Endpoint Management Selection Guide

Streamline your organizational approach to selecting a right-sized endpoint management platform.

Endpoint Management Selection Guide

Streamline your organizational approach toward the selection of a right-sized endpoint management platform.

EXECUTIVE BRIEF

Analyst Perspective

Revolutionize your endpoint management with a proper tool selection approach

The endpoint management market has an ever-expanding and highly competitive landscape. The market has undergone tremendous evolution in past years, from device management to application deployments and security management. The COVID-19 pandemic forced organizations to service employees and end users remotely while making sure corporate data is safe and user satisfaction doesn't get negatively affected. In the meantime, vendors were forced to leverage technology enhancements to satisfy such requirements.

That being said, endpoint management solutions have become more complex, with many options to manage operating systems and run applications for relevant user groups. With the work-from-anywhere model, customer support is even more important than before, as a remote workforce may face more issues than before, or enterprises may want to ensure more compliance with policies.

Moreover, the market has become more complex, with lots of added capabilities. Some features may not be beneficial to corporations, and with a poor market validation, businesses may end up paying for some capabilities that are not useful.

In this blueprint, we help you quickly define your requirements for endpoint management and narrow down a list to find the solutions that fulfill your use cases.

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

Executive Summary

Your Challenge

Endpoint management solutions are becoming increasingly essential – deploying the right devices and applications to the right users and zero-touch provisioning are indispensable parts of a holistic strategy for improving customers' experience. However, selecting the right-sized platform that aligns with your requirements is a big challenge.

Following improvements in end-user computation strategies, selection of the right endpoint management solution is a crucial next step in delivering concrete business value.

Common Obstacles

Despite the importance of selecting the right endpoint management platform, many organizations struggle to define an approach to picking the most appropriate vendor and rolling out the solution in an effective and cost-efficient manner. There are many options available, which can cause business and IT leaders to feel lost.

The endpoint management market is evolving quickly, making the selection process tedious. On top of that, IT has a hard time defining their needs and aligning solution features with their requirements.

Info-Tech's Approach

Determine what you require from an endpoint management solution.

Review the market space and product offerings, and compare the capabilities of key players.

Create a use case – use top-level requirements to determine use cases and short-list vendors.

Conduct a formal process for interviewing vendors, using Info-Tech's templates to select the best platform for your requirements.

Info-Tech Insight

Investigate vendors' roadmaps to figure out which of the candidate platforms can fulfill your long-term requirements without any unnecessary investment in features that are not currently useful for you. Make sure you don't purchase capabilities that you will never use.

What are endpoint management platforms?

Our definition: Endpoint management solutions are platforms that enable IT with appropriate provisioning, security, monitoring, and updating endpoints to ensure that they are in good health. Typical examples of endpoints are laptops, computers, wearable devices, tablets, smart phones, servers, and the Internet of Things (IoT).

First, understand differences between mobile management solutions

• Endpoint management solutions monitor and control the status of endpoints. They help IT manage and control their environment and provide top-notch customer service.
• These solutions ensure a seamless and efficient problem management, software updates and remediations in a secure environment.
• Endpoint management solutions have evolved very quickly to satisfy IT and user needs:
• Mobile Device Management (MDM) helps with controlling features of a device.
• Enterprise Mobile Management (EMM) controls everything in a device.
• Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) manages all endpoints.

Endpoint management includes:

• Device management
• Device configuration
• Device monitoring
• Device security

Info-Tech Insight

As endpoint management encompasses a broad range of solution categories including MDM, EMM, and UEM, look for your real requirements. Don't pay for something that you won't end up using.

As UEM covers all of MDM and EMM capabilities, we overview market trends of UEM in this blueprint to give you an overall view of market in this space.

Your challenge: Endpoint management has evolved significantly over the past few years, which makes software selection overwhelming

Additional challenges occur in securing endpoints

A rise in the number of attacks on cloud services creates a need to leverage endpoint management solutions

MarketsandMarkets predicted that global cloud infrastructure services would increase from US$73 billion in 2019 to US$166.6 billion in 2024 (2019).

A study by the Ponemon Institute showed that 68% of respondents believe that security attacks increased over the past 12 months (2020).

The study reveals that over half of IT security professionals who participated in the survey believe that organizations are not very efficient in securing their endpoints, mainly because they're not efficient in detecting attacks.

IT professionals would like to link endpoint management and security platforms to unify visibility and control, to determine potential risks to endpoints, and to manage them in a single solution.

Businesses will continue to be compromised by the vulnerabilities of cloud services, which pose a challenge to organizations trying to maintain control of their data.

Trends in endpoint management have been undergoing a tremendous change

In 2020, about 5.2 million users subscribed to mobile services, and smartphones accounted for 65% of connections. This will increase to 80% by 2025.
Source: Fortune Business Insights, 2021

Info-Tech's methodology for selecting a right-sized endpoint management platform

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.

The endpoint management purchase process should be broken into segments:

1. Endpoint management vendor shortlisting with this buyer's guide
2. Structured approach to selection
3. Contract review

Info-Tech's approach

Complementary research:

Create a quick business case and requirements document to align stakeholders to your vision with Info-Tech's Rapid Application Selection Framework.
See what your peers are saying about these vendors at SoftwareReviews.com.

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

Phase 1

Understand core features and build your business case

This phase will walk you through the following activity:

Define use cases and core features for meeting business and technical goals

This phase involves the following participants:

• CIO
• IT manager
• Infrastructure & Applications directors

MDM solutions function at the level of corporate devices. Something else was needed to enable personal device management.

Major components of EMM solutions

Mobile Application Management (MAM)

Allows organizations to control individual applications and their associated data. It restricts malicious apps and enables in-depth application management, configuration, and removal.

Containerization

Enables separation of work-related data from private data. It provides encrypted containers on personal devices to separate the data, providing security on personal devices while maintaining users' personal data.

Mobile Content Management (MCM)

Helps remote distribution, control, management, and access to corporate data.

Mobile Security Management (MSM)

Provides application and data security on devices. It enables application analysis and auditing. IT can use MSM to provide strong passwords to applications, restrict unwanted applications, and protect devices from unsecure websites by blacklisting them.

Mobile Expense Management (MEM)

Enables mobile data communication expenses auditing. It can also set data limits and restrict network connections on devices.

Identity Management

Sets role-based access to corporate data. It also controls how different roles can use data, improving application and data security. Multifactor authentication can be enforced through the identity management featured of an EMM solution.

Unified endpoint management: Control all endpoints in a single pane of glass

IT admins used to provide customer service such as installation, upgrades, patches, and account administration via desktop support. IT support is not on physical assistance over end users' desktops anymore.

The rise of BYOD enhanced the need to be able to control sensitive data outside corporate network connection on all endpoints, which was beyond the capability of MDM and EMM solutions.

• It's now almost impossible for IT to be everywhere to support customers.
• This created a need to conduct tasks simultaneously from one single place.
• UEM enables IT to run, manage, and control endpoints from one place, while ensuring that device health and security remain uncompromised.
• UEM combines features of MDM and EMM while extending EMM's capabilities to all endpoints, including computers, laptops, tablets, phones, printers, wearables, and IoT.

Info-Tech Insight

Organizations once needed to worry about company connectivity assets such as computers and laptops. To manage them, traditional client management tools like Microsoft Configuration Manager would be enough.

With the increase in the work-from-anywhere model, it is very hard to control, manage, and monitor devices that are not connected to a VPN. UEM solutions enable IT to tackle this challenge and have full visibility into and management of any device.

UEM platforms help with saving costs and increasing efficiency

UEM helps corporates save on their investments as it consolidates use-case management in a single console. Businesses don't need to invest in different device and application management solutions.

From the employee perspective, UEM enables them to work on their own devices while enforcing security on their personal data.

• Security and privacy are very important criteria for organizations. With the rapid growth of the work-from-anywhere model, corporate security is a huge concern for companies.
• Working from home has forced companies to invest a lot in data security, which has led to high UEM demand. UEM solutions streamline security management by consolidating device management in a single platform.
• With the fourth-generation industrial revolution, we're experiencing a significant rise in the use of IoT devices. UEM solutions are very critical for managing, configuring, and securing these devices.
• There will be a huge increase in cyber threats due to automation, IoT, and cloud services. The pandemic has sped up the adoption of such services, forcing businesses to rethink their enterprise mobility strategies. They are now more cautious about security risks and remediations. Businesses need UEM to simplify device management on multiple endpoints.
• With UEM, IT environment management gets more granular, while giving IT better visibility on devices and applications.

UEM streamlines mundane admin tasks and simplifies user issues.

Even with a COPE or COBO provisioning model, without any IT intervention, users can decide on when to install relevant updates. It also may lead to shadow IT.

Endpoint management, and UEM more specifically, enables IT to enforce administration over user devices, whether they are corporate or personally owned. This is enabled without interfering with private/personal data.

Where it's going: The future state of UEM

Despite the fast evolution of the UEM market, many organizations do not move as fast as technological capabilities. Although over half of all organizations have at least one UEM solution, they may not have a good strategy or policies to maximize the value of technology (Tech Orchard, 2022). As opposed to such organizations, there are others that use UEM to transform their endpoint management strategy and move service management to the next level. That integration between endpoint management and service management is a developing trend (Ivanti, 2021).

• SaaS tools like Office 365 are built to be used on multiple devices, including multiple computers. Further, the pandemic saw 47% of organizations significantly increase their use of BYOD (Cybersecurity Insiders, 2021).
• Over 2022, 78% of people worked remotely for at least some amount of time during the week (Tech Orchard, 2022).
• 84% of organizations believe that cybersecurity threat alarms are becoming very overwhelming, and almost half of companies believe that the best way to tackle this is through consolidating platforms so that everything will be visible and manageable through a single pane of glass (Cybersecurity Insiders, 2022).
• The UEM market was worth $3.39 billion in 2020. It is expected to reach $53.65 billion by 2030, with an annual growth rate of 31.7% (Datamation, 2022). This demonstrates how dependent IT is becoming on endpoint management solutions.

Only 27% of organizations have "fully deployed" UEM "with easy management across all endpoints"
Source: IT Pro Today, 2018.

Endpoint Management Key Trends

• Commoditization of endpoint management features. Although their focus is the same, some UEM solutions have unique features.
• New endpoint management paradigms have emerged. Endpoint management has evolved from client management tools (CMT) and MDM into UEM, also known as "modern management" (Ivanti, 2022).
• One pane of glass for the entire end-user experience. Endpoint management vendors are integrating their solution into their ITSM, ITOM, digital workspace, and security products.
• AI-powered insights. UEM tools collect data on endpoints and user behavior. Vendors are using their data to differentiate themselves: Products offer threat reports, automated compliance workflows, and user experience insights. The UEM market is ultimately working toward autonomous endpoint management (Microsoft, 2022).
• Web apps and cloud storage are the new normal. Less data is stored locally. Fewer apps need to be patched on the device. Apps can be accessed on different devices more easily. However, data can more easily be accessed on BYOD and on new operating systems like Chrome OS.
• Lighter device provisioning tools. Instead of managing thick images, UEM tools use lighter provisioning packages. Once set up, Autopilot and UEM device enrollment should take less time to manage than thick images.
• UEM controls built around SaaS. Web apps and the cloud allow access from any device, even unmanaged BYOD. UEM tools allow IT to apply the right level of control for the situation – mobile application management, mobile content management, or mobile device management.
• Work-from-anywhere and 5G result in more devices outside of your firewalls. Cloud-based management tools are not limited by your VPN connection and can scale up more easily than traditional, on-prem tools.

Understand endpoint management table stakes features

Determine high-level use cases to help you narrow down to specific features

Support the organization's operating systems:
Many UEM vendors support the most dominant operating systems, Windows and Mac; however, they are usually stronger in one particular OS than the other. For instance, Intune supports both Windows and Mac, although there are some drawbacks with MacOS management by Intune. Conversely, Jamf is mainly for MacOS and iOS management. Enterprises look to satisfy their end users' needs. The more UEM vendors support different systems, the more likely enterprises will pick them. Although, as mentioned, in some instances, enterprises may need to select more than one option, depending on their requirements.

Support BYOD and remote environments:
With the impact of the pandemic on work model, 60-70% of workforce would like to have more flexibility for working remotely (Ivanti, 2022). BYOD is becoming the default, and SaaS tools like Office 365 are built to be used on multiple devices, including multiple computers. As BYOD can boost productivity (Samsung Insights, 2016), you may be interested in how your prospective UEM solution will enable this capability with remote wipe (corporate wipe capability vs. wiping the whole device), data and device tracking, and user activity auditing.

Understand endpoint management table stakes features

Determine high-level use cases to help you narrow down to specific features

Integration with the enterprise's IT products:
To get everything in a single platform and to generate better metrics and dashboards, vendors provide integrations with ticketing and monitoring solutions. Many large vendors have strong integrations with multiple ITSM and ITAM platforms to streamline incident management, request management, asset management, and patch management.

Support security and compliance policies:
With the significant boost in work-from-anywhere, companies would like to enable endpoint security more than ever. This includes device threat detection, malware detection, anti-phishing, and more. All UEMs provide these, although the big difference between them is how well they enable security and compliance, and how flexible they are when it comes to giving conditional access to certain data.

Provide a fully automated vs manual deployment:
Employees want to get their devices faster, IT wants to deploy devices faster, and businesses want to enable employees faster to get them onboard sooner. UEMs have the capability to provide automated and manual deployment. However, the choice of solution depends on enterprise's infrastructure and policies. Full automation of deployment is very applicable for corporate devices, while it may not be a good option for personally owned devices. Define your user groups and provisioning models, and make sure your candidate vendors satisfy requirements.

Plan a proper UEM selection according to your requirements

1. Identify IT governance, policy, and process maturity
   Tools cannot compensate for your bad processes. You should improve deploying and provisioning processes before rolling out a UEM. Automation of a bad process only wraps the process in a nicer package – it does not fix the problem.
   Refer to InfoTech's Modernize and Transform Your End-User Computing Strategy for more information on improving endpoint management procedures.
2. Consider supported operating systems, cloud services, and network infrastructure in your organization
   Most UEMs support all dominant operating systems, but some solutions have stronger capability for managing a certain OS over the other.
3. Define enterprise security requirements
   Investigate security levels, policies, and requirements to align with the security features you're expecting in a UEM.
4. Selection and implementation of a UEM depends on use case. Select a vendor that supports your use cases
   Identify use cases specific to your industry.
   For example, UEM use cases in Healthcare:
   • Secure EMR
   • Enforce HIPAA compliance
   • Secure communications
   • Enable shared device deployment

Activity: Define use cases and core features for meeting business and technical goals

1-2 hours

1. Brainstorm with your colleagues to discuss your challenges with endpoint management.
2. Identify how these challenges are impacting your ability to meet your goals for managing and controlling endpoints.
3. Define high-level goals you wish to achieve in the first year and in the longer term.
4. Identify the use cases that will support your overall goals.
5. Document use cases in the UEM Requirements Workbook.

Input

• List of challenges and goals

Output

• Use cases to be used for determining requirements

Materials

• Whiteboard/flip charts
• Laptop to record output

Participants

• CIO
• IT manager
• Infrastructure & Applications directors

Download the UEM Requirements Workbook

Phase 2

Discover the endpoint management market space and select the right vendor

This phase will walk you through the following activity:
Define top-level features for meeting business and technical goals
This phase involves the following participants:

• CIO
• IT manager
• Infrastructure & Applications directors
• Project managers

Elicit and prioritize granular requirements for your endpoint management platform

Understanding business needs through requirements gathering is the key to defining everything about what is
being purchased. However, it is an area where people often make critical mistakes.

Risks of poorly scoped requirements

• Fail to be comprehensive and miss certain areas of scope.
• Focus on how the solution should work instead of what it must accomplish.
• Have multiple levels of confusing and inconsistent detail in the requirements.
• Drill down all the way to system-level detail.
• Add unnecessary constraints based on what is done today rather than focusing on what is needed for tomorrow.
• Omit constraints or preferences that buyers think are "obvious."

Best practices

• Get a clear understanding of what the system needs to do and what it is expected to produce.
• Test against the principle of MECE – requirements should be "mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive."
• Explicitly state the obvious and assume nothing.
• Investigate what is sold on the market and how it is sold. Use language that is consistent with that of the market and focus on key differentiators – not table stakes.
• Contain the appropriate level of detail – the level should be suitable for procurement and sufficient for differentiating vendors.

Review Info-Tech's blueprint Improve Requirements Gathering to improve your requirements gathering process.

Consider the perspective of each stakeholder to ensure functionality needs are met

Best of breed vs. "good enough" is an important discussion and will feed your success

Costs can be high when customizing an ill-fitting module or creating workarounds to solve business problems, including loss of functionality, productivity, and credibility.

• Start with use cases to drive the initial discussion, then determine which features are mandatory and which are nice-to-haves. Mandatory features will help determine high success for critical functionality and identify where "good enough" is an acceptable state.
• Consider the implications of implementation and all use cases of:
• Buying an all-in-one solution.
• Integration of multiple best-of-breed solutions.
• Customizing features that were not built into a solution.
• Be prepared to shelve a use case for this solution and look to alternatives for integration where mandatory features cannot meet highly specialized needs that are outside of traditional endpoint management solutions.

Pros and Cons

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Speak with category experts to dive deeper into the vendor landscape

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• Fact-based reviews of business software from IT professionals.
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• Top-tier data quality backed by a rigorous quality assurance process.
• User-experience insight that reveals the intangibles of working with a vendor.

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Get to Know the Key Players in the Endpoint Management Landscape

The following slides provide a top-level overview of the popular players you will encounter in the endpoint management shortlisting process in alphabetical order.

Vendor scores are driven by real-world practitioner reviews via SoftwareReviews. Composite, CX, EF, and NPS scores are pulled from live data as of January 2023.

Secure business units and enhance connection by simplifying the digital workplace

A good option for enterprises that want a single-pane-of-glass UEM that is easy to use, with a modern-looking dashboard, high threat-management capability, and high-quality customer support.

CISCO Meraki

Est. 1984 | CA, USA | NASDAQ: CSCO

DOWNLOAD REPORT

Screenshot of CISCO Meraki's dashboard. Source: Cisco

Transform work experience and support every endpoint with a unified view to ensure users are productive

A tool that enables you to access corporate resources on personal devices. It is adaptable to your budget. SoftwareReviews reports that 75% of organizations have received a discount at initial purchase or renewal, which makes it a good candidate if looking for a negotiable option.

Citrix Endpoint Management

Est. 1989 | TX, USA | Private

DOWNLOAD REPORT

Screenshot of Citrix Endpoint Management's dashboard. Source: Citrix

Scale remote users, enable BYOD, and drive a zero-trust strategy with IBM's modern UEM solution

A perfect option to boost cybersecurity. Remote administration and installation are made very easy and intuitive on the platform. It is very user friendly, making implementation straightforward. It comes with four licensing options: Essential, Deluxe, Premier, and Enterprise. Check IBM's website for information on pricing and offerings.

IBM MaaS360

Est. 1911 | NY, USA | NYSE: IBM

DOWNLOAD REPORT

Screenshot of IBM MaaS360's dashboard. Source: IBM

Get complete device visibility from asset discovery to lifecycle management and remediation

A powerful tool for patch management with a great user interface. You can automate patching and improve cybersecurity, while having complete visibility into devices. According to SoftwareReviews, 100% of survey participants plan to renew their contract with Ivanti.

Ivanti Neurons

Est. 1985 | CA, USA | Private

DOWNLOAD REPORT

Screenshot of Ivanti Neurons UEM's dashboard. Source: Ivanti

Improve your end-user productivity and transform enterprise Apple devices

An Apple-focused UEM with a great interface. Jamf can manage and control macOS and iOS, and it is one of the best options for Apple products, according to users' sentiments. However, it may not be a one-stop solution if you want to manage non-Apple products as well. In this case, you can use Jamf in addition to another UEM. Jamf has some integrations with Microsoft, but it may not be sufficient if you want to fully manage Windows endpoints.

Jamf PRO

Est. 2002 | MN, USA | NASDAQ: JAMF

DOWNLOAD REPORT

Screenshot of Jamf PRO's dashboard. Source: Jamf

Apply automation of traditional desktop management, software deployment, endpoint security, and patch management

A strong choice for patch management, software deployment, asset management, and security management. There is a free version of the tool available to try get an understanding of the platform before purchasing a higher tier of the product.

ManageEngine Endpoint Central

Est. 1996 | India | Private

DOWNLOAD REPORT

Screenshot of ME Endpoint Central's dashboard. Source: ManageEngine

Get device management and security in a single platform with a combination of Microsoft Intune and Configuration Manager

A solution that combines Intune and ConfigMgr's capabilities into a single endpoint management suite for enrolling, managing, monitoring, and securing endpoints. It's a very cost-effective solution for enterprises in the Microsoft ecosystem, but it also supports other operating systems.

Microsoft Endpoint Manager

Est. 1975 | NM, USA | NASDAQ: MSFT

DOWNLOAD REPORT

Screenshot of MS Endpoint Manager's dashboard. Source: Microsoft

Simplify and consolidate endpoint management into a single solution and secure all devices with real-time, "over-the-air" modern management across all use cases

A strong tool for managing and controlling mobile devices. It can access all profiles through Google and Apple, and it integrates with various IT management solutions.

VMware Workspace ONE

Est. 1998 | CA, USA | NYSE: VMW

DOWNLOAD REPORT

Screenshot of Workspace ONE's dashboard. Source: VMware

Review your use cases to start your shortlist

Your Info-Tech analysts can help you narrow down the list of vendors that will meet your requirements.

Next steps will include:

1. Reviewing your requirements
2. Checking out SoftwareReviews
3. Shortlisting your vendors
4. Conducting demos and detailed proposal reviews
5. Selecting and contracting with a finalist!

Activity: Define high-level features for meeting business and technical goals

Input

• List of endpoint management use cases
• List of prioritized features

Output

• Vendor evaluation
• Final list of candidate vendors

Materials

• Whiteboard/flip charts
• Laptop
• UEM Requirements Workbook

Participants

• CIO
• IT manager
• Infrastructure & Applications directors
• Project managers

Activity: Define top-level features for meeting business and technical goals

As there are many solutions in the market that share capabilities, it is imperative to closely evaluate how well they fulfill your endpoint management requirements.
Use the UEM Requirements Workbook to identify your desired endpoint solution features and compare vendor solution functionality based on your desired features.

1. Refer to the output of the previous activity, the identified use cases in the spreadsheet.
2. List the features you want in an endpoint solution for your devices that will fulfill these use cases. Record those features in the second column ("Detailed Feature").
3. Prioritize each feature (must have, should have, nice to have, not required).
4. Send this list to candidate vendors.
5. When you finish your investigation, review the spreadsheet to compare the various offerings and pros and cons of each solution.

Info-Tech Insight

The output of this activity can be used for a detailed evaluation of UEM vendors. The next steps will be vendor briefing and having further discussion on technical capabilities and conducting demos of solutions. Info-Tech's blueprint, The Rapid Application Selection Framework, takes you to these next steps.

Download the UEM Requirements Workbook

Leverage Info-Tech's research to plan and execute your endpoint management selection and implementation

Use Info-Tech Research Group's blueprints for selection and implementation processes to guide your own planning.

• Assess
• Prepare
• Govern & Course Correct

Ensure your implementation team has a high degree of trust and communication

If external partners are needed, dedicate an internal resource to managing the vendor and partner relationships.

Communication

Teams must have some type of communication strategy. This can be broken into:

• Regularity: Having a set time each day to communicate progress and a set day to conduct retrospectives.
• Ceremonies: Injecting awards and continually emphasizing delivery of value can encourage relationship building and constructive motivation.
• Escalation: Voicing any concerns and having someone responsible for addressing those concerns.

Proximity

Distributed teams create complexity because communication can break down more easily. This can be mitigated by:

• Location: Placing teams in proximity can close the barrier of geographical distance and time zone differences.
• Inclusion: Making a deliberate attempt to pull remote team members into discussions and ceremonies.
• Communication Tools: Having the right technology (e.g. video conference) can help bring teams closer together virtually.

Trust

Members should trust other members are contributing to the project and completing their required tasks on time. Trust can be developed and maintained by:

Accountability: Having frequent quality reviews and feedback sessions. As work becomes more transparent, people become more accountable.

• Role Clarity: Having a clear definition of what everyone's role is.

Implementation with a partner typically results in higher satisfaction

Align your implementation plans with both the complexity of the solution and internal skill levels

Be clear and realistic in your requirements to the vendor about the level of involvement you need to be successful.

Primary reasons to use a vendor:

• Lack of skilled resources: For solutions with little configuration change happening after the initial installation, the ramp-up time for an individual to build skills for a single event is not practical.
• Complexity of solution: Multiple integrations, configurations, modules, and even acquisitions that haven't been fully integrated in the solution you choose can make it difficult to complete the installation and rollout on time and on budget. Troubleshooting becomes even more complex if multiple vendors are involved.
• Data migration: Decide what information will be valuable to transfer to the new solution and which will not benefit your organization. Data structure and residency can both be factors in the complexity of this exercise.

Source: SoftwareReviews, January 2020 to January 2023, N= 20,024 unique reviews

To ensure your SOW is mutually beneficial, download the blueprint Improve Your Statements of Work to Hold Your Vendors Accountable.

Consider running a proof of concept if concerns are expressed about the feasibility of the chosen solution

Proofs of concept (PoCs) can be time consuming, so make good choices on where to spend the effort

Create a PoC charter that will enable a quick evaluation of the defined use cases and functions. These key dimensions should form the PoC.

1. Objective – Giving an overview of the planned PoC will help to focus and clarify the rest of this section. What must the PoC 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 PoC'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?

To create a full proof of concept plan, download the Proof of Concept Template and see the instructions in Phase 3 of the blueprint Exploit Disruptive Infrastructure Technology.

Selecting a right-sized endpoint management platform

This selection guide allows organizations to execute a structured methodology for picking a UEM platform that aligns with their needs. This includes:

• Identifying and prioritizing key business and technology drivers for an endpoint management selection business case.
• Defining key use cases and requirements for a right-sized UEM platform.
• Reviewing a comprehensive market scan of key players in the UEM marketspace.

This formal UEM selection initiative will map out requirements and identify technology capabilities to fill the gap for better endpoint management. It also allows a formal roll-out of a UEM platform that is highly likely to satisfy all stakeholder needs.

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

Summary of Accomplishment

Knowledge Gained

• What endpoint management is
• Historical origins and evolution of endpoint management platforms
• Current trends and future state of endpoint management platforms

Processes Optimized

• Identifying use cases
• Gathering requirements
• Reviewing market key players and their capabilities
• Selecting a UEM tool that fulfills your requirements

UEM Solutions Analyzed

• CISCO Meraki
• Citrix Endpoint Management
• IBM MaaS360
• Ivanti Neurons UEM
• Jamf Pro
• ManageEngine Endpoint Central
• Microsoft Endpoint Manager
• VMware Workspace ONE

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Bibliography

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"Evercore-ISI Quarterly Enterprise Technology Spending Survey." Evercore-ISI, 2022. Accessed January 2023.
"5G Service Revenue to Reach $315 Billion Globally in 2023." Jupiter Research, 2022. Accessed January 2023.
Hein, Daniel. "5 Common Unified Endpoint Management Use Cases You Need to Know." Solutions Review, 2020. Accessed January 2023.
"Mobile Device Management Market Size, Share & COVID-19 Impact Analysis." Fortune Business Insights, 2021. Accessed December 2022.
Ot, Anina. "The Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) Market." Datamation, 14 Apr. 2022. Accessed Jan. 2023.
Poje, Phil. "CEO Corner: 4 Trends in Unified Endpoint Management for 2023." Tech Orchard, 2022. Accessed January 2023.
"The Future of UEM November 2021 Webinar." Ivanti, 2021. Accessed January 2023.
"The Third Annual Study on the State of Endpoint Security Risk." Ponemon Institute, 2020. Accessed December 2022.
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Turek, Melanie. "Employees Say Smartphones Boost Productivity by 34 Percent: Frost & Sullivan Research." Samsung Insights, 3 Aug. 2016.
"2023 State of Security Report." Cybersecurity Insiders, 2022. Accessed January 2023.
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"What Is the Difference Between MDM, EMM, and UEM?" 42Gears, 2017. Accessed November 2022.

Embed Business Relationship Management in IT

Show that IT is worthy of Trusted Partner status.

Executive Brief

Analyst Perspective

Relationships are about trust.

As long as humans are involved in enabling technology, it will always remain important to ensure that business relationships support business needs. At the cornerstone of those relationships is trust and the establishment of business value. Without trust, you won’t be believed, and without value, you won’t be invited to the business table.

Business relationship management can be a role, a capability, or a practice – either way it’s essential to ensure it exists within your organization. Show that IT can be a trusted partner by showing the value that IT offers.

Allison Straker Research Director, CIO Practice Info-Tech Research Group

Your challenge: Why focus on business relationship management?

Is IT saying this about business partners? I don’t know what my business needs and so we can’t add as much value as we’d like. My partners don’t give us the opportunity to provide new ideas to solve business problems My partners listen to third parties before they listen to IT. We’re too busy and don’t have the capacity to help my partners.

Are business partners saying this about IT? IT does not create and deliver valuable services/solutions that resolve my business pain points. IT does not come to me with innovative solutions to my business problems/challenges/issues. IT blocks my efforts to drive the business forward using innovative technology solutions. IT does not advocate for my needs with the decision makers in the organization.

Common obstacles

While organizations realize they need to do better, they often don’t know how to improve.

Organizations want to:

• Understand and strategically align to business goals
• Ensure stakeholders are satisfied
• Show project value/success

… these are all things that a mature business relationship can do to improve your organization.

Key improvement areas identified by business leaders and IT leaders

Info-Tech’s approach

BRMs who focus on achieving business value can improve organizational results.

Business relationships can take a strategic, tactical, or operational perspective.

While all levels are needed, focus on a strategic perspective for optimal outcomes.

Create business value through:

• Applying your knowledge of the business so that conversations aren’t about what IT provides. Focus on what the overall business requires.
• Ensuring your knowledge includes what is going on internally at your organization and also what occurs externally within and outside the industry (e.g. vendors, technologies used in similar industries or with similar customer interactions).
• Discussing with the perspective of “what’s in it for [insert business partner here]” – don’t just present IT’s views.
• Building a trusted strategic relationship – don’t just do well at the basics but also focus on the strategy that can move the organization to where it needs to be.

Neither you nor your partners can view IT as separate from your overall business…

…your IT goals need to be aligned with those of the overall business

IT and other lines of business need to partner together – they are all part of the same overall business.

Why it’s important to establish a BRM program

	IT Benefits Provides IT with a view of the lines of business they empower Allows IT to be more proactive in providing solutions that help business partner teams Allows IT to better manage their workload, as new requests can be prioritized and understood	Business Benefits Provides business teams with a view of the services that IT can help them with Brings IT to the table with value-driven solutions Creates an overall roadmap aligning both partners
	Drive business value into the organization via innovative technology solutions. Improve ability to meet and exceed business goals and objectives, resulting in more satisfied stakeholders (C-suite, board of directors). Enhance ability to execute business activities to meet end-customer requirements and expectations, resulting in more satisfied customers. Increase your business benefits by moving up higher – from operational to tactical to strategic.

When IT understands the business, they provide better value

Understanding all parties – including the business needs and context – is critical to effective business relationships.

Establishing a focus on business relationship management is key to improving IT satisfaction.

When business partners are satisfied that IT understands their needs, they have a higher perception of the value of overall IT

The relationship between the perception of IT value and business satisfaction is strong (r=0.89). Can you afford not to increase your understanding of business needs?

(Source: Info-Tech Research Group diagnostic data/Business-Aligned IT Strategy blueprint (N=652 first-year organizations that completed the CIO Business Vision diagnostic))

BRM success is measurable

1) Survey your stakeholders to measure improvements in customer satisfaction		2) Measure BRM success against the goals for the practice
Business satisfaction survey Audience: Business leaders Frequency: Annual Metrics: Overall Satisfaction score Overall Value score Relationship Satisfaction: Understand needs Meet needs Communication

Maturing your BRM practice is a journey

Info-Tech has developed an approach that can be used by any organization to improve or successfully implement BRM.	Become a Trusted Partner and Advisor
	KNOWLEDGE OF INDUSTRY STRATEGIC	Value Creator and Innovator Strategic view of IT and the business with knowledge of the market and trends; a connector driving value-added services.
	KNOWLEDGE OF FUNCTIONS TACTICAL	Influencer and Advocate Two-way voice between IT and business, understanding business processes and activities including IT touchpoints and growing tactical and strategic view of services and value.
	TABLE STAKES: COMMUNICATION SERVICE DELIVERY PROJECT DELIVERY OPERATIONAL	Deliver Communication, service, and project delivery and fulfillment, initial engagement with and knowledge of the business.
Foundation: Define and communicate the meaning and vision of BRM

At each level, keep maturing your BRM practice

(Adapted from BRM Institute Maturity Model and Info-Tech’s own model)

The Info-Tech path to implement BRM

Use Info-Tech’s ASPIRe method to create a continuously improving BRM practice.

Insight summary

BRM is not just about communication, it’s about delivering on business value.

Business relationship management isn’t just about having a pleasant relationship with stakeholders, nor is it about just delivering things they want. It’s about driving business value in everything that IT does and leveraging relationships with the business and IT, both within and outside your organization.

Understand your current state to determine the best direction forward.

Every organization will apply the BRM practice differently. Understand what’s needed within your organization to create the best fit.

BRM is not just a communication conduit between IT and the business.

When implemented properly, a BRM is a value creator, advocate, innovator, and influencer.

The BRM role must be designed to match the maturity level of the IT organization and the business.

Before you can create incremental business value, you must master the fundamentals of service and project delivery.

Info-Tech Insight

Knowledge of your current situation is only half the battle; knowledge of the business/industry is key.

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

Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options

Blueprint deliverables

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

Key deliverable: Executive Buy-In and Communication Presentation Template Explain the need for the BRM practice and obtain buy-in from leadership and staff across the organization.	BRM Workbook Capture the thinking behind your organization’s BRM program.		BRM Stakeholder Engagement Plan Worksheet Worksheet to capture how the BRM practice will engage with stakeholders across the organization.
	BRM Role Expectations Worksheet How business relationship management will be supported throughout the organization at a strategic, tactical, and operational level.

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?

ASSESS

To assess BRM, clarify what it means to you

Who are BRM relationships with?		The BRM has multiple arms/legs to ensure they’re aligned with multiple parties – the partners within the lines of business, external partners, and technology partners.
What does a BRM do?	Engage the right stakeholders – orchestrate key roles, resources, and capabilities to help stimulate, shape, and harvest business value. Connect partners (IT and other business) with the resources needed. Help stakeholders navigate the organization and find the best path to business value.
What does a BRM focus on?		Demand Shaping – Surfacing and shaping business demand Value Harvesting – Identifying ways to increase business value and providing insights Exploring – Rationalizing demand and reviewing new business, technology, and industry insights Servicing – Managing expectations and facilitating business strategy; business capability road mapping

Determine what business relationship management is

Many organizations face business dissatisfaction because they do not understand what the role of a BRM should be.

1.1 What is BRM?

Input: Your preliminary thoughts and ideas on BRM

Output: Themes summarizing what BRM will be at your organization

Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts (physical or electronic)

Participants: Team

1. Each team member will take a colored sticky note to capture what BRM is and what it isn’t.
2. As a group, review and discuss the sticky notes.
3. Group them into themes summarizing what BRM will be at your organization.
4. Leverage the workbook to brainstorm the definition of BRM at your organization.
5. Create a refined summary statement and capture it in the Executive Buy-In and Communication Template.

Download the BRM Workbook

Download the Executive Buy-In and Communication Template

It’s important to understand what the business thinks; ask them the right questions

Leverage the CIO Business Vision Diagnostic to provide clarity on: The organization’s view on satisfaction and importance of core IT services Satisfaction across business priorities IT’s capacity to meet business needs Contact your Account Representative to get started

1.2 Use their responses to help guide your BRM program

1 hour

Input: CIO-Business Vision Diagnostic, Other business feedback

Output: Summary of your partners’ view of the IT relationship

Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts (physical or electronic)

Participants: CIO, IT management team

1. Complete the CIO Business Vision diagnostic.
2. Analyze the findings from the Business Vision diagnostic or other business relationship and satisfaction surveys. Key areas to look at include:
   • Overall IT Satisfaction
   • IT Value
   • Relationship (Understands Needs, Communicates Effectively, Executes Requests, Trains Effectively)
   • Shadow IT
   • Capacity Needs
   • Business Objectives
3. Capture the following on your analysis:
   • Success stories – what your business partners are satisfied with
   • Challenges – are the responses consistent across departments?
4. Leverage the workbook to capture your findings the goals. Key highlights should be documented in the Executive Buy-In and Communication Template.

Use the BRM Workbook to capture ideas

Polish the goals in the Executive Buy-In and Communication Template

Perform a SWOT analysis to explore internal and external business factors

A SWOT analysis is a structured planning method organizations use to evaluate the effects of internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats on a project or business venture.

Why It Is Important

• Business SWOT reveals internal and external trends that affect the business. You may uncover relevant information about the business that the other analysis methods did not reveal.
• The organizational strengths or weaknesses will shed some light on implications that you might not have considered otherwise, such as brand perception or internal staff capability to change.

Key Tips/Information

• Although this activity is simple in theory, there is much value to be gained when performed effectively.
• Focus on weaknesses that can cause a competitive disadvantage and strengths that can cause a competitive advantage.
• Rank your opportunities and threats based on impact and probability.
• Info-Tech members who have derived the most insights from a business SWOT analysis usually involved business stakeholders in the analysis.

Review these questions to help you conduct your SWOT analysis on the business

1.3 Analyze internal and external business factors using a SWOT analysis

1 hour

Input: IT and business stakeholder expertise

Output: Analysis of internal and external factors impacting the IT organization

Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts (physical or electronic)

Participants: CIO, IT management team

1. Break the group into two teams:
   • Assign team A internal strengths and weaknesses.
   • Assign team B external opportunities and threats.
2. Think about strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats as they pertain to the IT-business relationship. Consider people, process, and technology elements.
3. Have the teams brainstorm items that fit in their assigned grids. Use the prompt questions on the previous slide as guidance.
4. Pick someone from each group to fill in the SWOT grid.
5. Conduct a group discussion about the items on the list; identify implications for the BRM/IT.

Capture in the BRM Workbook

SITUATE

Your strategy informs your BRM program

Your strategy is a critical input into your program. Extract critical components of your strategy and convert them into a set of actionable principles that will guide the selection of your operating model.

Vision, Mission & Principles Leverage your vision and mission statements that communicate aspirations and purpose for key information that can be turned into design principles. Business Goal Implications Implications are derived from your business goals and will provide important context about the way BRM needs to change to meet its overarching objectives. Understand how those implications will change the way that work needs to be done – new capabilities, new roles, new modes of delivery, etc. Target-State Maturity Determine your target-state relationship maturity for your organization using the BRM goals that have been uncovered.

Outline your mission and vision for your BRM practice

If you don’t know where you’re trying to go, how do you know if you’ve arrived?

Establish the vision of what your BRM practice will achieve.

Your vision will paint a picture for your stakeholders, letting them know where you want to go with your BRM practice.

The vision will also help motivate and inspire your team members so they understand how they contribute to the organization. Your strategy must align with and support your organization’s strategy.

Good Visions Attainable – Aspirational but still within reach Communicable – Easy to comprehend Memorable – Not easily forgotten Practical – Solid, realistic Shared – Create a culture of shared ownership across the team/company

When Visions Fail Not Shared: Lack of buy-in, no alignment with stakeholders Impractical: No plan or strategy to deliver on the vision Unattainable: Set too far in the future Forgettable: Not championed, not kept in mind (Source: UX Magazine, 2011)

Derive the BRM vision statement

Begin the process of deriving the business relationship management vision statement by examining your business and user concerns. These are the problems your organization is trying to solve. Problem Statements First, ask what problems your organization hopes to solve. Analysis Second, ask what success would look like when those problems were solved. Vision Statement Third, polish the answer into a short but meaningful phrase. Paint the picture for your team and stakeholders so that they align on what BRM will achieve.

Vision statements demonstrate what your practice “aspires to be”

Your vision statement communicates a desired future state of the BRM organization. The statement is expressed in the present tense. It seeks to articulate the desired role of business relationship management and how it will be perceived.

Sample vision statements:

• To be a trusted advisor and partner in enabling business innovation and growth through an engaged design practice.
• The group will strive to become a world-class value center that is a catalyst for innovation.
• Apple: “We believe that we are on the face of the earth to make great products and that’s not changing.” (Mission Statement Academy, May 2019.)
• Coca-Cola: “To refresh the world in mind, body, and spirit, to inspire moments of optimism and happiness through our brands and actions, and to create value and make a difference.” (Mission Statement Academy, August 2019.)

2.1 Vision generation

1 hour

Input: IT and business strategies

Output: Vision statement

Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts (physical or electronic)

Participants: Team

1. Review the goals and the sample vision statements provided on the previous slide.
2. Brainstorm possible vision statements that can apply to your practice. Refer to the guidance provided on the previous page – ensure that it paints a picture for the reader to show the desired target state.
3. Leverage the workbook to brainstorm the vision. Capture the refined statement in the Executive Buy-In and Communication Template.

Use the BRM Workbook to capture ideas

Polish the goals in the Executive Buy-In and Communication Template

Create the mission statement from the problems and the vision statement

Your mission demonstrates your current intent and the purpose driving you to achieve your vision.

It reflects what the organization does for users/customers.

Make sure the practice’s mission statement reflects answers to the questions below: The questions: What does the organization do? How does the organization do it? For whom does the organization do it? What value is the organization bringing?

“A mission statement illustrates the purpose of the organization, what it does, and what it intends on achieving. Its main function is to provide direction to the organization and highlight what it needs to do to achieve its vision.” (Joel Klein, BizTank (in Hull, “Answer 4 questions to get a great mission statement.”))

2.2 Develop your own mission statement

1 hour

Input: IT and business strategies, Vision

Output: Mission statement

Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts (physical or electronic)

Participants: Team

1. Review the goals and the vision statement generated in the previous activities.
2. Brainstorm possible mission statements that can apply to your BRM practice. Capture this in your BRM workbook.
3. Refine your mission statement. Refer to the guidance provided on the previous page – ensure that the mission provides “the why”. Document the refined mission statement in the Executive Buy-In and Communication Template.

“People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it and what you do simply proves what you believe.” (Sinek, Transcript of “How Great Leaders Inspire Action.”)

Download the BRM Workbook

Download the Executive Buy-In and Communication Template

Areas that BRMs focus on include:

Establish how much of these your practice will focus on.

VALUE HARVESTING Tracks and reviews performance Identifies ways to increase business value Provides insights on the results of business change/initiatives		DEMAND SHAPING Isn’t just demand/intake management Surfaces and shapes business demand Is influenced by knowledge of the overall business and external entities
SERVICING Coordinates resources Manages expectations Facilitates business strategy, business capability road-mapping, and portfolio and program management		EXPLORING Identifies and rationalizes demand Reviews new business, technology, and industry insights Identifies business value initiatives

Establish what success means for your focus areas

Brainstorm objectives and success areas for your BRM practice.

	VALUE HARVESTING Success may mean that you: Understand the drivers and what the business needs to attain Demonstrate focus on value in discussions Ensure value is achieved, tracking it during and beyond deployment	DEMAND SHAPING Success may mean that you: Understand the business Are engaged at business meetings (invited to the table) Understand IT; communicate clarity around IT to the business Help IT prioritize needs
	SERVICING Success may mean that you: Understand IT services and service levels that are required Provide clarity around services and communicate costs and risks	EXPLORING Success may mean that you: Surface new opportunities based on understanding of pain points and growth needs Research and partner with others to further the business Engage resources with a focus on the value to be delivered

2.3 Establish BRM goals

1 hour

Input: Mission and vision statements

Output: List of goals

Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts (physical or electronic)

Participants: CIO, IT management team, BRM team

1. Use the previous slides as a starting point – review the focus areas and sample associated objectives.
2. Determine if all apply to your role.
3. Brainstorm the objectives for your BRM practice.
4. Discuss and refine the objectives and goals until the team agrees on your starting set.
5. Leverage the workbook to establish the goals. Capture refined goals in the Executive Buy-In and Communication Template.

Download the BRM Workbook

Download the Executive Buy-In and Communication Template

PLAN

Guiding principles help you focus the development of your practice

3.1 Establish guiding principles (optional activity)

Input: Mission and vision statements

Output: BRM guiding principles

Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts (physical or electronic)

Participants: Team

1. Think about strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats as well as the overarching goals, mission, and vision.
2. Identify a set of principles that the BRM practice should have. Guiding principles are shared, long-lasting beliefs that guide the use of business relationship management in your organization.

Download the BRM Workbook

Download the Executive Buy-In and Communication Template

Establish the BRM partner model and alignment

Having the right model and support is just as important as having the right people.

Don’t boil the ocean: Start small

It may be useful to pilot the BRM practice with a small group within the organization – this gives you the opportunity to learn from the pilot and share best practices as you expand your BRM practice. You can leverage the pilot business unit’s feedback to help obtain buy-in from additional groups. Evaluate the approaches for your pilot:	Work With an Engaged Business Unit This approach can allow you to find a champion group and establish quick wins.	Target Underperforming Area(s) This approach can allow you to establish significant wins, providing new opportunities for value.
	Target the Area(s) Driving the Most Business Value Provide the largest positive impact on your portfolio’s ability to drive business value; for large strategic or transformative goals.	Work Across a Single Business Process This approach addresses a single business process or operation that exists across business units, departments, or locations. This, again, will allow you to limit the number of stakeholders.

Leverage BRM goals to determine where the role fits within the organization

Strategic BRMs are considered IT leaders, often reporting to the CIO.

In product-aligned organizations, the product owners will own the strategic business relationship from a product perspective (often across LOB), while BRMs will own the strategic role for the line(s) of businesses (often across products) that they hold a relationship with. The BRM role may be played by a product family leader.

BRMs may take on a more operational function when they are embedded within another group, such as the PMO. This manifests in:

• Accountability for projects and programs
• BRM conversations around projects and programs rather than overall needs
• Often, there is less focus on stimulating need, more about managing demand
• This structure may be useful for smaller organizations or where organizations are piloting the relationship capability

Use the IT structure and the business structure to determine how to align BRM and business partners. Many organizations ensure that each LOB has a designated BRM, but each BRM may work with multiple LOBs. Ensure your alignment provides an even and manageable distribution of work.

Don’t be intimidated by those who play a significant role in relationship management

	Business Relationship Manager: Portfolio View Ongoing with broader organization-wide objectives A BRM’s strategic perspective is focused across projects and products	The BRM will look holistically across a portfolio, rather than on specific projects or products. Their focus is ensuring value is delivered that impacts the overall organization. Multiple BRMs may be responsible for lines of businesses and ensure that products and project enable LOBs effectively.
	Business Analyst: Product or Project View Works within a project or product Accomplishes specific objectives within the project/product	The BA tends to be involved in project work – to that end, they are often brought in a bit before a project begins to better understand the context. They also often remain after the project is complete to ensure project value is delivered. However, their main focus is on delivering the objectives within the project.
	Product Owner: Product View Ongoing and strategic view of entire product, with product-specific objectives	The Product Owner bridges the gap between the business and delivery to ensure their product continuously delivers value. Their focus is on the product.

3.2 Establish the BRM’s place in the organizational structure

Input: BRM goals, IT organizational structure, Business organizational structure

Output: BRM operating model

Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts (physical or electronic)

Participants: Team

1. Review the current organizational structure – both IT and overall business.
2. Think about the maturity of the IT organization and what you and your partners will be able to support at this stage in the relationship or journey. Establish whether it is necessary to start with a pilot.
3. Consider the reporting relationship that is required to support the desired maturity of your practice – who will your BRM function report into?
4. Consider the distribution of work from your business partners. Establish which BRM is responsible for which partners.
5. Document where the BRM fits in the organization in the Executive Buy-In and Communication Template.

Download the BRM Workbook

Download the Executive Buy-In and Communication Template

Align your titles to your business partners and ensure it demonstrates your strategic goals

Determine the expectations for your BRM role(s)

Below are standard expectations from BRM job descriptions. Establish whether there are changes required for your organization.

Determine role expectations (slide 2 of 3)

Determine role expectations (slide 3 of 3)

3.3 Establish BRM expectations

Input: BRM goals

Output: BRM expectations

Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts (physical or electronic)

Participants: Team

1. Review the BRM expectations on the previous slides.
2. Customize them – are they the appropriate set of expectations needed for your organization? What needs to be edited in or out?
3. Add relevant expectations – what are the things that need to be done in the BRM practice at your organization?
4. Leverage the workbook to brainstorm BRM expectations. Make sure you update them in the BRM Role Expectation Spreadsheet.

Download the BRM Workbook

Download the Executive Buy-In and Communication Template

3.4 Identify roles with BRM responsibilities

Input: BRM goals

Output: BRM-aligned roles

Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts (physical or electronic)

Participants: Team

1. Various roles can play a part in the BRM practice, managing business relationships. Which ones make sense in your organization, given the BRM goals?
2. Identify the roles and capture in the BRM Role Expectation Spreadsheet. Use the Role Expectation Alignment tab, row 1.

Download the Role Expectations Worksheet

Determine the focus for each role that may manage business relationships

	STRATEGIC	Sets Direction: Focus of the activities is at the holistic, enterprise business level	“relating to the identification of long-term or overall aims and interests and the means of achieving them”	e.g. builds overarching relationships to enable and support the organization’s strategy; has strategic conversations
	TACTICAL	Figures Out the How: Focuses on the tactics required to achieve the strategic focus	“skillful in devising means to ends”	e.g. builds relationships specific to tactics (projects, products, etc.)
	OPERATIONAL	Executes on the Direction: Day-to-day operations; how things get done	“relating to the routine functioning and activities of a business or organization”	e.g. builds and leverages relationships to accomplish specific goals (within a project or product)

3.5 Align BRM capabilities to roles

Input: Current-state model, Business value matrix, Objectives and goals

Output: BRM-aligned roles

Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts (physical or electronic)

Participants: Team

1. Review each group of role expectations – Act as a Relationship Manager, Communicate with Business Stakeholders, etc. For each group, determine the focus each role can apply to it – strategic, tactical, or operational. Refer to the previous slide for examples.
2. Capture on the spreadsheet:
   • S – This role is required to have a strategic view of the capabilities. They are accountable and set direction for this aspect of relationship management.
   • T – Indicate if the role is required to have a tactical view of the capabilities. This would include whether the role is required to figure out how the capabilities will be done; for example, is the role responsible for carrying out service management or are they just involved to ensure that that set of expectations are being performed?
   • O – Indicate if the role will have an operational view – are they the ones responsible for doing the work?
   • Note: In some organizations, a role may have more than one of these.
3. The spreadsheet will highlight the cells in green if the role plays more of the strategic role, yellow for tactical, and brown for operational. This provides an overall visual of each role’s part in relationship management.
4. (Optional) Review each detailed expectation within the group. Evaluate whether specific roles will have a different focus on the unique role expectations.

Leverage the Role Expectations Worksheet

Sample role expectation alignment

IMPLEMENT

Speak the same language as your partners: Business Value

Business value represents the desired outcome from achieving business priorities.

Value is not only about revenue or reduced expenses. Use this internal-external and capability-financial business value matrix to more holistically consider what is valuable to stakeholders.

Improved Capabilities Enhance Services Products and services that enable business capabilities and improve an organization’s ability to perform its internal operations. Increase Customer Satisfaction Products and services that enable and improve the interaction with customers or produce practical market information and insights. Inward Outward Save Money Products and services that reduce overhead. They typically are less related to broad strategic vision or goals and more simply limit expenses that would occur had the product or service not put in place. Make money (Return on Investment) Products and services that are specifically related to the impact on an organization’s ability to create a return on investment. Financial Benefits

Business Value Matrix Axes: Financial Benefits vs. Improved Capabilities Improved capabilities refers to the enhancement of business capabilities and skill sets. Financial Benefits refers to the degree in which the value source can be measured through monetary metrics and is often highly tangible. Inward vs. Outward Orientation Inward refers to value sources that have an internal impact an organization’s effectiveness and efficiency in performing its operations. Outward refers to value sources that come from interactions with external factors, such as the market or your customers.

4.1 Activity: Brainstorm sources of business value

Input: Product and service knowledge, Business process knowledge

Output: Understanding of different sources of business value

Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts (physical or electronic)

Participants: Team

1. Identify your key stakeholders. These individuals are the critical business strategic partners in the organization’s governing bodies.
2. Brainstorm the different types of business value that the BRM practice can produce.
3. Is the item more focused on improving capabilities or generating financial benefits?
4. Is the item focused on the customers you serve or the IT team?
5. Enter your value item into a cell on the Business Value Matrix based on where it falls on these axes.
6. Start to think about metrics you can use to measure how effective the product or service is at generating the value source.

Use the BRM Workbook to capture sources of business value

Brainstorm the different sources of business value (continued)

See appendix for more information on value drivers:

Example: Enhance Services Dashboards/IT Situational Awareness Improve measurement of services for data-driven analytics that can improve services Collaborate to support Enterprise Architecture Approval for and support of new applications per customer demand Provide consultation for IT issues Reach Customers Provide technology roadmaps for IT services and devices Improved "PR" presence: websites, service catalog, etc. Enhance customer experience Faster Time-to-market delivering innovative technologies and current services Reduce Costs Achieve better pricing through enterprise agreements for IT services that are duplicated across several orgs Prioritization/ development of roadmap Portfolio management / reduce duplication of services Evolve resourcing strategies to integrate teams (e.g. do more with less) Return on Investment Customer -focused dashboards Encourage use of centralized services through external collaboration capabilities that fit multiple use cases Devise strategies for measured/supported migration from older IT systems/software

Implications of ineffective stakeholder management

Cheat Sheet: Identify stakeholders

Ask stakeholders “who else should I be talking to?” to discover additional stakeholders and ensure you don’t miss anyone.

List the people who are identified through the following questions:		Take a 360-degree view of potential internal and external stakeholders who might be impacted by the initiative.
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? 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 are the owners, governors, customers, and suppliers to impacted capabilities or functions?	Executives Peers Direct reports Partners Customers		Subcontractors Suppliers Contractors Lobby groups Regulatory agencies

Establish your stakeholder network “map”

Follow the trail of breadcrumbs from your direct stakeholders to their influencers to uncover hidden stakeholders.

Your stakeholder map defines the influence landscape your BRM team operates in. It is every bit as important as the teams who enhance, support, and operate your products directly.

Notes on the network map

• Pay special attention to influencers who have many arrows; they are called “connectors,” and due to their diverse reach of influence, should themselves be treated as significant stakeholders.
• Don’t forget to consider the through-lines from one influencer through intermediate stakeholders or influencers to the final stakeholder – a single influencer may have additional influence via multiple, possibly indirect paths to a single stakeholder.

4.2 Visualize interrelationships among stakeholders to identify key influencers

Input: List of stakeholders

Output: Relationships among stakeholders and influencers

Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts (physical or electronic)

Participants: Team

1. List direct stakeholders for your area. Ensure it includes stakeholders across the organization (both IT and business units).
2. Determine the stakeholders of your stakeholders. Consider adding each of them to the stakeholder list: assess who has either formal or informal influence over your stakeholders; add these influencers to your stakeholder list.
3. Create a stakeholder network map to visualize relationships.
   • (Optional) Use black arrows to indicate the direction of professional influence.
   • (Optional) Use dashed green arrows to indicate bidirectional, informal influence relationships.
4. Capture the list or diagram of your stakeholders in your workbook.

Categorize your stakeholders with a stakeholder prioritization map

A stakeholder prioritization map help teams categorize their stakeholders by their level or influence and ownership.

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.

4.3 Group your stakeholders into categories

Input: Stakeholder Map

Output: Categorization of stakeholders and influencers

Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts (physical or electronic)

Participants: Team

Use the BRM Workbook to map your stakeholders

Define strategies for engaging stakeholders by type

Each group of stakeholders draws attention and resources away from critical tasks.

By properly identifying your stakeholder groups, you 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 the Mediators and Players are met.

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.

Apply a third dimension for stakeholder prioritization: support.

Support, in addition to interest and influence, is used to prioritize which stakeholders are should receive the focus of your attention. This table indicates how stakeholders are ranked:

Support can be determined by rating the following question: how likely is it that your stakeholder would recommend IT at your organization/your group? Our four categories of support:

• Blocker – beware of the blocker. These stakeholders do not support your cause and have the necessary drive to impede the achievement of your objectives.
• Semi-Supporter – while these stakeholders are committed to your objectives, they are somewhat apathetic to advocate on your behalf. They will support you so long as it does not require much effort from them to do so.
• Neutral – neutrals do not have much commitment to your objectives and are not willing to expend much energy to either support or detract from them.
• Supporter – these stakeholders are committed to your initiative and are willing to whole-heartedly provide you with support.

4.4 Update your stakeholder quadrant to include the three dimensions

Input: Stakeholder Map

Output: Categorization of stakeholders and influencers

Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts (physical or electronic)

Participants: Team

1. Identify the level of support of each stakeholder by answering the following question: how likely is it that your stakeholder would support your initiative/endeavor?
2. Map your results to the model in your workbook to determine each stakeholder’s category.

Use the BRM Workbook to map your stakeholders

Leverage your map to think about how to engage with your stakeholders

4.5 Create your engagement plan

Input: Stakeholder Map/list of stakeholders

Output: Categorization of stakeholders and influencers

Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts (physical or electronic)

Participants: Team

1. Leverage the BRM Stakeholder Engagement Plan spreadsheet. List your key stakeholders.
2. Consider: how do you show value at your current maturity level so that you can gain trust and your relationship can mature? Establish where your relationship lacks maturity, and consider whether you need to engage with them on a more strategic, tactical, or even operational manner.
   • At lower levels of maturity (Table Stakes), focus on service delivery, project delivery, and communication.
   • At mid-level maturity (Influencer/Advocate), focus on business pain points and a deeper knowledge of the business.
   • At higher maturity levels (Value Creator/Innovator), focus on creating value by leading innovative initiatives that drive the business forward.
3. Review the stakeholder quadrant. Update the frequency of your communication accordingly.
4. Capture the agenda for your engagements with them.

Your agenda should vary with the maturity of your relationship

Lower Maturity – Focus on service delivery, project delivery, and communication

Mid-Level Maturity – Focus on business pain points and a deeper knowledge of the business

Higher Maturity – Focus on creating value by leading innovative initiatives that drive the business forward

Stakeholder – Include both IT and business stakeholders at appropriate levels

Agenda – Manage stakeholders expectations, and clarify how your agenda will progress as the partnership matures

REASSESS & EMBED

Determine whether your business is satisfied with IT

	1	Survey your stakeholders to measure improvements in customer satisfaction.		Leverage the CIO Business Vision on a regular interval – most find that annual assessments drive success. Evaluate whether the addition or increased maturity of your BRM practice has improved satisfaction with IT.
	Business satisfaction survey Audience: Business leaders Frequency: Annual Metrics: Overall Satisfaction score Overall Value score Relationship Satisfaction: Understand needs Meet needs Communication

Check if you’ve met the BRM goals you set out to achieve

	2	Measure BRM success against the goals for the practice.		Evaluate whether the BRM practice has helped IT to meet the goals that you’ve established. For each of your goals, create metrics to establish how you will know if you’ve been successful. This might be how many or what type of interactions you have with your stakeholders, and/or it could be new connections with internal or external partners. Ensure you have established metrics to measure success at your goals.

5.1 Create metrics

Input: Goals, The attributes which can align to goal success

Output: Measurements of success

Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts (physical or electronic)

Participants: Team

1. Start with a consideration of your goals and objectives.
2. Identify key aspects that can support confirming if the goal was successful.
3. For each aspect, develop a method to measure success with a specific measurement.
4. When creating the KPI consider:
   • How you know if you are achieving your objective (performance)?
   • How frequently will you be measuring this?
   • Are you looking for an increase, decrease, or maintenance of the metric?

Use the BRM Workbook

Don’t wait all year to find out if you’re on track

Leverage the below questions to quickly poll your business partners on a more frequent basis.

Partner instructions: Please indicate how much you agree with each of the following statements. Use a scale of 1-5, where 1 is low agreement and 5 indicates strong agreement: Demand Shaping: My BRM is at the table and seeks to understand my business. They help me understand IT and helps IT prioritize my needs. Exploring: My BRM surfaces new opportunities based on their understanding of my pain points and growth needs. They engage resources with a focus on the value to be delivered. Servicing: The BRM obtains an understanding of the services and service levels that are required, clarifies them, and communicates costs and risks. Value Harvesting: Focus on value is evident in discussions – the BRM supports IT in ensuring value realization is achieved and tracks value during and beyond deployment.

Embedding the BRM practice also includes acknowledging the BRM’s part in balancing the IT portfolio

IT needs to juggle “keeping the lights on” initiatives with those required to add value to the organization. Partner with the appropriate resources (Project Management Office, Product Owners, System Owners, and/or others as appropriate within your organization) to ensure that all initiatives focus on value. Info-Tech Insight Not every organization will balance their portfolio in the same way. Some organizations have higher risk tolerance and so their higher priority goals may require that they accept more risk to potentially reap more returns.

80% of organizations feel their portfolios are dominated by low-value initiatives that do not deliver value to the business. (Source: Stage-Gate International and Product Development Institute, March/April 2009)

5.2 Prioritize your investments/ projects (optional activity)

Input: Value criteria

Output: Prioritized project listing

Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts (physical or electronic)

Participants: Team

1. Review and edit (if necessary) the criteria on tab 2 the Project Value Scorecard Development Tool.
   
2. Score initiatives and investments on tab 3 using your criteria.
   

5.3 Create a portfolio investment map (optional activity)

Input: Business capability map

Output: Portfolio investment map

Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts (physical or electronic)

Participants: Team

1. Build a capability map, outlining the value streams that support your organization’s goals and the high-level capabilities (level 1) that support the value stream (and goals).
   For more support in establishing the capability map, see Document Your Business Architecture.
   
2. Identify high-value capabilities for the organization.
3. What are the projects and initiatives that will address the critical capabilities? Add these under the high-value capabilities.
4. This process will help you demonstrate how projects align to business goals. Enter your capabilities and projects in Info-Tech’s Initiative Portfolio Map Template.

Establish your annual BRM plan

To support the BRM capability at your organization, you’ll want to communicate your plan. This will include: Business Feedback and Engagement Engaging with your partners includes meeting with them on a regular basis. Establish this frequency and capture it in your plan. This engagement must include an understanding of their goals and challenges. As Bill Gates said, “We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve” (Inc.com, 2013). There are various points in the year which will provide you with the opportunity to understand your business partners’ views of IT or the BRM role. List the opportunities to reflect on this feedback in your plan. Business-IT Alignment Bring together the views and perspectives of IT and the business. List the activities that will be required to reflect business goals in IT. These include IT goals, budget, and planning. BRM Improvement The practices put in place to support the BRM practice need to continuously evolve to support a maturing organization. The feedback from stakeholders throughout the organization will provide input into this. Ensure there are activities and time put aside to evaluate the improvements required.

5.4 Establish your year-in-the-life plan

Input: Engagement plan, BRM goals

Output: Annual BRM plan

Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts (physical or electronic)

Participants: Team

1. Start with your business planning activities – what will you as a BRM be doing as your business establishes their plans and strategies? These could include:
   • Listening and feedback sessions
   • Third-party explorations
2. Then look at your activities required to integrate within IT – what activities are required to align business directives within your IT groups? Examples can include:
   • Business strategy review
   • Capability map creation
   • Input into the Business-aligned IT strategy
   • IT budget input
3. What activities are required to continuously improve the BRM role? This may consist of:
   • Feedback discussions with business partners
   • Roadshow with colleagues to communicate and refine the practice
4. Map these on your annual calendar that can be shared with your colleagues.

Capture in the BRM Workbook Communicate using the Executive Buy-In and Communication Template

Sample BRM annual cycle

5.5 Build your transformation roadmap

Input: SWOT analysis

Output: Transformation roadmap

Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts (physical or electronic)

Participants: Team

1. Brainstorm and discuss the key enablers that are needed to help promote and ease your BRM program.
2. Brainstorm and discuss the key blockers (or risks) that may interrupt or derail your BRM program.
3. Brainstorm mitigation activities for each blocker.
4. Enablers and mitigation activities can be listed on your transformation roadmap.

Example:

Capture in the BRM Workbook

5.5 Build your transformation roadmap (cont’d)

5. Roadmap Elements:
   • List the artifacts, changes, or actions needed to implement the new BRM program.
   • For each item, identify how long it will take to implement or change by moving it into the appropriate swim lane. Use timing that makes sense for your organization: Quick Wins, Short Term, and Long Term; Now, Next, and Later; or Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4.

Communicate the BRM changes to set your practice up for success

Leaders of successful change spend considerable time developing a powerful change message, i.e. a compelling narrative that articulates the desired end state, and that 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 (Source: The Qualities of Leadership: Leading Change)

Apply the following communication principles to make your BRM changes relevant to stakeholders

“We tend to use a lot of jargon in our discussions, and that is a sure fire way to turn people away. We realized the message wasn’t getting out because the audience wasn’t speaking the same language. You have to take it down to the next level and help them understand where the needs are.” (Jeremy Clement, Director of Finance, College of Charleston, Info-Tech Interview, 2018)

5.6 Create a communications plan tailored to each of your stakeholders

Input: Prioritized list of stakeholders

Output: Communication Plan

Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts (physical or electronic)

Participants: Team

1. List stakeholders in order of importance in the first column.
2. Identify the frequency with which you will communicate to each group.
3. Determine the scope of the communication:
   • What key information needs to be included in the message to ensure they are informed and on board?
   • Which medium(s) will you use to communicate to that specific group?
4. Develop a concrete timeline that will be followed to ensure that support is maintained from the key stakeholders.

Related Blueprints

Business Value Measure IT Project Value Establish a process for effectively articulating and forecasting business value in projects. Maximize Business Value From IT through Benefits Realization Integrate a consistent view of value into the enterprise through governance. Service Catalog Design and Build a User-Facing Service Catalog Provide business users with a view of IT services in a language that they can understand. Intake Management Optimize IT Project Intake, Approval, and Prioritization Create an intake process aligned to project value.

Selected Bibliography

“Apple Mission and Vision Analysis.” Mission Statement Academy, 23 May 2019. Accessed 5 November 2020.

Barnes, Aaron. “Business Relationship Manager and Plan Build Run.” BRM Institute, 8 April 2014.

Barnes, Aaron. “Starting a BRM Team - Business Relationship Management Institute.” BRM Institute, 5 June 2013. Web.

BRM Institute. “Business Partner Maturity Model.” Member Templates and Examples, Online Campus, n.d. Accessed 3 December 2021.

BRM Institute. “BRM Assessment Templates and Examples.” Member Templates and Examples, Online Campus, n.d. Accessed 24 November 2021.

Brusnahan, Jim, et al. “A Perfect Union: BRM and Agile Development and Delivery.” BRM Institute, 8 December 2020. Web.

Business Relationship Management: The BRMP Guide to the BRM Body of Knowledge. Second printing ed., BRM Institute, 2014.

Chapman, Chuck. “Building a Culture of Trust - Remote Leadership Institute.” Remote Leadership Institute, 10 August 2021. Accessed 27 January 2022.

“Coca Cola Mission and Vision Analysis.” Mission Statement Academy, 4 August 2019. Accessed 5 November 2020.

Colville, Alan. “Shared Vision.” UX Magazine, 31 October 2011. Web.

Cooper, Robert, G. “Effective Gating: Make product innovation more productive by using gates with teeth.” Stage-Gate International and Product Development Institute, March/April 2009. Web.

Heller, Martha. “How CIOs Can Make Business Relationship Management (BRM) Work.” CIO, 1 November 2016. Accessed 27 January 2022.

“How Many Business Relationship Managers Should You Have.” BRM Institute, 20 March 2013. Web.

Hull, Patrick. “Answer 4 Questions to Get a Great Mission Statement.” Forbes, 10 January 2013. Web.

Kasperkevic, Jana. “Bill Gates: Good Feedback Is the Key to Improvement.” Inc.com, 17 May 2013. Web.

Merlyn, Vaughan. “Relationships That Matter to the BRM.” BRM Institute, 19 October 2016. Web.

“Modernizing IT’s Business Relationship Manager Role.” The Hackett Group, 22 November 2019. Web.

Monroe, Aaron. “BRMs in a SAFe World...That Is, a Scaled Agile Framework Model.” BRM Institute, 5 January 2021. Web.

Selected Bibliography

“Operational, adj." OED Online, Oxford University Press, December 2021. Accessed 29 January 2022.

Sinek, Simon. “Transcript of ‘How Great Leaders Inspire Action.’” TEDxPuget Sound, September 2009. Accessed 7 November 2020.

“Strategic, Adj. and n.” OED Online, Oxford University Press, December 2016. Accessed 27 January 2022.

“Tactical, Adj.” OED Online, Oxford University Press, September 2018. Accessed 27 January 2022.

“The Qualities of Leadership: Leading Change.” Cornelius & Associates, 23 September 2013. Web.

“Twice the Business Value in Half the Time: When Agile Methods Meet the Business Relationship Management Role.” BRM Institute, 10 April 2015. Web.

“Value Streams.” Scaled Agile Framework, 30 June 2020. Web.

Ward, John. “Delivering Value from Information Systems and Technology Investments: Learning from Success.” Information Systems Research Centre, August 2006. Web.

Appendix

• Business Value Drivers
• Service Blueprint
• Stakeholder Communications
• Job Descriptions

Understand business value drivers for ROI and cost

Understand Business Value Drivers that Enhance Your Services

Understand Business Value Drivers that Connect the Business to Your Customers

Service Blueprint

Service design involves an examination of the people, process and technology involved in delivering a service to your customers.

Service blueprinting provides a visual of how these are connected together. It enables you to identify and collaborate on improvements to an existing service.

The main components of a service blueprint are:

Customer actions – this anchors the service in the experiences of the customer

Front-stage – this shows the parts of the service that are visible to the customer

Back-stage – this is the behind-the-scenes actions necessary to deliver the experience to the customer

Support processes – this is what’s necessary to deliver the back-stage (and front-stage/customer experience), but is not aligned from a timing perspective (e.g. it doesn’t matter if the fridge is stocked when the order is put in, as long as the supplies are available for the chef to use)

Physical Evidence and Time are blueprint components can be added in to provide additional context & support

Stakeholder Communications

BRM Job Descriptions

Download the Job Descriptions:

• Business Relationship Manager – Level 1
• Business Relationship Manager – Level 2
• Business Relationship Manager – Level 3
• IT Business Relationship Manager

Establish a Sustainable ESG Reporting Program

Strengthen corporate performance by implementing a holistic and proactive reporting approach.

Analyst Perspective

The shift toward stakeholder capitalism cannot be pinned on one thing; rather, it is a convergence of forces that has reshaped attitudes toward the corporation. Investor attention on responsible investing has pushed corporations to give greater weight to the achievement of corporate goals beyond financial performance.

Reacting to the new investor paradigm and to the wider systemic risk to the financial system of climate change, global regulators have rapidly mobilized toward mandatory climate-related disclosure.

IT will be instrumental in meeting the immediate regulatory mandate, but their role is much more far-reaching. IT has a role to play at the leadership table shaping strategy and assisting the organization to deliver on purpose-driven goals.

Delivering high-quality, relevant, and consistent disclosure is the key to unlocking and driving sustainable corporate performance. IT leaders should not underestimate the influence they have in selecting the right technology and data model to support ESG reporting and ultimately support top-line growth.

Yaz Palanichamy
Senior Research Analyst
Info-Tech Research Group

Donna Bales
Principal Research Director
Info-Tech Research Group

Executive Summary

Info-Tech Insight

Implementing a robust reporting program takes time. Start early, remain focused, and plan to continually improve data quality and collection and performance metrics

Putting “E,” “S,” and “G” in context

Corporate sustainability depends on managing ESG factors well

Environmental, social, and governance are the components of a sustainability framework that is used to understand and measure how an organization impacts or is affected by society as a whole.

Human activities, particularly fossil fuel burning since the middle of the twentieth century, have increased greenhouse gas concentration, resulting in observable changes to the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere, and biosphere. The “E” in ESG relates to the positive and negative impacts an organization may have on the environment, such as the energy it takes in and the waste it discharges.

The “S” in ESG is the most ambiguous component in the framework, as social impact relates not only to risks but also to prosocial behavior. It’s the most difficult to measure but can have significant financial and reputational impact on corporations if material and poorly managed.

The “G” in ESG is foundational to the realization of “S” and “E.” It encompasses how well an organization integrates these considerations into the business and how well the organization engages with key stakeholders, receives feedback, and is transparent with its intentions.

The impact of ESG factors on investment decisions

Alleviate Investment Risk

Organizational Reputation: Seventy-four percent of those surveyed were concerned that failing to improve their corporate ESG performance would negatively impact their organization’s branding and overall reputation in the market (Intelex, 2022).

Ethical Business Compliance: Adherence to well-defined codes of business conduct and implementation of anti-corruption and anti-bribery practices is a great way to distinguish between organizations with good/poor governance intentions.

Shifting Consumer Preferences: ESG metrics can also largely influence consumer preferences in buying behavior intentions. Research from McKinsey shows that “upward of 70 percent” of consumers surveyed on purchases in multiple industries said they would pay an additional 5 percent for a green product if it met the same performance standards as a nongreen alternative (McKinsey, 2019).

Responsible Supply Chain Management: The successful alignment of ESG criteria with supply chain operations can lead to several benefits (e.g. producing more sustainable product offerings, maintaining constructive relationships with more sustainability-focused suppliers).

Environmental Stewardship: The growing climate crisis has forced companies of all sizes to rethink how they plan their corporate environmental sustainability practices.

Compliance With Regulatory Guidelines: An increasing emphasis on regulations surrounding ESG disclosure rates may result in some institutional investors taking a more proactive stance toward ESG-related initiatives.

Sustaining Competitive Advantage: Given today’s globalized economy, many businesses are constantly confronted with environmental issues (e.g. water scarcity, air pollution) as well as social problems (e.g. workplace wellness issues). Thus, investment in ESG factors is simply a part of maintaining competitive advantage.

Leaders increasingly see ESG as a competitive differentiator

The perceived importance of ESG has dramatically increased from 2020 to 2023

In a survey commissioned by Schneider Electric, researchers categorized the relative importance of ESG planning initiatives for global IT business leaders. ESG was largely identified as a critical factor in sustaining competitive advantage against competitors and maintaining positive investor/public relations.
Source: S&P Market Intelligence, 2020; N=825 IT decision makers

“74% of finance leaders say investors increasingly use nonfinancial information in their decision-making.”
Source: EY, 2020

Regulatory pressure to report on carbon emission is building globally

The Evolving Regulatory Landscape

Canada

• Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) NI 51-107 Disclosure of Climate-related Matters

United States

• Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) 33-11042 – The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors
• SEC 33-11038 Cybersecurity Risk Management, Strategy, Governance, and Incident Disclosure
• Nasdaq Board Diversity Rule (5605(f))

Europe

• European Commission Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR)
• European Commission EU Supply Chain Act
• The German Supply Chain Act (GSCA)
• Financial Conduct Authority UK Proposal (DP 21/4) Sustainability Disclosure Requirements and investment labels
• UK Modern Slavery Act, 2015

New Zealand

• The Financial Sector (Climate-related Disclosures and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2021

Accurate ESG reporting will be critical to meet regulatory requirements

ESG reporting is the disclosure of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data via qualitative and quantitative reports.

It is how organizations make their sustainability commitments and strategies transparent to stakeholders.

For investors it provides visibility into a company's ESG activities, enabling them to align investments to their values and avoid companies that cause damage to the environment or are offside on social and governance issues.

Despite the growing practice of ESG reporting, reporting standards and frameworks are still evolving and the regulatory approach for climate-related disclosure is inconsistent across jurisdictions, making it challenging for organizations to develop a robust reporting program.

However, organizations will struggle to meet reporting requirements

Despite the commitment to support an ESG Initiative, less than a quarter of IT professionals say their organization can accurately report on the impact of its ESG initiatives, and 44% say their reporting on impacts is not accurate.

Reporting accuracy was even worse for reporting on carbon footprint with 46% saying their organization could not report on its carbon footprint accurately. This despite most IT professionals saying they are working to support environmental mandates.

Global sustainability rankings based on ESG dimensions

Global Country Sustainability Ranking Map

Country Sustainability Scores (CSR) as of October 2021
Scores range from 1 (poor) to 10 (best)
Source: Robeco, 2021

ESG Performance Rankings From Select Countries

Top ESG and sustainability performer

Finland has ranked consistently as a leading sustainability performer in recent years. Finland's strongest ESG pillar is the environment, and its environmental ranking of 9.63/10 is the highest out of all 150 countries.

Significant score deteriorations

Brazil, France, and India are among the countries whose ESG score rankings have deteriorated significantly in the past three years.

Increasing political tensions and risks as well as aftershock effects of the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g. high inequality and insufficient access to healthcare and education) have severely impacted Brazil’s performance across the governance and social pillars of the ESG framework, ultimately causing its overall ESG score to drop to a CSR value of 5.31.

Largest gains and losses in ESG scores

Canada has received worse scores for corruption, political risk, income inequality, and poverty over the past three years.

Taiwan has seen its rankings improve in terms of overall ESG scores. Government effectiveness, innovation, a strong semiconductor manufacturing market presence, and stronger governance initiatives have been sufficient to compensate for a setback in income and economic inequality.

Source: Robeco, 2021

Establish a Sustainable Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Reporting Program

Blueprint benefits

Business Benefits

• Clarity on technical and organizational gaps in the organization’s ability to deliver ESG reporting strategy.
• Transparency on the breadth of the change program, internal capabilities needed, and accountable owners.
• Reduced likelihood of liability.
• Improved corporate performance and top-line growth.
• Confidence that the organization is delivering high-quality, comprehensive ESG disclosure.

IT Benefits

• Understanding of IT’s role as strategic enabler for delivering high-quality ESG disclosure and sustainable corporate performance.
• Transparency on primary data gaps and technology and tools needed to support the ESG reporting strategy.
• Clear direction of material ESG risks and how to prioritize implementation efforts.
• Awareness of tool selection options.

Blueprint deliverables

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

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 8 to 12 calls over the course of 4 to 6 months.

What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

Workshop Overview

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

Phase 1

Explore ESG Reporting

This phase will walk you through the following:

• Define key stakeholders and material ESG factors.
• Identify material ESG issues.
• Develop SMART program metrics.
• List reporting obligations.
• Surface high-level data gaps.
• Record high-level implementation considerations.

This phase involves the following participants: CIO, CCO, CSO, business leaders, legal, marketing and communications, head of ESG reporting, and any dedicated ESG team members

Practical steps for ESG disclosure

Measuring and tracking incremental change among dimensions such as carbon emissions reporting, governance, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) requires organizations to acquire, analyze, and synthesize data from beyond their internal organizational ecosystems

1.1 Ensure your reporting requirements are comprehensive

This section will walk you through some key considerations for establishing your ESG reporting strategy. The first step in this process is to identify the scope of your reporting program.

Defining the scope of your reporting program

1. Stakeholder requirements: When developing a reporting program consider all your stakeholder needs as well as how they want to consume the information.
2. Materiality assessment: Conduct a materiality assessment to identify the material ESG issues most critical to your organization. Organizations will need to report material risks to internal and external stakeholders.
3. Purpose-driven goals: Your ESG reporting must include metrics to measure performance against your purpose-driven strategy.
4. Regulatory requirements & industry: Work with your compliance and legal teams to understand which reporting requirements apply. Don’t forget requirements under the “S” and “G” components. Some jurisdictions require DEI reporting, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the US recently announced cybersecurity disclosure of board expertise and management oversight practices.

Factor 1: Stakeholder requirements

Work with key stakeholders to determine what to report

Evaluate your stakeholder landscape

Consider each of these areas of the ESG Stakeholder Wheel and identify your stakeholders. Once stakeholders are identified, consider how the ESG factors might be perceived by delving into the ESG factors that matter to each stakeholder and what drives their behavior.

Determine ESG impact on stakeholders

Review materiality assessment frameworks for your industry to surface ESG factors for your segment and stakeholder group(s).

Perform research and analysis of the competition and stakeholder trends, patterns, and behavior

Support your findings with stakeholder interviews.

Stakeholders will prioritize ESG differently. Understanding their commitment is a critical success factor.

Many of your stakeholders care about ESG commitments…

27%: Support for social and environmental proposals at shareholder meetings of US companies rose to 27% in 2020 (up from 21% in 2017).
Source: Sustainable Investments Institute, 2020.

79%: of investors consider ESG risks and opportunities an important factor in investment decision making.
Source: “Global Investor Survey,” PwC, 2021.

...Yet

33%: of survey respondents cited that a lack of attention or support from senior leadership was one of the major barriers preventing their companies from making any progress on ESG issues.
Source: “Consumer Intelligence Survey,” PwC, 2021.

Info-Tech Insight

To succeed with ESG reporting it is essential to understand who we hold ourselves accountable to and to focus ESG efforts in areas with the optimal balance between people, the planet, and profits

Activity 1: Define stakeholders

Input: Internal documentation (e.g. strategy, annual reports), ESG Stakeholder Wheel
Output: List of key stakeholders and applicable ESG factors
Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts, ESG Reporting Workbook
Participants: Chief Sustainability Officer, Chief Compliance Officer, Head of ESG Reporting, Business leaders

2 hours

1. Using the ESG Stakeholder Wheel as a baseline, consider the breadth of your organization’s value chain and write down all your stakeholders.
2. Discuss what drives their behavior. Be as detailed as you can be. For example, if it’s a consumer, delve into their age group and the factors that may drive their behavior.
3. List the ESG factors that may be important to each stakeholder.
4. Write down the communication channels you expect to use to communicate ESG information to this stakeholder group.
5. Rate the priority of this stakeholder to your organization.
6. Record this information in ESG Reporting Workbook.
7. Optional – consider testing the results with a targeted survey.

Download the ESG Reporting Workbook

Activity 1: Example

Factor 2: Materiality assessments

Conduct a materiality assessment to inform company strategy and establish targets and metrics for risk and performance reporting

The concept of materiality as it relates to ESG is the process of gaining different perspectives on ESG issues and risks that may have significant impact (both positive and negative) on or relevance to company performance.

The objective of a materiality assessment is to identify material ESG issues most critical to your organization by looking at a broad range of social and environmental factors. Its purpose is to narrow strategic focus and enable an organization to assess the impact of financial and non-financial risks aggregately.

It helps to make the case for ESG action and strategy, assess financial impact, get ahead of long-term risks, and inform communication strategies.

Organizations can use assessment tools from Sustainalytics or GRI, SASB Standards, or guidance and benchmarking information from industry associations to help assess ESG risks .

Info-Tech Insight

The materiality assessment informs your risk management approach. Material ESG risks identified should be integrated into your organization’s risk reporting framework.

Supplement your materiality assessment with stakeholder interviews

Steps to determine material ESG factors

Materiality assessment

The materiality assessment is a strategic tool used to help identify, refine, and assess the numerous ESG issues in the context of your organization.

There is no universally accepted approach to materiality assessments. Although the concept of materiality is often embedded within a reporting standard, your approach to conducting the materiality assessment does not need to link to a specific reporting standard. Rather, it can be used as a baseline to develop your own.

To arrive at the appropriate outcome for your organization, careful consideration is needed to tailor the materiality assessment to meet your organization’s objectives.

When defining the scope of your materiality assessment consider:

• Your corporate ESG purpose and sustainability strategy
• Your audience and what drives their behavior
• The relevance of the ESG issues to your organization. Do they impact strategy? Increase risk?
• The boundaries of your materiality assessment (e.g. regions or business departments, supply chains it will cover)
• Whether you want to assess from a double materiality perspective

Consider your stakeholders and your industry when selecting your materiality assessment tool – this will ensure you provide relevant disclosure information to the stakeholders that need it.

Double materiality is an extension of the financial concept of materiality and considers the broader impact of an organization on the world at large – particularly to people and climate.

Prioritize and categorize

Using internal information (e.g. strategy, surveys) and external information (e.g. competitors, industry best practices), create a longlist of ESG issues.

Discuss and narrow down the list. Be sure to consider opportunities – not just material risks!

Group the issues under ESG components or defined strategic goals for your organization. Another option is to use the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals to categorize.

Differentiate ESG factors that you already measure and report.

The benefit of clustering is that it shows related topics and how they may positively or negatively influence one another.

Internal risk disclosure should not be overlooked

Bank of America estimates ESG disputes have cost S&P companies more than $600 billion in market capitalization in the last seven years alone.

ESG risks are good predictors of future risks and are therefore key inputs to ensure long-term corporate success.

Regardless of the size of your organization, it’s important to build resilience against ESG risks.

To protect an organization against an ESG incident and potential liability risk, ESG risks should be treated like any other risk type and incorporated into risk management and internal reporting practices, including climate scenario analysis.

Some regulated entities will be required to meet climate-related financial disclosure expectations, and sound risk management practices will be prescribed through regulatory guidance. However, all organizations should instill sound risk practices.

ESG risk management done right will help protect against ESG mishaps that can be expensive and damaging while demonstrating commitment to stakeholders that have influence over all corporate performance.

Source: GreenBiz, 2022.

IT has a role to play to provide the underlying data and technology to support good risk decisions.

Visualize your material risks

Leverage industry frameworks or use Info-Tech’s materiality map to visualize your material ESG risks.

Activity 2: Materiality assessment

Input: ESG corporate purpose or any current ESG metrics; Customer satisfaction or employee engagement surveys; Materiality assessment tools from SASB, Sustainalytics, GRI, or industry frameworks; Outputs from stakeholder outreach/surveys
Output: Materiality map, a list of material ESG issues
Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts, ESG Reporting Workbook
Participants: Chief Sustainability Officer, Chief Compliance Officer, Head of ESG Reporting, Business leaders, Participants from marketing and communications

2-3 hour

1. Begin by reviewing various materiality assessment frameworks to agree on a baseline framework. This will help to narrow down a list of topics that are relevant to your company and industry.
2. As a group, discuss the potential impact and start listing material issues. At first the list will be long, but the group will work collectively to prioritize and consolidate the list.
3. Begin to combine and categorize the results by aligning them to your ESG purpose and strategic pillars.
4. Treat each ESG issue as a risk and map against the likelihood and impact of the risk.
5. Map the topics on your materiality map. Most of the materiality assessment tools have materiality maps – you may choose to use their map.
6. Record this information in the ESG Reporting Workbook.

Download the ESG Reporting Workbook

Case Study: Novartis

• INDUSTRY: Pharmaceuticals
• SOURCE: Novartis, 2022

Novartis, a leading global healthcare company based in Switzerland, stands out as a leader in providing medical consultancy services to address the evolving needs of patients worldwide. As such, its purpose is to use science and technologically innovative solutions to address some of society’s most debilitating, challenging, and ethically significant healthcare issues.

The application of Novartis’ materiality assessment process in understanding critical ESG topics important to their shareholders, stakeholder groups, and society at large enables the company to better quantify references to its ESG sustainability metrics.

Novartis applies its materiality assessment process to better understand relevant issues affecting its underlying business operations across its entire value chain. Overall, employing Novartis’s materiality assessment process helps the company to better manage its societal, environmental, and economic impacts, thus engaging in more socially responsible governance practices.

Novartis’ materiality assessment is a multitiered process that includes three major elements:

1. Identifying key stakeholders, which involves a holistic analysis of internal colleagues and external stakeholders.
2. Collecting quantitative feedback and asking relevant stakeholders to rank a set of issues (e.g. climate change governance, workplace culture, occupational health and safety) and rate how well Novartis performs across each of those identified issues.
3. Eliciting qualitative insights by coordinating interviews and workshops with survey participants to better understand why the issues brought up during survey sessions were perceived as important.

Results

In 2021, Novartis had completed its most recent materiality assessment. From this engagement, both internal and external stakeholders had ranked as important eight clusters that Novartis is impacting on from an economic, societal, and environmental standpoint. The top four clusters were patient health and safety, access to healthcare, innovation, and ethical business practices.

Factor 3: ESG program goals

Incorporate ESG performance metrics that support your ESG strategy

Another benefit of the materiality assessment is that it helps to make the case for ESG action and provides key information for developing a purpose-led strategy.

An internal ESG strategy should drive toward company-specific goals such as green-house gas emission targets, use of carbon neutral technologies, focus on reusable products, or investment in DEI programs.

Most organizations focus on incremental goals of reducing negative impacts to existing operations or improving the value to existing stakeholders rather than transformative goals.

Yet, a strategy that is authentic and aligned with key stakeholders and long-term goals will bring sustainable value.

The strategy must be supported by an accountability and performance measurement framework such as SMART metrics.

A fulsome reporting strategy should include performance metrics

Activity 3: SMART metrics

Input: ESG corporate purpose or any current ESG metrics, Outputs from activities 1 and 2, Internally defined metrics (i.e. risk metrics or internal reporting requirements)
Output: SMART metrics
Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts, ESG Reporting Workbook
Participants: Chief Sustainability Officer, Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Risk officer/Risk leaders, Head of ESG Reporting, Business leaders, Participants from marketing and communications

1-2 hours

1. Document a list of appropriate metrics to assess the success of your ESG program.
2. Use the sample metrics listed in the table on the next slide as a starting point.
3. Fill in the chart to indicate the:
   1. Name of the success metric
   2. Method for measuring success
   3. Baseline measurement
   4. Target measurement
   5. Actual measurements at various points throughout the process of improving the risk management program
   6. A deadline for each metric to meet the target measurement
4. Record this information in the ESG Reporting Workbook.

Download the ESG Reporting Workbook

Sample ESG metrics

Leverage industry resources to help define applicable metrics

Environmental

• Greenhouse gas emissions – total corporate
• Carbon footprint – percent emitted and trend
• Percentage of air and water pollution
• Renewable energy share per facility
• Percentage of recycled material in a product
• Ratio of energy saved to actual use
• Waste creation by weight
• Circular transition indicators

Social

• Rates of injury
• Lost time incident rate
• Proportion of spend on local suppliers
• Entry-level wage vs. local minimum wage
• Percentage of management who identify with specific identity groups (i.e. gender and ethnic diversity)
• Percentage of suppliers screened for accordance to ESG vs. total number of suppliers
• Consumer responsiveness

Governance

• Annual CEO compensation compared to median
• Percentage of employees trained in conflict-of-interest policy
• Number of data breaches using personally identifiable information (PII)
• Number of incidents relating to management corruption
• Percentage of risks with mitigation plans in place

Activity 3: Develop SMART project metrics

1-3 hours

Attach metrics to your goals to gauge the success of the ESG program.

Sample Metrics

Factor 4: Regulatory reporting obligations

Identify your reporting obligations

High-level overview of reporting requirements:

Refer to your legal and compliance team for the most up-to-date and comprehensive requirements.

The focus of regulators is to move to mandatory reporting of material climate-related financial information.

There is some alignment to the TCFD* framework, but there is a lack of standardization in terms of scope across jurisdictions.
*TCFD is the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures.

Activity 4: Regulatory obligations

Input: Corporate strategy documents; Compliance registry or internal governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) tool
Output: A list of regulatory obligations
Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts, ESG Reporting Workbook
Participants: Chief Sustainability Officer, Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Legal Officer, Head of ESG Reporting, Business leaders

1-2 hours

1. Begin by listing the jurisdictions in which you operate or plan to operate.
2. For each jurisdiction, list any known current or future regulatory requirements. Consider all ESG components.
3. Log whether the requirements are mandatory or voluntary and the deadline to report.
4. Write any details about reporting framework; for example, if a reporting framework such as TCFD is prescribed.
5. Record this information in the ESG Reporting Workbook.

Download the ESG Reporting Workbook

1.2 Assess impact and weigh options

Once the scope of your ESG reporting framework has been identified, further assessment is needed to determine program direction and to understand and respond to organizational impact.

Key factors for further assessment and decisions include

1. Reporting framework options. Consider mandated reporting frameworks and any industry standards when deciding your baseline reporting framework. Strive to have a common reporting methodology that serves all your reporting needs: regulatory, corporate, shareholders, risk reporting, etc.
2. Perform gap analysis. The gap analysis will reveal areas where data may need to be sourced or where tools or external assistance may be needed to help deliver your reporting strategy.
3. Organizational impact and readiness. The gap analysis will help to determine whether your current operating model can support the reporting program or whether additional resources, tools, or infrastructure will be needed.

1.2.1 Decide on baseline reporting framework

1. Determine the appropriate reporting framework for your organization

Reporting standards are available to enable relevant, high-quality, and comparable information. It’s the job of the reporting entity to decide on the most suitable framework for their organization.

The most established standard for sustainability reporting is the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), which has supported sustainability reporting for over 20 years.

The Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) was created by the Financial Stability Board to align ESG disclosure with financial reporting. Many global regulators support this framework.

The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) is developing high-quality, understandable, and enforceable global standards using the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) as a baseline. It is good practice to use SASB Standards until the ISSB standards are available.

2. Decide which rating agencies you will use and why they are important

ESG ratings are provided by third-party agencies and are increasingly being used for financing and transparency to investors. ESG ratings provide both qualitative and quantitative information.

However, there are multiple providers, so organizations need to consider which ones are the most important and how many they want to use.

Some of the most popular rating agencies include Sustainalytics, MSCI, Bloomberg, Moody's, S&P Global, and CDP.

Reference Appendix Below

1.2.2 Determine data gaps

The ESG reporting mandate is built on the assumption of consistent, good-quality data

To meet ESG objectives, corporations are challenged with collecting non-financial data from across functional business and geographical locations and from their supplier base and supply chains.

One of the biggest impediments to ESG implementation is the lack of high-quality data and of mature processes and tools to support data collection.

An important step for delivering reporting requirements is to perform a gap analysis early on to surface gaps in the primary data needed to deliver your reporting strategy.

The output of this exercise will also inform and help prioritize implementation, as it may show that new data sets need to be sourced or tools purchased to collect and aggregate data.

Conduct a gap analysis to determine gaps in primary data

Activity 5: Gap analysis

Input: Business (ESG) strategy, Data inventory (if exists), Output from Activity 1: Key stakeholders, Output from Activity 2: Materiality map, Output of Activity 3: SMART metrics, Output of Activity 4: Regulatory obligations
Output: List of high-priority data gaps
Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts, ESG Reporting Workbook
Participants: Chief Sustainability Officer, Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Legal Officer, Head of ESG Reporting, Business leaders, Data analysts

1-3 hours

1. Using the outputs from activities 1-4, list your organization’s ESG issues in order of priority. You may choose to develop your priority list by stakeholder group or by material risks.
2. List any defined SMART metric from Activity 3.
3. Evaluate data availability and quality of the data (if existing) as well as any impediments to sourcing the data.
4. Make note if this is a common datapoint, i.e. would you disclose this data in more than one report?
5. Record this information in the ESG Reporting Workbook.

Download the ESG Reporting Workbook

1.3 Take a holistic implementation approach

Currently, 84 percent of businesses don’t integrate their ESG performance with financial and risk management reporting.

Source: “2023 Canadian ESG Reporting Insights,” PwC.

When implementing an ESG reporting framework, it is important not to implement in silos but to take a strategic approach that considers the evolving nature of ESG and the link to value creation and sound decision making.

Key implementation considerations include

1. Setting clear metrics and targets. Key performance indicators (KPIs) and key risk indicators (KRIs) are used to measure ESG factor performance. It’s essential that they are relevant and are constructed using high-quality data. Your performance metrics should be continually assessed and adapted as your ESG program evolves.
2. Data challenges. Without good-quality data it is impossible to accurately measure ESG performance, generate actionable insights on ESG performance and risk, and provide informative metrics to investors and other stakeholders. Design your data model to be flexible and digital where possible to enable data interoperability.
3. Architectural approach. IT will play a key role in the design of your reporting framework, including the decision on whether to build, buy, or deliver a hybrid solution. Every organization will build their reporting program to suit their unique needs; however, taking a holistic and proactive approach will support and sustain your strategy long term.

1.3.1 Metrics and targets for climate-related disclosure

“The future of sustainability reporting is digital – and tagged.”
Source: “XBRL Is Coming,” Novisto, 2022.

In the last few years, global regulators have proposed or effected legislation requiring public companies to disclose climate-related information.

Yet according to Info-Tech’s 2023 Trends and Priorities survey, most IT professionals expect to support environmental mandates but are not prepared to accurately report on their organization’s carbon footprint.

IT groups have a critical role to play in helping organizations develop strategic plans to meet ESG goals, measure performance, monitor risks, and deliver on disclosure requirements.

To future-proof your reporting structure, your data should be readable by humans and machines.

eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) tagging is mandated in several jurisdictions for financial reporting, and several reporting frameworks are adopting XBRL for sustainability reporting so that non-financial and financial disclosure frameworks are aligned.

Example environmental metrics

• Amount of scope 1, 2, or 3 GHG emissions
• Total energy consumption
• Total water consumption
• Progress toward net zero emission
• Percentage of recycled material in a product

1.3.1 Metrics and targets for social disclosure

“59% of businesses only talk about their positive performance, missing opportunities to build trust with stakeholders through balanced and verifiable ESG reporting.”
Source: “2023 Canadian ESG Reporting Insights,” PwC.

To date, regulatory focus has been on climate-related disclosure, although we are beginning to see signals in Europe and the UK that they are turning their attention to social issues.

Social reporting focuses on the socioeconomic impacts of an organization’s initiatives or activities on society (indirect or direct).

The “social” component of ESG can be the most difficult to quantify, but if left unmonitored it can leave your organization open to litigation from consumers, employees, and activists.

Although organizations have been disclosing mandated metrics such as occupational health and safety and non-mandated activities such as community involvement for years, the scope of reporting is typically narrow and hard to measure in financial terms.

This is now changing with the recognition by companies of the value of social reporting to brand image, traceability, and overall corporate performance.

Example social metrics

• Rate of injury
• Lost time incident rate
• Proportion of spend on local suppliers
• Entry-level wage versus local minimum wage
• Percentage of management within specific identity groups (i.e. gender and ethnic diversity)
• Number of workers impacted by discrimination

Case Study: McDonald’s Corporation (MCD)

• INDUSTRY: Food service retailer
• SOURCE: RBC Capital Markets, 2021; McDonald’s, 2019

McDonald’s Corporation is the leading global food service retailer. Its purpose is not only providing burgers to dinner tables around the world but also serving its communities, customers, crew, farmers, franchisees, and suppliers alike. As such, not only is the company committed to having a positive impact on communities and in maintaining the growth and success of the McDonald's system, but it is also committed to conducting its business operations in a way that is mindful of its ESG commitments.

McDonald’s Better Together: Gender Balance & Diversity strategy and Women in Tech initiative

In 2019, MCD launched its Better Together: Gender Balance & Diversity strategy as part of a commitment to improving the representation and visibility of women at all levels of the corporate structure by 2023.

In conjunction with the Better Together strategy, MCD piloted a “Women in Tech” initiative through its education and tuition assistance program, Archways to Opportunity. The initiative enabled women from company-owned restaurants and participating franchisee restaurants to learn skills in areas such as data science, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence. MCD partnered with Microsoft and Colorado Technical University to carry out the initiative (McDonald’s, 2019).

Both initiatives directly correlate to the “S” of the ESG framework, as the benefits of gender-diverse leadership continue to be paramount in assessing the core strengths of a company’s overreaching ESG portfolio. Hence, public companies will continue to face pressure from investors to act in accordance with these social initiatives.

Results

MCD’s Better Together and Women in Tech programs ultimately helped improve recruitment and retention rates among its female employee base. After the initialization of the gender balance and diversification strategy, McDonald’s signed on to the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles to help accelerate global efforts in addressing the gender disparity problem.

1.3.1 Metrics and targets for governance disclosure

Do not lose sight of regulatory requirements

Strong governance is foundational element of a ESG program, yet governance reporting is nascent and is often embedded in umbrella legislation pertaining to a particular risk factor.

A good example of this is the recent proposal by the Securities and Exchange Commission in the US (CFR Parts 229, 232, 239, 240, and 249, Cybersecurity Risk Management, Strategy, Governance, and Incident Disclosure), which will require public companies to:

• Disclosure of board oversight of cyber risk.
• Disclose management’s role in managing and accessing cybersecurity-related risks.

The "G” component includes more than traditional governance factors and acts as a catch-all for other important ESG factors such as fraud, cybersecurity, and data hygiene. Make sure you understand how risk may manifest in your organization and put safeguards in place.

Example governance metrics

• Annual CEO compensation compared to median
• Percentage of employees trained in conflict-of-interest policy
• Completed number of supplier assessments
• Number of data breaches using PII
• Number of material cybersecurity breaches

Info-Tech Insight

The "G" in ESG may not be capturing the limelight under ESG legislation yet, but there are key governance factors that are that are under regulatory radar, including data, cybersecurity, fraud, and DEI. Be sure you stay on top of these issues and include performance metrics into your internal and external reporting frameworks.

1.3.2 Conquering data management challenges

Due to the nascent nature of climate-related reporting, data challenges such as the availability, usability, comparability, and workflow integration surface early in the ESG program journey when sourcing and organizing data:

• It is challenging to collect non-financial data across functional business and geographical locations and from supplier base and supply chains.
• The lack of common standards leads to comparability challenges, hindering confidence in the outputs.

In addition to good, reliable inputs, organizations need to have the infrastructure to access new data sets and convert raw data into actionable insights.

The establishment of data model and workflow processes to track data lineage is essential to support an ESG program. To be successful, it is critical that flexibility, scalability, and transparency exist in the architectural design. Data architecture must scale to capture rapidly growing volumes of unstructured raw data with the associated file formats.

Download Info-Tech’s Create and Manage Enterprise Data Models blueprint

1.3.3 Reporting architecture

CIOs play an important part in formulating the agenda and discourse surrounding baseline ESG reporting initiatives

Building and operating an ESG program requires the execution of a large number of complex tasks.

IT leaders have an important role to play in selecting the right technology approach to support a long-term strategy that will sustain and grow corporate performance.

The decision to buy a vendor solution or build capabilities in-house will largely depend on your organization’s ESG ambitions and the maturity of in-house business and IT capabilities.

For large, heavily regulated entities an integrated platform for ESG reporting can provide organizations with improved risk management and internal controls.

Example considerations when deciding to meet ESG reporting obligations in-house

• Size and type of organization
• Extent of regulatory requirements and scrutiny
• The amount of data you want to report
• Current maturity of data architecture, particularly your ability to scale
• Current maturity of your risk and control program – how easy is it to enhance current processes?
• The availability and quality of primary data
• Data set gaps
• In-house expertise in data, model risk, and change management
• Current operating model – is it siloed or integrated?
• Implementation time
• Program cost
• The availability of vendor solutions that may address gaps

Info-Tech Insight

Executive leadership should take a more holistic and proactive stance to not only accurately reporting upon baseline corporate financial metrics but also capturing and disclosing relevant ESG performance metrics to drive alternative streams of valuation across their respective organizational environments.

Activity 6: High-level implementation considerations

Input: Business (ESG) strategy, Data inventory (if exists), Asset inventory (if exists), Output from Activity 5
Output: Summary of high-level implementation considerations
Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts, ESG Reporting Workbook
Participants: Chief Sustainability Officer, Head of ESG Reporting, Business leaders, Data analysts, Data and IT architect/leaders,

2-3 hours

1. Review the implementation considerations on the previous slide to help determine the appropriate technology approach.
2. For each implementation consideration, describe the current state.
3. Discuss and draft the implications of reaching the desired future state by listing implications and organizational gaps.
4. Discuss as a group if there is an obvious implementation approach.
5. At this point, further analysis may be needed. Form a subcommittee or assign a leader to conduct further analysis.
6. Record this information in the ESG Reporting Workbook.

Download the ESG Reporting Workbook

1.3.4 Ensure your implementation team has a high degree of trust and communication

If external partners are needed, dedicate an internal resource to managing the vendor and partner relationships.

Communication: Teams must have some type of communication strategy. This can be broken into:

• Regularity: Having a set time each day to communicate progress and a set day to conduct retrospectives.
• Ceremonies: Injecting awards and continually emphasizing delivery of value to encourage relationship building and constructive motivation.
• Escalation: Voicing any concerns and having someone responsible for addressing those concerns.

Proximity: Distributed teams create complexity as communication can break down. This can be mitigated by:

• Location: Placing teams in proximity to close the barrier of geographical distance and time zone differences.
• Inclusion: Making a deliberate attempt to pull remote team members into discussions and ceremonies.
• Communication tools: Having the right technology (e.g. videoconference) to help bring teams closer together virtually.

Trust: Members should trust other members are contributing to the project and completing their required tasks on time. Trust can be developed and maintained by:

• Accountability: Having frequent quality reviews and feedback sessions. As work becomes more transparent, people become more accountable.
• Role clarity: Having a clear definition of what everyone’s role is.

1.4 Clear effective communication

Improving investor transparency is one of the key drivers behind disclosure, so making the data easy to find and consumable is essential

Your communication of ESG performance is intricately linked to corporate value creation. When designing your communications strategy, consider:

• Your message – make it authentic and tell a consistent story.
• How data will be used to support the narrative.
• How your ESG program may impact internal and external programs and build a communication strategy that is fit for purpose. Example programs are:
  • Employee recruitment
  • New product rollout
  • New customer campaign
• The design of the communication and how well it suits the audience. Communications may take the form of campaigns, thought leadership, infographics, etc.
• The appropriateness of communication channels to your various audiences and the messages you want to convey. For example, social media, direct outreach, shareholder circular, etc.

1.5 Continually evaluate

A recent BDC survey of 121 large companies and public-sector buyers found that 82% require some disclosure from their suppliers on ESG, and that's expected to grow to 92% by 2024.
Source: BDC, 2023

ESG's link to corporate performance means that organizations must stay on top of ESG issues that may impact the long-term sustainability of their business.

ESG components will continue to evolve, and as they do so will stakeholder views. It is important to continually survey your stakeholders to ensure you are optimally managing ESG risks and opportunities.

To keep ESG on the strategy agenda, we recommend that organizations:

• Appoint a chief sustainability officer (CSO) with a seat on executive leadership committees.
• Embed ESG into existing governance and form a tactical ESG working group committee.
• Ensure ESG risks are integrated into the enterprise risk management program.
• Continually challenge your ESG strategy.
• Regularly review risks and opportunities through proactive outreach to stakeholders.

Download The ESG Imperative and Its Impact on Organizations

Phase 2

Streamline Requirements and Tool Selection

This phase will walk you through the following activities:

• Assess technology and tooling opportunities.
• Prepare ESG reporting implementation plan.
• Write ESG reporting presentation document.

This phase involves the following participants: CIO, CCO, CSO, EA, IT application and data leaders, procurement, business leaders, marketing and communications, head of ESG reporting, and any dedicated ESG team members

2.1 Streamline your requirements and tool section

Spend the time up front to enable success and meet expectations

Before sourcing any technology, it’s important to have a good understanding of your requirements.

Key elements to consider:

1. ESG reporting scope. Large enterprises will have more complex workflow requirements, but they also will have larger teams to potentially manage in-house. Smaller organizations will need easy-to-use, low-cost solutions.
2. Industry and value chain. Look for industry-specific solutions, as they will be more tailored to your needs and will enable you to be up and running quicker.
3. Coverage. Ensure the tool has adequate regulatory coverage to meet your current and future needs.
4. Gap in functionality. Be clear on the problem you are trying to solve and/or the gap in workflow. Refer to the reporting lifecycle and be clear on your needs before sourcing technology.
5. Resourcing. Factor in capacity during and after implementation and negotiate the appropriate support.

Industry perspective

The importance of ESG is something that will need to be considered for most, if not every decision in the future, and having reliable and available information is essential. While the industry will continue to see investment and innovation that drives operational efficiency and productivity, we will also see strong ESG themes in these emerging technologies to ensure they support both sustainable and socially responsible operations.

With the breadth of technology Datamine already has addressing the ESG needs for the mining industry combined with our new technology, our customers can make effective and timely decisions through incorporating ESG data into their planning and scheduling activities to meet customer demands, while staying within the confines of their chosen ESG targets.

Chris Parry
VP of ESG, Datamine

Activity 7: Brainstorm tooling options

Use the technology feature list below to identify areas along the ESG workflow where automated tools or third-party solutions may create efficiencies

2.2 Vendors tools and technologies to support ESG reporting

In a recent survey of over 1,000 global public- and private-sector leaders, 87% said they see AI as a helpful tool to fight climate change.
Source: Boston Consulting Group

Technology providers are part of the solution and can be leveraged to collect, analyze, disclose, track, and report on the vast amount of data.

Increasingly organizations are using artificial intelligence to build climate resiliency:

• AI is useful for the predictive modelling of potential climate events due to its ability to gather and analyze and synthesize large complete data sets.

And protect organizations from vulnerabilities:

• AI can be used to identify and assess vulnerabilities that may lead to business disruption or risks in production or the supply chain.

2.3 ESG reporting software selection

What Is ESG Reporting Software?

Our definition: ESG reporting software helps organizations improve the transparency and accountability of their ESG program and track, measure, and report their sustainability efforts.

Key considerations for reporting software selection:

• While there are boutique ESG vendors in the market, organizations with existing GRC tools may first want to discuss ESG coverage with their existing vendor as it will enable better integration.
• Ensure that the vendors you are evaluating support the requirements and regulations in your region, industry, and geography. Regulation is moving quickly – functionality needs to be available now and not just on the roadmap.
• Determine the level of software integration support you need before meeting with vendors and ensure they will be able to provide it – when you need it!

Adoption of ESG reporting software has historically been low, but these tools will become critical as organizations strive to meet increasing ESG reporting requirements.

In a recent ESG planning and performance survey conducted by ESG SaaS company Diligent Corporation, it was found that over half of all organizations surveyed do not publish ESG metrics of any kind, and only 9% of participants are actively using software that supports ESG data collection, analysis, and reporting.

Source: Diligent, 2021.

2.3.1 Elicit and prioritize granular requirements for your ESG reporting software

Understanding business needs through requirements gathering is the key to defining everything about what is being purchased. However, it is an area where people often make critical mistakes.

Download Info-Tech's Improve Requirements Gathering blueprint

2.3.1 Identify critical and nice-to-have features

Central Data Repository: Collection of stored data from existing databases merged into one location that can then be shared, analyzed, or updated.

Automatic Data Collection: Ability to automate data flows, collect responses from multiple sources at specified intervals, and check them against acceptance criteria.

Automatic KPI Calculations, Conversions, and Updates: Company-specific metrics can be automatically calculated, converted, and tracked.

Built-In Indicator Catalogs and Benchmarking: Provides common recognized frameworks or can integrate a catalog of ESG indicators.

Custom Reporting: Ability to create reports on company emissions, energy, and asset data in company-branded templates.

User-Based Access and Permissions: Ability to control access to specific content or data sets based on the end user’s roles.

Real-Time Capabilities: Ability to analyze and visualize data as soon as it becomes available in underlying systems.

Version Control: Tracking of document versions with each iteration of document changes.

Intelligent Alerts and Notifications: Ability to create, manage, send, and receive notifications, enhancing efficiency and productivity.

Audit Trail: View all previous activity including any recent edits and user access.

Encrypted File Storage and Transfer: Ability to encrypt a file before transmitting it over the network to hide content from being viewed or extracted.

Activity 7: Technology and tooling options

Input: Business (ESG) strategy, Data inventory (if exists), Asset inventory (if exists), Output from Activity 5, Output from Activity 6,
Output: List of tooling options
Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts, ESG Reporting Workbook
Participants: Chief Sustainability Officer, Head of ESG Reporting, Business leaders, Data analysts, Data and IT architect/leaders

1-2 hours

1. Begin by listing key requirements and features for your ESG reporting program.
2. Use the outputs from activities 5 and 6 and the technology feature list on the previous slide to help brainstorm technology and tooling options.
3. Discuss the availability and readiness of each option. Note that regulatory requirements will have an effective date that will impact the time to market for introducing new tooling.
4. Discuss and assign a priority.
5. At this point, further analysis may be needed. Form a subcommittee or assign a leader to conduct further analysis.
6. Record this information in the ESG Reporting Workbook.

Download the ESG Reporting Workbook

Activity 8: Implementation plan

Input: Business (ESG) strategy, Output from Activity 5, Output from Activity 6, Output from Activity 7
Output: ESG Reporting Implementation Plan
Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts, ESG Reporting Implementation Plan Template
Participants: Chief Sustainability Officer, Head of ESG Reporting, Business leaders, Data analysts, PMO, Data and IT architect/leaders

1-2 hours

1. Use the outputs from activities 5 to 7 and list required implementation tasks. Set a priority for each task.
2. Assign the accountable owner as well as the group responsible. Larger organizations and large, complex change programs will have a group of owners.
3. Track any dependencies and ensure the project timeline aligns.
4. Add status as well as start and end dates.
5. Complete in the ESG Reporting Implementation Plan Template.

Download the ESG Reporting Implementation Plan Template

Activity 9: Internal communication

Input: Business (ESG) strategy, ESG Reporting Workbook, ESG reporting implementation plan
Output: ESG Reporting Presentation Template
Materials: Whiteboard/flip charts, ESG Reporting Presentation Template, Internal communication templates
Participants: Chief Sustainability Officer, Head of Marketing/ Communications, Business leaders, PMO

1-2 hours

Since a purpose-driven ESG program presents a significant change in how organizations operate, the goals and intentions need to be understood throughout the organization. Once you have developed your ESG reporting strategy it is important that it is communicated, understood, and accepted. Use the ESG Reporting Presentation Template as a guide to deliver your story.

1. Consider your audience and discuss and agree on the key elements you want to convey.
2. Prepare the presentation.
3. Test the presentation with smaller group before communicating to senior leadership/board

Download the ESG Reporting Presentation Template

Phase 3

Select ESG Reporting Software

This phase will provide additional material on Info-Tech’s expertise in the following areas:

• Info-Tech’s approach to RFPs
• Info-Tech tools for software selection
• Example ESG software assessments

3.1 Leverage Info-Tech’s expertise

Develop an inclusive and thorough approach to the RFP process

The Info-Tech difference:

1. The secret to managing an RFP is to make it as manageable and as thorough as possible. The RFP process should be like any other aspect of business – with a standard process in place, you are better able to handle whatever comes your way, because you know the steps you need to follow to produce a top-notch RFP.
2. The business then identifies the need for more information about a product/service or determines that a purchase is required.
3. A team of stakeholders from each area impacted gather all business, technical, legal, and risk requirements. What are the expectations of the vendor relationship post-RFP? How will the vendors be evaluated?
4. Based on predetermined requirements, either an RFI or an RFP is issued to vendors with a due date.

Info-Tech Insight

Review Info-Tech’s process and understand how you can prevent your organization from leaking negotiation leverage while preventing vendors from taking control of your RFP.

Software Selection Engagement

5 Advisory Calls Over a 5-Week Period to Accelerate Your Selection Process

Expert Analyst Guidance over5 weeks on average to select and negotiate software.

Save Money, Align Stakeholders, Speed Up the Process & make better decisions.

Use a Repeatable, Formal Methodology to improve your application selection process.

Better, Faster Results, guaranteed, included in membership.

CLICK HERE to Book Your Selection Engagement

Leverage the Contract Review Service to level the playing field with your shortlisted vendors

You may be faced with multiple products, services, master service agreements, licensing models, service agreements, and more.

Use the Contract Review Service to gain insights on your agreements.

Consider the aspects of a contract review:

1. Are all key terms included?
2. Are they applicable to your business?
3. Can you trust that results will be delivered?
4. What questions should you be asking from an IT perspective?

Validate that a contract meets IT’s and the business’ needs by looking beyond the legal terminology. Use a practical set of questions, rules, and guidance to improve your value for dollar spent.

Click here to book The Contract Review Service

Download blueprint Master Contract Review and Negotiation for Software Agreements

3.2 Vendor spotlight assessments

See above for a vendor landscape overview of key ESG reporting software providers

The purpose of this section is to showcase various vendors and companies that provide software solutions to help users manage and prioritize their ESG reporting initiatives.

This section showcases the core capabilities of each software platform to provide Info-Tech members with industry insights regarding some of the key service providers that operate within the ESG vendor market landscape.

Info-Tech members who are concerned with risks stemming from the inability to sort and disseminate unstructured ESG data reporting metrics or interested in learning more about software offerings that can help automate the data collection, processing, and management of ESG metrics will find high-level insights into the ESG vendor market space.

Vendor spotlight

The establishment of the Datamine ESG unit comes at the same time the mining sector is showing an increased interest in managing ESG and its component systems as part of a single scope.

With miners collecting and dealing with ever-increasing quantities of data and looking for ways to leverage it to make data-driven decisions that enhance risk management and increase profitability, integrated software solutions are – now more than ever – essential in supporting continuous improvement and maintaining data fidelity and data integrity across the entire mining value chain.

Key Features:

• Discover GIS for geochemical, water, erosion, and vegetation modelling and management.
• Qmed for workforce health management, COVID testing, and vaccine administration.
• MineMarket and Reconcilor for traceability and auditing, giving visibility to chain of custody and governance across the value chain, from resource modelling to shipping and sales.
• Centric Mining Systems – intelligence software for real-time transparency and governance across multiple sites and systems, including key ESG performance indicator reporting.
• Zyght – a leading health, safety, and environment solution for high-impact industries that specializes in environment, injury, risk management, safe work plans, document management, compliance, and reporting.
• Isystain – a cloud-based platform uniquely designed to support health, safety & environment, sustainability reporting, compliance and governance, and social investment reporting. Designed for seamless integration within an organization’s existing software ecosystems providing powerful analytics and reporting capabilities to streamline the production of sustainability and performance reporting.

Vendor spotlight

Benchmark ESG provides industry-leading ESG data management and reporting software that can assist organizations in managing operational risk and compliance, sustainability, product stewardship, and ensuring responsible sourcing across complex global operations.

Key Features:

• Benchmark ESG™ Analytics by Tableau provides multidimensional analytics and interactive visualization displays to help easily share insights and intelligence for more careful interpretation of ESG reporting metrics.
• Benchmark provides support for Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions calculation and tracking capabilities.
• Benchmark is a CDP-accredited solutions provider. Thus, the platform strongly aligns itself with mainstream ESG reporting frameworks.

Vendor spotlight

PwC’s ESG Management Solution provides quick insights into ways to improve reporting transparency surrounding your organization’s ESG commitments.

According to PwC’s most recent CEO survey, the number one motivator for CEOs in mitigating climate change risks is their own desire to help solve this global problem and drive transparency with stakeholders.
Source: “Annual Global CEO Survey,” PwC, 2022.

Key Features:

• Streamlined data mining capabilities. PwC’s ESG solution provides the means to streamline, automate, and standardize the input of sustainability data based on non-financial reporting directive (NFRD) and corporate sustainability reporting directive (CSRD) regulations.
• Company and product carbon footprint calculation and verification modules.
• Robust dashboarding capabilities. Option to create custom-tailored sustainability monitoring dashboards or integrate existing ESG data from an application to existing dashboards.
• Team management functionalities that allow for more accessible cross-departmental communication and collaboration. Ability to check progress on tasks, assign tasks, set automatic notifications/deadlines, etc.

Vendor spotlight

ServiceNow ESG Management (ESGM) and reporting platform helps organizations transform the way they manage, visualize, and report on issues across the ESG spectrum.

The platform automates the data collection process and the organization and storage of information in an easy-to-use system. ServiceNow’s ESGM solution also develops dashboards and reports for internal user groups and ensures that external disclosure reports are aligned with mainstream ESG standards and frameworks.

We know that doing well as a business is about more than profits. One workflow at a time, we believe we can change the world – to be more sustainable, equitable, and ethical.
Source: ServiceNow, 2021.

Key Features:

1. An executive dashboard to help coherently outline the status of various ESG indicators, including material topics, goals, and disclosure policies all in one centralized hub
2. Status review modules. Ensure that your organization has built-in modules to help them better document and monitor their ESG goals and targets using a single source of truth.
3. Automated disclosure modules. ESGM helps organizations create more descriptive ESG disclosure reports that align with industry accountability standards (e.g. SASB, GRI, CDP).

Other key vendors to consider

Related Info-Tech Research

Definitions

Reporting and standard frameworks

Bibliography

"2021 Global Investor Survey: The Economic Realities of ESG." PwC, Dec. 2021. Accessed May 2022.

"2023 Canadian ESG Reporting Insights." PwC, Nov. 2022. Accessed Dec. 2022.

Althoff, Judson. "Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability: Empowering Organizations On Their Path To Net Zero." Microsoft Blog, 14 July 2021. Accessed May 2022.

"Balancing Sustainability and Profitability." IBM, Feb. 2022. Accessed June. 2022.

"Beyond Compliance: Consumers and Employees Want Business to Do More on ESG." PwC, Nov. 2021. Accessed July 2022.

Bizo, Daniel. "Multi-Tenant Datacenters and Sustainability: Ambitions and Reality." S&P Market Intelligence, Sept. 2020. Web.

Bolden, Kyle. "Aligning nonfinancial reporting with your ESG strategy to communicate long-term value." EY, 18 Dec. 2020. Web.

Carril, Christopher, et al. "Looking at Restaurants Through an ESG Lens: ESG Stratify – Equity Research Report." RBC Capital Markets, 5 Jan. 2021. Accessed Jun. 2022.

"Celebrating and Advancing Women." McDonald’s, 8 March 2019. Web.

Clark, Anna. "Get your ESG story straight: A sustainability communication starter kit." GreenBiz, 20 Dec. 2022, Accessed Dec. 2022.

Courtnell, Jane. “ESG Reporting Framework, Standards, and Requirements.” Corporate Compliance Insights, Sept. 2022. Accessed Dec. 2022.

“Country Sustainability Ranking. Country Sustainability: Visibly Harmed by Covid-19.” Robeco, Oct. 2021. Accessed June 2022.

“Defining the “G” in ESG Governance Factors at the Heart of Sustainable Business.” World Economic Forum, June 2022. Web.

“Digital Assets: Laying ESG Foundations.” Global Digital Finance, Nov. 2021. Accessed April 2022.

“Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJCI) Index Family.” S&P Global Intelligence, n.d. Accessed June 2022.

"ESG in Your Business: The Edge You Need to Land Large Contracts." BDC, March 2023, Accessed April 2023.

“ESG Performance and Its Impact on Corporate Reputation.” Intelex Technologies, May 2022. Accessed July 2022.

“ESG Use Cases. IoT – Real-Time Occupancy Monitoring.” Metrikus, March 2021. Accessed April 2022.

Fanter, Tom, et al. “The History & Evolution of ESG.” RMB Capital, Dec. 2021. Accessed May 2022.

Flynn, Hillary, et al. “A guide to ESG materiality assessments.” Wellington Management, June 2022, Accessed September 2022

“From ‘Disclose’ to ‘Disclose What Matters.’” Global Reporting Initiative, Dec. 2018. Accessed July 2022.

“Getting Started with ESG.” Sustainalytics, 2022. Web.

“Global Impact ESG Fact Sheet.” ServiceNow, Dec. 2021. Accessed June 2022.

Gorley, Adam. “What is ESG and Why It’s Important for Risk Management.” Sustainalytics, March 2022. Accessed May 2022.

Hall, Lindsey. “You Need Near-Term Accountability to Meet Long-Term Climate Goals.” S&P Global Sustainable1, Oct. 2021. Accessed April 2022.

Henisz, Witold, et al. “Five Ways That ESG Creates Value.” McKinsey, Nov. 2019. Accessed July 2022.

“Integrating ESG Factors in the Investment Decision-Making Process of Institutional Investors.” OECD iLibrary, n.d. Accessed July 2022.

“Investor Survey.” Benchmark ESG, Nov. 2021. Accessed July 2022.

Jackson, Brian. Tech Trends 2023, Info-Tech Research Group, Dec. 2022, Accessed Dec. 2022.

Keet, Lior. “What Is the CIO’s Role in the ESG Equation?” EY, 2 Feb. 2022. Accessed May 2022.

Lev, Helee, “Understanding ESG risks and why they matter” GreenBiz, June 2022. Accessed Dec 2022.

Marsh, Chris, and Simon Robinson. “ESG and Technology: Impacts and Implications.” S&P Global Market Intelligence, March 2021. Accessed April 2022.

Martini, A. “Socially Responsible Investing: From the Ethical Origins to the Sustainable Development Framework of the European Union.” Environment, Development and Sustainability, vol. 23, Nov. 2021. Web.

Maher, Hamid, et al. “AI Is Essential for Solving the Climate Crisis.” Boston Consulting Group, 7 July 2022. Web.

“Materiality Assessment. Identifying and Taking Action on What Matters Most.” Novartis, n.d. Accessed June. 2022.

Morrow, Doug, et al. “Understanding ESG Incidents: Key Lessons for Investors.” Sustainalytics, July 2017. Accessed May 2022.

“Navigating Climate Data Disclosure.” Novisto, July 2022. Accessed Nov. 2022.

Nuttall, Robin, et al. “Why ESG Scores Are Here to Stay.” McKinsey & Company, May 2020. Accessed July 2022.

“Opportunities in Sustainability – 451 Research’s Analysis of Sustainability Perspectives in the Data Center Industry.” Schneider Electric, Sept. 2020. Accessed May 2022.

Peterson, Richard. “How Can NLP Be Used to Quantify ESG Analytics?” Refinitiv, Feb. 2021. Accessed June 2022.

“PwC’s 25th Annual Global CEO Survey: Reimagining the Outcomes That Matter.” PwC, Jan. 2022. Accessed June 2022.

“SEC Proposes Rules on Cybersecurity, Risk Management, Strategy, Governance, and Incident Disclosure by Public Companies.” Securities and Exchange Commission, 9 May 2022. Press release.

Serafeim, George. “Social-Impact Efforts That Create Real Value.” Harvard Business Review, Sept. 2020. Accessed May 2022.

Sherrie, Gonzalez. “ESG Planning and Performance Survey.” Diligent, 24 Sept. 2021. Accessed July 2022.

“Special Reports Showcase, Special Report: Mid-Year Report on Proposed SEC Rule 14-8 Change.” Sustainable Investments Institute, July 2020. Accessed April 2022.

“State of European Tech. Executive Summary Report.” Atomico, Nov. 2021. Accessed June 2022.

“Top Challenges in ESG Reporting, and How ESG Management Solution Can Help.” Novisto, Sept. 2022. Accessed Nov. 2022.

Vaughan-Smith, Gary. “Navigating ESG data sets and ‘scores’.” Silverstreet Capital, 23 March 2022. Accessed Dec. 2022.

Waters, Lorraine. “ESG is not an environmental issue, it’s a data one.” The Stack, 20 May 2021. Web.

Wells, Todd. “Why ESG, and Why Now? New Data Reveals How Companies Can Meet ESG Demands – And Innovate Supply Chain Management.” Diginomica, April 2022. Accessed July 2022.

“XBRL is coming to corporate sustainability Reporting.” Novisto, Aug. 2022. Accessed Dec. 2022.

Research Contributors and Experts

Chris Parry
VP of ESG, Datamine

Chris Parry has recently been appointed as the VP of ESG at Datamine Software. Datamine’s dedicated ESG division provides specialized ESG technology for sustainability management by supporting key business processes necessary to drive sustainable outcomes.

Chris has 15 years of experience building and developing business for enterprise applications and solutions in both domestic and international markets.

Chris has a true passion for business-led sustainable development and is focused on helping organizations achieve their sustainable business outcomes through business transformation and digital software solutions.

Datamine’s comprehensive ESG capability supports ESG issues such as the environment, occupational health and safety, and medical health and wellbeing. The tool assists with risk management, stakeholder management and business intelligence.

Develop Your Agile Approach for a Successful Transformation

Understand Agile fundamentals, principles, and practices so you can apply them effectively in your organization.

Analyst Perspective

Understand Agile fundamentals, principles, and practices so you can apply them effectively in your organization.

Alex Ciraco and Hans Eckman
Application Practice
Info-Tech Research Group

Executive Summary

Your Challenge

• Your organization wants to shorten delivery time and improve quality by adopting Agile delivery methods.
• You know that Agile transformations are complex and difficult to implement.
• Your organization may have started using Agile, but with only limited success.
• You want to maximize your Agile transformation's chances of success.

Common Obstacles

• People seem to have different, conflicting, or inadequate knowledge of Agile principles and practices.
• Your organization is not seeing the full benefits that Agile promises, and project teams aren't sure they are "doing Agile right."
• Confusion and misinformation about Agile is commonplace in your organization.

Info-Tech's Approach

• Use our Common Agile Challenges Survey to identify your organization's Agile pain points.
• Leverage this blueprint to level-set the organization on Agile fundamentals.
• Address your survey's biggest Agile pain points to see immediate benefits and improvements in the way you practice Agile in your organization.

Info-Tech Insight

Agile transformations are more likely to be successful when the entire organization genuinely understands Agile fundamentals, principles and practices, as well as the role each person plays in its success. Focus on developing a solid understanding of Agile practices so your organization can "Be Agile", not just "Do Agile".

Info-Tech's methodology

Develop your agile approach for a successful transformation

Everyone's Agile journey is not the same.

Application delivery continues to fall short

78% of IT professionals believe the business is "usually" or "always" out of sync with project requirements.
Source: "10 Ways Requirements Can Sabotage Your Projects Right From the Start"

Only 34% of software is rated as both important and effective by users.

Source: Info-Tech's CIO Business Vision Diagnostic

Agile DevOps is a progression of cultural, behavioral, and process changes. It takes time.

Enhancements and maintenance are misunderstood

Source: "IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering"

Why Agile/DevOps? It's about time to value

Leaders and stakeholders are frustrated with long lead times to implement changes. Agile/DevOps promotes smaller, more frequent releases to start earning value sooner.

Time to delivering value depends on Frequency of Releases

Embrace change, don't "scope creep" it

64% of IT professionals adopt Agile to enhance their ability to manage changing priorities.

71% of IT professionals found their ability to manage changing priorities improved after implementing Agile.

Info-Tech Insight

Traditional delivery processes work on the assumption that product requirements will remain constant throughout the SDLC. This results in delayed delivery of product enhancements which are critical to maintaining a positive customer experience.

Adapted from: "12th Annual State of Agile Report"

Agile's four core values

"…while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more."
– Source: "The Agile Manifesto"

Harness Agile's cultural advantages

Collaboration

• Team members leverage all their experience working toward a common goal.

Iterations

• Cycles provide opportunities for more product feedback.

Continual Improvement

• Self-managing teams continually improve their approach for the next iteration.

Prioritization

• The most important needs are addressed in the current iteration.

Compare Waterfall and Agile – the "what" (how are they different?)

A "One and Done" Approach (Planning & Documentation Based)
Elapsed time to deliver any value: Months to years

An "Iterative" Approach (Empirical/Evidence Based)
Elapsed time to deliver any value: Weeks

Be aware of common myths around Agile

1. … solve development and communication issues.
2. … ensure you will finish requirements faster.
3. … mean you don't need planning and documentation.

"Although Agile methods are increasingly being adopted in globally distributed settings, there is no panacea for success."
– "Negotiating Common Ground in Distributed Agile Development: A Case Study Perspective."

"Without proper planning, organizations can start throwing more resources at the work which spirals into the classic Waterfall issues of managing by schedule."
– Kristen Morton, Associate Implementation Architect,
OneShield Inc., Info-Tech Interview

Agile* SDLC

With shared ownership instead of silos, we can deliver value at the end of every iteration (aka sprint)

* There are many Agile methodologies to choose from, but Scrum is by far the most widely used (and is shown above).

Key Elements of the Agile SDLC

• You are not "one-and-done." There are many short iterations with constant feedback.
• There is an empowered product owner. This is a single authoritative voice that represents stakeholders.
• There is a fluid product backlog. This enables prioritization of requirements "just-in-time."
• Cross-functional, self-managing team. This team makes commitments and is empowered by the organization to do so.
• Working, tested code at the end of each sprint. Value becomes more deterministic along sprint boundaries.
• Demonstrate to stakeholders. Allow them to see and use the functionality and provide necessary feedback.
• Feedback is being continuously injected back into the product backlog. This shapes the future of the solution.
• Continuous improvement through sprint retrospectives.
• "Internally Governed" when done right (the virtuous cycle of sprint-demo-feedback).

A backlog stores and organizes PBIs at various stages of readiness

A well-formed backlog can be thought of as a DEEP backlog:

• Detailed Appropriately: Product backlog items (PBIs) are broken down and refined as necessary.
• Emergent: The backlog grows and evolves over time as PBIs are added and removed.
• Estimated: The effort a PBI requires is estimated at each tier.
• Prioritized: The PBIs value and priority are determined at each tier.

(Perforce, 2018)

Outline the criteria to proceed to the next tier via quality filters

Expand the concepts of defining "ready" and "done" to include the other stages of a PBIs journey through product planning.

Info-Tech Insight: A quality filter ensures quality is met and teams are armed with the right information to work more efficiently and improve throughput.

Deliverables

Many steps in this blueprint are accompanied by supporting deliverables to help you accomplish your goals.

Common Agile Challenges Survey
Survey the organization to understand which of the common Agile challenges the organization is experiencing

Roadmap for Transition to Agile
Identify steps you will take to move your organization toward Agile delivery

Blueprint benefits

Measure the value of this blueprint

Implementing quality and consistent Agile practices improves SDLC metrics and reduces time to value.

• Use Select and Use SDLC Metrics Effectivelyto track and measure the impact of Agile delivery. For example:
• Reduction in PBI wait time
• Improve throughput
• Reduction in defects and defect severity
• Phase 1 helps you prepare and send your Common Agile Challenges Survey.
• Phase 2 builds a transformation plan aligned with your top pain points.

Align Agile coaching and practices to address your key pain points identified in the Common Agile Challenges Survey.

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?

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 8 calls over the course of 1 to 2 months.

Workshop Overview

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

For additional assistance planning your workshop, please refer to the facilitation planning tool in the appendix.

Related Info-Tech Research

Mentoring for Agile Teams
Get practical help and guidance on your Agile transformation journey.

Implement DevOps Practices That Work
Streamline business value delivery through the strategic adoption of DevOps practices.

Deliver on Your Digital Product Vision
Build a product vision your organization can take from strategy through execution.

Deliver Digital Products at Scale
Deliver value at the scale of your organization through defining enterprise product families.

Phase 1

This phase will walk you through the following activities:

• Decide who will participate in the Common Agile Challenges Survey
• Compile the results of the survey to identify your organization's biggest pain points with Agile

This phase involves the following participants:

• Product owners, product managers, and scrum masters
• Delivery managers and senior leaders
• Stakeholders and delivery teams

Develop Your Agile Approach for a Successful Transformation

Step 1.1

Identify common Agile challenges

Activities

1.1 Distribute Common Agile Challenges Survey and collect results

This step involves the following participants:

• Product owners, product managers, and scrum masters
• Delivery managers and senior leaders
• Stakeholders and delivery teams

Outcomes of this step

• A better understanding of your organization's Agile pain points.

Focus Agile support where it is most needed

Info-Tech Insight

There isn't one approach that cures all the problems your Agile teams are facing. First, understand these common challenges, then develop a plan to address the root causes.

Use Info-Tech's Common Agile Challenges Survey to determine common issues and what problems individual teams are facing. Use the Agile modules and supporting guides in this blueprint to provide targeted support on what matters most.

Exercise 1.1.1 Distribute Common Agile Challenges Survey

30 minutes

1. Download Survey Template: Info-Tech Common Agile Challenges Survey template.
2. Create your own local copy of the Common Agile Challenges Survey by using the template. The Common Agile Challenges Survey will help you to identify which of the many common Agile-related challenges your organization may be facing.
3. Decide on the teams/participants who will be completing the survey. It is best to distribute the survey broadly across the organization and include participants from several teams and roles.
4. Copy the link for your local survey and distribute it for participants to complete (we suggest giving them one week to complete it).
5. Collect the consolidated survey results in preparation for the next phase.
6. NOTE: Using this survey template requires having access to Microsoft Forms. If you do not have access to Microsoft Forms, an Info-Tech analyst can perform the survey for you.

Output

• Your organization's biggest Agile pain points

Participants

• Product owners, product managers, and scrum masters
• Delivery managers
• Delivery teams
• Stakeholders
• Senior leaders

Record the results in the Roadmap for Transition to Agile Template

Phase 2

Establish a Solid Foundation for Agile Delivery

This phase will walk you through the following activities:

• Gain a fundamental understanding of Agile
• Understand why becoming Agile is hard
• Identify steps needed to become more Agile
• Understand your biggest Agile pain points

This phase involves the following participants:

• Product owners, product managers, and scrum masters
• Delivery managers and senior leaders
• Stakeholders and delivery teams

Step 2.1

Align teams with Agile fundamentals

Activities

2.1.1 Share what Agile means to you
2.1.2 (Optional) Contrast two delivery teams
2.1.3 (Optional) Dissect the Agilist's Oath
2.1.4 (Optional) Create your prototype definitions of ready
2.1.5 (Optional) Create your prototype definitions of done
2.1.6 Identify the challenges of implementing agile in your organization

This step involves the following participants:

• Product owners, product managers, and scrum masters
• Delivery managers and senior leaders
• Stakeholders and delivery teams

Outcomes of this step

• A better understanding of what Agile is and why we do it.

Exercise 2.1.1 Share what Agile means to you

30-60 minutes

1. What is Agile? Why do we do it?
2. As a group, discuss and capture your thoughts on:
   1. What is Agile (its characteristics, practices, differences from alternatives, etc.)?
   2. Why do we do it (its drivers, benefits, advantages, etc.)?
3. Capture your findings in the table below:

Output

• Your current understanding of Agile and its benefits

Participants

• Product owners, product managers, and scrum masters
• Delivery managers
• Delivery teams
• Stakeholders
• Senior leaders

Why Agile/DevOps? It's about time to value

Leaders and stakeholders are frustrated with long lead times to implement changes. Agile/DevOps promotes smaller, more frequent releases to start earning value sooner.

Time to delivering value depends on frequency of releases.
Source: 5Q Partners

The pandemic accelerated the speed of digital transformation

With the massive disruption preventing people from gathering, businesses shifted to digital interactions with customers.

Companies also accelerated the pace of creating digital or digitally enhanced products and services.

(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)

What does "elite" DevOps look like?

Where are you now?
Where do You Want to Be?

* Google Cloud/Accelerate State of DevOps 2021

Realize and sustain value with DevOps

Businesses with elite DevOps practices…

Waterfall vs. Agile – the "what" (How are they different?)

A "One and Done" Approach (Planning & Documentation Based)
Elapsed time to deliver any value: Months to years

An "Iterative" Approach (Empirical/Evidence Based)
Elapsed time to deliver any value: Weeks

(Optional) Exercise 2.1.2 A tale of two teams

Discussion (5-10 minutes)

As a group, discuss how these teams differ

Team 1:

Team 2:

Image Credit: DVIDS

Output

• How your organization can support Agile behavior and mindset

Participants

• Product owners, product managers, and scrum masters
• Delivery managers
• Delivery teams
• Stakeholders
• Senior leaders

Dissect the Agilist's Oath

Read and consider each element of the oath.

• As a member of this Scrum team, I recognize that we are all equally and collectively responsible for the success of this project.
• Success is defined as achieving the best possible outcome for our stakeholders given the constraints of time, money, and circumstances we will face.
• We will achieve this by working collaboratively with our product owner to regularly deliver high-quality, working, tested code that can be demonstrated, and we will adjust our path forward based on the feedback we receive.
• I will holistically embrace the concept of "good enough for now" into my work practices, because I know that waiting for the best/perfect solution does not yield optimal results.
• Collectively, we will work to holistically minimize risk for the project across all phases and disciplines.
• My primary role will be _____ [PO, SM, BA, Dev, Arch, Test, Ops, etc.], but I will contribute wherever and however best serves the current needs of the project.
• I recognize that working in Agile/Scrum is not an excuse to ignore important things like adequate design and documentation. Collectively, we will ensure that these things are completed incrementally to a level of detail and quality which adequately serves the organization and stakeholders.
• We are a team, and we will succeed or fail as one.

Exercise 2.1.3 (Optional) Dissect the Agilist's Oath

30 minutes

1. Each bullet point in the Agilist's Oath is chosen to convey one of eight key messages about Agile practices and the mindset change that's required by everyone involved.
2. As a group, discuss the "message" for each bullet point in the Agilist's Oath. Then identify which of them would be "easy" and "hard" to achieve in your organization.

• As a member of this Scrum team, I recognize that we are all equally and collectively responsible for the success of this project.
• Success is defined as achieving the best possible outcome for our stakeholders given the constraints of time, money, and circumstances we will face.
• We will achieve this by working collaboratively with our product owner to regularly deliver high-quality, working, tested code that can be demonstrated, and we will adjust our path forward based on the feedback we receive.
• I will holistically embrace the concept of "good enough for now" into my work practices, because I know that waiting for the best/perfect solution does not yield optimal results.
• Collectively, we will work to holistically minimize risk for the project across all phases and disciplines.
• My primary role will be _____ [PO, SM, BA, Dev, Arch, Test, Ops, etc.], but I will contribute wherever and however best serves the current needs of the project.
• I recognize that working in Agile/Scrum is not an excuse to ignore important things like adequate design and documentation. Collectively, we will ensure that these things are completed incrementally to a level of detail and quality which adequately serves the organization and stakeholders.
• We are a team, and we will succeed or fail as one.

Output

• How your organization can support Agile behavior and mindset

Participants

• Product owners, product managers, and scrum masters
• Delivery managers
• Delivery teams
• Stakeholders
• Senior leaders

Be aware of common myths around Agile

Agile does not . . . .

1. … solve development and communication issues.
2. … ensure you will finish requirements faster.
3. … mean you don't need planning and documentation.

"Although Agile methods are increasingly being adopted in globally distributed settings, there is no panacea for success."
– "Negotiating Common Ground in Distributed Agile Development: A Case Study Perspective."

"Without proper planning, organizations can start throwing more resources at the work which spirals into the classic Waterfall issues of managing by schedule."
– Kristen Morton, Associate Implementation Architect,
OneShield Inc., Info-Tech Interview

Agile's four core values

"…while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more."
– Source: "The Agile Manifesto"

Consider the traditional/Waterfall SDLC

With siloes and handoffs, valuable product is delivered only at the end of an extended project lifecycle.

View additional transition models in the appendix

Agile* SDLC

With shared ownership instead of silos, we can deliver value at the end of every iteration (aka sprint)

Key Elements of the Agile SDLC

• You are not "one-and-done". There are many short iterations with constant feedback.
• There is an empowered product owner. This is a single authoritative voice that represents stakeholders.
• There is a fluid product backlog. This enables prioritization of requirements "just-in-time"
• Cross-functional, self-managing team. This team makes commitments and is empowered by the organization to do so.
• Working, tested code at the end of each sprint. Value becomes more deterministic along sprint boundaries.
• Demonstrate to stakeholders. Allow them to see and use the functionality and provide necessary feedback.
• Feedback is being continuously injected back into the product backlog. This shapes the future of the solution.
• Continuous improvement through sprint retrospectives.
• "Internally Governed" when done right (the virtuous cycle of sprint-demo-feedback).

* There are many Agile methodologies to choose from, but Scrum (shown above) is by far the most widely used.

Scrum roles and responsibilities