/Series COBOL Cloud

    Re-platforming is not trivial.

    While the majority of the coded functionality (JCLs, programs, etc.) migrate easily, there will be a need to re-code or re-write objects – especially if any object, code, or location references are not exactly the same in the new environment.

    Micro Focus has solid experience in this but if consider it within the context of an 80/20 rule (the actual metrics might be much better than that), meaning that some level of rework would have to be accomplished as an overhead to the exercise.

    Build that thought into your thinking and business case.

    AWS Cloud

    • Astadia (an AWS Partner) is re-platforming mainframe workloads to AWS. With its approach you reuse the original application source code and data to AWS services. Consider reviewing Amazon’s “Migrating a Mainframe to AWS in 5 Steps.”

    Azure Cloud

    Micro Focus COBOL (Visual COBOL)

    • Micro Focus' Visual COBOL also supports running COBOL in Docker containers and managing and orchestrating the containers with Kubernetes. I personally cannot imagine what sort of drunken bender decision would lead me to move COBOL into Docker and then use Kubernetes to run in GCP but there you are...if that's your Jam you can do it.

    Re-platform – z/Series (Non-COBOL)

    But what if it's not COBOL?

    Yeah, a complication for this situation is the legacy code.

    While re-platforming/re-hosting non-COBOL code is not new, we have not had many member observations compared to the re-platforming/re-hosting of COBOL functionality initiatives.

    That being said, there are a couple of interesting opportunities to explore.

    NTT Data Services (GLOBAL)

    • Most intriguing is the re-hosting of a mainframe environment into AWS. Not sure if the AWS target supports NATURAL codebase; it does reference Adabas however (Re-Hosting Mainframe Applications to AWS with NTT DATA Services). Nevertheless, NTT has supported re-platforming and NATURAL codebase environments previously.

    ModernSystems (or ModSys) has relevant experience.

    • ModSys is the resulting entity following a merger between BluePhoenix and ATERAS a number of years ago. ATERAS is the entity I find references to within my “wayback machine” for member discussions. There are also a number of published case studies still searchable about ATERAS’ successful re-platforming engagements, including the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) most famously after the Accenture project to rewrite it failed.

    ATOS, as a hosting vendor mostly referenced by customers with global locations in a short-term transition posture, could be an option.

    Lastly, the other Managed Services vendors with NATURAL and Adabas capabilities:

    Reinvest

    By contrast, reducing the use of your mainframe makes it less cost-effective and more challenging to retain in-house expertise.

    • For organizations that have migrated applications off the mainframe (at least partly to reduce dependency on the platform), inevitably there remains a core set of mission critical applications that cannot be moved off for reasons described on the “Migrate” slide. This is when the mainframe becomes a costly burden:
      • TCO is relatively high due to low utilization.
      • In-house expertise declines as workload declines and current staffing allocations become harder to justify.
    • Organizations that are instead adding capacity and finding new ways to use this platform have lower cost concerns and resourcing challenges. The charts below illustrate this correlation. While some capacity growth is due to normal business growth, some is also due to new workloads, and it reflects an ongoing commitment to the platform.

    *92% of organizations that added capacity said TCO is lower than for commodity servers (compared to 50% of those who did not add capacity)

    *63% of organizations that added capacity said finding resources is not very difficult (compared to 42% of those who did not add capacity)

    The image contains a bar graph as described in the above text. The image contains a bar graph as described in the above text.

    *Maximize the Value of IBM Mainframes in My Business

    An important thought about data migration

    Mainframe data migrations – “VSAM, IMS, etc.”

    • While the application will be replaced and re-platformed, there is the historical VIN data remaining in the VSAM files and access via the application. The challenge is that a bulk conversion can add upfront costs and delay the re-platforming of the application functionality. Some shops will break the historical data migration into a couple of phases.
    • While there are technical solutions to accessing VSAM data stores, what I have observed with other members facing a similar scenario is a need to “shrink” the data store over time. The technical accesses to historical VSAM records would also have a lifespan, and rather than kicking the can down the road indefinitely, many have turned to a process-based solution allowing them to shrink the historical data store over time. I have observed three approaches to the handling or digitization of historical records like this:

    Temporary workaround. This would align with a technical solution allowing the VASM files to be accessed using platforms other than on mainframe hardware (Micro Focus or other file store trickery). This can be accomplished relatively quickly but does run the risk of technology obsolesce for the workaround at some point in the future.

    Bulk conversion. This method would involve the extract/transform/load of the historical records into the new application platform. Often the order of the conversion is completed on work newest to oldest (the idea is that the newest historical records would have the highest likelihood of an access need), but all files would be converted to the new application and the old data store destroyed.

    Forward convert, which would have files undergo the extract/transform/load conversion into the new application as they are accessed or reopened. This method would keep historical records indefinitely or until they are converted – or the legal retention schedule allows for their destruction (hopefully no file must be kept forever). This could be a cost-efficient approach since the historical files remaining on the VSAM platform would be shrunk over time based on demand from the district attorney process. The conversion process could be automated and scripted, with a QR step allowing for the records to be deleted from the old platform.

    Info-Tech Insight

    It is not usual for organizations to leverage options #2 and #3 above to move the functionality forward while containing the scope creep and costs for the data conversions.

    Enterprise class job scheduling

    Job scheduling or data center automation?

    • Enterprise class job scheduling solutions enable complex unattended batched programmatically conditioned task/job scheduling.
    • Data center automation (DCIM) software automates and orchestrates the processes and workflow for infrastructure operations including provisioning, configuring, patching of physical, virtual, and cloud servers, and monitoring of tasks involved in maintaining the operations of a data center or Infrastructure environment.
    • While there maybe some overlap and or confusion between data center automation and enterprise class job scheduling solutions, data center automation (DCIM) software solutions are least likely to have support for non-commodity server platforms and lack robust scheduling functionality.

    Note: Enterprise job scheduling is a topic with low member interest or demand. Since our published research is driven by members’ interest and needs, the lack of activity or member demand would obviously be a significant influence into our ability to aggregate shared member insight, trends, or best practices in our published agenda.

    Data Center Automation (DCIM) Software

    Orchestration/Provisioning Software

    Enterprise class job scheduling features

    The feature set for these tools is long and comprehensive. The feature list below is not exhaustive as specific tools may have additional product capabilities. At a minimum, the solutions offered by the vendors in the list below will have the following capabilities:

    • Automatic restart and recovery
    • File management
    • Integration with security systems such as AD
    • Operator alerts
    • Ability to control spooling devices
    • Cross-platform support
    • Cyclical scheduling
    • Deadline scheduling
    • Event-based scheduling / triggers
    • Inter-dependent jobs
    • External task monitoring (e.g. under other sub-systems)
    • Multiple calendars and time-zones
    • Scheduling of packaged applications (such as SAP, Oracle, JD Edwards)
    • The ability to schedule web applications (e.g. .net, java-based)
    • Workload analysis
    • Conditional dependencies
    • Critical process monitoring
    • Event-based automation (“self-healing” processes in response to common defined error conditions)
    • Graphical job stream/workflow visualization
    • Alerts (job failure notifications, task thresholds (too long, too quickly, missed windows, too short, etc.) via multiple channels
    • API’s supporting programmable scheduler needs
    • Virtualization support
    • Workload forecasting and workload planning
    • Logging and message data supporting auditing capabilities likely to be informed by or compliant with regulatory needs such as Sarbanes, Gramme-Leach
    • Historical reporting
    • Auditing reports and summaries

    Understand your vendors and tools

    List and compare the job scheduling features of each vendor.

    • This is not presented as an exhaustive list.
    • The list relies on observations aggregated from analyst engagements with Info-Tech Research Group members. Those member discussions tend to be heavily tilted toward solutions supporting non-commodity platforms.
    • Nothing is implied about a solution suitability or capability by the order of presentation or inclusion or absence in this list.

    ✓ Advanced Systems Concepts

    ✓ BMC

    ✓ Broadcom

    ✓ HCL

    ✓ Fortra

    ✓ Redwood

    ✓ SMA Technologies

    ✓ StoneBranch

    ✓ Tidal Software

    ✓ Vinzant Software

    Info-Tech Insight

    Creating vendor profiles will help quickly filter the solution providers that directly meet your z/Series needs.

    Advanced Systems Concepts

    ActiveBatch

    Workload Management:

    Summary

    Founded in 1981, ASCs ActiveBatch “provides a central automation hub for scheduling and monitoring so that business-critical systems, like CRM, ERP, Big Data, BI, ETL tools, work order management, project management, and consulting systems, work together seamlessly with minimal human intervention.”*

    URL

    advsyscon.com

    Coverage:

    Global

    Amazon EC2

    Hadoop Ecosystem

    IBM Cognos

    DataStage

    IBM PureData (Netezza)

    Informatica Cloud

    Microsoft Azure

    Microsoft Dynamics AX

    Microsoft SharePoint

    Microsoft Team Foundation Server

    Oracle EBS

    Oracle PeopleSoft

    SAP

    BusinessObjects

    ServiceNow

    Teradata

    VMware

    Windows

    Linux

    Unix

    IBM i

    *Advanced Systems Concepts, Inc.


    BMC

    Control-M

    Workload Management:

    Summary

    Founded in 1980, BMCs Control-M product “simplifies application and data workflow orchestration on premises or as a service. It makes it easy to build, define, schedule, manage, and monitor production workflows, ensuring visibility, reliability, and improving SLAs.”*

    URL

    bmc.com/it-solutions/control-m.html

    Coverage:

    Global

    AWS

    Azure

    Google Cloud Platform

    Cognos

    IBM InfoSphere

    DataStage

    SAP HANA

    Oracle EBS

    Oracle PeopleSoft

    BusinessObjects

    ServiceNow

    Teradata

    VMware

    Windows

    Linux

    Unix

    IBM i

    IBM z/OS

    zLinux

    *BMC

    Broadcom

    Atomic Automation

    Autosys Workload Automation

    Workload Management:

    Summary

    Broadcom offers Atomic Automation and Autosys Workload Automation which ”gives you the agility, speed and reliability required for effective digital business automation. From a single unified platform, Atomic centrally provides the orchestration and automation capabilities needed accelerate your digital transformation and support the growth of your company.”*

    URL

    broadcom.com/products/software/automation/automic-automation

    broadcom.com/products/software/automation/autosys

    Coverage:

    Global


    Windows

    MacOS

    Linux

    UNIX

    AWS

    Azure

    Google Cloud Platform

    VMware

    z/OS

    zLinux

    System i

    OpenVMS

    Banner

    Ecometry

    Hadoop

    Oracle EBS

    Oracle PeopleSoft

    SAP

    BusinessObjects

    ServiceNow

    Teradata

    VMware

    Windows

    Linux

    Unix

    IBM i

    *Broadcom

    HCL

    Workload Automation

    Workload Management:

    Summary

    “HCL Workload Automation streamlined modelling, advanced AI and open integration for observability. Accelerate the digital transformation of modern enterprises, ensuring business agility and resilience with our latest version of one stop automation platform. Orchestrate unattended and event-driven tasks for IT and business processes from legacy to cloud and kubernetes systems.”*

    URL

    hcltechsw.com/workload-automation

    Coverage:

    Global


    Windows

    MacOS

    Linux

    UNIX

    AWS

    Azure

    Google Cloud Platform

    VMware

    z/OS

    zLinux

    System i

    OpenVMS

    IBM SoftLayer

    IBM BigInsights

    IBM Cognos

    Hadoop

    Microsoft Dynamics 365

    Microsoft Dynamics AX

    Microsoft SQL Server

    Oracle E-Business Suite

    PeopleSoft

    SAP

    ServiceNow

    Apache Oozie

    Informatica PowerCenter

    IBM InfoSphere DataStage

    Salesforce

    BusinessObjects BI

    IBM Sterling Connect:Direct

    IBM WebSphere MQ

    IBM Cloudant

    Apache Spark

    *HCL Software

    Fortra

    JAMS Scheduler

    Workload Management:

    Summary

    Fortra’s “JAMS is a centralized workload automation and job scheduling solution that runs, monitors, and manages jobs and workflows that support critical business processes.

    JAMS reliably orchestrates the critical IT processes that run your business. Our comprehensive workload automation and job scheduling solution provides a single pane of glass to manage, execute, and monitor jobs—regardless of platforms or applications.”*

    URL

    jamsscheduler.com

    Coverage:

    Global


    OpenVMS

    OS/400

    Unix

    Windows

    z/OS

    SAP

    Oracle

    Microsoft

    Infor

    Workday

    AWS

    Azure

    Google Cloud Compute

    ServiceNow

    Salesforce

    Micro Focus

    Microsoft Dynamics 365

    Microsoft Dynamics AX

    Microsoft SQL Server

    MySQL

    NeoBatch

    Netezza

    Oracle PL/SQL

    Oracle E-Business Suite

    PeopleSoft

    SAP

    SAS

    Symitar

    *JAMS

    Redwood

    Redwood SaaS

    Workload Management:

    Summary

    Founded in 1993 and delivered as a SaaS solution, ”Redwood lets you orchestrate securely and reliably across any application, service or server, in the cloud or on-premises, all inside a single platform. Automation solutions are at the core of critical business operations such as forecasting, replenishment, reconciliation, financial close, order to cash, billing, reporting, and more. Enterprises in every industry — from manufacturing, utility, retail, and biotech to healthcare, banking, and aerospace.”*

    URL

    redwood.com

    Coverage:

    Global


    OpenVMS

    OS/400

    Unix

    Windows

    z/OS

    SAP

    Oracle

    Microsoft

    Infor

    Workday

    AWS

    Azure

    Google Cloud Compute

    ServiceNow

    Salesforce

    Github

    Office 365

    Slack

    Dropbox

    Tableau

    Informatica

    SAP BusinessObjects

    Cognos

    Microsoft Power BI

    Amazon QuickSight

    VMware

    Xen

    Kubernetes

    *Redwood

    Fortra

    Robot Scheduler

    Workload Management:

    Summary

    “Robot Schedule’s workload automation capabilities allow users to automate everything from simple jobs to complex, event-driven processes on multiple platforms and centralize management from your most reliable system: IBM i. Just create a calendar of when and how jobs should run, and the software will do the rest.”*

    URL

    fortra.com/products/job-scheduling-software-ibm-i

    Coverage:

    Global


    IBM i (System i, iSeries, AS/400)

    AIX/UNIX

    Linux

    Windows

    SQL/Server

    Domino

    JD Edwards EnterpriseOne

    SAP

    Automate Schedule (formerly Skybot Scheduler)

    *Fortra

    SMA Technologies

    OpCon

    Workload Management:

    Summary

    Founded in1980, SMA offers to “save time, reduce error, and free your IT staff to work on more strategic contributions with OpCon from SMA Technologies. OpCon offers powerful, easy-to-use workload automation and orchestration to eliminate manual tasks and manage workloads across business-critical operations. It's the perfect fit for financial institutions, insurance companies, and other transactional businesses.”*

    URL

    smatechnologies.com

    Coverage:

    Global

    Windows

    Linux

    Unix

    z/Series

    IBM i

    Unisys

    Oracle

    SAP

    Microsoft Dynamics AX

    Infor M3

    Sage

    Cegid

    Temenos

    FICS

    Microsoft Azure Data Management

    Microsoft Azure VM

    Amazon EC2/AWS

    Web Services RESTful

    Docker

    Google Cloud

    VMware

    ServiceNow

    Commvault

    Microsoft WSUS

    Microsoft Orchestrator

    Java

    JBoss

    Asysco AMT

    Tuxedo ART

    Nutanix

    Corelation

    Symitar

    Fiserv DNA

    Fiserv XP2

    *SMA Technologies

    StoneBranch

    Universal Automation Center (UAC)

    Workload Management:

    Summary

    Founded in 1999, ”the Stonebranch Universal Automation Center (UAC) is an enterprise-grade business automation solution that goes beyond traditional job scheduling. UAC's event-based workload automation solution is designed to automate and orchestrate system jobs and tasks across all mainframe, on-prem, and hybrid IT environments. IT operations teams gain complete visibility and advanced control with a single web-based controller, while removing the need to run individual job schedulers across platforms.”*

    URL

    stonebranch.com/it-automation-solutions/enterprise-job-scheduling

    Coverage:

    Global

    Windows

    Linux

    Unix

    z/Series

    Apache Kafka

    AWS

    Databricks

    Docker

    GitHub

    Google Cloud

    Informatica

    Jenkins

    Jscape

    Kubernetes

    Microsoft Azure

    Microsoft SQL

    Microsoft Teams

    PagerDuty

    PeopleSoft

    Petnaho

    RedHat Ansible

    Salesforce

    SAP

    ServiceNow

    Slack

    SMTP and IMAP

    Snowflake

    Tableau

    VMware

    *Stonebranch

    Tidal Software

    Workload Automation

    Workload Management:

    Summary

    Founded in 1979, Tidal’s Workload Automation will “simplify management and execution of end-to-end business processes with our unified automation platform. Orchestrate workflows whether they're running on-prem, in the cloud or hybrid environments.”*

    URL

    tidalsoftware.com

    Coverage:

    Global

    CentOS

    Linux

    Microsoft Windows Server

    Open VMS

    Oracle Cloud

    Oracle Enterprise Linux

    Red Hat Enterprise Server

    Suse Enterprise

    Tandem NSK

    Ubuntu

    UNIX

    HPUX (PA-RISC, Itanium)

    Solaris (Sparc, X86)

    AIX, iSeries

    z/Linux

    z/OS

    Amazon AWS

    Microsoft Azure

    Oracle OCI

    Google Cloud

    ServiceNow

    Kubernetes

    VMware

    Cisco UCS

    SAP R/3 & SAP S/4HANA

    Oracle E-Business

    Oracle ERP Cloud

    PeopleSoft

    JD Edwards

    Hadoop

    Oracle DB

    Microsoft SQL

    SAP BusinessObjects

    IBM Cognos

    FTP/FTPS/SFTP

    Informatica

    *Tidal

    Vinzant Software

    Global ECS

    Workload Management:

    Summary

    Founded in 1987, Global ECS can “simplify operations in all areas of production with the GECS automation framework. Use a single solution to schedule, coordinate and monitor file transfers, database operations, scripts, web services, executables and SAP jobs. Maximize efficiency for all operations across multiple business units intelligently and automatically.”*

    URL

    vinzantsoftware.com

    Coverage:

    Global

    Windows

    Linux

    Unix

    iSeries

    SAP R/3 & SAP S/4HANA

    Oracle, SQL/Server

    *Vizant Software

    Activity

    Scale Out or Scale Up

    Activities:

    1. Complete the Scale Up vs. Scale Out TCO Tool.
    2. Compare total lifecycle costs to determine TCO.

    This activity involves the following participants:

    IT strategic direction decision makers

    IT managers responsible for an existing z/Series platform

    Organizations evaluating platforms for mission critical applications

    Outcomes of this step:

    • Completed Scale Up vs. Scale Out TCO Tool

    Info-Tech Insight

    This checkpoint process creates transparency around agreement costs with the business and gives the business an opportunity to re-evaluate its requirements for a potentially leaner agreement.

    Scale out versus scale up activity

    The Scale Up vs. Scale Out TCO Tool provides organizations with a framework for estimating the costs associated with purchasing and licensing for a scale-up and scale-out environment over a multi-year period.

    Use this tool to:

    • Compare the pre-populated values.
    • Insert your own amounts to contrast possible database decisions and determine the TCO of each.
    The image contains screenshots of the Scale Up vs. Scale Out TCO Tool.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Watch out for inaccurate financial information. Ensure that the financials for cost match your maintenance and contract terms.

    Use the Scale Up vs. Scale Out TCO Tool to determine your TCO options.

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    Build a Strategy for Big Data Platforms

    Know where to start and where to focus attention in the implementation of a big data strategy.

    Create a Better RFP Process

    Improve your RFPs to gain leverage and get better results.

    Research Authors

    Darin Stahl.

    Darin Stahl, Principal Research Advisor, Info-Tech Research Group

    Darin is a Principal Research Advisor within the Infrastructure Practice, and leveraging 38+ years of experience, his areas of focus include: IT Operations Management, Service Desk, Infrastructure Outsourcing, Managed Services, Cloud Infrastructure, DRP/BCP, Printer Management, Managed Print Services, Application Performance Monitoring/ APM, Managed FTP, non-commodity servers (z/Series, mainframe, IBM i, AIX, Power PC).

    Troy Cheeseman.

    Troy Cheeseman, Practice Lead, Info-Tech Research Group

    Troy has over 25 years of IT management experience and has championed large enterprise-wide technology transformation programs, remote/home office collaboration and remote work strategies, BCP, IT DRP, IT Operations and expense management programs, international right placement initiatives, and large technology transformation initiatives (M&A). Additionally, he has deep experience working with IT solution providers and technology (cloud) start-ups.

    Bibliography

    “AWS Announces AWS Mainframe Modernization.” Business Wire, 30 Nov. 2021.
    de Valence, Phil. “Migrating a Mainframe to AWS in 5 Steps with Astadia?” AWS, 23 Mar. 2018.
    Graham, Nyela. “New study shows mainframes still popular despite the rise of cloud—though times are changing…fast?” WatersTechnology, 12 Sept. 2022.
    “Legacy applications can be revitalized with API.” MuleSoft, 2022.
    Vecchio, Dale. “The Benefits of Running Mainframe Applications on LzLabs Software Defined Mainframe® & Microsoft Azure.” LzLabs Sites, Mar. 2021.

    Maximize Value From Your Value-Added Reseller (VAR)

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    • Parent Category Name: Vendor Management
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    Organizations need to understand their value-added reseller (VAR) portfolio and the greater VAR landscape to better:

    • Manage the VAR portfolio.
    • Understand additional value each VAR can provide.
    • Maximize existing VAR commitments.
    • Evaluate the VARs’ performance.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    VARs typically charge more for products because they are in some way adding value. If you’re not leveraging any of the provided value, you’re likely wasting money and should use a basic commodity-type reseller for procurement.

    Impact and Result

    This project will provide several benefits to Vendor Management and Procurement:

    • Defined VAR value and performance tracking.
    • Manageable portfolio of VARs that fully benefit the organization.
    • Added training, licensing advice, faster quoting, and invoicing resolution.
    • Reduced deployment and logistics costs.

    Maximize Value From Your Value-Added Reseller (VAR) Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our informative Executive Brief to find out why you should maximize value from your value-added reseller, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the three ways to better manage your VARs improve performance and reduce costs.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Organize and prioritize

    Organize all your VARs and create a manageable portfolio detailing their value, specific, product, services, and certifications.

    • Maximize Value From Your Value-Added Reseller – Phase 1: Organize and Prioritize
    • VAR Listing and Prioritization Tool

    2. “EvaluRate” your VARs

    Create an in-depth evaluation of the VARs’ capabilities.

    • Maximize Value From Your Value-Added Reseller – Phase 2: EvaluRate Your VARs
    • VAR Features Checklist Tool
    • VAR Profile and EvaluRation Tool

    3. Consolidate and reduce

    Assess each VAR for low performance and opportunity to increase value or consolidate to another VAR and reduce redundancy.

    • Maximize Value From Your Value-Added Reseller – Phase 3: Consolidate and Reduce

    4. Maximize their value

    Micro-manage your primary VARs to ensure performance to commitments and maximize their value.

    • Maximize Value From Your Value-Added Reseller – Phase 4: Maximize Their Value
    • VAR Information and Scorecard Workbook
    [infographic]

    2020 Security Priorities Report

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    • Parent Category Name: Security Strategy & Budgeting
    • Parent Category Link: /security-strategy-and-budgeting

    Use this deck to learn what projects security practitioners are prioritizing for 2020. Based on a survey of 460 IT security professionals, this report explains what you need to know about the top five priorities, including:

    • Signals and drivers
    • Benefits
    • Critical uncertainties
    • Case study
    • Implications

    While the priorities should in no way be read as prescriptive, this research study provides a high-level guide to understand that priorities drive the initiatives, projects, and responsibilities that make up organizations' security strategies.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    There is always more to do, and if IT leaders are to grow with the business, provide meaningful value, and ascend the ladder to achieve true business partner and innovator status, aggressive prioritization is necessary. Clearly, security has become a priority across organizations, as security budgets have continued to increase over the course of 2019. 2020’s priorities highlight that data security has become the thread that runs through all other security priorities, as data is now the currency of the modern digital economy. As a result, data security has reshaped organizations’ priorities to ensure that data is always protected.

    Impact and Result

    Ultimately, understanding how changes in technology and patterns of work stand to impact the day-to-day lives of IT staff across seniority and industries will allow you to evaluate what your priorities should be for 2020. Ensure that you’re spending your time right. Use data to validate. Prioritize and implement.

    2020 Security Priorities Report Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    This storyboard will help you understand what projects security practitioners are prioritizing for 2020.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Data security

    Data security often rubs against other organizational priorities like data quality, but organizations need to understand that the way they store, handle, and dispose of data is now under regulatory oversight.

    • 2020 Security Priorities Report – Priority 1: Data Security

    2. Cloud security

    Cloud security means that organizations can take advantage of automation tools not only for patching and patch management but also to secure code throughout the SDLC. It is clear that cloud will transform how security is performed.

    • 2020 Security Priorities Report – Priority 2: Cloud Security

    3. Email security

    Email security is critical, since email continues to be one of the top points of ingress for cyberattacks from ransomware to business email compromise.

    • 2020 Security Priorities Report – Priority 3: Email Security

    4. Security risk management

    Security risk management requires organizations to make decisions based on their individual risk tolerance on such things as machine learning and IoT devices.

    • 2020 Security Priorities Report – Priority 4: Security Risk Management

    5. Security awareness and training

    Human error continues to be a security issue. In 2020, organizations should tailor their security awareness and training to their people so that they are more secure not only at work but also in life.

    • 2020 Security Priorities Report – Priority 5: Security Awareness and Training
    [infographic]

    Deliver Digital Products at Scale

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    • Parent Category Name: Development
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    • Products are the lifeblood of an organization. They provide the capabilities the business needs to deliver value to both internal and external customers and stakeholders.
    • Product organizations are expected to continually deliver evolving value to the overall organization as they grow.
    • You need to clearly convey the direction and strategy of a broad product portfolio to gain alignment, support, and funding from your organization.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • Product delivery requires significant shifts in the way you complete development work and deliver value to your users. Make the changes that improve end-user value and enterprise alignment.
    • Your organizational goals and strategy are achieved through capabilities that deliver value. Your product hierarchy is the mechanism to translate enterprise goals, priorities, and constraints down to the product level where changes can be made.
    • Recognize that each product owner represents one of three primary perspectives: business, technical, and operational. Although all share the same capabilities, how they approach their responsibilities is influenced by their perspective.
    • The quality of your product backlog – and your ability to realize business value from your delivery pipeline – is directly related to the input, content, and prioritization of items in your product roadmap.
    • Your product family roadmap and product roadmap tell different stories. The product family roadmap represents the overall connection of products to the enterprise strategy, while the product roadmap focuses on the fulfillment of the product’s vision.
    • Although products can be delivered with any software development lifecycle, methodology, delivery team structure, or organizational design, high-performing product teams optimize their structure to fit the needs of product and product family delivery.

    Impact and Result

    • Understand the importance of product families for scaling product delivery.
    • Define products in your context and organize products into operational families.
    • Use product family roadmaps to align product roadmaps to enterprise goals and priorities.
    • Evaluate the different approaches to improve your product family delivery pipelines and milestones.

    Deliver Digital Products at Scale Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should define enterprise product families to scale your product delivery capability, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Become a product-centric organization

    Define products in your organization’s context and explore product families as a way to organize products at scale.

    • Deliver Digital Products at Scale – Phase 1: Become a Product-Centric Organization
    • Deliver Digital Products at Scale Workbook
    • Digital Product Family Strategy Playbook

    2. Organize products into product families

    Identify an approach to group the inventory of products into one or more product families.

    • Deliver Digital Products at Scale – Phase 2: Organize Products Into Product Families

    3. Ensure alignment between products and families

    Confirm alignment between your products and product families via the product family roadmap and a shared definition of delivered value.

    • Deliver Digital Products at Scale – Phase 3: Ensure Alignment Between Products and Families

    4. Bridge the gap between product families and delivery

    Agree on a delivery approach that best aligns with your product families.

    • Deliver Digital Products at Scale – Phase 4: Bridge the Gap Between Product Families and Delivery
    • Deliver Digital Products at Scale Readiness Assessment

    5. Build your transformation roadmap and communication plan

    Define your communication plan and transformation roadmap for transitioning to delivering products at the scale of your organization.

    • Deliver Digital Products at Scale – Phase 5: Transformation Roadmap and Communication

    Infographic

    Workshop: Deliver Digital Products at Scale

    Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

    1 Become a Product-Centric Organization

    The Purpose

    Define products in your organization’s context and explore product families as a way to organize products at scale.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    An understanding of the case for product practices

    A concise definition of products and product families

    Activities

    1.1 Understand your organizational factors driving product-centric delivery.

    1.2 Establish your organization’s product inventory.

    1.3 Determine your approach to scale product families.

    Outputs

    Organizational drivers and goals for a product-centric delivery

    Definition of product

    Product scaling principles

    Scaling approach and direction

    Pilot list of products to scale

    2 Organize Products Into Product Families

    The Purpose

    Identify a suitable approach to group the inventory of products into one or more product families.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    A scaling approach for products that fits your organization

    Activities

    2.1 Define your product families.

    Outputs

    Product family mapping

    Enabling applications

    Dependent applications

    Product family canvas

    3 Ensure Alignment Between Products and Families

    The Purpose

    Confirm alignment between your products and product families via the product family roadmap and a shared definition of delivered value.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    Recognition of the product family roadmap and a shared definition of value as key concepts to maintain alignment between your products and product families

    Activities

    3.1 Leverage product family roadmaps.

    3.2 Use stakeholder management to improve roadmap communication.

    3.3 Configure your product family roadmaps.

    3.4 Confirm product family to product alignment.

    Outputs

    Current approach for communication of product family strategy

    List of product family stakeholders and a prioritization plan for communication

    Defined key pieces of a product family roadmap

    An approach to confirming alignment between products and product families through a shared definition of business value

    4 Bridge the Gap Between Product Families and Delivery

    The Purpose

    Agree on the delivery approach that best aligns with your product families.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    An understanding of the team configuration and operating model required to deliver value through your product families

    Activities

    4.1 Assess your organization’s delivery readiness.

    4.2 Understand your delivery options.

    4.3 Determine your operating model.

    4.4 Identify how to fund product delivery.

    4.5 Learn how to introduce your digital product family strategy.

    4.6 Communicate changes on updates to your strategy.

    4.7 Determine your next steps.

    Outputs

    Assessment results on your organization’s delivery maturity

    A preferred approach to structuring product delivery

    Your preferred operating model for delivering product families

    Understanding of your preferred approach for product family funding

    Product family transformation roadmap

    Your plan for communicating your roadmap

    List of actionable next steps to start on your journey

    5 Advisory: Next Steps and Wrap-Up (offsite)

    The Purpose

    Implement your communication plan and transformation roadmap for transitioning to delivering products at the scale of your organization.

    Key Benefits Achieved

    New product family organization and supporting product delivery approach

    Activities

    5.1 Execute communication plan and product family changes.

    5.2 Review the pilot family implementation and update the transformation roadmap.

    5.3 Begin advisory calls for related blueprints.

    Outputs

    Organizational communication of product families and product family roadmaps

    Product family implementation and updated transformation roadmap

    Support for product owners, backlog and roadmap management, and other topics

    Further reading

    Deliver Digital Products at Scale

    Deliver value at the scale of your organization through defining enterprise product families.

    Analyst Perspective

    Product families align enterprise goals to product changes and value realization.

    A picture of Info-Tech analyst Banu Raghuraman. A picture of Info-Tech analyst Ari Glaizel. A picture of Info-Tech analyst Hans Eckman

    Our world is changing faster than ever, and the need for business agility continues to grow. Organizations are shifting from long-term project delivery to smaller, iterative product delivery models to be able to embrace change and respond to challenges and opportunities faster.

    Unfortunately, many organizations focus on product delivery at the tactical level. Product teams may be individually successful, but how well are their changes aligned to division and enterprise goals and priorities?

    Grouping products into operationally aligned families is key to delivering the right value to the right stakeholders at the right time.

    Product families translate enterprise goals, constraints, and priorities down to the individual product level so product owners can make better decisions and more effectively manage their roadmaps and backlogs. By scaling products into families and using product family roadmaps to align product roadmaps, product owners can deliver the capabilities that allow organizations to reach their goals.

    In this blueprint, we’ll provide the tools and guidance to help you define what “product” means to your organization, use scaling patterns to build product families, align product and product family roadmaps, and identify impacts to your delivery and organizational design models.

    Banu Raghuraman, Ari Glaizel, and Hans Eckman

    Applications Practice

    Info-Tech Research Group

    Deliver Digital Products at Scale

    Deliver value at the scale of your organization through defining enterprise product families.

    EXECUTIVE BRIEF

    Executive Summary

    Your Challenge

    • Products are the lifeblood of an organization. They deliver the capabilities needed to deliver value to customers, internal users, and stakeholders.
    • The shift to becoming a product organization is intended to continually increase the value you provide to the broader organization as you grow and evolve.
    • You need to clearly convey the direction and strategy of your product portfolio to gain alignment, support, and funding from your organization.

    Common Obstacles

    • IT organizations are traditionally organized to deliver initiatives in specific periods of time. This conflicts with product delivery, which continuously delivers value over the lifetime of a product.
    • Delivering multiple products together creates additional challenges because each product has its own pedigree, history, and goals.
    • Product owners struggle to prioritize changes to deliver product value. This creates a gap and conflict between product and enterprise goals.

    Info-Tech’s Approach

    Info-Tech’s approach will guide you through:

    • Understanding the importance of product families in scaling product delivery.
    • Defining products in your context and organizing products into operational families.
    • Using product family roadmaps to align product roadmaps to enterprise goals and priorities.
    • Evaluating the different approaches to improve your product family delivery pipelines and milestones.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Changes can only be made at the individual product or service level. To achieve enterprise goals and priorities, organizations needed to organize and scale products into operational families. This structure allows product managers to translate goals and constraints to the product level and allows product owners to deliver changes that support enabling capabilities. In this blueprint, we’ll help you define your products, scale them using the best patterns, and align your roadmaps and delivery models to improve throughput and value delivery.

    Info-Tech’s approach

    Operationally align product delivery to enterprise goals

    A flowchart is shown on how to operationally align product delivery to enterprise goals.

    The Info-Tech difference:

    1. Start by piloting product families to determine which approaches work best for your organization.
    2. Create a common definition of what a product is and identify products in your inventory.
    3. Use scaling patterns to build operationally aligned product families.
    4. Develop a roadmap strategy to align families and products to enterprise goals and priorities.
    5. Use products and families to evaluate delivery and organizational design improvements.

    Deliver Digital Products at Scale via Enterprise Product Families

    An infographic on the Enterprise Product Families is shown.

    Product does not mean the same thing to everyone

    Do not expect a universal definition of products.

    Every organization and industry has a different definition of what a product is. Organizations structure their people, processes, and technologies according to their definition of the products they manage. Conflicting product definitions between teams increase confusion and misalignment of product roadmaps.

    “A product [is] something (physical or not) that is created through a process and that provides benefits to a market.”

    - Mike Cohn, Founding Member of Agile Alliance and Scrum Alliance

    “A product is something ... that is created and then made available to customers, usually with a distinct name or order number.”

    - TechTarget

    “A product is the physical object ... , software or service from which customer gets direct utility plus a number of other factors, services, and perceptions that make the product useful, desirable [and] convenient.”

    - Mark Curphey

    Organizations need a common understanding of what a product is and how it pertains to the business. This understanding needs to be accepted across the organization.

    “There is not a lot of guidance in the industry on how to define [products]. This is dangerous because what will happen is that product backlogs will be formed in too many areas. All that does is create dependencies and coordination across teams … and backlogs.”

    – Chad Beier, "How Do You Define a Product?” Scrum.org

    What is a product?

    “A tangible solution, tool, or service (physical or digital) that enables the long-term and evolving delivery of value to customers and stakeholders based on business and user requirements.”

    Info-Tech Insight

    A proper definition of product recognizes three key facts:

    1. Products are long-term endeavors that don’t end after the project finishes.
    2. Products are not just “apps” but can be software or services that drive the delivery of value.
    3. There is more than one stakeholder group that derives value from the product or service.

    Products and services share the same foundation and best practices

    For the purpose of this blueprint, product/service and product owner/service owner are used interchangeably. Product is used for consistency but would apply to services as well.

    Product = Service

    “Product” and “service” are terms that each organization needs to define to fit its culture and customers (internal and external). The most important aspect is consistent use and understanding of:

    • External products
    • Internal products
    • External services
    • Internal services
    • Products as a service (PaaS)
    • Productizing services (SaaS)

    Recognize the different product owner perspectives

    Business:

    • Customer facing, revenue generating

    Technical:

    • IT systems and tools

    Operations:

    • Keep the lights on processes

    Info-Tech Best Practice

    Product owners must translate needs and constraints from their perspective into the language of their audience. Kathy Borneman, Digital Product Owner at SunTrust Bank, noted the challenges of finding a common language between lines of business and IT (e.g. what is a unit?).

    Info-Tech Insight

    Recognize that product owners represent one of three primary perspectives. Although all share the same capabilities, how they approach their responsibilities is influenced by their perspective.

    “A Product Owner in its most beneficial form acts like an Entrepreneur, like a 'mini-CEO'. The Product Owner is someone who really 'owns' the product.”

    – Robbin Schuurman, “Tips for Starting Product Owners”

    Identify the differences between a project-centric and a product-centric organization

    Project

    Product

    Fund projects

    Funding

    Fund products or teams

    Line of business sponsor

    Prioritization

    Product owner

    Makes specific changes to a product

    Product management

    Improve product maturity and support

    Assign people to work

    Work allocation

    Assign work to product teams

    Project manager manages

    Capacity management

    Team manages capacity

    Info-Tech Insight

    Product delivery requires significant shifts in the way you complete development work and deliver value to your users. Make the changes that support improving end-user value and enterprise alignment.

    Projects can be a mechanism for delivering product changes and improvements

    A flowchart is shown to demonstrate the difference between project lifecycle, hybrid lifecycle and product lifecycle.

    Projects within products

    Regardless of whether you recognize yourself as a product-based or project-based shop, the same basic principles should apply. The purpose of projects is to deliver the scope of a product release. The shift to product delivery leverages a product roadmap and backlog as the mechanism for defining and managing the scope of the release. Eventually, teams progress to continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) where they can release on demand or as scheduled, requiring org change management.

    Define product value by aligning backlog delivery with roadmap goals

    In each product plan, the backlogs show what you will deliver. Roadmaps identify when and in what order you will deliver value, capabilities, and goals.

    An image is shown to demonstrate the relationship between the product backlog and the product roadmap.

    Product roadmaps guide delivery and communicate your strategy

    In Deliver on Your Digital Product Vision, we demonstrate how the product roadmap is core to value realization. The product roadmap is your communicated path, and as a product owner, you use it to align teams and changes to your defined goals while aligning your product to enterprise goals and strategy.

    An example of a product roadmap is shown to demonstrate how it is the core to value realization.

    Adapted from: Pichler, "What Is Product Management?""

    Info-Tech Insight

    The quality of your product backlog – and your ability to realize business value from your delivery pipeline – is directly related to the input, content, and prioritization of items in your product roadmap.

    Use Agile DevOps principles to expedite product-centric delivery and management

    Delivering products does not necessarily require an Agile DevOps mindset. However, Agile methods facilitate the journey because product thinking is baked into them.

    A flowchart is shown to demonstrate the product deliery maturity and the Agile DevOps used.
    Based on: Ambysoft, 2018

    Organizations start with Waterfall to improve the predictable delivery of product features.

    Iterative development shifts the focus from delivery of features to delivery of user value.

    Agile further shifts delivery to consider ROI. Often, the highest-value backlog items aren’t the ones with the highest ROI.

    Lean and DevOps improve your delivery pipeline by providing full integration between product owners, development teams, and operations.

    CI/CD reduces time in process by allowing release on demand and simplifying release and support activities.

    Although teams will adopt parts of all these stages during their journey, it isn’t until you’ve adopted a fully integrated delivery chain that you’ve become product centric.

    Scale products into related families to improve value delivery and alignment

    Defining product families builds a network of related products into coordinated value delivery streams.

    A flowchart is shown to demonstrate the relations between product family and the delivery streams.

    “As with basic product management, scaling an organization is all about articulating the vision and communicating it effectively. Using a well-defined framework helps you align the growth of your organization with that of the company. In fact, how the product organization is structured is very helpful in driving the vision of what you as a product company are going to do.”

    – Rich Mironov, Mironov Consulting

    Product families translate enterprise goals into value-enabling capabilities

    A flowchart is shown to demonstrate the relationship between enterprise strategy and enabling capabilities.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Your organizational goals and strategy are achieved through capabilities that deliver value. Your product hierarchy is the mechanism to translate enterprise goals, priorities, and constraints down to the product level where changes can be made.

    Arrange product families by operational groups, not solely by your org chart

    A flowchart is shown to demonstrate how to arrange product families by operational groups.

    1. To align product changes with enterprise goals and priorities, you need to organize your products into operational groups based on the capabilities or business functions the product and family support.

    2. Product managers translate these goals, priorities, and constraints into their product families, so they are actionable at the next level, whether that level is another product family or products implementing enhancements to meet these goals.

    3. The product family manager ensures that the product changes enhance the capabilities that allow you to realize your product family, division, and enterprise goals.

    4. Enabling capabilities realize value and help reach your goals, which then drives your next set of enterprise goals and strategy.

    Approach alignment from both directions, validating by the opposite way

    Defining your product families is not a one-way street. Often, we start from either the top or the bottom depending on our scaling principles. We use multiple patterns to find the best arrangement and grouping of our products and families.

    It may be helpful to work partway, then approach your scaling from the opposite direction, meeting in the middle. This way you are taking advantage of the strengths in both approaches.

    Once you have your proposed structure, validate the grouping by applying the principles from the opposite direction to ensure each product and family is in the best starting group.

    As the needs of your organization change, you may need to realign your product families into your new business architecture and operational structure.

    A top-down alignment example is shown.

    When to use: You have a business architecture defined or clear market/functional grouping of value streams.

    A bottom-up alignment example is shown.

    When to use: You are starting from an Application Portfolio Management application inventory to build or validate application families.

    Leverage patterns for scaling products

    Organizing your products and families is easier when leveraging these grouping patterns. Each is explained in greater detail on the following slides

    Value Stream Alignment

    Enterprise Applications

    Shared Services

    Technical

    Organizational Alignment

    • Business architecture
      • Value stream
      • Capability
      • Function
    • Market/customer segment
    • Line of business (LoB)
    • Example: Customer group > value stream > products
    • Enabling capabilities
    • Enterprise platforms
    • Supporting apps
    • Example: HR > Workday/Peoplesoft > ModulesSupporting: Job board, healthcare administrator
    • Organization of related services into service family
    • Direct hierarchy does not necessarily exist within the family
    • Examples: End-user support and ticketing, workflow and collaboration tools
    • Domain grouping of IT infrastructure, platforms, apps, skills, or languages
    • Often used in combination with Shared Services grouping or LoB-specific apps
    • Examples: Java, .NET, low-code, database, network
    • Used at higher levels of the organization where products are aligned under divisions
    • Separation of product managers from organizational structure no longer needed because the management team owns product management role

    Leverage the product family roadmap for alignment

    It’s more than a set of colorful boxes. It’s the map to align everyone to where you are going.

    Your product family roadmap

      ✓ Lays out a strategy for your product family.

      ✓ Is a statement of intent for your family of products.

      ✓ Communicates direction for the entire product family and product teams.

      ✓ Directly connects to the organization’s goals.

    However, it is not:

      x Representative of a hard commitment.

      x A simple combination of your current product roadmaps.

    Before connecting your family roadmap to products, think about what each roadmap typically presents

    An example of a product family roadmap is shown and how it can be connected to the products.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Your product family roadmap and product roadmap tell different stories. The product family roadmap represents the overall connection of products to the enterprise strategy, while the product roadmap focuses on the fulfillment of the product’s vision.

    Product family roadmaps are more strategic by nature

    While individual product roadmaps can be different levels of tactical or strategic depending on a variety of market factors, your options are more limited when defining roadmaps for product families.

    Product

    TACTICAL

    A roadmap that is technical, committed, and detailed.

    Product Family

    STRATEGIC

    A roadmap that is strategic, goal based, high level, and flexible.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Roadmaps for your product family are, by design, less detailed. This does not mean they aren’t actionable! Your product family roadmap should be able to communicate clear intentions around the future delivery of value in both the near and long term.

    Consider volatility when structuring product family roadmaps

    A roadmap is shown without any changes.

    There is no such thing as a roadmap that never changes.

    Your product family roadmap represents a broad statement of intent and high-level tactics to get closer to the organization’s goals.

    A roadmap is shown with changes.

    All good product family roadmaps embrace change!

    Your strategic intentions are subject to volatility, especially those planned further in the future. The more costs you incur in planning, the more you leave yourself exposed to inefficiency and waste if those plans change.

    Info-Tech Insight

    A good product family roadmap is intended to manage and communicate the inevitable changes as a result of market volatility and changes in strategy.

    Product delivery realizes value for your product family

    While planning and analysis are done at the family level, work and delivery are done at the individual product level.

    PRODUCT STRATEGY

    What are the artifacts?

    What are you saying?

    Defined at the family level?

    Defined at the product level?

    Vision

    I want to...

    Strategic focus

    Delivery focus

    Goals

    To get there we need to...

    Roadmap

    To achieve our goals, we’ll deliver...

    Backlog

    The work will be done in this order...

    Release Plan

    We will deliver in the following ways...

    Typical elements of a product family roadmap

    While there are others, these represent what will commonly appear across most family-based roadmaps.

    An example is shown to highlight the typical elements of a product family roadmap.

    GROUP/CATEGORY: Groups are collections of artifacts. In a product family context, these are usually product family goals, value streams, or products.

    ARTIFACT: An artifact is one of many kinds of tangible by-products produced during the delivery of products. For a product family, the artifacts represented are capabilities or value streams.

    MILESTONE: Points in the timeline when established sets of artifacts are complete. This is a critical tool in the alignment of products in a given family.

    TIME HORIZON: Separated periods within the projected timeline covered by the roadmap.

    Connecting your product family roadmaps to product roadmaps

    Your product and product family roadmaps should be connected at an artifact level that is common between both. Typically, this is done with capabilities, but it can be done at a more granular level if an understanding of capabilities isn’t available.

    An example is shown on how the product family roadmpas can be connected to the product roadmaps.

    Multiple roadmap views can communicate differently, yet tell the same truth

    Audience

    Business/ IT Leaders

    Users/Customers

    Delivery Teams

    Roadmap View

    Portfolio

    Product Family

    Technology

    Objectives

    To provide a snapshot of the portfolio and priority products

    To visualize and validate product strategy

    To coordinate broad technology and architecture decisions

    Artifacts

    Line items or sections of the roadmap are made up of individual products, and an artifact represents a disposition at its highest level.

    Artifacts are generally grouped by product teams and consist of strategic goals and the features that realize those goals.

    Artifacts are grouped by the teams who deliver that work and consist of technical capabilities that support the broader delivery of value for the product family.

    Your communication objectives are linked to your audience; ensure you know your audience and speak their language

    I want to...

    I need to talk to...

    Because they are focused on...

    ALIGN PRODUCT TEAMS

    Get my delivery teams on the same page.

    Architects

    Products Owners

    PRODUCTS

    A product that delivers value against a common set of goals and objectives.

    SHOWCASE CHANGES

    Inform users and customers of product strategy.

    Bus. Process Owners

    End Users

    FUNCTIONALITY

    A group of functionality that business customers see as a single unit.

    ARTICULATE RESOURCE REQUIREMENTS

    Inform the business of product development requirements.

    IT Management

    Business Stakeholders

    FUNDING

    An initiative that those with the money see as a single budget.

    Assess the impacts of product-centric delivery on your teams and org design

    Product delivery can exist within any org structure or delivery model. However, when making the shift toward product management, consider optimizing your org design and product team structure to match your capacity and throughput needs.

    A flowchart is shown to see how the impacts of product-centric delivery can impact team and org designs.

    Determine which delivery team structure best fits your product pipeline

    Four delivery team structures are shown. The four are: functional roles, shared service and resource pools, product or system, and skills and competencies.

    Weigh the pros and cons of IT operating models to find the best fit

    There are many different operating models. LoB/Product Aligned and Hybrid Functional align themselves most closely with how products and product families are typically delivered.

    1. LoB/Product Aligned – Decentralized Model: Line of Business, Geographically, Product, or Functionally Aligned
    2. A decentralized IT operating model that embeds specific functions within LoBs/product teams and provides cross-organizational support for their initiatives.

    3. Hybrid Functional: Functional/Product Aligned
    4. A best-of-both-worlds model that balances the benefits of centralized and decentralized approaches to achieve both customer responsiveness and economies of scale.

    5. Hybrid Service Model: Product-Aligned Operating Model
    6. A model that supports what is commonly referred to as a matrix organization, organizing by highly related service categories and introducing the role of the service owner.

    7. Centralized: Plan-Build-Run
    8. A highly typical IT operating model that focuses on centralized strategic control and oversight in delivering cost-optimized and effective solutions.

    9. Centralized: Demand-Develop-Service
    10. A centralized IT operating model that lends well to more mature operating environments. Aimed at leveraging economies of scale in an end-to-end services delivery model.

    Consider how investment spending will differ in a product environment

    Reward for delivering outcomes, not features

    Autonomy

    Flexibility

    Accountability

    Fund what delivers value

    Allocate iteratively

    Measure and adjust

    Fund long-lived delivery of value through products (not projects).

    Give autonomy to the team to decide exactly what to build.

    Allocate to a pool based on higher-level business case.

    Provide funds in smaller amounts to different product teams and initiatives based on need.

    Product teams define metrics that contribute to given outcomes.

    Track progress and allocate more (or less) funds as appropriate.

    Adapted from Bain, 2019

    Info-Tech Insight

    Changes to funding require changes to product and Agile practices to ensure product ownership and accountability.

    Why is having a common value measure important?

    CIO-CEO Alignment Diagnostic

    A stacked bar graph is shown to demonstrate CIO-CEO Alignment Diagnostic. A bar titled: Business Value Metrics is highlighted. 51% had some improvement necessary and 32% had significant improvement necessary.

    Over 700 Info-Tech members have implemented the Balanced Value Measurement Framework.

    “The cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”

    – Oscar Wilde

    “Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.”

    – Warren Buffett

    Understanding where you derive value is critical to building solid roadmaps.

    Measure delivery and success

    Metrics and measurements are powerful tools to drive behavior change and decision making in your organization. However, metrics are highly prone to creating unexpected outcomes, so use them with great care. Use metrics judiciously to uncover insights but avoid gaming or ambivalent behavior, productivity loss, and unintended consequences.

    Build good practices in your selection and use of metrics:

    • Choose the metrics that are as close to measuring the desired outcome as possible.
    • Select the fewest metrics possible and ensure they are of the highest value to your team, the safest from gaming behaviors and unintended consequences, and the easiest to gather and report.
    • Never use metrics for reward or punishment; use them to develop your team.
    • Automate as much metrics gathering and reporting as possible.
    • Focus on trends rather than precise metrics values.
    • Review and change your metrics periodically.

    Executive Brief Case Study

    INDUSTRY: Public Sector & Financial Services

    SOURCE: Info-Tech Interviews

    A tale of two product transformations

    Two of the organizations we interviewed shared the challenges they experienced defining product families and the impact these challenges had on their digital transformations.

    A major financial services organization (2,000+ people in IT) had employed a top-down line of business–focused approach and found itself caught in a vicious circle of moving applications between families to resolve cross-LoB dependencies.

    A similarly sized public sector organization suffered from a similar challenge as grouping from the bottom up based on technology areas led to teams fragmented across multiple business units employing different applications built on similar technology foundations.

    Results

    Both organizations struggled for over a year to structure their product families. This materially delayed key aspects of their product-centric transformation, resulting in additional effort and expenditure delivering solutions piecemeal as opposed to as a part of a holistic product family. It took embracing a hybrid top-down and bottom-up approach and beginning with pilot product families to make progress on their transformation.

    A picture of Cole Cioran is shown.

    Cole Cioran

    Practice Lead,

    Applications Practice

    Info-Tech Research Group

    There is no such thing as a perfect product-family structure. There will always be trade-offs when you need to manage shifting demand from stakeholder groups spanning customers, business units, process owners, and technology owners.

    Focusing on a single approach to structure your product families inevitably leads to decisions that are readily challenged or are brittle in the face of changing demand.

    The key to accelerating a product-centric transformation is to build a hybrid model that embraces top-down and bottom-up perspectives to structure and evolve product families over time. Add a robust pilot to evaluate the structure and you have the key to unlocking the potential of product delivery in your organization.

    Info-Tech’s methodology for Deliver Digital Products at Scale

    1. Become a Product-Centric Organization

    2. Organize Products Into Product Families

    3. Ensure Alignment Between Products and Families

    4. Bridge the Gap Between Product Families and Delivery

    5. Build Your Transformation Roadmap and Communication Plan

    Phase Steps

    1.1 Understand the organizational factors driving product-centric delivery

    1.2 Establish your organization’s product inventory

    2.1 Determine your approach to scale product families

    2.2 Define your product families

    3.1 Leverage product family roadmaps

    3.2 Use stakeholder management to improve roadmap communication

    3.3 Configure your product family roadmaps

    3.4 Confirm goal and value alignment of products and their product families

    4.1 Assess your organization’s delivery readiness

    4.2 Understand your delivery options

    4.3 Determine your operating model

    4.4 Identify how to fund product family delivery

    5.1 Introduce your digital product family strategy

    5.2 Communicate changes on updates to your strategy

    5.3 Determine your next steps

    Phase Outcomes
    • Organizational drivers and goals for a product-centric delivery
    • Definition of product
    • Pilot list of products to scale
    • Product scaling principles
    • Scaling approach and direction
    • Product family mapping
    • Enabling applications
    • Dependent applications
    • Product family canvas
    • Approach for communication of product family strategy
    • Stakeholder management plan
    • Defined key pieces of a product family roadmap
    • An approach to confirming alignment between products and product families
    • Assessment of delivery maturity
    • Approach to structuring product delivery
    • Operating model for product delivery
    • Approach for product family funding
    • Product family transformation roadmap
    • Your plan for communicating your roadmap
    • List of actionable next steps to start on your journey

    Blueprint deliverables

    Each step of this blueprint is accompanied by supporting deliverables to help you accomplish your goals:

    Deliver Digital Products at Scale Workbook

    Use this supporting workbook to document interim results from a number of exercises that will contribute to your overall strategy.

    A screenshot of the Scale Workbook is shown.

    Deliver Digital Products at Scale Readiness Assessment

    Your strategy needs to encompass your approaches to delivery. Understand where you need to focus using this simple assessment.

    A screenshot of the Scale Readiness Assessment is shown.

    Key deliverable:

    Digital Product Family Strategy Playbook

    Record the results from the exercises to help you define, detail, and deliver digital products at scale.

    A screenshot of the Digital Product Family Strategy Playbook is shown.

    Blueprint benefits

    IT Benefits

    • Improved product delivery ROI.
    • Improved IT satisfaction and business support.
    • Greater alignment between product delivery and product family goals.
    • Improved alignment between product delivery and organizational models.
    • Better support for Agile/DevOps adoption.

    Business Benefits

    • Increased value realization across product families.
    • Faster delivery of enterprise capabilities.
    • Improved IT satisfaction and business support.
    • Greater alignment between product delivery and product family goals.
    • Uniform understanding of product and product family roadmaps and key milestones.

    Measure the value of this blueprint

    Align product family metrics to product delivery and value realization.

    Member Outcome Suggested Metric Estimated Impact

    Increase business application satisfaction

    Satisfaction with business applications (CIO Business Vision diagnostic)

    20% increase within one year after implementation

    Increase effectiveness of application portfolio management

    Effectiveness of application portfolio management (Management & Governance diagnostic)

    20% increase within one year after implementation

    Increase importance and effectiveness of application portfolio

    Importance and effectiveness to business ( Application Portfolio Assessment diagnostic)

    20% increase within one year after implementation

    Increase satisfaction of support of business operations

    Support to business (CIO Business Vision diagnostic.

    20% increase within one year after implementation

    Successfully deliver committed work (productivity)

    Number of successful deliveries; burndown

    20% increase within one year after implementation

    Info-Tech offers various levels of support to best suit your needs

    DIY Toolkit

    "Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful."

    Guided Implementation

    "Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keeps us on track."

    Workshop

    "We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place."

    Consulting

    "Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project."

    Diagnostics and consistent frameworks are used throughout all four options.

    Guided Implementation

    What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

    Phase 1: Become a Product-Centric Organization

    Phase 2: Organize Products Into Product Families

    Phase 3: Ensure Alignment Between Products and Families

    Phase 4: Bridge the Gap Between Product Families and Delivery

    Call #1: Scope requirements, objectives, and your specific challenges.

    Call #2: Define products and product families in your context.

    Call #3: Understand the list of products in your context.

    Call #4: Define your scaling principles and goals.

    Call #5: Select a pilot and define your product families.

    Call #6: Understand the product family roadmap as a method to align products to families.

    Call #7: Define components of your product family roadmap and confirm alignment.

    Call #8: Assess your delivery readiness.

    Call #9: Discuss delivery, operating, and funding models relevant to delivering product families.

    Call #10: Wrap up.

    A Guided Implementation (GI) is a series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization. A typical GI is between 8 to 12 calls over the course of 4 to 6 months.

    Workshop Overview

    Contact your account representative for more information.

    workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889

    Day 1

    Become a Product-Centric Organization

    Day 2

    Organize Products Into Product Families

    Day 3

    Ensure Alignment Between Products and Families

    Day 4

    Bridge the Gap Between Product Families and Delivery

    Advisory

    Next Steps and Wrap-Up (offsite)

    Activities

    1.1 Understand your organizational factors driving product-centric delivery.

    1.2 Establish your organization’s product inventory.

    2.1 Determine your approach to scale product families.

    2.2 Define your product families.

    3.1 Leverage product family roadmaps.

    3.2 Use stakeholder management to improve roadmap communication.

    3.3 Configure your product family roadmaps.

    3.4 Confirm product family to product alignment.

    4.1 Assess your organization’s delivery readiness.

    4.2 Understand your delivery options.

    4.3 Determine your operating model.

    4.4 Identify how to fund product family delivery.

    5.1 Learn how to introduce your digital product family strategy.

    5.2 Communicate changes on updates to your strategy.

    5.3 Determine your next steps.

    1. Execute communication plan and product family changes.
    2. Review the pilot family implementation and update the transformation roadmap.
    3. Begin advisory calls for related blueprints.

    Key Deliverables

    1. Organizational drivers and goals for a product-centric delivery
    2. Definition of product
    3. Product scaling principles
    4. Scaling approach and direction
    5. Pilot list of products to scale
    1. Product family mapping
    2. Enabling applications
    3. Dependent applications
    4. Product family canvas
    1. Current approach for communication of product family strategy
    2. List of product family stakeholders and a prioritization plan for communication
    3. Defined key pieces of a product family roadmap
    4. An approach to confirming alignment between products and product families through a shared definition of business value
    1. Assessment results on your organization’s delivery maturity
    2. A preferred approach to structuring product delivery
    3. Your preferred operating model for delivering product families
    4. Understanding your preferred approach for product family funding
    5. Product family transformation roadmap
    6. Your plan for communicating your roadmap
    7. List of actionable next steps to start on your journey
    1. Organizational communication of product families and product family roadmaps
    2. Product family implementation and updated transformation roadmap
    3. Support for product owners, backlog and roadmap management, and other topics

    Phase 1

    Become a Product-Centric Organization

    Phase 1Phase 2Phase 3Phase 4Phase 5

    1.1 Understand the organizational factors driving product-centric delivery

    1.2 Establish your organization’s product inventory

    2.1 Determine your approach to scale product families

    2.2 Define your product families

    3.1 Leverage product family roadmaps

    3.2 Use stakeholder management to improve roadmap communication

    3.3 Configure your product family roadmaps

    3.4 Confirm product family to product alignment

    4.1 Assess your organization’s delivery readiness

    4.2 Understand your delivery options

    4.3 Determine your operating model

    4.4 Identify how to fund product family delivery

    5.1 Learn how to introduce your digital product family strategy

    5.2 Communicate changes on updates to your strategy

    5.3 Determine your next steps

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    1.1.1 Understand your drivers for product-centric delivery

    1.1.2 Identify the differences between project and product delivery

    1.1.3 Define the goals for your product-centric organization

    1.2.1 Define “product” in your context

    1.2.2 Identify and establish a pilot list of products

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Development team leads
    • Portfolio managers’
    • Business analysts

    Step 1.1

    Understand the organizational factors driving product-centric delivery

    Activities

    1.1.1 Understand your drivers for product-centric delivery

    1.1.2 Identify the differences between project and product delivery

    1.1.3 Define the goals for your product-centric organization

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Development team leads
    • Portfolio managers’
    • Business analysts

    Outcomes of this step

    • Organizational drivers to move to product-centric delivery
    • List of differences between project and product delivery
    • Goals for product-centric delivery

    1.1.1 Understand your drivers for product-centric delivery

    30-60 minutes

    1. Identify your pain points in the current delivery model.
    2. What is the root cause of these pain points?
    3. How will a product-centric delivery model fix the root cause?
    4. Record the results in the Deliver Digital Products at Scale Workbook.
    Pain Points Root Causes Drivers
    • Lack of ownership
    • Siloed departments
    • Accountability

    Output

    • Organizational drivers to move to product-centric delivery.

    Participants

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Development team leads
    • Portfolio managers
    • Business analysts

    Record the results in the Deliver Digital Products at Scale Workbook.

    1.1.2 Identify the differences between project and product delivery

    30-60 minutes

    1. Consider project delivery and product delivery.
    2. Discuss what some differences are between the two.
    3. Note: This exercise is not about identifying the advantages and disadvantages of each style of delivery. This is to identify the variation between the two.

    4. Record the results in the Deliver Digital Products at Scale Workbook.
    Project Delivery Product Delivery
    Point in time What is changed
    Method of funding changes Needs an owner

    Output

    • List of differences between project and product delivery

    Participants

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Development team leads
    • Portfolio managers
    • Business analysts

    Record the results in the Deliver Digital Products at Scale Workbook.

    Identify the differences between a project-centric and a product-centric organization

    Project Product
    Fund projects Funding Fund products or teams
    Line of business sponsor Prioritization Product owner
    Makes specific changes to a product Product management Improves product maturity and support
    Assignment of people to work Work allocation Assignment of work to product teams
    Project manager manages Capacity management Team manages capacity

    Info-Tech Insight

    Product delivery requires significant shifts in the way you complete development work and deliver value to your users. Make the changes that support improving end-user value and enterprise alignment.

    Projects can be a mechanism for funding product changes and improvements

    A flowchart is shown to demonstrate the difference between project lifecycle, hybrid lifecycle, and product lifecycle.

    Projects within products

    Regardless of whether you recognize yourself as a product-based or project-based shop, the same basic principles should apply.

    The purpose of projects is to deliver the scope of a product release. The shift to product delivery leverages a product roadmap and backlog as the mechanism for defining and managing the scope of the release.

    Eventually, teams progress to continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) where they can release on demand or as scheduled, requiring org change management.

    Use Agile DevOps principles to expedite product-centric delivery and management

    Delivering products does not necessarily require an Agile DevOps mindset. However, Agile methods facilitate the journey because product thinking is baked into them.

    A flowchart is shown to demonstrate the product delivery maturity and the Agile DevOps used.

    Based on: Ambysoft, 2018

    Organizations start with Waterfall to improve the predictable delivery of product features.

    Iterative development shifts the focus from delivery of features to delivery of user value.

    Agile further shifts delivery to consider ROI. Often, the highest-value backlog items aren’t the ones with the highest ROI.

    Lean and DevOps improve your delivery pipeline by providing full integration between product owners, development teams, and operations.

    CI/CD reduces time in process by allowing release on demand and simplifying release and support activities.

    Although teams will adopt parts of all these stages during their journey, it isn’t until you’ve adopted a fully integrated delivery chain that you’ve become product centric.

    1.1.3 Define the goals for your product-centric organization

    30 minutes

    1. Review your list of drivers from exercise 1.1.1 and the differences between project and product delivery from exercise 1.1.2.
    2. Define your goals for achieving a product-centric organization.
    3. Note: Your drivers may have already covered the goals. If so, review if you would like to change the drivers based on your renewed understanding of the differences between project and product delivery.

    Pain PointsRoot CausesDriversGoals
    • Lack of ownership
    • Siloed departments
    • Accountability
    • End-to-end ownership

    Output

    • Goals for product-centric delivery

    Participants

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Development team leads
    • Portfolio managers’
    • Business analysts

    Record the results in the Deliver Digital Products at Scale Workbook.

    Step 1.2

    Establish your organization’s product inventory

    Activities

    1.2.1 Define “product” in your context

    1.2.2 Identify and establish a pilot list of products

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Development team leads
    • Portfolio managers’
    • Business analysts

    Outcomes of this step

    • Your organizational definition of products and services
    • A pilot list of active products

    Product does not mean the same thing to everyone

    Do not expect a universal definition of products.

    Every organization and industry has a different definition of what a product is. Organizations structure their people, processes, and technologies according to their definition of the products they manage. Conflicting product definitions between teams increase confusion and misalignment of product roadmaps.

    “A product [is] something (physical or not) that is created through a process and that provides benefits to a market.”

    - Mike Cohn, Founding Member of Agile Alliance and Scrum Alliance

    “A product is something ... that is created and then made available to customers, usually with a distinct name or order number.”

    - TechTarget

    “A product is the physical object ... , software or service from which customer gets direct utility plus a number of other factors, services, and perceptions that make the product useful, desirable [and] convenient.”

    - Mark Curphey

    Organizations need a common understanding of what a product is and how it pertains to the business. This understanding needs to be accepted across the organization.

    “There is not a lot of guidance in the industry on how to define [products]. This is dangerous because what will happen is that product backlogs will be formed in too many areas. All that does is create dependencies and coordination across teams … and backlogs.”

    – Chad Beier, "How Do You Define a Product?” Scrum.org

    Products and services share the same foundation and best practices

    For the purpose of this blueprint, product/service and product owner/service owner are used interchangeably. Product is used for consistency but would apply to services as well.

    Product = Service

    “Product” and “service” are terms that each organization needs to define to fit its culture and customers (internal and external). The most important aspect is consistent use and understanding of:

    • External products
    • Internal products
    • External services
    • Internal services
    • Products as a service (PaaS)
    • Productizing services (SaaS)

    Recognize the different product owner perspectives

    Business:

    • Customer facing, revenue generating

    Technical:

    • IT systems and tools

    Operations

    • Keep the lights on processes

    Info-Tech Best Practice

    Product owners must translate needs and constraints from their perspective into the language of their audience. Kathy Borneman, Digital Product Owner at SunTrust Bank, noted the challenges of finding a common language between lines of business and IT (e.g. what is a unit?).

    Info-Tech Insight

    Recognize that product owners represent one of three primary perspectives. Although all share the same capabilities, how they approach their responsibilities is influenced by their perspective.

    “A Product Owner in its most beneficial form acts like an Entrepreneur, like a 'mini-CEO'. The Product Owner is someone who really 'owns' the product.”

    – Robbin Schuurman, “Tips for Starting Product Owners”

    Your product definition should include everything required to support it, not just what users see.

    A picture of an iceburg is shown, showing the ice both above and below the water to demonstrate that the product definition should include everything, not just what users see. On top of the picture are various words to go with the product definition. They inlude: funding, external relationships, adoption, product strategy, stakeholder managment. The product defitions that may not be seen include: Product governance, business functionality, user support, managing and governing data, maintenance and enhancement, R-and-D, requirements analysis and design, code, and knowledge management.

    Establish where product management would be beneficial in the organization

    What does not need product ownership?

    • Individual features
    • Transactions
    • Unstructured data
    • One-time solutions
    • Non-repeatable processes
    • Solutions that have no users or consumers
    • People or teams

    Characteristics of a discrete product

    • Has end users or consumers
    • Delivers quantifiable value
    • Evolves or changes over time
    • Has predictable delivery
    • Has definable boundaries
    • Has a cost to produce and operate

    Product capabilities deliver value!

    These are the various facets of a product. As a product owner, you are responsible for managing these facets through your capabilities and activities.

    A flowchart is shown that demonstrates the various facets of a product.

    It is easy to lose sight of what matters when we look at a product from a single point of view. Despite what The Agile Manifesto says, working software is not valuable without the knowledge and support that people need in order to adopt, use, and maintain it. If you build it, they will not come. Product leaders must consider the needs of all stakeholders when designing and building products.

    Define product value by aligning backlog delivery with roadmap goals

    In each product plan, the backlogs show what you will deliver. Roadmaps identify when and in what order you will deliver value, capabilities, and goals.

    An image is shown to demonstrate the relationship between the product backlog and the product roadmap.

    Product roadmaps guide delivery and communicate your strategy

    In Deliver on Your Digital Product Vision, we demonstrate how the product roadmap is core to value realization. The product roadmap is your communicated path, and as a product owner, you use it to align teams and changes to your defined goals while aligning your product to enterprise goals and strategy.

    An example of a product roadmap is shown to demonstrate how it is the core to value realization.

    Info-Tech Insight

    The quality of your product backlog – and your ability to realize business value from your delivery pipeline – is directly related to the input, content, and prioritization of items in your product roadmap.

    What is a product?

    Not all organizations will define products in the same way. Take this as a general example:

    “A tangible solution, tool, or service (physical or digital) that enables the long-term and evolving delivery of value to customers and stakeholders based on business and user requirements.”

    Info-Tech Insight

    A proper definition of product recognizes three key facts:

    1. Products are long-term endeavors that don’t end after the project finishes.
    2. Products are not just “apps” but can be software or services that drive the delivery of value.
    3. There is more than one stakeholder group that derives value from the product or service.

    1.2.1 Define “product” in your context

    30-60 minutes

    1. Discuss what “product” means in your organization.
    2. Create a common, enterprise-wide definition for “product.”
    3. Record the results in the Deliver Digital Products at Scale Workbook.

    For example:

    • An application, platform, or application family.
    • Discrete items that deliver value to a user/customer.

    Output

    • Your enterprise/organizational definition of products and services

    Participants

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Development team leads
    • Portfolio managers’
    • Business analysts

    Record the results in the Deliver Digital Products at Scale Workbook.

    1.2.2 Identify and establish a pilot list of products

    1-2 hours

    1. Review any current documented application inventory. If you have these details in an existing document, share it with the team. Select the group of applications for your family scaling pilot.
    2. List your initial application inventory on the Product List tab of the Deliver Digital Products at Scale Workbook.
  • For each of the products listed, add the vision and goals of the product. Refer to Deliver on Your Digital Product Vision to learn more about identifying vision and goals or to complete the product vision canvas.
  • You’ll add business capabilities and vision in Phase 2, but you can add these now if they are available in your existing inventory.
  • Output

    • A pilot list of active products

    Participants

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Development team leads
    • Portfolio managers’
    • Business analysts

    Record the results in the Deliver Digital Products at Scale Workbook.

    Phase 2

    Organize Products Into Product Families

    Phase 1Phase 2Phase 3Phase 4Phase 5

    1.1 Understand the organizational factors driving product-centric delivery

    1.2 Establish your organization’s product inventory

    2.1 Determine your approach to scale product families

    2.2 Define your product families

    3.1 Leverage product family roadmaps

    3.2 Use stakeholder management to improve roadmap communication

    3.3 Configure your product family roadmaps

    3.4 Confirm product family to product alignment

    4.1 Assess your organization’s delivery readiness

    4.2 Understand your delivery options

    4.3 Determine your operating model

    4.4 Identify how to fund product family delivery

    5.1 Learn how to introduce your digital product family strategy

    5.2 Communicate changes on updates to your strategy

    5.3 Determine your next steps

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    2.1.1 Define your scaling principles and goals

    2.1.2 Define your pilot product family areas and direction

    2.2.1 Arrange your applications and services into product families

    2.2.2 Define enabling and supporting applications

    2.2.3 Build your product family canvas

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Development team leads
    • Portfolio managers’
    • Business analysts

    Step 2.1

    Determine your approach to scale product families

    Activities

    2.1.1 Define your scaling principles and goals

    2.1.2 Define your pilot product family areas and direction

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Development team leads
    • Portfolio managers’
    • Business analysts

    Outcomes of this step

    • List of product scaling principles
    • Scope of product scaling pilot and target areas
    • Scaling approach and direction

    Use consistent terminology for product and service families

    In this blueprint, we refer to any grouping of products or services as a “family.” Your organization may prefer other terms, such as product/service line, portfolio, group, etc. The underlying principles for grouping and managing product families are the same, so define the terminology that fits best with your culture. The same is true for “products” and “services,” which may also be referred to in different terms.

    An example flowchart is displayed to demonstrate the terminology for product and service families.

    A product family is a logical and operational grouping of related products or services. The grouping provides a scaled hierarchy to translate goals, priorities, strategy, and constraints down the grouping while aligning value realization upwards.

    Group product families by related purpose to improve business value

    Families should be scaled by how the products operationally relate to each other, with clear boundaries and common purpose.

    A product family contains...

    • Vision
    • Goals
    • Cumulative roadmap of the products within the family

    A product family can be grouped by...

    • Function
    • Value stream and capability
    • Customer segments or end-user group
    • Strategic purpose
    • Underlying architecture
    • Common technology or support structures
    • And many more
    A flowchart is shown to demonstrate the product family and product relations.

    Scale products into related families to improve value delivery and alignment

    Defining product families builds a network of related products into coordinated value delivery streams.

    A flowchart is shown to demonstrate the relations between product family and the delivery streams.

    “As with basic product management, scaling an organization is all about articulating the vision and communicating it effectively. Using a well-defined framework helps you align the growth of your organization with that of the company. In fact, how the product organization is structured is very helpful in driving the vision of what you as a product company are going to do.”

    – Rich Mironov, Mironov Consulting

    Product families translate enterprise goals into value-enabling capabilities

    A flowchart is shown to demonstrate the relationship between enterprise strategy and enabling capabilities.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Your organizational goals and strategy are achieved through capabilities that deliver value. Your product hierarchy is the mechanism to translate enterprise goals, priorities, and constraints down to the product level where changes can be made.

    Arrange product families by operational groups, not solely by your org chart

    A flowchart is shown to demonstrate how to arrange product families by operational groups.

    1. To align product changes with enterprise goals and priorities, you need to organize your products into operational groups based on the capabilities or business functions the product and family support.

    2. Product managers translate these goals, priorities, and constraints into their product families, so they are actionable at the next level, whether that level is another product family or products implementing enhancements to meet these goals.

    3. The product family manager ensures that the product changes enhance the capabilities that allow you to realize your product family, division, and enterprise goals.

    4. Enabling capabilities realize value and help reach your goals, which then drives your next set of enterprise goals and strategy.

    Product families need owners with a more strategic focus

    Product Owner

    (More tactical product delivery focus)

    • Backlog management and prioritization
    • Product vision and product roadmap
    • Epic/story definition, refinement in conjunction with business stakeholders
    • Sprint planning with Scrum Master and delivery team
    • Working with Scrum Master to minimize disruption to team velocity
    • Ensuring alignment between business and Scrum teams during sprints
    • Profit and loss (P&L) product analysis and monitoring

    Product Manager

    (More strategic product family focus)

    • Product strategy, positioning, and messaging
    • Product family vision and product roadmap
    • Competitive analysis and positioning
    • New product innovation/definition
    • Release timing and focus (release themes)
    • Ongoing optimization of product-related marketing and sales activities
    • P&L product analysis and monitoring

    Info-Tech Insight

    “Product owner” and “product manager” are terms that should be adapted to fit your culture and product hierarchy. These are not management relationships but rather a way to structure related products and services that touch the same end users. Use the terms that work best in your culture.

    Download Build a Better Product Owner for role support.

    2.1.1 Define your scaling principles and goals

    30-60 minutes

    1. Discuss the guiding principles for your product scaling model. Your guiding principles should consider key business priorities, organizational culture, and division/team objectives, such as improving:
    • Business agility and ability to respond to changes and needs.
    • Alignment of product roadmaps to enterprise goals and priorities.
    • Collaboration between stakeholders and product delivery teams.
    • Resource utilization and productivity.
    • The quality and value of products.
    • Coordination between related products and services.

    Output

    • List of product scaling principles

    Participants

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Development team leads
    • Portfolio managers’
    • Business analysts

    Record the results in the Deliver Digital Products at Scale Workbook.

    Start scaling with a pilot

    You will likely use a combination of patterns that work best for each product area. Pilot your product scaling with a domain, team, or functional area before organizing your entire portfolio.

    Learn more about each pattern.

    Discuss the pros and cons of each.

    Select a pilot product area.

    Select a pattern.

    Approach alignment from both directions, validating by the opposite way

    Defining your product families is not a one-way street. Often, we start from either the top or the bottom depending on our scaling principles. We use multiple patterns to find the best arrangement and grouping of our products and families.

    It may be helpful to work partway, then approach your scaling from the opposite direction, meeting in the middle. This way you are taking advantage of the strengths in both approaches.

    Once you have your proposed structure, validate the grouping by applying the principles from the opposite direction to ensure each product and family is in the best starting group.

    As the needs of your organization change, you may need to realign your product families into your new business architecture and operational structure.

    A top-down alignment example is shown.

    When to use: You have a business architecture defined or clear market/functional grouping of value streams.

    A bottom-up alignment example is shown.

    When to use: You are starting from an Application Portfolio Management application inventory to build or validate application families.

    Top-down examples: Start with your enterprise structure or market grouping

    A top-down example flowchart is shown.

    Examples:

    Market Alignment
    • Consumer Banking
      • DDA: Checking, Savings, Money Market
      • Revolving Credit: Credit Cards, Line of Credit
      • Term Credit: Mortgage, Auto, Boat, Installment
    Enterprise Applications
    • Human Resources
      • Benefits: Health, Dental, Life, Retirement
      • Human Capital: Hiring, Performance, Training
      • Hiring: Posting, Interviews, Onboarding
    Shared Service
    • End-User Support
      • Desktop: New Systems, Software, Errors
      • Security: Access Requests, Password Reset, Attestations
    Business Architecture
    • Value Stream
      • Capability
        • Applications
        • Services

    Bottom-up examples: Start with your inventory

    Based on your current inventory, start organizing products and services into related groups using one of the five scaling models discussed in the next step.

    A bottom-up example flowchart is shown.

    Examples:

    Technical Grouping
    • Custom Apps: Java, .NET, Python
    • Cloud: Azure, AWS, Virtual Environments
    • Low Code: ServiceNow, Appian
    Functional/Capability Grouping
    • CRM: Salesforce, Microsoft CRM
    • Security Platforms: IAM, SSO, Scanning
    • Workflow: Remedy, ServiceNow
    Shared Services Grouping
    • Workflow: Appian, Pega, ServiceNow
    • Collaboration: SharePoint, Teams
    • Data: Dictionary, Lake, BI/Reporting

    2.1.2 Define your pilot product family areas and direction

    30-60 minutes

    1. Using your inventory of products for your pilot, consider the top-down and bottom-up approaches.
    2. Identify areas where you will begin arranging your product into families.
    3. Prioritize these pilot areas into waves:
      1. First pilot areas
      2. Second pilot areas
      3. Third pilot areas
    4. Discuss and decide whether a top-down or bottom-up approach is the best place to start for each pilot group.
    5. Prioritize your pilot families in the order in which you want to organize them. This is a guide to help you get started, and you may change the order during the scaling pattern exercise.

    Output

    • Scope of product scaling pilot and target areas

    Participants

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Development team leads
    • Portfolio managers’
    • Business analysts

    Record the results in the Deliver Digital Products at Scale Workbook.

    Step 2.2

    Define your product families

    Activities

    2.2.1 Arrange your applications and services into product families

    2.2.2 Define enabling and supporting applications

    2.2.3 Build your product family canvas

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Development team leads
    • Portfolio managers’
    • Business analysts

    Outcomes of this step

    • Product family mapping
    • Product families
    • Enabling applications
    • Dependent applications
    • Product family canvas

    Use three perspectives to guide scaling pattern selection

    • One size does not fit all. There is no single or static product model that fits all product teams.
    • Structure relationships based on your organizational needs and capabilities.
    • Be flexible. Product ownership is designed to enable value delivery.
    • Avoid structures that promote proxy product ownership.
    • Make decisions based on products and services, not people. Then assign people to the roles.
    Alignment perspectives:

    Value Stream

    Align products based on the defined sources of value for a collection of products or services.

    For example: Wholesale channel for products that may also be sold directly to consumers, such as wireless network service.

    Users/Consumers

    Align products based on a common group of users or product consumers.

    For example: Consumer vs. small business vs. enterprise customers in banking, insurance, and healthcare.

    Common Domain

    Align products based on a common domain knowledge or skill set needed to deliver and support the products.

    For example: Applications in a shared service framework supporting other products.

    Leverage patterns for scaling products

    Organizing your products and families is easier when leveraging these grouping patterns. Each is explained in greater detail on the following slides

    Value Stream AlignmentEnterprise ApplicationsShared ServicesTechnicalOrganizational Alignment
    • Business architecture
      • Value stream
      • Capability
      • Function
    • Market/customer segment
    • Line of business (LoB)
    • Example: Customer group > value stream > products
    • Enabling capabilities
    • Enterprise platforms
    • Supporting apps
    • Example: HR > Workday/Peoplesoft > ModulesSupporting: Job board, healthcare administrator
    • Organization of related services into service family
    • Direct hierarchy does not necessarily exist within the family
    • Examples: End-user support and ticketing, workflow and collaboration tools
    • Domain grouping of IT infrastructure, platforms, apps, skills, or languages
    • Often used in combination with Shared Services grouping or LoB-specific apps
    • Examples: Java, .NET, low-code, database, network
    • Used at higher levels of the organization where products are aligned under divisions
    • Separation of product managers from organizational structure no longer needed because the management team owns product management role

    Select the best family pattern to improve alignment

    A flowchart is shown on how to select the best family pattern to improve alignment.

    Use scenarios to help select patterns

    Top-Down

    Bottom-Up

    We have a business architecture defined.

    (See Document Your Business Architecture and industry reference architectures for help.)

    Start with your business architecture

    Start with market segments

    We want to be more customer first or customer centric.

    Start with market segments

    Our organization has rigid lines of business and organizational boundaries.

    Start with LoB structure

    Most products are specific to a business unit or division. Start with LoB structure

    Products are aligned to people, not how we are operationally organized.

    Start with market or LoB structure

    We are focusing on enterprise or enabling applications.

    1. Start with enterprise app and service team

    2. Align supporting apps

    We already have applications and services grouped into teams but want to evaluate if they are grouped in the best families.

    Validate using multiple patterns

    Validate using multiple patterns

    Our applications and services are shared across the enterprise or support multiple products, value streams, or shared capabilities.

    Our applications or services are domain, knowledge, or technology specific.

    Start by grouping inventory

    We are starting from an application inventory. (See the APM Research Center for help.)

    Start by grouping inventory

    Pattern: Value Stream – Capability

    Grouping products into capabilities defined in your business architecture is recommended because it aligns people/processes (services) and products (tools) into their value stream and delivery grouping. This requires an accurate capability map to implement.

    Example:

    • Healthcare is delivered through a series of distinct value streams (top chevrons) and shared services supporting all streams.
    • Diagnosing Health Needs is executed through the Admissions, Testing, Imaging, and Triage capabilities.
    • Products and services are needed to deliver each capability.
    • Shared capabilities can also be grouped into families to better align capability delivery and maturity to ensure that the enterprise goals and needs are being met in each value stream the capabilities support.
    An example is shown to demonstrate how to group products into capabilities.

    Sample business architecture/ capability map for healthcare

    A sample business architecture/capability map for healthcare is shown.

    Your business architecture maps your value streams (value delivered to your customer or user personas) to the capabilities that deliver that value. A capability is the people, processes, and/or tools needed to deliver each value function.

    Defining capabilities are specific to a value stream. Shared capabilities support multiple value streams. Enabling capabilities are core “keep the lights on” capabilities and enterprise functions needed to run your organization.

    See Info-Tech’s industry coverage and reference architectures.

    Download Document Your Business Architecture

    Pattern: Value Stream – Market

    Market/Customer Segment Alignment focuses products into the channels, verticals, or market segments in the same way customers and users view the organization.

    An example is shown to demonstrate how products can be placed into channels, verticals, or market segments.

    Example:

    • Customers want one stop to solve all their issues, needs, and transactions.
    • Banking includes consumer, small business, and enterprise.
    • Consumer banking can be grouped by type of financial service: deposit accounts (checking, savings, money market), revolving credit (credit cards, lines of credit), term lending (mortgage, auto, installment).
    • Each group of services has a unique set of applications and services that support the consumer product, with some core systems supporting the entire relationship.

    Pattern: Value Stream – Line of Business (LoB)

    Line of Business Alignment uses the operational structure as the basis for organizing products and services into families that support each area.

    An example of the operational structure as the basis is shown.

    Example:

    • LoB alignment favors continuity of services, tools, and skills based on internal operations over unified customer services.
    • A hospital requires care and services from many different operational teams.
    • Emergency services may be internally organized by the type of care and emergency to allow specialized equipment and resources to diagnose and treat the patients, relying on support teams for imaging and diagnostics to support care.
    • This model may be efficient and logical from an internal viewpoint but can cause gaps in customer services without careful coordination between product teams.

    Pattern: Enterprise Applications

    A division or group delivers enabling capabilities, and the team’s operational alignment maps directly to the modules/components of an enterprise application and other applications that support the specific business function.

    An example flowchart is shown with enterprise applications.

    Example:

    • Human resources is one corporate function. Within HR, however, there are subfunctions that operate independently.
    • Each operational team is supported by one or more applications or modules within a primary HR system.
    • Even though the teams work independently, the information they manage is shared with or ties into processes used by other teams. Coordination of efforts helps provide a higher level of service and consistency.

    For additional information about HRMS, please download Get the Most Out of Your HRMS.

    Pattern: Shared Services

    Grouping by service type, knowledge area, or technology allows for specialization while families align service delivery to shared business capabilities.

    An example is shown with the shared services.

    Example:

    • Recommended for governance, risk, and compliance; infrastructure; security; end-user support; and shared platforms (workflow, collaboration, imaging/record retention). Direct hierarchies do not necessarily exist within the shared service family.
    • Service groupings are common for service owners (also known as support managers, operations managers, etc.).
    • End-user ticketing comes through a common request system, is routed to the team responsible for triage, and then is routed to a team for resolution.
    • Collaboration tools and workflow tools are enablers of other applications, and product families might support multiple apps or platforms delivering that shared capability.

    Pattern: Technical

    Technical grouping is used in Shared Services or as a family grouping method within a Value Stream Alignment (Capability, Market, LoB) product family.

    An example of technical grouping is shown.

    Example:

    • Within Shared Services, Technical product grouping focuses on domains requiring specific experience and knowledge not common to typical product teams. This can also support insourcing so other product teams do not have to build their own capacity.
    • Within a Market or LoB team, these same technical groups support specific tools and services within that product family only while also specializing in the business domain.
    • Alignment into tool, platform, or skill areas improves delivery capabilities and resource scalability.

    Pattern: Organizational Alignment

    Eventually in your product hierarchy, the management structure functions as the product management team.

    • When planning your product families, be careful determining when to merge product families into the management team structure.
    • Since the goal of scaling products into families is to align product delivery roadmaps to enterprise goals and enable value realization, the primary focus of scaling must be operational.
    • Alignment to the organizational chart should only occur when the product families report into an HR manager who has ownership for the delivery and value realization for all product and services within that family.
    Am example of organizational alignment is shown.

    Download Build a Better Product Owner for role support.

    2.2.1 Arrange your applications and services into product families

    1-4 hours

    1. (Optional but recommended) Define your value streams and capabilities on the App Capability List tab in the Deliver Digital Products at Scale Workbook.
    2. On the Product Families tab, build your product family hierarchy using the following structure:
    • Value Stream > Capability > Family 3 > Family 2 > Family 1 > Product/Service.
    • If you are not using a Value Stream > Capability grouping, you can leave these blank for now.
    A screenshot of the App Capability List in the Deliver Disital Products at Scale Workbook is shown.
  • If you previously completed an application inventory using one of our application portfolio management (APM) resources, you can paste values here. Do not paste cells, as Excel may create a cell reference or replace the current conditional formatting.
  • Output

    • Product family mapping

    Participants

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Development team leads
    • Portfolio managers
    • Business analysts

    Record the results in the Deliver Digital Products at Scale Workbook.

    2.2.2 Define enabling and supporting applications

    1-4 hours

    1. Review your grouping from the reverse direction or with different patterns to validate the grouping. Consider each grouping.
    • Does it operationally align the products and families to best cascade enterprise goals and priorities while validating enabling capabilities?
    • In the next phase, when defining your roadmap strategy, you may wish to revisit this phase and adjust as needed.
  • Select and enter enabling or dependent applications to the right of each product.
  • A screenshot from the Deliver Digitial Products at Scale Workbook is shown.

    Output

    • Product families
    • Enabling applications
    • Dependent applications

    Participants

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Development team leads
    • Portfolio managers
    • Business analysts

    Record the results in the Deliver Digital Products at Scale Workbook.

    Use a product canvas to define key elements of your product family

    A product canvas is an excellent tool for quickly providing important information about a product family.

    Product owners/managers

    Provide target state to align child product and product family roadmaps.

    Stakeholders

    Communicate high-level concepts and key metrics with leadership teams and stakeholders.

    Strategy teams

    Use the canvas as a tool for brainstorming, scoping, and ideation.

    Operations teams

    Share background overview to align operational team with end-user value.

    Impacted users

    Refine communication strategy and support based on user impacts and value realization.

    Download Deliver on Your Digital Product Vision.

    Product Family Canvas: Define your core information

    A screenshot of the product family canvas is shown.

    Problem Statement: The problem or need the product family is addressing

    Business Goals: List of business objectives or goals for the product

    Personas/Customers/Users: List of groups who consume the product/service

    Vision: Vision, unique value proposition, elevator pitch, or positioning statement

    Child Product Families or Products: List of product families or products within this family

    Stakeholders: List of key resources, stakeholders, and teams needed to support the product or service

    Download Deliver on Your Digital Product Vision.

    2.2.3 Build your product family canvas

    30-60 minutes

    1. Complete the following fields to build your product family canvas in your Digital Product Family Strategy Playbook:
      1. Product family name
      2. Product family owner
      3. Parent product family name
      4. Problem that the family is intending to solve (For additional help articulating your problem statement, refer to Deliver on Your Digital Product Vision.)
      5. Product family vision/goals (For additional help writing your vision, refer to Deliver on Your Digital Product Vision..)
      6. Child product or product family name(s)
      7. Primary customers/users (For additional help with your product personas, download and complete Deliver on Your Digital Product Vision..)
      8. Stakeholders (If you aren’t sure who your stakeholders are, fill this in after completing the stakeholder management exercises in phase 3.)

    Output

    • Product family canvas

    Participants

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Development team leads
    • Portfolio managers
    • Business analysts

    Record the results in the Digital Product Family Strategy Playbook.

    A screenshot of the Product Family Canvas is shown.

    Phase 3

    Ensure Alignment Between Products and Families

    Phase 1Phase 2Phase 3Phase 4Phase 5

    1.1 Understand the organizational factors driving product-centric delivery

    1.2 Establish your organization’s product inventory

    2.1 Determine your approach to scale product families

    2.2 Define your product families

    3.1 Leverage product family roadmaps

    3.2 Use stakeholder management to improve roadmap communication

    3.3 Configure your product family roadmaps

    3.4 Confirm product family to product alignment

    4.1 Assess your organization’s delivery readiness

    4.2 Understand your delivery options

    4.3 Determine your operating model

    4.4 Identify how to fund product family delivery

    5.1 Learn how to introduce your digital product family strategy

    5.2 Communicate changes on updates to your strategy

    5.3 Determine your next steps

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    • 3.1.1 Evaluate your current approach to product family communication
    • 3.2.1 Visualize interrelationships among stakeholders to identify key influencers
    • 3.2.2 Group stakeholders into categories
    • 3.2.3 Prioritize your stakeholders
    • 3.3.1 Define the communication objectives and audience of your product family roadmaps
    • 3.3.2 Identify the level of detail that you want your product family roadmap artifacts to represent
    • 3.4.1 Validate business value alignment between products and their product families

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Portfolio managers
    • Business analysts

    Step 3.1

    Leverage product family roadmaps

    Activities

    3.1.1 Evaluate your current approach to product family communication

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Portfolio managers
    • Business analysts

    Outcomes of this step

    • Understanding of what a product family roadmap is
    • Comparison of Info-Tech’s position on product families to how you currently communicate about product families

    Aligning products’ goals with families

    Without alignment between product family goals and their underlying products, you aren’t seeing the full picture.

    An example of a product roadmap is shown to demonstrate how it is the core to value realization.

    Adapted from: Pichler," What Is Product Management?"

    • Aligning product strategy to enterprise goals needs to happen through the product family.
    • A product roadmap has traditionally been used to express the overall intent and visualization of the product strategy.
    • Connecting the strategy of your products with your enterprise goals can be done through the product family roadmap.

    Leveraging product family roadmaps

    It’s more than a set of colorful boxes.

      ✓ Lays out a strategy for your product family.

      ✓ Is a statement of intent for your family of products.

      ✓ Communicates direction for the entire product family and product teams.

      ✓ Directly connects to the organization’s goals.

    However, it is not:

      x Representative of a hard commitment.

      x A simple combination of your current product roadmaps.

      x A technical implementation plan.

    Product family roadmaps

    A roadmap is shown without any changes.

    There is no such thing as a roadmap that never changes.

    Your product family roadmap represents a broad statement of intent and high-level tactics to get closer to the organization’s goals.

    A roadmap is shown with changes.

    All good product family roadmaps embrace change!

    Your strategic intentions are subject to volatility, especially those planned further in the future. The more costs you incur in planning, the more you leave yourself exposed to inefficiency and waste if those plans change.

    Info-Tech Insight

    A good product family roadmap is intended to manage and communicate the inevitable changes as a result of market volatility and changes in strategy.

    Product family roadmaps are more strategic by nature

    While individual product roadmaps can be different levels of tactical or strategic depending on a variety of market factors, your options are more limited when defining roadmaps for product families.

    An image is displayed to show the relationships between product and product family, and how the roadmaps could be tactical or strategic.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Roadmaps for your product family are, by design, less detailed. This does not mean they aren’t actionable! Your product family roadmap should be able to communicate clear intentions around the future delivery of value in both the near and long term.

    Reminder: Your enterprise vision provides alignment for your product family roadmaps

    Not knowing the difference between enterprise vision and goals will prevent you from both dreaming big and achieving your dream.

    Your enterprise vision represents your “north star” – where you want to go. It represents what you want to do.

    • Your enterprise goals represent what you need to achieve in order to reach your enterprise vision.
    • A key element of operationalizing your vision.
    • Your strategy, initiatives, and features will align with one or more goals.

    Download Deliver on Your Digital Product Vision for support.

    Multiple roadmap views can communicate differently, yet tell the same truth

    Audience

    Business/ IT Leaders

    Users/Customers

    Delivery Teams

    Roadmap View

    Portfolio

    Product Family

    Technology

    Objectives

    To provide a snapshot of the portfolio and priority products

    To visualize and validate product strategy

    To coordinate broad technology and architecture decisions

    Artifacts

    Line items or sections of the roadmap are made up of individual products, and an artifact represents a disposition at its highest level.

    Artifacts are generally grouped by product teams and consist of strategic goals and the features that realize those goals.

    Artifacts are grouped by the teams who deliver that work and consist of technical capabilities that support the broader delivery of value for the product family.

    Typical elements of a product family roadmap

    While there are others, these represent what will commonly appear across most family-based roadmaps.

    An example is shown to highlight the typical elements of a product family roadmap.

    GROUP/CATEGORY: Groups are collections of artifacts. In a product family context, these are usually product family goals, value streams, or products.

    ARTIFACT: An artifact is one of many kinds of tangible by-products produced during the delivery of products. For a product family, the artifacts represented are capabilities or value streams.

    MILESTONE: Points in the timeline when established sets of artifacts are complete. This is a critical tool in the alignment of products in a given family.

    TIME HORIZON: Separated periods within the projected timeline covered by the roadmap.

    3.1.1 Evaluate your current approach to product family communication

    1-2 hours

    1. Write down how you currently communicate your intentions for your products and family of products.
    2. Compare and contrast this to how this blueprint defines product families and product family roadmaps.
    3. Consider the similarities and the key gaps between your current approach and Info-Tech’s definition of product family roadmaps.

    Output

    • Your documented approach to product family communication

    Participants

    • Product owners
    • Stakeholders

    Record the results in the Deliver Digital Products at Scale Workbook.

    Step 3.2

    Use stakeholder management to improve roadmap communication

    Activities

    3.2.1 Visualize interrelationships among stakeholders to identify key influencers

    3.2.2 Group stakeholders into categories

    3.2.3 Prioritize your stakeholders

    Info-Tech Note

    If you have done the stakeholder exercises in Deliver on Your Digital Product Vision or Build a Better Product Owner u don’t need to repeat the exercises from scratch.

    You can bring the results forward and update them based on your prior work.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Portfolio managers
    • Business analysts

    Outcomes of this step

    • Relationships among stakeholders and influencers
    • Categorization of stakeholders and influencers
    • Stakeholder and influencer prioritization

    Reminder: Not everyone is a user!

    USERS

    Individuals who directly obtain value from usage of the product.

    STAKEHOLDERS

    Represent individuals who provide the context, alignment, and constraints that influence or control what you will be able to accomplish.

    FUNDERS

    Individuals both external and internal that fund the product initiative. Sometimes they are lumped in as stakeholders. However, motivations can be different.

    For more information, see Deliver on Your Digital Product Vision.

    A stakeholder strategy is a key part of product family attainment

    A roadmap is only “good” when it effectively communicates to stakeholders. Understanding your stakeholders is the first step in delivering great product family roadmaps.

    A picture is shown that has 4 characters with puzzle pieces, each repersenting a key to product family attainment. The four keys are: Stakeholder management, product lifecycle, project delivery, and operational support.

    Create a stakeholder network map for product roadmaps and prioritization

    Follow the trail of breadcrumbs from your direct stakeholders to their influencers to uncover hidden stakeholders.

    An example stakeholder network map is displayed.

    Legend

    Black arrows: indicate the direction of professional influence

    Dashed green arrows: indicate bidirectional, informal influence relationships

    Info-Tech Insight

    Your stakeholder map defines the influence landscape your product family operates in. It is every bit as important as the teams who enhance, support, and operate your product directly.

    Use connectors to determine who may be influencing your direct stakeholders. They may not have any formal authority within the organization, but they may have informal yet substantial relationships with your stakeholders.

    3.2.1 Visualize interrelationships among stakeholders to identify key influencers

    60 minutes

    1. List direct stakeholders for your product.
    2. Determine the stakeholders of your stakeholders and consider adding each of them to the stakeholder list.
    3. Assess who has either formal or informal influence over your stakeholders; add these influencers to your stakeholder list.
    4. Construct a diagram linking stakeholders and their influencers together.
    • Use black arrows to indicate the direction of professional influence.
    • Use dashed green arrows to indicate bidirectional, informal influence relationships.

    Output

    • Relationships among stakeholders and influencers

    Participants

    • Product owners
    • Stakeholders

    Record the results in the Deliver Digital Products at Scale Workbook.

    Categorize your stakeholders with a prioritization map

    A stakeholder prioritization map helps product leaders categorize their stakeholders by their level of influence and ownership in the product and/or teams.

    An example stakeholder prioritization map is shown.

    There are four areas in the map, and the stakeholders within each area should be treated differently.

    Players – players have a high interest in the initiative and the influence to effect change over the initiative. Their support is critical, and a lack of support can cause significant impediment to the objectives.

    Mediators – mediators have a low interest but significant influence over the initiative. They can help to provide balance and objective opinions to issues that arise.

    Noisemakers – noisemakers have low influence but high interest. They tend to be very vocal and engaged, either positively or negatively, but have little ability to enact their wishes.

    Spectators – generally, spectators are apathetic and have little influence over or interest in the initiative.

    3.2.2 Group stakeholders into categories

    30-60 minutes

    1. Identify your stakeholders’ interest in and influence on your product as high, medium, or low by rating the attributes below.
    2. Map your results to the model below to determine each stakeholder’s category.
    Level of Influence
    • Power: Ability of a stakeholder to effect change.
    • Urgency: Degree of immediacy demanded.
    • Legitimacy: Perceived validity of stakeholder’s claim.
    • Volume: How loud their “voice” is or could become.
    • Contribution: What they have that is of value to you.
    Level of Interest

    How much are the stakeholder’s individual performance and goals directly tied to the success or failure of the product?

    The example stakeholder prioritization map is shown with the stakeholders grouped into the categories.

    Output

    • Categorization of stakeholders and influencers

    Participants

    • Product owners
    • Stakeholders

    Record the results in the Deliver Digital Products at Scale Workbook.

    Prioritize your stakeholders

    There may be too many stakeholders to be able to manage them all. Focus your attention on the stakeholders that matter most.

    Level of Support

    Stakeholder Category

    Supporter

    Evangelist

    Neutral Blocker

    Player

    Critical

    High

    High

    Critical

    Mediator

    Medium

    Low

    Low

    Medium

    Noisemaker

    High

    Medium

    Medium

    High

    Spectator

    Low

    Irrelevant

    Irrelevant

    Low

    Consider the three dimensions for stakeholder prioritization: influence, interest, and support. Support can be determined by answering the following question: How likely is it that this stakeholder would recommend your product?

    These parameters are used to prioritize which stakeholders are most important and should receive your focused attention.

    3.2.3 Prioritize your stakeholders

    30 minutes

    1. Identify the level of support of each stakeholder by answering the following question: How likely is it that this stakeholder would endorse your product?
    2. Prioritize your stakeholders using the prioritization scheme on the previous slide.

    Stakeholder

    Category

    Level of Support

    Prioritization

    CMO

    Spectator

    Neutral

    Irrelevant

    CIO

    Player

    Supporter

    Critical

    Output

    • Stakeholder and influencer prioritization

    Participants

    • Product owners
    • Stakeholders

    Record the results in the Deliver Digital Products at Scale Workbook.

    Define strategies for engaging stakeholders by type

    An example is shown to demonstrate how to define strategies to engage staeholders by type.

    Type

    Quadrant

    Actions

    Players

    High influence, high interest – actively engage

    Keep them updated on the progress of the project. Continuously involve Players in the process and maintain their engagement and interest by demonstrating their value to its success.

    Mediators

    High influence, low interest – keep satisfied

    They can be the game changers in groups of stakeholders. Turn them into supporters by gaining their confidence and trust and including them in important decision-making steps. In turn, they can help you influence other stakeholders.

    Noisemakers

    Low influence, high interest – keep informed

    Try to increase their influence (or decrease it if they are detractors) by providing them with key information, supporting them in meetings, and using Mediators to help them.

    Spectators

    Low influence, low interest – monitor

    They are followers. Keep them in the loop by providing clarity on objectives and status updates.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Each group of stakeholders draws attention and resources away from critical tasks. By properly identifying your stakeholder groups, the product owner can develop corresponding actions to manage stakeholders in each group. This can dramatically reduce wasted effort trying to satisfy Spectators and Noisemakers, while ensuring the needs of Mediators and Players are met.

    Step 3.3

    Configure your product family roadmaps

    Activities

    3.3.1 Define the communication objectives and audience of your product family roadmaps

    3.3.2 Identify the level of detail that you want your product family roadmap artifacts to represent

    Info-Tech Note

    If you are unfamiliar with product roadmaps, Deliver on Your Digital Product Vision contains more detailed exercises we recommend you review before focusing on product family roadmaps.

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Portfolio managers
    • Business analysts

    Outcomes of this step

    • An understanding of the key communication objectives and target stakeholder audience for your product family roadmaps
    • A position on the level of detail you want your product family roadmap to operate at

    Your communication objectives are linked to your audience; ensure you know your audience and speak their language

    I want to... I need to talk to... Because they are focused on...
    ALIGN PRODUCT TEAMS Get my delivery teams on the same page. Architects Products Owners PRODUCTS A product that delivers value against a common set of goals and objectives.
    SHOWCASE CHANGES Inform users and customers of product strategy. Bus. Process Owners End Users FUNCTIONALITY A group of functionality that business customers see as a single unit.
    ARTICULATE RESOURCE REQUIREMENTS Inform the business of product development requirements. IT Management Business Stakeholders FUNDING An initiative that those with the money see as a single budget.

    3.3.1 Define the communication objectives and audience of your product family roadmaps

    30-60 minutes

    1. Explicitly state the communication objectives and audience of your roadmap.
    • Think of finishing this sentence: This roadmap is designed for … in order to …
  • You may want to consider including more than a single audience or objective.
  • Example:
  • Roadmap

    Audience

    Statement

    Internal Strategic Roadmap

    Internal Stakeholders

    This roadmap is designed to detail the strategy for delivery. It tends to use language that represents internal initiatives and names.

    Customer Strategic Roadmap

    External Customers

    This roadmap is designed to showcase and validate future strategic plans and internal teams to coordinate the development of features and enablers.

    Output

    • Roadmap list with communication objectives and audience

    Participants

    • Product owners and product managers
    • Application leaders
    • Stakeholders

    Record the results in the Deliver Digital Products at Scale Workbook.

    The length of time horizons on your roadmap depend on the needs of the underlying products or families

    Info-Tech InsightAn example timeline is shown.

    Given the relationship between product and product family roadmaps, the product family roadmap needs to serve the time horizons of its respective products.

    This translates into product family roadmaps with timelines that, at a minimum, cover the full scope of the respective product roadmaps.

    Based on your communication objectives, consider different ways to visualize your product family roadmap

    Swimline/Stream-Based roadmap example.

    Swimlane/Stream-Based – Understanding when groups of items intend to be delivered.

    An example is shown that has an overall plan with rough intentions around delivery.

    Now, Next, Later – Communicate an overall plan with rough intentions around delivery without specific date ranges.

    An example of a sunrise roadmap is shown.

    Sunrise Roadmap – Articulate the journey toward a given target state across multiple streams.

    Before connecting your family roadmap to products, think about what each roadmap typically presents

    An example of a product family roadmap is shown and how it can be connected to the products.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Your product family roadmap and product roadmap tell different stories. The product family roadmap represents the overall connection of products to the enterprise strategy, while the product roadmap focuses on the fulfillment of the product’s vision.

    Example: Connecting your product family roadmaps to product roadmaps

    Your roadmaps should be connected at an artifact level that is common between both. Typically, this is done with capabilities, but you can do it at a more granular level if an understanding of capabilities isn’t available.

    Example is shown connecting product family roadmaps to product roadmaps.

    3.3.2 Identify the level of detail that you want your product family roadmap artifacts to represent

    30-60 minutes

    1. Consider the different available artifacts for a product family (goals, value stream, capabilities).
    2. List the roadmaps that you wish to represent.
    3. Based on how you currently articulate details on your product families, consider:
    • What do you want to use as the level of granularity for the artifact? Consider selecting something that has a direct connection to the product roadmap itself (for example, capabilities).
    • For some roadmaps you will want to categorize your artifacts – what would work best in those cases?

    Examples

    Level of Hierarchy

    Artifact Type

    Roadmap 1

    Goals

    Capability

    Roadmap 2

    Roadmap 3

    Output

    • Details on your roadmap granularity

    Participants

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Portfolio managers

    Record the results in the Deliver Digital Products at Scale Workbook.

    Step 3.4

    Confirm goal and value alignment of products and their product families

    Activities

    3.4.1 Validate business value alignment between products and their product families

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Portfolio managers
    • Business analysts

    Outcomes of this step

    • Validation of the alignment between your product families and products

    Confirming product to family value alignment

    It isn’t always obvious whether you have the right value delivery alignment between products and product families.

    An example is shown to demonstrate product-to-family-alignment.

    Product-to-family alignment can be validated in two different ways:

    1. Initial value alignment
    2. Confirm the perceived business value at a family level is aligned with what is being delivered at a product level.

    3. Value measurement during the lifetime of the product
    4. Validate family roadmap attainment through progression toward the specified product goals.

    For more detail on calculating business value, see Build a Value Measurement Framework.

    To evaluate a product family’s contribution, you need a common definition of value

    Why is having a common value measure important?

    CIO-CEO Alignment Diagnostic

    A stacked bar graph is shown to demonstrate CIO-CEO Alignment Diagnostic. A bar titled Business Value Metrics is highlighted. 51% had some improvement necessary and 32% had significant improvement necessary.

    Over 700 Info-Tech members have implemented the Balanced Value Measurement Framework.

    “The cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”

    – Oscar Wilde

    “Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.”

    – Warren Buffett

    Understanding where you derive value is critical to building solid roadmaps.

    All value in your product family is not created equal

    Business value is the value of the business outcome the application produces and how effective the product is at producing that outcome. Dissecting value by the benefit type and the value source allows you to see the many ways in which a product or service brings value to your organization. Capture the value of your products in short, concise statements, like an elevator pitch.

    A business value matrix is shown.

    Increase Revenue

    Product or service functions that are specifically related to the impact on your organization’s ability to generate revenue.

    Reduce Costs

    Reduction of overhead. The ways in which your product limits the operational costs of business functions.

    Enhance Services

    Functions that enable business capabilities that improve the organization’s ability to perform its internal operations.

    Reach Customers

    Application functions that enable and improve the interaction with customers or produce market information and insights.

    Financial Benefits vs. Improved Capabilities

    • Financial Benefit refers to the degree to which the value source can be measured through monetary metrics and is often quite tangible.
    • Human Benefit refers to how a product or service can deliver value through a user’s experience.

    Inward vs. Outward Orientation

    • Inward refers to value sources that have an internal impact and improve your organization’s effectiveness and efficiency in performing its operations.
    • Outward refers to value sources that come from your interaction with external factors, such as the market or your customers.

    3.4.1 Validate business value alignment between products and their product families

    30-60 minutes

    1. Draw the 2x2 Business Value Matrix on a flip chart or open the Business Value Matrix tab in the Deliver Digital Products at Scale Workbook to use in this exercise.
    2. Brainstorm and record the different types of business value that your product and product family produce on the sticky notes (one item per sticky note).
    3. As a team, evaluate how the product value delivered contributes to the product family value delivered. Note any gaps or differences between the two.

    Download and complete Build a Value Measurement Framework for full support in focusing product delivery on business value–driven outcomes.

    A business value matrix is shown.

    Output

    • Confirmation of value alignment between product families and their respective products

    Participants

    • Product owners
    • Product managers

    Record the results in the Deliver Digital Products at Scale Workbook.

    Example: Validate business value alignment between products and their product families

    An example of a business value matrix is shown.

    Measure product value with metrics tied to your business value sources and objectives

    Assign metrics to your business value sources

    Business Value Category

    Source Examples

    Metric Examples

    Profit Generation

    Revenue

    Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)

    Data Monetization

    Average Revenue per User (ARPU)

    Cost Reduction

    Reduce Labor Costs

    Contract Labor Cost

    Reduce Overhead

    Effective Cost per Install (eCPI)

    Service Enablement

    Limit Failure Risk

    Mean Time to Mitigate Fixes

    Collaboration

    Completion Time Relative to Deadline

    Customer and Market Reach

    Customer Satisfaction

    Net Promoter Score

    Customer Trends

    Number of Customer Profiles

    The importance of measuring business value through metrics

    The better an organization is at using business value metrics to evaluate IT’s performance, the more satisfied the organization is with IT’s performance as a business partner. In fact, those that say they’re effective at business value metrics have satisfaction scores that are 30% higher than those that believe significant improvements are necessary (Info-Tech’s IT diagnostics).

    Assigning metrics to your prioritized values source will allow you to more accurately measure a product’s value to the organization and identify optimization opportunities. See Info-Tech’s Related Research: Value, Delivery Metrics, Estimation blueprint for more information.

    Your product delivery pipeline connects your roadmap with business value realization

    The effectiveness of your product roadmap needs to be evaluated based on delivery capacity and throughput.

    A product roadmap is shown with additional details to demonstrate delivery capacity and throughput.

    When thinking about product delivery metrics, be careful what you ask for…

    As the saying goes “Be careful what you ask for, because you will probably get it.”

    Metrics are powerful because they drive behavior.

    • Metrics are also dangerous because they often lead to unintended negative outcomes.
    • Choose your metrics carefully to avoid getting what you asked for instead of what you intended.

    It’s a cautionary tale that also offers a low-risk path through the complexities of metrics use.

    For more information on the use (and abuse) of metrics, see Select and Use SDLC Metrics Effectively.

    Measure delivery and success

    Metrics and measurements are powerful tools to drive behavior change and decision making in your organization. However, metrics are highly prone to creating unexpected outcomes, so use them with great care. Use metrics judiciously to uncover insights but avoid gaming or ambivalent behavior, productivity loss, and unintended consequences.

    Build good practices in your selection and use of metrics:

    • Choose the metrics that are as close to measuring the desired outcome as possible.
    • Select the fewest metrics possible and ensure they are of the highest value to your team, the safest from gaming behaviors and unintended consequences, and the easiest to gather and report.
    • Never use metrics for reward or punishment; use them to develop your team.
    • Automate as much metrics gathering and reporting as possible.
    • Focus on trends rather than precise metrics values.
    • Review and change your metrics periodically.

    Phase 4

    Bridge the Gap Between Product Families and Delivery

    Phase 1Phase 2Phase 3Phase 4Phase 5

    1.1 Understand the organizational factors driving product-centric delivery

    1.2 Establish your organization’s product inventory

    2.1 Determine your approach to scale product families

    2.2 Define your product families

    3.1 Leverage product family roadmaps

    3.2 Use stakeholder management to improve roadmap communication

    3.3 Configure your product family roadmaps

    3.4 Confirm product family to product alignment

    4.1 Assess your organization’s delivery readiness

    4.2 Understand your delivery options

    4.3 Determine your operating model

    4.4 Identify how to fund product family delivery

    5.1 Learn how to introduce your digital product family strategy

    5.2 Communicate changes on updates to your strategy

    5.3 Determine your next steps

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    4.1.1 Assess your organization’s readiness to deliver digital product families

    4.2.1 Consider pros and cons for each delivery model relative to how you wish to deliver

    4.3.1 Understand the relationships between product management, delivery teams, and stakeholders

    4.4.1 Discuss traditional vs. product-centric funding methods

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Portfolio managers
    • Delivery managers

    Assess the impacts of product-centric delivery on your teams and org design

    Product delivery can exist within any org structure or delivery model. However, when making the shift toward product management, consider optimizing your org design and product team structure to match your capacity and throughput needs.

    A flowchart is shown to see how the impacts of product-centric delivery can impact team and org designs.

    Info-Tech Note

    Realigning your delivery pipeline and org design takes significant effort and time. Although we won’t solve these questions here, it’s important to identify factors in your current or future models that improve value delivery.

    Step 4.1

    Assess your organization’s delivery readiness

    Activities

    4.1.1 Assess your organization’s readiness to deliver digital product families

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Portfolio managers
    • Delivery managers

    Outcomes of this step

    • An understanding of the group’s maturity level when it comes to product delivery

    Maturing product practices enables delivery of product families, not just products or projects

    A flowchart is shown to demonstrate the differences between project lifecycle, hybrid lifecycle, and product lifecycle.

    Just like product owners, product family owners are needed to develop long-term product value, strategy, and delivery. Projects can still be used as the source of funding and change management; however, the product family owner must manage product releases and operational support. The focus of this section will be on aligning product families to one or more releases.

    4.1.1 Assess your organization’s readiness to deliver digital product families

    30-60 minutes

    1. For each question in the Deliver Digital Products at Scale Readiness Assessment, ask yourself which of the five associated maturity statements most closely describes your organization.
    2. As a group, agree on your organization’s current readiness score for each of the six categories.

    A screenshot of the Deliver Digital Products at Scale Readiness Assessment is shown.

    Output

    • Product delivery readiness score

    Participants

    • Product managers
    • Product owners

    Download the Deliver Digital Products at Scale Readiness Assessment.

    Value realization is constrained by your product delivery pipeline

    Value is realized through changes made at the product level. Your pipeline dictates the rate, quality, and prioritization of your backlog delivery. This pipeline connects your roadmap goals to the value the goals are intended to provide.

    An example of a product roadmap is shown with the additional details of the product delivery pipeline being highlighted.

    Product delivery realizes value for your product family

    While planning and analysis are done at the family level, work and delivery are done at the individual product level.

    PRODUCT STRATEGY

    What are the artifacts?

    What are you saying?

    Defined at the family level?

    Defined at the product level?

    Vision

    I want to...

    Strategic focus

    Delivery focus

    Goals

    To get there we need to...

    Roadmap

    To achieve our goals, we’ll deliver...

    Backlog

    The work will be done in this order...

    Release Plan

    We will deliver in the following ways...

    Step 4.2

    Understand your delivery options

    Activities

    4.2.1 Consider pros and cons for each delivery model relative to how you wish to deliver

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Portfolio managers
    • Delivery managers

    Outcomes of this step

    • An understanding of the different team configuration options when it comes to delivery and their relevance to how you currently work

    Define the scope of your product delivery strategy

    The goal of your product delivery strategy is to establish streamlined, enforceable, and standardized product management and delivery capabilities that follow industry best practices. You will need to be strategic in how and where you implement your changes because this will set the stage for future adoption. Strategically select the most appropriate products, roles, and areas of your organization to implement your new or enhanced capabilities and establish a foundation for scaling.

    Successful product delivery requires people who are knowledgeable about the products they manage and have a broad perspective of the entire delivery process, from intake to delivery, and of the product portfolio. The right people also have influence with other teams and stakeholders who are directly or indirectly impacted by product decisions. Involve team members who have expertise in the development, maintenance, and management of your selected products and stakeholders who can facilitate and promote change.

    Learn about different patterns to structure and resource your product delivery teams

    The primary goal of any product delivery team is to improve the delivery of value for customers and the business based on your product definition and each product’s demand. Each organization will have different priorities and constraints, so your team structure may take on a combination of patterns or may take on one pattern and then transform into another.

    Delivery Team Structure Patterns

    How Are Resources and Work Allocated?

    Functional Roles

    Teams are divided by functional responsibilities (e.g. developers, testers, business analysts, operations, help desk) and arranged according to their placement in the software development lifecycle (SDLC).

    Completed work is handed off from team to team sequentially as outlined in the organization’s SDLC.

    Shared Service and Resource Pools

    Teams are created by pulling the necessary resources from pools (e.g. developers, testers, business analysts, operations, help desk).

    Resources are pulled whenever the work requires specific skills or pushed to areas where product demand is high.

    Product or System

    Teams are dedicated to the development, support, and management of specific products or systems.

    Work is directly sent to the teams who are directly managing the product or directly supporting the requester.

    Skills and Competencies

    Teams are grouped based on skills and competencies related to technology (e.g. Java, mobile, web) or familiarity with business capabilities (e.g. HR, finance).

    Work is directly sent to the teams who have the IT and business skills and competencies to complete the work.

    See the flow of work through each delivery team structure pattern

    Four delivery team structures are shown. The four are: functional roles, shared service and resource pools, product or system, and skills and competencies.

    Staffing models for product teams

    Functional Roles Shared Service and Resource Pools Product or System Skills and Competencies
    A screenshot of the functional roles from the flow of work example is shown. A screenshot of the shared service and resource pools from the flow of work example is shown. A screenshot of the product or system from the flow of work example is shown. A screenshot of skills and competencies from the flow of work example is shown.
    Pros
      ✓ Specialized resources are easier to staff

      ✓ Product knowledge is maintained

      ✓ Flexible demand/capacity management

      ✓ Supports full utilization of resources

      ✓ Teams are invested in the full life of the product

      ✓ Standing teams enable continuous improvement

      ✓ Teams are invested in the technology

      ✓ Standing teams enable continuous improvement

    Cons
      x Demand on specialists can create bottlenecks

      x Creates barriers to collaboration

      x Unavailability of resources can lead to delays

      x Product knowledge can be lost as resources move

      x Changes in demand can lead to downtime

      x Cross-functional skills make staffing a challenge

      x Technology bias can lead to the wrong solution

      x Resource contention when team supports multiple solutions

    Considerations
      ! Product owners must break requests down into very small components to support Agile delivery as mini-Waterfalls
      ! Product owners must identify specialist requirements in the roadmap to ensure resources are available
      ! Product owners must ensure that there is a sufficient backlog of valuable work ready to keep the team utilized
      ! Product owners must remain independent of technology to ensure the right solution is built
    Use Case
    • When you lack people with cross-functional skills
    • When you have specialists such as those skilled in security and operations who will not have full-time work on the product
    • When you have people with cross-functional skills who can self-organize around the request
    • When you have a significant investment in a specific technology stack

    4.2.1 Consider pros and cons for each delivery model relative to how you wish to deliver

    1. Document your current staffing model for your product delivery teams.
    2. Evaluate the pros and cons of each model, as specified on the previous slide, relative to how you currently work.
    3. What would be the ideal target state for your team? If one model does not completely fit, is there a hybrid option worth considering? For example: Product-Based combined with Shared Service/Resource Pools for specific roles.

    Functional Roles

    Teams are divided by functional responsibilities (e.g. developers, testers, business analysts, operations, help desk) and arranged according to their placement in the software development lifecycle (SDLC).

    Shared Service and Resource Pools

    Teams are created by pulling the necessary resources from pools (e.g. developers, testers, business analysts, operations, help desk).

    Product or System

    Teams are dedicated to the development, support, and management of specific products or systems.

    Skills and Competencies

    Teams are grouped based on skills and competencies related to technology (e.g. Java, mobile, web) or familiarity with business capabilities (e.g. HR, finance).

    Output

    • An understanding of pros and cons for each delivery model and the ideal target state for your team

    Participants

    • Product managers
    • Product owners

    Record the results in the Digital Product Family Strategy Playbook.

    Step 4.3

    Determine your operating model

    Activities

    4.3.1 Understand the relationships between product management, delivery teams, and stakeholders

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Portfolio managers
    • Delivery managers

    Outcomes of this step

    • An understanding of the potential operating models and what will work best for your organization

    Reminder: Patterns for scaling products

    The alignment of your product families should be considered in your operating model.

    Value Stream Alignment

    Enterprise Applications

    Shared Services

    Technical

    Organizational Alignment

    • Business architecture
      • Value stream
      • Capability
      • Function
    • Market/customer segment
    • Line of business (LoB)
    • Example: Customer group > value stream > products
    • Enabling capabilities
    • Enterprise platforms
    • Supporting apps
    • Example: HR > Workday/Peoplesoft > ModulesSupporting: Job board, healthcare administrator
    • Organization of related services into service family
    • Direct hierarchy does not necessarily exist within the family
    • Examples: End-user support and ticketing, workflow and collaboration tools
    • Domain grouping of IT infrastructure, platforms, apps, skills, or languages
    • Often used in combination with Shared Services grouping or LoB-specific apps
    • Examples: Java, .NET, low-code, database, network
    • Used at higher levels of the organization where products are aligned under divisions
    • Separation of product managers from organizational structure no longer needed because the management team owns product management role

    Ensure consistency in the application of your design principles with a coherent operating model

    What is an operating model?

    An operating model is an abstract visualization, used like an architect’s blueprint, that depicts how structures and resources are aligned and integrated to deliver on the organization’s strategy. It ensures consistency of all elements in the organizational structure through a clear and coherent blueprint before embarking on detailed organizational design

    The visual should highlight which capabilities are critical to attaining strategic goals and clearly show the flow of work so that key stakeholders can understand where inputs flow in and outputs flow out of the IT organization.

    An example of an operating model is shown.

    For more information, see Redesign Your IT Organizational Structure.

    Weigh the pros and cons of IT operating models to find the best fit

    1. LoB/Product Aligned – Decentralized Model: Line of Business, Geographically, Product, or Functionally Aligned
    2. A decentralized IT operating model that embeds specific functions within LoBs/product teams and provides cross-organizational support for their initiatives.

    3. Hybrid Functional: Functional/Product Aligned
    4. A best-of-both-worlds model that balances the benefits of centralized and decentralized approaches to achieve both customer responsiveness and economies of scale.

    5. Hybrid Service Model: Product-Aligned Operating Model
    6. A model that supports what is commonly referred to as a matrix organization, organizing by highly related service categories and introducing the role of the service owner.

    7. Centralized: Plan-Build-Run
    8. A highly typical IT operating model that focuses on centralized strategic control and oversight in delivering cost-optimized and effective solutions.

    9. Centralized: Demand-Develop-Service
    10. A centralized IT operating model that lends well to more mature operating environments. Aimed at leveraging economies of scale in an end-to-end services delivery model.

    There are many different operating models. LoB/Product Aligned and Hybrid Functional align themselves most closely with how products and product families are typically delivered.

    Decentralized Model: Line of Business, Geographically, Product, or Functionally Aligned

    An example of a decentralized model is shown.

    BENEFITS

    DRAWBACKS

    • Organization around functions (FXN) allows for diversity in approach in how areas are run to best serve specific business units needs.
    • Each functional line exists largely independently, with full capacity and control to deliver service at the committed service level agreements.
    • Highly responsive to shifting needs and demands with direct connection to customers and all stages of the solution development lifecycle.
    • Accelerates decision making by delegating authority lower into the FXN.
    • Promotes a flatter organization with less hierarchy and more direct communication with the CIO.
    • Less synergy and integration across what different lines of business are doing can result in redundancies and unnecessary complexity.
    • Higher overall cost to the IT group due to role and technology duplication across different FXN.
    • Inexperience becomes an issue; requires more competent people to be distributed across the FXN.
    • Loss of sight of the big picture – difficult to enforce standards around people/process/technology with solution ownership within the FXN.

    For more information, see Redesign your IT Organizational Structure.

    Hybrid Model: Functional/Product Aligned

    An example of a hybrid model: functional/product aligned is shown.

    BENEFITS

    DRAWBACKS

    • Best of both worlds of centralization and decentralization; attempts to channel benefits from both centralized and decentralized models.
    • Embeds key IT functions that require business knowledge within functional areas, allowing for critical feedback.
    • Balances a holistic IT strategy and architecture with responsiveness to needs of the organization.
    • Achieves economies of scale where necessary through the delivery of shared services that can be requested by the function.
    • May result in excessive cost through role and system redundancies across different functions
    • Business units can have variable levels of IT competence; may result in different levels of effectiveness.
    • No guaranteed synergy and integration across functions; requires strong communication, collaboration, and steering.
    • Cannot meet every business unit’s needs – can cause tension from varying effectiveness of the IT functions placed within the functional areas.

    For more information, see Redesign your IT Organizational Structure.

    Hybrid Model: Product-Aligned Operating Model

    An example of a hybrid model: product-aligned operating model.

    BENEFITS

    DRAWBACKS

    • Focus is on the full lifecycle of a product – takes a strategic view of how technology enables the organization.
    • Promotes centralized backlog around a specific value creator, rather than traditional project focus, which is more transactional.
    • Dedicated teams around the product family ensure that you have all of the resources required to deliver on your product roadmap.
    • Reduces barriers between IT and business stakeholders, focuses on technology as a key strategic enabler.
    • Delivery is largely done through a DevOps methodology.
    • Significant business involvement is required for success within this model, with business stakeholders taking an active role in product governance and potentially product management as well.
    • Strong architecture standards and practices are required to make this successful because you need to ensure that product families are building in a consistent manner and limiting application sprawl.
    • Introduced the need for practice standards to drive consistency in quality of delivered services.
    • May result in increased cost through role redundancies across different squads.

    For more information, see Redesign your IT Organizational Structure.

    Centralized: Plan-Build-Run

    An example of a centralized: Plan-Build-Run is shown.

    BENEFITS

    DRAWBACKS

    • Effective at implementing long-term plans efficiently, separates maintenance and projects to allow each to have the appropriate focus.
    • More oversight over financials; better suited for fixed budgets.
    • Works across centralized technology domains to better align with the business's strategic objectives – allows for a top-down approach to decision making.
    • Allows for economies of scale and expertise pooling to improve IT’s efficiency.
    • Well suited for a project-driven environment that employs Waterfall or a hybrid project management methodology that is less iterative.
    • Not optimized for unpredictable/shifting project demands, as decision making is centralized in the plan function.
    • Less agility to deliver new features or solutions to the customer in comparison to decentralized models.
    • Build (developers) and run (operations staff) are far removed from the business, resulting in lower understanding of business needs (as well as “passing the buck” – from development to operations).
    • Requires strong hand-off processes to be defined and strong knowledge transfer from build to run functions in order to be successful.

    For more information, see Redesign your IT Organizational Structure.

    Centralized: Demand-Develop-Service

    An example of a centralized: Demand-Develop-Service model is shown.

    BENEFITS

    DRAWBACKS

    • Aligns well with an end-to-end services model; constant attention to customer demand and service supply.
    • Centralizes service operations under one functional area to serve shared needs across lines of business.
    • Allows for economies of scale and expertise pooling to improve IT’s efficiency.
    • Elevates sourcing and vendor management as its own strategic function; lends well to managed service and digital initiatives.
    • Development and operations housed together; lends well to DevOps-related initiatives.
    • Can be less responsive to business needs than decentralized models due to the need for portfolio steering to prioritize initiatives and solutions.
    • Requires a higher level of operational maturity to succeed; stable supply functions (service mgmt., operations mgmt., service desk, security, data) are critical to maintaining business satisfaction.
    • Requires highly effective governance around project portfolio, services, and integration capabilities.
    • Effective feedback loop highly dependent on accurate performance measures.

    For more information, see Redesign your IT Organizational Structure.

    Assess how your product scaling pattern impacts your resource delivery model

    Value Stream Alignment

    Enterprise Applications

    Shared Services

    Technical

    Plan-Build-Run:
    Centralized

    Pro: Supports established and stable families.

    Con: Command-and-control nature inhibits Agile DevOps and business agility.

    Pro: Supports established and stable families.

    Con: Command-and-control nature inhibits Agile DevOps and business agility.

    Pro: Can be used to align high-level families.

    Con: Lacks flexibility at the product level to address shifting priorities in product demand.

    Pro: Supports a factory model.

    Con: Lacks flexibility at the product level to address shifting priorities in product demand.

    Centralized Model 2:
    Demand-Develop-
    Service

    Pro: Supports established and stable families.

    Con: Command-and-control nature inhibits Agile DevOps and business agility.

    Pro: Supports established and stable families.

    Con: Command-and-control nature inhibits Agile DevOps and business agility.

    Pro: Recommended for aligning high-level service families based on user needs.

    Con: Reduces product empowerment, prioritizing demand. Slow.

    Pro: Supports factory models.

    Con: Reduces product empowerment, prioritizing demand. Slow.

    Decentralized Model:
    Line of Business, Product, Geographically, or

    Functionally Aligned

    Pro: Aligns product families to value streams, capabilities, and organizational structure.

    Con: Reduces shared solutions and may create duplicate apps and services.

    Pro: Enterprise apps treated as distinct LoB groups.

    Con: Reduces shared solutions and may create duplicate apps and services.

    Pro: Complements value stream alignment by consolidating shared apps and services.

    Con: Requires additional effort to differentiate local vs. shared solutions.

    Pro: Fits within other groupings where technical expertise is needed.

    Con: Creates redundancy between localized and shared technical teams.

    Hybrid Model:
    Functional/Product

    Aligned

    Pro: Supports multiple patterns of product grouping.

    Con: Requires additional effort to differentiate local vs. shared solutions.

    Pro: Supports multiple patterns of product grouping.

    Con: Requires additional effort to differentiate local vs. shared solutions.

    Pro: Supports multiple patterns of product grouping.

    Con: Requires additional effort to differentiate local vs. shared solutions.

    Pro: Supports multiple patterns of product grouping.

    Con: Creates redundancy between localized and shared technical teams.

    Hybrid Model:

    Product-Aligned Operating Model

    Pro: Supports multiple patterns of product grouping.

    Con: Requires additional effort to differentiate local vs. shared solutions.

    Pro: Supports multiple patterns of product grouping.

    Con: Requires additional effort to differentiate local vs. shared solutions.

    Pro: Supports multiple patterns of product grouping.

    Con: Requires additional effort to differentiate local vs. shared solutions.

    Pro: Supports multiple patterns of product grouping.

    Con: Creates redundancy between localized and shared technical teams.

    4.3.1 Understand the relationships between product management, delivery teams, and stakeholders

    30-60 minutes

    1. Discuss the intake sources of product work.
    2. Trace the flow of requests down to the functional roles of your delivery team (e.g., developer, QA, operations).
    3. Indicate where key deliverables are produced, particularly those that are built in collaboration.
    4. Discuss the five operating models relative to your current operating model choice. How aligned are you?
    5. Review Info-Tech’s recommendation on the best-aligned operating models for product family delivery. Do you agree or disagree?
    6. Evaluate recommendations against how you operate/work.

    Output

    • Understanding of the relationships between key groups
    • A preferred operating model

    Participants

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Delivery managers

    Record the results in the Digital Product Family Strategy Playbook.

    4.3.1 Understand the relationships between product management, delivery teams, and stakeholders

    An example of activity 4.3.1 to understand the relationships between product management, delivery teams, and stakeholders is shown.

    Output

    • Understanding of the relationships between key groups
    • A preferred operating model

    Participants

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Delivery managers

    Step 4.4

    Identify how to fund product family delivery

    Activities

    4.4.1 Discuss traditional vs. product-centric funding methods

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Portfolio managers
    • Delivery managers

    Outcomes of this step

    • An understanding of the differences between product-based and traditional funding methods

    Why is funding so problematic?

    We often still think about funding products like construction projects.

    Three models are shown on the various options to fund projects.

    These models require increasing accuracy throughout the project lifecycle to manage actuals vs. estimates.

    "Most IT funding depends on one-time expenditures or capital-funding mechanisms that are based on building-construction funding models predicated on a life expectancy of 20 years or more. Such models don’t provide the stability or flexibility needed for modern IT investments." – EDUCAUSE

    Reminder: Projects don’t go away. The center of the conversation changes.

    A flowchart is shown to demonstrate the difference between project lifecycle, hybrid lifecycle, and product lifecycle.

    Projects within products

    Regardless of whether you recognize yourself as a product-based or project-based shop, the same basic principles should apply.

    The purpose of projects is to deliver the scope of a product release. The shift to product delivery leverages a product roadmap and backlog as the mechanism for defining and managing the scope of the release.

    Eventually, teams progress to continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) where they can release on demand or as scheduled, requiring org change management.

    Planning and budgeting for products and families

    Reward for delivering outcomes, not features

    AutonomyFlexibilityAccountability
    Fund what delivers valueAllocate iterativelyMeasure and adjust

    Fund long-lived delivery of value through products (not projects).

    Give autonomy to the team to decide exactly what to build.

    Allocate to a pool based on higher-level business case.

    Provide funds in smaller amounts to different product teams and initiatives based on need.

    Product teams define metrics that contribute to given outcomes.

    Track progress and allocate more (or less) funds as appropriate.

    Info-Tech Insight

    Changes to funding require changes to product and Agile practices to ensure product ownership and accountability.

    The Lean Enterprise Funding Model is an example of a different approach

    An example of the lean enterprise funding model is shown.
    From: Implement Agile Practices That Work

    A flexible funding pool akin to venture capital models is maintained to support innovative ideas and fund proofs of concept for product and process improvements.

    Proofs of concept (POCs) are run by standing innovation teams or a reserve of resources not committed to existing products, projects, or services.

    Every product line has funding for all changes and ongoing operations and support.

    Teams are funded continuously so that they can learn and improve their practices as much as possible.

    Budgeting approaches must evolve as you mature your product operating environment

    TRADITIONAL PROJECTS WITH WATERFALL DELIVERY

    TRADITIONAL PROJECTS WITH AGILE DELIVERY

    PRODUCTS WITH AGILE PROJECT DELIVERY

    PRODUCTS WITH AGILE DELIVERY

    WHEN IS THE BUDGET TRACKED?

    Budget tracked by major phases

    Budget tracked by sprint and project

    Budget tracked by sprint and project

    Budget tracked by sprint and release

    HOW ARE CHANGES HANDLED?

    All change is by exception

    Scope change is routine, budget change is by exception

    Scope change is routine, budget change is by exception

    Budget change is expected on roadmap cadence

    WHEN ARE BENEFITS REALIZED?

    Benefits realization after project completion

    Benefits realization is ongoing throughout the life of the project

    Benefits realization is ongoing throughout the life of the product

    Benefits realization is ongoing throughout life of the product

    WHO “DRIVES”?

    Project Manager

    • Project team delivery role
    • Refines project scope, advocates for changes in the budget
    • Advocates for additional funding in the forecast

    Product Owner

    • Project team delivery role
    • Refines project scope, advocates for changes in the budget
    • Advocates for additional funding in the forecast

    Product Manager

    • Product portfolio team role
    • Forecasting new initiatives during delivery to continue to drive value throughout the life of the product

    Product Manager

  • Product family team role
  • Forecasting new initiatives during delivery to continue to drive value throughout the life of the product
  • Info-Tech Insight

    As you evolve your approach to product delivery, you will be decoupling the expected benefits, forecast, and budget. Managing them independently will improve your ability to adapt to change and drive the right outcomes!

    Your strategy must include the cost to build and operate

    Most investment happens after go-live, not in the initial build!

    An example strategy is displayed that incorporates the concepts of cost to build and operate.

    Adapted from: LookFar

    Info-Tech Insight

    While the exact balance point between development or implementation costs varies from application to application, over 80% of the cost is accrued after go-live.

    Traditional accounting leaves software development CapEx on the table

    Software development costs have traditionally been capitalized, while research and operations are operational expenditures.

    The challenge has always been the myth that operations are only bug fixes, upgrades, and other operational expenditures. Research shows that most post-release work on developed solutions is the development of new features and changes to support material changes in the business. While projects could bundle some of these changes into capital expenditure, much of the business-as-usual work that goes on leaves capital expenses on the table because the work is lumped together as maintenance-related OpEx.

    From “How to Stop Leaving Software CapEx on the Table With Agile and DevOps”

    4.4.1 Discuss traditional vs. product-centric funding methods

    30-60 minutes

    1. Discuss how products and product families are currently funded.
    2. Review how the Agile/product funding models differ from how you currently operate.
    3. What changes do you need to consider in order to support a product delivery model?
    4. For each change, identify the key stakeholders and list at least one action to take.
    5. Record the results in the Digital Product Family Strategy Playbook.

    Output

    • Understanding of funding principles and challenges

    Participants

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Delivery managers

    Record the results in the Digital Product Family Strategy Playbook.

    Phase 5

    Build Your Transformation Roadmap and Communication Plan

    Phase 1Phase 2Phase 3Phase 4Phase 5

    1.1 Understand the organizational factors driving product-centric delivery

    1.2 Establish your organization’s product inventory

    2.1 Determine your approach to scale product families

    2.2 Define your product families

    3.1 Leverage product family roadmaps

    3.2 Use stakeholder management to improve roadmap communication

    3.3 Configure your product family roadmaps

    3.4 Confirm product family to product alignment

    4.1 Assess your organization’s delivery readiness

    4.2 Understand your delivery options

    4.3 Determine your operating model

    4.4 Identify how to fund product family delivery

    5.1 Learn how to introduce your digital product family strategy

    5.2 Communicate changes on updates to your strategy

    5.3 Determine your next steps

    This phase will walk you through the following activities:

    5.1.1 Introduce your digital product family strategy

    5.2.1 Define your communication cadence for your strategy updates

    5.2.2 Define your messaging for each stakeholder

    5.3.1 How do we get started?

    This phase involves the following participants:

    • Product owners
    • Product managers
    • Application leaders
    • Stakeholders

    Step 5.1

    Introduce your digital product family strategy

    Activities

    5.1.1 Introduce your digital product family strategy

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Product owners and product managers
    • Application leaders
    • Stakeholders

    Outcomes of this step

    • A completed executive summary presenting your digital product strategy

    Product decisions are traditionally made in silos with little to no cross-functional communication and strategic oversight

    Software delivery teams and stakeholders traditionally make plans, strategies, and releases within their silos and tailor their decisions based on their own priorities. Interactions are typically limited to hand-offs (such as feature requests) and routing of issues and defects back up the delivery pipeline. These silos likely came about through well-intentioned training, mandates, and processes, but they do not sufficiently support today’s need to rapidly release and change platforms.

    Siloed departments often have poor visibility into the activities of other silos, and they may not be aware of the ramifications their decisions have on teams and stakeholders outside of their silo.

    • Silos may make choices that are optimal largely for themselves without thinking of the holistic impact on a platform’s structure, strategy, use cases, and delivery.
    • The business may approve platform improvements without the consideration of the delivery team’s current capacity or the system’s complexity, resulting in unrealistic commitments.
    • Quality standards may be misinterpreted and inconsistently enforced across the entire delivery pipeline.

    In some cases, the only way to achieve greater visibility and communication for all roles across a platform’s lifecycle is implementing an overarching role or team.

    “The majority of our candid conversations with practitioners and project management offices indicate that the platform ownership role is poorly defined and poorly executed.”

    – Barry Cousins

    Practice Lead, Applications – Project & Portfolio Management

    Info-Tech Research Group

    Use stakeholder management and roadmap views to improve communication

    Proactive, clear communication with stakeholders, SMEs, and your product delivery team can significantly improve alignment and agreement with your roadmap, strategy, and vision.

    When building your communication strategy, revisit the work you completed in phase 3 developing your:

    • Roadmap types
    • Stakeholder strategy

    Type

    Quadrant

    Actions

    Players

    High influence, high interest – actively engage

    Keep them updated on the progress of the project. Continuously involve Players in the process and maintain their engagement and interest by demonstrating their value to its success.

    Mediators

    High influence, low interest – keep satisfied

    They can be the game changers in groups of stakeholders. Turn them into supporters by gaining their confidence and trust and including them in important decision-making steps. In turn, they can help you influence other stakeholders.

    Noisemakers

    Low influence, high interest – keep informed

    Try to increase their influence (or decrease it if they are detractors) by providing them with key information, supporting them in meetings, and using Mediators to help them.

    Spectators

    Low influence, low interest – monitor

    They are followers. Keep them in the loop by providing clarity on objectives and status updates.

    5.1.1 Introduce your digital product family strategy

    30-60 minutes

    This exercise is intended to help you lay out the framing of your strategy and the justification for the effort. A lot of these items can be pulled directly from the product canvas you created in phase 2. This is intended to be a single slide to frame your upcoming discussions.

    1. Update your vision, goals, and values on your product canvas. Determine which stakeholders may be impacted and what their concerns are. If you have many stakeholders, limit to Players and Influencers.
    2. Identify what you need from the stakeholders as a result of this communication.
    3. Keeping in mind the information gathered in steps 1 and 2, describe your product family strategy by answering three questions:
    1. Why do we need product families?
    2. What is in our way?
    3. Our first step will be... ?

    Output

    • An executive summary that introduces your product strategy

    Participants

    • Product owners and product managers
    • Application leaders
    • Stakeholders

    Record the results in the Digital Product Family Strategy Playbook.

    Example: Scaling delivery through product families

    Why do we need product families?

    • The growth of our product offerings and our company’s movement into new areas of growth mean we need to do a better job scaling our offerings to meet the needs of the organization.

    What is in our way?

    • Our existing applications and services are so dramatically different we are unsure how to bring them together.

    Our first step will be...

    • Taking a full inventory of our applications and services.

    Step 5.2

    Communicate changes on updates to your strategy

    Activities

    5.2.1 Define your communication cadence for your strategy updates

    5.2.2 Define your messaging for each stakeholder

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Product owners and product managers
    • Application leaders
    • Stakeholders

    Outcomes of this step

    • A communication plan for when strategy updates need to be given

    5.2.1 Define your communication cadence for your strategy updates

    30 minutes

    Remember the role of different artifacts when it comes to your strategy. The canvas contributes to the What, and the roadmap addresses the How. Any updates to the strategy are articulated and communicated through your roadmap.

    1. Review your currently defined roadmaps, their communication objectives, update frequency, and updates.
    2. Consider the impacted stakeholders and the strategies required to communicate with them.
    3. Fill in your communication cadence and communication method.

    EXAMPLE:

    Roadmap Name

    Audience/Stakeholders

    Communication Cadence

    External Customer Roadmap

    Customers and External Users

    Quarterly (Website)

    Product Delivery Roadmap

    Development Teams, Infrastructure, Architects

    Monthly (By Email)

    Technology Roadmap

    Development Teams, Infrastructure, Architects

    Biweekly (Website)

    Output

    • Clear communication cadence for your roadmaps

    Participants

    • Product owners and product managers
    • Application leaders
    • Stakeholders

    Record the results in the Digital Product Family Strategy Playbook.

    The “what” behind the communication

    Leaders of successful change spend considerable time developing a powerful change message, i.e. a compelling narrative that articulates the desired end state and makes the change concrete and meaningful to staff.

    The change message should:

    • Explain why the change is needed.
    • Summarize what will stay the same.
    • Highlight what will be left behind.
    • Emphasize what is being changed.
    • Explain how change will be implemented.
    • Address how change will affect various roles in the organization.
    • Discuss the staff’s role in making the change successful.

    Five elements of communicating change

    1. What is the change?
    2. Why are we doing it?
    3. How are we going to go about it?
    4. How long will it take us to do it?
    5. What is the role for each department and individual?

    Source: Cornelius & Associates

    How we engage with the message is just as important as the message itself

    Why are we here?

    Speak to what matters to them

    Sell the improvement

    Show real value

    Discuss potential fears

    Ask for their support

    Be gracious

    5.2.2 (Optional) Define your messaging for each stakeholder

    30 minutes

    It’s one thing to communicate the strategy, it’s another thing to send the right message to your stakeholders. Some of this will depend on the kind of news given, but the majority of this is dependent on the stakeholder and the cadence of communication.

    1. From exercise 5.2.1, take the information on the specific roadmaps, target audience, and communication cadence.
    2. Based on your understanding of the audience’s needs, what would the specific update try to get across?
    3. Pick a specific typical example of a change in strategy that you have gone through. (e.g. Product will be delayed by a quarter; key feature is being substituted for another.)

    EXAMPLE:

    Roadmap Name

    Audience/ Stakeholder

    Communication Cadence

    Messaging

    External Customer Roadmap

    Customers and External Users

    Quarterly (Website)

    Output

    • Messaging plan for each roadmap type

    Participants

    • Product owners and product managers
    • Application leaders
    • Stakeholders

    Record the results in the Digital Product Family Strategy Playbook.

    Step 5.3

    Determine your next steps

    Activities

    5.3.1 How do we get started?

    This step involves the following participants:

    • Product owners and product managers
    • Application leaders
    • Stakeholders

    Outcomes of this step

    • Understanding the steps to get started in your transformation

    Make a plan in order to make a plan!

    Consider some of the techniques you can use to validate your strategy.

    Learning Milestones

    Sprint Zero (AKA Project-before-the-project)

    The completion of a set of artifacts dedicated to validating business opportunities and hypotheses.

    Possible areas of focus:

    Align teams on product strategy prior to build

    Market research and analysis

    Dedicated feedback sessions

    Provide information on feature requirements

    The completion of a set of key planning activities, typically the first sprint.

    Possible areas of focus:

    Focus on technical verification to enable product development alignment

    Sign off on architectural questions or concerns

    An image showing the flowchart of continuous delivery of value is shown.

    Go to your backlog and prioritize the elements that need to be answered sooner rather than later.

    Possible areas of focus:

    Regulatory requirements or questions to answer around accessibility, security, privacy.

    Stress testing any new processes against situations that may occur.

    The “Now, Next, Later” roadmap

    Use this when deadlines and delivery dates are not strict. This is best suited for brainstorming a product plan when dependency mapping is not required.

    Now: What are you going to do now?

    Next: What are you going to do very soon?

    Later: What are you going to do in the future?

    An example of a now, next, later roadmap is shown.

    Source: “Tips for Agile product roadmaps & product roadmap examples,” Scrum.org, 2017

    5.3.1 How do we get started?

    30-60 minutes

    1. Identify what the critical steps are for the organization to embrace product-centric delivery.
    2. Group each critical step by how soon you need to address it:
    • Now: Let’s do this ASAP.
    • Next: Sometime very soon, let’s do these things.
    • Later: Much further off in the distance, let’s consider these things.
  • Record the group results in the Deliver Digital Products at Scale Workbook.
  • Record changes for your product and product family in the Digital Product Family Strategy Playbook.
  • An example of a now, next, later roadmap is shown.

    Source: “Tips for Agile product roadmaps & product roadmap examples,” Scrum.org, 2017

    Output

    • Product family transformation critical steps and basic roadmap

    Participants

    • Product owners and product managers
    • Application leaders
    • Stakeholders

    Record the results in the Digital Product Family Strategy Playbook.

    Record the results in the Deliver Digital Products at Scale Workbook.

    Summary of Accomplishment

    Problem Solved

    The journey to become a product-centric organization is not short or easy. Like with any improvement or innovation, teams need to continue to evolve and mature with changes in their operations, teams, tools, and user needs.You’ve taken a big step completing your product family alignment. This provides a backbone for aligning all aspects of your organization to your enterprise goals and strategy while empowering product teams to find solutions closer to the problem. Continue to refine your model and operations to improve value realization and your product delivery pipelines to embrace business agility. Organizations that are most responsive to change will continue to outperform command-and-control leadership.

    If you would like additional support, have our analysts guide you through other phases as part of an Info-Tech workshop.

    Contact your account representative for more information.

    workshops@infotech.com

    1-888-670-8889

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    Senior Consultant Professional Services

    Blueprint Software Systems

    Kieran Gobey is an IT professional with 24 years of experience, focused on business, technology, and systems analysis. He has split his career between external and internal customer-facing roles, and this has resulted in a true understanding of what is required to be a Professional Services Consultant. His problem-solving skills and ability to mentor others have resulted in successful software implementations. Kieran’s specialties include deep system troubleshooting and analysis skills, facilitating communications to bring together participants effectively, mentoring, leadership, and organizational skills.

    Photo of Rupert Kainzbauer

    Rupert Kainzbauer

    VP Product, Digital Wallets

    Paysafe Group

    Rupert Kainzbauer is an experienced senior leader with a passion for defining and delivering products that deliver real customer and commercial benefit. Together with a team of highly experienced and motivated product managers, he has successfully led highly complex, multi-stakeholder payments initiatives, from proposition development and solution design through to market delivery. Their domain experience is in building online payment products in high-risk and emerging markets, remittance, prepaid cards, and mobile applications.

    Photo of Saeed Khan

    Saeed Khan

    Founder,

    Transformation Labs

    Saeed Khan has been working in high tech for 30 years in both Canada and the US and has held a number of leadership roles in Product Management over that time. He speaks regularly at conferences and has been writing publicly about technology product management since 2005. Through Transformation Labs, Saeed helps companies accelerate product success by working with product teams to improve their skills, practices, and processes. He is a cofounder of ProductCamp Toronto and currently runs a Meetup group and global Slack community called Product Leaders; the only global community of senior level product executives.

    Photo of Hoi Kun Lo

    Hoi Kun Lo

    Product Owner

    Nielsen

    Hoi Kun Lo is an experienced change agent who can be found actively participating within the IIBA and WITI groups in Tampa, FL and a champion for Agile, architecture, diversity, and inclusion programs at Nielsen. She is currently a Product Owner in the Digital Strategy team within Nielsen Global Watch Technology.

    Photo of Abhishek Mathur

    Abhishek Mathur

    Sr Director, Product Management

    Kasisto, Inc.

    Abhishek Mathur is a product management leader, an artificial intelligence practitioner, and an educator. He has led product management and engineering teams at Clarifai, IBM, and Kasisto to build a variety of artificial intelligence applications within the space of computer vision, natural language processing, and recommendation systems. Abhishek enjoys having deep conversations about the future of technology and helping aspiring product managers enter and accelerate their careers.

    Photo of Jeff Meister

    Jeff Meister

    Technology Advisor and Product Leader

    Jeff Meister is a technology advisor and product leader. He has more than 20 years of experience building and operating software products and the teams that build them. He has built products across a wide range of industries and has built and led large engineering, design, and product organizations. Jeff most recently served as Senior Director of Product Management at Avanade, where he built and led the product management practice. This involved hiring and leading product managers, defining product management processes, solution shaping and engagement execution, and evangelizing the discipline through pitches, presentations, and speaking engagements. Jeff holds a Bachelor’s of Applied Science (Electrical Engineering) and a Bachelor’s of Arts from the University of Waterloo, an MBA from INSEAD (Strategy), and certifications in product management, project management, and design thinking.

    Photo of Vincent Mirabelli

    Vincent Mirabelli

    Principal,

    Global Project Synergy Group

    With over 10 years of experience in both the private and public sectors, Vincent Mirabelli possesses an impressive track record of improving, informing, and transforming business strategy and operations through process improvement, design and re-engineering, and the application of quality to business analysis, project management, and process improvement standards.

    Photo of Oz Nazili

    Oz Nazili

    VP, Product & Growth

    TWG

    Oz Nazili is a product leader with a decade of experience in both building products and product teams. Having spent time at funded startups and large enterprises, he thinks often about the most effective way to deliver value to users. His core areas of interest include Lean MVP development and data-driven product growth.

    Photo of Mark Pearson

    Mark Pearson

    Principal IT Architect, First Data Corporation

    Mark Pearson is an executive business leader grounded in the process, data, technology, and operations of software-driven business. He knows the enterprise software landscape and is skilled in product, technology, and operations design and delivery within information technology organizations, outsourcing firms, and software product companies.

    Photo of Brenda Peshak

    Brenda Peshak

    Product Owner,

    Widget Industries, LLC

    Brenda Peshak is skilled in business process, analytical skills, Microsoft Office Suite, communication, and customer relationship management (CRM). She is a strong product management professional with a Master’s focused in Business Leadership (MBL) from William Penn University.

    Photo of Mike Starkey

    Mike Starkey

    Director of Engineering

    W.W. Grainger

    Mike Starkey is a Director of Engineering at W.W. Grainger, currently focusing on operating model development, digital architecture, and building enterprise software. Prior to joining W.W. Grainger, Mike held a variety of technology consulting roles throughout the system delivery lifecycle spanning multiple industries such as healthcare, retail, manufacturing, and utilities with Fortune 500 companies.

    Photo of Anant Tailor

    Anant Tailor

    Cofounder & Head of Product

    Dream Payments Corp.

    Anant Tailor is a cofounder at Dream Payments where he currently serves as the COO and Head of Product, having responsibility for Product Strategy & Development, Client Delivery, Compliance, and Operations. He has 20+ years of experience building and operating organizations that deliver software products and solutions for consumers and businesses of varying sizes. Prior to founding Dream Payments, Anant was the COO and Director of Client Services at DonRiver Inc, a technology strategy and software consultancy that he helped to build and scale into a global company with 100+ employees operating in seven countries. Anant is a Professional Engineer with a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from McMaster University and a certificate in Product Strategy & Management from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

    Photo of Angela Weller

    Angela Weller

    Scrum Master, Businessolver

    Angela Weller is an experienced Agile business analyst who collaborates with key stakeholders to attain their goals and contributes to the achievement of the company’s strategic objectives to ensure a competitive advantage. She excels when mediating or facilitating teams.

    Related Info-Tech Research

    Product Delivery

    Deliver on Your Digital Product Vision

    • Build a product vision your organization can take from strategy through execution.

    Build a Better Product Owner

    • Strengthen the product owner role in your organization by focusing on core capabilities and proper alignment.

    Build Your Agile Acceleration Roadmap

    • Quickly assess the state of your Agile readiness and plan your path forward to higher value realization.

    Implement Agile Practices That Work

    • Improve collaboration and transparency with the business to minimize project failure.

    Implement DevOps Practices That Work

    • Streamline business value delivery through the strategic adoption of DevOps practices.

    Extend Agile Practices Beyond IT

    • Further the benefits of Agile by extending a scaled Agile framework to the business.

    Build Your BizDevOps Playbook

    • Embrace a team sport culture built around continuous business-IT collaboration to deliver great products.

    Embed Security Into the DevOps Pipeline

    • Shift security left to get into DevSecOps.

    Spread Best Practices With an Agile Center of Excellence

    • Facilitate ongoing alignment between Agile teams and the business with a set of targeted service offerings.

    Enable Organization-Wide Collaboration by Scaling Agile

    • Execute a disciplined approach to rolling out Agile methods in the organization.

    Application Portfolio Management

    APM Research Center

    • See an overview of the APM journey and how we can support the pieces in this journey.

    Application Portfolio Management for Small Enterprises

    • There is no one-size-fits-all rationalization. Tailor your framework to meet your goals.

    Streamline Application Maintenance

    • Effective maintenance ensures the long-term value of your applications.

    Build an Application Rationalization Framework

    • Manage your application portfolio to minimize risk and maximize value.

    Modernize Your Applications

    • Justify modernizing your application portfolio from both business and technical perspectives.

    Review Your Application Strategy

    • Ensure your applications enable your business strategy.

    Discover Your Applications

    • Most application strategies fail. Arm yourself with the necessary information and team structure for a successful application portfolio strategy.

    Streamline Application Management

    • Move beyond maintenance to ensuring exceptional value from your apps.

    Optimize Applications Release Management

    • Facilitate ongoing alignment between Agile teams and the business with a set of targeted service offerings.

    Embrace Business-Managed Applications

    • Empower the business to implement their own applications with a trusted business-IT relationship.

    Value, Delivery Metrics, Estimation

    Build a Value Measurement Framework

    • Focus product delivery on business value–driven outcomes.

    Select and Use SDLC Metrics Effectively

    • Be careful what you ask for, because you will probably get it.

    Application Portfolio Assessment: End User Feedback

    • Develop data-driven insights to help you decide which applications to retire, upgrade, re-train on, or maintain to meet the demands of the business.

    Create a Holistic IT Dashboard

    • Mature your IT department by measuring what matters.

    Refine Your Estimation Practices With Top-Down Allocations

    • Don’t let bad estimates ruin good work.

    Estimate Software Delivery With Confidence

    • Commit to achievable software releases by grounding realistic expectations.

    Reduce Time to Consensus With an Accelerated Business Case

    • Expand on the financial model to give your initiative momentum.

    Optimize Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization

    • Deliver more projects by giving yourself the voice to say “no” or “not yet” to new projects.

    Enhance PPM Dashboards and Reports

    • Facilitate ongoing alignment between Agile teams and the business with a set of targeted service offerings.

    Org Design and Performance

    Redesign Your IT Organizational Structure

    • Focus product delivery on business value–driven outcomes.

    Build a Strategic Workforce Plan

    • Have the right people, in the right place, at the right time.

    Implement a New Organizational Structure

    • Reorganizations are inherently disruptive. Implement your new structure with minimal pain for staff while maintaining IT performance throughout the change.

    Improve Employee Engagement to Drive IT Performance

    • Don’t just measure engagement, act on it.

    Set Meaningful Employee Performance Measures

    • Set holistic measures to inspire employee performance.

    Master Organizational Change Management Practices

    • PMOs, if you don't know who is responsible for org change, it's you.

    Bibliography (Product Management)

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    Banfield, Richard, et al. “On-Demand Webinar: Strategies for Scaling Your (Growing) Enterprise Product Team.” Pluralsight, 31 Jan. 2018. Web.

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    Eringa, Ron. “Evolution of the Product Owner.” RonEringa.com, 12 June 2016. Web.

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    Galen, Robert. “Measuring Product Ownership – What Does ‘Good’ Look Like?” RGalen Consulting, 5 Aug. 2015. Web.

    Halisky, Merland, and Luke Lackrone. “The Product Owner’s Universe.” Agile2016 Conference, Agile Alliance, 2016. Web.

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    Lukassen, Chris. “The Five Belts Of The Product Owner.” Xebia.com, 20 Sept. 2016. Web.

    McCloskey, Heather. “Scaling Product Management: Secrets to Defeating Common Challenges.” ProductPlan, 12 July 2019. Web.

    McCloskey, Heather. “When and How to Scale Your Product Team.” UserVoice, 21 Feb. 2017. Web.

    Mironov, Rich. “Scaling Up Product Manager/Owner Teams.” Rich Mironov's Product Bytes, Mironov Consulting, 12 Apr. 2014 . Web.

    Overeem, Barry. “A Product Owner Self-Assessment.” Barry Overeem, 6 Mar. 2017. Web.

    Overeem, Barry. “Retrospective: Using the Team Radar.” Barry Overeem, 27 Feb. 2017. Web.

    Pichler, Roman. “How to Scale the Scrum Product Owner.” Roman Pichler, 28 June 2016 . Web.

    Pichler, Roman. “Product Management Framework.” Pichler Consulting Limited, 2014. Web.

    Pichler, Roman. “Sprint Planning Tips for Product Owners.” LinkedIn, 4 Sept. 2018. Web.

    Pichler, Roman. “What Is Product Management?” Pichler Consulting Limited, 26 Nov. 2014. Web.

    Radigan, Dan. “Putting the ‘Flow' Back in Workflow With WIP Limits.” Atlassian, n.d. Web.

    Rouse, Margaret. “Definition: product.” TechTarget, Sept. 2005. Web.

    Schuurman, Robbin. “10 Tips for Product Owners on (Business) Value.” Scrum.org, 30 Nov. 2017. Web.

    Schuurman, Robbin. “10 Tips for Product Owners on Agile Product Management.” Scrum.org, 28 Nov. 2017. Web.

    Schuurman, Robbin. “10 Tips for Product Owners on Product Backlog Management.” Scrum.org, 5 Dec. 2017. Web.

    Schuurman, Robbin. “10 Tips for Product Owners on the Product Vision.” Scrum.org, 29 Nov. 2017. Web.

    Schuurman, Robbin. “Tips for Starting Product Owners.” Scrum.org, 27 Nov. 2017. Web.

    Sharma, Rohit. “Scaling Product Teams the Structured Way.” Monetary Musings, 28 Nov. 2016. Web.

    Shirazi, Reza. “Betsy Stockdale of Seilevel: Product Managers Are Not Afraid To Be Wrong.” Austin Voice of Product, 2 Oct. 2018. Web.

    Steiner, Anne. “Start to Scale Your Product Management: Multiple Teams Working on Single Product.” Cprime, 6 Aug. 2019. Web.

    “The Qualities of Leadership: Leading Change.” Cornelius & Associates, 2016. Web.

    “The Standish Group 2015 Chaos Report.” The Standish Group. 2015. Web.

    Theus, Andre. “When Should You Scale the Product Management Team?” ProductPlan, 7 May 2019. Web.

    Tolonen, Arto. “Scaling Product Management in a Single Product Company.” Smartly.io, 26 Apr. 2018. Web.

    Ulrich, Catherine. “The 6 Types of Product Managers. Which One Do You Need?” Medium, 19 Dec. 2017. Web.

    Verwijs, Christiaan. “Retrospective: Do The Team Radar.” The Liberators, Medium, 10 Feb. 2017. Web.

    Vlaanderen, Kevin. “Towards Agile Product and Portfolio Management”. Academia.edu. 2010. Web.

    Bibliography (Roadmap)

    Bastow, Janna. “Creating Agile Product roadmaps Everyone Understands.” ProdPad, 22 Mar. 2017. Accessed Sept. 2018.

    Bastow, Janna. “The Product Tree Game: Our Favorite Way To Prioritize Features.” ProdPad, 21 Feb. 2016. Accessed Sept. 2018.

    Chernak, Yuri. “Requirements Reuse: The State of the Practice.” 2012 IEEE International Conference, 12 June 2012, Herzliya, Israel. Web.

    Fowler, Martin. “Application Boundary.” MartinFowler.com, 11 Sept. 2003. Accessed 20 Nov. 2017.

    Harrin, Elizabeth. “Learn What a Project Milestone Is.” The Balance Careers, 10 May 2018. Accessed Sept. 2018.

    “How to create a product roadmap.” Roadmunk, n.d. Accessed Sept. 2018.

    Johnson, Steve. “How to Master the 3 Horizons of Product Strategy.” Aha!, 24 Sept. 2015. Accessed Sept. 2018.

    Johnson, Steve. “The Product Roadmap vs. the Technology Roadmap.” Aha!, 23 June 2016. Accessed Sept. 2018

    Juncal, Shaun. “How Should You Set Your Product Roadmap Timeframes?” ProductPlan, Web. Sept. 2018.

    Leffingwell, Dean. “SAFe 4.0.” Scaled Agile, 2017. Web.

    Maurya, Ash. “What is a Minimum Viable Product (MVP).” Leanstack, 12 June 2017. Accessed Sept. 2018.

    Pichler, Roman. “10 Tips for Creating an Agile Product Roadmap.” Roman Pichler, 20 July 2016. Accessed Sept. 2018.

    Pichler, Roman. Strategize: Product Strategy and Product Roadmap Practices for the Digital Age. Pichler Consulting, 2016.

    “Product Roadmap Contents: What Should You Include?” ProductPlan, n.d. Accessed 20 Nov. 2017.

    Saez, Andrea. “Why Your Roadmap Is Not a Release Plan.” ProdPad, 23 October 2015. Accessed Sept. 2018.

    Schuurman, Robbin. “Tips for Agile product roadmaps & product roadmap examples.” Scrum.org, 7 Dec. 2017. Accessed Sept. 2018.

    Bibliography (Vision and Canvas)

    Adams, Paul. “The Future Product Canvas.” Inside Intercom, 10 Jan. 2014. Web.

    “Aligning IT Funding Models to the Pace of Technology Change.” EDUCAUSE, 14 Dec. 2015. Web.

    Altman, Igor. “Metrics: Gone Bad.” OpenView, 10 Nov. 2009. Web.

    Barry, Richard. “The Product Vision Canvas – a Strategic Tool in Developing a Successful Business.” Polymorph, 2019. Web.

    “Business Canvas – Business Models & Value Propositions.” Strategyzer, 2019. Web.

    “Business Model Canvas.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, 4 Aug. 2019. Web.

    Charak, Dinker. “Idea to Product: The Working Model.” ThoughtWorks, 13 July 2017. Web.

    Charak, Dinker. “Product Management Canvas - Product in a Snapshot.” Dinker Charak, 29 May 2017. Web.

    Chudley, James. “Practical Steps in Determining Your Product Vision (Product Tank Bristol, Oct. 2018).” LinkedIn SlideShare. Uploaded by cxpartners, 2 Nov. 2018. Web.

    Cowan, Alex. “The 20 Minute Business Plan: Business Model Canvas Made Easy.” COWAN+, 2019. Web.

    Craig, Desiree. “So You've Decided To Become A Product Manager.” Start it up, Medium, 2 June 2019. Web.

    Create an Aha! Business Model Canvas Strategic Model.” Aha! Support, 2019. Web.

    Eick, Stephen. “Does Code Decay? Assessing the Evidence from Change Management Data.” IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, vol. 27, no. 1, Jan. 2001, pp. 1-12. Web.

    Eriksson, Martin. “The next Product Canvas.” Mind the Product, 22 Nov. 2013. Web.

    “Experience Canvas: a Lean Approach: Atlassian Team Playbook.” Atlassian, 2019. Web.

    Freeman, James. “How to Make a Product Canvas – Visualize Your Product Plan.” Edraw, 23 Dec. 2019. Web.

    Fuchs, Danny. “Measure What Matters: 5 Best Practices from Performance Management Leaders.” OpenGov, 8 Aug. 2018. Web.

    Gorisse, Willem. “A Practical Guide to the Product Canvas.” Mendix, 28 Mar. 2017. Web.

    Gothelf, Jeff. “The Lean UX Canvas.” Jeff Gothelf, 15 Dec. 2016. Web.

    Gottesdiener, Ellen. “Using the Product Canvas to Define Your Product: Getting Started.” EBG Consulting, 15 Jan. 2019. Web.

    Gottesdiener, Ellen. “Using the Product Canvas to Define Your Product's Core Requirements.” EBG Consulting, 4 Feb. 2019. Web.

    Gray, Mark Krishan. “Should I Use the Business Model Canvas or the Lean Canvas?” Emergn, 2019. Web.

    Hanby, Jeff. "Software Maintenance: Understanding and Estimating Costs." LookFar, 21 Oct. 2016. Web.

    “How do you define a product?” Scrum.org, 4 Apr 2017, Web

    Juncal, Shaun. “How to Build a Product Roadmap Based on a Business Model Canvas.” ProductPlan, 19 June 2019. Web.

    “Lean Canvas Intro - Uber Example.” YouTube, uploaded by Railsware Product Academy, 12 Oct. 2018. Web.

    “Lesson 6: Product Canvas.” ProdPad Help Center, 2019. Web.

    Lucero, Mario. “The Product Canvas.” Agilelucero.com, 22 June 2015. Web.

    Maurya, Ash. “Create a New Lean Canvas.” Canvanizer, 2019. Web.

    Maurya, Ash. “Don't Write a Business Plan. Create a Lean Canvas Instead.” LEANSTACK, 2019. Web.

    Maurya, Ash. “Why Lean Canvas vs Business Model Canvas?” Medium, 27 Feb. 2012. Web.

    Mirabelli, Vincent. “The Project Value Canvas.” Vincent Mirabelli, 2019. Web.

    Mishra, LN. “Business Analysis Canvas – The Ultimate Enterprise Architecture.” BA Times, 19 June 2019. Web.

    Muller. Jerry Z. “Why performance metrics isn’t always the best way to judge performance.” Fast Company, 3 April 2019. Web.

    Perri, Melissa. “What Is Good Product Strategy?” Melissa Perri, 14 July 2016. Web.

    Pichler, Roman. “A Product Canvas for Agile Product Management, Lean UX, Lean Startup.” Roman Pichler, 16 July 2012. Web.

    Pichler, Roman. “Introducing the Product Canvas.” JAXenter, 15 Jan. 2013. Web.

    Pichler, Roman. “Roman's Product Canvas: Introduction.” YouTube, uploaded by Roman Pichler, 3 Mar. 2017. Web.

    Pichler, Roman. “The Agile Vision Board: Vision and Product Strategy.” Roman Pichler, 10 May 2011. Web.

    Pichler, Roman. “The Product Canvas – Template.” Roman Pichler, 11 Oct. 2016. Web.

    Pichler, Roman. “The Product Canvas Tutorial V1.0.” LinkedIn SlideShare. Uploaded by Roman Pichler, 14 Feb. 2013. Web.

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    “Product Canvas PowerPoint Template.” SlideModel, 2019. Web.

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    Snow, Darryl. “Product Vision Board.” Medium, 6 May 2017. Web.

    Stanislav, Shymansky. “Lean Canvas – a Tool Your Startup Needs Instead of a Business Plan.” Railsware, 12 Oct. 2018. Web.

    Stanislav, Shymansky. “Lean Canvas Examples of Multi-Billion Startups.” Railsware, 20 Feb. 2019. Web.

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    Tranter, Leon. “Agile Metrics: the Ultimate Guide.” Extreme Uncertainty, n.d. Web.

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    “What Is a Product Vision?” Aha!, 2019. Web.

    Staff the Service Desk to Meet Demand

    • Buy Link or Shortcode: {j2store}490|cart{/j2store}
    • member rating overall impact (scale of 10): 10.0/10 Overall Impact
    • member rating average dollars saved: $1,900 Average $ Saved
    • member rating average days saved: 2 Average Days Saved
    • Parent Category Name: Service Desk
    • Parent Category Link: /service-desk
    • With increasing complexity of support and demand on service desks, staff are often left feeling overwhelmed and struggling to keep up with ticket volume, resulting in long resolution times and frustrated end users.
    • However, it’s not as simple as hiring more staff to keep up with ticket volume. IT managers must have the data to support their case for increasing resources or even maintaining their current resources in an environment where many executives are looking to reduce headcount.
    • Without changing resources to match demand, IT managers will need to determine how to maximize the use of their resources to deliver better service.

    Our Advice

    Critical Insight

    • IT managers are stuck with the difficult task of determining the right number of service desk resources to meet demand to executives who perceive the service desk to be already effective.
    • Service desk managers often don’t have accurate historical data and metrics to justify their headcount, or don’t know where to start to find the data they need.
    • They often then fall prey to the common misperception that there is an industry standard ratio of the ideal number of service desk analysts to users. IT leaders who rely on staffing ratios or industry benchmarks fail to take into account the complexity of their own organization and may make inaccurate resourcing decisions.

    Impact and Result

    • There’s no magic, one-size-fits-all ratio to tell you how many service desk staff you need based on your user base alone. There are many factors that come into play, including the complexity of your environment, user profiles, ticket volume and trends, and maturity and efficiency of your processes.
    • If you don’t have historical data to help inform resourcing needs, start tracking ticket volume trends now so that you can forecast future needs.
    • If your data suggests you don’t need more staff, look to other ways to maximize your time and resources to deliver more efficient service.

    Staff the Service Desk to Meet Demand Research & Tools

    Start here – read the Executive Brief

    Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should optimize service desk staffing, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the ways we can support you in completing this project.

    Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:

    1. Determine environment and operating model

    Define your business and IT environment, service desk operating model, and existing challenges to inform objectives.

    • Service Desk Staffing Stakeholder Presentation

    2. Determine staffing needs

    Understand why service desk staffing estimates should be based on your unique workload, then complete the Staffing Calculator to estimate your needs.

    • Service Desk Staffing Calculator

    3. Interpret data to plan approach

    Review workload over time to analyze trends and better inform your overall resourcing needs, then plan your next steps to optimize staffing.

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